USA > Delaware > History of Delaware : 1609-1888 > Part 62
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"After a short balt at noon, when the men were refreshed upon the scraps in their knaparks, the march was reaumed. The ronntry exceeded the representation that had been made of it-scarcely hij it emerged from a state of sterile nature-the few ride attempts at improvement that were to be found were, most of them, aband med by the owners and plundered by the neighing. Every one in this uneivill. off part of the country wie flying firmu los hong and forming in pattis no lie adventurers, who pretended to yield them protection until the British army should appear, which they seemed confidently trespect The 14. tresses of the solbery daily mereased-they were tobl that the banksof the Pee Dee were extremely fertile-and so nrdred they were ; but the preceding crop of corn. the principal artale of prosince, was exhausted, and the new grain although buvonant am fine, was ulfit for use. Many of the soldiery, unig d by necessity. plucked the green cais and boiling them with the beef which was collected in the wieils, nije for themselves a repast, not unpalatable to be sure, but which was attended with painful effects. Green peaches were also substituted for bre vl, and had similar consequences. Some of the offerrs, aware of the fisk of eating such vegetables, and in such a state, with poor fresh lept and without salt, restrained themselves from taking anything but the beef itself, boiled or roasted. It occurred to some that the hair-powder, which renmined in their bags, would thicken soup, and it was actually apphed. The troops, notwithstanding their disappointment in nin hn ing overtaken by a supply of rum and provisions, were again amused with promises, and gave early proof of tiret patient submission, inflexible fortitude and uisdeviating integrity which they afterwards more enit- gently displayed."
On August 3d this half-famished army, two- thirds of the men suffering with dysentery, crossed the Pedee in batteaux at Mask's Ferry, and was joined on the southern bank by Lieutenant-Colonel Porterfield's little detachment of Virginians, who had been struggling northward since the surrender of Charleston. Says Adjutant-General Williams :
"The expectation, founded on assurances, of finlinga plentiful supply of provisions at May's Mill, indneed the troops again to obey the ut ler to march with cheerfulness ; but being agun disappointed, fatigued and almost famished, their patience buzan to forsake them ; their looks began to be vindictive ; mutiny was pisoly to manifest itself, and the most unhappy consequences were to be apprehended, when the regi- mental officers, by mixing among the men and remonstrating with them, appeased murmurs for which there was, yohagaly, too much cause. The officers, however, by appealing to their own chipty cantrens and mess-chests, satished the privates that all suffered alike, and, exhort- ing them to exercise the same fortitude, of which the officers gave them the example, assured them that the best means of extricating themis Ives from the present distress should be munchately adopted ; that if the supplies expected by the General did not arrive very soon, detachments should go from each corps in all directions to pick up what gram mizht possildy be found in the country and bring it to the null. Fortun itely, a small quantity of Indian corn was immediately brought into eatup- the null was set to work, and as soon as a mess of meal was ground it was delivered out to the men ; and so in rotation they were all served in the course of a few hours -more poor cattle were sacrificed-the camp- kettles were all engaged-the men were busy, but silent, untd they had each taken bis repast, and theo all was again content, cheerfulness and mirth. It was ay astonishing as it was pleasing to observe the transi- tion.".
At the Cross- Roads. on Lynch's Creek, Aug. 7th, and at Clermont, or Rugley's Mills, on the 13th, De Kalb wa- joined by the North Carolina and Virginia militia, some three thousand men. Lord Rawdon was posted at Camden, thirteen miles from
1 "Scharf's " History of Maryland," vol. ii, p. 302.
Cornwallis. They occupied a position possessing great natural advantages for defense, which they had increased by earthworks. Gates resolved on giving battle against the advice of his more experienced subordinates. On the 14th he sent a detachment under the command of Colonel Woolford, of the Maryland Line, to the support of General Sumter, who was undertaking a movement to capture the enemy's wagon-train, and on the next day marched with his main force to take post about seven miles from Camden. Seymour says that at midnight on the night of the 15th, just before the order to march. " instead of rum we were given molasses, which instead of enlivening our spirits, jallop would have been no worse." Simultaneously, by a singular coincidence, Lord Cornwalli- with a foree of three thousand men had marched out of Camden to assault the American camp at Clermont. The two armies met about one o'clock in the morn- ing of August 16th about half-way between their respective eneampments. With remarkable tolly Gates had placed in his advance the cavalry of Armand's legion, an undisciplined command largely made up of deserters and raw recruits. They broke at the first fire from the enemy, and in endeavoring to rally them Lieutenant-Colonel Porterfield was mortally wounded. In their frantie rush to the rear they disordered the Maryland line and only halted to plunder the Delaware and Maryland wagon-train. The British did not follow up the advantage they had gained. and both armies waited upon the field for daylight. Gates called a council of war and asked his officers what was best to be done. Although De Kalb was of the opinion that they should regain their former position at Clermont and wait for an attack, he said nothing at the time, and the conference broke up after the declaration of General Stevens, of the Virginia militia, that " Gentlemen, it is now too late to do anything but fight."
