the Polish commander of American cavalry, was fatally wounded. With Savannah secured, Clinton could launch a new assault on Charleston, South Carolina, where he had failed in 1776. Lincoln moved his remaining troops to Charleston to assist in the construction of its defenses. Third attack on Charleston Clinton moved against Charleston in 1780, blockading the harbor in March and building up about 10,000 troops in the area. His advance on the city was uncontested; the American naval commander, Commodore Abraham Whipple, scuttled five of his eight frigates in the harbor to make a boom for its defense. Inside the city, General Lincoln commanded about 2,650 Continentals and 2,500 militiamen. When British colonel Banastre Tarleton cut off the city's supply lines in victories at Moncks Corner in April and Lenud's Ferry in early May, Charleston was surrounded.<ref>Hibbert, C, Rebels and Redcoats, p.266</ref> Clinton began constructing siege lines. On March 11 he commenced the bombardment of the town. On May 12, 1780, General Lincoln surrendered his 5,000 men—the largest surrender of U.S. troops until the American Civil War. With relatively few casualties, Clinton had seized the South's biggest city and seaport, winning perhaps the greatest British victory of the war. This victory left the American military structure in the South in ruins. It was only after Nathanael Greene slipped past Cornwallis after the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in 1781 that the British finally lost this advantage in the South. The remnants of the southern Continental Army began to withdraw toward North Carolina, but were pursued by Colonel Tarleton, who defeated them at the Battle of Waxhaws on May 29. Historians have debated accounts spread after the battle that Tarleton's forces had massacred many Patriots after they had surrendered. As a consequence, "Bloody Tarleton" or "Bloody Ban" became a hated name, and the phrase, "Tarleton's quarter"—referring to his reputed lack of mercy, or "quarter"—soon became a rallying cry for the Patriots. Whether or not the battle was the massacre that it was claimed, its ramifications were felt throughout the campaign. When a Loyalist militia surrendered at the end of the Battle of Kings Mountain, many of them were killed when Patriot marksmen continued to fire while shouting "Tarleton's Quarters!". Tarleton later published an account of the war that glossed over accusations of misconduct towards American militia, and portrayed him in an unabashedly positive light. Cornwallis takes command After Charleston, organized American military activity