The British Entry Into, and Occupation of Charlotte, September 26 to October 14, 1780
The first objective in Lt. Gen. Earl Cornwallis’s first invasion of North Carolina was the capture of Charlotte. He intended to establish a post…
The Management of Sequestered Estates in South Carolina, 1780–1782
On September 16, 1780, while at the Waxhaws on the northern border of South Carolina, Lt. Gen. Earl Cornwallis, the British General Officer commanding…
2
Reflections on the Siege and Capitulation of Yorktown and Gloucester
Lt. General Earl Cornwallis, the British general officer commanding in the south, occupied Yorktown and Gloucester on August 1 and 2, 1781, the evacuation…
Biographical Sketches of Royal Militia Commanders in the South Carolina Mid- and Lowcountry, North Carolina, and Georgia, 1780–82
Introduction This article supplements one relating to royal militia commanders in the South Carolina Backcountry that appeared in the Journal of the American Revolution…
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Biographical Sketches of Royal Militia Commanders in the South Carolina Backcountry, 1780–82
Introduction After the British capture of Charlestown in mid May 1780 the Crown hoped to raise substantial numbers of militia not only to maintain…
The Aborted Virginia Campaign and Its Aftermath, May to August 1781
Lt. General Earl Cornwallis, the British general officer commanding in the south, arrived at Petersburg in the morning of May 20, 1781, having marched…
Britain’s Last Throw of the Dice Begins—the Charlestown Campaign of 1780
By the close of 1779 British possessions in the revolted colonies were confined in the north to New York City, Long Island, and Penobscot….
2
Certain British and British American Actors in the Southern Theater of the War
This article supplements one of mine that appeared in the Journal of the American Revolutionin November 2016.[1] Based partly on The Cornwallis Papers,[2] it…
2
Cornwallis and the Winter Campaign, January to April 1781
Leaving Colonel Francis Lord Rawdon to command in the field from Georgetown to Augusta, Lt. Gen. Charles Earl Cornwallis, the British General Officer Commanding…
Fire-Hunting by Night in South Carolina: A Pursuit of British Officers
While George Hanger was for a time in limbo, waiting in mid May 1780 for a decision on his part in the British arrangements for…
Cornwallis Quits Charlotte, Abandoning the Autumn Campaign of 1780
This article is a companion piece to one of mine that appeared in this journal on July 18, 2017. Beginning with the start of the…
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Midsummer 1780 in the Carolinas and Georgia—Events predating the Battle of Camden
Besides dealing with events elsewhere, this article relates in particular the plight of the Carolina loyalists and the way in which British ascendancy in…
2
Decoding British ciphers used in the South, 1780-81
During the southern campaigns the British used two kinds of cipher, each kind being markedly different from the other. The First Kind of Cipher: The…
2
Cornwallis’s Refitment at Winnsborough and the Start of the Winter Campaign, November–January 1780–81
As November 1780 begins, we find Cornwallis continuing to wait at Winnsborough, South Carolina, in the hope of being joined by Major Gen. Alexander…
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The Decision that Lost Britain the War: An Enigma Now Resolved
In this article I address the absurdity of Cornwallis’s decision to march from Wilmington, North Carolina, to Virginia and the light thrown on it…
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Cornwallis and the autumn campaign of 1780 ― His advance from Camden to Charlotte
As events would prove, the autumn campaign was a very risky venture indeed, yet despite the operational difficulties attending it Cornwallis saw no option…
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From Yorktown to England ― Cornwallis’s fraught passage home
Based preponderantly on The Cornwallis Papers,[1] this article describes in part Cornwallis’s last days in Virginia, his brief sojourn in New York, and events…
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The South Carolina backcountry in mid 1780
Its occupation by the British, the character of its inhabitants, and its flora, fauna and terrain Overall, I am of opinion that militarily the…
3
How many troops did Cornwallis actually bring to the Battle of Guilford?
A re-evaluation in the light of The Cornwallis Papers Works about the Revolutionary War are littered with references to troop numbers, whether to…
14
The prowess of American riflemen: a mystery now solved
In his Colonel George Hanger to all Sportsmen, and particularly to Farmers and Gamekeepers (London, 1814) Hanger retails a diverting anecdote about the prowess…
George Hanger ― His Adventures in the American Revolutionary War end
THE CHARLESTOWN CAMPAIGN Beginning with the siege of Charlestown, the southern campaigns would prove to be Britain’s last throw of the dice in the…
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George Hanger ― His Adventures in the American Revolutionary War begin
PHILADELPHIA TO RHODE ISLAND Having pursued a chequered and colourful path in Europe, including a rake’s progress through London high society,[1] George Hanger reached…
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George Hanger ― His Early Life
“The lives of malefactors in general are prefaced with a strong outline of their birth, parentage and education, with other peculiar circumstances belonging to…
2
The Revolutionary War in the south: Re-evaluations of certain revolutionary actors and events
This article provides a wide-ranging set of re-evaluations compartmentalised under the sub-headings below and placed in the context of the historiography relating to them. …
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The Revolutionary War in the south: Re-evaluations of certain British and British American actors
Prefatory remarks Wide-ranging and to some degree disparate as they are, my re-evaluations are, on the one hand, compartmentalized under the sub-headings set out…
6
Was the Revolutionary War in the south winnable by the British?
A re-evaluation from a British perspective in the light of The Cornwallis Papers Relying mostly on inferences drawn from my commentary in The Cornwallis Papers,[1]…
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Why was the Revolutionary War in the south lost by the British?
A re-evaluation from a British perspective in the light of The Cornwallis Papers It was in 1975, when I was researching the American Revolution, that…