Cherokee Campaign Part 2; The Loyalist Uprising

Once John Stuart decided how to use the Cherokee Nation against the rebels with the input of other Loyalist based in the Florida Colonies such as Thomas Brown and Moses Kirkland he decided to go and meet with General Clinton in person. This plan had the approval of almost of all of the highest ranking British officials in North America and Britain such as General Howe, General Gage, Lord William Campbell, and Lord North.

Cherokee Settlements in 1776 before the attacks

So in February of 1776, Stuart boarded a boat to go and meet with General Clinton at Cape Fear off the coast of North Carolina to coordinate the efforts between the Cherokees and British Army now off of the Southern American coast trying to decide where they were going to strike. In conjunction with this meeting John sent his brother Henry Stuart and Alexander Cameron to the Cherokee Nation with as much military supplies as they could transport to the Cherokee. Once Stuart and Cameron arrived in the Cherokee nation they were greeted as friends and their military supplies divided up amongst the warriors who were now ready to attack. The next part of their mission was to coordinate with the warriors some sort of plan to attack when the British Fleet made land fall.

This part of the plan was for the Cherokee Warriors to fight alongside Loyalist who were in theory to show the Cherokee who were friends of the crown to not harm and whom were rebels that they could attack freely. This was a concept the French had used in the French and Indian War against the British themselves. This however was a different type of war all together, with people switching sides at this point of the war to protect their own interest fairly commonly. The Loyalist who were to travel with the bands of Cherokee as they began the attack wore to wear typical Cherokee clothes and war paint to help identify them as Cherokee Warriors so as to not be mistaken in a fight by the Cherokee in attacks against rebels. The other reason for the Loyalist to wear these disguises was to hide their identity to friend and foe alike. These Loyalist who fought and travelled with these Cherokee bands were doing so in their own communities, where they had families, farms, and other ties.  If they were discovered too of been helping unleash all settlers’ biggest fear of an Indian uprising along the frontier they would never be forgotten or forgiven by their former friends and neighbors.  If they were to return to these communities after this war it could only be if they were victorious and they acted as such when fighting.

Once John Stuart returned to West Florida after meeting with General Clinton the go ahead to release the Cherokee Nation was given and riders were sent out to the Loyalist in the field to begin their attacks with their Cherokee allies. So on July 1^st, 1776 the Cherokee Nation along with their Loyalist allies began to attack settlers and settlements along their boards thus begun a Cherokee War along the frontier.     

When the attacks started along the border they were swift and divesting to outlying farms and settlers families.  As could be imagined these attacks were carried out without regards to gender, race, age, or even loyalty to the crown. So as the word of these attacks began to spread along the frontier an alarm went out to all of those who lived there to be on the alert and to be ready to defend themselves against the Cherokee who were now unleashed on them all.

This marked a turning point in the back country of South Carolina in regards to the attitudes of its people. Before, during, and after the Snow Campaign of 1775 the back country had been a rough place for Loyalist and Patriot with whom both sides had shed the blood of the other, property was destroyed of each, and humiliation had been distributed. However after the Snow Campaign they had thought the issues settled and people had tried to return to their lives with hard feelings towards each other but not shooting after parole had been given. Both sides had returned to their fields and were trying to make a living under these conditions. The unleashing of the Cherokee however made this struggle more bitter and devise than anyone could of imagined with both sides now playing for total victory with no quarter to be given or expected as a result, until the matter was to be resolved at the end of the war with neither side willing to give an inch until then.

Next article up is: The Patriots response to the Cherokee attacks.

