Revolutionary Camden: A South Carolina Hot Spot in the War of Independence

＂Camden seems to have an evil genius about it. Whatever is attempted near that place is unfortunate.＂ These words were spoken by American Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene just days after his defeat at the battle of Hobkirk Hill. With the war at a stalemate in the north, the British had turned their attention to the southern provinces with renewed vigor, and in 1780, the frontier village of Camden, South Carolina, found itself at the bloody epicenter of the American Revolution. This book is a history of Camden during the Revolutionary War, where it functioned as a keystone stronghold in the Crown’s plan to quell the rebellion in the Carolinas and Georgia. The scene of two major battles and more than a dozen lesser clashes, Camden represents a brutal yet fascinating chapter in the history of the American Revolution＂--

Derek Smith was a crime reporter in Savannah, Georgia, for almost ten years and has written extensively on the Civil War. He lives in Bishopville, South Carolina.