Professional Military Education

In the year 1780, South Carolina was in the grip of violence and turmoil. On December 3, 1780, General Nathanael Greene assumed command of the southern department from General Horatio Gates. Gates, the hero of Saratoga, had struggled in the Carolinas most notably at the disastrous battle of Camden. The Continental Congress relented to General Washington’s preferred commander: Nathanael Greene. Thus, Greene left his post at West Point and traveled south. General Greene had a series of challenging decisions in front of him. How was he going to rebuild a nearly destroyed army? How was he going to recruit and train his forces to eventually challenge General Cornwallis? The task ahead of him was daunting. In the face of overwhelming odds, he made a militarily unorthodox decision: He split his army in half. In command of the other half of his army was General Daniel Morgan, a brawler from the Virginia backcountry. Morgan was a veteran of the French and Indian War. He was captured and held as a POW after the failed