He offered pardon for past offenses, except
to those who had taken part in killing Loyalists "under the mock
forms of justice." No one was henceforth to be exempted from the
active duty of supporting the King's authority.
Clinton's proclamation was very disturbing to the large element
in South Carolina which did not desire to fight on either side.
Every one must now be for or against the King, and many were in
their secret hearts resolved to be against him. There followed an
orgy of bloodshed which discredits human nature. The patriots
fled to the mountains rather than yield and, in their turn,
waylaid and murdered straggling Loyalists. Under pressure some
republicans would give outward compliance to royal government,
but they could not be coerced into a real loyalty. It required
only a reverse to the King's forces to make them again actively
hostile. To meet the difficult situation Congress now made a
disastrous blunder. On June 13, 1780, General Gates, the belauded
victor at Saratoga, was given the command in the South.
Camden, on the Wateree River, lies inland from Charleston about a
hundred and twenty-five miles as the crow flies. The British had
occupied it soon after the fall of Charleston, and it was now
held by a small force under Lord Rawdon, one of the ablest of the
British commanders.
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