After British forces took Charleston in May 1780, they established outposts in the backcountry and tried to control South Carolina by encouraging Loyalists. Backcountry Patriots organized a resistance in response, centered in part on an important camp at Clems Branch of Sugar Creek on the wagon road from Camden to Charlotte. In June 1780, Col. Thomas Sumter's troops were among the few organized Patriot units in South Carolina, and the camp at Clems Branch gave him a strategic location, water, and forage while reinforcements joined him in late June and early July. Sumter's troops would play a major role in several Patriot victories in 1780 and 1781.