Although there was certainly strong Tory sentiment among the settlers, there were never as many Tories as the British thought.

From The Road to Guilford Courthouse by John Buchanan. Page 103.

For four long years, the Tories in the Back Country would scarcely raise their heads until British troops and Tory regulars from the north took up positions at the strongpoints after the fall of Charleston. How had this happened in a region reputed to be a Tory stronghold? Although there was certainly strong Tory sentiment among the settlers, there were never as many Tories as the British thought. And this brief survey of Tory strength and resistance has for the most part neglected Rebel sentiment in the Back Country. Obviously, it too was considerable. But Drayton and his colleagues tended to concentrate on areas where Tories were numerous in order to win converts and eliminate threats to the cause. As we have seen, they made little headway. Yet from the end of August, when William Henry Drayton resorted to force and ordered militia commanders to deploy, it took only four months to end Tory resistance. Drayton’s tactic of separating the followers from their best leaders played a key role, as did his decision to take off the gloves and move from the stump to the battlefield. When insurrection finally came, the Rebels raised an overwhelming force, led by two first-rate militia commanders. During the campaign the American commanders adopted a policy of firmness combined with forebearance and leniency that Colonel Richardson believed “have had a good effect.” As he wrote on 2 January 1776 to Henry Laurens, “had I burnt, plundered and destroyed and laid waste, seizing on private property, then thousands of women and children must have been left to perish—a thought shocking to humanity.” Drayton reported that had not Colonel Thompson intervened at the rout of Patrick Cunningham’s diehards, “great slaughter would have ensued,” because “The troops were so enraged against this party of insurgents, or King’s men, as they call themselves.” At the same time, Richardson continued to be firm against insurgency. Drayton reported that although Richardson had been humane, “he nevertheless deemed it prudent to hold some check over their future conduct, for which purpose he caused many of the insurgents to sign an instrument of writing by which they imposed upon themselves the penalties of forfeiting their estates real and personal should they ever take up arms again against, or disturb the peace and tranquillity of, the Colony.