An assessment of critical battles on the southern front that led to American independence An estimated one-third of all combat actions in the American Revolution took place in South Carolina. From the partisan clashes of the backcountry's war for the hearts and minds of settlers to bloody encounters with Native Americans on the frontier, more battles were fought in South Carolina than any other of the original thirteen states. The state also had more than its share of pitched battles between Continental troops and British regulars. In South Carolina and the American Revolution: A Battlefield History, John W. Gordon illustrates how these encounters, fought between 1775 and 1783, were critical to winning the struggle that secured Americas independence from Great Britain. According to Gordon, when the war reached stalemate in other zones and the South became its final theater, South Carolina was the decisive battleground. Recounting the clashes in the state, Gordon identifies three sources of attack: the powerful British fleet and seaborne forces of the British regulars; the Cherokees in the west; and, internally, a loyalist population numerous enough to support British efforts towards reconquest. From the successful defense of Fort Sullivan (the palmetto-log fort at the mouth of Charleston harbor), capture and occupation of Charleston in 1780, to later battles at King's Mountain and Cowpens, this chronicle reveals how troops in South Carolina frustrated a campaign for restoration of royal authority and set British troops on the road to ultimate defeat at Yorktown. Despite their successes in 1780 and 1781, the British found themselves with a difficult military problem—having to wage a conventional war against American regular forces while also mounting a counterinsurgency against the partisan bands of Francis Marion, Andrew Pickens, and Thomas Sumter. In this comprehensive assessment of one southern state's battlegrounds, Gordon examines how military policy in its strategic, operational, and tactical dimensions set the stage for American success in the Revolution.

Parker's Guide to the Revolutionary War in South Carolina is 415 pages of information with 620 maps, photos and illustrations, and action locations in all the counties in the state. Most people do not know that South Carolina had a "Boston Tea Party" of sorts on October 12, 1765 while the celebrated Boston Tea Party was on May 10, 1773. South Carolina forced the removal of British Stamps from Charleston and became a leader of the rebellion against British taxation. The account is on page 87 of Parker's Guide. Another fact that most people do not know is that on April 21, 1775, the British magazines in Charleston (Cochran's) and Mount Pleasant (Hobcaw) were broken into by Patriot South Carolinians only two days after the Battle of Lexington. All the arms, powder and shot were requisitioned for the Patriot cause from both magazines. The short time span between the Lexington and South Carolina actions did not allow South Carolinians to have received news of the action in Lexington, Massachusetts until weeks later. South Carolina was again in the forefront of the American Revolution. The account is on pages 74 and 107 of Parker's Guide. - Publisher.

"...Puts into perspective the choices people faced because of the changing fortunes of the two sides, the civil war that raged in the backcountry and how it affected those who lived through it, and the decisions thrust upon families to flee to new lives in other parts of the empire or to make peace with the state government in hopes of remaining in South Carolina"--Book jacket.

In The Road to Guilford Courthouse, one of the most acclaimed military histories of the Revolutionary War ever written, John Buchanan explored the first half of the critical Southern Campaign and introduced readers to its brilliant architect, Major General Nathanael Greene. In this long-awaited sequel, Buchanan brings this story to its dramatic conclusion. Greene's Southern Campaign was the most difficult of the war. With a supply line stretching hundreds of miles northward, it revealed much about the crucial military art of provision and transport. Insufficient manpower a constant problem, Greene attempted to incorporate black regiments into his army, a plan angrily rejected by the South Carolina legislature. A bloody civil war between Rebels and Tories was wreaking havoc on the South at the time, forcing Greene to address vigilante terror and restore civilian government. As his correspondence with Thomas Jefferson during the campaign shows, Greene was also bedeviled by the conflict between war and the rights of the people, and the question of how to set constraints under which a free society wages war. Joining Greene is an unforgettable cast of characters--men of strong and, at times, antagonistic personalities--all of whom are vividly portrayed. We also follow the fate of Greene's tenacious foe, Lieutenant Colonel Francis, Lord Rawdon. By the time the British evacuate Charleston--and Greene and his ragged, malaria-stricken, faithful Continental Army enter the city in triumph--the reader has witnessed in telling detail one of the most punishing campaigns of the Revolution, culminating in one of its greatest victories.