USA > Georgia > The history of Georgia: containing brief sketches of the most remarkable events, up to the present day, Vol. II > Part 20
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late to relinquish a project which he so anxious!" wished to accomplish : he was therefore compell- ed to depend upon courage and stratagem, as sub- stitutes for numbers in his ranks.
Colonel Clarke's arrangements had been made so suddenly, and so unexpectedly to the enemy. that he reached the vicinity of Augusta unobserv- ed, and found them unprepared for an attack. On the morning of the 14th of September, he halted near the town, and formed his command into three divisions : the right commanded by lieutenant-colonel M'Call, the left by major Sam- uel Taylor, and the centre by colonel Clarke in person. The centre approached the town by the middle road, and the right and left by the lower and upper roads, at its eastern and western extre. mities. Near Hawk's creek on the west, major Taylor fell in with an Indian camp : they kept up a desultory fire and retreated toward their allies. Taylor pressed on to get possession of M'Kay's trading-house, denominated the White-house, . one mile and an half west of the town. At this house the Indians joined a company of the king's rangers, commanded by captain Johnston. The attack upon the camp gave the first intimation to Brown of the Americans' approach. He ordered Grierson to re-enforce Johnston, and advanced to the scene of action in person, with the main body. The centre and right divisions completely sur- prised the garrisons of the forts, and took posses- sion without resistance. Seventy prisoners, and
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all the Indian presents, were put under charge of a guard, and Clarke marched with the residue to the assistance of major Taylor. Brown and Gri- erson had joined Johnston and the Indians, and- upon Clarke's approach, took shelter in the White- house, and defended it. Several attempts were made to dislodge the enemy, by taking possession of some small out-houses to the eastward; but they failed, from the houses being too small and flanked by the Indians. Finding that these houses furnished little or no defence, they were abandon- ed. A desultory fire was continued from eleven o'clock until night, but it was found that the ene- my could not be dislodged without artillery. The house was situated about eighty yards from the river. The Indians, who had not room to fight from the house, took shelter under the banks, which furnished them with a good breast work ; while they were secured by the thick wood be- tween the bank and the waters edge. At the close of the day the firing ceased, and strong guards were posted to keep the enemy in check.
Under cover of the night, Brown added strength to his position, by throwing up some works round the house. The crevices, between the weather boards and ceiling, were filled up with earth, to make it proof against musketry: loop-holes were cut out at convenient distances ; the windows were filled up with boards, taken from the floors ; and defence rendered as formid. able as the materials at command would admita
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The next morning two pieces of artillery, six and four pounders, were brought up from Grierson's fort, and placed in a position to bear upon c house ; but the carriages not being calculated for field service, added to unskilful management, they proved of ittle use : captain Martin, of South- Carolina, the only artillerist attached to colonel Clarke's command, was unfortunately killed soon after the pieces were brought to bear upon the cnemy. A fire was continued through the day, with small arms, but without much prospect of compelling the enemy either to abandon the house or surrender.
On the night of the 15th, Brown was re-en. forced by fifty Cherokee Indians, who crossed the . river in canoes : they were armed, and united in defending their beloved man. On the morning of the 15th, before day light, the Americans drove the Indians from the river bank, and cut off their communication with the water, by which the wounded, particularly, suffered greatly. The dead men and horses which lay about the house, be- came very offensive. Early in the engagement Brown was shot through both thighs and suffered among the wounded, who were often heard calling for water and medical aid.
The sufferings of the wounded ; the want of water ; and the nauseous smell of animal putrifac- tion, it was supposed, would discourage the be- sieged, and induce them to surrender. On the 17th, colonel Clarke sent colonel Brown a sum-
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mons; but the proposition was rejected, and Clarke warned of the destruction his measures would bring upon the western division of Georgia. In the afternoon the summons to surrender was re. . peated, with the addition that Brown would be held responsible for the consequences of his temerity, and a declared determination to reduce the garri- son, whatever might be the requisite sacrifice to accomplish it. Brown replied, that it was his de- termination to defend himself to the last extremity.
