South Carolinians played a key role in the American Revolution through partisan warfare. They were defeated at the Battles of Charleston and Camden but won key victories at Kings Mountain, Cowpens, and Eutaw Springs. These victories helped turn the tide of the war in South Carolina and forced the British to retreat, securing South Carolina for the Patriot cause.

1. SC & THE BATTLES OF
THE REVOLUTIONARY
WAR
8-2.5—Summarize the role of South Carolinians in
the course of the American Revolution, including
the use of partisan warfare & the battles of
Charleston, Camden, Cowpens, Kings Mountain, &
Eutaw Springs

2. SC CONFLICTS THAT EFFECTED THE WAR
 American forces thwarted the British attempt the
split the colonies & won the a victory at Saratoga,
NY
 A turning point in the war for the Americans
 Victory resulted in an American alliance with France
 Afterward, the British turned to SC in hopes finding a
large number of Loyalists
 Video: Battle of Saratoga (9:55)

3. BATTLE OF CHARLESTON
 1st British attempt to take Charleston
failed due to tides & resistance from
the palmetto log fort protecting the
port (Fort Moultrie)
 2nd attempt was successful after sieging for several
days
 The British blockaded and cut off supply lines that
lead from Charleston Harbor
 Patriot troops who were trapped on the peninsula
were forced to surrendered in May 1780
 Other Patriot soldiers surrenders and were paroled

4. BRITISH RESPONSE TO SC
 British hoped that they would gain control of the
state through large numbers of state Loyalists and
the neutral colonists to help win the war
 But, the British changed their parole terms and
forced paroled Patriots to take up arms against their
countrymen
 At the same time, The British, along with American
Tories, treated SC harshly: they burned churches,
looted & confiscated homes, harassed and exiled
citizens
 This behavior turned South Carolinians against the
British. Partisan bands were formed as a result.

5. Patriot partisans
led by Francis
Marion, Thomas
Sumter, Andrew
Pickens, & William
Harden were
fighting both the
British regular
troops and the
Loyalists forces
using hit & run
tactics all over the
state

6. BATTLE OF CAMDEN
 Major defeat for the Continental Army
 It signified that almost all of SC was controlled by the
British
 The SC partisans were not prepared & turned and ran
when faced with the regular British troops
 Resulted in Horatio Gate’s command of the southern arm
of the Continental Army be transferred to Nathaniel
Greene
 Greene coordinated work with
the state’s partisans in order to
fight a destructive war of attrition
(“mobile war”) that would
unbalance & eventually destroy
the British war efforts

7. BATTLE OF KINGS MOUNTAIN
Video (8:16)

8. BATTLE OF KINGS MOUNTAIN
 British & Loyalist forces had stopped on the top of
Kings Mountain in a place they thought was safe to
set up camp
 Mountain men from North and South Carolina were
fed up with the harsh behavior of the Tories and
British decided to put a stop to it
 The “Over Mountain Men” (Patriots) fought Guerilla
warfare against the camp on Kings Mountain from
behind the same rocks and trees the British thought
were keeping them safe
 The British & Tories sustained heavy casualties

9. BATTLE OF KINGS MOUNTAIN
 The British tried to surrender, but were offered no
quarter by the Patriots in retaliation of the harsh
treatment the British had bestowed upon the
Patriots throughout SC
 The Battle of Kings Mountain is considered a
turning point in the Revolutionary War because the
British forces began to retreat from the upcountry

10. Video 2:18

11. THE BATTLE OF COWPENS
 Showed a cooperation between the Continental
Army and the partisan forces
 Partisans had a reputation among the British for
turning tail and running
 The American commander (Andrew Pickens)
counted on this reputation for his battle plans
 Pickens led the attack and fled back into the field
 He tricked the British forces into thinking they were
retreating again
 Instead, the partisans lured the British forces into
their guns, taking a victory!
 Resulting in the first time a British force of mostly
regular troops had been defeated by the Americans

12. THE BATTLE OF COWPENS
 Cornwallis and the British retreated to North
Carolina to fight and wait for supplies
 Eventually they retreated back to Virginia leaving
their remaining forces in the SC backcountry to be
evacuated or reclaimed by the partisan forces
and/or Greene’s Continental Army that was pushing
toward the coast

13. COLONEL ISAAC HAYNE
 Partisan parolee Colonel Isaac
Hayne was captured near
Charleston in July 1781
 The British used his punishment
as an example to help stem the
Patriot advance
 They hanged him as a traitor of
the British crown after only a brief
trial
 Nathaniel Greene issued a
proclamation stated that he would
retaliate against the British forces

14. BATTLE OF EUTAW SPRINGS
 After the Battle of Eutaw Springs, Greene had captured
enough British officers to ensure that no more Patriot
executions would occur
 This battle was not one of the last 137 battles fought in
SC, nor a technical victory( b/c of the unsoldierly
plundering behavior of the hungry and nearly naked
Continental soldiers)
 Irreplaceable British troop loses made this battle
strategically the major final battle in the beleaguered
state
 American contemporaries view this battle as a Pyrrhic
victory for the British b/c it marks the clearance of the
British from the battleground state and region (except for
few enclaves near the coast that evacuated after peace
proceedings in 1782)

15. BATTLE OF EUTAW SPRINGS
 Americans viewed the battle as a victory b/c of its
positive tactical results
 This can be seen both in the striking of a
commemorative medal and the commissioning of a
tribute door panel of the Capital building in the early
years of the new republic