Siege of Charleston
Siege of Charleston | |||||||
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Part of the American Revolutionary War | |||||||
An illustration of the siege by Alonzo Chappel | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Great Britain Hesse-Kassel |
United States France | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Sir Henry Clinton Charles Cornwallis Alexander Leslie Mariot Arbuthnot Henry Francis Evans |
Benjamin Lincoln William Moultrie James Hogun William Woodford Charles Pinckney Abraham Whipple Louis Duportail | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
12,847 regulars and militia 4,500 sailors 6 ships of the line 8 frigates 4 armed galleys 90 transports [2] |
6,577 regulars, sailors and militia 3 frigates 5 sloops 1 schooner 1 brig 3 armed galleys[2] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
89 killed 138 wounded 5,466 captured[5][6][a] All ships captured |
The siege of Charleston was a major engagement and major British victory in the
Background
By late 1779, two major British strategic efforts had failed. An army invading from Quebec under John Burgoyne had surrendered to the Americans under Horatio Gates at the Battles of Saratoga, which inspired both the Kingdom of France and Spain to declare war on Great Britain in support of the Americans. Meanwhile, a strategic effort led by Sir William Howe to capture the Revolutionaries' capital of Philadelphia had met with limited success. Having replaced his superior as Commander-in-Chief of the American Station, Sir Henry Clinton withdrew all his forces back to New York City to reinforce the city against a possible Franco-U.S. attack.[3]
Stymied by the
Clinton evacuated
Clinton had issued the Philipsburg Proclamation in 1779, promising freedom for slaves owned by Patriots who escaped to British lines and aided their cause. Slaves left both the city and countryside around Charleston to join the British around the city. Among those former slaves, known as Black Loyalists, evacuated by the British after the war was John Kizell, who had been captured as a child from the area of Sierra Leone and transported to South Carolina. He eventually returned to Sierra Leone and aided the American Colonization Society.[citation needed]
Siege
Cutting the city off from relief, Clinton began a siege on 1 April, 800 yards from the American fortifications located at today's Marion Square. Whipple, deciding the bar was indefensible, scuttled his fleet at the mouth of the Cooper River. Then Arbuthnot, on 8 April, brought his 14 vessels safely into the harbor, past the roaring guns of Fort Moultrie, the same day Woodford arrived with 750 Virginia Continentals.[3]: 46, 52–53, 55–57
In order to consolidate British control of the immediate area, Clinton dispatched Banastre Tarleton and Patrick Ferguson to capture Monck's Corner on 14 April. On 18 April, Lt. Col. Lord Rawdon arrived with 2,500 men, including the 42nd Highlanders, the Hessian von Ditfurth Regiment, the Queen's Rangers, Prince of Wales American Volunteers, and the Volunteers of Ireland. Charleston was completely surrounded by the British.[3]: 60–64
Governor
On 7 May, Fort Moultrie surrendered without a fight. On May 8, Clinton called for Lincoln's unconditional surrender, but Lincoln attempted to negotiate for the honours of war. On May 11, Gadsden and other citizens asked Lincoln to surrender. On the same day, the British fired heated shot into the city, burning several homes, and Lincoln felt forced to call for a parlay to negotiate terms for surrender. On May 12, Lincoln formally surrendered 3,371 men to the British.[3]: 69–70
When word reached the backcountry, the American troops holding
Aftermath
The British captured some 5,266 prisoners, 311 artillery pieces, 9,178 artillery rounds, 5,916 muskets, 33,000 rounds of ammunition, 15 Regimental colours, 49 ships and 120 boats, plus 376 barrels of flour, and large magazines of rum, rice and indigo.[2] Following the surrender, the captured ordnance was brought to a powder magazine. A Hessian officer warned that some of the guns might still be loaded, but he was ignored. One prematurely fired, detonating 180 barrels of powder, further discharging 5,000 muskets in the magazine. The accident killed approximately 200 people and destroyed six houses.[2] The prisoners of the siege were diverted to multiple locations, including prison ships, the old barracks where the College of Charleston is today (two barracks buildings are shown on early maps of the campus[11]), and the Old Exchange and Provost "Dungeon". Prison hulks awaited the majority of the 2,571 Continental prisoners, while parole was granted to the militia and civilians who promised not to take up arms. This ended the power of an American army in the South.[3]: 70
The defeat was a serious blow to the American cause.
During their surrender the American forces were denied honours of war, leading General George Washington to deny the same to the British during their surrender at the Siege of Yorktown. Washington said, "The same Honors will be granted to the Surrendering Army as were granted to the Garrison of Charles Town."[10]
On June 5, Clinton sailed back to New York City, believing his presence necessary to defend against a potential Franco-American attack, leaving command of the southern theater to
Order of battle
British forces
The joint British naval-army forces were led overall by Sir Henry Clinton, with his subordinate, Lord Cornwallis as his second-in-command. The British regular troops were led by Brigadier General Alexander Leslie.
The ground and naval forces were composed thus:
British order of battle[2][13] |
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The British naval forces that accompanied the invasion were commanded by Vice Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot , and were composed thus:
guns)
|
Franco-American forces
The Franco-American garrison of Charleston was overall led by Benjamin Lincoln. The Continental Army troops were nominally led by Brigadier General William Moultrie.
The ground and naval forces were composed thus:
Franco-American order of battle[2] |
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The Franco-American naval forces that accompanied the defence of the city were commanded by Commodore Abraham Whipple, and were composed thus:
|
Preservation
The American Battlefield Trust and its partners have acquired and preserved 88 acres (0.36 km2) of battlefield land in Charleston related to the siege as of mid-2023.[15]
See also
- List of American Revolutionary War battles
- American Revolutionary War § War in the South. Places ' Siege of Charleston ' in overall sequence and strategic context.
References
- Footnotes
- Citations
- ^ "Battle of Charleston ***". Landofthebrave.info. Retrieved 29 May 2018.[unreliable source?]
- ^ a b c d e f g "The American Revolution in South Carolina – The Siege of Charlestown". Carolana.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-0471327165.
- ISBN 978-0786474707.
- ISBN 978-0722280089.)
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ISBN 978-1877853210.
- ISBN 978-1570032608.
- ISBN 978-1570034879.
- ISBN 978-0306812941.
de la radiere.
- ^ a b "George Washington on General Cornwallis' Surrender at Yorktown". The American Revolution, 1763–1783. Library of Congress. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
- ^ Greene, Harlan. "A History of the College's Land - Locating the Land". Discovering Our Past: College of Charleston Histories. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
- ^ Johnston, Henry Phelps (1911). Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 844. . In
- ^ Robert Beeton, Naval and Military Memoreess of Great Britain, from 1727 to 1783, London: Shortman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, 1804, vol. 6, pp. 203–206
- ISBN 978-1855321670Chartrand, p. 3
- ^ "Charleston Battlefield". American Battlefield Trust. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 944.