Location of Battlefield:. The battlefield was located in Charleston, South Carolina. Date of the Battle of Charleston:. Wednesday, March 29, The British Army fought against the Americans. American Colonies. British Forces. Benjamin Lincoln.
Strength of Forces:. Number of men killed in the Battle of Charleston:. Number of men wounded:. General Clinton then continued sailing north with the main body of his force. Back in , Clinton had deferred to Admiral Sir Peter Parker whose choice of approach directly into Charleston Harbor had been a disaster.
Clinton had learned his lesson from that defeat and chose to land his forces 30 miles south of Charleston and approach overland. While the army marched overland, the ships would sail up the rivers delivering provisions as necessary. The first men were put ashore on February On February 4 , a diversionary infantry force was put ashore in Georgia.
The cavalry commanded by Tarleton and including Ferguson also went ashore to find new mounts. During the voyage, the horses had to be put overboard, because of serious injuries like broken legs. Clinton had chosen to land his forces thirty miles south of Charleston and approach overland.
On February 14 , these men set out in search of Stono Ferry, which was the crossing point to James Island. Later that day, they found the river, but the other bank with fortified and manned by militia.
The British retreated without taking fire from the Americans. The next day, they discovered that the Americans had deserted their position overnight. On February 24 , fortifications were completed at Stono Ferry and the British crossed over to James Island the next day.
There was a Continental presence on the island. They had been observing the British movements for several days. On February 26 , they attacked a returning British scavenging patrol as it passed down a narrow way. In spite of the Continental presence and continued skirmishing with Chevalier Vernier and his cavarly, the British gained control of James Island by March 1.
On March 10 , Clinton's second-in-command Lt. Charles Cornwallis finally led the main force onto the mainland at Wappoo Cut. On March 11, naval ships finally came up the Stono River and delivered much needed supplies. From March , the British fortified their position which was located where the Wappoo Creek flowed into the Ashley River. They mounted artillery to shell American ships and keep the Ashley River secure. They then moved upstream and north, away from Charleston, slowly securing the plantations along the way while the Americans shadowed them from across the river.
On March 29 , under the cover of fog , the British crossed the Ashley River upstream from the heavily fortified Ashley Ferry and established themselves on Charleston Neck. When the Americans learned that the British were on the Neck, they abandoned their breastworks at Ashley Ferry.
Confident of British control in the South, Lieutenant General Clinton sailed north to New York after the victory, having learned of an impending French expedition to the British-occupied northern state. South Carolina was a deeply divided state, and the British presence let loose the full violence of a civil war upon the population. First, the British used Loyalists to pacify the Patriot population; the Patriots returned the violence in kind.
The guerrilla warfare strategies employed by Patriots Francis Marion, Thomas Sumter and Nathanael Greene throughout the Carolina campaign of eventually chased the far more numerous British force into Virginia , where they eventually surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! On May 12, , an early crisis of the Cold War comes to an end when the Soviet Union lifts its month blockade against West Berlin.
Capture of the city and its harbor gave them a vital base from which to conduct operations in their attempt to rally the support of American Loyalists and reconquer the southern states. Conversely, the loss of Charleston was a painful blow to the American cause, made even worse by the capture of over 2, Continentals and numerous vital weapons and supplies.
The stalemate in the northern theater of the war after led the British leadership to renew its interest in the southern theater. The British remained convinced that the erstwhile southern colonies were full of American Loyalists waiting for British authorities to liberate them from Patriot rule. The Americans, meanwhile, knew that Charleston was a likely target for the British following the capture of Savannah. In his initial instructions to Lincoln, General George Washington warned him of the impending British attack, but expressed his regrets that he could not offer any military assistance because of the need to maintain adequate Continental forces around the northern British stronghold in New York City.
Lincoln and his subordinates worked diligently to repair the fortifications around the city and the Continental Army leadership beseeched the southern states to provide men and materiel to defend Charleston. The force then maneuvered up the coast and over land routes to approach Charleston from its weaker southern and western sides, bypassing the seaward defenses at Fort Moultrie that had rebuffed the British assault.
There was little else the American forces could do. Washington had advised to Lincoln to abandon the city to save his force of Continentals if necessary, but the civilian leadership of Charleston convinced Lincoln to stay. At the end of March, British forces under Earl Charles Cornwallis crossed over the Ashley River about 14 miles northwest of Charleston and on April 1, British forces began digging siege lines across the neck of the Charleston peninsula.
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