Battle of Camden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - The Diigo Meta page

• 20 Nov 12
  

  DesTINY Santiago
  • The Battle of Camden was a major victory for the British in the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War
  • Lieutenant General Charles, Lord Cornwallis routed the American forces of Major General Horatio Gates about 10 km (five miles) north of Camden, South Carolina
  • strengthening the British hold on the Carolinas
  • following the capture of Charleston.
  • The rout was an humiliating defeat for Gates, the American general best known for commanding the Americans at the British defeat of Saratoga, whose army had possessed a large numerical superiority over the British force
  • he never held a field command again
  • 2,100
     4 guns
  • 3,700
     7 guns
  • Casualties and losses  68 killed
     245 wounded
     11 missing^[
  • 900 killed and wounded
     1,000 Captured
  • raising the anticipated large numbers of Loyalists
  • Continental Army
  • driven from South Carolina
  • only Patriot resistance remaining
  • consisted of militia
  • hero of
  • met with the local militia and Continental Army commanders
  • Gates
  • Against the advice of council
  • Saratoga"
  • through an area he had been advised had strong Loyalist tendencies
  • significant number of
  • troops were
  • ordered a march into South Carolina
  • Continentals under his command had little battlefield experience.
  • even some
  • July 27, Gates advanced into South Carolina, heading towards Camden
  • Camden was considered a key to controlling the back country of the Carolinas
  • north of Camden
  • was joined by militia
  • from North Carolina
  • established a camp
  • and Virginia
  • weather was extremely hot
  • like dysentery
  • 4,000 men in camp, only about 2000 of them were effective for combat,
  • troops were put out of action by the heat and diseases
  • men had been
  • fed green corn, known for giving humans bowel problems.
  • night before

  •  

    [edit] Deployments
  • only 1,500 of them were regular troops
  • 3,700 troops
  • militia
  • left flank, he placed 2,500 untried
  • placed seven guns along the line
  • Behind
  • the militia
  • Gates was placing the untested militia, his weakest forces, against the most experienced British regiments
  • With this formation
  • while his best troops would face the weaker elements of the British forces.
  • 1,500 were regular troops
  • Cornwallis had around 2,100 men, of which around 600 were Loyalist militia and Volunteers of Ireland.
  • 250 cavalry and 200 infantry
  • highly experienced Tarleton's Legion,
  • our guns in the British centre.^[3]
  • British troops opened the battle
  • after dawn
  • armies advanced
  • militia
  • panicked and fled
  • British
  • before
  • even reached them
  • Gates fled with the first of the militia
  • Virginia militia ran away so quickly that they suffered only three casualties
  • evaporated
  • 800 Continentals were by this time facing over 2,000 British troops
  • Battle of Camden has been scrutinized as one of the worst tactical decisions made on part of the Americans throughout the entire war
  • Gates became overconfident in the ability of the American troops
  • adequate food
  • fresh water
  • forces were weakened
  • lack of
  • suffered over 2,000 casualties
  • 1,000 of the troops being prisoners
  • lost all seven guns
  • utterly defeated
  • Gates
  • Nathanael Greene
  • lost control of the southern army
  • given command of the southern army

  80 more annotations...

• 21 Apr 10
  

  Cesar Monterroso
• 02 Mar 10
  

  Mr. Hubbard

  american_revolution battles camden wiki

• 04 Jan 08
  

  whiteknoll

  battles revolutionary socialstudies 3

  • . These regiments then charged and Gates' inexperienced militia, largely  without bayonets fled the field, with Gates not far behind. The British wheeled  round and outflanked the American Continental regiments who were putting up a  stiff fight and continued to do so for sometime. After a while the American  lines began to crumble. Utterly defeated, the remainder of the army abandoned  the battlefield, pursued by Tarleton's cavalry for some 20 miles. The British  overran the American positions, capturing the American army's stores.

     

    Gates fled with the first of the militia to
  • Ben comments
  • Ben and Gabriel Martin are seen watching a similar battle.

  1 more annotation...

Page Comments

• 
  brooklyn sierra on 2010-04-23
  The Battle of Camden was a major victory for the British in the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War (American War of Independence). On August 16, 1780, British forces under Lieutenant General Charles, Lord Cornwallis routed the American forces of Major General Horatio Gates about 10 km (six miles) north of Camden, South Carolina, strengthening the British hold on the Carolinas following the capture of Charleston.
  
  

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