Narrator> 1776... South Carolina... Charles Town Harbor... The British fleet.. [mortar firing] Cannonballs bouncing off the soft palmetto logs of an unfinished fort.

William Moultrie, Francis Marion, and William Jasper instantly became heroes of the Revolution.

All this happened six days before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Fuselier> One more shot for King George!

Narrator> Four years later, the Revolutionary War was deadlocked.

In the north, battles were won and lost with little effect.

Cities were taken and abandoned.

♪ Both sides were tired of fighting.

In Charles Town, the war seemed far away.

Dr.

Edgar> The British decided to bring the war to the south for a couple of reasons.

One was political going on back home; they hadn't really won any major victories.

One of the other reasons was they thought that there were a lot of loyalists here in the South, and if they captured the Southern colonies, they captured the most valuable colonies.

[musket firing] A struggle was going on for control of South Carolina.

"Patriots" were seeking freedom from British authority.

"Loyalists" wanted to maintain the status quo.

>> In the American Revolution, the first five years of the war is what we refer to as the American period.

That was a civil war that was going on here, American against American.

Narrator> In spring of 1780, the British stirred things up.

A huge invasive military force was transported from New York to South Carolina.

On May 12th, Charles Town fell.

The Continental Army surrendered.

The city was placed under martial law.

A public oath of loyalty to the Crown was demanded.

Pardons were offered to soldiers who were willing to serve in British Provincial units.

>> We lost the entire army.

All the officers went into captivity.

Over 3,000 Continentals.

So, we had no effective fighting force anymore.

>> The fall of Charles Town is one of the greatest British victories of the entire Revolutionary War, and it represents a decisive blow in their minds against the rebel armies.

In essence, the British achieved what they've always wanted.

They have bagged an entire American field army.

>> "I would venture to assert that there are few men in South Carolina who are not either our prisoners or in arms with us."

Narrator> Charles Town would become the base of operations for the British to secure the Carolinas and claim victory in the South.

♪ ♪ ♪ The British wasted no time advancing into the Carolinas.

The first battle occurred May 29th at a place called the Waxhaws in the Catawba River valley.

♪ Colonel Abraham Buford was on his way from Virginia with soldiers, supplies, and artillery to help defend Charleston.

>> "We run into a group of soldiers that was come up from Charleston, which we learned had just fell to the British a few days before.

Colonel Buford told us that we were to join his group and marched back to North Carolina to defend our state from the British advancin' behind us.

I was drivin' a wagon, loaded with supplies."

Narrator> From Charleston, General Clinton sent the British Legion to pursue Buford.

[shouting] The British Legion was a lightning-fast unit of cavalry and mounted infantry, recruited from American Loyalists.

Their commander was Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton.

>> "Nothing will serve these people but fire and sword!"

>> But Tarleton was a driven person.

26, a British officer, who had shown an aggressiveness in battle that far exceeded his experience and age.

If he saw a challenge or an enemy, he set upon them.

He didn't waste any time.

Narrator> The Legion caught up with Buford's army about four miles south of the North Carolina border.

Buford turned and formed his 350 men into a single line.

Unfortunately, he waited too long to give the command to fire, [musket firing] and Tarleton's horses struck.

British swords and bayonets did most of the damage that day.

[shouting] Obriot> The Americans were mostly inexperienced soldiers.

When you have mounted horsemen, raining blows down upon you, many of them threw their guns down immediately.

But it was over in 15 minutes.

Narrator> 113 men lay dead on the ground.

In the confusion of Buford's men surrendering, more were killed or wounded.

Lt.

Patton> "We didn't learn until the next day what had happened.

The British attacked our men full force and after our lines had fired, they rushed and massacred our men.

Even after they had raised the white flag of surrender."

[shouting] Narrator> The brutality of Tarleton's Legion made an impression on the backcountry settlers.

People had a decision to make.

Were they "Tories" loyal to the Crown, or would they become "Whigs" or "Partisans" and fight the British?

Obriot> In this part of the country, and I think it was true throughout almost the whole colonies... the rule of thumb was that one third of the people were for the rebellion, one third of the people were for the loyalists, the Crown, and the other third wished to remain neutral through the entire event.

"Just leave us alone, let us live our lives and we'll stay out of the fight."

Unfortunately, that wasn't always possible.

Dr.

Nason> The more you destroy the interior, the more of the people that you make angry or kill or murder, if they're loyalists, they're going to switch sides.

If you're a neutral, you're going to change your mind.

Dr.

Preston> This was indeed a case of British brutality.

There was no reason to want to acquiesce to an occupying force that was treating Americans so viciously.

>> "I am a rebel.

My brothers are rebels, and our dog is a rebel, too.

If you go with the British Army you may stay with them, for I can no longer be your wife."

Dr.

Edgar> Terror begat terror.

And it was an increasing cycle of revenge and violence by both sides.

Obriot> They call it "The Alamo Moment," and that's what galvanized the people of the backcountry to rise up against the British.

