“I reject your proposals … and shall defend myself to the last extremity.”

This Is the story of the Revolution’s new hot spot: the South.

After failing to crush the rebellion in the northern or middle states, British leaders hope to score some quick victories in the South, which they believe to be more loyal. Drawing support from loyalist and enslaved Americans, this new “Southern Strategy” enjoys a strong start as Savannah falls in late 1778.

Other events around the world are changing the war too. A French fleet has arrived in the Americas. Meanwhile, Spain isn’t allying with the United States but it is allying with France (it’s complicated). Battles are raging everywhere from Gibraltar, to the Caribbean, to the Atlantic, and the Frontier.

But as messy and global as the war is becoming, the Southern Strategy continues forward. In the South, Polish Count Casimir Pulaski gives his life for the Patriot Cause, and soon, the Continentals will suffer their greatest setback of the entire war as the British lay siege to Charleston, South Carolina. The Americans will also mourn a slaughter near the Carolinian border at the Waxhaws.

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