Gamecock; The Life and Campaigns of General Thomas Sumter

New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961. First Edition [stated], presumed first printing. Hardcover. Very good/Fair. x, [2], 289, [3] pages. Endpaper maps. Illustrations (maps and photographs). Sources and Notes. Index. DJ is in a plastic sleeve and has some wear, soiling, and small tears/chips, including a tape repair at top of spine. Robert D. Bass (1904-1893) was a foremost authority on the American Revolution, Dr. Bass received a Master's Degree in 1927 and a Ph.D. in 1933 from the University of South Carolina where he began his teaching career. When he was called into the Navy in 1942 he went to the United States Naval Academy as an instructor. He continued to teach in Annapolis after the war, returning to South Carolina in 1957 where he taught at Furman University. Before retiring, Dr. Bass taught at Limestone, Wingate, and Erskine colleges. During his distinguished career Dr. Bass authored four books and was a highly acclaimed lecturer on the American Revolution. He was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame in 1980. This is a biography of the elusive American general Thomas Sumter—nicknamed the "Carolina Gamecock," for his fierce fighting style—and his campaigns against the British Army in the South during the American Revolution. Thomas Sumter (August 14, 1734 - June 1, 1832) was a soldier in the Colony of Virginia militia, a brigadier general in the South Carolina militia during the American War of Independence, a planter, and a politician. After the United States gained independence, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives and to the United States Senate, where he served from 1801-1810, when he retired. In February 1776, Sumter was elected lieutenant colonel of the Second Regiment of the South Carolina Line of which he was later appointed colonel. in 1780 he was appointed brigadier general, a post he held until the end of the war. He participated in several battles in the early months of the war, including the campaign to prevent an invasion of Georgia. Perhaps his greatest military achievement was his partisan campaigning, which contributed to Lord Cornwallis' decision to abandon the Carolinas for Virginia. During fighting in August 1780, he defeated loyalist and British Regulars at Hanging Rock (Lancaster County, South Carolina), and intercepted and defeated an enemy convoy. Later, however, his regiment was almost annihilated by forces led by Banastre Tarleton. He recruited a new force, defeated Major James Wemyss in November, and repulsed an attack by Tarleton, in which he was wounded. Sumter was carried into the Blackstock house, where his surgeon, Dr. Nathaniel Abney, probed for and extracted the ball from under his left shoulder. After the Battle of Blackstock's Farm, British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton commented that Sumter "fought like a gamecock", and Cornwallis described the Gamecock as his "greatest plague"