Narrator> Settlers who were previously impartial, joined the fight, determined to repay the harshness of "Tarleton's quarter" with a vengeance of their own.

Dr.

Nason> And they said, "Okay, if you're doing this for the Crown, I'm joining the Patriots."

♪ Woodmason> "This is a very fruitful spot, through which the dividing line between North and South Carolina runs.

A finer body of land is nowhere to be seen, but it is occupied by a settler of the most lowest, vilest crew breathing.

Scotch Irish Presbyterians from the North of Ireland."

Narrator> The backcountry of South Carolina was settled by Scots-Irish or Ulster Scots, Welsh, Dutch, Germans, French Huguenots, and other European immigrants.

These men and women were hard working, religious, and independent.

Ashmore> Most folks came down the Great Wagon Road from Pennsylvania because when they got out the ships in Pennsylvania and they wanted to settle in virgin territory, if you will, Pennsylvania was full.

So they came south.

You know, Virginia is getting crowded.

North Carolina is filling up.

Let's go to South Carolina.

This was the frontier of America.

The best people in the world came into this area.

But the worst people in the world also came into this area.

Narrator> By the 1770s, the backcountry region was anchored by farms, mills, mines, ironworks, stores, houses, and churches.

♪ The community of Ninety Six had become an important crossroads and trading center, created as part of the British township system.

Dr.

Edgar> The British Township system evolved to provide for orderly settlement of the frontier.

And if you look at the earliest ones, they were to ring Charleston with settled areas.

Narrator> These outposts were a buffer zone to protect the colony from French, Spanish, and Indian attack.

When war with England was imminent, it was assumed these townships would serve as bastions of support for the mother country.

In 1775, rebels and loyalists struggled for control of Ninety Six.

Dr.

Edgar> South Carolina was well on the road to revolution.

Ninety Six was considered key to controlling the backcountry.

The Americans start tracking down loyalist militia in December 1775, called the Great Snow Campaign.

Literally the snow stayed on the ground for almost a month.

The first blood of the Revolution was shed in South Carolina, in the backcountry.

♪ Narrator> The British fielded a juggernaut of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, unsurpassed throughout the world for its expertise and discipline.

Dr.

Preston> The British Army of the 18th century was indeed a very formidable force.

The British Army and Navy have a deep reservoir of experience in North America prior to the Revolutionary War.

And so the British have very much mastered this type of joint, conjunct, expeditionary warfare.

Narrator> British regulars dressed smartly in red.

They were often joined by special units such as the Scottish Highlanders.

"British Provincial" units were Americans who enlisted in the British Army.

Their uniforms were red or green.

Standard issue for infantry was the musket.

>> Well, in the American Revolution, the musket was the primary firearm of the day.

It was unlike the rifle.

The musket was designed as a smoothbore weapon.

And its intent was to not aim at something and hit a target like a rifle, but it was for a group of men to point their muskets in a certain direction and launch a large volume of bullets.

So accuracy was not as important.

The idea was for men to stand very closely bunched together.

Dr.

Nason> You keep 300 men shoulder to shoulder, two ranks deep, and you fire 300 musket balls at once, that's going to create a lot of noise, a lot of fire, a lot of smoke.

Hamilton> The important aspect of the musket is that it could be loaded from three to five times in a minute, versus two times for a rifle.

So in many cases, after a few rounds of musketry, a bayonet would be fixed and the other army, opposing army would be charged with the bayonet.

Narrator> The British also brought cavalry units, or "dragoons," to the field.

Loyalist dragoons, like the Queen's Rangers or British Legion wore green.

>> I'm accoutered and dressed as a member of the British Legion, wearing the green British coat.

Common with provincial troops raised in the colonies.

And one of the things that Banastre Tarleton figured out early, is that he could charge aggressively when he met the enemy and strike them first and hard, both with the horse and the sword.

[mortar firing] Narrator> The cannon was known as the "Queen of the Battlefield."

All the major battles of the Revolutionary War saw the use of field artillery.

Artillery men on both sides wore blue uniforms.

>> This cannon here is a reproduction, full scale, of a British light six pounder.

It was a field cannon.

It was the largest field cannon used during the American Revolution.

If you look at it, it's a pretty good size.

It took six to eight horses to pull it.

Each one of these cannons had a crew of at least 14 men.

This had an effective range of about 300 yards.

[mortar firing] Not real accurate, but it was a line of sight shot.

Narrator> Field guns in the Revolutionary War fired cannonballs, grapeshot, or sometimes canisters filled with rocks, broken glass, anything that could wound a man.

Most Revolutionary War guns were three-pounders, which meant they fired three pounds worth of ammunition.

Six-pound guns could do more damage, but were not nearly as mobile.

The American Continental Army replicated the British with infantry, cavalry, and artillery units.

Their generals were trained in the same tactics as the British commanders, and had fought beside them in the French and Indian War.

♪ The British advanced into the Carolinas with a simple plan.