At dawn Gates formed line of battle with the Second Maryland Brigade and the Delaware battalion on the right, under De Kalb. Stevens' Virginia militia were on the left and Caswell's North Carolinians in the centre. The artillery was in battery on the right and eentre near the road. Each flank rested on a marsh. The first Maryland Brigade, under Smallwood, formed a reserve a few hundred yards in rear of the second. The British were formed in one line, with reserves on each flank. The disposition of the American troops was bad, as it brought the raw levies from Virginia and North Carolina directly in front of the British veterans. Colonel Otho H. Williams began the battle by attempting with some fitty Virginia volunteers to draw the fire of the British line. This expedient, tried for the purpose of sparing and reassuring the militia, proved a
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failure, for as the enemy advanced firing and cheer- alterns, three staff officers, nineteen non-commis- ing, a panie infected the whole body of Stevens' men, who tled in the uttermost confusion. " Few discharged their guns," writes Colonel Williams, " und fewer still carried them off the field." Many threw down their arms and ran into the enemy's ranks. " The unworthy example ofthe Virginians was almost instantly followed by the North Carolinians ; only a small part of the brigade, commanded by Brigadier-General Gregory, made a short pause. A part of Dixon's regiment of that brigade next in line to the Second Maryland Brigade fired two or three rounds of cartridge, but a great majority of the militia (at least two- thirds of the army) fled without firing a shot."
Armand's cavalry scurried away with the flying militia, and the Delawareans and Marylanders, twelve or thirteen hundred at most, were lett to face three times their number. Gates had betaken himself to a place of safety and De Kalb was the senior officer remaining, and Williams, if not actually the next in seniority, followed him in the actual direction of affairs. It was a grim and deadly fight, made immortal by the heroism of this little band of American regulars. De Kalb dismounted and put himself at the head of his troops. Rawdon charged them, only to be hurled back with shattered ranks from that firm and blazing front, which then advanced and seeured a number of prisoners. But just then the First Brigade, which formed the sceond line. was pressed back by the weight of superior numbers, and a gap of two hundred yards was opened between the two American lines. De Kalb reformed his ranks and cried " Give them the bayonet, men ! give them the bayonet." The gallant Williams shouted " Take trees, men, choose your trees, men, and give them an Indian charge." It was in vain. The enemy having collected their corps, and directing their whole force against these two devoted brigades, a tremendous fire of musketry was kept up on both sides with equal energy and perseverance until Cornwallis pushed forward. Tarleton's dragoons and his infantry charged at the same moment with fixed bayonets, and ended the contest. De Kalb fell with eleven wounds in his body. His aid-de- eamp, Dubuysson, supported him in his arms and was repeatedly wounded in protecting lim. De Kalb died three days afterward, after dietating to Dubuysson, from his death-bed, a letter in which he spoke of " the gallant behavior of the Delaware regiment."
