crossed its rising waters safely into the friendly bosom of Halifax county, in Virginia. When Cornwallis arrived, a few hours later [February 14], the stream was too much swollen to allow him to cross. For the third time the waters, as if governed by a special Providence, interposed a barrier between the pursuers and the pursued. Mortified and dispirited, the earl here abandoned the chase, and moving sullenly southward through North Carolina, he established his camp at Hillsborough.

General Greene remained in Virginia only long enough to refresh his troops, and receive recruits,' and then he re-crossed the Dan [February 23], to oppose Cornwallis in his efforts to embody the loyalists of North Carolina under the royal banner. Colonel Lee,' with his cavalry, scoured the country around the head waters of the Haw and Deep Rivers, and by force and stratagem foiled the efforts of Tarleton, who was recruiting in that region. On one occasion he defeated and dispersed [March 2] a body of three hundred loyalists under Colonel Pyle,' near the Alamance Creek, after which the Tories kept quiet, and very few dared to take up arms. Greene, in the mean while, had moved cautiously forward, and on the first of March [1781], he found himself at the head of almost five thousand troops. Feeling strong enough now to cope with Cornwallis, he sought an engagement with him, and on the 15th they met, and fiercely contended, near Guilford

TREAT

OF THE

RICANS

BATTL

GUILFORD
COURT HOUSE

GR

LINE

ATTACK

ND

BATTLE OF GUILFORD.

COLONEL HENRY LEE.

Court-house, about five miles from the present village of Greensborough, in Guilford county, North Carolina. That battle, which continued for almost two hours, was one of the severest of the war. Although the Americans were repulsed and the British became masters of the field, the victory was almost as destructive for Cornwallis as a defeat. "Another such victory," said Charles Fox in the British House of Commons, "will ruin the British army." Both parties suffered severely; and, in some degree, the line of the Scotch ballad might be applied to them:

"They baith did fight, they baith did beat, they baith did rin awa."

1 On his way south, to take command of the southern army, he left the Baron Steuben [page 291] in Virginia, to gather recruits, provisions, &c., and forward them to him. This service the Baron performed with efficiency.

2 Henry Lee was born in Virginia, in 1756. He entered the military service as captain of a Virginia company in 1776, and in 1777 joined the continental army. At the head of a legion, he performed extraordinary services during the war, especially at the South. He was afterward governor of Virginia, and a member of Congress. He died in 1818.

Lee sent two young countrymen, whom he had captured, to the camp of Pyle, to inform that leader that Tarleton was approaching, and wished to meet him. Pyle had never seen Tarleton, and when he came up he supposed Lee and his party to be that of the renowned British officer. Friendly salutations were expressed, and at a word, the Americans fell upon the loyalists, killed almost a hundred of them, and dispersed the remainder. This event took place two or three miles from the scene of the Regulator battle mentioned on page 223.

That statesman moved in committee, "That his majesty's ministers ought immediately to take every possible means for concluding peace with our American colonies." Young William Pitt, the

The battalions of Cornwallis were so shattered,' that he could not maintain the advantage he had gained; while the Americans retreated in good order to the Reedy Fork. Thoroughly dispirited, he abandoned Western Carolina, and moved [March 19] with his whole army, to Wilmington, near the sea-board. Greene rallied his forces and pursued the British as far as Deep River, in Chatham county. There he relinquished the pursuit, and prepared to re-enter South Carolina.

2

Lord Rawdon, one of the most efficient of Cornwallis's chief officers, was now in command of a British force at Camden. On the 6th of April, Greene marched directly for that place, and on the 19th, he encamped on Hobkirk's Hill, about a mile from Rawdon's intrenchments. Six days afterward [April 25, 1781], he was surprised' and defeated by Rawdon, after a sharp battle for several hours, in which the Americans lost, in killed, wounded, and missing, two hundred and sixty-six men. The British lost two hundred and fifty-eight. The British retired to their works at Camden, and Greene, with his little army, encamped for the night on the north side of Sanders's Creek." Greene conducted his retreat so well, that he carried away all his artillery and baggage, with fifty British prisoners, who were captured by Colonel Washington." This defeat was unexpected to Greene,' yet he was not the man to be successor of his father, the Earl of Chatham, inveighed eloquently against a further prosecution of the war. He averred that it was "wicked, barbarous, unjust, and diabolical-conceived in injustice, nurtured in folly-a monstrous thing that contained every characteristic of moral depravity and human turpitude-as mischievous to the unhappy people of England as to the Americans." Yet, as in former years, the British government was blind and stubborn still.

