The alliance of France with the revolted provinces having compelled the British Government to reduce General Clinton’s army by one-half, this loss was supplemented by the enlistment of volunteers from the loyal party in America itself, and by the organisation of corps of irregulars. One such corps, consisting partly of cavalry and partly of infantry, was commanded by Captain Lord Cathcart of the Seventeenth, and another, known as the King’s American Dragoons, received an Adjutant from the regiment. But the corps with which the name of the Seventeenth was inseparably connected was the so-called “Legion” commanded by Colonel Banastre Tarleton. To this last a small party of the Seventeenth seems to have been permanently attached, probably as a pattern for the guidance of the provincial recruits. But in addition to these a troop of the regiment under its own officers was frequently joined to it, which though in contemporary accounts generally included in the term “Cavalry of the legion,” was distinct from it and careful to preserve its individuality. With the change in the composition of the army came simultaneously a change in the plan of campaign, by a return to the scheme, already tried once at the outbreak of the war, of an expedition to the Carolinas; where it was hoped that the loyalists were numerous and ready to rally round the army. The plan was to scour the country with flying columns, which would serve at once to hearten good subjects and overawe the [Sidenote: 1780.] disaffected. For such operations Charleston was required as a base, and it was to preparations for the reduction of Charleston that most of Clinton’s energies were devoted in the summer of 1779. An accession of strength was gained by the evacuation of Rhode Island in October, and finally, on the 26th December, Clinton sailed with a portion of his army on this expedition to the South. One troop of the Seventeenth, sixty strong, accompanied him.