Chapter 7.3 The War Expands

Transcription

1 Chapter 7 - The Section 3 The Path to Victory Savannah and Charles Town Believing most Southerners were Loyalists, the British moved the war to the South after three years of fighting in the North, they were no closer to victory The British could capture cities, but didn t have enough troops to take the countryside -they hoped to enlist the help of Loyalists in the South to help them hold captured territory The British also hoped a large number of slaves would join them to win their freedom although thousands did run away to join the British, not all were freed some were sold by the British officers into slavery in the West Indies

2 Savannah and Charles Town Finally, the British wanted to use Southern ports to transport troops stationed in the West Indies back and forth between the two regions In 1778, the British captured Savannah, Georgia, then went on to capture most of Georgia In 1780, General Henry Clintonlanded in South Carolina and captured 5,000 Americans soldiers at Charles Town nearly all of the Southern army It was the worst American defeat of the war The Swamp Fox and Guerilla Fighting Afterthe loss of the Southern army at Charles Town, Congress assigned General Horatio Gates to build a new Southern armywith Continental soldiers led by Baron de Kalb at its core Gates added 2,000 new untrained militia, and headed for Camden, South Carolinato confront the British army led by General Cornwallis On the way, he met Francis Marion and a small band of his men Marion provided Gates with valuable information on the swamplands in South Carolina Gates sent Marion and his men to destroy British boats on the Santee River to cut off British communications with Charles Town In 1780, Gates ran into British troops outside Camden his troops were in no condition to fight; they were out of supplies and half-starved

3 The Swamp Fox and Guerilla Fighting To make matters worse, Gates put his inexperienced militia on the front line instead of his seasoned veterans When the British attacked, the militia, along with Gates, panicked and ran; only Kalb and his troops remained to fight -Kalb received several wounds and died This was the second defeat in the South and resulted in Gates being removed as head of an army this also caused American spirits to fall After Camden, Marion then set up a base of operations in the swamps and cut the British supply lines that led inland and north from Charles Town Marion used guerrilla tactics, or hit-and-run tactics, to keep the British off balance Both Patriots and Loyalists formed guerrilla bands, carrying out vicious raids on each other The Tide Turns Some of the bloodiest battles of the war were fought in the South for example, at the Battle of Kings Mountain, fought on the border between North and South Carolina in 1780, Patriots surrounded a force of 1,000 Loyalist militia and British officers then proceeded to slaughter most of them Many of the dead had been shot or hanged after they surrendered the slaughter at Kings Mountain was in revenge for an earlier battle in which the British had slaughtered Americans who had surrendered

4 The Tide Turns A former Quaker kicked out of his church for supporting the war, Nathanial Greene was placed in charge of the Southern army Under Greene's command, the American army avoided full-scale battles with the British and instead let the British chase them around the countryside wearing themselves out When they did confront the British, they made sure the British suffered heavy casualties -this lead to increased opposition to the war in Britain The End of the War In 1781, most of the fighting took place in Virginia -in July Cornwallis made his base at Yorktown on the peninsula in Chesapeake Bay When the French fleet arrived in August of 1781, Washington took advantage of Cornwallis's decision and blocked the Chesapeake Bay When Washington moved his troops down from the north, Cornwallis was trapped on the peninsula, unable to receive reinforcements or supplies When British ships tried to reach Cornwallis, the French fleet drove them back During the Battle of Yorktown, the Americans and French troops bombarded Yorktown, reducing its buildings to rubble -Cornwallis had no way out

5 The End of the War On October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered his 8,000 troops Although some fighting continued, Yorktown was the last major battle of the war -When Lord North heard the news he reportedly gasped, "it's all over! Lord North and other British leaders were forced to resign -the new leaders began to negotiate peace terms -the Americans had won their independence wikipedia.org/wiki/file:surrender_of_lord_cornwallis.jpg