Charleston, SC & the Southern Strategy with Ken Scarlett

Why did the British place so much importance on Charleston? How did a string of talented British commanders nearly crush the Revolution in the South, and why did they ultimately fail?

In this episode of the Revolution 250 Podcast, Professor Robert J. Allison is joined by historian Ken Scarlett, author of Victory Day: Winning American Independence, for a sweeping discussion of the Southern Campaigns that ultimately decided the outcome of the Revolutionary War.

Beginning with the British strategy to capture Charleston and restore royal authority in the southern colonies, Allison and Scarlett trace the campaigns led by commanders including Sir Henry Clinton, Lord Cornwallis, Banastre Tarleton, and Lord Rawdon. They examine why Charleston was the strategic prize of the South, how its fall in 1780 reshaped the war, and why British success there ultimately proved fleeting.

The conversation also highlights the remarkable American leaders who turned the tide. General Nathanael Greene's brilliant strategy of exhausting rather than destroying the British army, combined with the relentless efforts of partisan commanders Francis Marion, Thomas Sumter, and Andrew Pickens, transformed the Southern backcountry into one of the most contested theaters of the Revolution. Their campaigns forced the British to fight for every mile of territory and helped set Cornwallis on the path that ultimately ended at Yorktown.

From Charleston Harbor to the Carolina backcountry, this episode explores the commanders, campaigns, and hard-fought decisions that secured American independence and reminds us why the story of the Revolution cannot be fully understood without the South.