BBC_Rebels and Redcoats_3of4_The War Moves South
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00:00After three years of trying to subdue the American Rebellion, the British grew increasingly
00:09frustrated. They'd lost Boston and were stalemated in New York. Neither side was able to deliver
00:18a winning blow.
00:25Britain shifted its attention to the South, a loyalist stronghold. But in the clammy swamplands
00:32of Georgia and the Carolinas, the Redcoats would face the kind of terror in a hostile
00:37environment that American soldiers would encounter in Vietnam 200 years later.
00:50The war would be fought with brutal savagery. French against British. Brother against brother.
00:57And increasingly, America's blacks, slaves and free, would join the fight.
01:27If the American rule of independence had been fought at sea, it would have been no contest.
01:49The Americans actually had an admiralty, but almost no ships for it to administer. The
01:55British, in contrast, had a huge navy, and at least in the war's early years, took their
02:01ability to rule the waves for granted. The new British commander-in-chief, General Sir
02:07Henry Clinton, devised a bold strategy, an invasion of the South by sea, intended to
02:14penetrate into what were believed to be Britain's loyalist heartlands.
02:23But in the loyalist heartland of the American South, the actual British forces were few
02:27in number, and Britain wanted to build up the loyalist ranks by tapping into the large
02:33black slave population. The British governor of Virginia, the Earl of Dunmore, himself
02:40a slave owner, issued a startling proclamation.
02:45And I do hereby further declare all indented servants, Negroes or others, appertaining
02:51to rebels free, that are able and willing to bear arms, they joining His Majesty's troops
02:57as soon as may be.
03:00The vision of black armies aligned against him alarmed George Washington, the commander
03:05of the American Continental Army and a slave owner. In a letter to a friend, he expressed
03:11indignation over Dunmore's plan.
03:13If, my dear sir, that man is not crushed before spring, he will become the most formidable
03:18enemy America has. His strength will increase as a snowball, by rolling, and faster. If
03:25some expedient cannot be hit upon to convince the slaves and servants of the impotency of
03:29his designs, nothing less than depriving him of life or liberty will secure peace to Virginia.
03:41The father of American liberty was only for freedom if it didn't apply to his black brethren
03:46or his slaves. Dunmore had stirred the anger of the normally cool Washington.
03:56Dunmore's proclamation had immediate consequences. On an island at the mouth of the Savannah
04:01River, there was a community of 200 runaway slaves. Now Georgia's white rebels saw them
04:08as potential agents of the British, and issued an order to seize, and if nothing else will
04:14do, to destroy all those rebellious Negroes upon Tybee Island, or wherever they may be
04:19found. On March the 25th, 1776, a group of rebels disguised as Indians, together with
04:28some genuine Indian allies, landed on the island. What happened foreshadowed the wider
04:45conflict to come, a war without mercy. The black runaway community on Tybee Island was
05:05crushed. Two years later, in the winter of 1778, when a British expeditionary force moved down
05:16the South Carolina coast, towards the mouth of the Savannah River, it passed Tybee Island.
05:22There would be no welcome here. The British ships positioned themselves for what appeared
05:30to be a frontal attack on the city of Savannah, a critical rebel stronghold. But it was only a
05:37diversion. The real attack came from the rear, along paths through swamps like this on the
05:43outskirts of Savannah. A local slave showed the invaders the way, and it was a brilliantly
05:49successful maneuver. Savannah fell to the British, and it was a slave who made it possible. Many
06:03slaves, mistreated by their rebel owners, had everything to gain from a British victory. One,
06:10David George, wrote an account of his life. He saw the British as his salvation, his way out
06:17of slavery. I have been whipped many a time on my naked skin, and sometimes till the blood has
06:24run down over my waistband. George learned to read and write from white children, and became a lay
06:31preacher at open-air services at Silver Bluff. There will be days where we will not be beaten
06:36for having a voice. My people, there are better days ahead. And as the good Lord said, I have
06:44surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by the reason
06:50of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And I come down to deliver them out of the hand
06:57of the Egyptians, and to bring them up and out. I continued preaching at Silver Bluff, till the
07:04church, constituted with eight, increased to thirty or more, and till the British came to the city of
07:11Savannah. David George preached to one of the first black Baptist churches in America. Today,
07:17the Silver Bluff congregation is still as active as ever. In the south of the 1770s, many black
07:38Americans embraced the Earl of Dunmore's promise of freedom, to those who came over to the British
07:44side. Some even signed up to fight in Dunmore's so-called Ethiopian Regiment. Others fought on
07:58the side of the rebels. They wanted to believe in the rhetoric of, all men are created equal,
08:03enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. They wanted to turn those words into reality.
