Chronology - 1780

March - British expedition under General Henry Clinton begins the Siege of Charleston, South Carolina.
April - Battle of Monck's Corner, South Carolina.
May - British General Clinton captures Charleston, South Carolina in the worst American defeat of the war. Americans defeated by Banastre Tarleton at the Battle of Waxhaws, South Carolina.
June - Congress chooses General Horatio Gates to command the Southern Continental Army. General Charles Cornwallis is put in charge of southern operations for the British. Battle of Springfield, New Jersey.
July - Comte de Rochambeau and more than 5,000 French troops arrive at Newport, Rhode Island.
August - Benedict Arnold is appointed commander of West Point. Battle of Fishing Creek, South Carolina. Battle of Camden, South Carolina.
September - Major John Andre is captured as part of the Benedict Arnold treason plot. Benedict Arnold escapes West Point and flees to a waiting British ship, Vulture.
October - Major John Andre is hanged in New York. American victory at Battle of King's Mountain, South Carolina. General Cornwallis abandons his invasion of North Carolina after Americans capture his reinforcements, a Loyalist force of 1000 men. General Nathanael Greene replaces Horatio Gates as commander of the Southern Continental Army.