On the
29th of May Tarleton attacked an American force under Colonel
Buford, killed over a hundred men, carried off two hundred
prisoners, and had only twenty-one casualties. It is such scenes
that reveal the true character of the war in the South. Above all
it was a war of hard riding, often in the night, of sudden
attack, and terrible bloodshed.
After the fall of Charleston only a few American irregulars were
to be found in South Carolina. It and Georgia seemed safe in
British control. With British successes came the problem of
governing the South. On the royalist theory, the recovered land
had been in a state of rebellion and was now restored to its true
allegiance. Every one who had taken up arms against the King was
guilty of treason with death as the penalty. Clinton had no
intention of applying this hard theory, but he was returning to
New York and he had to establish a government on some legal
basis. During the first years of the war, Loyalists who would not
accept the new order had been punished with great severity. Their
day had now come. Clinton said that "every good man" must be
ready to join in arms the King's troops in order "to reestablish
peace and good government." "Wicked and desperate men" who still
opposed the King should be punished with rigor and have their
property confiscated.
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