In late 1779 and early 1780, British military planners adopted a new strategy to retake the rebellious North American colonies, but by the fall of 1780 their hold on South Carolina was far from secure. Along the Pee Dee and Santee rivers, Francis Marion, a Continental officer who had escaped the fall of Charleston by chance, revived the Patriot militias and began attacking British supply and communications lines. With a band of fighters that reflected the ethnic and religious diversity of the province, including Native Americans, English, Ulster Scots, French Huguenots, free and enslaved Africans, and mixed-race people, Marion pioneered a form of guerrilla warfare that took advantage of the heavily forested wetland terrain of the Lowcountry. Vastly outmanned and outgunned, Marion and other Patriot militia leaders constantly harassed the British and Loyalist forces in a series of small engagements. By denying the British total victory in South Carolina, Marion's militia helped turn the tide of the war in favor of independence.