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The British Invadethe CarolinasThe British Invadethe
Carolinas
As you read, look for:• the fighting that took place in the
Carolinas• the end of the War for Independence• vocabulary term
Overmountain Men
North Carolinians did not always earn praise during the southern
phaseof the War for Independence. Robert Howe of Brunswick had been
madethe ranking American general in the Carolinas by the
Continental Con-gress. Howe, however, lost Savannah, Georgia, to
the British in late 1778.He was replaced. During early 1779,
General John Ashe of Wilmingtonwas unable to retake Augusta,
Georgia, from the British. After a longstruggle, the southern
American army was trapped in Charles Town, SouthCarolina, and
surrendered in May 1780, including almost all the NorthCarolina
Continentals.
A second southern army was raised in a month, including militia
calledout from across North Carolina and commanded by former
GovernorCaswell. That army marched into South Carolina and collided
head onwith one commanded by Lord Charles Cornwallis, one of Great
Britain’smost experienced generals. The Americans were routed at
Camden onAugust 16, 1780. Most of the North Carolina troops fled
after the firstshots were fired. Some ran all the way back into
North Carolina, morethan fifty miles.
The American defeat at Camden meant that South Carolina was
inthe control of the British and that North Carolina was open to
invasion.
North Carolinians Defend Their HomelandFaced with an enemy at
their doorsteps, North Carolinians gathered
their courage and their resources and fought back. Even before
the battleat Camden, Whigs along the Catawba River had attacked a
large contin-gent of Tories gathered to go join Cornwallis. On June
20, 1780, morethan a thousand Tories were defeated at Ramsour’s
Mill, at the site ofpresent-day Lincolnton.
After Camden, Cornwallis split his army into two, sending Tories
intothe North Carolina mountains to force the settlers there to
join with the
Above: Gen. Robert Howe wasNorth Carolina’s
highest-rankingContinental officer during theRevolutionary War. He
commandedthe Southern Department foralmost two years.
172 Chapter 5: The Struggle for Independence
This section will help you meet thefollowing objectives:8.2.02
Describe the contributionsof key personalities from
theRevolutionary War era.8.2.03 Examine the role of NorthCarolina
in the Revolutionary War.8.2.04 Examine the reasons for
thecolonists’ victory, the impact ofmilitary successes and
failures, therole of foreign interventions, and on-going domestic
issues.
Section 3 The British Invade the Carolinas
INTRODUCE
OutlineA. North Carolinians
Defend Their HomelandB. The British Chase
the American Army
MaterialsTextbook, pages 172-176Blackline Masters
Taking Perspectives: Whigs, Tories, and Pacifists, page
46Chronology of the American Revolution, page 47The Struggle for
Independence: Key Terms, page 48Who Am I?: Key Figures in the
American Revolution, page 49What’s In a Name?, page 50North
Carolina Revolutionary War Sites, page 51
Spanish WorkbookCronología de la Revolución Americana¿Quién
soy?: Figuras clave de la Revolución Americana¿Qué significan los
nombres?Lugares de la Guerra Revolu-cionaria en Carolina del
Norte
Teacher CD-ROMTransparencieswww.mystatehistory.com
Online textbook
Getting StartedAsk students how they would
have expected North Carolinians, always known for their
indepen-dence and strong spirit, to conduct themselves in the early
battles of the southern phase of the War for Independence.
Objectives8.2.02 Describe the contributions of key North
Carolina and national personali-ties from the Revolutionary War era
and assess their influence on the outcome of the war.8.2.03 Examine
the role of North Carolina in the Revolutionary War.8.2.04 Examine
the reasons for the colonists’ victory over the British, and
evaluate the impact of military successes and failures, the role of
foreign inter-ventions, and on-going political and economic
domestic issues.
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Map 17The RevolutionaryWar inthe Carolinas
Map Skill: Which battletook place closest to whereyou live?
British. He then took the main army into Charlotte. Both
intrusions (in-vasions) into North Carolina proved to be disastrous
for the British.
At Charlotte, William R. Davie held up the British for hours,
then re-treated to Salisbury. Cornwallis stayed in Charlotte for a
month, but thepeople of Mecklenburg County did not treat him well.
The Scots-Irishmade as much trouble for the invaders as possible.
One Whig militiacaptain even burned down his own farm rather than
let the British useit. Once, several hundred British soldiers were
sent to forage, which meantthey took whatever they wanted from
nearby farms. The residents in theneighborhood started firing at
the soldiers from hiding places in the woods.One wounded British
soldier knocked over a beehive in a barnyard. Theangry swarm chased
the British all the way back to Charlotte. Ever since,Mecklenburg
County has had a reputation as the “hornet’s nest” of
theRevolution. One officer serving with Cornwallis called Charlotte
the most“rebellious country” in all America.
Meanwhile, the Tories sent to the mountains were wiped out.
