1
00:00:06,066 --> 00:00:09,233
♪ 
[patriotic fife and drum music]

2
00:00:09,233 --> 00:00:11,466
♪ 
[mortar fire booming]

3
00:00:11,466 --> 00:00:13,466
♪

4
00:00:13,466 --> 00:00:17,933
♪ 
[musket fire popping]

5
00:00:17,933 --> 00:00:26,833
♪ 
[mortar fire booming]

6
00:00:26,833 --> 00:00:35,566
♪ 
[mortar fire booming]

7
00:00:35,566 --> 00:00:42,900
♪ 
[mortar fire booming]

8
00:00:42,900 --> 00:00:45,900
After Yorktown...

9
00:00:45,900 --> 00:00:48,666
after the British 
surrender of Yorktown...

10
00:00:50,666 --> 00:00:54,400
no major fighting occurred 
in any theater of the war...

11
00:00:56,733 --> 00:01:00,100
and the British 
were doomed to lose the war

12
00:01:00,100 --> 00:01:02,433
and to lose 
the 13 colonies,

13
00:01:02,433 --> 00:01:04,733
which, of course, 
gained their independence.

14
00:01:06,733 --> 00:01:09,366
Why did the British 
lose the war?

15
00:01:10,866 --> 00:01:13,866
There are many reasons 
which we shall consider.

16
00:01:15,366 --> 00:01:19,466
We must remember that the war 
dragged on for another year.

17
00:01:20,466 --> 00:01:22,466
There were 
some Indian raids.

18
00:01:24,966 --> 00:01:28,466
There was some fighting 
with various Loyalist bands.

19
00:01:31,466 --> 00:01:33,900
But the British 
main bases

20
00:01:33,900 --> 00:01:37,400
at Charleston and Savannah 
eventually were evacuated

21
00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:40,400
without serious 
fighting or loss.

22
00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:43,900
The Americans let them evacuate 
Savannah and Charleston...

23
00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,400
and the Americans 
gained the independence

24
00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:54,900
for which they'd fought 
for seven long years.

25
00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:02,200
The British concept of strategy 
in the South was excellent.

26
00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:08,033
They won several 
of the major battles.

27
00:02:10,833 --> 00:02:13,833
Possibly they should have 
carried out that strategy

28
00:02:13,833 --> 00:02:16,833
to a successful 
conclusion.

29
00:02:16,833 --> 00:02:20,700
One sometimes wonders 
why they did not.

30
00:02:23,333 --> 00:02:25,333
But the South--

31
00:02:25,333 --> 00:02:27,333
and South Carolina, 
particularly--

32
00:02:27,333 --> 00:02:30,333
became the battleground 
of freedom.

33
00:02:32,333 --> 00:02:35,600
In South Carolina 
there were almost 200

34
00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:38,766
battles and skirmishes 
and onfalls alone.

35
00:02:41,766 --> 00:02:44,400
In North Carolina 
and Virginia and Georgia,

36
00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:46,400
there were 
many more.

37
00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:52,900
And so the South was the area 
where the war was decided.

38
00:02:54,900 --> 00:02:56,900
Stalemated 
in the North,

39
00:02:56,900 --> 00:03:01,466
with British forces poised in 
Canada and New York to strike,

40
00:03:01,466 --> 00:03:04,966
with the royal fleet 
dominating the coast,

41
00:03:04,966 --> 00:03:08,700
the British planned 
to win the war in the South,

42
00:03:08,700 --> 00:03:11,700
and they lost 
that war in the South.

43
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,200
Francis Marion,

44
00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:18,700
Thomas Sumter,

45
00:03:18,700 --> 00:03:21,700
William Davie,

46
00:03:21,700 --> 00:03:24,700
Elijah Clarke,

47
00:03:24,700 --> 00:03:28,200
Nathanael Greene,

48
00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:32,200
all the great partisan 
fighters and commanders

49
00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:37,133
who maintained opposition 
against all odds

50
00:03:37,133 --> 00:03:40,966
and against 
all hope and chance

51
00:03:40,966 --> 00:03:43,800
and, eventually, 
won the victory,

52
00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:48,800
which made us 
the country we are today.

53
00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:52,233
I think we should remember, 
in this bicentennial year...

54
00:03:54,733 --> 00:03:56,733
that we, 
as a country,

55
00:03:56,733 --> 00:04:00,300
were born in war 
and blood and terror.

56
00:04:00,300 --> 00:04:04,366
This was 
a very hard birth, indeed,

57
00:04:04,366 --> 00:04:07,366
and one to which 
we may look back

58
00:04:07,366 --> 00:04:11,366
with intense pride 
and a great feeling...

59
00:04:13,366 --> 00:04:15,866
of success 
and satisfaction.

60
00:04:15,866 --> 00:04:18,366
We won 
the war.

61
00:04:18,366 --> 00:04:21,000
Now let us go 
to a plantation

62
00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:23,500
in the Midlands 
of South Carolina.

