And Then There Were Thirteen with Dr. Henry Lumpkin was one of the two instructional series debuted by SCETV in the mid-1970s— the other being Teacher as Manager. The 20-episode series featured lectures by Dr. Henry Lumpkin of the University of South Carolina Department of History filmed on actual battle sites and campaign areas of the American Revolution in South Carolina.
American Revolutionary War buffs will love this production guided by Professor Lumpkin! Familiar with the terrain of the south, he gives his unique perspective on the areas in which the battles were fought, as well as insights into the personalities involved in the battle.
As the war stalemated in the north, with Canada safe from American attack, the British high command determined that major operations should take place in the Southern theater. The loyalist elements were believed to be very strong, and in November of 1778, Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell, commanding a force of 3,000 crack troops, attacked and completely routed American defense forces below Savannah and captured this major city in the colony of Georgia without very much trouble. This created a major British operations base in the South, something that the Colonial government found deeply concerning.
A French alliance, which was established on February 6, 1778 became productive with the arrival of Admiral d’Estaing who brought 4,000 French troops. Watch and listen as Professor Lumpkin relays the facts of the failed campaign, which resulted in the victory of the British and the Loyalists over the Patriots and the French.
Side Notes
- Augustine Prévost - (1723 - 1786) In 1778, Prévost was ordered to invade Georgia, arriving in Savannah in January of 1779, taking command of all British forces there with the rank of brigadier general. Prévost, however, felt that he was too old for combat and asked to resign. He was replaced by General George Garth, who was captured before reaching Savannah leaving Prévost in command with the rank of major general. Prévost was in command for the Siege of Savannah, returning to England after the British victory.
- Benjamin Lincoln (1733 - 1810) was an American army officer. He served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Lincoln was involved in three major surrenders during the war: his participation in the Battles of Saratoga (sustaining a wound shortly afterward) contributed to John Burgoyne's surrender of a British army, he oversaw the largest American surrender of the war at the 1780 siege of Charleston, and, as George Washington's second in command, he formally accepted the British surrender at Yorktown.
- Archibald Campbell (1739 – 1791) was a British Army officer, colonial administrator and politician who served as governor of Georgia, Jamaica, and Madras. He was also a major landowner in Scotland and a White Rod who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain between 1774 and 1791.
- Admiral d’Estaing - Jean Baptiste Charles Henri Hector, Count of Estaing (1729 – 1794) was a French military officer and writer. He began his service as a soldier in the War of the Austrian Succession, briefly spending time as a prisoner of war of the British during the Seven Years' War. Naval exploits during the latter war prompted him to change branches of service, and he transferred to the French Navy. Following France's entry into the American War of Independence in 1778, d'Estaing led a fleet to aid the American rebels. He participated in a failed Franco-American siege of Newport, Rhode Island, in 1778, and the equally unsuccessful 1779 Siege of Savannah. He did have success in the Caribbean before returning to France in 1780. His difficulties working with American counterparts are cited among the reasons these operations in North America failed.
- Count Casimir Pulaski - Kazimierz Michał Władysław Wiktor Pułaski (1745 – 1779), was a Polish nobleman, soldier, and military commander who has been called "The Father of American cavalry" or "The Soldier of Liberty."
- John Maitland and the Siege of Savannah.
- Francis Marion - In March of 2021, the South Carolina Battlefield Preservation Trust purchased 31 acres in Colleton County to preserve the site of a Revolutionary War victory by Francis Marion and his men over the British in what became known as the battle of Parker’s Ferry. The site will soon become part of the Liberty Trail, which will be a unified path of preservation and interpretation across South Carolina. The Trail will tell the story of the events of 1779-1782 in the Carolinas, which directly led to an American victory in the war.
- Isaac Huger - (1743 – 1797) was an American planter and Continental Army general during the American Revolutionary War.
- John Laurens - (1754 – 1782) was an American soldier and statesman from South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War, best known for his efforts to help recruit slaves to fight for their freedom as U.S. soldiers.
- Redoubts -A redoubt (historically redout) is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, although some are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldiers outside the main defensive line and can be a permanent structure or a hastily constructed temporary fortification. The word means "a place of retreat". Redoubts were a component of the military strategies of most European empires during the colonial era, especially in the outer works of Vauban-style fortresses made popular during the 17th century, although the concept of redoubts has existed since medieval times. A redoubt differs from a redan in that the redan is open in the rear, whereas the redoubt was considered an enclosed work.
