Partisans and Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned the Tide of the American Revolution [Hardcover]

Walter B. Edgar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 23, 2001

In 1779, the British set in motion a war strategy designed to finally subdue the rebellious American colonies with a minimum of additional time, effort, and blood. Setting sail from New York harbor with an army Of 8,500 ground troops, a powerful British fleet swung south toward Seabrook Island, thirty miles below Charleston, South Carolina. One year later, Charleston had fallen. And as King George's forces pushed relentlessly inland and upward, it appeared certain the six-year-old colonial rebellion was doomed to defeat.

In a stunning work of forgotten history, acclaimed historian Walter Edgar takes the American Revolution far beyond Lexington and Concord to re-create the pivotal months in a nations savage struggle for freedom. Gripping, fascinating, and meticulously researched, Edgar's masterful history captures the heat, the fury, and the intense human drama of the ruthless South Carolina campaign. It is a story of military brilliance and devastating blunders -- and the courage of an impossibly outnumbered force of demoralized patriots who suffered terribly at the hands of a merciless enemy, yet slowly gained confidence through a series of small triumphs that convinced them their war could be won.

Alive with incident and color, Partisans and Redcoats presents unforgettable portraits of real-life heroes and villains, Britons and Americans alike, as it chronicles two remarkable years in the fiery birth of a nation. It is the story of an enemy invasion of the Carolina backcountry that sparked nothing less than the first American civil war-when neighbor battled neighbor, Tory fought Rebel, and families were sundered from within.

Rich with tales of bravery and personal sacrifice, this monumental work casts a brilliant light on one of the most important yet unsung eras in U.S. history Walter Edgar confirms his standing as one of the Souths most distinguished historians by bringing a truly epic conflict out of the shadows, celebrating the fortitude and great deeds of ordinary men and women, and illuminating the dark nature of war itself.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Though sometimes underestimated in standard histories, the American South was of critical importance as a theater of battle in the Revolutionary War. When the revolution broke out, historian Walter Edgar writes, South Carolina was far and away the richest of the American colonies. Charleston's wealth was more than six times that of Philadelphia, and its sparsely settled interior was a seemingly inexhaustible source of timber, cotton, and other prized goods. The war came early to this valuable terrain, first in the form of open combat between Whigs and Tories, then with the arrival of a large British task force that seized Charleston and other ports. As Edgar writes, the British and their loyalist allies then set about trying to tame the rebellious backcountry through a campaign of terror and atrocity so severe that, he maintains, leaders such as Lord Cornwallis and Banastre Tarleton deserve to be considered war criminals in the modern sense. Under their orders, civilians were assassinated and military prisoners summarily executed, farms and villages put to the torch, crops destroyed, and livestock slaughtered.

That campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, for instead of terrorizing the Scots- Irish settlers into submission, it galvanized resistance against British rule. That resistance, Walter Edgar concludes in this useful study, helped assure colonial independence. --Gregory McNamee

From Publishers Weekly

Violence, endemic in a frontier society, was even more deadly in the Carolina back country. University of South Carolina historian Edgar, who has produced the well-regarded South Carolina: A History among eight other books, presents a quickly reconstructed account of the fratricidal civil war that took place in South Carolina during the American Revolution. Years before the Revolution, writes Edgar, patterns of terrible violence had already been set, as white settlers tried to maintain their hold on their lands, fighting among themselves and with the Indians they had displaced. But when the British captured Charleston in 1780 and set out on a policy of subduing the southern colonies, their efforts were doomed by the colonists' siege mentality. Lord Cornwallis, the British commander, misjudged the situation and tried to intimidate the population by repressive measures. His policy failed miserably and only enraged the rebels even more, Edgar shows. Partisan bands such as those led by Thomas Sumter and Francis Marion kept the enemy guessing, while Tories and rebels alike battled each other, killed family members, dispersed slaves, burned crops and houses, and generally kept South Carolina in a state of anarchy. Edgar's lucid, unflinching account shows the American Revolution in the south was truly the nation's first civil war. 8 pages of illus. and maps not seen by PW. (Nov.)Forecast: Regional sales of this title should be relatively strong, but without a compelling hook outside the Carolinas, national sales should be confined to buffs.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1st edition (October 23, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380977605
• ISBN-13: 978-0380977604
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,037,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars weak, March 7, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Partisans and Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned the Tide of the American Revolution (Hardcover)

