True for the Cause of Liberty : The Second Spartan Regiment in the American Revolution

Following their defeat at Saratoga in upstate New York in 1777, the British decided to implement a Southern Strategy against the American insurgents, a plan to “roll up” the rebellious colonies from Georgia through the Carolinas to Virginia. Instead, they triggered a savage partisan war of raids, ambushes, assassinations, and large pitched battles that rivaled any fought in the northern colonies. Untrained Patriot militiamen―occasionally stiffened by contingents of the Continental Line―were pitted against Britain’s Cherokee and Creek allies, and Loyalist militia and British regulars led by General Cornwallis and his two ablest subordinates, Patrick Ferguson and the ruthless Banastre “Bloody Ban” Tarleton. In October 1780 the Loyalist militia was virtually destroyed at King’s Mountain, the battle that Lord Clinton, the British commander in Chief, said was “the first link in a chain of events that followed each other in regular succession until they at last ended in the total loss of America.” Other defeats at Blackstock’s Farm and Cowpens, and a Pyhrric victory at Guilford Courthouse, gutted the British Southern Army and drove Cornwallis north to encirclement and surrender at Yorktown. This study uses battlefield terrain analysis and the words of the officers and common soldiers, from pension records and little-known interviews, to bring to life the crucial role of one militia regiment―the Second Spartans of South Carolina--that fought in virtually every action of the vicious back-country war that decided the fate of America. Or as one private in the Second Spartans said, expressing admiration for his colonel: “. . . a few Brave Men stood true for the cause of liberty.” Following their defeat at Saratoga in upstate New York in 1777, the British decided to implement a Southern Strategy against the American insurgents, a plan to "roll up" the rebellious colonies from Georgia through the Carolinas to Virginia. Instead, they triggered a savage partisan war of raids, ambushes, assassinations, and large pitched battles that rivaled any fought in the northern colonies. Untrained Patriot militia men occasionally stiffened by contingents of the Continental Line were pitted against Britain's Cherokee and Creek allies, and Loyalist militia and British regulars led by General Cornwallis and his two ablest subordinates, Patrick Ferguson and the ruthless Banastre "Bloody Ban" Tarleton. In October 1780 the Loyalist militia was virtually destroyed at King's Mountain, the battle that Lord Clinton, the British commander in Chief, said was "the first link in a chain of events that followed each other in regular succession until they at last ended in the total loss of America." Other defeats at Blackstock's Farm and Cowpens, and a Pyrrhic victory at Guilford Courthouse, gutted the British Southern Army and drove Cornwallis north to encirclement and surrender at Yorktown. This study uses battlefield terrain analysis and the words of the officers and common soldiers, from pension records and little-known interviews, to bring to life the crucial role of one militia regiment the Second Spartans of South Carolina--that fought in virtually every action of the vicious back-country war that decided the fate of America. Or as one private in the Second Spartans said, expressing admiration for his colonel: ". . . a few Brave Men stood true for the cause of liberty."--Publisher “Persuasively tells the savage partisan war in the Carolina backcountry... [during] the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution” (Military Review). Following their defeat at Saratoga in New York in 1777, the British decided to implement a southern strategy against the American insurgents, a plan to “roll up” the rebellious colonies from Georgia through the Carolinas to Virginia. Untrained Patriot militiamen—occasionally stiffened by contingents of the Continental Line—were pitted against Britain's Cherokee and Creek allies, and Loyalist militia and British regulars led by Gen. Cornwallis and his two ablest subordinates, Patrick Ferguson and the ruthless Banastre “Bloody Ban” Tarleton. In October 1780, the Loyalist militia was virtually destroyed at King's Mountain. Other defeats at Blackstock's Farm and Cowpens, and a pyrrhic victory at Guilford Courthouse, gutted the British southern army and drove Cornwallis north to encirclement and surrender at Yorktown. This study uses battlefield terrain analysis and the words of the officers and common soldiers, from pension records and little-known interviews, to bring to life the crucial role of one militia regiment—the Second Spartans of South Carolina—that fought in virtually every action of the vicious backcountry war that decided the fate of America. Or, as one private in the Second Spartans said, expressing admiration for his colonel: “a few Brave Men stood true for the cause of liberty.” “A serious book for those with a serious interest in the southern campaigns of the Revolutionary War... Many thanks to the Gilberts for shedding new light on the role of the Second Spartan Regiment.” —War in History Casemate 4 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 10 Sources and Additional Resources 12 Authors’ Preface 16 Prologue: William Blackstock’s Plantation, South Carolina, 20 November 1780 18 1 Introduction 20 2 A People Bred to War 22 3 The Back Country and the First Cherokee War 30 4 Political Maneuvering, 1769–1775 41 5 War Comes to the South 53 6 The Georgia Campaign, 1779 76 7 The British Ascendancy 90 8 The Imperceptible Turning of the Tide 116 9 Chasing Ferguson: the Politics of Militia Command 138 10 King’s Mountain, 7 October 1780: the Day of Battle 155 11 King’s Mountain Aftermath 171 12 Bloody Ban Tastes Defeat: Blackstock’s Farm, 20 November 1780 178 13 The Calm at the Storm’s Eye 202 14 The Cowpens, 17 January 1781 217 15 Cowpens Aftermath 240 16 Grinding Down the British 249 17 Finis in the South, 1782 275 Epilogue 281 Appendix A The Many Versions of Cowpens 285 Endnotes 288 Index 312