The British Proclamation of 1763 limited frontier settlement to the eastern side of the Appalachians to prevent incursions into Indian lands and resulting costly wars. But the Proclamation has not been observed and hostilities between white settlers and Cherokees have grown over the decades. Supplied with arms by the British, the Overhill Cherokees begin a series of raids. State militias respond with expeditions and raids of their own. By the Treaty of DeWitt's Corner, May 1777, the Cherokees cede almost all their land in South Carolina.
Similar treaties result in land cessions to North Carolina and Virginia.
June 4, a British fleet under command of Commodore Sir Peter Parker with Clinton and his reinforcements approaches the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. June 28, the British begin bombardment of Fort Sullivan in Charleston harbor. Failing to take the Fort, the British retreat to New York. June 29, General William Howe, and his brother, Admiral Richard Howe, arrive in New York harbor from Boston. In late June, the American army from the campaign against Montreal and Quebec reassembles at Fort Ticonderoga.