Over the past several decades, the history of the American Revolution in the South has undergone a transformation to better incorporate regional events into the greater narrative of the war. Among these events was the vicious “backcountry” war from the Georgia border, across the South Carolina wilderness, to the North Carolina Piedmont between rebel Americans and loyalist and British forces. Centered in South Carolina, this running battle saw some of the most intense and continuous fighting of the war, and from its skirmishes, feints, and sieges, three key leaders emerged: American partisans Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion and Thomas “Gamecock” Sumter, and British Legion commander Banastre “Bloody Ban” Tarleton.
            For the first time, Backcountry War: The Rise of Francis Marion, Banastre Tarleton, and Thomas Sumter by Andrew Waters frames the history of these three men into in a single narrative, focusing on the events of 1780 in South Carolina that witnessed their collective ascendance from common soldiers to American legends. It was a time when British victories at Charleston and Camden left the Continental Army in tatters and the entire American South vulnerable to British conquest. Yet in those dark hours, Sumter, Marion, and others like them rose in the swamps and hills of the South Carolina wilderness. Fighting a wildly successful partisan war against better trained and better equipped British forces, including Tarleton’s British Legion, with victories at lesser-known places like Hanging Rock and Nelson’s Ferry, they gained precious months for the reorganizing Continental Army. Their collective efforts led to the stunning American victory at Cowpens and a stalemate at Guilford’s Courthouse the following year that finally convinced British general Charles Cornwallis to abandon the Carolinas for Virginia. 
            With background biographies of its three main protagonists, a thorough sketch of Great Britain’s Southern Strategy, and a sociocultural examination of the South Carolina frontier in the years leading up to the American Revolution, Backcountry War offers a fresh perspective on an extraordinary chapter of American history and a compelling account of the deadly contest between three of the war’s most charismatic leaders. 
 

The American Loyalist Regiment Led by the Most Charismatic British Commander of the War
The British Legion was one of the most remarkable regiments, not only of the American Revolution, but of any war. A corps made up of American Loyalists, it saw its first action in New York and then engaged in almost every battle in the Southern colonies. Led by a twenty-four-year-old libertine who purchased his commission to escape enormous gambling debts, the Legion gained notoriety for its ruthless tactics. Excelling in “special operations,” they frequently overwhelmed the Continental forces they fought, becoming the most feared British regiment of the war.
    Banastre Tarleton and the Americans he led have always been characterized as brutal, immoral villains—most recently in the movie, The Patriot. But this study subverts our pre-conceived notions of patriotism. The men who filled the Legions ranks were not weak-willed collaborators or treacherous renegades, but free men as motivated by conscience as the Patriots they battled. Few were wealthy. None had a vested stake in the British Government. Each believed that in defending the Crown; they were upholding the rule of law and preserving individual liberty. 
    These men followed Banastre Tarleton clear across America for years, sacrificing not only their families and homes but, in many instances, their lives. Self-interest could not have persuaded them to do this. Patriotism and fidelity did. Relying on first-hand accounts—letters, diaries, and journals—War at Saber Point: Banastre Tarleton and the British Legion is the enthralling story of those forgotten Americans and the young Englishman who led them.