They would use their superior forces to mow down the rebels.

After the Waxhaws defeat, the Patriots were rethinking their strategy.

Because the entire Continental Army of South Carolina had surrendered at Charles Town, the Patriots had to rely on militiamen, not regular army, to defend the state.

The original purpose for a colonial militia had been to protect settlers from Indian attacks, slave uprisings, and outlaw bandits.

Now they were faced with taking on the whole British army.

Dr.

Nason> With militia tactics, you can't fight toe-to-toe with the British.

You are not going to line them up linear.

You're not going to fight like you did with regulars.

Narrator> This informal approach would come to be known as guerrilla warfare.

[musket popping] Guerrilla tactics were all about the Patriot militia making the best of what they had.

They would whittle away at the enemy, strike their supply lines, and fight dozens of little battles rather than one big battle.

[muskets popping] Dr.

Preston> They're not going to go out and try to oppose British line infantry on an open field.

Instead they will attack with advantage against small detachments of the British Army.

What we might call death by a thousand cuts.

Narrator> The weapon of choice for militiamen was the rifle.

Hendrix> The rifle is pretty much everything the musket is not.

It's a lot less robust a weapon.

It's a lot slimmer on the barrel.

It fires the same way as a musket.

It is very, very accurate, though.

The barrel is grooved, which is called rifling, the same as a modern rifle.

And what it will take a patched ball and take that ball and spin it just like a modern bullet.

Makes it have a range of some 300 yards, and you could hit practically anything you see.

Took a full minute to load this rifle, which put it at a disadvantage in battlefield because when the British were coming at you with muskets and bayonets, they could approach your position in a whole lot less time in a minute.

They could be on with the bayonet.

One thing you don't see on the rifle, you cannot put a bayonet on it.

Okay, this is a civilian weapon.

Narrator> Militia units were composed of local farmers and businessmen, sometimes supplemented by Native Americans and African Americans.

Whenever redcoats or loyalists were in the area, it was the job of Patriot militia to drive them out.

Loyalists also had militia troops.

Militiamen who were loyal to the Crown often wore green sprigs in their hats.

Whig or Patriot militia used white scraps of paper to identify themselves.

Militiamen on both sides wore comfortable everyday clothing and supplied their own horses and weaponry.

>> Militia was a day-to-day activity.

If you're a farmer and you heard the militia call, then basically what you did was you got your musket or your rifle together and whatever necessaries you were able to take with you, and you might not be coming back for a while.

>> "I am determined to take my gun, and when I lay it down, I lay down my life with it."

♪ Narrator> Thomas Sumter led a militia unit of about a thousand patriot fighting men in the Catawba Valley.

Andrew Pickens commanded militia troops in the west.

Perhaps the most famous militia leader in South Carolina was Francis Marion, "The Swamp Fox."

Dr.

Preston> Lieutenant Colonel Francis Marion is a legend in South Carolina history because after the American surrender at Charles Town in May of 1780, Marion, with a small band of militia, will operate to the immediate north of Charles Town, an area framed by the Santee and the Pee Dee River systems.

His force fluctuates in number from sometimes as low as a few dozen, sometimes as high as a few hundred.

But with this militia force, Marion wages a war of opportunity against the British occupation.

Ashmore> Francis Marion was five foot two inches tall.

He weighed 110 pounds.

He looked like a 45-year-old man stuffed into a 14-year-old's body.

He did not have an imposing physique by any means, but Francis Marion had the eyes of a leader.

Francis Marion was a master of the Indian style of fighting, because he had fought in the French and Indian War.

He had fought against the Cherokees, and he knew what tactics could be utilized against a superior enemy.

Dr.

Nason.

What Marion did is he used what they had to their advantage, mounted infantry.

His preferred weapon of choice was a shotgun.

He only kept a small cadre with him, and that cadre kept moving.

He knew when the enemy was going to be at its weakest, whether it was the regular British or the loyalists.

He always hit them at night.

Hit and run tactics, fade into the night, hide in plain view, never draw attention to yourselves until it's necessary.

Ashmore> The thing was, you never knew when that attack was gonna come.

Narrator> In June 1780, the British controlled the Catawba Valley in the middle of South Carolina.

From their outpost at Rocky Mount, Lieutenant Colonel George Turnbull sent troops into what are now York and Chester counties to round up and eliminate all the rebels they could find.

This mixture of Provincials and British Legion was led by Captain Christian Huck a loyalist from Philadelphia.

>> Huck came to the South Carolina backcountry with a pretty bad attitude about the Whigs or the Patriots in general.

And he particularly did not like the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians here.

Reported to be a very profane man, he was, in spite of his name, not very religious.

He frequently blasphemed and took the Lord's name in vain, which did not endear him to the people here.

He did this while he was confiscating their horses, and their cows, and all their food.

And arresting some of the leaders.

And if they were rebels, he might even burn their plantation house or burn their crops.

Slave> Huck's on his way!

Huck's on his way!

Woman> I saw, take this message to my husband!

