Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War

Southern theater
Part of the American Revolutionary War
The Battle of Cowpens by William Ranney
Date 1775–1782 Location Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, East Florida and West Florida Result Franco-Spanish-American victory Surrender of a British army at Yorktown
Belligerents
United Colonies (1775–1776) Georgia Maryland North Carolina South Carolina Virginia United States (1776–1782)  France (1778–1782)  Spain (1779–1782) Chickasaw Choctaw Catawba Lumbee[1]	Great Britain Cherokee Creek
Commanders and leaders
Nathanael Greene Daniel Morgan Horatio Gates Benjamin Lincoln (POW) Thomas Sumter Francis Marion Comte d'Estaing Bernardo de Gálvez	Lord Charles Cornwallis (POW) Sir Henry Clinton Banastre Tarleton Francis Rawdon Thomas Brown Augustine Prevost
Strength
Southern Army Main Army Rochembeau's expeditionary force Gálvez's force	British Southern Army, totalling approximately 8,000 regulars and militia

The southern theater of the American Revolutionary War was the central theater of military operations in the second half of the American Revolutionary War, 1778–1781. It encompassed engagements primarily in Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Tactics consisted of both strategic battles and guerrilla warfare.

During the first three years of the conflict, 1775–1778, the largest military encounters between Continental Army and the British Army had been in the New England and Middle colonies, around the cities of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. After the failure of the Saratoga campaign, the British Army largely abandoned operations in the north and pursued peace through control of the Southern Colonies.^[2] Before 1778, these colonies were largely dominated by Patriot-controlled governments and militias, although there was also a Continental Army presence that played a role in the 1776 defense of Charleston, the suppression of Loyalist militias, and attempts to drive the British from strongly Loyalist East Florida.

The British began to implement their "Southern Strategy" in late 1778, in Georgia. It initially achieved success with the capture of Savannah, Georgia, which was followed in 1780 by operations in South Carolina that included the defeat of Continental forces at Charleston and Camden. At the same time France (in 1778) and Spain (in 1779) declared war on Great Britain in support of the United States. Spain captured all of British West Florida, culminating in the siege of Pensacola in 1781. France initially offered only naval support for the first few years after its declaration of war but in 1781 sent large numbers of soldiers to join General George Washington's army and marched into Virginia from New York. Major General Nathanael Greene, who took over as Continental Army commander after Camden, engaged in a strategy of avoidance and attrition against the British. The two forces fought a string of battles, most of which were victories for the British Army. However, the high cost in casualties weakened it, while the Continental Army remained largely intact to continue fighting. This was best exemplified by the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. Several American victories, such as the Battle of Ramseur's Mill, the Battle of Cowpens, and the Battle of Kings Mountain, also served to weaken the overall British military strength. The culminating engagement, the siege of Yorktown, ended with the surrender of British Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis on October 19, 1781. It was essentially the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.^[3][4] Shortly afterward, negotiations between the United States and Great Britain began, resulting in the Treaty of Paris of 1783.