✦ History

Part of American Revolutionary War

Siege of Charleston

March 29 – May 12, 1780 · Siege of Charleston

Result British victory

Clinton's army and fleet took Charleston and Benjamin Lincoln's southern army, the worst American defeat of the war.

On the map Contemporaries

American

British

United States
France
Great Britain
Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel
Benjamin Lincoln military commander William Moultrie military commander William Woodford military commander
Charles Cornwallis military commander Henry Clinton military commander Mariot Arbuthnot military commander Alexander Leslie military commander

Strength and losses

Strength
c. 7,000
Captured
c. 6,000
Ships
3
Guns lost
c. 400
Strength
c. 10,000
Casualties
c. 300

Units

Continental Army Southern Army (Continental Army)
British southern army (Clinton and Cornwallis) Royal Navy North American fleet