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BY THEIR victories at Great Bridge in Virginia, December 1775, and Moores Creek in North Carolina, February 1776, and by their successful defense of Charleston, S. C., the southern Whigs retained control of the South through the early years of the war. Late in 1778 the British captured Savannah, overran Georgia, and moving northward gained a series of victories that left no organized American army in the field. In the fall of 1780 southern backwoodsmen turned the tide by defeating and capturing a detachment of British partisans at Kings Mountain. The progress of British arms was halted, and the Americans gained time in which to organize new armies and receive reenforcements from the North. Suffering severe losses at Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse in 1781, and far from the base of supplies, the British moved into Virginia, hoping to receive reenforcements there for continuing the effort to subdue the South. At Yorktown, Va., the British were invested by a strong French naval force and a combined French and American army. The surrender of the British in October 1781 at Yorktown virtually ended the war.
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