08:10Dr. Frank Robison has written a book about David George, and the divided loyalties in
08:19the African-American community during the Revolutionary War. Frank, what effect do you
08:26think the appearance of British fleet here in 1778 actually had on local African-Americans?
08:31Well, it caused some celebration and some hope, basically, for those who had been enslaved in
08:37America during a colonial period for quite a while. An unfair question, this I know,
08:42but what do you think you might have made of it at the time? I probably would have challenged
08:46what was being said and what was being espoused in this great Declaration of Independence,
08:53and why would not those same things be extended to me as an African-American?
09:00Do you think David George's attitude to the war was shared by other African-Americans?
09:05Well, David George, if his action was any indication as to what most individuals felt
09:13about the war during that particular time, it was probably a welcomed event,
09:18as he saw it as an opportunity for freedom. Once the British force had secured Savannah,
09:27it moved north, took Augusta, and on March the 3rd, 1779, defeated an American force sent down
09:35from South Carolina at Briar Creek. The comparatively small British army then headed
09:41for Charleston, but the threat of a larger American force sent it scuttling back to
09:47Savannah. Suddenly, the British, trapped over there in the town, began to look very vulnerable.
09:52After the American victory at Saratoga in the north, the French had seized the opportunity
09:58to humiliate the British and entered the war. Now a huge French fleet, 22 ships of the line
10:05and 10 frigates, commanded by Admiral Candestin, sailed right into the Savannah River. Some of
10:12its ships anchored just beyond that bend and began to bombard the town. Other cannon
10:17were sent ashore and opened fire from just beyond where those buildings now stand.
10:25This is just one of the thousands of cannonballs that pounded the British and Loyalist defences day after day.
10:32During the siege of Savannah, the French hammered the British from land and sea,
10:44but the French admiral feared that the Royal Navy would come to the city's rescue,
10:49so he chose to attack over land through Savannah's notorious swamps. David George
10:56found himself caught up in the fighting. A ball came through the stable where we lived and much shattered it.
11:10George's main concern was now protecting his family. It was becoming clear that the French
11:17were preparing for a major assault. This made us remove to Yamakra, where we sheltered ourselves
11:24under the floor of a house on the ground.
11:35For the French and their American allies, the attack was a disaster.
11:54The swamplands, which the British had successfully crossed a year earlier when they took Savannah,
12:00now became a deadly trap for the French and Americans. They were mown down.
12:14Fifty-seven British soldiers were killed or wounded in the battle. The French lost ten times
12:21as many, and even their commander was hit. The Americans lost 231 men. One of them,
12:28Sergeant William Jasper, was said to have clutched the American flag as he fell dying.
12:37This was the first real battle between British and French regulars since France had joined the war.
12:43One of the bloodiest battles of the American Revolution had secured British control of Georgia.
12:51Following the battle, the French reduced their involvement in the war.
12:55But the British victory gave hope to thousands of escaping slaves,
12:59who sought protection and support from the victors.
13:05The territory controlled by the British became, for a time, a promised land.
13:13Some 5,000 African Americans came over to the British during the Georgia campaign.
13:18Approximately one-third of the local black population.
13:27In the South, at least, African Americans were overwhelmingly on the side of Britain and the Loyalists.
13:37In the North, the picture was less clear. Some African Americans fought for the rebels,
13:43but only after securing a promise that doing so would end their slavery.
13:57Washington had initially opposed the recruitment of black soldiers,
14:01but, desperate for volunteers, changed his mind.
14:05As the General is informed that numbers of free Negroes our desirous have been listing,
14:12he gives leave to recruiting officers to entertain them,
14:15and promises to lay the matter before Congress, who he doubts not will approve of it.
14:23Washington and his army had endured two grim winters in the North.
14:28One at Valley Forge, and now another at Morristown, New Jersey.
14:33I assure you, every idea you can form of our distresses will fall short of the reality.
14:39There is such a combination of circumstances to exhaust the patience of the soldiery
14:44that it begins at length to be worn out.