Whenthe settlers there were told to come fight for the British or
suffer the con-sequences, they chose to make their own
consequences. OvermountainMen, as they came to be called, crossed
the Blue Ridge and trapped theTories on October 7, 1780, at the
Battle of Kings Mountain. PatrickFerguson, the Tory commander, had
bunched his thousand troops at thetop of a ridge on the border
between North and South Carolina and daredanyone to dislodge him.
The Overmountain Men surprised the Tories,
Section 3: The British Invade the Carolinas 173
TEACH
Map 17 SkillStudent answers will vary.
Differentiated Instruction – For Less Proficient Readers/Special
Needs Students/ English Language Learners
Have students divide a sheet in half and write the term
Overmoun-tain Men across the top. On one side of the paper, have
them draw an illustration of what they imagine Overmountain Men to
be like.
Reviewing InformationTell students to use what they
have learned to list two weaknesses and two strengths of the
Ameri-cans at the start of the war and two weaknesses and two
strengths of the British at the start of the war.
Teacher Note: Answers will vary, but should include the
follow-ing: American strengths: patrio-tism, determination,
motivation, home-front advantage. American weaknesses: lack of
healthy, ready soldiers; not well equipped; lack of experienced
military discipline. British strengths: professional soldiers;
support of many loyalists, Native Americans, and African Americans;
many well-supplied and available soldiers. British weaknesses: poor
leadership, fighting overseas.
Critical ThinkingAsk: What kind of people do
you think the British began to believe the Americans were? Do
you think Americans continue to deserve such a reputation?
Writing ActivityWrite an article for the Charlotte
Observer in the early 1780s, describ-ing with pride the trouble
the Meck-lenburg people made for the British soldiers during
Cornwallis’s stay in Charlotte.
Teacher
Notes________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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killed Ferguson, and took the survivors off as prisoners. The
loss at KingsMountain forced Cornwallis to retreat into South
Carolina.
The British Chase the American ArmyWith Cornwallis in retreat,
the small group of American troops left in
Salisbury advanced to Charlotte. In the winter of 1780, their
new com-mander, Nathanael Greene, arrived. Greene found the army
almost starv-ing to death. To find supplies, he split it in two,
sending one divisionwest under General Daniel Morgan and taking the
other east himself.
The British immediately went after Morgan, thinking that was
theweaker force. Morgan, however, was joined by several groups of
militia-men. On January 17, 1781, he turned and made a valiant
stand atHannah’s Cowpens, not far from Kings Mountain. On the open
pastureswhere drovers gathered cattle for shipment to market,
Morgan gave theBritish one of their biggest defeats of the war. The
Americans capturedmany British soldiers in the fight. Morgan,
knowing that Cornwallis wouldcome after him, beat a hasty retreat
toward Salisbury. Greene, too, re-treated toward the Yadkin River,
hoping to put his army back togetherbefore it was too late.
Wet weather slowed Cornwallis so much that he burned his
extrabaggage and pushed his troops faster. Morgan had barely gotten
acrossthe Catawba River when the British destroyed General William
Lee
Above: Patrick Ferguson, theBritish commander at Kings
Moun-tain, was shot off his horse as hetried to escape the
OvermountainMen’s trap. Several North Carolin-ians claimed to have
fired the fatalshot, including a son of HenryWeidner, the
backcountry pioneer,who was using his father’s rifle.
The Battle at KingsMountain has been calledthe turning point of
the
war in the South.
174 Chapter 5: The Struggle for Independence
Technology ActivityHave students go to web site
library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312848/lccornwallis.htm, read the
short article about George Cornwallis, and answer these
questions:1. What was Cornwallis accused
of? (losing the war)2. What was his rank when
he came to America? (major general)
3. What government positions did he occupy after the war?
(Governor General of India and Viceroy of Ireland)
Using Photographs and Illustrations
What can you learn about the Battle of Kings Mountain by
studying the illustration? Prompt students to think about
visibil-ity, weather conditions, uneven ground patterns for men and
horses, weapons, tactics, etc.
Addressing Multiple Learning Styles
Have students act out the Battle of Kings Mountain between the
Overmountain Men and Ferguson and his men.
Critical ThinkingAsk: Does it appear that
Cornwallis gave up hope after the defeats at Kings Mountain and
at Cowpens? What evidence of your answer do you see in the
textbook?
Teacher
Notes________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Davidson’s militia at Cowan’s Ford. So badly were the Americans
scat-tered that General Greene spent an entire night, woefully
alone, at therally point near Salisbury. The Americans barely
escaped with their sol-diers and their supplies across the Yadkin
River; the British appeared onthe ridge above as the last boats
made it across. Cornwallis then occu-pied, in turn, Salisbury,
Salem, and Hillsborough, while Greene and theAmericans crossed the
Dan River into Virginia to gain reinforcementsand supplies.
