American History
Chapter 6, Section 3
The War Moves West and South
Vocabulary and Timeline
Vocabulary: Blockade,
privateer, guerilla warfare
Timeline
June 1778 September 1779 May 1780 Jan. 1781
George Rogers The Serapis surrenders British troops Patriots defeat
Clark captures to John Paul Jones capture the British at
Vincennes Charles Town Cowpens
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
Francis Marion – The Swamp Fox
• Francis Marion and the
South: Francis Marion
organized a small fighting
force in South Carolina and
staged surprise attacks on the
British.
• They sabotaged
communication and supply
lines and rescued prisoners of
war.
• Marion and his militia used
guerilla war tactics during
their attacks and then hid in
the swamps and forests of
South Carolina.
• This earned Marion the
nickname of the “Swamp Fox.”
War in the West
• The West: While Francis Marion was fighting
the British in the South, many other battles
were occurring in the West.
• Much of the fighting in the west involved Native
Americans.
• Some of the Native Americans helped the
Patriots, but most of them sided with the British.
• To these Native Americans, the British posed
less of a threat to them than the Americans.
• West of the Appalachian Mountains, the British
and their Native American allies were raiding
American settlements.
War in the West
• Mohawk chief Joseph Brant led
many brutal attacks in southwestern
New York and northern Pennsylvania.
• After the war, Brant served as a
representative of the Mohawk people at
the Continental Congress and tried to
get a fair land settlement for his tribe.
• Unfortunately, because of his actions
during the war, the Continental
Congress did not grant him any land
and he was forced to move with his
tribe to Canada.
• Henry Hamilton was a British
commander in Detroit, the main British
base in the West. Some people called
him the “hair buyer” because of rumors
that he paid Native Americans for the
scalps of Americans.
War in the West -- Vincennes
• George Rogers Clark, a lieutenant
colonel in the Virginia militia, set out to
end these attacks on western settlers.
• In June of 1778, Clark and 175 soldiers
sailed down the Ohio River to the mouth of
the Tennessee River.
• They marched to the British post at
Kaskaskia in Illinois and captured it.
• In February of 1779, Clark and his men
also captured the British town of
Vincennes in Indiana.
• Unfortunately, during Clark’s absence from
Vincennes later in the year, British troops
under Henry Hamilton’s command
recaptured Vincennes.
• Clark vowed to re-take the city and
surprise attacked the British and forced
Hamilton to surrender.
• Clark’s victory at Vincennes strengthened
the position of the Americans in the West.
Glory at Sea
• Patrolling the
Waterways: As fighting
occurred in the West, the
British used its navy to
patrol American waterways.
• They kept Patriot ships and
the ships of their allies from
entering or leaving
American harbors.
• This British blockade
prevented supplies and
reinforcements from
reaching the Continental
Army.
Glory at Sea
• Privateers: To end the blockade, the Second
Continental Congress ordered the construction of 13
American warships.
• Few of them actually ever sailed. The Americans were
forced to destroy four of their own ships in order to
keep them out of British hands and others were
captured by the British.
• Several states had their own small fleets, but the
American navy was too weak to operate effectively.
American privateers (privately owned merchant ships
equipped with weapons) captured more British vessels
than the American navy.
• The Congress authorized the use of more than 1000
ships to sail as privateers and to attack the enemy.
Many sailors eagerly signed up for work on a privateer
vessel. The privateering trade was very profitable.
Help from Overseas
• John Paul Jones: John Paul Jones was an
American naval officer who began raiding
British ports in 1777.
• He sailed an old French ship that Benjamin
Franklin obtained for him. Jones called the
ship Bonhomme Richard in honor of Franklin’s
Poor Richard’s Almanack.
• In September of 1779, Jones was sailing
along the coast of Great Britain and came
across a large fleet of British merchant ships
escorted by a warship called Serapis.
• Jones attacked the British warship and they
fought for more than three hours.
• The Bonhomme Richard was so badly damaged
at one point that the British captain asked
whether Jones wanted to surrender. He
stated, “I have not yet begun to fight.”
• In the end, the Serapis surrendered and Jones
won. However, the Bonhomme Richard sank
not long after the battle.
• Even after losing his ship, John Paul Jones
was a naval hero to the Americans.
Help from Overseas
Struggle in the South
• Early Victories: In the
beginning years of the war,
Battle of Moore’s Creek
the Americans had won
some battles in the South.
