British evacuate Charleston

On December 14, 1782, British forces under General Alexander Leslie evacuated Charleston, South Carolina, after nearly two and a half years of occupation. American troops under General Nathanael Greene and Governor John Mathews reentered the city as British transports withdrew from the harbor. The evacuation ended the last major British military presence in the South before the formal peace treaty was signed.

Charleston's evacuation reflected the political reality created by Yorktown and the fall of Lord North's ministry in London during 1782. Britain could still hold fortified ports, but Parliament and the ministry no longer had a credible path to restore royal authority across the former colonies. The withdrawal therefore marked the collapse of Britain's southern war strategy even before the Treaty of Paris formally recognized American independence.

The evacuation allowed South Carolina's civil government to resume authority in its principal port and commerce center. It also foreshadowed the broader military disengagement that culminated in the Treaty of Paris of 1783 and the final British evacuation of New York City later in 1783.