1780 - Political Events

Political Events

Mobile falls to the Spanish governor Bernardo de Galvez March 14 as British forces under Sir Henry Clinton prepare to besiege Charleston (see 1779). The South Carolina legislature gives Governor John Rutledge war powers "to do anything necessary for the public good" to defend the city "except the taking away of a citizen without legal trial"; the port city is the richest in America, its rice trade has created great fortunes, but it surrenders May 12 after holding out for more than 5 weeks, and the British take some 2,500 prisoners including General Benjamin Lincoln and Lachlan McIntosh (they will be exchanged for British prisoners in February 1782). It is the worst defeat for the Americans since the war began, and although Rutledge escapes to North Carolina and tries to rally forces to retake Charleston, his property is seized. Clinton moves north to blockade the French fleet, leaving General Charles Cornwallis, now 40, to continue the war in the South.

The former royal governor of the British North American Province of Massachusetts Bay Thomas Hutchinson dies at London June 3 at age 68.

General Nathaniel Greene turns back a British army June 23 at Springfield, New Jersey, thwarting a British move to reach Morristown. His force of 1,800 has faced about 5,000 Hessian advancing in two columns under the command of General Wilhelm von Knyphausen with cavalry and 20 cannon, but Greene deploys his men to good advantage, forcing the enemy to retreat (after burning and looting the town). The British lose 150 killed and wounded; Greene's casualties total 15 killed, 61 wounded.

A fleet of 10 ships carrying some 6,000 French troops arrives off Rhode Island July 10 under the command of the comte de Rochambeau, having left Brest May 1 (see 1779); he writes to General Washington the next day that he has come full of "submission" and "zeal," with orders from the king placing him and his army at Washington's disposal, but the British have blockaded the main French fleet in Narragansett Bay. Rochambeau sees no prospect for a victory over the British, he is loath to abandon the fleet, and although the marquis de Lafayette urges him in August to shake off his lethargy he will remain inactive for a year.

Charleston, South Carolina-born Continental Congress president Henry Laurens, 56, embarks for the Netherlands in August on a mission to negotiate a $10 million loan for the American cause. Captured by the British off Newfoundland, he is imprisoned in the Tower of London, and when papers found on his person turn out to contain a draft of a proposed Dutch-American treaty, Britain declares war on the Netherlands, whose merchants have been supplying the colonists with munitions (see 1781).

American forces under General Horatio Gates suffer a disastrous defeat August 16 at Camden, South Carolina, as redcoats under General Charles Cornwallis win the day. Gates has led a force of continentals and militia in an attack on the British against the advice of German soldier of fortune Johann Kalb, 59; he abandons his army and flees on a fast horse for 160 miles. Kalb commands the Continental Army's right wing, charges the enemy three times, and leads a final, desperate attempt before he falls; bleeding from 11 wounds, he dies at Camden August 19. Gates is blamed for the loss and relieved of his command.

British spy Major John André, 29, falls into American hands at Tarrytown, New York, September 23 with papers revealing a plot by Benedict Arnold to surrender West Point to General Sir Henry Clinton (the papers are actually found in the major's boots by three men, possibly brigands intent on robbing him; they order him to strip, find the papers, and the one man among them who can read recognizes their significance). Now 39 and a widower, Arnold has recently married the beautiful 20-year-old Philadelphia coquette Peggy Shippen, who has hysterics in her rooms at West Point when General Washington visits the fortress and learns of her husband's treachery; convinced that the American cause is doomed, Arnold escapes downriver from Dobb's Ferry to the British sloop Vulture that is waiting for André. Attempts to exchange André for Arnold come to naught, General Washington appoints a board of military officers to hear evidence against him, they find him guilty of espionage, and André is hanged October 2 despite pleas on his behalf by Washington's aide Alexander Hamilton, now 25.

The Battle of Kings Mountain October 7 marks a turning point in the war in the South. Major Patrick Ferguson of 1776 Ferguson Rifle fame commands a small army of North Carolina Loyalists and is the only British regular present; he had his right arm permanently crippled in the 1777 Battle of Brandywine, learned to write with his left hand, resumed active duty 1 year later, but was accidentally bayoneted through his good arm in March of this year and for 3 weeks rode with his reins in his teeth, propped up in his saddle by orderlies. He has warned the "Overmountainmen" to cease their rebellion or be hunted down and hanged, but he receives no reinforcements from General Cornwallis. Some 900 North Carolina backwoodsmen launch a surprise attack, they defeat his force of 900 Loyalist militiamen, Ferguson is killed at age 36, his followers soon surrender, some of them are hanged, others hacked at with swords on the march up country.

George Washington retires with his troops to winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The Delaware River north to Philadelphia is safe to British shipping by late November.

British forces in the Pacific go to war with the Dutch, who wind up losing some of their possessions in the East Indies and much of their power to control the spice trade (see 1743; spice trade, 1760). Having failed to subjugate the sultan of Ternate, the Dutch have concentrated their efforts upon growing clove trees at Amboina, some 300 miles to the south, while destroying as many wild clove trees as possible in the northern Moluccas in order to keep the sultan from flooding the market with low-priced cloves; they have stationed troops along the coast of Amboina and patrolled its waters with ships to prevent theft of the island's clove trees. The British have blockaded Dutch East Indian ports, and its new inability to control prices of cloves, nutmegs, mace, and pepper is ruinous to the Dutch East India Company. The right to search ships at sea is at stake in the conflict, which soon ends with the Dutch losing much of their power in that part of the world (see 1796).

A second Mysore War breaks out in India in September as Mysore's Muslim ruler Haidar Ali allies himself with the Marathas and retaliates against an attack by the British-supported nawab of Arcot. He attacks the British-held Carnatic coast while the Marathas lay siege to the East India Company headquarters city Madras as the First Maratha War drags on (see 1779). British troops relieve the siege and the Marathas withdraw (see 1781).

Maria Theresa of Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia dies of smallpox at Vienna November 28 at age 63, leaving her son Josef free to rule alone (he visited Russia's Catherine the Great in April against his mother's wishes).

Peruvian revolutionary Tupac Amaru II arrests the Spanish provincial administrator (corregidor) Antonio Arriaga and executes him on charges of cruelty. A descendant of the last Inca ruler, Tupac was originally named José Gabriel Condorcanqui and has received a formal Jesuit education but has identified himself with the native tribespeople of the Tinta region in southern Peru; he gains support from some of the Creoles (American-born Spaniards) throughout southern Peru and what later will be parts of Bolivia and Argentina, but they withdraw their support when it becomes clear that Tupac means to lead a rebellion against Spanish rule and will use violence to gain independence (see 1781).

Spanish colonial authorities in the viceroyalty of New Granada impose new tobacco and polling taxes, provoking a revolt that will be called the Communero Rebellion. Insurgents led by Manuela Beltrán at Socorro gain reinforcements from other towns north of Bogotá and demand not only the cancellation of the taxes but also a wide range of reforms that include land redistribution, an increase in the number of Creoles (locally born Spaniards) appointed to administrative positions, and a reduction in labor tributes for Native Americans and mestizos (see 1781).