14:48We can see in every line of the army the most serious features of mutiny.
14:55In addition to recruiting black soldiers, Washington had now acquired two key foreign allies.
15:02The young Marquis de Lafayette became the liaison officer to the French forces.
15:07He lobbied hard for continuing French support, despite the setback at Savannah,
15:12and in 1780 won 5,000 more French troops for Washington.
15:19Another key recruit was the self-styled Lieutenant General Baron von Steuben.
15:24He was a former Prussian captain, a mercenary who'd failed to find a job with anyone else.
15:30Yet he turned out to be a superb instructor of the infantry in the military arts.
15:37He eventually helped forge the American soldiers into a powerful army.
15:43The Americans at this stage in the war really aren't formidable soldiers in the European sense of the word.
15:49But this is a war which is going to be won by the people that keep fighting the longest.
15:55And there is, I think, that enormous quality of depth to the American performance,
16:00even if sometimes they're not as good on the battlefield as the British.
16:04They do have the ability to play a long game, and that's what ultimately the British can't do.
16:15Encouraged by the success of the small naval expedition to Savannah,
16:19a larger British force now headed south.
16:24Georgia had been secured, but South Carolina remained in rebel hands.
16:29On New Year's Day 1780, a huge British force was moving down the coast
16:35from New York towards Charleston in appalling weather.
16:39General Sir Henry Clinton, the commander-in-chief,
16:42was launching the first major British offensive since Saratoga.
16:46Even before the British fleet had reached Charleston,
16:49Clinton had appealed to the slave population,
16:52offering freedom in exchange for loyalty,
16:55much as Dunmore had five years earlier.
16:59Every Negro who shall desert the rebel standard
17:02shall enjoy the full security to follow within these lines
17:05any occupation which he shall think proper.
17:10To the so-called Rice Kings of Charleston,
17:13the slave owners who had built their fortunes
17:16on the twin foundations of rice and slave labour,
17:20the British offer was an outrage.
17:22It threatened to undermine the booming economy,
17:25not only of Charleston,
17:27but of South Carolina and all the southern states.
17:31And that was precisely the British intention.
17:36Some 20,000 South Carolina slaves went over to the British.
17:40When the Rice Kings, the rich rebels here in Charleston,
17:44talked about liberty, they made it absolutely clear
17:47that this didn't extend to that half of South Carolina's population,
17:51which was black.
17:55And the rebels weren't only apprehensive about escaping slaves.
18:01The British fleet of warships and transports
18:04carrying troops was getting closer.
18:07The fleet sailed past Charleston
18:10and landed a scouting party at North Edisto Inlet.
18:14From there, the scouts hacked their way inland to Drayton Hall,
18:18undeterred by mosquitoes, alligators and the suffocating heat.
18:22The ships then returned to Charleston Harbour
18:25and, under cover of darkness,
18:27unloaded the rest of their soldiers into flatboats.
18:34Early on the morning of 29th March 1780,
18:3822 flatboats with muffled oars
18:41slipped up the Ashley River from Charleston Harbour.
18:45The rebels guarding it heard nothing at all.
18:49They were met here at Drayton's landing place
18:52by the cream of the British army.
18:54Under the very noses of the rebels,
18:56they crossed the river without any opposition whatsoever.
19:02They were now in a position to besiege the city of Charleston
19:06if they could control the bridge
19:08over which much of the city's supplies flowed.
19:11The man charged with that task was a British officer
19:14named Banasta Tarleton,
19:16bloody ban to his foes.
19:21He commanded the pro-British Loyalists in the south
19:24and became celebrated for his bravery
19:27and notorious for his brutality.
19:35The British army was now in a position to attack the city.
19:39There used to be a bridge just here
19:42and Tarleton took it with that wild dash
19:45that soon became his trademark.
19:48British and Loyalist victory here at Monk's Corner was crucial.
19:54Tarleton's force advanced along a road surrounded by swamps.
20:00When it reached the bridge held by the rebels,
20:03Tarleton attacked them head on.
20:09The British would soon control all the approaches to Charleston
20:13and besiege the city.
20:17After a month of full siege,
20:19with heavy bombardments,
20:21Charleston fell to become a British bastion.
20:24During the siege,
20:2676 British and Loyalist soldiers had been killed.