63
00:04:23,500 --> 00:04:32,500
♪

64
00:04:32,500 --> 00:04:34,933
♪

65
00:04:34,933 --> 00:04:39,933
When the British high command 
in London and New York

66
00:04:39,933 --> 00:04:45,433
decided in 1778 to transfer 
major military operations

67
00:04:45,433 --> 00:04:51,433
from the North to Virginia, 
the Carolinas, and Georgia,

68
00:04:51,433 --> 00:04:56,933
they already had been guilty 
of a serious psychological error

69
00:04:56,933 --> 00:05:02,000
in a long-range 
Southern strategy.

70
00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:06,100
The great warrior Indian 
tribes of the South here,

71
00:05:06,100 --> 00:05:11,100
in 1776, occupied much 
of their ancient lands

72
00:05:11,100 --> 00:05:14,600
from the mountains 
to the Mississippi River.

73
00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:17,600
These were not 
primitive wandering folk,

74
00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:19,600
but settled peoples

75
00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:23,100
with comparatively 
complex social systems.

76
00:05:23,100 --> 00:05:27,100
They also could field their 
warriors in the thousands,

77
00:05:27,100 --> 00:05:30,100
and most of 
the tribal fighting men

78
00:05:30,100 --> 00:05:33,533
by the middle-18th century 
were musket armed.

79
00:05:33,533 --> 00:05:36,533
Extended contact 
with the white man

80
00:05:36,533 --> 00:05:39,533
had changed 
in no way

81
00:05:39,533 --> 00:05:42,533
the totally cruel nature 
of Indian warfare.

82
00:05:42,533 --> 00:05:44,533
The Cherokees,

83
00:05:44,533 --> 00:05:48,533
the nearest of the big tribes 
to the British settlements,

84
00:05:48,533 --> 00:05:51,033
still held 
their territories

85
00:05:51,033 --> 00:05:55,033
in north Georgia 
and upper South Carolina.

86
00:05:55,033 --> 00:05:58,400
Through the work 
of two very able royal agents,

87
00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:01,466
John Stuart 
and Alexander Cameron,

88
00:06:01,466 --> 00:06:03,966
the Cherokees 
in 1776

89
00:06:03,966 --> 00:06:07,966
also were firm supporters 
of the British government.

90
00:06:09,966 --> 00:06:12,966
On the 3rd 
of October 1775,

91
00:06:12,966 --> 00:06:15,966
John Stuart wrote 
to General Thomas Gage,

92
00:06:15,966 --> 00:06:18,966
the British commander 
in Boston,

93
00:06:18,966 --> 00:06:21,966
that he opposed an 
indiscriminate attack by Indians

94
00:06:21,966 --> 00:06:24,966
on anti-British elements 
in the South.

95
00:06:24,966 --> 00:06:29,466
He would dispose of them in 
executing any concerted plan,

96
00:06:29,466 --> 00:06:33,733
and to act with and assist 
their well-disposed neighbors.

97
00:06:33,733 --> 00:06:35,733
This message 
and its bearer,

98
00:06:35,733 --> 00:06:38,400
a confirmed Loyalist 
named Moses Kirkland,

99
00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:40,300
were captured,

100
00:06:40,300 --> 00:06:44,033
and the letter 
published by order of 
the Continental Congress

101
00:06:44,033 --> 00:06:47,766
to demonstrate that the British 
were willing to use savages

102
00:06:47,766 --> 00:06:49,766
against the rebellious 
colonists.

103
00:06:49,766 --> 00:06:52,400
The last happened 
to be quite true.

104
00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:54,400
John Stuart 
and Alexander Cameron

105
00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:56,400
had arranged 
for the Cherokees

106
00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:59,766
to hit the southern frontier 
from Virginia to Georgia

107
00:06:59,766 --> 00:07:03,933
as a diversion in support of 
a British amphibious assault

108
00:07:03,933 --> 00:07:05,966
on the coast.

109
00:07:05,966 --> 00:07:09,966
Such an attack occurred 
on 28 June 1776,

110
00:07:09,966 --> 00:07:12,466
when Admiral 
Sir Peter Parker

111
00:07:12,466 --> 00:07:14,966
and General 
Sir Henry Clinton

112
00:07:14,966 --> 00:07:17,966
mounted a joint operation 
against Charleston,

113
00:07:17,966 --> 00:07:22,433
South Carolina's 
island cities, and defenses.

114
00:07:22,433 --> 00:07:24,433
The Cherokee struck

115
00:07:24,433 --> 00:07:28,166
along the entire southern 
frontier on the 1st of July,

116
00:07:28,166 --> 00:07:31,533
two days after the British 
had been repulsed successfully

117
00:07:31,533 --> 00:07:33,466
by Charleston's defenders.

118
00:07:33,466 --> 00:07:37,400
If Peter Parker and Sir Henry 
Clinton had been successful,

119
00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:40,033
with so many of 
South Carolina's defenders

120
00:07:40,033 --> 00:07:42,033
tied down 
at Charleston,

121
00:07:42,033 --> 00:07:44,033
the Cherokee 
coordinated assault

122
00:07:44,033 --> 00:07:47,033
would have been 
far more effective.

123
00:07:47,033 --> 00:07:50,033
The southerners 
of the backcountry, however,

124
00:07:50,033 --> 00:07:52,033
held the British 
responsible

125
00:07:52,033 --> 00:07:57,033
for loosing the horrors of 
Indian warfare on the frontier.

