8th Unit 3 – Notes: Chapter 4.3 I. Fighting in the West 1. The Revolutionary War was a great interest to many Native American groups living in and around the 13 states. a. Some Native Americans helped the Patriots, but more sided with the British. 2. West of the Appalachian Mountains, the British and their Native American allies raided American settlements. a. Mohawk war chief, Joseph Brant, led many brutal attacked in southwestern New York and northern Pennsylvania. b. Farther west, Henry Hamilton, British commander at Detroit, paid Native Americans for settlers’ scalps. His nickname was the “hair buyer.” 3. Virginia militia leader George Rogers Clark set out to end attacks in the West. a. In July 1778, Clark led a force of 175 westward down the Ohio River. 4. Patriots captured a British post at Kaskaskia (present day Illinois). a. Also captured the British town of Vincennes (present day Indiana), but was recaptured by Clark in December. b. Clark’s victory strengthened the American position in the West. II. The War at Sea 1. The Revolutionary War took place at sea. 2. Great Britain had a powerful navy which gave them a big advantage. a. British vessels formed blockades keeping ships from entering or leaving American harbors. b. The blockade limited delivery of supplies and troops to Patriot forces. A. Privateers 1. Congress ordered 13 warships, but only two of the ships made it to sea. a. Several capture by the British. b. American navy too week to operate well. 2. Congress authorized 2,000 ships to sail as privateers. a. Privateer is a privately owned merchant ship outfitted with weapons. b. Goal of a privateer is to capture enemy merchant ships and cargo. 3. Finding crews for the privateer ships was not difficult. a. Sailors from whaling and fishing ports of New England signed up eagerly. b. Privateering was profitable. c. Privateers captured more British ships than the American navy did. B. An American Naval Hero 1. The war at sea produced one of the war’s great heroes, American naval officer, John Paul Jones. a. Won his first success raiding British ports. b. September 1779, Jones’s ship, Bonhomme Richard, fought the British warship, Serapis. i. They fought for hours. Jones’s is quoted to have said, “I have not yet begun to fight.” c. In the end Serapis surrendere. d. The naval victory made John Paul Jones a hero to the Patriots. 8th Unit 3 – Notes: Chapter 4.3 III. Fighting in the South 1. In the early years of the war, Americans had won several battles in the South. 2. In 1776, Patriot forces crushed Loyalists at the Battle of Moore’s Creek, near Wilmington, North Carolina. 3. Patriots also saved the key port of Charles Town, South Carolina, from the British. a. Battle was small but had a huge impact on the war was great. 4. By 1778, these results plus Saratoga, convinced the British that bringing the colonies back into the empire would not be easy. 5. British came up with new plan, to focus on the South, where there were many Loyalists. 6. British hoped to use sea power and the support of Loyalists to win important victories in the Southern states, the plan worked at first but things changed. A. Early British Success 1. In late 1778, British general Henry Clinton sent 3,500 troops from New York to take Savannah, Georgia. 2. Clinton led a force into the South in early 1780. a. May 1780, he led a second British attack on Charles Town, this time British won. b. British took thousands of prisoners, marked as worst American defeat of the war. c. After his win, Clinton returned to New York. 3. General Charles Cornwallis was left in command of British forces in the South. 4. Continental Congress sent General Horatio Gates to face Cornwallis. a. August 1780, the two armies met at Camden, South Carolina. b. The British won the first encounter. c. Cornwallis soon found out that he couldn’t control the area he won, because his troops faced a new kind of warfare. B. Hit-And-Run Tactics 1. The British had counted on strong Loyalist support in the South, but received less help than Expected. 2. As British forces moved through the countryside, small forces of Patriots attacked them. a. These Patriot forces appeared suddenly, fired their weapons, and then disappeared. i. This hit-and-run technique caught the British off guard. 3. Francis Marion was one successful Patriot leader. a. His nickname was “Swamp Fox,” he was quick and smart. b. He operated out of the swamps of eastern South Carolina. c. British colonel grumbled, “the devil himself” could not catch Marion. C. Spain’s Help 1. Spain declared war on Britain in 1779. 2. Spanish governor of Louisiana, Bernardo de Gálvez, had tons of supplies and ammunition shipped up the Mississippi River to American troops in Northwest Territory. a. Enabled George Rogers Clark to capture the key posts of Kaskaskia and Vincennes. 3. Gálvez also raised an army to fight the British. a. His forces drove the British out of the Gulf of Mexico region. 8th Unit 3 – Notes: Chapter 4.3 D. American Successes 1. After their victory in Camden, South Carolina, the British moved northward through the Carolinas in September 1780. a. British wanted local people to give up fight for independence and join the British. i. Americans refused, British threatened to “hang their leaders, and lay their country waste…” 2. Americans who received these warnings were mountain people, who were fiercely independent. a. They were neither Patriots nor Loyalists, until British angered them. 3. Mountain people formed a militia army, to force British off their land. a. They formed Kings Mountain, the American militia force killed or captured a British-led Loyalist force of about 1,000. b. Patriot victory brought new support for independence from the Southerners. 4. In October 1780, Nathanael Greene replaced Gates as commander of the Continental forces in the South. a. Greene split his army into two. b. January 1781, one section defeated the British at Cowpens, South Carolina. c. The other section joined forces with Francis Marion’s raids. d. Greene combined his forces back together in March 1781. e. Greene met Cornwallis’s army at Guilford Courthouse (present-day Greensboro, North Carolina. i. Greene had to retreat; British sustained great losses. ii. Cornwallis gave the campaign to conquer the Carolinas. E. Cornwallis Retreats 1. Cornwallis realized the British had to act quickly to win the war, due to French troops coming to help the Patriots held in Virginia. a. Troops and supplies were moving south. 2. April 1781, Cornwallis marched north to Virginia. a. His troops carried out raids throughout the region. 3. Washington sent Lafayette and General Anthony Wayne south to push Cornwallis back. 4. Cornwallis took shelter in Yorktown, on the Virginia coast. a. Battle for the South was entering its final phase. .