The Siege of Charleston was one of the major battles which took place towards the end of the American Revolutionary War, after the British began to shift their strategic focus towards the Southern Colonies. As a defeat, it was the biggest loss of troops suffered by the Continental Army in the war.
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In late 1779, following strategic failures earlier in the war, the British were stymied by the waiting strategy adopted by General George Washington leading the Continental Army. Under political pressure to deliver victory, British leaders turned to Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War"southern strategy" for winning the war that built on the idea that there was strong Loyalist support in the southern colonies. Their opening move was the capture of Savannah, Georgia in December 1778, following which they planned an attack on Charleston, South Carolina which they would use as a base for further operations in the South.
After failing to achieve any advantage in the north in 1779, the British government instructed Sir Henry Clinton to head a combined military and naval expedition southward. He evacuated Newport, Rhode Island, on October 25 and left New York in command of Hessian General Wilhelm von Knyphausen. In December, he sailed with 8,500 troops to join Marc Prevost at Savannah. Charles Cornwallis accompanied him, and later Lord Rawdon joined him with an additional force totaling around 14,000 troops and 90 ships.
Marching upon Charleston via James Island, Clinton cut off the city from relief, and began a siege on April 1. Skirmishes at Monck's Corner and Lenud's Ferry in April and early May scattered troops on the outskirts of the siege area. Benjamin Lincoln held a council of war, and was advised by de Laumoy to surrender given the inadequate fortifications.[1][2] Clinton compelled Lincoln to surrender on May 12.[3] The loss of the city and its 5,000 troops was a serious blow to the American cause. It was the largest surrender of an American armed force until the 1862 surrender of Union forces at Harper's Ferry during the Antietam Campaign. The last remaining Continental Army troops were driven from South Carolina consequent to the May 29 Battle of Waxhaws. General Clinton returned to New York City in June, leaving Cornwallis in command with instructions to also reduce North Carolina.
Tarleton in his Campaign reported a total of 5,283 captured, including three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Edward Rutledge, Arthur Middleton and Thomas Heyward, Jr.
An active and bitter partisan war began. The British advance was marked by more than the usual destruction of war; the Loyalists rose to arms; the Patriot population regrouped around some of its militia commanders to harass the British and their Loyalist allies. Little mercy was shown on either side, especially after Tarleton's decimation of the Continentals at Waxhaws and Light Horse Harry Lee's decimation of the Loyalists at Haw River, which many saw as massacres.
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