<P> Washington's opponent in New York, however, was not inactive . Clinton engaged in a number of amphibious raids against coastal communities from Connecticut to Chesapeake Bay, and probed at Washington's defenses in the Hudson River valley . Coming up the river in force, he captured the key outpost of Stony Point, but advanced no further . When Clinton weakened the garrison there to provide men for raiding expeditions, Washington organized a counterstrike . General Anthony Wayne led a force that, solely using the bayonet, recaptured Stony Point . The Americans chose not to hold the post, but the operation was a boost to American morale and a blow to British morale . American morale was dealt a blow later in the year, when the second major attempt at Franco - American cooperation, an attempt to retake Savannah, failed with heavy casualties . </P> <P> The winter of 1779--80 was one of the coldest in recorded colonial history . New York Harbor froze over, and the winter camps of the Continental Army were deluged with snow, resulting in hardships exceeding those experienced at Valley Forge . The war was declining in popularity, and the inflationary issuance of paper currency by Congress and the states alike harmed the economy, and the ability to provision the army . The paper currency also hit the army's morale, since it was how the troops were paid . Congress fixed the rate between paper and gold dollars at 40 - to - 1 in March 1780, but many merchants refused to accept the Continental currency at the official exchange rate . One Loyalist wrote, "Mock - money and mock - states shall melt away / / And the mock troops disband for want of pay ." </P> <P> The British in late 1779 embarked on a new strategy based on the assumption that most Southerners were Loyalists at heart . General Clinton withdrew the British garrison from Newport, and marshalled a force of more than 10,000 men that in the first half of 1780 successfully besieged Charleston, South Carolina . In June 1780 he captured over 5,000 Continental soldiers and militia in the single worst defeat of the war for the Americans . Washington had at the end of March pessimistically dispatched several regiments troops southward from his army, hoping they might have some effect in what he saw as a looming disaster . He also ordered troops stationed in Virginia and North Carolina south, but these were either captured at Charleston, or scattered later at Waxhaws and Camden . Camden saw the ignominious defeat of General Gates, who had been appointed to the southern command by Congress without Washington's advice or knowledge beforehand . Gates famously abandoned his army and retreated 180 miles (290 km) by horse after his battle lines were broken . The debacle ended Gates' career as a field officer, but he eluded formal inquiries into his behavior because of his political connections . </P> <P> Washington's army suffered from numerous problems in 1780: it was undermanned, underfunded, and underequipped . Because of these shortcomings Washington resisted calls for major expeditions, preferring to remain focused on the principal British presence in New York . Knowledge of discontent within the ranks in New Jersey prompted the British in New York to make two attempts to reach the principal army base at Morristown . These attempts were defeated, with significant militia support, in battles at Connecticut Farms and Springfield . </P>

What was the major advantage of the american side in the revolutionary war