Battle of Sullivans Island Part Two

                                                                                              

 Lord Dartmouth (pictured to the right) and Lord Germain (pictured to the left) with the approval of King George III and Prime Minister Lord North in London had decided on a plan of action to start retaking control of the rebellious colonies with a Southern Strategy. The strategy was for Major General William Howe to send troops that were massing in Ireland the 15th, 37th, 53rd, 54rth, and 57th of Foot plus others under the command of Lord Cornwallis, along with any extra troops he could spare from service in the Americas to the Cape Fear area in North Carolina. Once they were in North Carolina, they would retake the colony for royal control and then turn it over to the Loyalist who Royal Governor Josiah Martin of North Carolina and Royal Governor Lord William Campbell of South Carolina had told anyone who would listen that the Loyalist were ready to rise up if they felt safe and had support from the crown in the South. The interesting part of this argument is that both of these governors that had been ejected from their post by the colonist in North and South Carolina with no resistance from the large amount of Loyalist they kept telling the crown would help. Ground zero for the North Carolina campaign would be the former royal capital of North Carolina, South Port on Cape Fear. Once royal control had been assumed in South Port, then the army could start to move into the country side to quell the rebels there. General Howe chooses Major General Henry Clinton to lead the army for the expedition to the South with Gov Martin and Gov. Campbell with him to retake control of their respective colony. To round out the Royal Armies command structure was Major General Cornwallis who would lead the first brigade and Major General John Vaughan who would lead the second brigade.

                                                                                                                      

  The navel part of this combined army and navy operation would be Admiral Peter Parker (pictured to the right). His main job was to give support to the army initially as they went ashore and to protect the transportation ships in route to North Carolina from Ireland. Admiral Parker would be in charge of over 50 ships with nine of them being ships of the line with two fifty gun ships in the fleet. He left from Ireland in December of 1775 with his transports in tow to start the retaking of the colonies in the South.

     On January 20th, 1776 Clinton leaves Boston with his small force of the 4th and 44th Regiments of Foot Light Comapanies along with the 84th to rendezvous with Admiral Parker on the coast of North Carolina at Cape Fear. On March 12th, 1776 Clinton and his force arrives off the coast of North Carolina at Cape Fear. Once Clinton arrives off the coast of North Carolina he learns from locals of the defeat of the loyalist force that was coming to his aid on the coast to retake the colony. This force of Loyalist numbering over 1500 men under the command of Donald McDonald was defeated by a Patriot force lead by Col. Richard Caswell at the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge on February 27th, 1776. This defeat had totally routed the Loyalist in North Carolina who had now gone into hiding and were not to be relied upon for help with Clintons force on the coast. On May 3rd in 1776 Admiral Peter Parked arrives in Cape Fear with part of his fleet which had already started to arrive in late April and continued to follow him into Cape Fear for two weeks. The fleet had been dispersed on their crossing of the Atlantic by storms which had caused the staggered arrival of the fleet into Cape Fear.

     Once all the principals were in Cape Fear, a meeting took place between General Clinton and Admiral Parker about the prospects of taking North Carolina back for the crown. After this meeting it was decided that North Carolina would not be at this time be an appropriate target with the resources available to the crown and no more Loyalist support coming from the colonist. So the next decision was to decide if they were going to call of the mission or attack a different colony. The only two colonies that fit the bill for the second option of conquest was Virginia to the North or South Carolina to the South of Cape Fear.

     Charleston was the third largest and richest port in the colonies and was producing war materials for the rebels in New England. With her navel stores and great harbor up for grabs the two commanders made a quick decision and decided on Charleston as the new target for their force. If it could be captured it would reduce the rebel supply line and provide a great base of operations for the next domino to fall in the Southern Strategy. General Howe had already written to Clinton telling him that his services would not be needed in Howe’s summer campaign for New York and its harbor after he had been ejected from Boston in March and Howe was now in Halifax. Also intelligence had been gathered about an unfinished fort guarding the northern entrance to the harbor of Charleston from British ships which had been sent to there to gather intelligence about the harbors defense. The report told of an unfinished fort on Sullivan’s Island on the Northern entrance to the harbor and Fort Johnson on the Southern entrance to the harbor on James Island. These two coastal defenses were the only two things stopping the British from entering the harbor proper and Charleston. Admiral Parker felt with the information that he had obtained from his scout ships that he could reduce the unfinished fort on Sullivan’s Island with his fleet, thus allowing the British to take control of the Northern entrance to the harbor and shutting the port down as the army moved in to secure key points on the main land from a secure base of operations on Sullivan’s Island while the navy blockaded the port.

