USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: The Colonial and Revolutionary Periods 1584 1783, Volume I > Part 46
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Cornwallis of course realized the importance of overtak- ing Morgan before he could unite with Huger. Accordingly at Ramsaur's Mill he stripped his army of its heavy baggage, wagons, and all other material that might encumber the move-
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ment of his troops. He fully appreciated the danger of the course he was pursuing, but he also realized that it was too late to turn back. The prize he sought was great enough to justify the hazard he took. From the time he left Ram- saur's Mill, he put aside all hesitation and on January 28th his army, stated by Clinton to be "considerably above three thousand, exclusive of cavalry and militia," moved forward with most soldier-like precision and swiftness. On January 31st, he reached Beattie's Ford of the Catawba and feinting there with his main force, sent General O'Hara to force a crossing at Cowan's Ford four miles below, which Davidson guarded with a small body of militia. At daybreak on Feb- ruary 1st, O'Hara's men forced the passage, killing the gal- lant Davidson, and dispersing his men. Taking up the pur- suit again, on February 3d, the British reached Trading Ford on the Yadkin, seven miles from Salisbury, just in time to see the last of Morgan's men safely over. After their passage a sudden rise in the river made it impassable and again Corn- wallis was baffled. Realizing that he could not now prevent the union of Morgan and Huger, Cornwallis endeavored by a rapid march to prevent Greene's crossing the Dan by tak- ing possession of the upper fords; but again he was defeated in his object by Greene's forethought in collecting enough boats to enable him to transfer his army at Irwin's Ferry seventy miles from Guilford Court House which Cornwallis had dismissed from consideration since it could only be crossed by ferry.
Greene had now placed an impassable river between him- self and his enemy. He had not only saved his own army, he had led his enemy into a trap from which he could extri- cate himself only at great sacrifice. For Cornwallis was 230 miles from his base; in the enemy's country in dead of win- ter; without supplies; among timid friends, and with an ever increasing hostile militia swarming in his rear. Greene's campaign elicited the highest praise from both enemy and friends. "Every movement of the Americans during their march from the Catawba to Virginia," wrote Tarleton, "was judiciously designed and vigorously executed." "The rebels conduct their enterprises in Carolina," declared Lord Ger- main, "with more spirit and skill than they have shown in any other part of America." But assuredly the praise that Greene and his ragged heroes valued most were the judicious words that came from their great commander-in-chief. "Your
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retreat before Cornwallis," wrote Washington, "is highly applauded by all ranks."
Balked of his prey, Cornwallis abandoned the pursuit and retired to Hillsboro to rest his army and rally the Tories to his support. His men were exhausted and badly in need of supplies. During the march he had lost 250 men and he now hoped to make the loss good by recruits from the Loyal- ists. On February 20th, therefore, he issued a proclamation declaring his purpose to rescue the king's loyal subjects in North Carolina "from the cruel tyranny under which they have groaned for several years," and inviting "all such faith- ful and loyal subjects to repair, without loss of time, with their arms and ten days provisions, to the Royal Standard now erected at Hillsborough." Five days later a band of 300 Tories, under Colonel John Pyle of Chatham County, at- tempting to reach Hillsboro in response to Cornwallis's proc- lamation, were surprised by "Light Horse Harry" Lee's bat- talion of dragoons and utterly cut to pieces. Nearly 100 were killed, most of the others wounded, and but few escaped. Lee did not lose a man. News of this disaster, together with the startling news that on February 23d the defeated Greene had actually re-crossed the Dan and was moving on Guilford Court House, decidedly dampened the enthusiasm of the "Tories for rallying to "the Royal Standard." "Our situa- tion," wrote Cornwallis, [was] "amongst timid friends, and adjoining to inveterate Rebels." Accordingly when, on Feb- ruary 26th, he moved out of Hillsboro to meet Greene, his army was numerically weaker than it was when he set out from Ramsaur's Mill in pursuit of Morgan.
