Disrespect and Dishonor: Charleston
The British commander denied the Americans an honorable surrender showing his disdain for the Continental Army.
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General Benjamin Lincoln, Charles Willson Peale, 1784, wikipedia.
After the siege of Savannah, Georgia, ended in a British victory, Lt. Gen. Sir Henry Clinton decided to remove the city of Charleston, South Carolina, from the Continental Army’s hands. Soldiers from Charleston participated in the siege of Savannah in the fall of 1779, and the Continental Army used the city as one of their primary bases in the southern theater.
In December 1779, General Clinton sailed from New York with more than 13,000 soldiers. By April 1780, the British army surrounded Charleston and prepared to lay siege. An American force of 6,500 soldiers commanded by General Benjamin Lincoln defended the city.
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British forces move to surround the Continental Army in Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. Army Center of Military History.
By the middle of April, the British force had successfully surrounded and cut off the American garrison after British ships sailed past Fort Moultrie and into Charleston harbor, thereby ending any hope of escape.
Under increasing bombardment, General Lincoln offered General Clinton the surrender of the city if the British would allow the American army to march away with its arms. Clinton rejected this peace offering and continued the bombardment while moving the British siege lines ever closer to American defenses.
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An extract of a letter from a British officer of the 71st regiment giving an account of the Battle of Charleston, in South Carolina, 1780, Library of Congress.
By 8 May, as the British lines closed in on the American lines, Clinton demanded that Lincoln surrender. When the American commander refused, the British artillery bombardment set Charleston ablaze. Under this apocalyptic setting, General Lincoln surrendered the city along with the American defenders on 12 May 1780. Clinton denied Lincoln’s force the honor of marching out with its arms.
The failed siege of Savannah and the loss of Charleston within a year dealt the American cause a serious blow in the American south. However, the Americans’ determination eventually would turn the tide in their favor the following year at Cowpens, South Carolina.