The Rangers arrested adult males, interrogated them severely, and carried forty-two of the suspected revolutionaries to be imprisoned in Augusta. At the same time, marauding bands of outlaws roamed throughout the south and western part of the state and took whatever they could find, claiming it was partial recompense for what the conflict had cost them. A few of them had been forced from their homes, but most were vagabonds who had never owned any property, and few had been willing to serve in the militia on either side. Despite entreaties from Governor Wright and the fragmented remains of the Georgia Whig government, absolute lawlessness prevailed, with atrocities a daily fact of life. All but the most stalwart families abandoned their homes, and women and children of Whig families either assembled in the scattered forts of the Hornet’s Nest or moved into the western Carolinas.

CHAPTER 42

The Fall of Charles Town

MAY 1780

With George Washington’s forces still dormant and New York apparently secure, the British were now free to take Charles Town. They had assembled more than six thousand troops, while General Lincoln’s urgent appeals even northward throughout Virginia had failed to bring in any substantial reinforcements to protect the patriots’ last remaining stronghold in the south. There was widespread knowledge of the smallpox epidemic in Charles Town, and few militiamen were willing to obey orders or honor appeals of a northern general to enter the city. Even some of the regular Continental troops deserted, leaving a large but dispirited force behind and taking the pox to spread it among their home folks. Lincoln wrote to Washington: “We have only a handful of militiamen here on duty. I am much surprised to find them so unreasonable as to wish to avoid this town. There is nothing to apprehend from the small-pox.”

General Clinton was very pleased with progress and fully confident that overall British strategy was sound and assured eventual victory, with the taking of Charles Town setting the stage for the final months of the war. The holding of New York would ensure continuing dominance in the north, and a push by Major General Lord Charles Cornwallis and the entire battle force of Great Britain through the Carolinas and into Virginia would force a final confrontation with the Continental army. At the same time, he could depend upon Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton to inflict maximum punishment on the fragmentary rebel militia forces that still roamed through the southern area. The capture of Charles Town was the immediate task of all British forces under his command.