<Yes, yes.> Narrator> In the community of Brattonsville, Martha Bratton sent her family slave, Watt, with a message to warn her husband, Colonel William Bratton, that Huck was coming.

Bratton was camped on the east side of the Catawba River with Thomas Sumter's militia Huck's advance guard arrived in Brattonsville on July 11th.

Loyalist> Colonel Bratton come out in the name of the crown.

<Help you, sir?> Where's your husband?

<He's not here.> Oh, I know he is.

<No he's not, I haven't seen him in a few weeks.> I'll make you tell me where he is.

<I told you, I don't know where my husband is.> Narrator> Later that day, Captain Huck arrived.

Scoggins> So Huck interrogated Mrs.

Bratton.

He tried to get her to intercede with her husband, to get him to join the Loyalist Militia.

She absolutely refused, and this infuriated Captain Huck.

>> " would rather see my husband die in Sumter's army, true to his country and cause, than have him live a traitor in yours."

Narrator> Huck spent the night at the neighboring Williamson plantation house, lambasting the Patriots and praising the accomplishments of his loyalist troops.

>> "We have driven the regulars out of the country!

And I swear that even if it rained militia from the heavens, I would not value them!"

Scoggins> The Whigs had picked up Huck's trail and had followed him up this way.

And they arrived in this neighborhood, about 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning.

They divided their troops, with one group attacking from the west and one group attacking from the east, and they basically cut off any avenue of escape.

And just as the sun began to appear over the horizon, about 5:30 in the morning, they launched their attack.

And it was a complete surprise for the British and the loyalist troops.

The loyalist resistance ended pretty quickly.

The New York Volunteers surrendered.

The British Legion began taking casualties.

At that point as they fled the battlefield, some of the riflemen took aim, and Captain Huck went down, with two bullets in the back of his head.

Narrator> Huck's defeat was payback for much of the cruel treatment that had been received at the hands of the invaders.

The battles spirited up morale in the backcountry.

The Partisans had beaten loyalist militia and British Legion troops.

>> The unlucky affair that happened to the detachment of Captain Christian Huck of the Legion has given me great uneasiness.

Dr.

Preston> As the British are moving out into the Carolina countryside, what they find is a challenging environment and also an enemy that does not behave according to their expectations.

Narrator> After Huck's defeat, volunteers swelled the ranks of Sumter's militia and other groups.

The backcountry was locked and loaded, ready to fight.

Soldier> We got one of them boys!

Whoo!

♪ Narrator> It wasn't going to be easy.

The next major battle for the Patriots proved to be an unfortunate affair.

Continental troops from Maryland and Delaware were sent to help defend the South.

They gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

General Gates> "Gentlemen, what is best to be done?

Is it not too late now to do anything but fight?"

Narrator> General Horatio Gates, hero of the great Patriot victory at the Battle of Saratoga, was appointed to lead the army.

Gates' second in command was Baron Johann DeKalb.

The opponent was Lieutenant General Charles Earl Cornwallis, who was appointed by General Clinton to lead the Southern Campaign, after Clinton returned from Charleston to New York.

General Gates' grand army was joined by militiamen from North Carolina and Virginia.

He marched toward the strategic British outpost of Camden, South Carolina.

Cornwallis' army approached from the south.

About 2 a.m.

under a bright moonlight, the advance guard of both armies met.

They fell back after a brief skirmish.

At dawn, cannon fire opened the battle.

[mortar firing] The armies fanned out across both sides of the road.

General Gates positioned militia volunteers on his left wing.

This was a mistake.

Directly across from them were seasoned British regular troops.

The inexperienced militiamen weren't prepared for what was coming.

Baxley> When you shoot at a British infantry regiment, they don't run.

You do hit some of them, but every time somebody falls, someone else stands.

They march in order, with bayonets coming in your direction.

That was enough for the militiamen.

Many, many of them put down their weapons and took off and ran to the north and the east, most of them, without firing a shot.

>> "I can state on oath that I believe my gun was the first gun fired, notwithstandin' the orders, for we were close to the enemy, who appeared to maneuver in contempt of us, and I fired without thinking except that I might prevent the man opposite from killin' me.

I confess I was amongst the first that fled.

The cause of that I cannot tell, except that everyone I saw was about to do the same."

Narrator> On the west side, British soldiers fired relentlessly at the Continentals.

Baxley> A gap develops between the Maryland Second and the Maryland First.

Lord Cornwallis, he sees that gap.

Banstre Tarleton would lead a troop through the break in the American line.

George Hanger, Tarleton's number two, would go around and get in behind the Americans.

Once soldiers on horseback, with long heavy swords get behind you, and you have bayonet-toting, British trained troops in front of you, it's all over.

Narrator> Tarleton's Legion chased the fleeing Patriots and destroyed their supplies.

>> "The road for some miles was strewed with the wounded and killed, who had been overtaken by the Legion.

The number of dead horses, broken wagons, and baggage scattered on the road formed a perfect sense of terror and confusion."

