In the South, where the split between Patriots and Loyalists was much more even, both militias recruited heavily. Open conflict erupted on November 17, 1775, when British regulars skirmished with Patriot militia at the Battle of Kemp’s Landing in Virginia. Patrick Henry led a small militia force to Williamsburg to recapture the gunpowder, but unlike Lexington and Concord, there was no fighting during this “Gunpowder Incident.” Instead, the British merely paid for the powder and both sides backed down. On April 20, 1775, a day after Lexington and Concord, the British Royal Governor of Virginia ordered British sailors to secure the store of gunpowder at Williamsburg. In the South, the conflict began much as it did in the North, with British authorities attempting to disarm the growing Patriot militias. In addition to regular fighting between the armies, a civil war erupted between Patriots and Loyalists, with many small battles between militias raging throughout the countryside. In the final years of the war, following the fall of Charleston to the British in May 1780, the South became the principal theater of the Revolutionary War. In fact, fighting in the Southern colonies raged through the entire war and was an area of great concern for both sides. The Southern Theater of the Revolutionary War is often reduced to the battles of Camden, Cowpens, Guilford Courthouse, and Yorktown.
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