126
00:07:57,033 --> 00:07:59,033
The British decision

127
00:07:59,033 --> 00:08:02,100
to move their main 
military efforts southward

128
00:08:02,100 --> 00:08:04,700
was based on sound, 
strategic reasoning,

129
00:08:04,700 --> 00:08:08,800
although why they had not 
done so earlier in the war

130
00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:10,800
is difficult 
to understand.

131
00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:13,833
Pro-British feeling 
was strong in South,

132
00:08:13,833 --> 00:08:18,833
and Loyalist leaders had been 
imploring the British for years

133
00:08:18,833 --> 00:08:22,200
to make a major effort 
in the Southern theater.

134
00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:25,200
Saratoga, 
fought in 1777,

135
00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:27,700
had been 
the first and last

136
00:08:27,700 --> 00:08:30,700
big American victory 
in the North,

137
00:08:30,700 --> 00:08:34,633
but Canada remained safely 
in British hands.

138
00:08:34,633 --> 00:08:36,633
New York 
and its environs

139
00:08:36,633 --> 00:08:39,133
were strongly held 
by the British,

140
00:08:39,133 --> 00:08:42,500
and the royal fleet maintained 
a reasonably tight blockade

141
00:08:42,500 --> 00:08:46,500
along the coast 
of the 13 rebellious colonies.

142
00:08:46,500 --> 00:08:49,266
British raiding parties 
hit northern ports

143
00:08:49,266 --> 00:08:52,300
and American 
military depots so hard

144
00:08:52,300 --> 00:08:57,266
that George Washington was, 
at times, almost in despair.

145
00:08:57,266 --> 00:09:01,833
He even warned the 
Continental Congress in 1779

146
00:09:01,833 --> 00:09:05,333
that it might be necessary 
to dissolve his army

147
00:09:05,333 --> 00:09:08,333
and stop active warfare 
for a year

148
00:09:08,333 --> 00:09:11,333
until the country 
and American fortunes,

149
00:09:11,333 --> 00:09:13,833
with hoped-for 
active military aid

150
00:09:13,833 --> 00:09:18,333
from the French alliance 
of 1778, could recover.

151
00:09:18,333 --> 00:09:21,333
Sir Henry Clinton, therefore, 
felt with considerable justice

152
00:09:21,333 --> 00:09:25,066
that the war in the North 
was at a stalemate,

153
00:09:25,066 --> 00:09:28,066
which could end only 
in a British victory.

154
00:09:28,066 --> 00:09:30,566
In Sir Henry Clinton's 
opinion,

155
00:09:30,566 --> 00:09:33,066
Georgia 
and South Carolina,

156
00:09:33,066 --> 00:09:36,500
with the two big ports 
of Savannah and Charleston,

157
00:09:36,500 --> 00:09:39,500
were the key 
to control of the South.

158
00:09:39,500 --> 00:09:42,500
With Savannah and Charleston 
in British hands,

159
00:09:42,500 --> 00:09:46,500
His Majesty's forces, 
cooperating with Loyalists,

160
00:09:46,500 --> 00:09:52,000
could fan out 
and occupy both states.

161
00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,000
With Georgia 
and South Carolina

162
00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:56,000
occupied 
and pacified,

163
00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:59,500
the waverers and neutrals 
could be brought over

164
00:09:59,500 --> 00:10:03,500
and the two provinces 
used as a secure base

165
00:10:03,500 --> 00:10:07,000
for operations against 
North Carolina and Virginia.

166
00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:10,500
It was a good plan 
in its general concept,

167
00:10:10,500 --> 00:10:12,500
even a wise plan,

168
00:10:12,500 --> 00:10:14,500
and might have 
succeeded

169
00:10:14,500 --> 00:10:17,500
except for incredible 
British blundering

170
00:10:17,500 --> 00:10:21,000
and an equally incredible 
failure to establish

171
00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:24,000
unity of command 
and command planning.

172
00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:26,000
Parenthetically, 
it has been stated

173
00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:28,000
in this 
bicentennial year

174
00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,366
that one monument which 
a grateful nation should erect

175
00:10:31,366 --> 00:10:33,933
is a memorial 
to the British generals

176
00:10:33,933 --> 00:10:36,200
who won 
the Revolution for us.

177
00:10:38,700 --> 00:10:40,966
The first part 
of the plan

178
00:10:40,966 --> 00:10:44,466
was executed by the British 
with smooth efficiency.

179
00:10:44,466 --> 00:10:48,466
Savannah, Georgia, 
was taken on December 29, 1778.

180
00:10:48,466 --> 00:10:50,466
Colonel Archibald Campbell,

181
00:10:50,466 --> 00:10:52,733
the British commander 
in this operation,

182
00:10:52,733 --> 00:10:55,233
was not only 
an excellent soldier,

183
00:10:55,233 --> 00:10:58,966
but a wise, high-minded, 
and honorable gentleman.

184
00:10:58,966 --> 00:11:03,533
His treatment of the American 
prisoners taken in the fighting

185
00:11:03,533 --> 00:11:07,166
and his understanding attitude 
toward the Georgians

186
00:11:07,166 --> 00:11:10,666
of all political 
convictions was such

187
00:11:10,666 --> 00:11:13,300
that many came in 
to swear allegiance

188
00:11:13,300 --> 00:11:15,966
and enlist-- 
enlist--

189
00:11:15,966 --> 00:11:19,033
in the Loyalist units 
being formed.

