THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
The Road to war

·         Provincial congress – new governing body for SC – met for the first time in Jan. 1775

The First Blows

·         In Massachusetts the militia was called minutemen because they were ready on a minute’s notice

·         Battle of Lexington – a soldier yelled “fire!” and many were dead and injured. Only made the colonists angrier instead of scaring them off.

·         Battle of Concord – “shot heard round the world” the shots fired by the Americans

o   Then King George III hired mercenaries – soldiers who would fight for anyone who was willing to pay them

Loyalists and Patriots

·         Civil war (war between parties or sections of the same country) in SC was between loyalists (people who supported the king) and patriots (people who supported the Continental and Provincial congresses.)

·         In SC 1/3 of the people were loyalists, 1/3 were patriots, and 1/3 were on whichever side was winning

·         Most loyalists lived in the Up Country, most patriots lived in the Low Country

·         More battles were fought in SC than any other colony; at least 137 battles and skirmishes (fighting between small groups) took place in SC between 1775 and 1782

·         William Henry Drayton made a treaty of neutrality that didn’t last long. After the treaty there was a battle in Ninety Six district and this battle ended in a stalemate (a tie)

·         In 1775 Richard Richardson led a force into the Upcountry to subdue loyalists  in the “Snow Campaign”

A constitution for South Carolina

·         The provincial congress wrote to the continental congress asking what to do; they said to make a constitution for SC.

·         in Feb. 1776 provincial congress accepted that advice

·         constitution was adopted on march 26, 1776

·         bicameral government: the people elected lower house, which elected the upper house. The lower and upper houses elected the “president” of SC

Declaration of Independence

·         on July 1, 1776 congress voted on Declaration independence

o   9 states in favor of Decl. of Ind.

o   2 states against (SC and Pennsylvania)

o   1 state divided (Delaware)

o   1 state abstained (NY)

o   Rutledge from SC said the states should revote tomorrow

·         Revote on July 2, 1776

o   All states in favor (except NY abstained)

War in the Carolinas

·         Began on June 28, 1776

·         Palmetto trees’ trunks were spongy and bounced the cannonballs off

·         Sullivan’s island fort was renamed Fort Moultrie for General William Moultrie

·         There was a new flag with a palm tree addition to the crescent moon

·         Sergeant William Jasper saved the flag during the battle

The Early Campaigns

Saratoga – led by Horatio Gates

   – French became our ally

   ‒ England turned their attention to the south

   ‒ Savannah, GA fell in Dec. 1778

British commander who lost: John Burgoyne

Charles Town ‒ fell on May 19, 1780

                                Almost fell in 1789 but Benjamin Lincoln prevented it

                           ‒ British sieged (armed forces try to take a fortified fort or town by surrounding it

and preventing any supplies from reaching it) Charles Town

                           ‒ the British captured 5,000 American troops plus 87 of SC’s important leaders

           ‒ some were held captive in Old Exchange Building

                The Battle of Camden

·         “Bloody” Tarleton – Colonel Tarleton took in surrendered Virginian colonists and killed all of them

·         On August 16, 1780 the weakened Americans collided with British troops under the command of Lord Cornwallis just north of Camden. The British captured 1,000 and killed 800 of Horatio Gates’ army of  3,000

o   After this British victory they had almost captured all of SC and we decided we needed guerilla warfare (a tactic in which small groups of soldiers harass or launch surprise attacks on the enemy and then suddenly disappear. This frustrated the British.  Some of the people who did guerilla warfare were Francis Marion (a.k.a. the Swamp Fox) and Thomas Sumter (a.k.a. the Gamecock)

The battle of Kings Mountain

·         On October 7, 1780 men from the mountains of NC and SC met Major Patrick Ferguson’s loyalists. The mountainmen ambushed the loyalist army and killed 1,100 loyalists and Ferguson himself. The mountainmen lost only 40 men. This was the turning point Of the American Revolution in the south.

The battle of Cowpens

·         American forces under Daniel Morgan went to fight Bloody Tarleton. The American army split into two groups and first group shot and retreated to the rear. The second group did the same. Once Tarleton believed the Americans were running away, the Americans turned around, fired on the enemy, and held their ground. More than 900 British troops were killed, wounded or captured. Only 140 escaped capture.

The End of the War

·         Nathanael Greene & his forces harassed Lord Cornwallis & his troops through much of NC

·         Cornwallis surrendered Oct. 19, 1781 at Yorktown, Virginia

·         The British left Charles Town on December 14, 1782

Treaty of Paris

·         Was on Sept. 3, 1783

·         Things we wanted from the British:

o   To be our own country

o   For our western boundary to be the Mississippi River

o   We wanted Canada

·         Things we got:

o   To be our own country

o   West boundary to be Miss. River, but we didn’t get Florida (The Spanish got it)

o   No Canada, but we were allowed to fish there

o   Both sides agreed to pay prewar debts

The Second South Carolina Constitution

·         The leader of SC was governor, not president

o   John Rutledge was 1st governor and president, even though he didn’t want a new constitution

·         Representation of Up & Low Country was more equal

·         Anglican was no longer the state religion

·         Guaranteed the right to a free press