Immediately after colonel Clarke arrived at Augusta, Brown had despatched messengers by different routes to Ninety-six ; informing colonel Cruger of his situation, and the necessity of im- mediate relief by re-enforcements. Sir Patrick Houstoun, one of the messengers, reached Nine. ty-six early on the next day, and was the first to communicate Brown's embarrased situation to Cruger, who lost no time in making preparations and advancing to his relief. On the night of the 17th, Clarke's spies informed him of Cruger's approach, by forced marches, with five hundred British regulars and royal militia, to the relief of the besieged. Many of colonel Clarke's men had gone to visit their friends and families, in Burke county, from whom they had long been absent : others, who had been actuated by the hope of ob- taining plunder, rather than by motives of zeal in the cause of their country, had decamped, laden with the goods which colonel Brown had receiv- ed not long before for presents to the Indians,
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About eight o'clock, on the morning of the 18th, the British troops appeared on the opposite side of the river. The weakness occasioned by the loss of men in the action and siege, and by the desertion of those who prefered plunder to the honor and interest of their country, compelled the Americans to raise the siege and retreat about ten o'clock, having sustained a loss of about sixty, killed and wounded : among the former, were captains Charles Jourdine and William Martin. William Luckie, a brave and much respected young man from Carolina, was killed early in the contest in a desperate effort to gain the possession of the White-house. Such of the Americans as were badly wounded, and not in a condition to bo removed, were left in the town. Captain Asby, an officer noted for his bravery and humanity, with twenty-eight others, including the wounded, fell into the hands of the enemy and were dispos- ed of, under the sanguinary order of lord Corn- wallis, in the following manner : captain Asby and twelve of the wounded prisoners, were hanged on the staircase of the White-house, where Brown was lying wounded, so that he might have the satisfaction of seeing the victims of his vengeance expire. Their bodies were delivered up to the Indians, who scalped and otherwise mangled them and threw them in the river. Henry Duke, ' John Burgamy, Scott Reeden, Jordan Ricketson,
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. Henry Duke was hanged by order of colonel Cruger, und .. the charge of violating his protection
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Darling, and two youths, brothers, of seven- teen and fifteen years of age, named Glass, were all hanged : the former of these youths was shot through the thigh and could not be carried off when the retreat was ordered, and the younger brother could not be prevailed on to leave him ; his tenderness and affection cost him his life : a horse was the fatal scaffold on which they were . mounted, and from the gibbet they entered to- gether on the long journey of eternity .. All this was merciful, when compared with the fate which awaited the other prisoners ; they were delivered to the Indians to glut their vengeance for the loss they had sustained in the action and siege. The Indians formed a circle and placed the prisoners in the centre, and their eagerness to shed blood spared the victims from tedious torture : some were scalped before they sunk under the Indian weapons of war ; others were thrown into fires and roasted to death. The record of these trans- actions is now before the author, from the pens of British officers who were present, who exultingly communicated it to their friends in Savannah, Charleston, and London, where it stands upon re- cord in the papers of the day.
Major Carter, adjutant to colonel Clarke's regiment, received a mortal wound at the White- house door, endeavouring to prevent the enemy from gaining possession of it, and with great haz- ard, his companions carried him off the ground ; he was removed to Mrs. Bugg's plantation, where
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he died a few days afterward. Colonel Clarke's own words give the best evidence of the high standing of this officer, in his estimation : " A man of more bravery than major Carter, never occupied a space between heaven and earth."
The British loss was announced in colonel Brown's official letter, published in Charleston, but cannot now be stated with correctness. : A- mong the slain, was captain Andrew Johnston and ensign Silcox, of the Florida rangers. Ac- cording to the British account, seventy Indians were killed.
The morning on which colonel Clarke retreat- ed, he paroled the British officers and soldiers who had been captured, and received certificates from the officers, of the number of men who were to be considered and accounted for as prisoners of war : captain, or lieutenant James Smith, for himself and forty-one of the king's rangers ; a commissioned officer and eleven men of Dula- ney's corps, and a surgeon. These officers and private soldiers, regardless of their obligations as prisoners on parole, resumed their arms immedi- ately after Clarke retreated.