     Thus on May 30th, 1776 the sites of the British Empire were set on Charleston with the fleet leaving Cape Fear to start their journey southward towards Charleston. The fleet included 52 ships including HMS Bristol (Flagship, 50 guns), HMS Experiment (50 guns), HMS Actaeon, HMS Active, HMS Solebay, HMS Syren, HMS Sphinx, HMS Friendship, HMS Lady Williams, bomb vessel HMS Thunder, transports, supply ships and others with totaling around 300 heavy navel guns. The army on board the transports included the Light Infantry companies of the 4th “The Kings Own” and 44th, Grenadiers, the15th, 28th, 33rd, 37th, 46th, 53rd, 54th, 57th, 84th “Royal Highland Emigrants” of foot, Royal Artillery with 20 heavy field guns plus several 3 pounders, Royal Engineers, totaling 2200 Royal Army personnel and 700 Royal Marines totaling 2900 soldiers and marines. This large force was bearing down on Charleston like a hurricane wanting to unleash its fury against the colonist who had rebelled against their king’s rule in Charleston.

     However, Charleston knew the British were coming and was in the process of preparing a gala reception for the British Empire as it tried to bring its rule back to these rebellious colonists. The city known Worldwide for its hospitality was in no mood to welcome them back with open arms, instead it was preparing a welcome the British Empire and World would soon not forget.

The next article will be on how the city prepared for the British invasion.

Battle of Sullivans Island Part 1

     Sullivan’s Island sits on the North East entrance to Charleston Harbor, right beside the main shipping channel for large vessels coming into the port proper. Its geographic location makes it the perfect site to build a fort on the northern side of the harbor to protect this entrance. From this vantage point all shipping would have to come within range of its guns before passing into the harbor. On the Southern side of the harbor sits Fort Johnson which protects the Southern entrance to the harbor on James Island. This fort had been in service for many years on and off with the threat coming from the French and the Spanish for the decades. In 1775 there was no fortification on Sullivan’s Island and no need until the Colony decided to join the other colonies in breaking away from Britain. In January of 1775 a Provincial Congress was called for in South Carolina and it voted to break away from England and formed a rebel government in Charleston. As a result the Royal Governor Lord William Campbell escaped their capture by boarding one of the Royal Navy ships in the harbor for protection.

     Here, in the harbor, Lord Campbell tried to continue Royal rule in South Carolina by trying to get Loyalist to rise up against the rebels and writing to General Howe in Boston and Lord North in London, England to send troops to retake Charleston for the crown. In his letters he told them of the Loyalist presence still in the colony that only need the support of Royal Troops to help them to rise up against the rebels. For months Lord Campbell wrote letters from the harbor to London and tried to secretly contact Loyalist in the interior of the colony to rise up against the rebels. The support of neither the Loyalist nor the Royal Troops materialized so he left with the Royal Navy leaving Charleston Harbor in the fall of 1775 and thus the last Royal presence in the colony left with him.

 
Lord North

While this was playing out in South Carolina, General Howe and General Washington were in a stalemate in Boston before Howe left Boston with the British army and loyalist in March of 1776. With the stalemate going on in New England a plan was being formed by Lord North the Priminister of Great Britian and Lord Germain Secratory of State for the American Department in London on how to take back the colonies starting with the South and then like dominos moving northward to retake the colonies. This strategy was based upon the information give to them by the Royal Governor of South Carolina Campbell and North Carolina Josiah Martin. Their main contention was that if Royal troops came to the Carolinas that the Loyalist in great numbers would turn out in support of the King. This would allow the Royal troops to take an area and then the Loyalist could hold it as they moved to the next colony to subdue it. If this could happen then the rebellion could be put down quickly and his majesties power restored.

Below is a map of Charleston Harbor