Historic Camden Revolutionary War Site stands at the original site of Camden, the oldest inland town in South Carolina. Established in 1733, colonial Camden had emerged as the trade center of the backcountry by the 1760s. On June 1, 1780, Camden’s citizens surrendered to General Charles, Lord Cornwallis and 2,500 British soldiers. For the next eleven months, the garrisoned town served as the principal British inland post while the brutal 1780–81 Southern Campaign ravaged the Carolinas. Two major battles were fought nearby, the Battle of Camden in August 1780 and the Battle of Hobkirk’s Hill in April 1781. Commanders associated with Camden included American generals Horatio Gates, Nathanael Greene, and Baron Johann de Kalb, and British commanders Lord Cornwallis, Lord Rawdon, and Banastre Tarleton. The British burned most of the town when they evacuated in May 1781, but the citizens rebuilt Camden just north of the original site.