190
00:11:19,033 --> 00:11:21,033
Unfortunately 
for the British cause

191
00:11:21,033 --> 00:11:23,033
and fortunately 
for the American,

192
00:11:23,033 --> 00:11:26,033
Archibald Campbell 
relinquished his command

193
00:11:26,033 --> 00:11:29,533
to superior officers 
far less perceptive.

194
00:11:31,533 --> 00:11:33,466
Three weeks 
after the victory,

195
00:11:33,466 --> 00:11:36,966
Major General Augustine Prevost 
arrived at Savannah

196
00:11:36,966 --> 00:11:39,466
with reinforcements 
from British Florida.

197
00:11:39,466 --> 00:11:43,466
He promptly assumed 
direction of the fighting

198
00:11:43,466 --> 00:11:46,466
and sent Colonel Campbell 
upriver to Augusta,

199
00:11:46,466 --> 00:11:49,466
which he seized 
and garrisoned.

200
00:11:49,466 --> 00:11:51,966
Posts were established 
through the state,

201
00:11:51,966 --> 00:11:54,966
and by the middle 
of February 1780,

202
00:11:54,966 --> 00:11:57,200
Georgia 
appeared to be

203
00:11:57,200 --> 00:11:59,466
completely 
under British control.

204
00:11:59,466 --> 00:12:04,033
A strange and interesting 
commentary on the war in 1779,

205
00:12:04,033 --> 00:12:06,300
in the attitude 
of many southerners

206
00:12:06,300 --> 00:12:09,800
to the long, weary, 
indecisive struggle,

207
00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:13,166
was the offer made 
by the city of Charleston

208
00:12:13,166 --> 00:12:15,300
to Augustine Prevost

209
00:12:15,300 --> 00:12:18,300
when he arrived 
before its land defenses

210
00:12:18,300 --> 00:12:21,800
with 3,000 men 
in May of 1779.

211
00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:25,800
On this occasion, 
the port city,

212
00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:28,800
so gallantly defended 
against the British attack

213
00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:31,300
in 1776,

214
00:12:31,300 --> 00:12:35,733
proposed to remain neutral 
for the duration of the war.

215
00:12:35,733 --> 00:12:39,233
Almost a year later, 
on May 6, 1780,

216
00:12:39,233 --> 00:12:42,733
Charleston, 
South Carolina, fell.

217
00:12:42,733 --> 00:12:44,733
General Benjamin Lincoln

218
00:12:44,733 --> 00:12:47,733
and the entire 
American Army of the South

219
00:12:47,733 --> 00:12:50,733
were captured 
with the city.

220
00:12:50,733 --> 00:12:52,733
Sir Henry Clinton 
had insisted,

221
00:12:52,733 --> 00:12:55,233
as part of 
the surrender terms,

222
00:12:55,233 --> 00:12:57,233
that all 
the defenders

223
00:12:57,233 --> 00:13:00,733
and the citizens 
of the city of Charleston

224
00:13:00,733 --> 00:13:03,066
should be considered 
prisoners of war.

225
00:13:03,066 --> 00:13:05,333
The Continental regulars 
and their officers

226
00:13:05,333 --> 00:13:07,333
were to be 
confined.

227
00:13:07,333 --> 00:13:10,833
The militia and citizens, 
having submitted on parole,

228
00:13:10,833 --> 00:13:14,333
would be allowed to return 
to their respective homes.

229
00:13:14,333 --> 00:13:17,333
Shortly after 
the fall of Charleston,

230
00:13:17,333 --> 00:13:19,833
Andrew Williamson 
and Andrew Pickens,

231
00:13:19,833 --> 00:13:22,833
commanding South Carolina 
militia at Ninety Six,

232
00:13:22,833 --> 00:13:26,833
surrendered to the British 
under the same terms,

233
00:13:26,833 --> 00:13:29,833
taking parole 
for themselves and their men

234
00:13:29,833 --> 00:13:32,966
as prisoners 
of war.

235
00:13:32,966 --> 00:13:34,900
Joseph Kershaw,

236
00:13:34,900 --> 00:13:37,900
the militia commander 
at Camden, South Carolina,

237
00:13:37,900 --> 00:13:40,433
surrendered himself 
and his troops

238
00:13:40,433 --> 00:13:43,066
with the same 
conditions.

239
00:13:43,066 --> 00:13:46,066
The same terms 
were offered by Henry Clinton

240
00:13:46,066 --> 00:13:48,066
to the people 
at large...

241
00:13:48,066 --> 00:13:51,066
come in and swear allegiance, 
with full pardon,

242
00:13:51,066 --> 00:13:53,700
and serve loyally 
with the King's forces

243
00:13:53,700 --> 00:13:55,700
against the rebels,

244
00:13:55,700 --> 00:13:58,333
or take parole 
as prisoners of war.

245
00:13:58,333 --> 00:14:00,333
Many persons,

246
00:14:00,333 --> 00:14:04,133
especially in the coastal area 
where the British power lay,

247
00:14:04,133 --> 00:14:06,700
accepted the terms.