They had earned the compliment. They went into the fight five hundred strong. Lee, in his "Memoirs," Colonel Williams, in his account of the battle, and Sergeant Seymour, in his journal, use the same expression-" In this battle the regiment of Delaware was nearly annihilated." Of the nive hundred there remained four captains, seven sub-
sioned officers, eleven tifers and drummers and one hundred and forty-five rank and file. Eleven commissioned officers and thirty-ix privates were made prisoners, making, including prisoners, a total of two hundred and thirty-five, aml leaving a roll of dead and wounded of two hundred and sixty- five for a short fight of one hour. Lieutenant- Colonel Vaughan, who was in command, and Major Patten were among the captives1 all of whom were taken to Charleston. Generals Gates and Caswell arrived at Charlotte on the night of the action. On the following day Caswell was requested to rally the militia of the State ; but Gates believing that he could receive no effectual snecess short of Hillsborough, where the Legislature of North Carolina was about to convene, hastened thither, where he was followed on the next day by C'aswell. On the Isth, Captain Kirkwood and some officers of the Maryland brigades arrived at Charlotte, having under their command a few hundred survivors of the Camden catastrophe and went to work to collect the remnant of the scattered army. With the assistance of Colonel Sumter's force they hoped to make some semblance of opposition to the enemy until the militia of the State could be collected and the troops of the Southern States could be called into service by Congress. All day of the 18th irregular squads of menarrived in the town, and on the morning of the 19th the officers of the various commands attempted the business of re-organization. In this task with the Delawareans, Captain Kirkwood was assisted by Capt. Jacquett," and they had re-formed
1 Joseph Vaughan was English by lantth and ow ned an iron furnace heat Concord, Sussex County. He joined Haslet's regiment in 1.76, and became a captain. Upon the organization of Halis regiment, he was el ted nugor, and upon the retirement of Hall and Pope became Len- tenant-colonel. He was never ex. hanged atter the battle of Cam len and saw no further servire. After the war he removed to "The Fork," in Maryland, on the Nanticoke Hiver, where he thed.
John Patten, as heretotute stated, was a farmer, near Dover. He was appointed a lieutenant in Basket s regiment, and in September, 1776, when Congress called for troops to serve during the war, and hxed ont quota at a regiment, or battahon as they called it, he raised & company, was made its captain, and lus company was the hrst to join the regi- ment, and thus he became sensor captain. Cajun Patten, by virtue of hit- semorny among the 'captains, was promoted to be nugor, and, with Vanghan, was taken prisoner at Camden, and being paroled, but not ex hangeil, did not afterward join hits periment.
" l'eter Jacqnett was born of the family estate of Long Honk, on the Chris- ti in to] [write Win meton, and enlisted in Haslet's regineut early in 1776. He was by llas'et > sid . when the latter was killed at the battle of l'rince- tuli, and sulrequently joined Hall's battalion as captain of the Fourth Company It was a Wilmington tradition that when Haron It. Kalle way fatally wounded at the battle of Camden he fell into the arms of Jacqnett. The major served from 1976 until the close of the war, spending but six wirk- at hotue in all that time. He was in thirty-two battles and many shironshe's, and was twice wonmied, though not severely. When Can- wally' surrender at Yorktown ended the war he was at the south aud was placed by General Greene in charge of a party of sick and wounded men, with instructions to convey them home, which be succeeded in weinig atter many bar delups. Passing through Virginia, they were male wel wie at the hotel a pati t. where a lady persecuted Ja quert with some gold pieces which she had secreted. lu after-years he tepaal her heuts the paturipal and interest, amounting to over the hundred dollars. It- arrived at by the, broken down in health, to Find that his estitle > hold alnost gone to rinn during h's al sence. His physician directed mum to take a voyage to the West Indies in search of renewed vigor, but he had no money to spend on such a trip. Joseph Tatmall, the muller, ofsted Lim twelve hundred butiels of flour, with the proceeds of which he patd
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.
two companies, when, on the 19th, intelligence was received that Colonel Sumter, whose arrival had been looked for so hopefully, had been surprised by Tarleton at his camp on the Wateree River and had only escaped after the loss of half his men. Charlotte being an open, defenseless place, General Smallwood, who had taken command of the Ameri- can fragments, retreated to Salisbury and then on to Hillsborough, where General Gates convened a board of officers who determined that all the effective men should be formed into two battalions and one regiment ; that the sick and convalescent troops should remain in camp ; all the invalids to be sent home, and the supernumerary officers to return to their respective States to assist in the recruiting service. The force thus organized was made up of one hundred and seventy-tive Dela- ware men, seven hundred and seventy-seven Mary- landers and fifty Virginians, The Maryland regi- ment and the two Delaware companies, with Singleton's company of Virginia artillery, were brigaded under Smallwood and campel in the immediate neighborhood of Hillsborough, where, by the perseverance of their officers and their own good dispositions, they soon resumed their wonted discipline.1 Colonel Williams wrote :
