Failure Of British Strategy During The Southern Campaign Of The American Revolutionary War
()
About this ebook
Major Jesse T. Pearson
See Book Description
Related to Failure Of British Strategy During The Southern Campaign Of The American Revolutionary War
Related ebooks
Comparative Evaluation Of British And American Strategy In The Southern Campaign Of 1780-1781 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Thomas Fleming's The Strategy of Victory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe 10 Key Campaigns of the American Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Faults Of The Generals: How Great Britain Lost The War For America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThis Destructive War: The British Campaign in the Carolinas, 1780-1782 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Battle Digest: Yorktown Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEutaw Springs: The Final Battle of the American Revolution's Southern Campaign Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Miller Cornfield at Antietam: The Civil War's Bloodiest Combat Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrandywine: A Military History of the Battle that Lost Philadelphia but Saved America, September 11, 1777 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Defining Duty in the Civil War: Personal Choice, Popular Culture, and the Union Home Front Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConduct Of The Partisan War In The Revolutionary War South Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNathanael Greene in South Carolina: Hero of the American Revolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerica’s Second War of Independence: A Short History of the War of 1812 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTowards Gettysburg: A Biography Of General John F. Reynolds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Philadelphia Campaign: Brandywine and the Fall of Philadelphia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Long, Obstinate, and Bloody: The Battle of Guilford Courthouse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Campaigning with Uncle Billy: The Civil War Memoirs of Sgt. Lyman S. Widney, 34Th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattle Digest: Gettysburg Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVictory or Death: The Battles of Trenton and Princeton, December 25, 1776—January 3, 1777 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsManey's Confederate Brigade at the Battle of Perryville Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrant Wins the War: Decision at Vicksburg Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The American Revolution by the Numbers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Effects Of Southern Railroads On Interior Lines During The Civil War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tarnished Warrior: Major-General James Wilkinson Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattle Digest: Cowpens Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDesertion During The Civil War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRevolutionary Princeton 1774-1783: The Biography of an American Town in the Heart of a Civil War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Enemy Harassed: Washington's New Jersey Campaign of 1777 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThat Furious Struggle: Chancellorsville and the High Tide of the Confederacy, May 1-4, 1863 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sherman's Mississippi Campaign Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Wars & Military For You
How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933–45 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unit 731: Testimony Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The History of the Peloponnesian War: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Washington: The Indispensable Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mein Kampf: The Original, Accurate, and Complete English Translation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings77 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Failure Of British Strategy During The Southern Campaign Of The American Revolutionary War
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Failure Of British Strategy During The Southern Campaign Of The American Revolutionary War - Major Jesse T. Pearson
This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING—www.picklepartnerspublishing.com
To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books – picklepublishing@gmail.com
Or on Facebook
Text originally published in 2005 under the same title.
© Pickle Partners Publishing 2015, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Publisher’s Note
Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.
We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.
THE FAILURE OF BRITISH STRATEGY DURING THE SOUTHERN CAMPAIGN OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR, 1780-81
By
MAJ Jesse T. Pearson
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS 4
ABSTRACT 5
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 6
ILLUSTRATIONS 7
CHAPTER 1 — INTRODUCTION 8
CHAPTER 2 — FALSE ASSUMPTION 12
CHAPTER 3 — SELF-DEFEATING POLICIES 23
CHAPTER 4 — INSUFFICIENT FORCES 35
CHAPTER 5 — GREENE’S CAMPAIGN 45
CHAPTER 6 — CONCLUSION 59
ILLUSTRATIONS 62
BIBLIOGRAPHY 67
Books 67
Periodicals 68
REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 69
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates the failure of British strategy during the southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War from 1780 to 1781. Following France’s entry into the war in 1778, the British Secretary of State for the American Department, Lord George Germain, believed that Great Britain could expand the war into the south with minimal cost. This research traces Lord Germain’s strategy from its origin in London in 1778 to its application in the American south by British Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis during 1780 and 1781. It also analyzes crucial British engagements with the southern patriot army at the Battle of Cowpens in January 1781, the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in March 1781, and the final withdrawal of British forces from the southern interior following the Battle of Eutaw Springs in September 1781. This research identifies four factors that contributed to the failure of British strategy in the south: (1) a false British assumption of loyalist support among the populace, (2) British application of self-defeating political and military policies, (3) the British failure to deploy sufficient forces to control the territory, and (4) patriot General Nathanael Greene’s campaign against British forces.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank the members of my committee for their direction and encouragement. Dr. Richard Barbuto provided outstanding professional guidance and mentorship as the committee chairman. Dr. Michael Pearlman shared his extensive knowledge of 18th-century American history and provided valuable critical analysis. Captain (Retired) Roy Merrill, USN graciously agreed to serve as a committee member with little advance notice. Dr. Joseph Fischer provided expert guidance on primary sources relating to the British government and the ministry of Lord Frederick North. Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Douglas Stephensen provided valuable feedback on structure and organization. I am deeply grateful for the time and attention that these scholars have devoted to this project. I would also like to thank Ms. Helen Davis, Program Advisor for the Director of Graduate Degree Programs, for her technical expertise, generosity, and kindness.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure 1. War of Maneuver in the Carolinas
Figure 2. The Battle of Cowpens
Figure 3. The Battle of Guilford Courthouse 100
CHAPTER 1 — INTRODUCTION
This paper investigates the failure of British strategy in the American south from 1780 to 1781. The thesis of this research is that this failure was due to four factors: (1) a false British assumption of loyalist support among the local populace, (2) British application of self-defeating political and military policies, (3) the British failure to deploy sufficient forces to control the territory, and (4) patriot General Nathanael Greene’s campaign against British forces. The chapters that follow examine each of these factors in detail.
