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The Battle of Camden
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The Battle of Camden |
Overview:
In May 1780, Charleston fell to the British. In June 1780, the Hero of Saratoga,
Maj. General Horatio Gates arrived in the South with plans of duplicating
his quick victorious campaign in the North. Gates immediately marched for
Camden, South Carolina to capture the outpost there. Back in Charleston, Lt.
General Charles Cornwallis learned of Gates' march and made for Camden
himself.
On evening of August 15, the two armies literally ran into each
other. The next morning, they met on the battlefield. The experienced
British regulars easily intimidated the green militia that made up
two-thirds of General Gates' force. Many militia fled before even firing a
shot. Gates was routed, Maj. General Baron de Kalb was killed in the
fighting and Gates himself retreated forty miles on the same day.
Synopsis:
British Lt. General Sir Henry Clinton had arrived in South Carolina in March
and had undertaken a deliberate approach to the city of Charleston, South
Carolina. He had been a part of the failed attack on Charleston in June
1776. On that occasion, the British had chosen a naval approach and attacked
Fort Sullivan. Clinton had learned from that mistake and slowly isolated the
city by land.
On April 14, at the Battle of Monck's Corner, Lt. Colonel Banastre
Tarleton cut off the last line of communication for General Lincoln. On May
12, 1780, Maj. General Benjamin Lincoln surrendered the city of Charleston
(then Charlestown), South Carolina after being under siege for over a month.
Five thousand Continental soldiers became prisoners of war and enormous
stores of munitions were lost.
After the victory, General Clinton sailed north back to New York City
and left Lt. General Charles Cornwallis in charge of the South. Clinton's
orders to Cornwallis were simple: he was to keep the port cities of
Charleston and Savannah, Georgia firmly under British control. He could
carry on operations in the backcountry any way he wished, as long as he
maintained control of those two cities.
On May 29, 1780, a small Continental force was retreating to North
Carolina. Colonel Abraham Buford had turned back after learning that General
Lincoln had surrendered. At Waxhaws, Lt. Colonel Tarleton caught up with
Buford and routed him. With that defeat, the lone remaining Continental
force in the South was at Deep River, North Carolina.
Maj. General Baron De Kalb and over a thousand Maryland and Delaware
Continentals had left Morristown, New Jersey on April 16 with orders from General
George Washington to reinforce General Lincoln. They had made it to
North Carolina, when word of Charleston's
surrender reached them. De Kalb had halted and made camp, while awaiting new
orders from Washington.
Even before Maj. General Benjamin
Lincoln surrendered Charleston, the Continental Congress chose his
replacement as Continental Commander of the Southern Department. General
George Washington had recommended Maj.
General Nathanael Greene for the command. Congress instead chose Maj.
General Horatio Gates. Since Gates' victory at Saratoga,
his relationship with Washington had grown icy.
In 1778, General Gates had attempted to turn his position as
President of the newly formed Board of War into a field command independent
of Washington's authority. His objective was a glorious Canadian campaign,
but Congress gave up on the idea in January 1779. He then took a quiet
command post at Providence, Rhode Island. In November 1779, he requested and
received leave to return home to Virginia.
During General Gates' time at home, he continued to eye Canada, but
he also grew interested in the Southern Department. Through a stream of
letters, he began lobbying southern congressmen. On May 7, the Continental
Congress chose Gates to replace General Lincoln. On June 13, Gates received
word of his appointment and left for the South immediately. On July 25,
1780, General Gates arrived at the American camp on the Deep River in North
Carolina and was received by Maj. General Baron de Kalb.
General Gates immediately ordered that the army be prepared to march
at a moment's notice, in spite of the deplorable condition of the force. On
July 27, General Gates set out with his army for Camden, South Carolina.
Camden was central to controlling the back country of South Carolina because
of its crossroads location near the Wateree River and the Catawba (Indian)
Trail.
General Gates had chosen a direct march to Camden through difficult,
swampy terrain over the advice of his officers who were familiar with the
area. They had recommended a route that would have started out west, then
turned south. It was more indirect, but was a route through Patriot-friendly
regions, which meant food and supplies. Not only was the route that Gates
had chosen more difficult, but it was through unfriendly territory.
Sometime after July 27, Francis
Marion rejoined Maj. General Horatio Gates' army. Gates now met Marion and
his band of militia for the first time and found their appearance so shabby
that it was a distraction to the regulars. He took little time in detaching
Marion with orders to gather intelligence on the movements of the British.
Also during his march to Camden, Gates sent Lt. Colonel William Washington
and his cavalry away, because he did not think cavalry would be of use in
the South.
General Gates also weakened his force during this time by sending 400
men, including 100 Maryland regulars to assist Thomas Sumter, who had
requested assistance with his own raids. It appears that Gates' original
strategy was to use Marion and Sumter to cut off Camden's supply lines from
the south. This action would leave Camden vulnerable and force the British
to evacuate their garrison without a fight.
General Gates also counted on Lt. General Charles Earl Cornwallis
remaining in Charleston. Camden was held by a garrison of about 700 men
under Lt Colonel Lord Rawdon. On August 9, General Cornwallis received word
from Lord Rawdon of General Gates' approach and he immediately set out for
Camden, arriving on August 13. Meanwhile, Gates had found the going
difficult and anticipated supplies had not turned up along the route. The
men ended up eating green apples and peaches.
On August 15, General Gates issued orders for a night approach to
Camden. The evening's meal had been topped off with a dessert of molasses
that had dire effects on the digestion of the men. At the same time, General
Cornwallis had ordered a night march in preparation for an early morning
attack on Gates at Rugeley's Mill. As Gates' Continental force marched south
on the evening of the 15th, men often broke ranks as the molasses took its
gut-wrenching effect.
