The Siege of Charleston
The Continental Army Suffers its Worst Defeat in the War
The siege of Charleston began on April 11, 1780. The previous October, British High Command had ordered Gen. Sir Henry Clinton and Gen. Charles Lord Cornwallis to sail from New York with 8,500 troops. Their destination: Savannah, Georgia where they were joined by an additional 14,000 British soldiers.
British Southern Strategy
Having failed to achieve a decisive victory in the northern colonies against Gen. George Washington, the British turned to the American South. There, they believed, lived many thousands of Americans of British descent who remained loyal to King George and who would flock to his banner if given the opportunity. Their opening campaign was aimed at Savannah, Georgia, then the most southern rebel seaport. When Savannah fell in December of 1779, the British military set its sights on the key rebel seaport of Charleston, South Carolina.
The Siege of Charleston
In command of 5,000 Continentals and militia in Charleston was Brig. Gen Benjamin Lincoln, Southern Commander of the Continental Army and a man who would later serve as Washington's second-in-command at the Battle of Yorktown. When Lincoln was informed of British intentions, he began shoring up Charleston's outer fortifications and sent out appeals to South Carolina militia units to help save their city. Few came to his aid, however.
When British generals Sir Henry Clinton and Charles Earl Corwallis arrived at the outskirts of Charleston in April, they met stiff resistance from Continental units at Monck's Corner and Lenud's Ferry. Rather than attempt a frontal assault of Charleston, a decision that would have cost many British lives, Gen. Clinton decided instead to lay siege to the city. At the same time that the Royal Navy blockaded Charleston harbor -- and capturing what remained of the small Continental Navy -- The Royal Army surrounded Charleston by land, cut off all routes leading in and out, and dug in.
Lincoln and the Continentals put up a brave resistence, but without relief from land or sea, the end result was inevitable. By May 12th, food supplies were running desperately low. Lincoln met with his officers and the decision was made to surrender the city.
The Consequence of Defeat
As a consequence, not only did the Continentals lose a critical seaport, it also lost the bulk of its army in the South. The surrender of 5,000 soldiers was the biggest loss of soldiers suffered by the Continental Army during the war. American resistance in the South had collapsed, and that opened the door to further British campaigns in the Carolinas.
Source:A Gallant Defense: The Siege of Charleston, 1780 by Carl L. Borick, University of South Carolina Press, February 2003
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