Colonel Brown's command at Augusta, con- sisted of two hundred and fifty men, of several corps, but principally of Florida rangers ; two hundred and fifty Creek, and fifty Cherokee Indi- ans ; making a total of five hundred and fifty. If Brown had not been surprised in the first in- stance, the numbers in his ranks would have au-
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thorized the defeat of his adversaries. This cir- cumstance combined with his personal safety, probably occasioned his obstinate perseverance in the defence of this feeble fortress.
After the siege was raised, colonel John Jones made a visit to his friends in Burke county. British detachments were advanced in every di -. rection, to seize upon such persons as had parta- ken in the siege, or were friendly to them by acts or deeds. One of these parties under the com- mand of lieutenant Kemp, of the rangers, over- took and surprised colonel Jones and five others at a house on Beech island, below Augusta : James Goldwire was killed, and Jones and two others were wounded ; they succeeded however, in repelling the rangers, and Jones and his party retreated into a swamp. The place of Jones' con- cealment, before he had recovered from his wound was discovered, and he was taken prisoner. Ma- ny of the loyalists wished to put him to death, but captain Wylly prevented it, by placing a guard over him for his protection. The country was searched, and those whose relations were engaged in the American cause, were arrested and crowd- ed into prisons : others who were suspected of having intercourse with any of Clarke's command, were hanged without the forms of trial. The venerable grandfathers of the American patriots, whose hoary heads were bending toward the grave, were crowded into filthy places of confine- ment for no other crimes than those of receiving
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visits from their descendants, after a long absence. Among the number was the father of captains Samuel and James Alexander, in the seventy- eighth year of his age : he was arrested by a party commanded by colonel Grierson, and by his or- der, was ignominiously chained to a cart and dragged like a criminal forty miles in two days; and when he attempted to rest his feeble frame, by leaning upon the cart, the driver was ordered to scourge him with his whip. These old men were kept in close confinement, as hostages for the neutrality of the country ; but by the incle- mency of the season, the small pox, and inhuman treatment, very few of them survived to greet their friends in freedom, upon the re-conquest of it by the American troops. Twenty-five persons who had been paroled in Augusta several months, were sent to Charleston ; among whom were majors George Handley and Samuel Stirk, captain Ches- ley Bostwick, Mr. John Werreat, and several members of the executive council of Georgia.
The total defeat of general Gates, near Cam- den, on the 16th of August, and the surprise and defeat of general Sumpter, at Fishing creek, two days afterward, encouraged the hopes and enter- prise of the enemy, whose ferocity increased with their success and power to injure. -
In common with all other military expeditions of disastrous issue, much blame was attached to colonel Clarke for the one he projected and car- ried against Augusta. He was charged with de.
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ceiving his followers, by giving a high colouring to prospects, which it was unjustly alleged, ex- isted only in fancy, and with having enticed them from their peaceful abodes, without a prospect of advantage to the cause in which he was engaged ; and that the ruin and distress of many of their families, were involved in the calamity. Some of the writers of that day, who had neither the zeal, patriotism nor courage of this celebrated offi- cer, denominated this expedition " an ill timed and a premature insurrection :" and in this extra- ordinary language; without an examination of the motives, it is recorded in the history of the war. Similar charges were alleged against M'Call in Carolina, who had a secondary share in the ex- pedition. . The inhabitants had not yet felt the scourge which was preparing for them. Their protections were soon after violated, their proper- ty confiscated or plundered, and they were per- emptorily ordered to take up arms in defence of the royal government, not only in their own state, but in the subjugation of North-Carolina. The impolicy of the British rulers upon this occasion, was strongly evidenced by subsequent events. Unexpectedly required to take up arms, the peo- ple at large spurned the idea of fighting against their countrymen : by these harsh measures, they considered themselves released from the ob- ligations contained in their protections, and the British soon found in them, a formidable enemy in the field.
