5. The persistent spirit of the American patriots. Though often defeated, and sometimes much disheartened, they stubbornly refused to give up. Even in the dark days of 1780, when the South was overwhelmed and overrun, they never regarded the cause as lost. It was this spirit which made it possible for Washington to keep a force in the field large enough to prevent the complete success of the British.

References.—The same as at the end of Chapter VI.

[98] Born, 1737; died, 1806. Served in the Seven Years’ War; favored the Americans during the preliminary discussions in Parliament; was made lieutenant general, and sent to America in 1776; fought at Long Island; was defeated at Princeton; decided the victory by a flank movement at the Brandywine; served at Germantown and Monmouth; overwhelmed Gates at Camden, 1780; defeated Greene at Guilford Court House, 1781; was so outgeneralled that he practically lost the South and retreated into Virginia, where he was overwhelmed by Lafayette and Washington at Yorktown, 1781; was governor general in India, 1786–1793; was lord lieutenant of Ireland, 1798–1801; is properly considered the ablest of the British generals in the Revolutionary War.
[99] Born, 1754; died, 1833. Came to America, 1776; in 1779, as lieutenant colonel, organized in South Carolina a troop known as the “British” or “Tarleton’s Legion”; waged with it very effective partisan warfare; served with great success at Camden; defeated by Morgan at the Cowpens, 1781; made a raid in Virginia, 1781; returned to England and served many years in Parliament; knighted (Sir Banastre Tarleton), 1818.
[100] Born, 1736; died, 1802. Fought in the French and Indian Wars; led a company of Virginia riflemen at Boston; after release from imprisonment in Arnold’s expedition against Quebec, gained great distinction at Saratoga under Gates; resigned in 1779, but rejoined the army in 1780 as brigadier general; gained victory at Cowpens; was congressman from Virginia in 1797.

Land Claims of the Thirteen Original States
in 1783