ePub A History of the Royal Navy: The Seven Years War by Martin Robson in History

Description

Opposed by "Bloody" Tarleton's Raiders; American Revolution patriots under Francis Marion fought a brutal guerrilla war throughout South Carolina and North Carolina.The American Revolution was deadlocked in the north; and after the battle at Monmouth Courthouse in 1778 the focus of the conflict shifted south. Following-up on his decisive May 12; 1780 victory at Charleston; South Carolina; Cornwallis launched a campaign through the Carolinas that was designed to expel American Continental and militia forces from the southern theater. With a second British victory at Camden in August; conventional American forces adopted a policy of avoiding another large battle in favor of smaller; more limited operations. As regular forces were constrained by traditional logistics and organization; soldiers like Francis Marion were able to inflict numerous raids and skirmishes against British and Loyalist forces; after which they would dissolve to form and fight at a later time. Cornwallis subsequently directed contingents to secure the countryside and capture such leaders; but the Patriot victory at King's Mountain (October); forced him to withdraw into South Carolina in what was one of the turning points in the Revolutionary War.To the southeast; Francis Marion continued his hit-and-run operations in which his band rescued American prisoners at Nelson's Ferry; dispersed Loyalist forces at Blue Savannah (September); and defeated a British outpost at Black Mingo (September). When Marion defeated Loyalist militia at Tearcoat Swamp in October; Cornwallis responded to this string of raids across northeastern South Carolina by assigning his aggressive cavalry commander; Banastre Tarleton; to capture or kill the rebel guerrilla commander. What followed was an unsuccessful two-week pursuit of the elusive Marion; in which Tarleton practiced a scorched-earth policy that ultimately disillusioned Loyalist sympathizers and hurt the British cause in the Carolinas.Unlike much of the Revolutionary War in the north; the fighting in the Carolinas was generally less civilized and brutal; with Loyalists and Rebels in roughly equal numbers. Except for Cornwallis' British regulars and Greene's Continental army; militias and irregular forces were the norm. A Raid book covering the Marion/Tarleton (British) struggle would be used to showcase this style of frontier warfare; and how its combatants were supplied; organized; and operated. Although not a single; defined raid; the series of actions between August and November 1780 illustrate Marion's unconventional; yet successful; efforts to hinder their enemy's war effort in the south; and Tarleton's equally irregular efforts to counter it.