I was not impressed with this book. It is short (140 pages of large print). It lacks detail. It is simply a rehashing of some basic facts of the War in South Carolina. It appears more like a college term paper written by someone who read "The Road to Guilford Courthouse" than a well researched book from a College Professor. I read "The Road to Guilford Courthouse" only a few weeks before reading "Partisans and Redcoats". Believe me, "The Road" is much, much better (only lacks maps..but otherwise very good). For someone in middle/elementary school or possibly high school Edgars work might prove satisfying. Perhaps someone with a limited interest in history might find it useful too. That is the only reason I gave it 2 stars. Get "The Road" instead.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, if a bit obscure, January 11, 2005

By 

David W. Nicholas (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Partisans and Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned the Tide of the American Revolution (Paperback)

This book attempts to cover the part of the American Revolution in South Carolina (and by extension the South in general) that general history books overlook or at least partially ignore. This portion of the war (the partisan war that occurred between Loyalist and Rebel forces in the state) is often overlooked because what battles were fought between these forces were generally small. Those that were larger (King's Mountain and the Cowpens, primarily) are often treated as if they were isolated incidents, related only to one another and the battles of Camden and Guilford Court House. By contrast, Edgar weaves the account of the war in South Carolina into the overall history of the Revolution, and recounts various smaller fights in the state that he believes changed the course of the war. Chiefly, he beleives that the Partisan victory referred to as Huck's Defeat was crucial in turning the tide of public opinion in the Backcountry part of the state, which in turn was crucial in preventing the British from pacifying the whole region. He therefore ascribes a considerable importance to this minor battle, in which several hudred partisans ambushed about 115 Tories, killing or capturing most of them, including their commander, Captain Christian Huck.

This is interesting, and the author does a good job of depicting the war in the South in 1780. The civil nature of the conflict (brother against brother, etc.) is highlighted, and also the atrocities and violence of the war and its practitioners. The author doesn't spend much time on the conventional war in the state: King's Mountain and Guilford Courthouse are only briefly discussed, and the Cowpens isn't even really discussed at all, except in its consequences. This narrowing of the focus of the book leads to a very brief volume (less than 200 pages; less than 150 of text). This is in a way good: Mr. Edgar is a college instructor, and his writing style is much more suitable for a weighty tome than something someone would actually read.

All in all, though, this is a worthwhile book, and I would certainly recommend it to those interested in the American Revolution, or to partisan or irregular warfare in general.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rewarding eye on the American Revolutionary War, December 8, 2001

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Partisans and Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned the Tide of the American Revolution (Hardcover)

"Partisans and Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned the Tide of the American Revolution," by Walter Edgar, is a fascinating history of a crucial chapter in United States history. Edgar tells the story of the Revolutionary War in South Carolina.

Edgar paints an interesting portrait of the people and culture of that region before and during the war. The book recounts the key battles and personalities that shaped the southern campaign. I was particularly fascinated by Edgar's analysis of the British failure "to win the hearts and minds of the people of South Carolina." Edgar offers tantalizing glimpses at the roles played by women and African-Americans in the ongoing struggle. And the book is full of down-to-earth details, such as how uncooked meat caused illness among the revolutionary troops.

Edgar tells a good story. He writes in a clear, engaging style. The book is also packed full of useful supplemental elements: a chronology spanning 1756 to 1783; a glossary of terms, places, and battles; biographical sketches of significant figures; extensive endnotes with bibliographic references; maps; historic illustrations; and an index. This relatively short, but substantial book is an excellent choice for those with an interest in 18th century American history.