248
00:14:06,700 --> 00:14:10,700
Sir Henry Clinton, 
on the 3rd of June 1780,

249
00:14:10,700 --> 00:14:14,200
committed a major error 
of judgment

250
00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:17,200
to rank with encouraging 
a Cherokee attack

251
00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:19,200
on the southern 
frontiers.

252
00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:24,700
He issued a proclamation 
which declared that all--

253
00:14:24,700 --> 00:14:27,566
all-- inhabitants 
of the province

254
00:14:27,566 --> 00:14:30,166
who were prisoners 
on parole

255
00:14:30,166 --> 00:14:34,633
should, from and after 
the 20th of June 1780,

256
00:14:34,633 --> 00:14:38,133
be freed and exempted 
from all such paroles

257
00:14:38,133 --> 00:14:41,633
and be reinstated 
to all the rights and duties

258
00:14:41,633 --> 00:14:45,133
of citizens 
and inhabitants.

259
00:14:45,133 --> 00:14:47,633
The same proclamation 
further stated

260
00:14:47,633 --> 00:14:50,133
that all citizens 
so described

261
00:14:50,133 --> 00:14:53,633
who did not return 
to their allegiance

262
00:14:53,633 --> 00:14:56,633
and a due submission 
to His Majesty's government

263
00:14:56,633 --> 00:15:00,366
should be considered as rebels 
and enemies to the same

264
00:15:00,366 --> 00:15:02,433
and be treated 
accordingly.

265
00:15:04,433 --> 00:15:08,433
All those who'd taken parole 
after the fall of Charleston

266
00:15:08,433 --> 00:15:11,166
considered that their duty 
was performed

267
00:15:11,166 --> 00:15:14,533
and they could spend 
the remainder of the war

268
00:15:14,533 --> 00:15:16,533
quietly at home.

269
00:15:16,533 --> 00:15:18,800
The South Carolinians 
had surrendered honorably

270
00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:22,033
under conditions 
honorably offered.

271
00:15:22,033 --> 00:15:25,766
Now, a pledge had been broken 
by the British commander,

272
00:15:25,766 --> 00:15:28,766
and men on parole 
were ordered by proclamation

273
00:15:28,766 --> 00:15:32,266
to take up arms 
against their own people

274
00:15:32,266 --> 00:15:35,200
or be considered rebels 
and treated accordingly.

275
00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:39,200
Having issued 
his proclamation,

276
00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:43,700
Sir Henry Clinton returned to 
his command base in New York,

277
00:15:43,700 --> 00:15:45,700
leaving 
Lord Charles Cornwallis

278
00:15:45,700 --> 00:15:48,700
with about 4,000 British 
and Loyalist regulars

279
00:15:48,700 --> 00:15:52,700
to complete the final 
subjection and organization

280
00:15:52,700 --> 00:15:54,700
of a South Carolina

281
00:15:54,700 --> 00:15:58,200
beginning to boil 
with resentment.

282
00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:00,200
Feelings 
among the inhabitants,

283
00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:03,766
particularly the Scots-Irish 
settlers in the Waxhaws,

284
00:16:03,766 --> 00:16:06,766
already were raw 
because of the conduct

285
00:16:06,766 --> 00:16:10,700
of that dashing and ruthless 
British cavalry commander,

286
00:16:10,700 --> 00:16:13,266
Banastre Tarleton.

287
00:16:13,266 --> 00:16:15,266
On May 29, 1780,

288
00:16:15,266 --> 00:16:18,766
just after 
the fall of Charleston,

289
00:16:18,766 --> 00:16:21,766
Banastre Tarleton 
pursued and caught

290
00:16:21,766 --> 00:16:24,766
at the Waxhaws 
in South Carolina

291
00:16:24,766 --> 00:16:27,266
Lieutenant Colonel 
Abraham Buford,

292
00:16:27,266 --> 00:16:30,266
retreating northward 
with the 3rd Virginia Regiment,

293
00:16:30,266 --> 00:16:33,266
and the remnants of 
William Washington's cavalry.

294
00:16:33,266 --> 00:16:36,766
Two hundred and sixty-three 
of Buford's command

295
00:16:36,766 --> 00:16:41,266
were either killed outright 
or badly wounded and captured.

296
00:16:41,266 --> 00:16:44,266
Banastre Tarleton's action 
at the Waxhaws, thus,

297
00:16:44,266 --> 00:16:47,766
set the tone 
for the fighting to come.

298
00:16:49,766 --> 00:16:51,766
Many settlements 
in South Carolina,

299
00:16:51,766 --> 00:16:54,033
separated by 
the great river swamps,

300
00:16:54,033 --> 00:16:59,533
were so isolated that the war 
hardly had touched their lives.

301
00:16:59,533 --> 00:17:03,700
Now it came to them 
as it had to the Waxhaws.

302
00:17:03,700 --> 00:17:05,700
Some British 
field commanders,

303
00:17:05,700 --> 00:17:09,066
such as Major James Wemyss 
of the 63rd Regiment,

304
00:17:09,066 --> 00:17:11,066
considered 
all dissenters

305
00:17:11,066 --> 00:17:13,566
from the established 
Church of England

306
00:17:13,566 --> 00:17:16,566
to be real 
or potential rebels.