• In 1776, the Patriots had
crushed Loyalists at the
Battle of Moore’s Creek
near Wilmington, North
Carolina.
• They had also saved
Charles Town in South
Carolina from the British
(with the help of Francis
Marion).
Struggle in the South
• A Different Strategy for the British:
By 1778 (after the Battle of Saratoga),
the British realized that winning the
war would be difficult and that they
needed to change their strategy to win.
• They decided to concentrate on the
South where there were many more
Loyalists.
• They believed that using their navy and
gaining the support of the Loyalists in
the South would help them win.
• In the beginning, this strategy worked.
Struggle in the South – British Victories
• In late 1778, General Henry
Clinton sent 3,500 troops from
New York to Savannah, Georgia.
• The British captured the city and
overran most of the state of
Georgia.
• In 1780, Clinton and his
army went from New York to
Charles Town, South Carolina
and captured this city as well.
• Thousands of prisoners of war
were captured by the British
troops. This marked the
worst American defeat of the
war. General Henry Clinton
Struggle in the South – British Victories
• Clinton returned to New York
and left General Charles
Cornwallis in command of
the British forces in the
South.
• The Continental Congress
sent forces under the
command of General
Horatio Gates to face
Cornwallis.
• The two armies met at
Camden in South Carolina in
August of 1780.
• The British won the battle,
but Cornwallis found that
controlling the area the
British had conquered was
very difficult.
Battle of Camden
Struggle in the South – Guerilla Warfare
• Controlling the South was difficult
because the British were not used to
the tactics used by the American
soldiers.
• Also, the British were not getting the
support that they expected from the
Loyalists in the South.
• As they moved through the
countryside, they were being
attacked by small groups of Patriots.
These soldiers appeared suddenly,
attacked, and then disappeared. This
type of tactic is called guerilla
warfare.
• Francis Marion utilized this
technique in the swamps of eastern
South Carolina. One British colonel
stated that “the devil himself” could
not catch him.
Struggle in the South – Help from Spain
• Bernardo de Galvez, governor of Louisiana, helped the
Americans in the following ways:
• He loaned thousands of dollars to the Americans
• He opened the port of New Orleans to free trade with the
Americans beginning in 1777
• He also organized the shipment of tons of supplies and
ammunition up the Mississippi River to the army of George
Rogers Clark in the Northwest Territory. Clark was able to
capture Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes with this
support.
• After Spain officially declared war on Britain in 1779,
Galvez raised an army of Spanish soldiers, Native
Americans, African Americans, and Creoles. They captured
British forts at Baton Rouge and Natchez in Louisiana.
They also captured Mobile in Alabama and Pensacola in
Florida. This opened up supply lines for military goods
from Spain, Cuba, France, and Mexico.
• Without Galvez, we may have not won the war for
independence.
Struggle in the South – Patriot Victories
• After the British victory at
Camden, the British moved
north through the Carolinas in
September of 1780.
• At King’s Mountain, a British
officer and more than 1,000
Loyalists defended an outpost
against Patriot sharpshooters.
• The Patriots forced the British
to retreat.
• This victory at King’s Mountain
brought new support for
independence from
Southerners.
• They wanted to end this war
that was destroying their
homes and farms.
Struggle in the South – Patriot Victories
• In October of 1780, Nathaniel Greene
replaced Gates as the commander of the
Continental forces in the South.
• Greene decided to split his army in two.
• In January of 1781, one section of the
army led by General Daniel Morgan
defeated the British at Cowpens, South
Carolina.
• Another section joined Francis Marion’s
guerilla raids.
• In March of 1781, Greene reunited his
forces to meet Cornwallis and the British
army at Guilford Courthouse in
Greensboro, North Carolina.
• Greene’s army was forced to retreat, but
the British army had great losses.
• Because of this, Cornwallis abandoned the
Carolina campaign.
Battle of Cowpens
Battle of Guilford Courthouse
Struggle in the South – Patriot Victories
• British Retreat: Cornwallis
retreated to Virginia in 1781.
• His troops raided the state and
nearly captured Governor Thomas
Jefferson and the Virginia
legislature in June of 1781.
• Jefferson was able to flee on
horseback just in front of British
troops.
• General Washington sent
Lafayette and von Steuben south to
fight Cornwallis.
• During this time, Cornwallis set up
camp at Yorktown on the Virginia
coast while he waited for orders
from General Clinton.
• The battle was about to enter its
final phase.