Revolutionary War in the Southern Back Country, The

Book excerpt: A description of the events that led to the climax and eventual demise of the British campaigns in the Southern theater during the Revolutionary War. The introductory chapter presents the British and Hessian employment of the eighteenth century European method of warfare and the ways it contrasted with the colonial army's diverse and constantly changing fighting styles. The subsequent nine chapters detail the principal military efforts of the British in the South, their capture of seaports, movement in the backcountry, and the critical winter campaign of 1780-81. This almost forgotten campaign and its trilogy of intense clashes at Guilford Court House, Cowpens, and Kings Mountain proved pivotal to American independence. The leadership of the armies isolated in the backcountry and left to their own resources for survival is addressed. The British profiles include the admirably courageous direction of Lord Charles Cornwallis, his morally questionable but valorous cavalry commander Banastre Tarleton, as well as a cadre of impressive young officers such as Webster, Stuart, O'Hara, Hall, and Ewall. Swisher's profiles of the Southern colonial army details the genius strategies of Maj.Gen. Nathaneal Greene and the astute backwoods tactical abilities of Daniel Morgan at Cowpens.