1. Loyalists never materialized in large numbers because the A) didn't make an attempt to help them early on and B) North Carolina's loyalist population was pretty big early on and they had actually been able to build a pretty decent size militia early in the war. However due to the lack of...
Your pod was what if McClellan had better intelligence. McClellan literally captured Lee's plans, which showed his troop strength, where his men were, and where his men were going. That is literally the best intelligence you could possibly get. Had McClellan moved promptly, he could have...
McClellan literally had Lee's war plans during the Confederate Offensive in 1862 yet still failed to achieve a decisive victory.
Intelligence had nothing to do with McClellan sucking.
The British should have invaded South Carolina with their entire army first, and from there, simply march north, fighting a one front war, securing loyalist's loyalty early on in Georgia and the Carolinas, defeat Washington's army and after 1-2 years of campaigning in the South, capture...
Did Pontus really control all of Anatolia though (at least long enough to tap into all of it's resources)?
(Also Mithridates VI did pretty well against Rome)
It could always be amended by military force at the end of the American Revolution.
Just get someone with a more power hungry personality to command the Continental Army than Washington...