Greene had been more fortunate. The skill with which he had conducted his retreat had inspired confidence in his leadership, and the Whigs now rallied to him. From Virginia Steuben sent him 400 Continentals and a force of militia. Pickens was busy rallying the militia which had been dis- persed by Cornwallis's passage of the Catawba. The Gen- eral Assembly recalled Caswell to the command of the North Carolina militia and placed him at the head of the Council Extraordinary which, having superseded the Board of War, was bestirring itself to furnish Greene with men and sup- plies. Governor Nash was exerting himself to get out the militia. From all these sources reinforcements poured into Greene's camp. When he crossed the Dan on February 13, in his retreat, his army consisted of 1,430 exhausted troops; three weeks later it had been increased to more than 5,000 Vol. I-31
NATHANAEL GREENE
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troops of whom 1,715 were Continentals. Even before all these reinforcements had reached him, Greene felt strong enough to recross the Dan, and challenge Cornwallis to battle.
Both generals were eager for the contest. With Corn- wallis, 230 miles from his base and in the enemy's country, nothing less than an out-and-out victory would suffice. Greene on the contrary could afford to fight a drawn battle; even a defeat, which inflicted serious damage on the enemy and left his own army intact, might have beneficial results. During his retreat he had selected the battleground, near Guilford Court House, and now having decided to fight, by a series of skillful maneuvers he succeeded in drawing the enemy thither. His force numbered 4,404 men, most of whom had never seen a battle. Exclusive of officers, Cornwallis had 2,253 men, at least 2,000 of whom were seasoned veterans. When to Greene's numerical superiority is added the advantage of his position, which he had selected with great care, the odds were about even.
Greene posted his North Carolina militia in front, flank- ing them on the right with Virginia militia and on the left with Virginia and Delaware troops. About 300 yards behind them was a line of Virginia militia whose flanks were pro- tected on the right by Washington's cavalry, on the left by Lee's. The third line, 550 yards in the rear of the second, was composed of the Continentals. Cornwallis opened the battle with a slight cannonade a little after noon on March 15th, after which the whole British line advanced with ad- mirable precision, their bayonets glittering in the bright sun of a cloudless day. The North Carolina militia, who were to receive the first shock, had no bayonets; they were armed only with hunting rifles which took three minutes to load. They had never before been under fire, but as they were ex- pert marksmen they were expected to fire two volleys with telling effect and then to retire. These orders they carried out effectively. Their first fire was delivered at 150 yards ; their second at forty, and wrought, according to the Brit- ish historian, Lamb, who was there, "dreadful havoc" in the British ranks, but failed to check their advance. There- upon, while attempting to retire according to orders, the untrained militia broke and retreated in confusion. The sec- ond line in turn was attacked with great vigor and after a gallant defence forced to retreat. Then the British regulars came in contact with the Continentals, and the fighting was stubborn and bloody. Twice the British were repulsed with
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heavy losses, and Cornwallis was compelled to rally them in person. Having restored his lines and brought up fresh troops, he prepared for a final assault with the seven bat- talions which he still had. But Greene, determined not to risk the destruction of his own army, and satisfied with the damage inflicted upon the enemy, withdrew from the field leaving Cornwallis in possession. Greene had lost 78 killed, 183 wounded, and 1,046 militia who were missing; but he had inflicted upon Cornwallis a loss of 93 killed, 413 wounded, and 26 missing, which was more than 25 per cent of his total strength.
Retiring to a strong defensive position about ten miles from Guilford, Greene awaited his opponent's next move with confidence. In spite of their victory, no such feeling of con- fidence prevailed in the camp of the British, or among their friends. Cornwallis announced his victory in a proclamation, called upon "all loyal subjects to stand forth and take an active part in restoring good order and government," and of-' fered pardon and restoration "as soon as possible to all the privileges of constitutional government" to all rebels who would surrender themselves to the royal authorities. But Cornwallis was whistling to keep up his courage and none knew it better than the Tories, who were not minded to risk their necks on the strength of a victory by proclamation. "Many of the Inhabitants rode into Camp," wrote Cornwallis, "shook me by the hand, said they were glad to see us, and to hear that we had beat Greene, and then rode home again." He was in a dilemma. Though victorious, his losses had been too heavy to justify his resuming. the offensive, while his posi- tion was too precarious to admit of his doing nothing. He must move, but whither? A march to Wilmington seemed to be the most feasible step. Wilmington was already in pos- session of a British force under Major James H. Craige. It was in close touch with the Highlanders upon whom Corn- wallis placed his chief dependence. Moreover at Wilming- ton he would have the aid of the British fleet. If he could draw Greene after him, with his army refitted he might again turn upon the Americans, defeat them, and re-establish the prestige of British arms. To Wilmington, therefore, Corn- wallis determined to go, and on March 18th, abandoning his wounded, the victorious general broke camp and beat a hasty retreat to the Cape Fear.
