South Carolina in the American Revolution
South Carolina was outraged over British tax policies in the 1760s that violated what they saw as their constitutional right to "no taxation without representation". Merchants joined the boycott against buying British products. When the London government harshly punished Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, South Carolina's leaders joined eleven other colonies in forming the Continental Congress. When the British attacked Lexington and Concord in the spring of 1775 and were beaten back by the Massachusetts Patriots, South Carolina Patriots rallied to support the American Revolution. Loyalists and Patriots of the colony were split by nearly 50/50.
British General Henry Clinton
"Lieutenant-Colonel Banastre Tarleton" by Sir Joshua Reynolds
Gathering of Overmountain Men at Sycamore Shoals, by Lloyd Branson, depict Overmountain Men in route to their victory at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780
Battle of Cowpens, 1781
Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War
The southern theater of the American Revolutionary War was the central theater of military operations in the second half of the American Revolutionary War, 1778–1781. It encompassed engagements primarily in Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Tactics consisted of both strategic battles and guerrilla warfare.
The Battle of Cowpens by William Ranney
Sir Henry Clinton led the British land forces in the failed attack on Charleston.
Portrait of General Benjamin Lincoln; by Charles Willson Peale
Lord Cornwallis took command when Sir Henry Clinton sailed for New York.