20:29The rebels' losses were broadly similar,
20:32but more importantly,
20:343,600 of their regulars were killed.
20:383,600 of their regulars were taken prisoner
20:41when the city surrendered.
20:43In addition, 1,800 captured militiamen were sent home on parole
20:47and huge quantities of American arms fell into the hands of the victors.
20:56A 25-year-old Loyalist officer, Lieutenant Anthony Allaire,
21:00rode into the city following the triumphant British army.
21:04He was seeing Charleston, then the richest city in America,
21:08for the first time.
21:11He spent the day in viewing Charleston
21:14and found it not a little like New York.
21:21The display of the British standard on the ramparts
21:24saw the poor rebel dogs very much chagrined
21:27at not being allowed to wear sidearms.
21:30HORN BLOWS
21:40The capture of Charleston
21:42was arguably the greatest British triumph of the war so far
21:46and seemed likely to ensure control of the South.
21:50But the Loyalists weren't winning the Hearts and Minds campaign.
21:54Eliza Wilkinson, from a wealthy South Carolina family,
22:00increasingly sympathised with the rebels.
22:03In letters to a friend,
22:05she expressed her distress at the British triumph.
22:09Much as I had admired the former lustre of the British character,
22:13my soul shrank from the thought of having any communication
22:17with the people who had left their homes
22:19with the direct intention to imbue their hands
22:22in the blood of my beloved countrymen
22:24or deprive them of their birthright, liberty and property.
22:30Deciding which side to take in what is, after all, a civil war,
22:34was never easy.
22:36And I often think that we tend, as historians,
22:40to lend far more form to it than was really the case.
22:44I think people made decisions on the basis of family loyalty,
22:48loyalty to their friends, sheer luck often.
22:51If you're in an area occupied by the British,
22:54then being a Loyalist made sense.
22:56And I think there are very few people
22:59who are absolutely politically committed one way or the other
23:03and an awful lot who are going to join the winning side.
23:09As the British army moved northwards from Charleston,
23:12its commanders began to pick up substantial Loyalist support,
23:16mainly from the poor whites, the upcountry men.
23:20But the British were already beginning to have two serious problems.
23:24Before he handed over command here in the south to Lord Cornwallis,
23:28Clinton insisted that paroled American prisoners
23:32must be prepared to fight on his side.
23:35And the behaviour of some British and Loyalist troops
23:38was beginning to alienate local opinion.
23:41Eliza Wilkinson, already a rebel sympathiser,
23:45wrote of her shock at the way the British troops behaved in her home.
23:49They were up to the house,
23:51entered with drawn swords and pistols in their hands.
23:55Indeed, they rushed in in the most furious manner, crying out.
24:02The moment they espied us, off went our caps.
24:05And for what thank you?
24:07Why, only to get a paltry stone and wax pin,
24:10which kept them on our heads.
24:13At the same time, uttering the most abusive language imaginable,
24:17and making as if they'd hew us to pieces with their swords.
24:21It was terrible to the last degree.
24:25They had several armed negroes with them,
24:28who threatened and abused us greatly.
24:36They then began to plunder their house
24:39of everything they thought valuable or worth taking.
24:45Rebel men were even worse treated.
24:48At the Waxhalls, Barnaster Tarleton
24:51ended up with a column of 350 retreating Virginians.
24:55Despite an attempt to surrender, a hundred of them were killed.
24:59Some called it a massacre.
25:01Others saw it as the inevitable result of hot blood and cold steel.
25:05Whatever the truth, Bloody Ban was earning his nickname.
25:09As I followed the route of the British advance,
25:12I wanted to find out what ordinary Americans thought about the war.
25:16I'm not able to remember a lot of the dates and the battles
25:19and the things like that.
25:21But it was all about freedom and rights.
25:24And that's what we're still having trouble with in the world,
25:28is freedom and rights.
25:30And I think that's what we're still having trouble with.
25:33And I think that's what we're still having trouble with.
25:37And I think that's what we're still having trouble with,
25:40is freedom and rights.
25:42And I think that's why all the wars come about,
25:45is people feel that they have been oppressed.
25:48They take it as long as they can, and then they fight.
25:51Now, what do you think the war was really about?
25:54That war was about independence and separation
25:57from Great Britain to the United States,
26:00because they had colonies already set up here, you know?
26:03We declare ourselves independent, you understand?
