For this hanging of
prisoners the Loyalists, of course, retaliated in kind. Both the
British and American regular officers tried to restrain these
fierce passions but the spirit of the war in the South was
ruthless. To this day many a tale of horror is repeated and,
since Loyalist opinion was finally destroyed, no one survived to
apportion blame to their enemies. It is probable that each side
matched the other in barbarity.
The British hoped to sweep rapidly through the South, to master
it up to the borders of Virginia, and then to conquer that
breeding ground of revolution. In the spring of 1779 General
Prevost marched from Georgia into South Carolina. On the 12th of
May he was before Charleston demanding surrender. We are
astonished now to read that, in response to Prevost's demand, a
proposal was made that South Carolina should be allowed to remain
neutral and that at the end of the war it should join the
victorious side. This certainly indicates a large body of opinion
which was not irreconcilable with Great Britain and seems to
justify the hope of the British that the beginnings of military
success might rally the mass of the people to their side. For the
moment, however, Charleston did not surrender. The resistance was
so stiff that Prevost had to raise the siege and go back to
Savannah.
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