General Horatio Gates | Battle of Camden

General Horatio Gates was the leader of  the new Continental Army in the South.  He was known as the “Hero of Saratoga,” one of the biggest patriot victories, in New York State in 1777. His second-in-command was Baron Johann DeKalb.

Gates’ opponent was Lieutenant General Charles Earl Cornwallis, who had been appointed by General Clinton to lead the Southern Campaign when Clinton returned to New York.

On August 16, 1780, General Gates' army, joined by militia men from North Carolina and Virginia, marched south toward the British outpost in Camden, South Carolina. At the same time, Cornwallis's army headed north. The cavalries clashed in a battle that became known as the Battle of Camden, the largest battle in the South up to that point

Standards

• 4.2.CE Examine the economic and political motivations for colonists to declare independence from Great Britain.
• 4.2.CX Contextualize South Carolina’s role in the development of the new nation.
• 8.2.CE Explain the economic, political, and social factors surrounding the American Revolution.
• This indicator was developed to encourage inquiry into how the colonies began to unify to create a distinctive American identity over the course of events of the American Revolution.
• 8.2.CX Contextualize the roles of various groups of South Carolinians as the colonies moved toward becoming an independent nation.
• This indicator was developed to encourage inquiry into the motivations of colonists during the American Revolution and the progression of conflict and failed compromise that ultimately led to revolution.
• 8.2.CO Compare the motives and demographics of loyalists and patriots within South Carolina and the colonies.
• This indicator was developed to encourage inquiry into the economic, political, and social motivations of the patriots and the loyalists in the era of the American Revolution.

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