Baxley> Tarleton wrote later that his men fought and killed and captured people all the way to Hanging Rock.

He said that he had to stop, because his troopers' arms were literally so fatigued from swinging the sword, they could not lift their swords.

All in all, it was a complete and total American disaster.

♪ Narrator> The debacle at Camden was an anomaly.

Elsewhere, the Patriots' guerrilla tactics were starting to pay off.

Several victories were won in smaller battles during the next few months of the war.

On August 19th, British Provincials from Ninety Six were camped near Edward Musgrove's grist mill on the Enoree River.

Many were recuperating from wounds received in the Battle of Cedar Springs.

Dr.

Swager> It was a strategic position because there was a ford here, and it was easy for the British troops to get from Ninety Six up to what is now Spartanburg.

It was very important.

And the Patriot militia decided that they would take it back.

Narrator> This time, the South Carolina militia were supplemented by men from "over the mountain" in Tennessee, led by Isaac Shelby.

Elijah Clarke's Wilkes County Georgia Militia also participated in the battle.

Local units included the Little River District Militia, commanded by James Williams, and the Second Spartan Regiment, or Fair Forest Group, led by Thomas Brandon.

As the Patriots assembled, they were spotted by a Tory patrol.

So the element of surprise was lost.

Outnumbered two to one, the Patriots sent a raiding party to the river ford.

The plan was to draw the enemy up to a wooded ridge.

Where Patriot marksmen were hiding behind trees and underbrush.

The riflemen zeroed in on the Provincials as they were chasing Captain Inman's men up the hill.

"Our line extended at least 300 yards in length, waiting the enemy's approach.

They advanced within 200 yards and formed a line of battle, and moved on within the distance of 150 yards, and began a very heavy fire."

Narrator> The loyalists were firing uphill at the Americans well before they were within effective range.

The Partisans held their fire.

Williams> "I gave orders that not a man should fire until the enemy came within point blank shot, not to fire till the enemy was within 80 yards distance.

And that every man take his object sure."

Dr.

Swager> When they got close enough, the militia fired from the trees and behind rocks and all.

At one point in the battle, their commander who was a provincial, Colonel Innes, was shot through the neck and fell to the ground.

And the word came along the Patriot line, "We've killed their commander."

By that time, all of the British officers and all of the loyalist officers on this field, except one, had been killed or wounded.

The British troops panicked, as well as the loyalist militia.

And they turned and ran.

And when they ran, they presented their backs to the militia.

And the militia shot, many of them when they were attempting to escape.

Narrator> The Patriots lacked the manpower to chase the Provincials as they retreated back to Ninety Six.

Also, because of news of the defeat at Camden, militiamen wanted to head home and protect their families.

Musgrove Mill established an important bond between backcountry South Carolinians and the Overmountain Men of Tennessee, who would play a major role in the next battle.

Ashmore> Musgrove Mill was a ray of hope, And the Overmountain Men like what they see here.

Dr.

Swager> Before they left, Shelby, Williams, and Clarke decided that this was the way to handle the British Army.

That in the future they would not attempt to take on the British by themselves.

They would keep in touch, and if one were threatened, they would all come.

[muskets popping] Narrator> In September 1780, the British Army under General Cornwallis was headquartered in Charlotte.

Their Western Front was commanded by Major Patrick Ferguson, a Scottish officer who was training loyalists in traditional military techniques, especially use of the bayonet.

Ferguson used a whistle to drill his troops and traveled with two female "camp followers."

As Ferguson began to make his presence known in the backcountry, once again help for the Carolina partisans came from the other side of the mountains.

>> The Overmountain Men were folks that had settled west of the Appalachian Mountains with their families.

These are Scots-Irish, Welsh, German, English, and French guys that take their families west on the very edge of civilization.

For the chance to own their own land and live where the government is not telling them what to do.

Narrator> The Overmountain Men hated the British and were in direct violation of the 1763 proclamation that western territories be reserved for a Native Americans.

Patrick Ferguson sent the Overmountain Men a bold warning.

>> If you do not desist in your opposition to the British, I shall march this army over the mountains, hang your leaders and lay waste to your country with fire and sword!

>> Most of the people that lived on the other side of that mountain were Scotch, Scotch-Irish.

And, they wouldn't, you know, they didn't take threats too lightly.

Dr.

Nason> "If you do not swear your allegiance to the Crown, I am going to release the Cherokee on you, and I'm gonna burn and put everything to fire and sword."

Them good ol' boys on the other side of the mountain went, "Really?

That sounds like a threat to me."

Ricker> It was kind of-- --always been kind of strange to me because Ferguson was a Scotsman, too.

And he should have known better than to send a threat like that.

Narrator> Led by Isaac Shelby, John Sevier, William Campbell and others, the Overmountain Men mustered at Sycamore Shoals, Tennessee to commence the over-mountain trek to deal with Patrick Ferguson.

Taber> It was all militia on the Patriot side.