HOBKIRK'S HILL.

The Americans lost in killed and wounded, about four hundred men, besides almost a thousand who deserted to their homes. The loss of the British was over six hundred. Among the officers who were killed was Lieutenant-Colonel Webster, who was one of the most efficient men in the British army. On this occasion, Greene's force was much superior in number to that of Cornwallis, and he had every advantage of position. Events such as are generally overlooked by the historian, but which exhibit a prominent trait in the character of the people of North Carolina, occurred during this battle, and deserve great prominence in a description of the gloomy picture, for they form a few touches of radiant light in the midst of the sombre coloring. While the roar of cannon boomed over the country, groups of women, in the Buffalo and Alamance congregations, who were under the pastoral charge of the Reverend Dr. Caldwell, might have been seen engaged in common prayer to the God of Hosts for his protection and aid; and in many places, the solitary voice of a pious woman went up to the Divine Ear, with the earnest pleadings of faith, for the success of the Americans. The battling hosts were surrounded by a cordon of praying women during those dreadful hours of contest. 2 Page 315.

Greene was breakfasting at a spring on the eastern slope of Hobkirk's Hill, when Rawdon's army, by a circuitous ront through a forest, fell upon him. Some of his men were cleaning their guns, others were washing their clothes, and all were unsuspicious of danger.

The number killed was remarkably small. Only eighteen of the Americans, and thirty-eight of the British, were slain on the battle-field. Page 315. He had captured two hundred, but hastily paroling the officers and some of the men, he took only fifty with him.

་

Greene had some desponding views of the future at this time. To Luzerne, the French minister at Philadelphia, he earnestly wrote: "This distressed country cannot struggle much longer without more effectual support. ** * We fight, get beaten, rise, and fight again. The whole country is one continued scene of blood and slaughter." To La Fayette, he wrote: "You may depend upon it, that nothing can equal the sufferings of our little army, but their merit." To Governor Reed, of Pennsylvania, he wrote: "If our good friends, the French, cannot lend a helping hand to save these sinking States, they must and will fall." At that time, the French army had remained for several months inactive, in New England.

crushed by adversity. On the morning succeeding the battle, he retired as far as Rugeley's Mills, and then crossing the Wateree, he took a strong position for offensive and defensive operations. The two armies were now about equal in numbers, and Greene's began to increase. Alarmed by this, and for the

safety of his posts in the lower country, Rawdon set fire to Camden and retreated [May 10, 1781] to Nelson's Ferry, on the Santee. He had ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Cruger' to abandon Ninety-six' and join Brown at Augusta," and had also directed Maxwell, the commander of Fort Granby, to leave that post, and retire to Orangeburg,' on the North Edisto. But his orders and his movements were made too late. Within the space of a week, four important posts fell into the hands of the Americans, and Greene was making rapid marches toward Ninety-six. Lee had pressed forward and co-operated with Pekens in 1 Page 313.

6

So called because it was ninety-six miles from the frontier fort, Prince George, on the Keowee River. Its site is occupied by the pleasant village of Cambridge, in Abbeville District, one hundred and forty-seven miles north-west from Charleston. Page 313.

On the western side of the Congaree, two miles from the present city of Columbia, South Carolina.

On the east bank of the North Edisto, about sixty-five miles south of Columbia.

