Siege Of Charleston Research Paper

Also known as the siege of Charleston, The battle of Charleston was an important battle that took place near the end of the Revolutionary War. General Clinton of Great Britain, believed that if he controlled the south, Tories would support Clinton and they would out number Washington and win the war. On the continental side, congress decided to replace Maj. General Robert Howe with Maj. General Benjamin Lincoln as the Southern Department commander because of the loss suffered in Georgia. In May 1779, Lincoln was able to reoccupy Augusta, Georgia, and join French Admiral d'Estaing in fighting to savannah. d'Estaing abandoned the siege a month later and fled south to the west indies for the winter. Without d'Estaings’ support, Lincoln was forced to retreat to Charleston, South Carolina.

In December 1779, General Clinton of Great Britain sailed for Charleston, after months of waiting before departing.

This put them in very stormy waters. Some storms lasted up top 6 days, and continued until the fleet of ships was separated. Once the storms passed, the fleet moved upstream north, away from Charleston, claiming plantations along the way. On March 29th, Clinton used the fog to his advantage, and crossed the Ashley River to establish Ashley Ferry near Charleston. On the Americans heard about this, they retreated from Ashley Ferry.
Naval maneuvering for the Americans in Charleston harbor was not going well. Four frigates arrived on order of the continental congress, also joined by six ships, two being from the French. There were also 260 guns afloat and 40 at Fort Moultrie. Before the British arrived, Whipple informed Maj. Lincoln that they would be able to defend the Charleston harbor. Lincoln questioned what Commodore Whipple said, but he was backed up by the naval board. He chose to draw back to the mouth of the Cooper

river.
The British started approaching on March 20th. Whipple moved his fleet to the entrance of the river after seeing the size of the British ships. On April 8th the British fleet came with fire from Fort Moultrie. About a week later, the British launched a surprise attack on the continental army, then successfully cut off outside support to Charleston. On the 23rd of April, Lt. General Cornwallis crossed the cooper river to prevent British escape by land. A day later, the American attack Britain’s siege works, where they suffered only one casualty, Tom Moultrie. On April 29th, the British moved to the left end of the canal that fronted the cities fortification to destroy it.
The Americans needed the canal for defense and tried to take it back. By April 6th, all the water had been drained from the canal, shortly after Fort Moultrie surrendered to the British. On may 8th Gen. Clinton called onto Maj. General Lincoln for surrender, but he tried to negotiate for honors of war. Three days later, the british burned down several homes, which caused Lincoln to negotiate terms for surrender. The final terms stated that the continental force captured would be prisoners of war. By may 12th Lincoln’s soldiers were forced out of the city. The battle of Charleston was a major loss for the colonies, they lost a large amount of manpower and equipment for the war.