26:06I think basically it was a war fought by rich people
26:09who didn't want to pay taxes.
26:11I think that it was probably worth it for the larger landowners,
26:14but I don't think most people had much to gain.
26:17I was talking about it just last night with a friend of mine,
26:20and we were talking about, you know, the war of independence
26:23and all that jazz, and, you know, for God's sake,
26:26if we hadn't won, we'd all be British and have socialised medicine
26:29and a decriminalised society. The cops wouldn't have guns.
26:32Oh, my goodness!
26:34At the edge of the war, it looked as if Britain was going to win.
26:38As the British army advanced further into upcountry South Carolina,
26:42it expected to gather further Loyalist support.
26:47The Loyalist officer, Antony Allaire, advancing into unknown territory,
26:51seemed to believe that the locals were coming over to the victors' side.
26:57Good evening, men. Good evening, sir.
26:59Took up our ground at five o'clock in the morning.
27:03This morning was so cold
27:05that we were glad to hover around large fires as soon as we halted.
27:08Good work today.
27:10The poor, deluded people of this province begin to be sensible of their error
27:14and come in very fast.
27:16Meet Jackson and Smith.
27:18Adams is the best shot in the upstate.
27:22But the British and their Loyalist allies were in for a surprise.
27:26A substantial American rebel force was moving southward.
27:30Led by Horatio Gates, the victor of Saratoga,
27:33he was seeking a confrontation with Lord Cornwallis,
27:36the British commander, who was preparing to move north.
27:43On the 15th of August, Cornwallis decided on a night advance,
27:47beginning at ten o'clock.
27:49Tarleton's Dragoons were in the lead,
27:51and by two in the morning they'd reached this spot, Saunders Creek.
27:55They were in for a nasty shock.
27:57By an extraordinary coincidence,
27:59the Americans had also decided on an advance at precisely the same time.
28:04At this spot, the two advance guards literally bumped into one another.
28:10For 15 minutes, there was wild confusion.
28:16But neither side wanted a pitched battle in the dark.
28:19They separated and waited under arms for the dawn.
28:29The 2,000 British regulars at Camden knew that in the morning,
28:33they, and their bayonets,
28:35would have to take on the 3,000 American soldiers,
28:38who were just 250 yards away from them in the darkness.
28:44The socket bayonet was dreadfully simple.
28:47It slotted onto the musket's muzzle with a quarter turn.
28:51The soldiers over here on the British right flank,
28:54the Rollwer's Fusiliers, the 33rd Regiment,
28:58and five companies of light infantry,
29:00were thoroughly familiar with the use of the bayonet.
29:07The rebels facing them were not.
29:10About 2,500 militia from North Carolina and Virginia were over there,
29:15in the area where the Wood Edge now stands.
29:18They'd actually been issued with bayonets,
29:21but had received no training in their use.
29:24Indeed, many of them had never been in battle before.
29:27For those amateur soldiers,
29:29the sight confronting them at dawn on the 16th of August
29:33must have been terrifying.
29:46When the Royal Soldiers of the Virginia Militia
29:49saw the British professionals advancing with bayonets fixed
29:52and ready for use,
29:54they turned tail and fled without firing a shot.
30:06On the right flank, a section of the Continental Army,
30:10the by now well-trained American regulars, held firm.
30:17But the flight of Virginia amateurs
30:19enabled the British cavalry to strike at their vulnerable flank.
30:24It was the coup de grâce.
30:43The battlefield was littered with discarded muskets,
30:47abandoned knapsacks, smashed wagons,
30:51dead horses,
30:53and dead men.
30:55Sixty-eight British and Loyalists,
30:57but 250 rebels.
31:00But where was the American commander?
31:03Scarpered.
31:05Mounted on the fastest horse in his army,
31:08Horatio Gates had exited the battlefield
31:11faster even than the Virginia Militia.
31:15The American commander had proved himself a loser,
31:18completely outwitted and outmanoeuvred.
31:21The victor of Saratoga had ridden himself
31:24out of the American Hall of Fame and into ignominy.
31:30Victory at Camden moved Britain one step closer
31:33to the total conquest of the South,
31:35and helped to quell opposition to the war back home.
31:43Five weeks later, Washington arrived at West Point,
31:48one of the most formidable American garrisons.
31:51He was in for a shock.
31:53There was no sign of Benedict Arnold.