You have the Overmountain Men, you're western settlers.

But then you also have a good amount of folks from the Piedmont of North Carolina, the upstate of South Carolina, as well, some Georgians.

So you've got a lot of folks coming together, to put down this threat to their homes and families.

Narrator> Ferguson was isolated from the main British army.

He had 120 well-trained British Provincial soldiers from northern units, and about 800 loyalist militiamen from the Carolinas.

Ferguson established an elevated position at King's Mountain, a rocky, wooded hill on the border of North and South Carolina.

On October 7th, a thousand Patriots surrounded him.

>> "Here they are, my brave boys!

Shout like hell and fight like devils!"

Taber> The American strategy was basically to surround the hill and push up to the loyalists on top.

Dr.

Edgar> The Americans had rifles.

And they said it was like a “turkey shoot.” They were behind trees and rocks, but the British were in the open.

Ricker> But these frontiersmen, they had fought the Cherokee a long time, and one thing they learned, you know, you don't stand out in the open and fight.

You hit, you run, you hide.

And one of the main things that helped them win this little battle so quickly was the long raffles they carried, because the British were armed with muskets.

These men had rifles and they were making shots, you know, 200-250-300 yards.

You know, a lot slower to load rifle, but they were deadly accurate with it, because they lived by the gun.

[muskets and rifles popping] >> "We attempted to climb the hill, but were fiercely charged upon and forced to fall back to our first position.

We tried a second time, but met the same fate.

The fight then seemed to become more furious.

Their leader, Ferguson, came into full view within rifle shot, as if to encourage his men, who by this time were falling very fast; he soon disappeared."

Ricker> We don't know to this day if he was trying to escape or if he was rallying his men.

But he ran into John Sevier and the boys from the Nolichucky-Watauga settlement on this side, and an old man, 62 years old Robert Young, named his rifle “Sweet Lips,” and he's the one who took him out of the saddle.

Narrator> A hail of bullets hit Ferguson.

Seven rifle balls pass through his body.

Both his arms were broken and his hat and clothing were literally shot to pieces.

The battle turned into a rout for the Patriots.

Collins> "We took the hill a third time; the enemy gave way."

Narrator> At Kings Mountain, American militia defeated British-trained troops.

Reports of this victory made national headlines.

The tide had turned.

The battle was won for the hearts and minds of the backcountry.

Taber> Kings Mountain has a major impact, I mean it's basically the first domino in a string of dominoes that ends up at Yorktown, just a year later.

Narrator> The following month, Tarleton's British Legion suffered a defeat by Thomas Sumter's militia at the Battle of Blackstock.

The Empire was unraveling.

The Patriots had proven they could beat the British and their loyalist friends.

No one in his right mind would join a Tory unit in the Carolinas now >> "Kings Mountain was the first link in the chain of evils that followed in regular succession until they ended in the loss of America."

♪ In the fall of 1780, George Washington appointed General Nathanael Greene, commander of the Southern Continental Army.

>> Greene is one of the most remarkable army commanders in all of American history.

He was, in essence, Washington's chosen lieutenant, indeed a kind of disciple of George Washington's strategy and methods.

Narrator> Nathanael Greene had a long history with General Washington, and served with him in many battles in the north.

From Washington, he learned the art of resilience, how to make the most of the men you have, and how to live to fight another day.

Greene sent a portion of his men under General Daniel Morgan to harass the British in western South Carolina.

In January 1781, Tarleton's British Legion was dispatched to repel Morgan and his men.

Militiamen joined General Morgan's army to take on the British foe.

Soldier> "Stand your ground.

Shoulder to shoulder.

Trust your NCOs, trust your officers."

Militiaman> So, no, we weren't afraid of Tarleton.

We were going to grab arms, get as much rest we could, and give him no quarter here at Cowpens and push him back.

Narrator> Tarleton met Morgan January 17th at the Battle of Cowpens.

Dr.

Preston> General Daniel Morgan and his performance at the Battle of Cowpens in January of 1781 is one of the most remarkable examples of leadership in American military history.

Morgan is particularly effective and skillful in his hybrid use and deployment of American militia, on the one hand, and his Continental Army regulars on the other.

Ashmore> He knew the militia, he knew how best to use them.

He knew that he could get a volley or two out of them, and then have them retreat under orders.

Narrator> Morgan also understood the landscape of the battlefield.

Ashmore> The battlefield he chose with swamps on either side, preventing Tarleton.

His favorite tactic was come in from the flanks.

He couldn't do that at Cowpens, he had to charge straight ahead.

Narrator> The terrain of Cowpens was a gently rolling hill, with a slight dip in the middle.

On his front line, Morgan placed small clusters of militia sharpshooters.

The second line consisted of Andrew Pickens' militiamen.

Caldwell> They were experienced fighters fighting for five, six years in the backcountry of South Carolina, but they were not stand-up soldiers.

The militia here could drop a British soldier from over 100 yards, but they could not stand up to them in had-to-hand combat.

