A brilliant account of the proud and ferocious American fighters who stood up to the British forces in savage battles crucial in deciding both the fate of the Carolina colonies and the outcome of the war. "A tense, exciting historical account of a little known chapter of the Revolution, displaying history writing at its best."--Kirkus Reviews "His compelling narrative brings readers closer than ever before to the reality of Revolutionary warfare in the Carolinas."--Raleigh News & Observer "Buchanan makes the subject come alive like few others I have seen." --Dennis Conrad, Editor, The Nathanael Greene Papers "John Buchanan offers us a lively, accurate account of a critical period in the War of Independence in the South. Based on numerous printed primary and secondary sources, it deserves a large reading audience." --Don Higginbotham, Professor of History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

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.

This detailed account of Britain’s Siege of Charleston is “a welcome addition to the history of South Carolina and of the American Revolution” (Journal of Military History). In 1779 Sir Henry Clinton and more than eight thousand British troops left the waters of New York, seeking to capture the colonies’ most important southern port, Charleston, South Carolina. Clinton and his officers believed that victory in Charleston would change both the seat of the war and its character. In this comprehensive study of the 1780 siege and surrender of Charleston, Carl P. Borick offers a full examination of the strategic and tactical elements of Clinton’s operations. Drawing on an impressive array of primary and secondary sources, Borick contends that the British effort against Charleston was one of the most critical campaigns of the war. He examines the shift in British strategy, the efforts of their army and navy, and the difficulties the patriots faced as they defended the city. He also explores the roles of key figures in the campaign, including Benjamin Lincoln, William Moultrie, and Lord Charles Cornwallis.

In December 1780, former Quaker turned general Nathanael Greene took command of the entire Southern Department. He reported only to George Washington himself. Leadership of the southern states to that point in the American Revolution had failed, as the British held all major southern cities, including the important port city of Charleston. Greene faced the British in several key battles in South Carolina in 1781 and ultimately was able to rid the state of the British and free Charleston, but not until 1782, long after the victory at Yorktown. Join author and historian Leigh Moring as she tells the forgotten story of General Nathanael Greene and the liberation of the Lowcountry at the end of the American Revolution.

A guide book will help natives and visitors alike appreciate the history and residents of the beautiful city of Charleston, South Carolina, one of the South's great cultural destinations, which has endured periods of grandeur, occupation, a devastating earthquake, fires, hurricanes, and the challenges of Reconstruction. Original.

Slightly north of the confluence of the Cooper and Ashley Rivers in South Carolina lies the Palmetto State's third largest metropolitan center, North Charleston. Although the city's official incorporation did not take place until 1972, the area's story begins much earlier. Before the War between the States, tremendous plantations including Ingleside, Marshlands, and Otranto lined the local waterways. Several of North Charleston's main thoroughfares are traceable to earlier times as well: Remount Road acquired its name as World War I army officers commanded soldiers who were standing beside their horses to "remount," while Meeting Street, then called the "broad path," was used by the local Native Americans. This pictorial history of North Charleston offers readers a unique chance to step back in time, to revisit past generations of families and businesses no longer in existence, to experience North Charleston's creation and expansion. Crisp, detailed text enhances vintage photographs, together relating the city's storied past. The images portray various aspects of the community's history-from historic Montague Avenue and the city's oldest church, St Peter's A.M.E., through the city's population explosion when World War II increased the importance and size of the Navy Yard and the Charleston Air Force Base, and into the cultural development and beautification that the city is presently undergoing. Probably the most important inclusion, however, are the numerous faces of individuals who throughout the 20th century have visited this place and called it home. Without the contributions of such individuals, no matter how large or how small, North Charleston as it is known today simply would not be the same.

From Lincoln's election to secession from the Union, this compelling history explains how South Carolina was swept into a cultural crisis at the heart of the Civil War. "The tea has been thrown overboard -- the revolution of 1860 has been initiated." -- Charleston Mercury, November 8, 1860 In 1860, Charleston, South Carolina, embodied the combustible spirit of the South. No city was more fervently attached to slavery, and no city was seen by the North as a greater threat to the bonds barely holding together the Union. And so, with Abraham Lincoln's election looming, Charleston's leaders faced a climactic decision: they could submit to abolition -- or they could drive South Carolina out of the Union and hope that the rest of the South would follow. In Madness Rules the Hour, Paul Starobin tells the story of how Charleston succumbed to a fever for war and charts the contagion's relentless progress and bizarre turns. In doing so, he examines the wily propagandists, the ambitious politicians, the gentlemen merchants and their wives and daughters, the compliant pastors, and the white workingmen who waged a violent and exuberant revolution in the name of slavery and Southern independence. They devoured the Mercury, the incendiary newspaper run by a fanatical father and son; made holy the deceased John C. Calhoun; and adopted "Le Marseillaise" as a rebellious anthem. Madness Rules the Hour is a portrait of a culture in crisis and an insightful investigation into the folly that fractured the Union and started the Civil War.