In March 1778, King George III was eager to find a solution to what had become a political and military quagmire with the war in America. He established the Carlisle Peace Commission and dispatched the body to New York City with a proposal to cease hostilities. The American government insisted that the king and the British government agree to recognize American independence. The commission refused to make this concession and both parties recognized that they had arrived at an impasse.
Faced with this intractable problem, British Prime Minister Lord Frederick North came under intense political pressure to achieve a military breakthrough. The Secretary of State for the American Department, Lord George Germain, was the official directly responsible to the government for British performance in the war. After Carlisle’s failure, Germain wrote that the opposition Whig Party in Parliament might make it almost impossible to the present Ministry to remain in office.
{1} Therefore, he worked fervently to develop a new strategy to demonstrate to the Parliament and king that victory was still attainable. Germain came to believe that southern loyalists were prepared to rise up in great numbers to defeat the rebels if British troops provided them protection. To acquire a sufficient number of troops to protect the loyalists, Germain used traditional recruiting techniques such as hiring mercenaries from the state of Hesse-Cassel, impressing criminals convicted by the courts, and offering bounties to volunteers.
On 8 March 1778, Germain sent a letter to General Henry Clinton, commander in chief of all British forces in North America, declaring that conquering the southern states of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina was absolutely essential. Germain wrote that this was considered by the King as an object of great importance in the scale of the war.
{2} He believed that Great Britain should isolate the active center of the American rebellion in New England by invading the south. This would damage the rebels’ economic base by depriving them of the revenue they generated by exporting southern crops such as rice, indigo, and tobacco. The American government used the funds from these crops to purchase war stocks and equipment from Europe. Germain gave Clinton broad latitude in planning the invasion of the south. He wrote, Your own knowledge of those provinces, and the information you can collect from the naval and military officers that have been upon service there, will enable you to give the officer to whom you may entrust the command better instructions than I can pretend to point out to you at this distance.
{3}
On 12 May 1780, patriot General Benjamin Lincoln surrendered his entire 5,500- man army to Clinton at Charleston, South Carolina in the greatest American disaster of the war. Three months later, General Charles Cornwallis and his 2,200-man army won a crushing victory over General Horatio Gates and his 4,100 American troops at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina. The British killed or wounded 800 of Gates’s soldiers and captured 1,000. The remnants of the American army fled north to Charlotte and Hillsborough, North Carolina in disarray. It appeared that the British had solidified their position of complete dominance over the south.
Yet only seven months later, Cornwallis permanently abandoned the southern backcountry and took refuge with his army along the coast at Wilmington, North Carolina. Six months after that, patriot General Nathanael Greene engaged the last remaining contingent of British forces in the southern backcountry at the Battle of Eutaw Springs on 8 September 1781. Afterwards, the British commander, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Stewart, withdrew his forces to Charleston, fifty miles to the southwest. The British never ventured into the southern backcountry again and their last remaining garrisons were the coastal bases at Wilmington, Charleston, and Savannah. In a period of 13 months, British forces in the south had gone from what appeared to be complete mastery of the territory to complete abandonment of it.
Germain’s strategy for the south was to rally the support of the local populace for British rule. His goal was to use British military power to protect loyalist