The war had gotten very dirty and personal by the time it came to the Carolinas. Anger is a powerful motivator. That was the fatal mistake of many a British or Tory leader at the time, thinking they could terrorize the populace into submission.
Exactly. Before the Tory campaign of molesting women, burning buildings, and torturing or killing boys and old men a lot of the Carolinians simply wanted to be left alone.
Every ugly act against the populace created Patriots eager to repay the Tories in spades. And considering that there were Tories mixed in among Patriots this made for a real civil war, not a war between the states. There’s probably a lesson there for our Leftist friends who are toying with political violence thinking it will give them what they want.