Greene followed his retreating foe as far as Ramsay's Mill, stopping there to watch his further movements and to
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reorganize his own army. When assured that Cornwallis really intended to go to Wilmington, Greene resolved to dis- miss him from further consideration and to turn his own attention to the recovery of South Carolina and Georgia. He discharged his militia, whose time was up, and with his army thus reduced to about 1,500 Continentals of the Maryland and Virginia lines, and the cavalry of Washington and Lee, he broke camp and again turned his face southward. On his march he was joined by about 500 North Carolina Continen- tals, composed of the militia whom the Council Extraordi- nary, by a curious order, had "sentenced to twelve months' duty as Continentals," because of their precipitate flight at Guilford Court House. Disciplined, trained, equipped, and skillfully led, these men on many a hard-fought field in South Carolina demonstrated that their conduct at Guilford was chargeable to other causes than cowardice. Thus reinforced, and further strengthened with occasional additions of militia, Greene began that remarkable series of movements in which, losing every battle, but winning every campaign, he suc- ceeded in wrenching Camden, Augusta, Ninety-Six, and all other posts in the interior, and Georgetown on the coast, from the grasp of the enemy.
North Carolina troops took part in all of these campaigns. There were 248 North Carolina militia at Hobkirk's Hill, and more than 200 of the new North Carolina Continentals at the seige of Augusta. At Eutaw Springs, September 8, about half of Greene's army of 2,300 men were North Caro- linians. A few were militia, the rest, brigaded under Gen- eral Jethro Sumner, were the "Guilford runaways," now serving on the continental establishment. Discipline and training had turned them into excellent soldiers and at Eutaw Springs they completely recovered the prestige which they had lost at Guilford Court House. The North Carolina militia forming the center of Greene's front line, after fight- ing gallantly fell back before the charge of the British regu- lars. As they retired Sumner's Continentals rushed forward in a charge which Greene himself declared "would have graced the veterans of the great King of Prussia," and re- stored the line. "I was at a loss which to admire most," said Greene, "the gallantry of the officers or the good con- duct of the men." The battle of Eutaw was practically won when the hungry Americans, having captured the British camp, stopped to regale themselves with delicacies with which they had long been strangers, and thus gave the retreating
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foe a chance to rally and return to the attack. Though finally forced to relinquish the field, thus giving his enemy the right to claim the victory, Greene brought off his army in good order saving his wounded and prisoners. Again he had in- flicted a greater loss upon his enemy than he himself sus- tained, and as a result forced him to abandon his last strong- hold in the interior of South Carolina and seek safety within the British fortifications at Charleston.
i "After Eutaw there was no further serious fighting in either South Carolina or Georgia. The British then held only Charleston and Savannah from which without sea power the Americans could not hope to drive them, but elsewhere throughout those two states the American governments were 'firmly re-established.
It had not occurred to Cornwallis that Greene would alto- gether disregard his movements and dismiss him from fur- ther consideration. Consequently when he reached Wilming- ton, April 7th, and found that Greene had gone to South Carolina, his situation was extremely humiliating. "My situation liere is very distressing," he wrote; "Greene took the advantage of my being obliged to come to this place, and lias Marched to South Carolina." "My present undertak- ing," he confessed to Clinton, "sits heavy on my mind." What should he do next? He could not remain idle at Wil- mington. To transport his army to Charleston, and begin luis work all over again, he declared, "would be as ruinous and disgraceful to Britain as most events could be." The only alternative seemed to be to march into Virginia, unite his forces with those of General Phillips, whom Clinton had recently sent thither, and overrun that State. Accordingly again proclaiming the conquest of North Carolina, he left Josiah Martin at Wilmington to administer the royal govern- ment, and on April 25th set out on his march to Virginia.