Lee and Marion were the principal leaders against these posts. Orangeburg was taken on the 11th of May; Fort Motte on the 12th; the post at Nelson's Ferry on the 14th, and Fort Granby on the 16th. Fort Watson, situated on the Santee, a few miles above Nelson's Ferry, was taken on the 16th of April. Nelson's Ferry is at the mouth of Eutaw Creek, on the Santee, about fifty miles from Charleston. Fort Motte was near the junction of the Wateree and Congaree Rivers, and was, because of its geographical position, the most important of all these posts. It was composed of the fine residence of Rebecca Motte (a widowed mother, with six children), and temporary fortifications constructed around it. Mrs. Motte, who was an ardent Whig, had been driven to her farm-house upon an eminence near by. Marion and Lee appeared before Fort Motte with a considerable force, but having only one piece of artillery, could make but slight impression. The expected approach

holding the country-between Ninety-six and Augusta, to prevent a junction of the garrisons at either of those places; and thus, by skillful operations, the Americans completely paralyzed the lately potent strength of the enemy. At the beginning of June [1781], the British possessed only three posts in South Carolina, namely, Charleston, Nelson's Ferry, and Ninety-six.

CAMBRIDGE

STOCKADE

On the 22d of May [1781], Greene commenced the siege of Ninety-six,' with less than a thousand regulars and a few raw militia. Kosciuszko, the brave Pole, was his chief engineer, and the post being too strong to be captured by assault, the Americans commenced making regular approaches, by parallels.' Day after day the work went slowly on, varied by an occasional sortie. For almost a month, the efforts of the Americans were unavailing. Then hearing of the approach of Rawdon, with a strong force, to the relief of Cruger, they made an unsuccessful effort, on the 18th of June, to take the place by storm. They raised the siege the following evening [June 19], and retreated Rawdon pursued them a short distance, when he wheeled and marched to Orangeburg.

STAR

REDOUBT

FORT NINETY-SIX.

beyond the Saluda.

Although unsuccessful at Ninety-six, detachments of the Republican army were victorious elsewhere. While this siege was progressing, Lee and Pickens, with Clarke and others of Georgia, were making successful efforts on the Savannah River. Lee captured Fort Galphin, twelve miles below Augusta, on the 21st of May, and then he sent an officer to that post, to demand of Brown an instant surrender of his garrison. Brown refused, and the siege of Augusta was commenced on the 23d. It continued until the 4th of June, when a general as

GENERAL PICKENS.

of Rawdon, would not allow them to make the slow process of a regular siege. Lee proposed to hurl some burning missile upon the building, and consume it. To this destruction of her property, Mrs. Motte at once consented, and bringing out a bow and some arrows, which had been brought from the East Indies, these were used successfully for the purpose of conveying fire to the dry roof. The house was partially destroyed, when the British surrendered. The patriotic lady then regaled both the American and British officers with a good dinner at her own table. Colonel Horry (one of Marion's officers), in his narrative, mentions some pleasing incidents which occurred at the table of Mrs. Motte, on this occasion. Among the prisoners was Captain Ferguson, an officer of considerable reputation. Finding himself near Horry, Ferguson said, "You are Colonel Horry, I presume, sir." Horry replied in the affirmative, when Ferguson continued, "Well, I was with Colonel Watson when he fought your General Marion on Sampit. I think I saw you there with a party of horse, and also at Nelson's Ferry, when Marion surprised our party at the house. But," he continued, "I was hid in high grass, and escaped. You were fortunate in your escape at Sampit, for Watson and Small had twelve hundred men." "If so," replid Horry, "I certainly was fortunate, for I did not suppose they had more than half that number." "I consider myself," added the captain, "equally fortunate in escaping at Nelson's Old Field." "Truly you were," answered Horry dryly, "for Marion had but thirty militia on that occasion." The officers present could not suppress laughter. When Greene inquired of Horry how he came to affront Captain Ferguson, he replied, "He affronted himself by telling his own story."

The principal work was a star redoubt [note 3, page 192]. There was a picketed inclosure [note 1, page 127] around the little village; and on the west side of a stream running from a spring (a) was a stockade [note 2, page 183] fort. The besiegers encamped at four different points Page 277. * These are trenches, dug in a zig-zag line in the direction of the fortress to be assailed. The

around the works.