307
00:17:16,566 --> 00:17:20,066
James Wemyss burned the 
dissenting church at Indian Town

308
00:17:20,066 --> 00:17:23,066
in what was then 
Saint Mark's Parish

309
00:17:23,066 --> 00:17:26,566
because he considered 
all Presbyterian churches

310
00:17:26,566 --> 00:17:29,566
to be 
"sedition shops."

311
00:17:29,566 --> 00:17:31,566
Again, 
at the Waxhaws,

312
00:17:31,566 --> 00:17:34,133
the minister to 
the Scots-Irish community

313
00:17:34,133 --> 00:17:37,133
had his house 
and books burned

314
00:17:37,133 --> 00:17:40,800
by British troops 
on patrol in that area.

315
00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:44,400
In a few 
short months,

316
00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:47,900
the British 
had antagonized thoroughly

317
00:17:47,900 --> 00:17:51,400
and in many cases 
forced into open rebellion

318
00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:54,400
men who would have been 
quite content

319
00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:57,766
to remain at home 
as paroled prisoners of war.

320
00:17:57,766 --> 00:17:59,766
In the same period,

321
00:17:59,766 --> 00:18:03,333
the British managed 
to shock, anger, and estrange

322
00:18:03,333 --> 00:18:06,600
large elements 
of Scots-Irish Presbyterians

323
00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:08,600
and Welsh Baptists

324
00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:11,600
by, as I have said, 
attacking their churches,

325
00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:15,833
the very center 
of settlement life.

326
00:18:15,833 --> 00:18:18,100
The ruthless brutality 
of Banastre Tarleton

327
00:18:18,100 --> 00:18:22,100
undoubtedly 
frightened some.

328
00:18:22,100 --> 00:18:25,100
Most South Carolinians 
and Georgians

329
00:18:25,100 --> 00:18:30,600
were only made thoroughly 
angry and vengeful.

330
00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:34,533
The hard, dour 
Scots-Irish Calvinists,

331
00:18:34,533 --> 00:18:36,533
the Welsh Baptists,

332
00:18:36,533 --> 00:18:38,533
the Huguenot 
and English planters

333
00:18:38,533 --> 00:18:41,166
now took the field 
with Francis Marion,

334
00:18:41,166 --> 00:18:43,166
Thomas Sumter,

335
00:18:43,166 --> 00:18:45,166
Elijah Clarke, 
and William Davie.

336
00:18:47,533 --> 00:18:49,533
There still 
were many persons

337
00:18:49,533 --> 00:18:52,033
in the Carolinas 
and Georgia, however,

338
00:18:52,033 --> 00:18:56,533
who supported the royal cause 
for personal advantage

339
00:18:56,533 --> 00:19:01,100
or, in most cases, 
honest political conviction.

340
00:19:03,100 --> 00:19:07,100
Here again, the British 
high command in the South

341
00:19:07,100 --> 00:19:11,100
was guilty 
of blundering miscalculation.

342
00:19:11,100 --> 00:19:14,100
The only chance-- 
the only chance--

343
00:19:14,100 --> 00:19:16,100
of British success

344
00:19:16,100 --> 00:19:19,600
lay in a steady, 
methodical subjugation

345
00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:23,600
and organization of Georgia 
and South Carolina.

346
00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:28,100
It was not enough to defeat 
Patriot armies in the field

347
00:19:28,100 --> 00:19:30,733
and establish a network 
of garrison outposts.

348
00:19:30,733 --> 00:19:33,366
Those already loyal 
to the British cause

349
00:19:33,366 --> 00:19:35,300
must be encouraged 
and protected...

350
00:19:37,300 --> 00:19:41,033
while the people as a whole 
had to be convinced

351
00:19:41,033 --> 00:19:44,533
of the inevitability 
of British victory,

352
00:19:44,533 --> 00:19:48,033
and the latter 
never was accomplished.

353
00:19:50,033 --> 00:19:52,033
Lieutenant 
Roderick McKenzie

354
00:19:52,033 --> 00:19:54,533
of the British 
71st Highland Regiment,

355
00:19:54,533 --> 00:19:57,033
who served 
with courage and distinction

356
00:19:57,033 --> 00:20:00,033
through most of 
the fighting in the South,

357
00:20:00,033 --> 00:20:02,533
wrote in 
August of 1781,

358
00:20:02,533 --> 00:20:04,533
"We cannot 
with reason

359
00:20:04,533 --> 00:20:07,033
"expect those 
that are loyal

360
00:20:07,033 --> 00:20:09,533
"will declare 
their sentiments

361
00:20:09,533 --> 00:20:13,533
"until they find us 
so strong in any one place

362
00:20:13,533 --> 00:20:16,533
"as to protect them 
after having joined.

363
00:20:16,533 --> 00:20:19,533
"Our taking posts 
at different places,

364
00:20:19,533 --> 00:20:22,533
"inviting the Loyalists 
to join us

365
00:20:22,533 --> 00:20:25,033
"and then evacuating 
those posts

366
00:20:25,033 --> 00:20:27,033
"and abandoning 
the people

367
00:20:27,033 --> 00:20:29,666
"to the fury 
of their bitterest enemies,

368
00:20:29,666 --> 00:20:32,166
"has deterred them 
from declaring themselves

369
00:20:32,166 --> 00:20:36,600
"until affairs take 
a decisive turn in our favor.

