3-3.2

It Is Essential For Students To Know

• Initially South Carolina troops were able to repulse British attempts to capture Charles Town because of their defense of Fort Moultrie.
• However, unable to defeat the American forces in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the British returned to Charles Town. They hoped to find many people who were still loyal to the King known as Loyalists.
• There were many Loyalists in South Carolina and even more people who did not want to be involved in the war on either side.
• After a long siege during which the British blockaded the city by land and by sea, the city fell to the British. When the British occupied Charles Town they forced Charles Town men to sign an oath of loyalty to England. Most agreed.
• Then the British required the South Carolinians to sign an oath to fight for the British. Many refused to do this, escaped from the city, and joined forces to fight the British
• Because of the harsh tactics of the British occupiers, many South Carolinians formed militias that aided the regular Continental Army in defeating the British in South Carolina. Their hit and run tactics are referred to as partisan warfare. [Although this type of warfare is often referred to as ‘guerrilla’ warfare today, this term was not used at the time of the Revolution.]
• Thomas Sumter’s home was burned by British soldiers so he led a militia against the British in the backcountry. Sumter was gifted at surprise attacks after which he would disappear into the woods. His hit and run tactics and his tenacity earned him the nickname “The Gamecock”.
• Another partisan fighter, Francis Marion, was known as the “Swamp Fox.” Marion led surprise attacks on the British throughout the swampy lowlands.
• Andrew Pickens, named “The Wizard Owl” by upcountry Native Americans, was a backcountry farmer who joined the militia when the British burned his farm. He led his men to victory in the Battle of Cowpens.
• The British marched up from Charles Town and threatened the backcountry people to try to force them into being loyal to the crown. Most of the men were not afraid and escaped to North Carolina and Tennessee to gather other patriots to fight against the British. They re-entered South Carolina and fought the British at the Battle of King’s Mountain. The British tried to surrender. The patriots remembered a time when the British had not honored the patriots’ request to surrender ( a request for ‘quarter’) and had slaughtered the Patriot troops. So the Patriots repaid the British actions by ignoring the British request to surrender. Most of the British force was killed. Kings Mountain was a significant defeat for the British and a turning point of the war.
• After the Battle of Kings Mountain, the remaining British soldiers kept chasing the Patriots around the backcountry.
• The Patriots defeated the British a second time at the Battle of Cowpens. The American militia, led by Andrew Pickens, fooled the British into thinking that they were retreating because they were afraid of the British army. However, when the British chased the fleeing American militia they were led into the guns of the Continental Army. Surrounded, the British suffered a major defeat. This battle forced the British to abandon their backcountry efforts.
• Soon the British marched out of South Carolina to the Virginia coast to await rescue by the British navy. There they were surrounded by the Continental Army at Yorktown.
• The American’s French allies used their navy to block the British escape by sea.
• Soon the British were forced to surrender and the American Revolution was over.
• The British had attacked Charles Town hoping to find a large number of Loyalists to support them. However, the harsh actions of the British army and their Loyalist allies including the hanging of Patriots as traitors, the burning of homes and farms and the refusal to grant surrendering Patriots ‘quarter’, soon turned many South Carolinians into Patriots willing to fight for independence. As a result, the British met defeat in South Carolina and ultimately in the American Revolution.

It Is Not Essential For Students to Know:

• It is not essential for students to know names and dates of other battles fought in South Carolina.
• Students do not need to know about the conflict that erupted in the backcountry at the start of the revolution, known as the Regulator Movement.
• Students do not need to know about the role of the young Andrew Jackson in the war in South Carolina or the names of other military leaders such as Nathaniel Greene.