2

sault was agreed upon. Brown now proposed a surrender; and the following day [June 5, 1781] the Americans took possession of that important post. They lost fifty-one men, killed and wounded; the British lost fifty-two killed, and three hundred and thirty-four (including the wounded) were made prisAt the close of the siege, Lee and Pickens' hastened to join Greene before Ninety-six, and all, on the approaoh of Rawdon, retreated beyond the Saluda, as we have observed.

oners.

The two chief commanders of the belligerent forces now changed relative positions. When Rawdon retired toward Orangeburg, Greene became his pursuer, and sent a message to Marion and Sumter, then on the Santee, to take a position in front of the enemy, so as to retard his progress. Finding Rawdon strongly intrenched at Orangeburg, Greene deemed it prudent not to attack him. The Americans crossed the Congaree, and the main body encamped on the High Hills of Santee, in Santee district, there to pass the hot and sickly season. Leaving his troops at Orangeburg, in the command of Colonel Stewart (who had come up from Charleston with a reinforcement), Rawdon went to the sea-board and embarked for England.

3

Early in August, Greene was reinforced by North Carolina troops, under General Sumner; and at the close of that month he crossed the Wateree and Congaree, and marched upon Orangeburg. Stewart (who had been joined by

earth is cast up in such a way that the workmen are shielded from shots from the assailed works, and in this way they get near enough to undermine a fort, or erect a battery, so as to have a powerful effect.

1 Andrew Pickens was born in Pennsylvania, in 1739. In childhood he went to South Carolina, and was one of the first in the field for liberty, in the upper country of that State. He was a very useful officer, and good citizen. He died in 1817, at the age of seventy-eight years.

2 It is related that the message to Sumter from Greene was conveyed by Emily Geiger, the daughter of a German planter in Fairfield district. He prepared a letter to that officer, but none of his men appeared willing to attempt the hazardous service, for the Tories were on the alert, as Rawdon was approaching the Congaree. Greene was delighted by the boldness of a young girl, not more than eighteen years of age, who came forward and volunteered to carry the letter to Sumter. With his usual caution, he communicated the contents of the letter to Emily, fearing she might lose it on the way. The maiden mounted a fleet horse, and crossing the Wateree at the Camden Ferry, pressed on toward Sumter's camp. Passing through a dry swamp on the second day of her journey, she was intercepted by some Tory scouts. Coming from the direction of Greene's army, she was an object of suspicion, and was taken to a house on the edge of the swamp, and confined in a room. With proper delicacy, they sent for a woman to search her person. No sooner was she left alone, than she ate up Greene's letter piece by piece. After a while, the matron arrived, made a careful search, but discovered nothing. With many apologies, Emily was allowed to pursue her journey. She reached Sumter's camp, communicated Greene's message, and soon Rawdon was flying before the Americans toward Orangeburg. Emily Geiger afterward married Mr. Thurwits, a rich planter on the Congaree.

A short time before he sailed, Rawdon was a party to a cruel transaction which created a great deal of excitement throughout the South. Among those who took British protection after the fall of Charleston in 1780 [page 311], was Colonel Isaac Hayne, a highly respectable Carolinian. When General Greene, the following year, confined the British to Charleston alone, and their protection had no force, Hayne considered himself released from the obligations of his parole, took up arms for his country, and was made a prisoner. Colonel Balfour was then in chief command at Charleston, and from the beginning seemed determined on the death of Hayne. Without even the form of a trial, that patriot was condemned to be hanged. Not one, not even the prisoner, supposed that such a cruelty was contemplated, until the sentence was made public, and he was informed that he had but two days to live. The men of the city pleaded for him; the women signed petitions, and went in troops, and upon their knees, implored a remission of his sentence. All was in vain. Rawdon had exerted his influence to save the prisoner, but finally he consented to his execution, as a traitor, and he became as inexorable as Balfour. Greene was inclined to retaliate, but, fortunately, hostilities soon afterward ceased, and the flow of blood was stopped.