into the city of Charleston, South Carolina, besieged and took it on
May 12, with all its {103} defenders. He then returned to New York,
leaving Lord Cornwallis with a few troops to complete the conquest of
the State. Congress now sent General Gates southward to repeat the
triumph of Saratoga. At Camden, on August 16, 1780, the issue was
decided. The American commander, with only 3,000 men, encountered
Cornwallis, who had about 2,200, and, as usual, the militia, when
attacked by British in the open field, fled for their lives at the
first charge of the redcoats, leaving the few continentals to be
outnumbered and crushed.

For a period of several weeks all organized American resistance
disappeared. Only bands of guerillas, or "partisans," as they were
called, kept the field. Clinton had issued a proclamation calling all
loyalists to join the ranks; and Cornwallis made a systematic effort to
compel the enrolment of Tory militia. The plan bore fruit in an
apparent large increase of British numbers, but also in the outbreak of
a murderous civil war. Raiding parties on both sides took to
ambuscades, nocturnal house-burning, hanging of prisoners, and
downright massacres. Pre-eminent for his success was the British
Colonel Tarleton, who with a body of light troops swept tirelessly
around, breaking up rebel bands, riding down militia, and rendering his
command a terror to the {104} State. Marion, Sumter, and other
Americans struggled vainly to equal his exploits.

Occasional American successes could not turn back the tide. On October
18, 1780, a band of Tories under General Ferguson ventured too far to
the westward, and at King's Mountain were surrounded and shot or taken
prisoners by a general uprising of the frontiersmen. General Greene,
who replaced Gates in December, managed to rally a few men, but dared
not meet Cornwallis in the field. His lieutenant, Morgan, when pursued
by Tarleton, turned on him at the Cowpens, and on January 17 managed to
inflict a severe defeat. The forces were diminutive--less than a
thousand on each side--but the battle was skilfully fought. After it,
however, both Morgan and Greene were forced to fly northward, and did
not escape Cornwallis's pursuit until they were driven out of North
Carolina. The State seemed lost, and on February 23, Cornwallis issued
a proclamation calling upon all loyalists to join the royal forces.
Meanwhile, encouraged by the striking successes in the Car