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About the author
Edward A. St. Germain created AmericanRevolution.org in 1996. He was an avid historian with a keen interest in the Revolutionary War and American culture and society in the 18th century. On this website, he created and collated a huge collection of articles, images, and other media pertaining to the American Revolution. Edward was also a Vietnam veteran, and his investigative skills led to a career as a private detective in later life.
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The Southern Campaign was a series of battles fought between Loyalist and Patriot forces in the southern colonies in America from 1778 to 1781.
These battles, and the eventual failure of the British Southern Strategy, played a crucial role in determining the outcome of the Revolutionary War.
Context
In October 1777, the British suffered a severe defeat at Saratoga, New York.
At the time, New England was the Patriot heartland, and as a result, the British decided to attempt a pincer movement to cut off the New England colonies.
Three separate armies were supposed to march on Albany, New York, beginning in the summer of 1777. However, the plan went awry, leaving General John Burgoyne isolated and out of supplies, facing a much larger American force.
He eventually surrendered on October 17, resulting in the capture of more than 6,000 British troops.
From this point on, the British decided to focus their efforts on the southern colonies in America, in what became known as the Southern Strategy.
British high command believed that Patriot support was relatively weak in the south, and that when the British Army arrived, the local populations would rise up against the colonial forces.
They also knew that there were a significant number of lucrative plantations in southern states such as Georgia and South Carolina.
By capturing these areas with cash crop plantations of tobacco, rice, and indigo, the British could hurt the Americans financially, and export these goods for themselves.
Therefore, beginning in 1778, the British renewed their efforts to capture strategic locations in the American South.
They also declared that any slaves under American control who made their way to the British would be granted their freedom, in an attempt to disrupt the Patriot labor force. This order was given under the Philipsburg Proclamation in June 1779.
Key battles of the Southern Campaign
At the beginning of the Southern Campaign, the British began to make significant progress in the south:
- In December 1778, they easily captured Savannah, Georgia from American forces.
- In May 1780, the British succeeded in taking Charleston, resulting in one of the biggest Patriot losses of the war, with more than 5,000 soldiers captured.
- In August 1780, the British humiliated the Americans at the Battle of Camden despite having a much lower number of men, cementing their control of South Carolina.
However, the tide of the Southern Campaign soon began to turn against the British.
They underestimated the level of Patriot support in the southern colonies. Guerrilla fighters led by men such as Thomas Sumter and Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion were able to cause constant headaches for the British and their supply lines.
Realising the British position, when he took command of the Continental Army in the South in December 1780, General Nathanael Greene implemented a Fabian Strategy: conducting small engagements before retreating and tempting the British to overextend away from their supply lines, and avoiding decisive conflicts.
The British soon found themselves exposed and isolated in certain areas, allowing the Continental Army and its militias to begin scoring important victories in the south:
- In October 1780, Loyalist forces under Major Patrick Ferguson were crushed at the Battle of King’s Mountain in South Carolina.
- In January 1781, Daniel Morgan used smart military tactics to exploit British over-aggression at the Battle of Cowpens, resulting in American victory, and more than 1,000 British casualties.
- In March 1781, the British were victorious after Greene performed a tactical retreat at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse near present-day Greensboro, North Carolina, but lost around a quarter of their force killed or wounded. British forces under General Charles Cornwallis were forced to withdraw to Wilmington, North Carolina, before abandoning the South and marching to Yorktown, Virginia.
After the Southern Campaign
After arriving in Yorktown, Cornwallis expected to receive a resupply from the British Navy.
Before this could happen, George Washington, with the help of the French, surrounded and captured the city in October 1781, leading to another significant British defeat.
After this, British public opinion had completely turned against their involvement in America, and Britain had no viable plan to retake the colonies.
Therefore, they decided to withdraw, formalizing British defeat in the Revolutionary War with the 1783 Treaty of Paris.
Ultimately, the British failure of the Southern Strategy played a significant role in their eventual defeat at the hands of the Continental Army.
During the Southern Campaign, British leadership severely underestimated the level of Patriot support that existed in the southern colonies.
Instead of rising up against the Continental Army, southern militias constantly harassed the Redcoats and Loyalists, making it impossible for them to cement their control in colonies such as South Carolina.
This eventually forced the British to abandon the South, leading to their eventual defeat at the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 – the final major battle of the Revolutionary War.
