Battle of Camden

The Battle of Camden was the worst American military defeat of the southern war and came close to ending organized resistance in the South. Congress sent General Horatio Gates — hero of Saratoga — to command a new southern army after Lincoln's surrender at Charleston. Gates was confident to the point of recklessness, dismissing subordinates' concerns about his depleted force and choosing a night march through swampy territory that sapped his men's strength. He also positioned militia on the left flank against Cornwallis's best troops.

When the battle began at dawn on August 16, both sides were equally surprised — neither expected to meet the other advancing at night. The battle lasted barely an hour in its decisive phase. When the British charged on the right, Gates's Virginia and North Carolina militia — many who had never been under fire — broke and fled without firing a shot. Gates himself fled the battlefield on his fastest horse, riding sixty miles before stopping — a performance that ended his career and made him an object of ridicule.

General Baron de Kalb, a German-born officer of genuine ability and courage, fought on with the Maryland and Delaware Continentals even as the militia fled. He was shot eleven times and bayoneted repeatedly before his men surrendered. He died three days later. Tarleton's cavalry pursued the fleeing Americans for miles. Only 700 men reassembled at Hillsborough, North Carolina, out of an army of 4,000.

Only the victory at Kings Mountain three weeks later prevented complete British consolidation of the South. Nathanael Greene replaced Gates in December 1780 and would spend the next year reconquering the region in one of the most brilliant campaigns of the war.