It seemed quite certain that Clinton could not conquer the Northern states with the forces given him. In the South there were many loyalists. Resistance might not be so stiff there. At all events Clinton decided to attempt the conquest of the South. Savannah was easily seized (1778), and the French and Americans could not retake it (1779). In the spring of 1780, Clinton, with a large army, landed on the coast between Savannah and Charleston. He marched overland to Charleston and besieged it from the land side. The Americans held out for a long time. But they were finally forced to surrender. Clinton then sailed back to New York, and left to Lord Cornwallis the further conquest of the Carolinas.

Cornwallis had little trouble in occupying the greater part of South Carolina. There was no one to oppose him, for the American army had been captured with Charleston. Another small army was got together in North Carolina and the command given to Gates, the victor at Saratoga. One night both Gates and Cornwallis set out to attack the other's camp. The two armies met at daybreak, the British having the best position. But this really made little difference, for Gates's Virginia militiamen ran away before the British came within fighting distance. The North Carolina militia followed the Virginians. Only the regulars from Maryland and Delaware were left. They fought on like heroes until their leader, General John De Kalb, fell with seventeen wounds. Then the survivors surrendered. Gates himself had been carried far to the rear by the rush of the fleeing militia.

Cornwallis now thought that resistance surely was at an end. He sent an expedition to the settlements on the lower slopes of the Alleghany Mountains to get recruits, for there were many loyalists in that region. Suddenly from the mountains and from the settlements in Tennessee rode a body of armed frontiersmen. They found the British soldiers encamped on the top of King's Mountain. In about an hour they had killed or captured every British soldier.