How did fighting in the west and south affect the course of the revolutionary war?

Unlike the battles north of present day Washington DC, the Revolutionary Army and the various militias' efforts in the West and South forced the British Army to fight an irregular war over a larger territory which made them expend precious resources in an area that they knew comparatively little about. The Americans were able to bleed the British dry in these areas, giving them a strategic advantage in other areas.

to protest slavery i would think it would be a