The Americans Return

In late March 1781, Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene made one of the most important decisions of the Revolutionary War by leading the American army back to South Carolina instead of pursuing Lord Cornwallis’s British force toward Wilmington, North Carolina. Greene believed that if Cornwallis followed him, North Carolina would be fairly secure, and if Cornwallis did not return to South Carolina, the scattered British posts there would be vulnerable to attack. He ordered partisan leaders to gather their men and prepare to cooperate with the Continental Army. Cornwallis did not follow Greene, but marched to Virginia instead, leaving Lord Rawdon to face Greene’s invasion of South Carolina.

Camden, South Carolina · United States