USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina, V I pt 2 > Part 26
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Three days after the battle the news of the victory was S. R., XIV, brought by a courier to Sumner at his camp on the Yadkin, XV, 117 685: who forwarded it to Gates at Hillsboro. Whatever com- ment might be made on General Gates's course up to this period, and he was thoroughly execrated by the people, it appears that in adversity he rose to the height of the occa- sion. With resolution and promptness he was preparing Gates' spirit to renew the conflict. With joy and hope he hurried an express to Jefferson, then governor of Virginia, bearing "the great and glorious news"; and, urging forward prom- ised help. he said : "We are now more than even with the enemy. The moment the supplies for the troops arrive . . . I shall proceed with the whole to the Yadkin." Smallwood and Morgan were already on their way, Morgan with his light infantry then eighteen miles beyond Guilford Court House and Smallwood with the cavalry was following fast.
A new inspiration pervaded every heart, and when the
S. R., XV11, 697
636
V.ISH'S ADMINISTRATION, 1780-81
1780 Efferts of the victory
Assembly met, with grateful eulogium on their patriotism and heroism, it resolved that Colonels Cleveland, Campbell. Shelby, Sevier. Hambright, and Winston, and Major Shell .. should each receive an elegantly mounted sword for their voluntary, distinguished and eminent services.
Indeed, the victory at King's Mountain was no less ex- traordinary as a feat of arms than potent in its results. That undisciplined and unorganized volunteers operating under neither state nor continental authority should have achieved such a victory over a force equal in numbers, amply supplied with ammunition, ably commanded and so advan- tageously posted. attested the fighting qualities of the un- trained inhabitants and gave new hope to those who had been disappointedl at the conduct of the militiamen on other fields. It buoved the hearts of the patriots in that dark hour and nerved them to greater efforts for resistance ; while, on the other hand, not merely were the eight hundred Tories who had joined Ferguson eliminated from the con- test, but all of the disaffected inhabitants west of the Catawba were suppressed during the remainder of the war. Ramseur's Mill was a disaster to the western Loyalists, but King's Mountain was their conquest.
S. R., XIV,
692-8
Nor was this the only catastrophe that befell them. Colonel Wright, a zealous Loyalist, embodied three hundred of the disaffected at Richmond, in Surry County, and began his march to unite with Cornwallis at Charlotte; but Sumner and Davidson hurried detachments against them, routed and dispersed them.
Cornwallis retires
S. R., XV, 285
Cornwallis was so hemmed in at Charlotte that for some days he received no information of the battle of King's Mountain. Indeed, he was also in utter ignorance of what was passing in South Carolina. as for nearly three weeks he had no intelligence from Camden, every express for him having been taken by the active partisan bands in his rear. No wonder he cicclared Mecklenburg "the most rebellious section of America." and that Tarleton spoke of it as "a veritable hornet's nest."
When the information reached him of Ferguson's death
637
EFFECTS OF FERGUSON'S DEFEAT
and the complete annihilation of that corps, he was no less shocked than grievously disappointed. Not only did it in- October settle all his plans, bat it rendered his own situation alarm- ing. Realizing that he could not rely on the assistance from the inhabitants which he had confidently expected. and apprehending that Ninety-six would be at once attacked, he determined to immediately retire from North Carolina. So on the evening of October 12th he abandoned Charlotte and turned toward the south. So far the tide of good for- tune had rushed on without interruption, bringing him vic- tory and well-earned fame, but now began a series of mishaps that led step by step to irretrievable disaster and ultimately to the final abandonment of British hopes of sub- jugation and an acknowledgment of the independence of the colonies.
Forced by untoward circumstances to retire from his ad- vanced position. Cornwallis found South Carolina ready to rise against British rule. In its dire extremity that State had offered to remain neutral during the contest and to abide by the general result of the struggle elsewhere. Clinton, not content with such a submission, required the subdued inhabitants to enroll themselves as Loyalist militia and take up arms for the king. Many now determined to throw off this yoke and fight, if they must, for the success of the American cause : and partisan leaders were drawing around themselves corps of determined patriots that were a menace to British occupancy.