31:55What is it, soldier?
31:57The American general who was in command at West Point
32:00and had helped beat the British at Saratoga.
32:03Arnold, it soon emerged, had gone over to the enemy.
32:09Who can we trust now?
32:11Ha! Ha!
32:17Although Arnold was by now behind the British lines,
32:20the rebels did catch Major John Andre,
32:23the British officer who had negotiated Arnold's defection.
32:27Washington needed a scapegoat,
32:29and insisted on Andre's execution.
32:33At the present alarming crisis of our affairs,
32:36the public safety calls for a solemn and impressive example.
32:41Nothing can satisfy it
32:43short of the execution of the prisoner as a common spy.
32:54But Washington needn't have felt quite so desperate.
32:57Although the British could push on into South Carolina
33:00with comparative ease,
33:02the rebels were able to avoid fighting pitched battles.
33:06An army marching into country like this
33:09was vulnerable to sudden attack
33:11from an enemy armed with accurate long-range weapons.
33:14The attackers would then be able to withdraw into woodland
33:17that they knew like the backs of their hands.
33:27The rebels in the south were gradually realising,
33:30like the Viet Cong did when fighting the Americans in Vietnam,
33:34that guerrilla warfare was a far more effective way
33:38of pulling out a powerful, well-organised army.
33:52Southern loyalists, like Antony Allaire,
33:55now felt that the tide was, in fact, turning against them.
34:00This settlement is composed of the most violent rebels I ever saw.
34:04I can say with propriety
34:06that there is not a regiment or detachment of His Majesty's Service
34:10that ever went through the fatigues or suffered so much as our detachment.
34:17In the first place, we were separated from all the army,
34:20acting with the militia.
34:22We never laid two nights in one place,
34:25frequently making forced marches of 20 and 30 miles in one night,
34:29skirmishing very often.
34:31The greatest part of our time without rum or wheat flour.
34:35Rum is a very essential article,
34:38for in marching 10 miles we would often be obliged
34:41to ford two or three rivers, which wet the men up to their waists.
34:49In this disagreeable situation, we remained till October.
34:54To the trees!
34:58Allaire was facing the deadly fire of the American rifle.
35:06This is a flintlock rifle.
35:08It's ignited in just the same way as the musket.
35:11It's more expensive, more fragile,
35:14and won't take a bayonet for hand-to-hand combat.
35:18But its barrel is grooved.
35:21Spinning the ball in flight and making it much more accurate,
35:25it's got a killing range of 300 or 400 yards or even further.
35:30In countryside like this, the rifle was monarch of all it surveyed.
35:39The American rifle took a long time to load
35:42and is, of course, nowhere near as precise as one equipped
35:45with a modern telescopic sight.
35:47Nevertheless, the accuracy of this faithful replica
35:50of a 200-year-old rifle is remarkable.
35:55The park ranger at Cedar Creek Rifle Range,
35:58Scott Alexander, is an amateur historian
36:01who has researched the war in this frontier area.
36:04I wanted to know if the right to bear arms was an important issue.
36:08That was one of the issues that led to the war.
36:11As far as the frontiersmen in this area were concerned,
36:14they were fighting for the right of Western expansion.
36:17As far as Mother England was concerned,
36:20the war started because of illegal encroachment
36:23by English-speaking colonists on French and Indian territory.
36:26And the right to bear arms and the right to advance westward
36:29were very important issues.
36:31And that's why in the United States Constitution,
36:34the right to bear arms was the second right in the Bill of Rights,
36:37which consists of ten separate rights.
36:39It came in number two immediately after freedom of speech.
36:43Do you think people saw the oppressors being King George
36:46and the Parliament away in England,
36:48or the rice kings and the local powerbrokers?
36:51I think that that issue, it was such a complicated issue
36:55that it was different from one group to another.
36:58But you could easily have been living in these parts
37:01and felt unoppressed by King George, who after all was a long way away.
37:05That's true, and then felt very oppressed by the British troops sent by him.
37:09Do you think the Americans were right to fight?
37:12Unfortunately, it was one of those situations
37:15where there was no good answer.
37:17I think it was inevitable, though.
37:19And people would simply make their minds up
37:22with local influences and local pressures.
37:25That's true, and many times the issues in one community
37:28that led to the fighting were very different
37:31than the issues in another community 50 miles away.
