1. Chapter 6, Section 3 The War Moves West and South
American History
Chapter 6, Section 3
The War Moves West and South

2. Vocabulary and Timeline
Vocabulary: Blockade, privateer, guerilla warfare
Timeline
June September May Jan. 1781
George Rogers The Serapis surrenders British troops Patriots defeat
Clark captures to John Paul Jones capture the British at
Vincennes Charles Town Cowpens
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3. Francis Marion – The Swamp Fox
Francis Marion and the South: Francis Marion organized a small fighting force in South Carolina and staged surprise attacks on the British.
They sabotaged communication and supply lines and rescued prisoners of war.
Marion and his militia used guerilla war tactics during their attacks and then hid in the swamps and forests of South Carolina.
This earned Marion the nickname of the “Swamp Fox.”

4. War in the West
The West: While Francis Marion was fighting the British in the South, many other battles were occurring in the West.
Much of the fighting in the west involved Native Americans.
Some of the Native Americans helped the Patriots, but most of them sided with the British.
To these Native Americans, the British posed less of a threat to them than the Americans.
West of the Appalachian Mountains, the British and their Native American allies were raiding American settlements.

5. War in the West
Mohawk chief Joseph Brant led many brutal attacks in southwestern New York and northern Pennsylvania.
After the war, Brant served as a representative of the Mohawk people at the Continental Congress and tried to get a fair land settlement for his tribe.
Unfortunately, because of his actions during the war, the Continental Congress did not grant him any land and he was forced to move with his tribe to Canada.
Henry Hamilton was a British commander in Detroit, the main British base in the West. Some people called him the “hair buyer” because of rumors that he paid Native Americans for the scalps of Americans.

6. War in the West -- Vincennes
George Rogers Clark, a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia, set out to end these attacks on western settlers.
In June of 1778, Clark and 175 soldiers sailed down the Ohio River to the mouth of the Tennessee River.
They marched to the British post at Kaskaskia in Illinois and captured it.
In February of 1779, Clark and his men also captured the British town of Vincennes in Indiana.
Unfortunately, during Clark’s absence from Vincennes later in the year, British troops under Henry Hamilton’s command recaptured Vincennes.
Clark vowed to re-take the city and surprise attacked the British and forced Hamilton to surrender.
Clark’s victory at Vincennes strengthened the position of the Americans in the West.

7. Glory at Sea
Patrolling the Waterways: As fighting occurred in the West, the British used its navy to patrol American waterways.
They kept Patriot ships and the ships of their allies from entering or leaving American harbors.
This British blockade prevented supplies and reinforcements from reaching the Continental Army.

8. Glory at Sea
Privateers: To end the blockade, the Second Continental Congress ordered the construction of 13 American warships.
Few of them actually ever sailed. The Americans were forced to destroy four of their own ships in order to keep them out of British hands and others were captured by the British.
Several states had their own small fleets, but the American navy was too weak to operate effectively. American privateers (privately owned merchant ships equipped with weapons) captured more British vessels than the American navy.
The Congress authorized the use of more than 1000 ships to sail as privateers and to attack the enemy. Many sailors eagerly signed up for work on a privateer vessel. The privateering trade was very profitable.

9. Help from Overseas
John Paul Jones: John Paul Jones was an American naval officer who began raiding British ports in 1777.
He sailed an old French ship that Benjamin Franklin obtained for him. Jones called the ship Bonhomme Richard in honor of Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack.
In September of 1779, Jones was sailing along the coast of Great Britain and came across a large fleet of British merchant ships escorted by a warship called Serapis.
Jones attacked the British warship and they fought for more than three hours.
The Bonhomme Richard was so badly damaged at one point that the British captain asked whether Jones wanted to surrender. He stated, “I have not yet begun to fight.”
In the end, the Serapis surrendered and Jones won. However, the Bonhomme Richard sank not long after the battle.
Even after losing his ship, John Paul Jones was a naval hero to the Americans.