Contemporaneously with the departure from Charlotte a s. R., XV, rainy season set in, and the troops suffered severely from 287 sickness, while Cornwallis himself became so ill that he had to relinquish the command of his army, committing it to the care of Lord Rawdon. It was not until Oc- tober 29th that he reached the country lying between Camden and Ninety-six, making his camp at Winnsboro the more readily to support those two principal posts.
Leslie in Virginia
As there was expectation that North Carolina would be subingated and held, as had been the fate of Georgia and South Carolina, it was designed that after that event Corn-
1785
S. R., XV. 298, 299
Lee's Memoirs, 102, 163
Partisan Corps
Sumter Marion
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638
NASH'S ADMINISTRATION. ITSO-81
1780
Albemarle threatened
S. R., XV, 143, 149
wallis would continue his victorious march into Virginia. To keep the Americans from concentrating against the Earl, General Leslie with a considerable force had been despatched from New York to the Chesapeake. During the month of October Leslie had penetrated down the Blackwater to South Quay, and, nearer the coast, to the Great Bridge. General Benbury at once embodied his brigade and marched to oppose him. After the battle of Camden General Gregory returned home to the Albemarle section, and now he gallantly took the field with his militia and checked Les- lie's advance, repulsing the British with some loss on November 8th at Great Swamp.
S. R .. XV. 285, 286, 292-299, 397
Leslie sails for Wilmington
Oct. 21, 1780
-
Defeated in his purposes, Cornwallis now desired Leslie's aid at the south, but hesitated to order him to come to his relief. Clinton. however, left him free to co-operate with the southern army, especially as he had been sent to the Chesapeake to make a diversion in favor of Cornwallis's operations. Leslie, knowing that Cornwallis hoped much from the Loyalists on the upper Cape Fear, and that taking possession of Wilmington would encourage them to rise, determined to transfer his operations to that region. He therefore sailed from the Chesapeake on November 23d for Wilmington. Cornwallis being ill and the situation of his army dangerous, Rawdon. in temporary command, des- patched vessels to intercept the fleet at Frying Pan Shoals and direct Leslie to come to his immediate assistance. So it happened that the corps lately operating near Norfolk made an unexpected appearance at Camden. Still further to ease Cornwallis. Clinton now hurried a new army under General Benedict Arnold to the Chesapeake; but for per- sonal reasons, as he was obnoxious to the people, Arnold1 soon retired, leaving the command with General Phillips.
S. R., XV, 151, 160
Gates moves forward
Quickly following Cornwallis's withdrawal, Gates moved his continentals, numbering a thousand, to Charlotte, while Smallwood, who had superseded Sumner, much to the latter's disgust .* took post with the militia and Morgan some
*Sumner, like Caswell. resented the appointment of Smallwood a. major-general of the militia and declined to serve under him. so when Smallwood reached his camp Sumner returned home.
639
MILIT.IRY MOVEMENTS
fifteen miles farther to the front, calling his camp New Providence. General Stevens with five hundred Virginia troops, almost naked and unarmed, remained at Hillsboro.
In the meantime, as the consequence of Gates's misfortune at Camden, congress had directed Washington to commit the Southern Department to another general, and Washington appointed Nathanael Greene to that command. Accom- Greene panying Greene to the south were Baron Steuben and Light Horse Harry Lee with his corps of dragoons, three hundred in number. The baron was, however, left in Virginia to conduct operations in that State, which was within Greene's department.
The Board of War organized at Hillsboro on Septem - ber 12th, but soon all the members left except John Penn, who for some time conducted military affairs without any aid. The board relieved Governor Nash largely of his re- sponsibilities, and in a measure encroached on his powers. It was active in giving direction and stimulating the county officers to renewed exertions, and zealously co-operated with General Gates and afterward with General Greene in pre- paring for defence.
Cornwallis was thoroughly disappointed with the result of the campaign. He had been led to invade North Caro- lina at that time because of the difficulties of a defensive war, and the hope that the Tories in North Carolina, who were said to be very numerous, would be active in aiding him. The defeat at King's Mountain, however, suppressed all Tory risings at the west, while to the east Harrington and the state militia kept the disaffected much in check; so Cornwallis found that their friendship was only passive, and he derived little assistance from their co-operation. He reported that only about two hundred had been prevailed on to join his camp. His chief difficulty, however, was the absence of supplies. These could not be furnished from abroad, and his army necessarily had to subsist on the country ; and in this matter such Loyalists as engaged with him were found very efficient and a great help to his dis- tressed troops.