Narrator> The third line contained 300 skilled Continental soldiers from Maryland, Delaware and Virginia.

Caldwell> These men are highly trained and highly experienced.

Some of these men had even served with Washington back at Trenton and Valley Forge.

Narrator> The plan was for the first line of sharpshooters to fire, then retreat and be absorbed into the second line.

The second line would do the same thing, fire and retreat.

>> "The whole idea is to lead Tarleton into a trap so we can beat his cavalry and infantry as they come up those slopes."

Dr.

Nason> Hit fall back, hit, fall back because he knew he's going to draw Tarleton in.

Caldwell> The first line of Morgan's formation, the sharpshooters, these Georgians and Carolinians, they had orders from Morgan to target the "epaulet men" he called them, meaning the officers in Tarleton's line When Tarleton tops over the main rise here he looks down and sees the second line of militia, and in Tarleton's own memoirs, he says he saw 1000 rebels in front of him.

But he doesn't think this is the main army drawn up for a big battle.

Tarleton believes that these militia are a rear guard, trying to hold him, down slow him down so that the main army of the Continentals can escape.

Narrator> The British, pushing forward, suddenly found themselves facing the third line of Continental soldiers.

Caldwell> And these guys are firing close range filling the area with smoke and fire.

And in the confusion, Tarleton sends around his 71st Highlanders to attack the American right, and the right flank starts to retreat instead of facing this new threat.

Narrator> Morgan's men retreated in an orderly fashion and managed to reload as they marched.

Caldwell> When Tarleton's line sees the Continentals retreating, they think they've won the battle, they start charging forward and they lose all sense of organization and discipline.

Narrator> At the optimal moment, Morgan gave the command to turn about and fire.

[rifles firing] Dr.

Nason> Imagine if you're charging and you're full bore and you're running and your adrenaline's pumping, all of sudden, all the men turn, drop muskets and they fire a full volley blast in your face at ten feet.

That is why that charge stopped cold.

200 men were killed instantly.

500 surrendered on the spot.

Narrator> The Patriot militia surrounded the British left, the cavalry surrounded the right.

The British army was crushed.

Caldwell> This is one of the few times you have American Continentals stand on the field in traditional tactics, and defeat the British at their own game.

Narrator> Cowpens showed that militia troops could collaborate effectively with Continentals.

Ashmore> The South Carolina militia matured at Cowpens.

This is where the South Carolina-North Carolina militia went toe-to-toe with the best the British had, and they pushed them off the field.

Dr.

Edgar> Morgan's battle plan, it's still studied today, is considered a masterpiece of the military strategy.

Dr.

Preston> The Battle of Cowpens becomes this iconic and crucial American victory.

It further dampens and depresses loyalist support for the British cause in South Carolina.

Caldwell> When Tarleton is defeated by Morgan here at the Battle of Cowpens, this destroys his reputation as a fearful commander.

It not only destroys this part of the British army, but it changes the entire plan of the Southern Campaign.

Scoggins> You have battles like Huck's defeat, Musgrove's Mill, King's Mountain, Cowpens, these are extremely important victories for the American cause.

And they tended to pile up after a while and force the British, under Lord Cornwallis, to leave the Carolinas and head toward Virginia, where he thought he would have better luck.

It turned out that wasn't the case.

Narrator> General Cornwallis decided the British Army didn't want any more "adventures" in South Carolina.

He headed north from Charlotte, chasing General Greene in a "race to the Dan."

Dr.

Edgar> If they crossed the Dan River from North Carolina into Virginia, then they'll be able to get more supplies and more troops.

Narrator> How long could the British continue to fight?

Their government was trying to run a war from more than 3,000 miles away.

America was only part of a vast empire they were attempting to manage.

Dr.

Preston> The British Army was highly skilled at conquest.

What the British Army is really not built for is a long-term occupation of so vast a countryside.

Ashmore> The further the British were from the coast, the less effective they were, and as they were progressing through these battles and they would lose, you know, five percent of their force, they couldn't replace that.

And then the next battle, they lose five more percent.

So attrition was a huge factor there.

Dr.

Preston> They're eventually going to put the British in a position of having to fight a long, protracted war that they're not equipped to fight.

Narrator> The armies of Cornwallis and Greene met at Guilford Courthouse in Greensboro, North Carolina, March 15th, 1781.

♪ The British Army was greeted with cannon fire as they marched up New Garden Road.

In this battle, General Greene had more troops than Cornwallis and positioned them strategically, but without the success of General Morgan at Cowpens.

The British fusiliers and foot guard broke through the Patriots' first line.

When the advanced slackened, Greene managed a disciplined retreat.

Guilford is considered a British victory, but their casualties could not be replaced.

General Greene's cautious strategy would be used in future southern battles like Hobkirk Hill, Ninety Six, and Eutaw Springs.

It was not necessary for the Americans to win the war, it was only necessary for them not to lose it.