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Colonel Clarke's plans were laid with skill and judgment, and the part he had to act in them was well executed. Colonel Brown must soon have yielded for want of water and provisions, and" would not probably have held out so long as he did, had it not been under a certain expectation of being relieved from Ninety-six. There are but few instances, where the plans of a commanding. officer do not suffer more or less by disclosure ; and there are many instances where the causes of failure require secrecy for a time : consequently, his reputation is sometimes liable to suffer by acts of caution and prudence. If a powerful besieging army was compelled to retire from a feeble for. tress for want of ammunition, what fatal conse- quences might there result from an immediate disclosure of the cause. Fatal disasters were not unusual during the revolutionary war, which can be traced to the gratification of inquisitive militia officers, who refused to act without being made acquainted with the motives. It is the business of a commander to think, and of his army to act : if this confidence cannot justly be reposed in him, he is not worthy of the station.
After colonel Clarke raised the siege at Au- gusta, he retreated to Little river. His men dis- persed in small parties to return to their homes for the purpose of taking leave of their friends, and making preparations to leave the country ; and a time and place were appointed for their rendez- vous, The prospects of poverty and want of sub.
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sistence, induced many of those, whose families were not too unwieldy, to carry them off to some place where they could be provided for. About the last of September, the distressed remains of Clarke's regiment met at the place appointed. When he was ready to march, he found himself at the head of three hundred men, who had in their train four hundred women and children. . The political condition of the country, for two . years, had been such, that the vestiges of cultiva- tion were scarcely any where to be seen, and to leave families behind under such circumstan- ces, was subjecting them to certain want, if not to starvation, in a country under the control of an enemy, whose barbarity has been heretofore described.
With this helpless multitude, like Moses from Egypt of old times, and with not more than five days subsistence, Colonel Clarke commenced a march of near two hundred miles, through a mountainous wilderness, to avoid being cut off by the enemy. On the eleventh day, they reached the Wattauga and Nolachuckie rivers, on the north side of the mountains, in a starved and otherwise deplorable condition. Many of the men and wo- men had received no subsistence for several days, except nuts ; and the last two, even the children were subsisted on the same kind of food. This is a distressing picture, to which the pen cannot do justice ; therefore, it must be filled up by the ima- gination. Many of the tender sex were obliged
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to travel on foot, and some of them without shoes ; and notwithstanding the difficulties they had to encounter, they yielded without murmuring, and by their smiles cheered the drooping spirits of their husbands. The tenderness of the female heart, is always open to the sufferings of the brave and the honourable.
The inhabitants of the country, where these families were distributed, have been justly famed for their hospitality, and in no instance have the feelings been more completely verified, than in the alleviation of the distressing demands, which these unfortunate people now made upon them. They had nothing to recommend them, but their poverty, and the cause in which they suffered : these were sufficient. Supplies of clothing, sub- sistence and shelter, were in no instance withheld from them : nor were these gratuities momenta- ry : they ceased only with the demands which the occasion called for upon their bounty.
So soon as lord Cornwallis heard of the retreat of colonel Clarke from Augusta, he ordered colo- nel Ferguson of the British army, with one hun- dred British regulars, to march to the frontier of South-Carolina, where he was well informed that his numbers could be augmented by loyalists, so as to form a sufficient force to overcome colonel Clarke and cut off his retreat, supposing that he would be obliged to return through South-Caro- lina. Apprized of the danger which would attend this route, Clarke secured himself against it by
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crossing the mountains. M'Call made good his retreat on the eastern side, near the slope of the mountains, but suffered much for want of sub- sistence.
Flushed by the success of the British arms against generals Gates and Sumpter, and the re- treat of colonel Clarke from Georgia ; colonel Ferguson flattered himself with the subjugation of the country, without opposition. Elated by the field for plunder, which was opened in North- Carolina, the loyalists flocked to the royal standard in such numbers, that Ferguson was at a loss to furnish them with subsistence and employment, until they could reach the promised land ; where they were to join the British army under lord Cornwallis. This junction was to be formed on . the north side of Cataba river, at Charlotte, in Mecklinburgh county.