The Whigs had no force with which to oppose Cornwallis' movements had they desired to do so; indeed, those were for- tunate who could save themselves by abandoning their prop- erty and hiding in the woods and swamps until the British columns had passed. Cornwallis, himself a kindly, humane man, waged war only with the armed forces of his enemy, and kept his soldiers under strict discipline, severely punishing those found guilty of pillage and abuse of the inhabitants; but he could exercise no such control over the Tories and camp followers in the wake of his army. They plundered with impunity every plantation along their route. "The whole
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country was struck with terror," wrote William Dickson of Duplin County, an eye witness to the scenes he describes, "almost every man quit his habitation and fled." "Not a man of any rank or distinction or scarcely any man of prop- erty has lain in his house," wrote Benjamin Seawell on May 13th, "since the British passed through Nash County. We are distressed with all the rogues and vagabonds that Cornwallis can raise to pester us with." However there was no disposition on the part of Cornwallis, or of his subordi- nates, to condone abuses and crimes. Near Halifax, records Stedman, "some enormities were committed that were a dis- grace to the name of man ;" while "Bloody" Tarleton ordered that a sergeant and a private, "accused of rape and robbery," be arrested and "conducted to Halifax, where they were con- demned to death by Martial law," and immediately exe- cuted.3
The departure of the main armies left North Carolina in the grip of numerous loosely organized, undisciplined bands of armed men, both Whigs and Tories, who during the next year carried on in every county, in almost every neigh- borhood, a relentless civil war. During this period North Carolina was the victim of a carnival of pillage, rapine and murder that surpasses that of the Era of Reconstruction. Each side having no authority to restrain its excesses com- mitted abuses and crimes against its enemy which served only to give the other excuse for retaliations. Bands of robbers, masquerading under the guise of patriots or of Loyalists as suited their purpose, took advantage of the situa- tion to inaugurate a reign of terror in many communities. Plantations were plundered, houses were burned, men were murdered, women were outraged. The Tories were primarily responsible for these conditions. They were probably guilty of no greater crimes as individuals than the Whigs, but as a party they kept up the strife long after it could serve any useful purpose, either military or political, and obviously could have no other result than to desolate the country and impoverish or destroy its inhabitants.
Their course was due chiefly to the presence at Wilming- ton of Major James H. Craige who with 450 British regulars had occupied that town in January, 1781. Craige was a bold and aggressive soldier. His appearance on the Cape Fear animated the spirits of the Tories and greatly discouraged
3 Campaigns, p. 290.
.
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the Whigs. For four years the latter had slept in fancied security as if they expected the victories of 1776 to be a perpetual safe-guard against attack. Craige gave them a rude awakening, forcing them to abandon their homes and seek refuge in obscure retreats in the backwoods. But flight could not save them from the restless energy of the British troopers and their Tory sympathizers. The Tories espe- cially scoured the country day and night in search of the men who had so long lorded it over them. Typical of the situation in all the eastern counties was that described by William Dickson in Duplin. Immediately after the depar- ture of Cornwallis "came on our greatest troubles," he wrote; "for the Loyalists, or as we term them Tories, began to assemble and hold councils in every part of the State, and thinking the country already conquered, because the enemy had gone through without being checked, they were audacious enough to apprehend and take several of our principal lead- ing men prisoners and carry them down to Wilmington and deliver them to the guards. There were numbers of our good citizens thus betrayed, perished on board prison-ships and in their power. This so alarmed the inhabitants that none of us dared to sleep in our houses or beds at night for fear of being surprised by those blood-suckers and carried off to certain destruction." Chief among those who were thus betrayed by their old-time friends and neighbors were John Ashe and Cornelius Harnett. Both were captured and imprisoned at Wilmington; both were later paroled only to die within a few days of their release, victims of the severity of their inhuman treatment.
In numerous raids conducted out of Wilmington, Craige laid waste wide stretches of country and spread terror among the inhabitants. His most extensive raid was in August, 1781. Leaving Wilmington, August 1st, with 400 regulars and eighty Tories he swept through Duplin, Dobbs, Jones, and Craven counties, captured and plundered New Bern, and returned without serious opposition to his base at Wilming- ton. On their march, reported General William Caswell to Governor Burke, the British "plundered every Plantation that was in their way of all that they could find. It is im- possible for me to inform Your Excellency of the ruin, ravage and Distress committed on the Inhabitants of this Country." The raid was effective for, except for a few small bands of militia, it thoroughly subdued the people throughout the invaded region. Craige required all men over fifty to take
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the oath of allegiance to the king; and enrolled in his force, or imprisoned all others, who did not make their escape. Almost all the people between Kingston and New Bern, wrote Caswell, "will be exceeding fond of becoming British Sub- jects, and most of the Inhabitants of Beaufort and Hyde Counties to the North of Newbern will join them. * * Dobbs has part of it fallen into the Hands of the British, and Three Companies out of Seven have to a Man joined them." Between Wilmington and New Bern more than 400 Tories enrolled themselves under Craige.
