Camden

Gates Takes Command of Southern Army

Congress appointed Horatio Gates to command the remnants of the Southern Army at Hillsborough, North Carolina, after Charleston's fall. Gates arrived to find fewer than 1,400 effective Continentals and immediately began organizing a march south despite the advice of his officers, including de Kalb, who urged waiting for reinforcements and supplies. Gates's confidence, based on his Saratoga reputation, led him to underestimate both the difficulty of the march through a food-depleted countryside and the strength of the British position at Camden.

American Army Marches Through Depleted Country

Gates marched his army from Hillsborough toward Camden through the North Carolina and South Carolina backcountry in midsummer heat. The countryside had been stripped of provisions by the previous months of war and British foraging. The men subsisted on green corn, unripe peaches, and whatever they could forage, resulting in widespread dysentery. By the time the army reached the Camden area, it was weakened by hunger, illness, and the effects of the march. Gates's decision to continue the advance under these conditions was criticized by his officers at the time and by historians since.

Battle of Camden

At dawn on August 16, 1780, the British line attacked. Webster's regulars on the British right moved against the Virginia militia on the American left before the militia had fully formed their line. The militia fired one volley and ran. The collapse was immediate and total. The Continentals on the American right — Maryland and Delaware regiments under de Kalb — did not know the left had broken until British forces began appearing on their flank and rear. They fought for over an hour in a steadily shrinking perimeter, de Kalb rallying them personally until he was shot repeatedly and fell. American losses exceeded 1,000 killed and captured, with the number who simply scattered and never returned impossible to calculate. British losses were approximately 325.

Gates Flees to Charlotte

When the American left broke, Gates rode with the stream of fleeing militia toward Charlotte, North Carolina, 60 miles away. He arrived there that evening. His flight became one of the most cited examples of failed military leadership in American history. Alexander Hamilton wrote a withering assessment. Congress authorized Washington to appoint a replacement; Washington chose Nathanael Greene. Gates never held another combat command.

American and British Columns Collide at Night

In the early hours of August 16, Gates ordered a night march intending to approach Camden under cover of darkness. Simultaneously, Cornwallis moved his force out of Camden toward the American camp. The two advance guards collided on the road at approximately 2:30 a.m. Both sides pulled back, recognized what was happening, and deployed in the darkness, knowing that dawn would bring a battle. Gates held a quick council of war in which General Edward Stevens reportedly asked what to do. No alternative to fighting was practical — the army was deployed across a narrow stretch of ground between swamps with no room to maneuver.

Tarleton Pursues American Survivors

Immediately after the battle, Tarleton's cavalry pursued the fleeing American soldiers north toward Charlotte, covering 20 miles in the pursuit and killing or capturing hundreds of stragglers. The pursuit was the most effective post-battle exploitation of the southern campaign. When the British cavalry finally stopped, the American army had effectively ceased to exist as an organized force between Camden and the North Carolina border.

Battle of Fishing Creek (Sumter Defeated)

Two days after Camden, Tarleton surprised Thomas Sumter's partisan force at Fishing Creek, catching them resting in the heat of the day without adequate sentries. Tarleton killed 150 and captured 300 more, freeing 100 British prisoners Sumter had taken. Sumter himself escaped, reportedly riding off in his shirtsleeves. The double blow of Camden and Fishing Creek in 48 hours came as close as the British ever did to completely extinguishing organized Patriot resistance in South Carolina.

Death of Baron de Kalb

Major General Johann de Kalb died on August 19, three days after the battle, of the wounds he had sustained — eleven musket balls and a sword blow to the head. He was 59 years old and had been fighting since early morning. British officers who were present described his conduct with respect: he had maintained unit cohesion long after the battle was lost and had been brought down by accumulated wounds rather than any failure of nerve. He was buried in Camden.

Greene Appointed to Replace Gates

Washington, authorized by Congress to appoint Gates's replacement, chose Nathanael Greene on October 14, 1780. The choice was not universally welcomed — Greene had no major victories to his name — but Washington trusted his judgment and organizational ability more than any other officer. Greene arrived at Charlotte on December 2 to take command of an army that, by his own account, was "but the shadow of an army."

British Abandon Camden

After the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill in late April 1781, Lord Rawdon ordered the British evacuation of Camden. Despite winning the battle, Rawdon recognized that Greene's strategic pressure and partisan activity had made Camden impossible to hold indefinitely. The town was burned before evacuation. It was the first major British post in the South Carolina interior to be abandoned, and it signaled that the strategic momentum had shifted even if the tactical victories had not.