Siege of Charleston (1780): America's Worst Defeat of the War

The Siege of Charleston was a British operation against the largest city in the American South, lasting from 29 March to 12 May 1780 during the American Revolutionary War. Trapped between British siege lines and the Royal Navy, Major General Benjamin Lincoln surrendered the city and around 5,000 men. It was the worst American defeat of the war and opened the way for a British campaign through the Carolinas.

Background: the southern strategy

After the defeat at Saratoga in 1777 and the French alliance of 1778, Britain shifted its attention to the southern colonies. Ministers believed many southerners were Loyalists who would rise to support the Crown, and the British had already taken Savannah, Georgia, in December 1778. A joint Franco-American attempt to recapture Savannah failed in October 1779.

Charleston, then often spelled Charlestown, was South Carolina’s capital and one of the richest ports in North America. In 1776 its defenders had repelled a British naval attack at Sullivan’s Island, and capturing it now was the centrepiece of the new strategy.

The British approach

General Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander-in-chief, sailed from New York on 26 December 1779 with roughly 8,500 troops and a fleet under Vice Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot. Storms scattered the ships and killed many horses, but the force landed south of Charleston on 11 February 1780 and advanced slowly across the coastal islands.

Lincoln commanded a garrison that eventually reached about 5,500 men, including Continentals from several states and South Carolina militia. Under pressure from the state’s leaders, he decided to defend the city rather than keep his army in the field, strengthening the lines across Charleston Neck, the narrow land approach from the north.

The siege

By 29 March Clinton’s army had crossed the Ashley River, and on 1 April it broke ground for siege lines across the Neck. On 8 April Arbuthnot’s ships ran past Fort Moultrie into the harbour, closing the sea approach. Clinton received further reinforcements, bringing his strength to more than 10,000 men.

On 14 April a British force under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton surprised American cavalry at Monck’s Corner, cutting Lincoln’s last secure route out of the city across the Cooper River. Lord Cornwallis then took command of the British troops on the eastern side, completing the encirclement.

The British pushed their trenches closer through April and early May, bombarding the town and setting fires. Fort Moultrie surrendered on 7 May. With his lines about to be stormed, food running short and civilians begging for terms, Lincoln agreed to surrender.

The surrender

On 12 May 1780 the American garrison marched out and laid down its arms. Clinton refused the honours of war, the traditional right of a defeated army to march out with flags flying and its own music playing, a humiliation that the Americans repaid by refusing the same honours to the British at Yorktown in 1781.

Continental soldiers were held as prisoners, many in crowded prison ships in the harbour, where disease killed large numbers. Militia were allowed to go home on parole, promising not to fight again. The British also captured several hundred cannon and a number of American and allied ships.

By the numbers

Aftermath

Clinton sailed back to New York in June, leaving Cornwallis to hold the South. On 29 May Tarleton’s cavalry overwhelmed a Virginian regiment at the Waxhaws, an action Americans called a massacre. On 16 August Cornwallis routed a new army under Horatio Gates at Camden.

Yet British control proved fragile. Clinton’s demand that paroled men actively support the Crown pushed many neutrals back into resistance, and partisan leaders such as Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter kept fighting. Within months the Patriot victories at Kings Mountain and Cowpens began to turn the tide.

Charleston itself remained under British occupation until December 1782, when the garrison and thousands of Loyalists and enslaved people were evacuated by sea.

Lincoln was exchanged and later served at Yorktown, where he received the surrender of the British army in October 1781.

Timeline

• 1779, 26 December: Clinton’s expedition sails from New York.
• 1780, 11 February: British troops land south of Charleston.
• 1780, 29 March: British cross the Ashley River; the siege begins.
• 1780, 1 April: British open their first siege lines on Charleston Neck.
• 1780, 8 April: Royal Navy ships pass Fort Moultrie into the harbour.
• 1780, 14 April: Tarleton’s victory at Monck’s Corner.
• 1780, 7 May: Fort Moultrie surrenders.
• 1780, 12 May: Lincoln surrenders Charleston.

Why it matters

The fall of Charleston was the heaviest American loss of the Revolutionary War and appeared to vindicate Britain’s southern strategy. Instead it led to a bitter civil war in the Carolinas, which ultimately drew Cornwallis into Virginia and towards defeat.