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Given that he could claim the Crown as a benefactor, it is not clear how or when Sumter drifted into the [[Patriot]] camp. He may have been involved in or sympathetic to the [[Regulator]] movement of the late 1760s and early 1770s that demanded greater representation for the backcountry districts in the colonial assemblies of the Carolinas. If this was the case, the principle of political representation may have led Sumter to support the broader cause of resistance to [[Parliament]] and the monarchy; however, this is only speculation.
Given that he could claim the Crown as a benefactor, it is not clear how or when Sumter drifted into the [[Patriot]] camp. He may have been involved in or sympathetic to the [[Regulator]] movement of the late 1760s and early 1770s that demanded greater representation for the backcountry districts in the colonial assemblies of the Carolinas. If this was the case, the principle of political representation may have led Sumter to support the broader cause of resistance to [[Parliament]] and the monarchy; however, this is only speculation.
Sumter was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1773 for the Camden District, and won the esteem of his neighbors enough to be elected as representative for the District Eastward of Wateree River to the First Provincial Congress of South Carolina, which met in [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]] on January 11, 1775. He was subsequently re-elected to the Second Provincial Congress later that year, and from 1776 to 1780, served in the First, Second, and Third General Assemblies after [[Declaration of Independence|independence was declared]]. Simultaneously, Sumter entered the South Carolina militia, being elected a captain in 1775 and serving that winter in the campaign against [[Loyalists]] organizing in the backcountry. In February 1776, he was made lieutenant colonel of the Second Regiment of the South Carolina Line, serving in the [[Battle of Fort Moultrie]] (June 1776), the campaign against Cherokees on the frontier (July-October 1776), and in several campaigns to protect [[Georgia]] (1777-78). In September 1778, Sumter, by now a brigadier general, resigned his commission, frustrated by the inconclusive and sporadic nature of the fighting and desiring to redress his financial affairs, left in disarray by his absence from home.
Sumter was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1773 for the Camden District, and won the esteem of his neighbors enough to be elected as representative for the District Eastward of Wateree River to the First Provincial Congress of South Carolina, which met in [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]] on January 11, 1775. He was subsequently re-elected to the Second Provincial Congress later that year, and from 1776 to 1780, served in the First, Second, and Third General Assemblies after [[Declaration of Independence|independence was declared]]. Simultaneously, Sumter entered the South Carolina militia, being elected a captain in 1775 and serving that winter in the campaign against [[Loyalists]] organizing in the backcountry. In February 1776, he was made lieutenant colonel of the Second Regiment of the South Carolina Line, serving in the [[Battle of Fort Moultrie]] (June 1776), the campaign against Cherokees on the frontier (July-October 1776), and in several campaigns to protect [[Georgia]] (1777-78). In September 1778, Sumter, by now a brigadier general, resigned his commission, frustrated by the inconclusive and sporadic nature of the fighting and desiring to redress his financial affairs, left in disarray by his absence from home.
'''Partisan Leader'''
Sumter was not present when Charleston and the American army defending it were captured by the British in May 1780, but with the collapse of Patriot military power in the state, he decided to return to the field as a militia commander, fighting an [[guerrilla warfare|irregular war]] against the British army under [[Charles Cornwallis]]. Returned to his rank of brigadier general, he first fled to [[North Carolina]] and recruited a force, made up largely of fellow South Carolina Patriots driven from their homes, and had begun his campaigning in earnest in July, with a successful attack on British and Loyalist units at Hanging Rock on the Catawba River. He was defeated in a surprise attack by Lieutenant Colonel [[Banastre Tarleton]] at Fishing Creek the following month, but soon reorganized his units.
In November, Sumter achieved victory in two battles: first at Fishdam Ford on the Broad River, and then over Tarleton at Blackstock's Farm, where he was wounded and put out of action until February 1781, when he returned to the field and led his troops in several more actions until late in the year, when he disbanded his militia forces.
As was the case with much of the Patriot campaigning in the southern theater, Sumter lost battles as often as he won. Through 1781 especially, he was generally defeated in combat. He also had a difficult relationship with other American commanders, especially in the [[Continental Army]], as he preferred to operate independently rather than coordinate with them; prior to the [[Battle of Camden]], for example, he chose to raid Cornwallis' supply lines rather than unite his forces with the main body. However, his fierce fighting and his resilience earned him respect from both sides. Cornwallis himself referred to Sumter as his "greatest plague," and Tarleton gave him his lasting nickname when, after Blackstock's Farm, he said that Sumter "fought like a gamecock." Because of this, Sumter came to be known as the Carolina Gamecock, or simply, "the Gamecock."<ref>''The Road to Guilford Courthouse'', John Buchanan, p. 393.
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