--
Smallwood at New Providence
S. R., XIV 376
Board of War
Cornwallis's disappoint- ments
Tories passive
M.ISH'S .ADMMINISTR.ITION. 1780-81
1-80 --
S R., XV, 173
Arrival of Greene
General Greene reached Charlotte on December 24, and at once Gates departed northward. The new general imme- diately began to take measures for the organization and efficiency of his army.
Greene in Command
His presence inspired zeal and confidence. Colonel Lee. who accompanied him. in his "Memoirs" says : "This illus- trious man had now reached his thirty-eighth year. In person he was rather corpulent, and above the common size. His complexion was fair and florid ; his countenance serene and mild, indicating a goodness which seemed to shade an | soften the fire and greatness of its expression." Every cle- ment combined to commend him to the good-will and affec- tions of his soldiers.
S. R., XV. 173, 174, 185
The neighboring country was so bare that General Greene's first step was to request the Board of War not to call out any more militia until satisfactory arrangements were made to subsist the troops. Writing to Washington, he reported that : "Nothing can be more wretched and dis- tressing than the condition of the troops, starving with cold and hunger, without tents and camp equipage. Those of the Virginia line are literally naked. A tattered remnant of some garment, clumsily stuck together with the thorns of the locust tree, forms the sole covering of hundreds, and we have three hundred men without arms, and more than a thousand are so naked that they can be put on duty only in case of desperate necessity." To facilitate his purpose of transporting supplies he caused the Dan, the Yadkin, and the Catawba to be explored, hoping to utilize water trans- portation. He established a hospital at Salisbury, and the osnaburgs and sheetings in store were distributed among the women to be made into shirts for the soldiers. Colonel Polk, who was the commissary-general, retired, and Greene asked the Board of War to appoint Colonel Davie to that most important position.
S. R., XV, 184
Desiring to cover Cross Creek, Greene directed Colonel Kosciusko, of the engineers, to select a camp on the Peedee where provisions could be obtained, and after some delay, caused by terrible rains and bitter cold, on December 20th
641
MILITARY MOVEMENTS
1781 - -
he broke camp and moved his army to a location at the Cheraws.
Morgan had already been advanced beyond the Broad with a detachment of three inindred Maryland regulars and the Virginia militia and Washington's dragoons, along with some four hundred militin embodied in the adjacent counties of North Carolina and some others from South Carolina and Georgia General Smallwood, whose appointment to the command of the militia had resulted in the retirement of Caswell and Sumner, now himself returned to Maryland in order to hasten on re-enforcements and supplies from that State, and also to have settled a question of rank between himself and Baron Steuben.
The opening of the new year was not without a bright lining to the clouds that had overcast the skies. There was at least a rainbow of hope in the heavens. Greene was now in command, Morgan in the advance, the State was again free from the presence of a hostile army, and renewed zeal was apparent among the inhabitants of every section.
The General Assembly was to have met at Halifax early in January, but the members arrived so slowly that it was the 26th before a quorum appeared. The Board of War, however, was in session and had control of military affairs. The army had suffered much from the inefficiency of the commissary department. In each district there was a com- missary to obtain supplies, but no general head. General Greene had urged the appointment of Colonel Davie to be commissary-general for the State, but the Board hesitated to make such an innovation, not warranted by the act of Assembly ; but finally, on January 16th, it conferred on that active and accomplished young officer the office of "super- intendent commissary-general." Difficult as was the task imposed on Colonel Davie he performed it with a capability that rendered him one of the most useful men in the army, but it removed him from that branch of the service where he had won much fame by his daring exploits.
