This study uses battlefield terrain analysis and the words of the officers and common soldiers, from pension records and little-known interviews, to bring to life the crucial role of one militia regiment-the Second Spartans of South Carolina--that fought in virtually every action of the vicious back-country war that decided the fate of America. Or
True for the Cause of Liberty persuasively tells the savage partisan war in the Carolina backcountry during American's war for Independence. Its meticulous research in covering numerous key skirmishes long since forgotten makes it a valuable addition to any researcher or readers interested in the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution. -Military Review
Following their defeat at Saratoga in upstate New York in 1777, the British decided to implement a Southern Strategy against the American insurgents, a plan to roll up the rebellious colonies from Georgia through the Carolinas to Virginia. Instead, they triggered a savage partisan war of raids, ambushes, assassinations, and large pitched battles that rivaled any fought in the northern colonies.
Untrained Patriot militiamen-occasionally stiffened by contingents of the Continental Line-were pitted against Britain's Cherokee and Creek allies, and Loyalist militia and British regulars led by General Cornwallis and his two ablest subordinates, Patrick Ferguson and the ruthless Banastre Bloody Ban Tarleton.
In October 1780 the Loyalist militia was virtually destroyed at King's Mountain, the battle that Lord Clinton, the British commander in Chief, said was the first link in a chain of events that followed each other in regular succession until they at last ended in the total loss of America. Other defeats at Blackstock's Farm and Cowpens, and a Pyhrric victory at Guilford Courthouse, gutted the British Southern Army and drove Cornwallis north to encirclement and surrender at Yorktown.
This study uses battlefield terrain analysis and the words of the officers and common soldiers, from pension records and little-known interviews, to bring to life the crucial role of one militia regiment-the Second Spartans of South Carolina--that fought in virtually every action of the vicious back-country war that decided the fate of America. Or as one private in the Second Spartans said, expressing admiration for his colonel: . . . a few Brave Men stood true for the cause of liberty.
AUTHORS: Catherine R. Gilbert is a retired speech pathologist and audiologist. Her interest in genealogy led to extensive research into the organization and function of the Southern state militias (from Maryland to the Carolinas) in the American Revolution. With Ed, she co-authored True for the Cause of Liberty: The Second Spartan Regiment in the American Revolution; Cowpens 1781: Turning Point of the American Revolution. Catherine holds the non-profit Presidential Service Center Distinguished Service Medal. Oscar E. Ed Gilbert Jr. served as an artilleryman and NCO instructor in the Marine Corps Reserve before earning a Ph.D., working for the Geological Survey in Alabama, and teaching at Auburn University. He enjoyed a three-decade career in worldwide oil exploration. Ed was the author of many books, including Marine Corps Tank Battles in Korea (2006), and Marine Corps Tank Battles in Vietnam (2008). He was awarded the 2016 General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award for Tanks in Hell: A Marine Corps Tank Company on Tarawa (2015). Ed passed away in February 2019.
By:
Catherine R. Gilbert,
Oscar E. Gilbert
Imprint: Casemate Publishers
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9781636244976
ISBN 10: 1636244971
Pages: 328
Publication Date: 01 June 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Unspecified
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS SOURCES AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AUTHORS’ PREFACE PROLOGUE: WILLIAM BLACKSTOCK’S PLANTATION, SOUTH CAROLINA, 20 NOVEMBER 1780 1 INTRODUCTION 2 A PEOPLE BRED TO WAR 3 THE BACK COUNTRY AND THE FIRST CHEROKEE WAR 4 POLITICAL MANEUVERING, 1769–1775 5 WAR COMES TO THE SOUTH 6 THE GEORGIA CAMPAIGN, 1779 7 THE BRITISH ASCENDANCY 8 THE IMPERCEPTIBLE TURNING OF THE TIDE 9 CHASING FERGUSON: THE POLITICS OF MILITIA COMMAND 10 KING’S MOUNTAIN, 7 OCTOBER 1780: THE DAY OF BATTLE 11 KING’S MOUNTAIN AFTERMATH 12 BLOODY BAN TASTES DEFEAT: BLACKSTOCK’S FARM, 20 NOVEMBER 1780 13 THE CALM AT THE STORM’S EYE 14 THE COWPENS, 17 JANUARY 1781 15 COWPENS AFTERMATH 16 GRINDING DOWN THE BRITISH 17 FINIS IN THE SOUTH, 1782 EPILOGUE APPENDIX A: THE MANY VERSIONS OF COWPENS ENDNOTES INDEX
Catherine R. Gilbert is a retired speech pathologist and audiologist. Her interest in genealogy led to extensive research into the organization and function of the Southern state militias (from Maryland to the Carolinas) in the American Revolution. With Ed, she coauthored True for the Cause of Liberty: The Second Spartan Regiment in the American Revolution; Cowpens 1781: Turning Point of the American Revolution. Catherine holds the nonprofit Presidential Service Center Distinguished Service Medal. Oscar E. “Ed” Gilbert Jr. served as an artilleryman and NCO instructor in the Marine Corps Reserve before earning a Ph.D., working for the Geological Survey in Alabama, and teaching at Auburn University. He enjoyed a threedecade career in worldwide oil exploration. Ed was the author of many books, including Marine Corps Tank Battles in Korea (2006), and Marine Corps Tank Battles in Vietnam (2008). He was awarded the 2016 General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award for Tanks in Hell: A Marine Corps Tank Company on Tarawa (2015). Ed passed away in February 2019.
Reviews for True for the Cause of Liberty: The Second Spartan Regiment in the American Revolution
""It's all well written. This is, at its core, a unit history.""-- ""Historical Miniatures Gaming Society"" ""...the Gilberts have pieced together a fine amount of quotes and primary sources for the student of the American Revolution in the South...""-- ""The Colonial Review"" ""... The Gilberts are precise in relating even the smallest of skirmishes in various locations throughout the South. So detailed is their tracing of the Second Spartan Regiment that I was able to learn about some small-scale engagements that took place near my childhood town of Lake Norman, North Carolina that I had known nothing about. ... well-written, ... a serious book for those with a serious interest in the southern campaigns of the Revolutionary War... It is meticulously researched, drawn heavily from interviews, letters, diary entries, and memoirs. For serious scholars of the Revolutionary War, the research alone is exciting. True for the Cause of Liberty is a valuable contribution. It is a solid volume, and is recommended for those interested in the Southern Theater of the Revolutionary War. Many thanks to the Gilberts for shedding new light on the role of the Second Spartan Regiment.""-- ""War in History"" ""...an excellent scholarly achievement and a riveting read. Gilbert and Gilbert not only are successful in restoring the historical contributions of the Second Spartan Regiment, but in doing so, they also provide valuable revisions and analysis concerning the southern theater of the Revolutionary War.""-- ""South Carolina Historical Magazine"" ""I've not read a great deal about the American War of Independence, and although this is a quite specific slice of that history, it is nevertheless engaging and a decent enough place to start. Slanted decidedly against the British, this book illluminates a period of that conflict with unerring clarity and accuracy""-- ""Books Monthly"" ""The authors base their work on testimonies from the federal pension application records of Revolutionary War veterans, filling the book with raw emotions still carried by soldiers years after the war.""-- ""Journal of Southern History"" ""True for the Cause of Liberty persuasively tells the savage partisan war in the Carolina backcountry during American's war for Independence. Its meticulous research in covering numerous key skirmishes long since forgotten makes it a valuable addition to any researcher or readers interested in the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution.""-- ""Military Review""
