16. The Continental troops in the south faced almost daily forced marches
After Washington sent General Nathaniel Greene to command the southern contingent of the Continental Army, Greene in turn split his forces, sending a wing under Daniel Morgan to deal with the raiding British under Banastre Tarleton. Tarleton’s wing was crushed by the American force of Continentals and militia at the Battle of Cowpens in early 1781. The southern campaign became one of speed, with the British under Earl Cornwallis attempting to engage one or other of the wings of the American army before they could reunite. Failing in that after being checked by Greene at Guildford Court House, the campaign became a race to Virginia, from where the American units were supplied.
Both before and after the Battle of Guildford Courthouse the campaign was one of forced marches, battle, withdrawal, and another forced march to a defensible position. “We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again”, Greene wrote to Washington. Washington sent additional troops who faced the same daily conditions as Greene, forced marches in the blazing heat of the Carolinas in summer, cold, damp nights and days in the winter, the enduring problems with lack of food. The terrain was swamps, or thick woods with entangled underbrush, and poor roads, made worse by clouds of mosquitos and other pestilence biting exposed flesh. The British regulars endured the same conditions, with their morale steadily declining as they approached Virginia.