Washington's Immortals: The Untold Story of an Elite Regiment Who Changed the Course of the Revolution by Patrick K. O'Donnell

Author:Patrick K. O'Donnell [O'Donnell, Patrick K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, Revolutionary Period (1775-1800), United States
ISBN: 9780802124593
Google: 43DdsgEACAAJ
Amazon: B0163BZ2E8
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Published: 2016-03-02T03:00:00+00:00

Eager to strike a blow against its rival, France had begun shipping men, money, and supplies to aid the Patriots and threaten British holdings in the Caribbean back in the fall of 1778. To counter this threat, the British built up their forces in the West Indies, shifting men away from the colonies on the mainland. In a largely forgotten chapter of the America Revolution, the British also went to war with Spain, France’s new ally, which had declared war on Britain without recognizing the United States. In declaring war on Britain, Spain saw an opportunity to win back its recently lost territories of Florida (which at the time extended west along the Gulf Coast to the Mississippi River), the Bahamas, and Gibraltar. Britain also saw an opportunity and targeted Spain’s holdings in Central America, focusing on the gold-laden Mosquito Coast of Honduras and Nicaragua. The narrow neck of land also was the principal overland access from the Atlantic to Pacific—a potentially lucrative prize. After some initial success, the campaign went sour for the British, with the net result of bleeding away more troops from North America. In addition, thousands of Crown soldiers who could have been sent to America went elsewhere, as the war morphed into a global conflict. Once again, lack of troops hampered British operations and had a profound effect on the American Revolution.

Despite a lack of reinforcements, General Clinton, at the behest of London, grudgingly implemented a new war strategy with his reduced forces. He planned to focus on the southern states, where much of the population included Loyalists and slaves. The British hoped an invasion in the South would force the Americans to deploy troops there to prevent a slave revolt as well as to guard the frontier from possible attack by the Indians, many of whom sided with the British. With the Patriot forces divided, Clinton believed he could easily conquer Georgia and move on to South Carolina.

Back in November 1778, Clinton had boldly put the plan into action and ordered three thousand of his men currently in New York to board ships bound for Savannah, Georgia. By December 29, 1778, the city had fallen to the British. But the fight for Savannah was far from over. The Americans laid siege, and in September 1779 they were joined by Count Jean-Baptiste d’Estaing’s French fleet, which, after the debacle in Rhode Island in 1778, first sailed to Boston to refit and then moved off the coast of Georgia to participate in the attack on Savannah. However, the British dug in and, after a fierce battle, forced the French and the Patriots to withdraw with heavy losses.

Encouraged by the victory, Clinton moved more men from New York to the South. Eight thousand troops set sail in December and despite delays caused by hurricanes, landed with Charles, Earl Cornwallis thirty miles from Charleston, South Carolina, in February 1780. Benjamin Lincoln, the Massachusetts major general in charge of the Patriots’ southern forces, ordered his men to take cover behind the fortifications in Charleston.

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