Southern Campaign

After the battle of Saratoga the British army would suffer a defeat that would incur both an embarrassing defeat and crippling blow when it came to the French entrance into the war. During the Southern Campaigns, the British could contribute their failure of the campaign based on an assumption that the Southern Colonies would provide a strong enough Loyalist volunteer pool to reinforce British regulars to render support against a French invading force, and avoid deploying reinforcements from the European theater. During the beginning phases of operations for the British during the Southern Campaign they would experience success on the battlefield, however on the latter phase of the operation they would be defeated by Continental forces. Both …show more content…
Many Parliamentary members considered giving up the war in the American colonies and turn their attention its neighbors, France and Spain. The adopted strategy by the British would be to focus operations south of the Potomac River. “King George III enthusiastically embraced the concept of a Southern Campaign and outlined the purpose as early as October 1775:
To call forth those who may have a sense of duty to their mother country; to restore British Government… and leave a battalion of provincials formed from the back settlers under the command of the governor to collect such men as may be willing to serve in the British troops in America… Provincial Corps may be left for the protection of the civil …show more content…
Lord Germain would be the most important asset to the British, he was very versatile in coordinating both military support from the Army and Navy, and a solid communication line with North American theater commanders. The British shifted attention from where the war started because for all intents and purposes this campaign was a stalemate. General Clinton was also not able to engage in heavy combat with Washington, and the British turned to the Southern Campaign strategy in hopes to gain a positive military and political result. Conveniently, by moving forces farther south, reinforcements would be closer to the Caribbean theater to reinforce Cornwallis, and coordinated naval and army operations without strung resources without expanding the size of deployments form the empire. Another strategy for the Southern Campaign was to be able to rotate theater deployments due to seasonal changes. The naval coordination was intended to prevent or decrease the volume of American trade that usually was unloaded in ports such as Charleston, South Carolina. Lastly, British commanders thought that the Southern colonies may have a vast amount of Loyalists who would immediately provide military support once British forces entered those colonies. This strategy in theory would cut down the increase of manpower needed from other operational theaters, and would definitely be more favorable