37:34There were a number of battles,
37:36probably the most famous being King's Mountain,
37:39who was born and raised overseas.
37:42At King's Mountain, a force of 1,000 Loyalists
37:45would face a slightly smaller force of rebel guerrillas.
37:49The only British-born soldier there was Major Patrick Ferguson,
37:53Bulldog Ferguson, a courageous Scottish officer.
37:57But his call to arms to the men of North Carolina
38:00suggested a certain lack of tact.
38:04You choose to be pissed upon by a set of mongrels,
38:08say so at once,
38:10and let your women turn their backs upon you,
38:13and look out for real men to protect them.
38:17Take action!
38:19Ferguson had set up a base at Gilbert Town, North Carolina,
38:23but intended to join the rest of the British army,
38:26now moving up from Camden to Charlotte,
38:29under Cornwallis's command.
38:31Then he learnt that a rebel force
38:33was gathering in the mountains at Sycamore Shoals.
38:36He started to move towards Cornwallis's army,
38:39then stopped and made a stand.
38:42The place he chose was here, King's Mountain,
38:45and presumably he chose it on the generally sound military principle
38:49that it's best to hold the high ground.
38:53But King's Mountain, now as then,
38:56is heavily wooded, steep,
38:59and rocky.
39:01In fact, ideal terrain for irregulars
39:04experienced in guerrilla and Indian fighting.
39:08And that precisely describes the over-mountain men
39:12who were heading in Ferguson's direction.
39:23These were not the rich rebels of the East Coast.
39:27Most of them were men who'd scratched a living from land in the West
39:31that they'd wrenched from Native Americans.
39:34Militant Protestants, they resented authority of any kind,
39:38especially that of the British king.
39:41For all his bravado, Ferguson knew he was in for a tough battle.
39:46I should hope for success against them myself,
39:50but, numbers compared, that must be doubtful.
39:54Something must be done soon.
39:57Prior to the battle,
39:59the eccentric Ferguson donned a distinctive chequered coat.
40:13The trees and rocks at King's Mountain
40:16provided ample cover against the Loyalists' volleys.
40:19Eventually, the Loyalists resorted to the battle technique
40:23that had so often been effective in the past,
40:26the bayonet charge.
40:34Antony Allaire was in the thick of the fighting.
40:37When our detachment charged for the first time,
40:39it fell to my lot to put a rebel captain to death,
40:42which I did most effectively with one blow of my sword.
40:46The fellow was at least six feet high,
40:48but I had rather the advantage
40:51as I was mounted on an elegant horse and he on foot.
40:55The rebels were charged and drove back several times
40:58with considerable slaughter.
41:04But the rebels could cope with these Loyalist charges
41:07by simply melting away into the trees
41:10and reassembling when the charge was over.
41:14The rebels had completely surrounded King's Mountain,
41:17forcing Ferguson to withdraw to this end of the ridge.
41:20That left them free to climb up there,
41:23to the end of the ridge that he'd abandoned.
41:33Ferguson had an elaborate system of whistle signals
41:36to communicate his orders.
41:40But as the rebels came closer, this began to break down
41:44and some of the Loyalists attempted to surrender.
41:50Ferguson was determined not to surrender
41:52to those he regarded with contempt.
41:54But by their third assault,
41:56the rebels had got within close range of the Loyalists' last enclave.
42:01Aware of the futility of his position,
42:03Ferguson attempted to break out.
42:14The Loyalists' plight was now hopeless.
42:17They were trapped at one end of the ridge
42:19and their commander had been killed.
42:21They surrendered.
42:26Ferguson's death and the surrender did not end the bloodletting.
42:30Even after the Loyalists had submitted,
42:32the rebels knifed many of their prisoners.
42:37In all, 156 Loyalists had been killed,
42:42compared with just 28 rebels.
42:45Suddenly, the British position in the south
42:47looked extremely vulnerable.
42:53The anniversary of the rebels' victory
42:55is commemorated to this day.
42:57Those who attend see the victors as patriots, not rebels.
43:01And for some, the Battle of King's Mountain
43:04has strong family associations.
43:07I'm here because my great-great-great-great-grandfather
43:11fought here this day back in 1780.
43:15He was part of the Over-the-Mountain Men
43:17who came down from Wilkes County.
43:19His name was 1st Lieutenant Samuel Johnson at that time,
43:21and my name's Sam Johnson, and I'm a direct descendant of him.
