The+British+Invade+the+Carolinas

= Halifax = =During the War for Independence,= =     Halifax may have been      = =the liveliest town in the new state. It certainly was the most= =important in the year 1776, when North Carolina became= =the first state to go on record urging the United States to= =seek independence.=



=North Carolinians did not always earn praise= during the southern phase =of the War for Independence. Robert Howe of Brunswick had been made= =the ranking American general in the Carolinas by the Continental Congress.= =Howe, however, lost Savannah, Georgia, to the British in late 1778.=



= North Carolinians Defend Their Homeland = =Faced with an enemy at their doorsteps, North Carolinians gathered= =their courage and their resources and fought back. Even before the battle= =at Camden, Whigs along the Catawba River had attacked a large contingent= =of Tories gathered to go join Cornwallis. On June 20, 1780, more= =than a thousand Tories were defeated at Ramsour’s Mill, at the site of= =present-day Lincolnton.=



= The British Chase the American Army = =With Cornwallis in retreat, the small group of American troops left in= =Salisbury advanced to Charlotte. In the winter of 1780, their new commander,= =Nathanael Greene, arrived. Greene found the army almost starving= =to death. To find supplies, he split it in two, sending one division= =west under General Daniel Morgan and taking the other east himself.=