Charleston in 1780 was the worst American defeat of the Revolutionary War. Not a battle — a siege. On May 12, 1780, Major General Benjamin Lincoln surrendered the entire Southern Army to British General Henry Clinton: approximately 5,500 soldiers, the city's artillery, and the harbor. No other American defeat in the war came close in terms of men captured and materiel lost. The army that had been defending the south ceased to exist in an afternoon.
PEOPLE
General Henry Clinton
British General, Land Force Commander, Future Commander-in-Chief
Colonel William Moultrie
Continental Army Colonel, Fort Sullivan Commander, General and Governor
Major General Benjamin Lincoln
Continental Army General, Southern Army Commander
Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton
British Cavalry Commander, British Legion Commander
KEY EVENTS
STORIES
MODERN VOICE
What British Lines Meant
When Clinton issued the Philipsburg Proclamation in 1779, he was making a military calculation: the more enslaved people who fled Patriot plantations, the more the Patriot economy would be damaged. Fr...
HISTORICAL VOICE
The Worst Day
Benjamin Lincoln had been trying to get out of Charleston since April. The siege lines were closing. The British had crossed the Cooper River and cut the last road north. He knew what the arithmetic s...