"In 1779, the British set in motion a war strategy designed to finally subdue the rebellious American colonies with a minimum of additional time, effort, and blood. Setting sail from New York harbor with an army of 8,500 ground troops, a powerful British fleet swung south toward Seabrook Island, thirty miles below Charleston, South Carolina. One year later, Charleston had fallen. And as King George's forces pushed relentlessly inland and upward, it appeared certain the six-year-old colonial rebellion was doomed to defeat.". "In a work of forgotten history, acclaimed historian Walter Edgar takes the American Revolution far beyond Lexington and Concord to re-create the pivotal months in a nation's savage struggle for freedom. Gripping, fascinating, and meticulously researched, Edgar's masterful history captures the heat, the fury, and the intense human drama of the ruthless South Carolina campaign. It is a story of military brilliance and devastating blunders - and the courage of an impossibly outnumbered force of demoralized patriots who suffered terribly at the hands of a merciless enemy, yet slowly gained confidence through a series of small triumphs that convinced them their war could be won."--BOOK JACKET.