At about 2:00 A.M. on August 16, 1780, the Southern Continental Army
under Maj. General Horatio Gates and the British Army under Lt. General
Charles Cornwallis literally ran into each other on the Waxhaws road. The
cavalry screens of Continental Colonel Charles Armand and Lt. Colonel
Banastre Tarleton clashed and skirmished in the dark. The cavalry was pushed
back into the marching columns causing confusion until 100 Virginia state
troops maintained formation and steadied the Continentals.
Both sides, having been surprised by the encounter, withdrew to plan
and wait for dawn. Following the early morning skirmish, the element of
surprise was now gone. It was learned from prisoners taken that the British
force was 3,000 strong and commanded by General Cornwallis himself. General
Gates immediately called a council of war with his officers to discuss what
action to take. Although Maj. General Baron de Kalb had privately advised
retreat, he said nothing at the council of war.
After a few moments of silence, militia Brig. General Edward Stevens
declared that it was too late to do anything but fight. General Gates wanted
to prove his worth as a skilled commander, so when no other advice was
offered, he insisted on facing the British on open ground. Although both
Gates and the British estimated the American forces to be nearly 7,000 men,
the actual number was only about 3,000, nearly 2,000 of whom were
inexperienced militia.
Before dawn broke, General Gates formed his men. The core of his
force, 900 Maryland and Delaware regulars under General de Kalb, were
arrayed to the right of the Waxhaws road. To the left the road, were placed
1,800 North Carolina militia. On their left were 700 Virginia militia.
Colonel Armand's cavalry was held in reserve behind the Virginians. Gates
himself was stationed with the reserves some 200 yards behind the battle line.
When the British appeared on the field, Lord Rawdon commanded his own
Volunteers of Ireland, as well as Lt. Colonel Tarleton's British Legion
cavalry on the British left wing opposite of General de Kalb. Following
European military custom, both General Gates and General Cornwallis had
placed their most experienced troops on the right wing. As a result, Lt.
Colonel James Webster commanded the most seasoned British regiments on the
right wing opposite Gates' militia. In hindsight it looks to be a recipe for
disaster for Gates.
The British opened the battle by
attacking with their right wing on the American left wing at the heart of
the militia. Brig. General Edward Stevens ordered his men to fix bayonets,
which as militia they had never done before. In the face of an aggressive
bayonet charge from the British, first the Virginians and then the North
Carolina militia fled before the British regulars could even reach them.
Many dropped their muskets without having fired a shot.
While the rout was taking place on the American left wing, the right
wing under Maj. General Baron de Kalb was attacking after receiving the
order from Maj. General Horatio Gates. They had no idea how bad things were
on the left wing, because the dawn's dead calm had left the smoke from
gunfire lingering in a haze on the field. The Maryland and Delaware
Continental regulars twice repulsed Lord Rawdon's Volunteers of Ireland and
then launched a counterattack.
The Continental counterattack was successful with prisoners taken and
the Volunteers' line nearly broken. Lt. General Charles Cornwallis saw the
action, rode up and rallied his men. Meanwhile, Lt. Colonel James Webster
controlled his men on the British right wing. Instead of pursuing the
fleeing militia, he wheeled to the left and continued his charge as a
flanking movement against General de Kalb.
Only one militia regiment held its ground. It was a North Carolina
regiment that had been stationed the closest to the Delaware Continental
regulars. Their stead fastest was rewarded by being the first to be hit by
Lt. Colonel Webster's flank attack. The militia unit fought well and was
joined by Maryland regulars that had been called up from reserve by General
de Kalb. The Maryland regulars fought off Webster's attack, but now only
about 800 Continentals were facing at least 2,000 British regulars.
The small force continued to fight bravely. The final blow came when
General Cornwallis ordered Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton and his British
Legion to attack the American rear. Under the cavalry charge the ranks
finally broke. Some Continentals managed to escape through a nearby swamp.
General de Kalb himself had taken eleven wounds before falling. The field
was taken after an hour. Tarleton pursued the fleeing Americans for over
twenty miles before finally turning back.
Overview:
What of Maj. General Horatio Gates himself? After the militia broke and
fled, Gates soon followed. Some reported that he did attempt to rally the
retreating militia, but to no avail. What can be said is that Gates was in
Charlotte, North Carolina, sixty miles away by the evening of August 16 only
hours after the battle. He was in Hillsborough, North Carolina, 180 miles
away, by August 19.
General Gates' actions were almost immediately questioned. After Maj.
General Nathanael Greene replaced him in December, he returned home to
Virginia to await a inquiry into his conduct at Camden. He would not hold
another command for the rest of the war. He did return to active duty before
the end to official hostilities, serving in General Washington's command
staff, as he had at the start of the war.
It was estimated that of the 3,000 men that made up the American
force, 2,000 fled without firing a shot. Somewhere around 800 men were
captured or killed and the army's munitions were also taken, while the
British only sustained about 350 casualties. This loss left Patriot morale
in the South at a low and the region firmly under British control until
General Greene built the Continental forces back up in early 1781. Even with
the care of Lt. General Charles Cornwallis' personal physician, Maj. General
Baron de Kalb died at Camden three days after the battle.
*courtesy of Patriot Resource
Recommended readings: (Click on link to purchase)
 |
Title: Battles of the Revolutionary War, 1775-1781 (Major Battles and Campaigns ; 3) || Author: W. J. Wood || ISDN: 0306806177 || Released: April 1995 |
| If you are looking for a book on the complete history of the revolutionary war, this is not what you want. It only goes through certain numbers of battles so if you are not familiar with some background history of the American Revolution you might get lost between chapter. However.... it contain excellent descriptions of the battles it covers: strategy, tactics, weapons, logistics, maps.... everything someone who loves military history would enjoy reading about. If you like to read about wars this is the book for you |
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