General Greene returned to North Carolina, outnumbering the
Britishtwo to one. He carefully chose a battleground similar to the
one that hadworked at Cowpens. The two armies met on March 15,
1781, at GuilfordCourthouse (where Greensboro is today) and fought
viciously for oneand one-half hours. Early on, the North Carolina
militia panicked andran away, just as it had at Camden. Greene,
however, had put more ex-perienced troops from Virginia in a second
line, and they stood theirground. At one point, the fighting became
the fiercest of the entire Warfor Independence. Cornwallis, knowing
his army was near total defeat,actually ordered grapeshot (small
metal balls and jagged fragments thatdo great damage) to be fired
into a spot where his own troops were mixedup with the Americans.
It worked, at great human cost. Greene chose topull back, and the
British held the field.
Cornwallis lost one-fourth of his army, Greene about the same,
if thefive hundred North Carolina militiamen who fled are counted.
When theresult was announced back in London, one British official
suggested that
Below: Reenactors annually“portray” the Battle of
GuilfordCourthouse in Greensboro. Theauthor of this textbook
“fought”with the Scots Guards in theoriginal depiction in 1981,
the200th anniversary of the originalfight. Some reenactors always
holda moment of silence at the spotwhere Lord Cornwallis
firedcannon shot into his own troops.
The state’s first papermill was built in 1777 inHillsborough to
reduce
the paper shortagebrought on by the war.
Section 3: The British Invade the Carolinas 175
Writing ActivityTell students to write a journal
entry by General Greene dated the night he spent at the rally
point near Salisbury, waiting for the British troops to appear at
any moment.
Reviewing InformationWhat details given on this page
about the beginning of the battle at the Guilford Courthouse
convey the strengths of Cornwallis’s army and the relative weakness
of Greene’s?
Critical ThinkingHow would the battle at the
Guilford Courthouse have ended if Cornwallis hadn’t ordered
grape-shot to be fired? If this had not happened, how would the war
be different?
Tar Heel TriviaGeneral George Washington
thought General Greene was the best organizer in the Continental
Army.
Teacher
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It’s Your Turn
1. Why was Robert Howe replaced as the ranking general for the
armyin the Carolinas?
2. Why was Mecklenburg County called a “hornet’s nest”?3. Where
did the War for Independence end?
Above: This painting of the Britishsurrender at Yorktown hangs
in therotunda of the U.S. Capitol. FewNorth Carolinians were
serving withWashington at the time, but a wholeregiment of Tories
commanded byJohn Hamilton of Halifax wassurrendered by Lord
Cornwallis.
When the British laiddown their arms atYorktown, a British
band supposedly played“The World Turned
Upside Down.”
“another such victory would be the ruin of the British army.”
The Britishthen limped across the Coastal Plain to Wilmington and,
after resting,marched straight north into Virginia. Cornwallis
hoped to have betterluck in that richer state, but Washington
trapped him in Yorktown, effec-tively ending the war.
Meanwhile, Greene moved the American army into South Carolina
todislodge the British from a number of forts. North Carolina
recruits didsomewhat redeem their state’s battlefield reputation
with bravery at theBattle of Eutaw Springs. By the end of 1782, the
last British had leftWilmington and Charles Town, ending the war in
the South.
The two years of war left its mark on the North Carolina
landscape.Kings Mountain, Cowpens, and Guilford Courthouse are
national militaryparks. General Greene had Greenville, Greensboro,
and Greene County,North Carolina; Greenville, South Carolina; and
Greeneville, Tennesseenamed for him. For most of the twentieth
century, the professional ath-letic teams in Charlotte were named
the Hornets, until the National Bas-ketball Association moved the
team to New Orleans in the 1990s.
176 Chapter 5: The Struggle for Independence
Tar Heel TriviaThe last elk to live in the North
Carolina mountains was killed in 1781 by William Davenport, on
the North Toe River near what came to be called the town of Banner
Elk. Davenport was twelve at the time. Years later, the elk horns
were donated to the University in Chapel Hill, where they were put
on display for students.
Reviewing InformationWhat did the surrender of Corn-
wallis signify to North Carolinians?
Lesson ClosureIn spite of a shaky beginning,
North Carolinians fought gallantly and with great sacrifice
during the campaigns in their home territory. Remembering the
descriptions of the battles in North Carolina, ask students to
indicate the battle in which North Carolinians showed their courage
the most.
ASSESS
It’s Your Turn1. He was replaced after he lost
Savannah to the British.2. The residents of Mecklenburg
County caused as much trouble for the British as possible.
3. Yorktown, Virginia
Teacher CD-ROMYou can use the test generator
software on the CD to create a quiz or a test for this section.
Critical Thinking
Ask: What toll do you believe was taken on North Carolina
families during the Revolutionary War? Why would it take a while
for things to stabilize for these families?
Teacher
Notes________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