Dr Preston> The remarkable thing about Nathanael Greene is that he loses every conventional engagement in which he fights the British, but in each of those cases, Greene is able to force the British to retract their lines and their occupation.

Greene said it best, "We fight, we get beat, we rise, and fight again."

Narrator> Back home in England, opposition to the war reached a fevered pitch.

Female voice> "Time and reflection gave rise to the beginning of a general despair.

The fact was, that while the British army astonished both the old and New World by the greatness of its exertions and the rapidity of its marches, it had never advanced any nearer even to the conquest of North Carolina."

>> "Another such victory well ruin the British army!"

Narrator> The British war machine was broken.

Hunger, fatigue, and illness had plagued the British Army from the moment they left Charleston and entered the Carolina backcountry.

The victors of Guilford Courthouse found themselves in an impossible situation, cast adrift in a vast, unfriendly land.

Ashmore> Cornwallis knew he had to retreat, and he retreated all the way to the coast, all the way to Wilmington.

Female voice> "And such was the hard fate of the victors, to abandon a part of their wounded, and to make a circuitous retreat of 200 miles, before they could find shelter or rest."

Dr.

Edgar> The decision is Cornwallis' after Guilford, he's giving up the Southern Campaign.

>> This battle decided the outcome for the Carolinas because even though Cornwallis won, technically, he lost 25 percent of his force.

So he decided to abandon the Carolina "hospitality" and went up to Virginia.

And about six months later, he winds up in this little fishing village called Yorktown, and we all know what happened there.

[rifles firing] ♪ Narrator> The fighting wasn't over in South Carolina.

Dr.

Edgar> The British still occupy Camden, they still occupy Ninety Six, still occupy Georgetown, Charles Town.

Narrator> General Greene returned with the intention of clearing up all the British bases, starting in the upcountry and working his way to the coast.

Ninety Six had been controlled by a band of loyalists since 1775.

In 1780, British Provincials and loyalist militia built a Star Fort adjacent to the town.

Ashmore> The British realized they needed another fort to really protect this area.

This fort was built out of dirt, dirt parapets, dirt sides, 12 to 15 feet tall.

It's a star shape with ten points as they go around.

Narrator> On May 21st, 1781, General Greene began a 28-day siege of the Star Fort.

Greene's right-hand man was Colonel Thaddeus Kosciuszko, an engineering specialist from Poland.

The Patriots dug trenches, methodically closing in on Star Fort day by day.

>> "The approaches have gone on exceeding slow.

The British fortifications are so strong and the garrison so large and so well furnished, that our success is very doubtful!"

Narrator> Greene's men built a rifle tower to shoot down into the Star Fort.

Colonel Kosciuszko came up with a plan to build a tunnel under the fort.

Ashmore> The idea was to pack the end of that tunnel in with black powder.

And that thing would have blown the parapets to smithereens.

And would've created a hole that, you know, Greene's troops could have charged right through.

>> "The nature of the ground was very hard.

The approaches could not be so fast advanced."

Narrator> When it was reckoned that the British reinforcements from Charleston would arrive in Ninety Six before the tunnel was ready, Greene launched a desperate charge to try and take the fort.

The assault failed.

The loyalists held their ground.

The tunnel was abandoned.

General Greene withdrew to fight other battles in South Carolina.

♪ As far as the British were concerned, the Southern Campaign was over.

General Cornwallis marched from Wilmington, North Carolina, to Yorktown, Virginia.

In October 1781, he found himself pinned between George Washington's army and the French fleet.

The surrender at Yorktown is popularly considered the end of the war, but after Yorktown, there was still plenty of fighting in South Carolina.

General Greene drove the enemy back into Charleston.

After a short siege, the British agreed to evacuate the city.

Thus the Southern Campaign ended where it began.

The Treaty of Paris was signed between England and a new country, which would be called the "United States of America."

With the Southern strategy, the British thought they could overwhelm the Southern colonies, restore them to subservience, and get the whole war effort back on track.

But they miscalculated the number of loyalists in the region and the determination of the Patriots to bravely fight back.

>> The British had a grand plan with the Southern Campaign, but it failed in many cases because of the stubborn resistance of the backcountry folk to the British Army of Occupation.

Dr.

Preston> In many respects, it boils down to a question of will, in much the same way that other guerrilla forces or insurgent forces or independence fighters throughout history have outlasted and won against conventional opponents that are technically superior.

I don't think that you would get any arguments among historians that the Southern theater of the Revolutionary War is the decisive theater, in that we start to see the downfall of the last major British effort to win.

Narrator> More battles of the Revolutionary War took place in South Carolina than in any other colony.

Dr.

Nason> We need to make sure that the same people who are honoring and remembering everything that happened up north, that they remember and honor all the good people, the soldiers, the families, the civilians who all down here in the Carolinas and the Southern campaign, they're remembered just as well.

Narrator> In the end, the Southern Patriots proved they were too much for the British, and the failure of the Southern Campaign effectively brought the American Revolutionary War to a close.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