Sir Henry Clinton (1738-1795) commanded the force that unsuccessfully attacked Charleston at the beginning of the American Revolution in 1776. When General William Howe resigned as commander in chief of the British forces in America in 1778, Clinton was named to succeed him. In 1779, he returned to Charleston with Cornwallis' forces. After the fall of Charleston, Clinton returned to New York, leaving Cornwallis in command of the southern army. When this southern campaign strategy ended in the surrender of Cornwallis's army at Yorktown in the fall of 1781, Clinton resigned and returned to England, where he published accounts of the war to vindicate his conduct as a commander.
