Charleston Captured: America's Worst Revolutionary Defeat
British forces seize Charleston, South Carolina, capturing over 5,000 Continental soldiers in the war's most devastating single loss for the Americans. This crushing blow effectively ends organized American resistance in the southern colonies for nearly two years and forces the Continental Army to retreat into Virginia.
May 12, 1780
246 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Continental Army
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Kingdom of Great Britain
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American Revolutionary War
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Charleston, South Carolina
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is taken
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American Revolutionary War
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Continental Army
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Charleston, South Carolina
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Siege of Charleston
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Benjamin Lincoln
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South Carolina
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Henry Clinton (British Army officer, born 1730)
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