The American Revolution split loyalties in the community, with several families supporting the Tories while others favored independence. Many men fought in battles elsewhere in the state, though little warfare was conducted in and around Beaufort. Following the 1778 capture of nearby Savannah, Georgia, British forces moved to occupy Port Royal Island in late January 1779, but were repulsed by militia under the command of William Moultrie in the Battle of Beaufort. The area was successfully occupied by the British later in 1779, but they withdrew when Savannah came under siege. Most of coastal South Carolina was dominated by British forces after the 1780 Siege of Charleston. After the American victory in the 1781 Siege of Yorktown, the British Army began moving out of the Lowcountry in the summer of 1782. Unlike other regions such as Massachusetts and St. Augustine, Florida, virtually all of the Loyalists in Beaufort decided to stay. South Carolina's leading patriots including the "Swamp Fox" Francis Marion and the "Game Cock" Thomas Sumter were all instrumental in convincing South Carolina's Loyalist community not to leave, and in ensuring that their property and they themselves would be respected in the new country. This effort was successful, and in Beaufort virtually no Loyalists ended up leaving after the war. The Treaty of Beaufort fixing the boundary between South Carolina and Georgia was signed in the city in 1787.