" The usual camp-guards and sentinels being posted, no person could come into or go out of camp without a perunt. Parade duties were regularly attended, as well by others as sablier. . . . In this +tramp- ment ho circumstance of want or distress was admitted as an excuse for relaxing from the strictest dis iphone, to which the sonhers more cheer- fully submitted as they saw their others constantly occupied in procur- ing for them whatever was attainable in their sitnation Absolutely without pay, almost destitute of clothing, often with only a half-ra- tion, and never with a whole one ( without substituting one article for another), not a soldier was heard to miurnon after the third or fourth day of their being encamped. Instead of meeting and conferring in small Squads, as they formerly had done, they hlled up the interval- from duty with manly exerci-es and field sports ; in short, the officers very & ou had the entire confidence of the men, who divested themselves of all un. necessary care and devoted themselves to duty and juosinne within the limits assigned them. The deuality and contentment of the trong were the more extraordinary, as they were not unfrequently renun led iwhen permitted to go into the country , how differently the British troops were provided for. The article of tum, the most desirable refreshment to soldiers, was mentioned among other inducement- for them to desert ; but so great was their fidelity to the rause, or so strong their attach- ment to their fellow-sufferers and soldiers, that they not only rejected the most flattering propositions to go over to the enemy, but they also- lutely brought some of the most bold and importunatr indadiaties into camp, who were delivered to the civil authority and some of theul punished. "
Tidings of the disaster to the Delaware regi- ment were made known at their homes in the last week of September and created a most painful meeting. The Legislature did not convene until November 1, 1780, when it at once passed an act granting two months' pay in specie to the officers made prisoners at Camden, and one month's pay, also in specie, to other othcers of the command in service in the Southern Department. The two months' allowance was ako made to Captain James Moore and Lieutenant John Hyatt, who the expenses of his journey and returned in full physical semaines. He survived until September 13, 1811, and was eighty your old when he died. He was buried by the side of his wife, Lhes Pros, uf Che-ter, Pa , in the Old swedes' Cemetery. The stone alive his grave records his eminent - rvices to his country. He lett no children.
1 Scharf's " History of Maryland," vol. li , p. 371.
were held prisoners on Long Island ; eighty-five thousand dollars wis appropriated to buy the needtul specie, and fifty-five thousand dollars more to purchase clothing and stores for the men. Captain Willian: 3h Kennan was at this time in the State, having been detailed from the camp at Hillsborough on recruiting service.
In the summer and autunm of 1780 privateers were busy on Delaware Bay, and boats belonging to Tories committed numerous depredations on the property of Americans, In November the " Fair American " Captain Stephen Decatur, captured one of the enemy's craft near New Castle, and on the 4th of the month the Delaware Legislature passed an aet directing President Rodney to fit out an armed vessel of not less than sixty tons burthen, with such accompanying boat or boats as he might drem necessary, to cruise against the British and Tories who were interrupting and impeding trade on the bay. It was also enacted that. as the trade and commerce of Pennsylvania and New Jersey wore harassed in the same manner, the President should propose conjoint action of the three States.
Notwithstanding the efforts made at home to fill np the ranks of the Delaware command so that it might be raised again to the status of a regimeut, recruiting was slow, and Captain Kirkwood was still in North Carolina with only the two com- panies There was accordingly no chance of his receiving the promotion which he had so richly earned and which never come to this noble and competent officer. He was at Charlotte with his men when, on December 4, 1780, Major-General Greene arrived at that point to relieve Gates of the command of the Southern army. Two months previously General Daniel Morgan's legion of light troops had been formed. It was made up of four picked companies of Colonel Williams' Maryland regiment, a company of riflemen under Major Rose, and the dragoons of Colonel William Wash- ington and Colonel White. When Greene arrived at Charlotte the Delaware companies were attached to his command under temporary orders, and to strengthen them, some men were drafted from the Second Maryland Regiment into their ranks. On December 20th, the divisions of the Southern army moved in opposite directions from Charlotte. the main body towards the Pedee, and Morgan's detachment toward the country watered by the Broad and Pacolet Rivers. The main army reached in eleven day- a new camp on Hicks' Creek, and on the 25th, Morgan halted at Grindell s Ford, ou the north bank of the Pacolet, where he was re- intoreed by Colonel Pickens and Major MeCall with two hundred and sixty mounted Caroliniens. On the 28th or 29th, General Davidson brought in one hundred and twenty men and returned to forward five hundred more.
