The patriots fled to the mountains rather than yield and, in their turn, waylaid and murdered straggling Loyalists.
Under pressure some republicans would give outward compliance to royal government, but they could not be coerced into a real loyalty.

It required only a reverse to the King's forces to make them again actively hostile.

To meet the difficult situation Congress now made a disastrous blunder.

On June 13, 1780, General Gates, the belauded victor at Saratoga, was given the command in the South.
Camden, on the Wateree River, lies inland from Charleston about a hundred and twenty-five miles as the crow flies.

The British had occupied it soon after the fall of Charleston, and it was now held by a small force under Lord Rawdon, one of the ablest of the British commanders.