The American Revolution In The South by Dave Booz

1
The American Revolution In The SouthbyDave Booz
2
The British decide to conquer the South

• Benjamin Lincoln

• The Americans, led by General Benjamin Lincoln,
  held Savannah and Charleston but the British
  thought that most of the population would be on
  the Kings side.
• Savannah fell quickly to the British at the end
  of 1778.
• The Americans, with French help, tried to
  re-capture the city.

3
American and French forces attack Savannah,
October 9, 1779
4
The Charleston Campaign
5
British Leaders in the South

• Lord Charles Cornwallis

• Colonel Banastre Tarleton

6
The Swamp Fox

• Francis Marion

7
Gates and de Kalb

• Horatio Gates

• Baron Johan de Kalb

8
Gates had force marched his men through barren
lands of the Carolina coast

• These men of the Maryland Line would form the
  backbone of the American Army in the South, but
  they paid heavily in blood.
• These Continentals were the match of any army in
  the world.

9
Battle of Camden, August 1780

• Gates had moved his men through barren land and
  he placed too much hope on his militia.
• The British routed the American militia within
  minutes and the Maryland and Delaware
  Continentals fought to the finish.
• Gates, on his race horse, ran off when the
  militia broke and did not stop until he got tot
  Charlotte, N.C.
• De Kalb stood and died with his men.

10
British regulars flanked the Americans and the
militia ran away
11
More Regulars marched to attack the Continentals
from the front.
12
Hessians These troops continued to fight for
the King of England
13
Royal Highlanders
14
Defending Charleston

• Forts Moultrie and Sullivan defended Charleston
  in 1776 when the British made their first attempt
  to capture the city. The Americans held the
  powerful British navy off and kept the city safe
  for the next 3 and a ½ years.

15
The Southern Campaigns in 1780
16
Kings Mountain, October 7, 1780

• Major Patrick Ferguson, an Irishman fighting for
  the King, led 1,000 Tories into the western
  regions of the Carolinas to destroy Rebel
  resistance. He warned the frontiersmen that he
  would Lay waste to their country with fire and
  sword.
• The over the mountain men, led by Colonels
  Isaac Shelby, Jon Sevier, William Campbell,
  Charles McDowell, Joseph McDowell, and Benjamin
  Cleveland, come after Ferguson.

17
a battle in the woods

• The frontiersmen surrounded Kings Mountain and
  charged up the hill, surprising the Tories.
• The battle raged back and forth for about an hour
  Tory bayonets versus American rifles.
• Ferguson was shot down and the Tory force
  surrendered.
• Firing continued for a while after the surrender
  this was truly a civil war.

18
Kings Mountain had far reaching results

• The Tories lost over a thousand men and
  Cornwallis plan to march north into North
  Carolina was greatly delayed.
• The Americans tried 36 Loyalists for war crimes
  and hanged 9 of them. This was partly a result of
  local rivalries and partly the result of the way
  the British had massacred American troops in the
  South.
• This battle revived American hopes and morale in
  the South at a time when it was desperately
  needed.

19
Morgan and Greene

• Daniel Morgan

• Nathanael Greene

20
The Southern Campaign in 1781
21
Cowpens, January 1781

• Dan Morgan waited at the Cowpens for Tarleton.
• Morgan asked his militia to be in the front line
  and they only had to fire two times and then they
  could retreat! The Continentals would form his
  main line.
• Tarleton pushed his men hard and all night long
  to get to Cowpens he was very confident that he
  would destroy the Americans.

22
The Continentals from Maryland, Delaware and
Virginia outfought the British regulars
23
William Washington fighting Banastre Tarleton at
Cowpens
24
Tarletons force was destroyed

• The Americans lost 12 killed and 124 wounded the
  British lost 110 killed, 229 wounded and 900
  prisoners, plus 2 cannons. Tarleton did manage to
  escape.
• Another wing of the British force in the South
  was destroyed.
• Morgans use of the militia was brilliant.
• American morale soared and many Tories switched
  sides.

25
Greene had to train and equip his men to get them
ready to continue the fight
26
Guilford Court House, March 15, 1781

• Nathaniel Greene attacked Lord Cornwallis at
  Guilford Court House in North Carolina.
• The Americans outnumbered the British but the
  British were a very tough professional force and
  confident of victory.
• Severe fighting was only decided when Cornwallis
  ordered his artillery to fire into the mass of
  infantry, hitting his own men as much as the
  Americans.
• The British lost over 25 of their men but held
  the field a terrible Pyrrhic victory.

• I never saw such fighting as God made me. The
  Americans fought like demons. Lord Charles
  Cornwallis

27
Guilford Court House
28
The Battle of Eutaw Springs,

• General Nathaniel Greene wanted to drive the
  British out of South Carolina. He also wanted to
  re-capture Charleston.
• The British, under Alexander Stewart, moved out
  to screen the city of Charleston and met Greene
  at Eutaw Springs plantation.
• The fighting was bloody and desperate and the
  British had brick walls and a brick house, on the
  plantation for protection.

29
Eutaw Springs, September 8,1781
30
Washington moves to Virginia

• Cornwallis had moved into Virginia after the
  battle at Guilford Court House and established a
  base at Yorktown.
• During the summer of 1781 the British raided into
  Virginia and hoped that they would receive large
  reinforcements.
• Washington had sent the Marquis de Lafayette and
  Baron von Steuben to watch Cornwallis and try to
  stop him.
• With the help of the French Washington moves south

31
The Siege of Yorktown

• The French navy, under Admiral Comte de Grasse,
  beat the British under Admiral Graves at the
  Battle of the Chesapeake and the British were
  trapped in Yorktown.
• The Americans and French cooperated wonderfully
  and laid siege to the British. The cannons fired
  day and night and the Allies dug trenches to get
  closer to the British forts.
• The Allies captured several British forts and
  made it impossible for the British to get any
  rest.

32
Yorktown
33
Washington and Rochambeau formed a great team
34
The British Surrender at Yorktown
35
Results of Yorktown

• The Allies lost 72 killed and 180 wounded.
• The British lost 309 killed, 326 wounded, and
  8,087 prisoners another army was captured by
  the Rebels.
• British public opinion was very much against
  continuing this war.
• The British had now lost almost all of their
  conquests except New York.
• British diplomats agree to meet the Americans and
  French to conclude a peace treaty. This treaty
  will be the Treaty of Paris of 1783 in which the
  British recognize the independence of the United
  States of America.

36
Summary of the War in the South

• The British were very successful at first but
  they could not control all of the land and
  American forces survived disasters to fight
  another day.
• The Americans finally found the right leaders and
  gained local support they did not win all of the
  big battles but they always managed to inflict
  heavy loses on the British after Kings Mountain.
• The British lost the support of the local
  populations in the South and also lost the
  support of the people at home so that the war
  became very unpopular in Britain. This led to the
  end of the war.