South Carolina Campaign - Turn 8

Gates' skedaddles out of Cheraw after his defeat by Cornwallis

Summary of Key Events on Turn 7

Turn 7 was one of the most active game turns of the South Carolina Campaign of 1780. The biggest event was the Battle of Cheraw in which Cornwallis' British army (8SPs) defeated Gates' American army (8SPs).

Meanwhile, in the back country of South Carolina, DeKalb and Sumter teamed up to lay seige on Cruger's British garrison at Ninety Six. Cruger had no way of knowing that he was going to be outnumbered by a factor of 3:1, so he elected to stay and defend the fort. However, in our campaign rules, a 3 to 1 advantage to the beseiger gives him a 50% chance of an immediate surrender of the beseiged. Colonel Cruger rolled dice poorly and thus had to capitulate to DeKalb.

At the same time, Banastre Tarleton (3SPs) continued his merry raid of destruction along the Carolinas border area. He saw an opportunity to capture the main supply depot of the American forces (1SP) at Hillsboro, North Carolina. As at Ninety Six, Tarleton's 3 to 1 advantage resulted in the surrender of the Hillsboro garrison and more importantly, the capture of the supply base. This puts Horatio Gates' army out of supply for Turn 8.

Campaign map for Turn 8 depicting the positions of forces at the end of the movement phase.
(Click map to enlarge)

Turn 8 Moves - Americans

* DeKalb moves 7SPs from Ninety Six to Fort Granby, which is held by a British garrison of 1SP.

* Sumter remains at Ninety Six with 2SPs.

* Colonel Otho Williams remains at the supply depot at Charlotte, NC with 3SPs.

*Gates pulls off a surprise move by retreating east to Kingston, rather than north towards his supply base in Hillsboro, NC. He suspected that he might get caught in a vise between Tarleton's and Cornwallis' armies. This leaves the British commanders scratching their heads and wondering where the heck Gates went.

* Francis Marion sets up an ambush between Nelson's Ferry (where Rawdon was on the previous turn) and Camden. Rawdon (4SPs) walks into the ambush.

Turn 8 Moves - British

* Cornwallis moves north towards Hillsboro, NC after the battle of Cheraw and assumes that he will capture Gates' retreating Continental army.

* Tarleton moves his force of 3SPs from Hillsboro south towards Cornwallis in order to cut off the line of retreat for Gates back to Hillsboro.

* Rawdon moves 4SPs from Nelson's Ferry to the British supply base at Camden, however, his march is intercepted by Francis Marion, so there will be a battle on Turn 8.

* Stewart is nervous about leaving Charleston with a garrison of only 1SP, so he retires from Dorchester back to Charleston. He also recalls 1SP from the Georgetown garrison, resulting in a strengthened Charleston garrison of 6SPs.

* Maitland has 3SPs in Georgetown after returning 1SP back to Charleston.

* Campbell remains in Savannah with 2SPs.

* Fort Granby garrison retreats to nearby Fort Motte, rather than being surrounded by DeKalb's larger army.  

* Forts Motte and Watson each have a garrison of 1SP.

* Camden has a garrison of 3SPs. They were hoping to be reinforced by Rawdon's army of 4SPs on this turn, but that did not happen as noted above.

Results of Turn 8 Moves

*Gates is out of supply on this turn.

* DeKalb will capture Fort Granby - the garrison will be allowed to retreat one dot to Fort Motte.

* Rawdon and Marion will have a battle on this turn.