♪ The American Revolutionary War is arguably the most significant conflict in United States history.

With over 200 battles, no other state saw as much combat as South Carolina.

♪ This theater of war, known as the Southern Campaign, is full of not just glorious battles but of heroic deeds and tales that have been passed down from generation to generation.

This is that story told... From the Sky!

♪ ♪ marching band ♪ The southern colonies were of vital importance to the British.

They realized that the key to British victory relied on mobilizing the south's large loyalist population.

However, by late 1779, early 1780 the American Revolution had reached a stalemate.

The British hoped that a successful southern campaign would break the stalemate and ultimately end the Revolution.

A British expeditionary force of 8,500 soldiers anchored off the coast Charles Town.

After a three-month siege and a three-day bombardment Major General Benjamin Lincoln, Commander-in-Chief of the southern theater, surrendered to the British on May 12, 1780.

The British capture of Charles Town is considered by many to be the greatest American defeat of the entire Revolution.

In one fell swoop, the Patriots lost the richest city in North America and nearly the entire southern arm of the Continental Army.

There was one regiment of Continental soldiers left in South Carolina, the 6th Virginia Regiment under the Command of Colonel Abraham Buford.

Buford and his men had arrived too late to reinforce the Patriot garrison at Charles Town.

When news of Benjamin Lincoln's surrender reached Buford, he began retreating northward.

Little did Buford know that the British, led by Lieutenant Colonel Bannitre Tarleton, were right on his heels advancing with the British Legion into an area known as the "“South Carolina Backcountry"”.

On May 29, 1780, Tarleton caught up with Buford at the Waxhaws.

What ensued was a massacre of American troops, out manned and out gunned by the British legion.

Also known as "“Buford's Massacre"”, the battle of the Waxhaws lasted only 15 minutes, resulting in 113 American deaths, 84 of which are buried here in a mass grave at the Buford Memorial Site.

♪ marching band ♪ Contrary to popular belief, most southern colonists were not as undecided in the war effort, as thought.

For many Patriots, also known as the "“Whigs or Partisans"”, Buford's Massacre became a rallying cry for the Patriot cause, the opposite effect of what the British had intended.

At this time, American militia forces using guerilla warfare tactics started to play a pivotal role in the response of the British southern strategy.

One of the Captains in Tarleton's Legion who was present at the Battle of Buford's Massacre was a 32-year-old German immigrant named Christian Huck.

In June 1780, a detachment of British Dragoons under the command of Captain Huck was sent to the British stronghold at Rocky Mount in present-day Fairfield County.

It was at this outpost that Huck made several excursions against the Patriots in the Carolina Backcountry.

His objective was to apprehend Patriot leaders in present-day York County.

On July 11, 1780, Huck and his men arrived at the Bratton Plantation.

He hoped to arrest Patriot leader Col. William Bratton.

who was stationed 20 miles away with Thomas Sumter and his Patriot Militia.

According to tradition, Martha Bratton sent a message to her husband, that Huck and the British would soon reach their plantation.

This message was delivered by Watt, an African American slave, who traveled to General Sumter's camp to alert the militia.

That night, the Patriot's under the command of Col. William Bratton made their way by moonlight to the Bratton Plantation.

They they devised a surprise attack on the British who were stationed at the neighboring Williamson's Plantation.

At sunrise, the militia launched their attack on the unsuspecting British, killing Captain Huck as he was trying to flee.

Also known as "“Huck's Defeat"”, the battle of Williamson's Plantation became another morale booster for the American Patriots, being the first time that South Carolina militiamen were able to defeat trained regular soldiers of the British occupation force.

♪ ♪ Regrettably, the cause to celebrate was short lived.

In August of 1780, General Horatio Gates lead the Continental army, along with militiamen from North Carolina and Virginia, to Camden, South Carolina in order to take out a strategic outpost held by Lt. General Charles Cornwallis.

At the Battle of Camden, Gates suffered a humiliating defeat when the militia, were outmatched by experienced British regulars and retreated.

The battle of Camden was the largest battle of the Revolutionary War in the south up to this point.

When the smoked cleared, over 900 patriots were either killed or wounded, and over 1,000 were captured.

Even though the patriots suffered a stunning defeat, during the summer of 1780, there were several small battles in the backcountry that would end with a Partisan victory.

One of the most important of these battles was the Battle of Musgrove Mill.

Three days after the Battle of Camden, Patriot militiamen, outnumbered two to one, sent a raiding party to the Musgrove Ford on the Enoree River where a force consisting of mostly British provincials and loyalist militia were camping.

The militia, who lost the element of surprise by a loyalist patrol, quickly devised a plan to draw the enemy up a nearby wagon road for an ambush.

The patriots, led by Captain Shadrack Inman, shot at the loyalists and provincial soldiers on the far side of the river.

As the British returned fire, the Patriots retreated, and the British chased them falling right into their trap.

When the battle was over, 67 British were killed and 70 were captured.

The Patriots, who had only lost four soldiers in the battle, started to gain momentum heading into the autumn season.

One particularly interesting monument at the Musgrove Mill Historic Site commemorates Mary Musgrove, also known as the "“Patriot in Petticoats"”, who according to legend, spied for and aided Patriots during the war.

The pillar also serves as a reminder for the countless women who served as nurses, messengers, and even combatants in America's fight for Independence.

♪ In August of 1780, British Major Patrick Ferguson was ordered to penetrate into western North Carolina to defend Cornwallis' western flank.

Ferguson was aware that Patriot militias in the Carolina Backcountry were gaining strength.

Of particular concern to Ferguson was the frontier militia from the "“over mountain settlements"” led by Col. Isaac Shelby.

On September 10, Ferguson sent a warning across the Blue Ridge Mountains to Shelby and his men.

If the rebels did not "“desist from their opposition to British arms"”, Ferguson boasted, he would march his army over the mountains and "“lay their country waste with fire and sword.

"” Shelby immediately sent out a call for volunteers who caught up with Ferguson at King's Mountain on October 7, 1780, Ferguson, though having the high ground, was still at a disadvantage as Patriots, made up of militia and "“Overmountain Men"” had tree cover while fighting their way up the hill.

The victory at King's Mountain turned the tide of war for the Patriots.

At this point, the Southern Strategy of the British was unraveling.

At the beginning of 1781, Tarleton was dispatched by Cornwallis to destroy a portion of the Continental Army led by General Daniel Morgan in western South Carolina.

Morgan, a brilliant strategist who understood his troops capabilities, used the landscape and military tactics to defeat the British at the Battle of Cowpens.

Militia forces would fire and retreat over the hill of the battleground while British soldiers advanced, only to find the American Continental Army waiting for them on the other side.

Tarleton's men were crushed effectively ending the Southern Campaign in South Carolina.

Even after the British surrendered at Yorktown in October 1781, small battles for the control of South Carolina would continue until 1783 when the Treaty of Paris was signed officially ending the war.

The British failure during the Southern Campaign led to the triumph of a newly formed American nation and it wouldn't have been possible without these victories in South Carolina.

History is sometimes better seen... From the Sky!

♪ ♪ closing music ♪