XX. THE WAR IN SOUTH CAROLINA

XXI. THE END OF THE STRUGGLE




PREFACE.


MY DEAR LADS:

You have probably been accustomed to regard the war between England
and her colonies in America as one in which we were not only beaten
but, to some extent, humiliated. Owing to the war having been an
unsuccessful one for our arms, British writers have avoided the
subject, and it has been left for American historians to describe.
These, writing for their own countrymen, and drawing for their facts
upon gazettes, letters, and other documents emanating from one side
only, have, naturally, and no doubt insensibly, given a very strong
color to their own views of the events, and English writers have been
too much inclined to accept their account implicitly. There is,
however, another and very different side to the story, and this I
have endeavored to show you. The whole of the facts and details
connected with the war can be relied upon as accurate. They are drawn
from the valuable account of the struggle written by Major Steadman,
who served under Howe, Clinton, and Cornwallis, and from other
authentic contemporary sources. You will see that, although
unsuccessful,--and success was, under the circumstances, a sheer