10. Help from Overseas

11. Struggle in the South
Early Victories: In the beginning years of the war, the Americans had won some battles in the South.
In 1776, the Patriots had crushed Loyalists at the Battle of Moore’s Creek near Wilmington, North Carolina.
They had also saved Charles Town in South Carolina from the British (with the help of Francis Marion).
Battle of Moore’s Creek

12. Struggle in the South
A Different Strategy for the British: By 1778 (after the Battle of Saratoga), the British realized that winning the war would be difficult and that they needed to change their strategy to win.
They decided to concentrate on the South where there were many more Loyalists.
They believed that using their navy and gaining the support of the Loyalists in the South would help them win.
In the beginning, this strategy worked.

13. Struggle in the South – British Victories
In late 1778, General Henry Clinton sent 3,500 troops from New York to Savannah, Georgia.
The British captured the city and overran most of the state of Georgia.
In 1780, Clinton and his army went from New York to Charles Town, South Carolina and captured this city as well.
Thousands of prisoners of war were captured by the British troops. This marked the worst American defeat of the war.
General Henry Clinton

14. Struggle in the South – British Victories
Clinton returned to New York and left General Charles Cornwallis in command of the British forces in the South.
The Continental Congress sent forces under the command of General Horatio Gates to face Cornwallis.
The two armies met at Camden in South Carolina in August of 1780.
The British won the battle, but Cornwallis found that controlling the area the British had conquered was very difficult.

15. Battle of Camden

16. Struggle in the South – Guerilla Warfare
Controlling the South was difficult because the British were not used to the tactics used by the American soldiers.
Also, the British were not getting the support that they expected from the Loyalists in the South.
As they moved through the countryside, they were being attacked by small groups of Patriots. These soldiers appeared suddenly, attacked, and then disappeared. This type of tactic is called guerilla warfare.
Francis Marion utilized this technique in the swamps of eastern South Carolina. One British colonel stated that “the devil himself” could not catch him.

17. Struggle in the South – Help from Spain
Bernardo de Galvez, governor of Louisiana, helped the Americans in the following ways:
He loaned thousands of dollars to the Americans
He opened the port of New Orleans to free trade with the Americans beginning in 1777
He also organized the shipment of tons of supplies and ammunition up the Mississippi River to the army of George Rogers Clark in the Northwest Territory. Clark was able to capture Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes with this support.
After Spain officially declared war on Britain in 1779, Galvez raised an army of Spanish soldiers, Native Americans, African Americans, and Creoles. They captured British forts at Baton Rouge and Natchez in Louisiana. They also captured Mobile in Alabama and Pensacola in Florida. This opened up supply lines for military goods from Spain, Cuba, France, and Mexico.
Without Galvez, we may have not won the war for independence.

18. Struggle in the South – Patriot Victories
After the British victory at Camden, the British moved north through the Carolinas in September of 1780.
At King’s Mountain, a British officer and more than 1,000 Loyalists defended an outpost against Patriot sharpshooters.
The Patriots forced the British to retreat.
This victory at King’s Mountain brought new support for independence from Southerners.
They wanted to end this war that was destroying their homes and farms.

19. Struggle in the South – Patriot Victories
In October of 1780, Nathaniel Greene replaced Gates as the commander of the Continental forces in the South.
Greene decided to split his army in two.
In January of 1781, one section of the army led by General Daniel Morgan defeated the British at Cowpens, South Carolina.
Another section joined Francis Marion’s guerilla raids.
In March of 1781, Greene reunited his forces to meet Cornwallis and the British army at Guilford Courthouse in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Greene’s army was forced to retreat, but the British army had great losses.
Because of this, Cornwallis abandoned the Carolina campaign.

20. Battle of Cowpens

21. Battle of Guilford Courthouse

22. Struggle in the South – Patriot Victories
British Retreat: Cornwallis retreated to Virginia in 1781.
His troops raided the state and nearly captured Governor Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislature in June of 1781.
Jefferson was able to flee on horseback just in front of British troops.
General Washington sent Lafayette and von Steuben south to fight Cornwallis.
During this time, Cornwallis set up camp at Yorktown on the Virginia coast while he waited for orders from General Clinton.
The battle was about to enter its final phase.