These disasters, however, did not dismay the leaders of the patriots. "I am determined to do every Thing that a Dis- tressed Officer can do," wrote William Caswell, brigadier- general of the New Bern District, "and as long as Life lasts defend the District." A similar spirit animated Alexander Lillington, brigadier-general of the Wilmington District, while James Kenan and Thomas Brown, colonels of Duplin and Bladen counties, never relaxed their vigilance. To these four men more than to any others is due the fact that the patriots of Eastern North Carolina did not give up in despair during the gloomy days of the summer of 1781. Their chief difficulty was not to raise men, but to equip them. "Arms cannot be had," reported Caswell, "to Arm as many men as may be raised." Governor Burke, who rendered every assistance in his power, which however was not much, thought it wise to order Lillington and Caswell to avoid a general engage- ment with Craige's force.
There were, however, many skirmishes, too numerous to mention in detail, some of which rise almost to the dignity of battles. In February, Craige with about 400 regulars at- tempted unsuccessfully to dislodge 700 militia whom Lilling- ton had posted at Great Bridge on the North East River, twelve miles above Wilmington, to prevent incursions of the enemy. He was more successful at Rockfish Creek Bridge, which Kenan had seized with 330 militia. Craige had to cross this bridge on his march to New Bern; on August 2d, therefore, with a force numbering nearly 500 regulars and Tories he attacked and dispersed Kenan's force. Although but a trifling skirmish, this success so excited the ardor of the Duplin Tories that they rose in numbers, "gathered to- gether very fast," and "were more cruel to the distressed inhabitants than Cornwallis's army had been before." Their triumph however was brief for as Dickson writes, "Craige having again returned to Wilmington the Whigs again re-
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sumed their courage and determined to be revenged on the Loyalists, our neighbors, or hazard all; accordingly we col- lected about eighty light-horsemen and equipped them as well as we could; marched straight into the neighborhood where the Tories were embodied, surprised them; they fled; our men pursued them, cut many of them to pieces, took several and put them to instant death. This action struck such ter- ror on the Tories in our county that they never attempted to embody again." A similar result in Bladen County fol- lowed the battle of Elizabethtown in which, on August 29th, 400 Tories under Colonel John Slingsby were surprised in a night attack, totally routed, and their commanding officer killed, by 150 Whigs under Colonel Thomas Brown. "This put an end to the disturbances in Bladen," wrote Dickson; "the Tories never embodied there any more, so by this time our two distressed counties of Duplin and Bladen began to get the upper hand of their enemies."
Long after the other Tory leaders, recognizing the hope lessness of their cause, had either submitted to the State or gone into exile, and even after the last British soldier had left the State, civil strife in North Carolina was kept alive by the notorious David Fanning. As a partisan leader Fan- ning had no superior on either side in the Carolinas. He had all the dash and daring of Sumter, the fertility and dis- patch of Marion, and the resourcefulness of Davie, without possessing, however, those qualities of moral character which made these men so much his superiors. Crafty and treacher- ous, cruel and vindictive, sparing neither age nor sex, he openly boasts in his published "Narrative" of the brutality with which he destroyed his enemies and desolated their country. It is but fair, however, to say that many of his crimes were committed in retaliation for similar crimes com- mitted by Whigs against his followers; but in every case wherein Fanning undertook to cancel such debts of vengeance, he repaid them with usury. Ashe thinks that had Fanning been on the Whig side "his fame would have been more en- during than that of any other partisan officer whose memory is now so dear to all patriots."4 But something more than a mere shifting of sides would be necessary to justify one in ranking Fanning as the equal of the great Whig partisans. Not only was his character far inferior to theirs, even his
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