370
00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:41,100
"We shall then find the people 
eager to show their loyalty.

371
00:20:41,100 --> 00:20:44,100
"While the issue 
remains doubtful,

372
00:20:44,100 --> 00:20:46,600
we should not 
expect it."

373
00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:50,833
Lord Charles Cornwallis 
was to find this all too true

374
00:20:50,833 --> 00:20:53,100
as he marched 
through North Carolina

375
00:20:53,100 --> 00:20:55,100
in pursuit 
of Nathanael Greene.

376
00:20:55,100 --> 00:20:57,100
The failure 
of the British

377
00:20:57,100 --> 00:21:00,100
to establish unity of command 
and command planning

378
00:21:00,100 --> 00:21:02,433
has been cited 
as another reason

379
00:21:02,433 --> 00:21:04,700
for their failure 
in the South.

380
00:21:04,700 --> 00:21:06,966
This had been 
an important factor

381
00:21:06,966 --> 00:21:09,233
in early campaigns 
in the North.

382
00:21:09,233 --> 00:21:11,733
Sir Henry Clinton believed, 
quite correctly,

383
00:21:11,733 --> 00:21:13,733
that Georgia 
and South Carolina

384
00:21:13,733 --> 00:21:16,733
were the keys to victory 
in the South.

385
00:21:16,733 --> 00:21:19,233
Lord Cornwallis, 
who succeeded Henry Clinton

386
00:21:19,233 --> 00:21:22,233
as commander in chief 
in the Southern theater,

387
00:21:22,233 --> 00:21:24,233
thought differently.

388
00:21:24,233 --> 00:21:26,233
He felt, 
instead,

389
00:21:26,233 --> 00:21:28,733
that wealthy 
and populous Virginia

390
00:21:28,733 --> 00:21:32,733
was the key 
to a sound southern strategy.

391
00:21:32,733 --> 00:21:34,666
Seize and control 
Virginia,

392
00:21:34,666 --> 00:21:38,033
and the rest of the South 
could be conquered

393
00:21:38,033 --> 00:21:40,033
with comparative ease.

394
00:21:40,033 --> 00:21:42,666
Unhappily for the British 
chance of victory,

395
00:21:42,666 --> 00:21:44,666
Lord George Germain,

396
00:21:44,666 --> 00:21:47,300
the secretary of state 
for American colonies,

397
00:21:47,300 --> 00:21:49,933
at the seat of power 
in London,

398
00:21:49,933 --> 00:21:52,933
agreed with Cornwallis, 
not with Clinton.

399
00:21:54,933 --> 00:21:57,933
After Sir Henry Clinton 
returned to New York

400
00:21:57,933 --> 00:21:59,933
following the fall 
of Charleston,

401
00:21:59,933 --> 00:22:02,000
Cornwallis 
acted accordingly.

402
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:05,366
His first attempt to invade 
North Carolina was checkmated

403
00:22:05,366 --> 00:22:08,366
by Patrick Ferguson's 
savage defeat

404
00:22:08,366 --> 00:22:11,366
at Kings Mountain 
on October 7, 1780.

405
00:22:11,366 --> 00:22:14,366
This action destroyed 
an important element

406
00:22:14,366 --> 00:22:16,866
of Lord Cornwallis's 
light troops,

407
00:22:16,866 --> 00:22:19,500
and he fell back 
to winter quarters

408
00:22:19,500 --> 00:22:23,000
in Winnsboro, 
South Carolina.

409
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,500
On January 17, 1781,

410
00:22:25,500 --> 00:22:29,500
at the Cowpens 
in South Carolina,

411
00:22:29,500 --> 00:22:32,500
Banastre Tarleton's command 
was smashed totally

412
00:22:32,500 --> 00:22:34,433
by Daniel Morgan.

413
00:22:35,933 --> 00:22:37,933
Again, 
Lord Charles Cornwallis

414
00:22:37,933 --> 00:22:40,433
lost valuable 
and essential units

415
00:22:40,433 --> 00:22:45,200
for the necessary, 
fast-moving campaign.

416
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:48,133
In spite 
of two grim lessons,

417
00:22:48,133 --> 00:22:51,433
British field commanders 
consistently underrated

418
00:22:51,433 --> 00:22:53,966
American fighting ability,

419
00:22:53,966 --> 00:22:58,433
even after they were taught 
otherwise by experience.

420
00:22:58,433 --> 00:23:02,000
Lord Charles Cornwallis 
advanced into North Carolina

421
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:06,000
in pursuit of Nathanael 
Greene's retreating army.

422
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,000
He left South Carolina 
and Georgia

423
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:12,000
inadequately garrisoned 
and patrolled,

424
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:16,000
with a general population 
turning against their conquerors

425
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:20,000
and the southern partisans 
holding the hinterland

426
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:23,000
and rampaging along 
the British supply lines.

427
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,500
Lord Cornwallis, 
on March 15, 1781,

428
00:23:27,500 --> 00:23:31,500
met Nathanael Greene 
and won the Pyrrhic victory

429
00:23:31,500 --> 00:23:34,433
of Guilford Courthouse 
in North Carolina.

