Editing Tadeusz Kościuszko (section)

===Southern region===
[[File:Tadeusz Kościuszko.PNG|thumb|Portrait by [[Kazimierz Wojniakowski]]]]

After travelling south through rural [[Virginia]] in October 1780, Kościuszko proceeded to [[North Carolina]] to report to his former commander General Gates.<ref name="Herbst432"/> Following Gates's disastrous defeat at [[Battle of Camden|Camden]] on 16 August 1780, the [[Continental Congress]] selected Washington's choice, Major General [[Nathanael Greene]], to replace Gates as commander of the Southern Department.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 141–42.</ref> When Greene formally assumed command on 3 December 1780, he retained Kościuszko as his chief engineer. By then, he had been praised by both Gates and Greene.<ref name="Herbst432"/>

During this campaign, Kościuszko was placed in command of building [[bateau]]x, siting the location for camps, scouting river crossings, fortifying positions, and developing intelligence contacts. Many of his contributions were instrumental in preventing the destruction of the Southern Army.  This was especially so during the [[Nathanael Greene#The race to the Dan River|"Race to the Dan"]], when British General [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Charles Cornwallis]] chased Greene across {{convert|200|mi}} of rough backcountry in January and February 1781. Thanks largely to a combination of Greene's tactics, Kościuszko's bateaux, and accurate scouting of the rivers ahead of the main body, the Continentals safely crossed each river, including the [[Yadkin River|Yadkin]] and the [[Dan River (Virginia)|Dan]].<ref name="Herbst432"/> Cornwallis, having no boats, and finding no way to cross the swollen Dan, abandoned the chase and withdrew into North Carolina. The Continentals regrouped south of [[Halifax, Virginia]], where Kościuszko had earlier, at Greene's request, established a fortified depot.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 144–46.</ref>

During the Race to the Dan, Kościuszko had helped select the site where Greene eventually returned to fight Cornwallis at [[Battle of Guilford Court House|Guilford Courthouse]].  Though tactically defeated, the Americans all but destroyed Cornwallis's army as an effective fighting force and gained a permanent strategic advantage in the South.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 147.</ref>  Thus, when Greene began his reconquest of [[South Carolina]] in the spring of 1781, he summoned Kościuszko to rejoin the main body of the Southern Army.  The combined forces of the Continentals and Southern [[militia]] gradually forced the British from the backcountry into the coastal ports during the latter half of 1781 and, on 25 April, Kościuszko participated in the [[Battle of Hobkirk's Hill|Second Battle of Camden]].<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 148.</ref>  At [[Ninety Six, South Carolina|Ninety-Six]], Kościuszko [[Siege of Ninety-Six|besieged the Star Fort]] from 22 May to 18 June.  During the unsuccessful siege, he suffered his only wound in seven years of service, [[bayonet]]ted in the buttocks during an assault by the fort's defenders on the approach trench that he was constructing.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 149–53.</ref>

Kościuszko subsequently helped fortify the American bases in North Carolina,<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], p. 154.</ref> before taking part in several smaller operations in the final year of hostilities, harassing British foraging parties near [[Charleston, South Carolina]].  After the death of his friend, Colonel [[John Laurens]], Kościuszko became engaged in these operations, taking over Laurens's intelligence network in the area. He commanded two cavalry squadrons and an infantry unit, and his last known battlefield command of the war occurred at [[James Island, South Carolina]], on 14 November 1782. In what has been described as [[Battle of James Island|the Continental Army's final armed action of the war]],<ref>[[#Kajencki|Kajencki, 1998]], p. 174.</ref> he was nearly killed as his small force was routed.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 158–60.</ref>  A month later, he was among the Continental troops that reoccupied Charleston following the city's British evacuation. Kościuszko spent the rest of the war there, conducting a fireworks display on 23 April 1783, to celebrate the signing of the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] earlier that month.<ref>[[#Storozynski2011|Storozynski, 2011]], pp. 161–62.</ref>