Editing Charleston, South Carolina (section)

===American Revolution (1776–1783)===
{{Further|American Revolution|American Revolutionary War}}
[[File:CharlestownSC1780.jpg|thumb|left|Charlestown and environs in 1780]]
Delegates for the [[Continental Congress]] were elected in 1774, and South Carolina declared its independence from Britain on the steps of the [[Exchange and Provost|Exchange]]. Slavery was again an important factor in the city's role during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]. The British attacked the settlement three times,{{sfnp|''EB''|1878|p=429}} assuming that the settlement had a large base of [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] who would rally to their cause once given some military support.<ref>{{citation |title=Fusiliers |first=Mark |last=Urban}}</ref> The loyalty of white Southerners towards [[the Crown]] had largely been forfeited, however, by British legal cases (such as the 1772 [[Somerset v Stewart|Somersett case]] which marked the prohibition of slavery in [[England and Wales]], a significant milestone in the [[Abolitionism|abolitionist]] struggle) and military tactics (such as [[Dunmore's Proclamation]] in 1775) that promised the emancipation of people enslaved by Patriot planters; these efforts did, however, unsurprisingly win the allegiance of thousands of [[Black Loyalist]]s.

The [[Battle of Sullivan's Island]] saw the British fail to capture a partially constructed [[Fort Moultrie|palmetto palisade]] from [[William Moultrie|Col. Moultrie]]'s [[2nd South Carolina Regiment|militia regiment]] on June 28, 1776. The [[Liberty Flag]] used by Moultrie's men formed the basis of the later [[South Carolina flag]], and the victory's anniversary continues to be commemorated as [[Carolina Day]].

Making the capture of Charlestown their chief priority, the British sent [[Henry Clinton (American War of Independence)|Sir Henry Clinton]], who laid [[Siege of Charleston|siege to Charleston]] on April 1, 1780, with about 14,000 troops and 90 ships.{{sfnp|McCandless|2011|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NMrqxrLAHUgC&pg=PA89 89]}} Bombardment began on March 11, 1780. The Patriots, led by [[Benjamin Lincoln]], had about 5,500 men and inadequate fortifications to repel the forces against them. After the British cut his supply lines and lines of retreat at the battles of [[Battle of Monck's Corner|Monck's Corner]] and [[Battle of Lenud's Ferry|Lenud's Ferry]], Lincoln's surrender on May 12, 1780, became the greatest [[List of American Revolutionary War battles|American defeat of the war]].

The British continued to hold Charlestown for over a year following [[Siege of Yorktown (1781)|their defeat at Yorktown]] in 1781. However, they alienated local planters by refusing to restore full civil government. [[Nathanael Greene]] had entered the state after Cornwallis's [[Battle of Guilford Courthouse|pyrrhic victory]] at [[Guilford Courthouse]] and kept the area under a kind of siege. [[British Army]] officer [[Alexander Leslie (British Army officer)|Alexander Leslie]], commanding Charlestown, requested a truce in March 1782 to purchase food for his garrison and the town's inhabitants. Greene refused and formed a brigade under [[Mordecai Gist]] to counter British forays. The British finally evacuated Charlestown in December 1782. Greene presented the British leaders of the town with the [[Moultrie Flag]].