British Involvement In The Revolutionary War

During the first three years of the American Revolutionary war, the largest military encounters were in the north, focused on campaigns around the cities of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. After the failed Saratoga Campaign in 1777 when the British attempted to gain military control of the Hudson River Valley, they largely abandoned their operations in the Middle Colonies and pursued a strategy of peace through subjugation in the Southern Colonies. This strategy failed as there were not as many Loyalists willing to fight as the British might have thought. Moreover, the Patriots use of more guerrilla warfare, with hit and run tactics which the British were not accustomed to. Finally, as the British chased the Americans through the countryside, they tended to take food, mainly from farmers, causing new enemies to be established. The Continental victory at Saratoga in 1777 and the Treaty with the French in 1778 transformed the war, especially for the British. The conventional counter-insurgency was

Although, the British had some success in the beginning of the strategy to take hold of Charleston and Savannah, they had met their match when it came to the Continental Army. Their guerrilla and hit-and-run tactics, forced the British to chase them around, depleting their supplies and their manpower. Moreover, the British overestimated the amount of Loyalists that occupied the south, and ended up creating more enemies by freeing Black slaves who escaped to British-controlled territory, and by taking food from farmers. Also, the British underestimated the operational problems they would engage in, especially when their men were away from their supplies in the interior. On the other hand, the Continental Army were well supplied, and had the advantage of being able to hide among the local people. It is safe to say that the British were in way above their heads when it came to their southern