430
00:23:36,933 --> 00:23:40,933
He then made 
his final and fatal error,

431
00:23:40,933 --> 00:23:45,433
for falling back to the coast 
at British-held Wilmington

432
00:23:45,433 --> 00:23:49,433
with his badly hurt 
and battered army,

433
00:23:49,433 --> 00:23:52,933
Cornwallis decided 
to move his main operations

434
00:23:52,933 --> 00:23:56,433
from Wilmington up to the 
Petersburg area of Virginia,

435
00:23:56,433 --> 00:23:59,933
where a strong British force 
already was stationed.

436
00:23:59,933 --> 00:24:03,500
He did this without 
consulting Sir Henry Clinton,

437
00:24:03,500 --> 00:24:05,500
his commander 
in chief,

438
00:24:05,500 --> 00:24:08,500
who bitterly condemned 
Charles Cornwallis's decision.

439
00:24:10,500 --> 00:24:13,500
When Cornwallis 
marched north,

440
00:24:13,500 --> 00:24:17,266
Nathanael Greene marched 
back into South Carolina,

441
00:24:17,266 --> 00:24:19,533
and the war 
in the South

442
00:24:19,533 --> 00:24:21,800
essentially was lost 
by the British,

443
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:25,166
even before the final siege 
and capture of Yorktown

444
00:24:25,166 --> 00:24:27,666
on October 19, 1781.

445
00:24:29,266 --> 00:24:31,766
After the comparatively 
easy captures

446
00:24:31,766 --> 00:24:33,700
of Savannah 
and Charleston,

447
00:24:33,700 --> 00:24:35,700
the British, thus,

448
00:24:35,700 --> 00:24:38,200
committed one serious 
error after another.

449
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:40,700
As that 
distinguished Marine,

450
00:24:40,700 --> 00:24:43,200
Brigadier General 
Samuel Griffith,

451
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,200
says in his introduction 
to a translation

452
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,700
of Mao Tse-tung's 
"On Guerilla Warfare,"

453
00:24:49,700 --> 00:24:54,300
"Historical experience suggests 
that there is very little hope

454
00:24:54,300 --> 00:24:58,700
"of destroying a revolutionary 
guerilla movement

455
00:24:58,700 --> 00:25:01,400
"after it has survived 
the first phase

456
00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:04,400
"and has acquired 
the sympathetic support

457
00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:07,033
of a significant segment 
of the population."

458
00:25:09,033 --> 00:25:11,533
Since it became 
increasingly clear

459
00:25:11,533 --> 00:25:15,033
that the British could not 
protect their adherents

460
00:25:15,033 --> 00:25:17,033
or control 
the hinterland,

461
00:25:17,033 --> 00:25:20,033
an ever-growing number 
of southerners

462
00:25:20,033 --> 00:25:22,533
supported 
the partisans

463
00:25:22,533 --> 00:25:26,533
and kept the war 
alive in the South.

464
00:25:26,533 --> 00:25:31,033
Only a handful of British 
officers ever understood

465
00:25:31,033 --> 00:25:33,966
or tried to understand 
the men they fought

466
00:25:33,966 --> 00:25:37,966
or the land in which 
the fighting took place...

467
00:25:37,966 --> 00:25:40,466
its intense 
summer heat,

468
00:25:40,466 --> 00:25:42,966
its incapacitating 
diseases,

469
00:25:42,966 --> 00:25:45,966
the vast swamps 
and forests,

470
00:25:45,966 --> 00:25:49,466
the wide, deep, 
and unbridged rivers,

471
00:25:49,466 --> 00:25:53,466
and the impenetrable laurel 
thickets of its mountains.

472
00:25:53,466 --> 00:25:56,966
Here was a natural country 
for guerilla warfare

473
00:25:56,966 --> 00:25:59,966
and an almost 
impossible terrain

474
00:25:59,966 --> 00:26:03,033
for classic European 
operational concepts.

475
00:26:05,033 --> 00:26:08,033
Both sides 
made blunders,

476
00:26:08,033 --> 00:26:12,033
but the British mistakes 
could not be remedied.

477
00:26:12,033 --> 00:26:16,033
The British lost 
the war in the South,

478
00:26:16,033 --> 00:26:18,533
and the climactic 
Franco-American victory

479
00:26:18,533 --> 00:26:21,033
in the South 
at Yorktown,

480
00:26:21,033 --> 00:26:25,533
at Yorktown, Virginia, 
assured our independence.

481
00:26:30,033 --> 00:26:40,000
♪

482
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,500
♪

483
00:26:42,500 --> 00:26:48,833
♪ 
Program captioned by: 
CompuScripts Captioning, Inc. 
803.988.8438

484
00:26:48,833 --> 00:26:58,800
♪

485
00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:08,833
♪

486
00:27:08,833 --> 00:27:18,800
♪

487
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:28,766
♪

488
00:27:28,766 --> 00:27:38,666
♪

489
00:27:38,666 --> 00:27:48,633
♪

490
00:27:48,633 --> 00:27:58,600
♪

491
00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:08,633
♪

492
00:28:08,633 --> 00:28:18,600
♪

493
00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:28,566
♪

494
00:28:28,566 --> 00:28:38,466
♪

495
00:28:38,466 --> 00:28:48,433
♪

496
00:28:48,433 --> 00:28:58,400
♪

497
00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:00,466
♪