Southern campaign

TL;DR -- Lexington & Concord got things going in the spring of 1775. Hence, we have the 250th started this year. The Siege of Boston was still going on (would be until March of 1776). By 1778, the Brit strategy was to go south and perhaps find friendly folks. The events of "Southern theatre" run by General Nathanael Greene starting early in 1781 helped settle that issue. Lord Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington in October of 1781. The 1783 date aligns with the signing of the Peace Treaty. 

---

As expected, the looking back over 250 years to the Revolution can be a daily thing. We are still in the Siege of Boston which started in the Spring at Lexington & Concord, included the Battle of Bunker Hill and other skirmishes, and will go until March. We wrote recently about Henry Knox bringing cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to an area outside of Boston where the Patriot troops were not visible to the British in Boston. This period will end with the British leaving Boston and going to New York. After not finding success in that area, the focus of the conflice went south. There were still events in the north, but the whole focus changed.

This is where General Nathanael Greene comes in. He had been Quartermaster General for several years. In 1781, General Washington put NG in charge of the war in the south. We got involved with studying this by doing research about the southern troops. In the north, there had been regular militias. As Dr. Frank noted, the leadership had been trained by serving the Crown in the French & Indian affairs. 

Lord Cornwallis had hoped that the southern portion of the country would be more amenable to staying loyal to the Crown. That is something to consider as we review over the next few years.  

Called the Southern theatre (or campaign), this series of battles started in 1778 which was two years after the Declaration of Independence and three years after the first shot was fired in 1775. Having started in early1781, NG won and lost battles. Yet, the War of Revolution was over by October of 1781. The year of 1783 is used since that is when the peace treaty was signed. Between 1781, there may have been continuing conflict, but the main focus was forming the country. 

There is a lot of ground to cover, such as a look at the timeline of the Southern theatre and consider of how what particular areas had a major role in the conflicts and their outcome. 

---

One theme will be Loyalists and what happend to them. For example, see this post -- Henry Gardner, the Loyalist. He left his property in control of an agent in Salem and went north where he had a reputation of being fair, and friendly, with American prisoners. He came back after the war and resumed his life and business. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/18/2025

09/18/2025 -