A sweeping yet richly detailed history of the American Revolution
in the Carolinas, chronicling the 1780 - 81 campaign of British
forces to reclaim those two colonies. Buchanan (former archivist at
Cornell and the Metropolitan Museum of Art) reminds us that the war
for the southern colonies, a struggle "long, bloody, and
obstinate," was of crucial importance to the revolution's outcome,
yet it has received less attention than some of the northern
campaigns. Determined to regain the rich Carolina farmland, the
British, under Lord Cornwallis, combined their forces with
considerable numbers of local Tories. They eventually captured
Charleston and destroyed the American forces at the battle of
Camden (largely because of the inept leadership of General Horatio
Gates). Tarleton's hated British Legion rode roughshod over the
countryside, launching repeated swift, brutal attacks against
civilians and militias, burning homes, confiscating livestock, and
hanging some who resisted. The violence only rekindled opposition
among Carolinians, who flocked to such ingenious guerrilla chiefs
as Thomas Sumter, Dan Morgan, and Francis (the "Swamp Fox") Marion.
Their groups constantly harassed both the crack British regulars
and the Tory militia. Buchanan vigorously describes the nature of
guerrilla warfare in the South, and traces the series of skirmishes
waged by rejuvenated American forces, culminating in the great
American victory at Kings Mountain. The battles of Cowpens and
Guilford Court House, although technically victories for the
British, proved to be the last gasp for the Crown's badly damaged
forces. Buchanan provides fine sketches of the many remarkable men
who fought on both sides during the campaign, and vivid
descriptions of 18th-century warfare. A tense, exciting historical
account of a little-known chapter of the Revolution, displaying
history writing at its best. (Kirkus Reviews)
A brilliant account of the proud and ferocious American fighters who stood up to the British forces in savage battles crucial in deciding both the fate of the Carolina colonies and the outcome of the war.
"A tense, exciting historical account of a little known chapter of the Revolution, displaying history writing at its best."—Kirkus Reviews
"His compelling narrative brings readers closer than ever before to the reality of Revolutionary warfare in the Carolinas."—Raleigh News & Observer.
"Buchanan makes the subject come alive like few others I have seen." —Dennis Conrad, Editor, The Nathanael Greene Papers.
"John Buchanan offers us a lively, accurate account of a critical period in the War of Independence in the South. Based on numerous printed primary and secondary sources, it deserves a large reading audience." —Don Higginbotham, Professor of History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
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