How was the battle in Camden, South Carolina a failed attack?

Explanation:

Battle of Camden, (August 16, 1780), in the American Revolution, British victory in South Carolina, one of the most crushing defeats ever inflicted upon an American army. Battle of Camden, (August 16, 1780), in the American Revolution, British victory in South Carolina, one of the most crushing defeats ever inflicted upon an American army. On 15 August Gates fed his men a meal of molasses and cornmeal that gave many of them diarrhoea. Despite this, he ordered a night march toward Camden. Before dawn the next morning his advance party encountered British scouts, and both armies halted until daylight. Both commanders placed their most reliable troops on their right, so the British regulars under Lieutenant Colonel James Webster faced the weaker American militia. As at Sara toga, Gates placed himself to the rear. As Webster’s line of regulars advanced, the militia line crumbled with hardly a shot fired. Webster then wheeled left and attacked the flank of the two Continental regiments that had been pressing the Loyalists hard. Outnumbered and trapped, the Continentals were overwhelmed. Few escaped except Gates, who fled on horseback. Though only 324 British were killed or wounded, the Americans suffered more than 2,000 casualties and lost large amounts of military supplies. It was the worst American defeat in the field and left the British in temporary control of the southern colonies. While enhancing the reputation of Cornwallis, the battle ruined the career of Gates, who was replaced. The victory opened the way to a subsequent British invasion of North Carolina. The British stopped a second American attack on Camden under General Nathanael Greene on April 25, 1781, at Hobkirk’s Hill, but, worn down by colonial guerrilla harassment, they burned and evacuated the town the following month.

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