While the loyalists were amused with these golden fancies, which were to be reaped from the fields of honest industry : the hardy race of re- publican mountaineers were embodying for their destruction. The wanton depredations commit- ted by the followers of Ferguson, were indiscrim- inately directed to all classes. The well wishers to the royal cause were not ex( mpted from pillage, if they refused uniting with them and taking up arms. This procedure excited in the breasts of the republicans, the highest indignation ; and like a stream advancing from its source, by branches falling into it on the right and left, the American
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army increased as it progressed. Colonel Camp. bell was nominally the commanding-officer, and the troops were arranged in four divisions under the command of colonels Cleveland, Shelby, Se. vier, and Williams. Colonel Ferguson had taken his position on the top of King's mountain, where he was attacked by the Americans from four dif- ferent points. The militia were ordered to fight in their own way, by securing their bodies behind trees from the enemy's fire, and to take deliberate aim. Ferguson and his whole army, consisting of eleven hundred men, with a few exceptions, were killed, wounded, and taken prisoners, and all their arms, ammunition, camp equipage, hor- ses, and baggage of every description, fell into the hands of the victorious Americans. While colo- nel Clarke was on his way crossing the mountains he met captain Hampton, who informed him that colonel Campbell was collecting a force on the . west side of the mountains to attack Ferguson. Major Chandler and captain Johnston, with thirty men, filed off and formed a junction with colonel Campbell, at Gilbert's town, and had a share in the defeat of Ferguson. After disposing of their fami- lies among the hospitable inhabitants of Ken- tucky, and securing them against the want of the actual necessaries of life, colonel Clarke collected the remains of his regiment, re-crossed the moun- tains and returned to his former position on the borders of South-Carolina, about the 20th of Oc- tober. These men had been so long employed in
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active service, and had so frequently fought and skirmished with the enemy, that they might be considered as veteran troops.
The depreciation of the paper medium, had been severely felt among all descriptions of peo- ple, but more particularly by those connected with the army. The monthly pay of a captain, was not equal to the value of a pair of shoes. The whole army was badly clothed, badly subsisted, and the money with which they were paid was of very little value. The sources of public revenue had been exhausted in supporting the expenses of the war. While negociations were plt pending between the United-States and the continental powers of Europe, Mr. Telfair of Georgia, suggested to Mr. Walton, his colleague in congress, the idea of sending ministers generally, to those powers, and ef drawing bills upon them at six months sight, depending upon loans for their acceptance and payment, with an offer of six per cent interest, to be paid annually, and the principal at some dis= tant period. Mr. Walton at first view consider- ed the plan chimerical, but admitted of its being worthy of consideration. When the subject was introduced before the house by Mr. Telfair, he displayed a solidity of financial talents, in an un- explored field, which eventually saved the nation- al credit. Bills were drawn upon foreign nations to a considerable amount, on the faith of the public credit, while congress were employed in making ministerial appointments to the courts up«
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on which these bills were drawn. They were accordingly accepted and paid ; and for a time, relieved the public embarrassments, and gave new life to the prosecution of the war.
In October, general Sumpter left his camp and went to Hillsborough to obtain some neces- saries for his troops; in which he was unsuccess- ful, and returned to his camp early in November. During his absence he had concerted with gene- ral Smallwood, that his command should manœu- vre near the British army, at Winnsborough, and endeavour to draw off a considerable detachment from Cornwallis' army, in the pursuit of him ; and Smallwood was to strike at the main army, with the continental troops, and North-Carolina militia. Smallwood being informed that general Greene was quickly expected to take command of the southern army, did not co-operate accord- ing to his engagement.
Sumpter moved from his camp, at Stalling's. on Fishing creek, with four hundred and twenty- five men, to the fish-dam ford on Broad river, which is twenty-eight miles from Winnsborough, and encamped on the east side on the morning of the 9th of November. From the fish-dam ford, the road to Charlotte, in North-Carolina, runs eastward; and on the right there was J- plantation fenced along the road for half a mile, where the Winnsborough road leads out to the right : on the left of the road the ground is open and flat for two hundred yards from the river, and
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