After the British victory at the Battle of Camden in August 1780, Major Patrick Ferguson was dispatched to the Southern Colonies. His task was to recruit members to fight for the Loyalist militia and protect Cornwallis’s left flank as he attempted to move through the Carolinas.
Despite the prominent role Cornwallis played in the Revolution, Henry Clinton was blamed for the loss of the American colonies following the surrender at Yorktown.
In 1779, after a stalemate in the north, Cornwallis went south as second in command to Sir Henry Clinton. Clinton captured Charleston in May 1780. Cornwallis pressed on to defeat General Horatio Gates at Camden, South Carolina, on August 16, 1780.
During the Battle of Camden, when the American line collapsed, de Kalb and his infantry remained on the field. De Kalb led a counterattack in an attempt to stem the tide but the British swarmed around the American. As Gates’s army retreated, de Kalb fell and was taken to Camden where he died in 3 days.
Uncovering History
We invite you to visit the preserved locations along the Liberty Trail and to immerse yourself
in the extraordinary events that determined the fate of a nation.
Fort Fair Lawn was a British outpost in 1780–1781 and was the target of a daring Patriot raid on November 17, 1781, and abandoned by the British a week later.
On May 29, 1780, British commander Banastre Tarleton engaged and overwhelmed a Patriot force under the command of Abraham Buford in a dreadful defeat for the Patriots.
Located along the banks of the Hudson, outnumbered Patriot forces quickly evacuated this site on November 20, 1776, as the British army advanced on their position.
A small victory for the Continental Army, the Battle of Paulus Hook won the reassurances of the Patriots and compelled many to continue the fight for independence.
The site of the 1780 battle of Musgrove’s Mill where a small force of Patriot militia fought and defeated a larger force of Loyalist and Provincial soldiers in a short but pivotal battle.
The East Jersey Old Town Village is a collection of historic structures dating the 18th century. Today, living historians walk the grounds, bringing the Revolution and the Colonial Era to life.
During the British occupation of Charleston in 1781, these grounds were part of a British outpost to supply ammunition and provisions to patrolling British troops.
Completed in 1771, the Old Exchange Building is a Charleston landmark and the site of some of the most important events in South Carolina history. Over the last two and a half centuries, the building has been a commercial exchange, custom house, post office, city hall, military headquarters, and museum.
Step into the Indian King Tavern, where revolutionaries once gathered, laws were forged, and history was made. This legendary Haddonfield landmark saw New Jersey declare its independence, adopt its Great Seal, and host both Patriots and British forces in a high stakes struggle for America’s future.
The Francis Marion is a forest literally steeped in history. Marion, dubbed the “Swamp Fox” by the British troops whose supply lines he disrupted with surprise attacks from the swamps.
The Battle of Mount Holly, also known as Iron Works Hill, fought on December 23, 1776, was a minor skirmish in which Hessian Colonel Carl von Donop occupied the town, diverting his forces from Trenton and indirectly contributing to Washington’s victory there three days later.
The mansion once housed George Washington, who utilized it as his headquarters in the freezing winter of 1779.