43:24Much like any war, you know,
43:26you have to decide which side your heart's behind,
43:30and I feel that that's what he had done.
43:32He left his home on his wedding night
43:35to join his men to come here under Colonel Cleveland.
43:37Did you have any family members on the other side?
43:39Not to my knowledge.
43:41If so, they were probably erased from our family history
43:44at some point by the winning side.
43:46It certainly was a fight for freedom in their hearts,
43:50as in our memories.
43:54I have a family member that died in the Battle of King's Mountain,
43:57and I came to honour him today.
43:59Which side was he on?
44:01He was on the Patriot side.
44:04Was he actually all Patriots or split?
44:06No, he was actually the only brother who was a Patriot.
44:10Everybody else remained Loyalists,
44:12and so I guess the family was very divided.
44:15And what happened during the battle?
44:17There were actually two brothers,
44:19Preston, my grandfather, and his brother, George.
44:21They came up to fight in the battle.
44:24They saw each other at the same time,
44:26raised their muskets, fired and killed each other
44:28right at the same moment.
44:30There's several documents of this happening in the war,
44:33and how sad it was that it was brother against brother.
44:36And Preston's wife, my grandmother, and a slave
44:39put him on a sled and drug his body about 30-40 miles from here,
44:43and he was buried in the family burial ground.
44:50To the column left!
44:53March!
44:55A brutal civil war, in which neighbour murdered neighbour
44:58and brother shot brother,
45:00has become an occasion for nostalgia and quaint ceremony.
45:03To the right face!
45:09We commemorate these men, these Patriots,
45:13this first generation of American veterans!
45:19Fix your right hand to your barlock!
45:24To the right about!
45:26Three steps forward!
45:29Dismissed!
45:32For independence and the courage to win it!
45:35Dismissed!
45:37Huzzah!
45:39We Brits, the old enemy, now seem to have been forgiven.
45:42Even Eliza Wilkinson had an opportunity to forgive.
45:46Writing proudly to her friend of the kindness her household
45:49showed to a wounded Loyalist officer.
45:52We could find no rag to dress his wounds.
45:55Everything in the house being thrown into such confusion by the plunderers.
45:59But see the native tenderness of an American.
46:02Miss Samuels took from her neck the only remaining handkerchief
46:05the Britons had left her, and with it bound up his arm.
46:09Blush, oh Britons, and be confounded!
46:12Your delight is cruelty and oppression.
46:15Divested of all humanity, you imitate savages.
46:19The Americans are obliged to commit unavoidable acts of cruelty.
46:23The defence of their country requires it.
46:27You seek their lives and liberties, and they must either kill or be killed.
46:32Yet, imitating the all-merciful Creator, in the midst of anger,
46:37they remember mercy.
46:40The victors of King's Mountain were less inclined to be merciful.
46:44After a hasty trial, 36 prisoners were sentenced to death.
46:50They were to be hanged, three at a time.
46:55Antony Allaire was by now a prisoner of the rebels.
46:58It seemed that he too would face execution.
47:16This is a specimen of rebel lenity.
47:19You may report it without the least equivocation.
47:23For upon the word and honour of a gentleman,
47:26this description is not equal to their barbarity.
47:35Eventually, Allaire was able to escape,
47:38but nine of his fellow loyalists had in effect been lynched
47:41before the rebel commander called a halt.
47:44King's Mountain was a turning point.
47:47It sent out a clear warning to Britain and her American loyalist allies.
47:52Cornwallis and his men headed back southwards.
47:55His black allies, well aware of the lynch law they'd receive on the other side,
48:00went with him.
48:04No-one was more terrified of a rebel victory than former slaves,
48:08who'd thrown in their lot with the British in exchange for freedom.
48:12Now that the rebels were winning, they feared the worst.
48:18David George, so happy when the British took Savannah,
48:22was now compelled to join the British as they withdrew.
48:26Along with many loyalist blacks,
48:28George and his family would eventually be forced
48:31to leave America altogether to find freedom.
48:36The great British dream of a powerful ally
48:40with American loyalists was falling apart,
48:43and the guerrilla tactics of the rebels
48:46were wearing down the regular forces.
48:50But as the war of American independence moved to its climax,
48:54the British army was going to prove
48:57that it still had plenty of fight left in it.
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