The Battle of Camden (August 16, 1780), also known as the Battle of Camden Court House, was a major victory for the British in the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War. On August 16, 1780, British forces under Lieutenant General Charles, Lord Cornwallis routed the numerically superior American forces led by Major General Horatio Gates about four miles north of Camden, South Carolina, thus strengthening the British hold on the Carolinas following the capture of Charleston. In July, American Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates marched his army into South Carolina, intent on liberating the state from British control. As Gates neared Camden, word of his movement reached Cornwallis at his headquarters in Charleston. The British commander immediately left the city to take the field against Gates. The armies approached one another north of Camden early on the morning of August 16, 1780. After a brief skirmish Gates formed his men for battle. He made a critical error in his deployment. British subjugation of rebel American colonies in the South depended on control of outposts and supply depots. The largest was at Camden, South Carolina, about 115 miles inland from the coast. In August 1780, an American force under Major General Horatio Gates marched to capture it.

Gates ordered Stevens and de Kalb to attack, while Cornwallis issued the same order to Webster. The 800 strong 33rd Fusiliers advanced with bayonets towards the 2,500 soldiers in the Virginia and North Carolina militia. The militia, however, had never used bayonets before. The American left wing collapsed as the Virginians and then the North Carolinians fled. The Virginians fled so fast that they suffered only three wounded. The North Carolinians fled all the way back to Hillsborough, North Carolina. Rawdon's troops advanced in two charges, but heavy fire repulsed his regiments. De Kalb called up the reserve 1st Maryland Brigade to support the 2nd, but they could get no closer than several hundred feet. De Kalb, attempting to rally his men, was unhorsed, and would die of his numerous wounds (11 in total; 8 by bayonet and 3 by musket balls) two days later as a British prisoner. The Battle of Camden was the worst Patriot defeat of the American Revolution. The aftermath of the battle saw the southern Continental Army in total disarray while the British Army and Loyalists controlled the colony. Camden became a fortified garrison for the British and the future for the patriot cause in the South was bleak.