Commander of a Virginia unit during the American Revolution, Abraham Buford saw his troops massacred by Banastre Tarleton and his British Legion at the Battle of Waxhaws in South Carolina.

In the final years of the Revolution, the Comte de Grasse aided the American cause through the disruption of the British Navy's supply lines.

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.

Joining the American Revolution prior to France's formal entrance into the war, the Marquis de Lafayette served as one of George Washington's most trusted generals.