American Revolution: The War in the South

We continue our overview of the American Revolution with a look at the campaigns in the South. With the victory at Saratoga, the Congress was able to secure a treaty of alliance with France. This led to a widening of the conflict as British and French forces began to battle around the globe. In America, the British elected to abandon Philadelphia and centered their forces at New York. Following the Battle of Monmouth, Gen. Sir Henry Clinton, now commanding British forces in America, elected to begin a new offensive in the South. Capturing Charleston, SC, Clinton left Gen. Lord Charles Cornwallis to subjugate the Carolinas. After American forces suffered a significant defeat at the Battle of Camden, Gen. George Washington dispatched Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene to take command. Fighting a war of attrition, Greene's forces engaged Cornwallis in several bloody battles which badly sapped British strength in the region and compelled them to move north into Virginia.

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