Cornwallis' plan * was to penetrate between the
1
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DELAWARE DURING THE REVOLUTION.
two divisions of the Americans and erush them in detail. On January 1st he sent Tarleton forward from Winnsborough with instructions to destroy Morgan or push over Broad River towards King's Mountain, the main body of the British to co-oper- ate by advancing to the same point, and in case Morgan's forces should succeed in erossing the river, to intercept their retreat and compel them either to fight, disperse or surrender. Tarleton reached the Paeolet on the 15th, while Cornwallis, proceeding up the eastern bank of the Broad River, arrived at Turkey Creek on the following day. Morgan at once broke eamp and pushed over the mountain road to flancocksville ; then. turning into a by-road, he proceeded towards the head of Thieketty Creek, and arrived at the Cow- pens about sundown, when he ordered a halt. Ser- geant Seymour wrote of this march that it was made very difficult by " crossing deep swamps and elimbing very steep hills," and added that " the inhabitants along this way live very poorly ; their plantations uncultivated, and living in mean houses ; they seem chiefly to be of the offspring of the ancient Irish, being very affable and courteous to strangers."
Bivouacking at the Cowpens on the night of the 16th, Morgan went among his men to encourage them for the battle of the morrow. Major Thomas Young, a volunteer in the fight, wrote:
"Ile went among the volunteers, helped them to fix their swords, joked with them about their sweethearts and told thein to keep in good spettits and the day would be ours, Long after I laid down he was going abont among the subhers encouraging them and telling them that the 'Old Wagoner' would crack huis whip over Ben (Tarleton in the morning EN sure as he lived. 'Just hold up your heads, boys,' he would sty ; * give them three fires and yon are free. And then, when you return to your homes, how the old folks will bless you, and the girls kiss you for your gallant conduct ! ' I don't think that he slept a wink that night."
Morgan placed Major MeDowell, with sixty pieked men of the South Carolina militia, and Major Cunningham, with the same number of Georgians, one hundred yards in advance of his front line to act as skirmishers. In the rear of these were ranged in open order, , on a line three hundred yards long and one hundred and fifty yards in advance of the main body, three hun- dred and fifty Georgia and North Carolina militia. In the rear of these and on the brow of a hill were the Delaware and Maryland men, this part of the line being commanded by Lieutenant- Colonel John Eager Howard, who posted to the right and left respectively the Augusta riflemen and the Virginia militia. Still farther to the rear were Colonel Washington's horsemen and McCall's volunteers. Morgan specially addressed Howard's men, telling them to fire low and de- liberately, not to break on any account, and if forced to retire, to rally on the eminence in their rear, where, supported by the cavalry and militia, defeat he regarded as impossible ; and he coneluded by declaring that upon them
the fortune of the day and his hopes of glory de. pended.
Advancing under protection of a heavy fire from their artillery, the British pressed courageously on to the foremost rank of militia, who at tirst stood firm and answered them with volleys that opened great gaps in their ranks. But when the enemy were within one hundred and tifty yards the militia broke and made for Howard's main line; but before reaching it, they were charged by the British dra- goons and sought the protection behind the hill, whither they were closely pursued. It was the decisive moment of the battle ; for it' the Dela- ware and Maryland men had wavered the day would have been lost. " Tarleton," wrote Soy- mour, " endeavored to outflank us on the right. to prevent which Captain Kirkwood wheeled his company to the right and attacked their left thank so vigorously that they were soon repul-ed." The British, indeed, had deemed the victory already secured by the retreat of the militia, and had thrown themselves with cheers on Howard's front. The pieces of his men blazed and the enemy re- coiled, but charged again, and for twenty minutes pressed against the Continentals with the whole weight of their compact line. Then they fell back slightly, and Tarleton ordered up his reserve, and the British again moved forward, while their dra- goons, taking a wide eireuit to the left. were pre- paring to attack the American right flank. At this eritical moment that portion of the British horse which had pursued the flying militia flew past the American left, closely followed by Wash- ington's cavalry, while Pickens' South Carolina militia had rallied and were moving to the support of Howard. The British Ime still advanced with the reserve overlapping Howard's front and en- dangering his right flank. To meet the threatened attack and protect himself until the cavalry and militia could be brought to his assistance, Howard ordered Kirkwood's company to change front, but mistaking the order, the men, after coming to the right-about, marched to the rear, a movement in which they were slowly imitated by the remain- der of the line. Howard, supposing that they had been ordered to fall back to the hill in the rear, calmly noticed the admirable deportment of his men, who moved as if in parade. Ilis first in- pulse was to correct the mistake, but struek with the manner in which the retrograde movement was effected, he allowed it to proceed.1
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