The Council Extraordinary
On the meeting of the legislature, Governor Nash com- plained bitterly that the Board of War had encroached on
January
S. R., XV, 184, 185
S. R., XIV. 490
Davie commissary- general
Jan., 178r S. R., XVII, 653, 720
642
NASH'S ADMINISTRATION, 1780-81
1731 S. R .. XXIV, 379 his powers and duties as governor, and he offered to resign. The Assembly thereupon dispensed with :hat board and sub- stituted a Council Extraordinary, electing Governor Caswell. Colonel Alexander Martin. and Allen Jones as members. Caswell was now a member of the house, and Smallwood having left the State, it was proposed to restore Caswell to S. R., XVII. 786 his former command as major-general of the militia. Indig- nant at his former treatment, he, however, was not in- clined to be complacent ; and to placate him the Assembly passed a resolution declaring the reasons which had induced the appointment of General Smallwood. "and the high sense the Assembly then had and still have of the merits of General Caswell, and of the singular services by him rendered this S. R .. XV11, 662 State"; and he was appointed again to command the militia, and as president of the Council Extraordinary to conduct military affairs.
His health, however, was poor, and his operations lacked his former energy. He established a camp near Halifax. and ordered out the various militia brigades, but the zeal and force that earlier distinguished his actions were not now so apparent.
He was directed by the Assembly to raise a regiment of light horse in the Wilmington and New Bern districts, and General Butler one in the Hillsboro district. Colonel Mal- medy was appointed to command the latter and Colonel Read the former. Both of these officers later served in South Carolina.
There were many continental officers in the State unem- ployed, and as Sumner was the ranking continental Greene urged him to have these officers to repair to the camp and assist Caswell in organizing the militia. Sumner tendered his own services, and Colonel Ashe and Major Murfree also reported to Caswell and placed themselves at his disposal. But in addition to the indisposition to put the militia under the continental officers, the militia officers themselves held out for their own privilege of commanding their organi- zations; so that while a few experienced officers were en- ployed, such as Major Dickson as inspector-general, Major Armstrong with the forces at Salisbury, and Colonel Read as commander of a regiment of horse, the services of many
S R., XV, 425, 426
643
DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
of the most efficient regulars were not utilized by the State. Sumner hoped for the command of a brigade of militia. but met with disappointment. The General Assembly, however, made provision for four new regiments of continentals, and extraordinary measures were devised for filling up the ranks.
In order to raise these battalions. the Assembly offered a bounty of f2,000. and promised to every person who should enlist and serve one year "one prime slave . . . and six hun- dred and forty acres of land" : and provision was made for a draft from the body of the militia for the continental ser- vice. A tax in kind was levied. a large issue of bills was authorized, and the confiscation act was further suspended.
No party divisions
All seemed to vie in patriotic resolve. Indeed, during the period of the war, when every nerve was strained to ac- complish success. all the public men were in accord, and there does not seem to have been any party divisions, except between Whigs and Tories. That there were differences in council based on policy and expediency is probable, extend- ing to matters of finance and of taxation and to thie treat- ment of the disaffected inhabitants : and certainly there were clashings arising from the natural ambitions of the leading men. But amid the turmoils and alarums of war it is not likely that there were discussions between candidates on the hustings, and no newspapers were published at that time in North Carolina. One of the differences among the people arose from the uncertain value of the currency, which clepreciated because of excessive issues. Traders and spec- ulators took advantage of the condition of affairs, still fur- ther depreciating it, and these became odions among the more patriotic inhal itants ; but probably none of the public men were concerned in such proceedings.
The course of political action appears to have been influ- enced merely by natural considerations. If any divisions were evolved at the time of the formation of the State constitution, they do not seem to have been fostered and perpetuated. They passed away. Caswell and his council tendered appointments to Sam Jolinston and other con- servatives, as well as to their Democratic friends. Allen
1781
S. R., XXIV, 3 69
No newspapers, 1778-83
1
?
1
677
VASHE'S ADMINISTRATION, 1780-81
1781
34 S. R., XIV,
The public men
Jones was year by year honored by the Assembly, while his brother. Willie, received no particular mark of its conti- dence, although Jones County was named for him. Iredell was appointed to the bench, and when he retired Maclaine. certainly a conservative, was elected. He declined, recom- mending John Williams, who was in high favor with the Assembly. On Avery's resigning the office of attorney. general, Iredell was elected to that position. The officers first appointed were generally re-elected to the same posi- tions. The senate continued year after year of the same mind, while Benbury was constantly re-elected speaker of the house. In 1780 Willie Jones and! Sam Johnston, sup- posed to be in antagonism, were ciected delegates to the Continental Congress. Caswell. while governor, was not on good terms with Penn, nor later with Governor Nash. The Assembly, after Camden, deprived him of his command, and creating a Board of War, made Penn a member of it : and Caswell indignantly withdrew from all public employ- ment. Six months later the Assembly smoothed his ruffled feathers, displaced Penn from the board and restored Cas- well to power as major-general commanding the state forces and as president of the Council Extraordinary charged with the direction of military affairs. Next to him. Colonel Alexander Martin was apparently the favorite among the representatives. On the promotion of Howe he had become colonel of the Second Battalion, but was charged with bad conduct in battle, of which, however, he was subsequently acquitted. He resigned, and was chosen speaker of the senate, next in succession to the governor, and made presi- dent of the Board of War.
Harnett, one of the prime favorites earlier, had been com- pelled to withdraw from public employment because of impaired health ; and General Ashe, still more advanced in years, likewise was a great sufferer, but continued as treas- urer until 1781. Many of the first men in talents and in energy, having entered the military service, had become separated from the civil administration, while death had made considerable inroads in the ranks of the patriot leaders.
During Caswell's administration three years passed with- out invasion ; and except local manifestations of disaffection
645
DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
and the great efforts made to sustain the army and to send assistance to South Carolina, it was a period of repose, if not of peace. The inhabitants were measurably engaged in their customary vocations, the fields were tilled, the courts were held. the churches were open, schools kept, and the people lived much as usual. In general. the inhabitants reared in the forests had always been dependent on their own exertions for the comforts of life. But few articles had been imported from abroad. and the isolation of war brought no great change in the mode of living. Indeed, com- mierce was still continued, and necessary goods to some ex- tent were imported : the spinning-jenny and the hand-loom were constantly employed, and the people were dressed in fabrics of their own manufacture. Salt was made on the coast, and iron. another essential, was forged at the Gulf, in Chatham County, in Johnston, in Nash, in Surry, Lincoln and other counties. The dividing line between Virginia and North Carolina had been run to the mountains by commis- sioners, those on the part of Virginia being General Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson, and on the part of North Caro- lin, Daniel Weldon and William Churton: but population had extended into the wilderness beyond that line, and in 1779 commissioners were appointed to continue the line, sep- arating Washington County from Virginia, and later Sul- livan County was laid off. These two counties were to extend west to the Tennessee or Ohio River-for even then the course of those streams was not accurately known.
James Davis continued to publish his newspaper at New 1776-78 Bern, to print the laws and disseminate information ; and for the speedy transmission of intelligence posts were estab- lished between New Bern and the several counties. while on special occasions horsemen were employed to carry news with despatch.
During Nash's administration the surrender of Charleston and the disaster at Camden and the invasion of Mecklenburg caused distress, and the extraordinary efforts made to or- ganize a new army and sustain the troops in the field bore hard on the people and brought them to realize more fully than ever the dire calamities of war and the doubtful nature f the struggle in which they were engaged. As the years
I731 -
Life in the State, 1776 to 1720
S. R .. XXIV. 223, 224, 300
S. R., XV. 223 Nash's administra- tion
-
646
VISIT'S ADMINISTRATION, ITSU-SI
1731
passed many began to despair and grow weary of the sacri fices they were constantly called on to make. The successive. drafts, the heavy taxes, the worthless currency. the impress ments and the privations of the war disheartened hundred, who had once been zealous in the American cause.
Dr. Burke's zeal to correct abuses
S. R., XV, 769. 771
In July, on the return of Dr. Burke to his home in Orange County from the Continental Congress, he found the troops who had recently arrived from the north in great distress for the want of food and forage, and that the quarter- masters were committing the most wanton destruction of property. "Every mouth was filled with complaints, every countenance expressing apprehension. dejection, indigna- tion, and despair had the place of the animated zeal" which he had before observed. Immediately he interposed to check the abuses, and he undertook that all who should voi- untarily furnish supplies should be paid without depreciation and should be protected from all violence and injury. Much of the situation he attributed to ill-advised acts of the Assembly passed to restrain speculation. which prevented retailers from purchasing from the merchants and put a stop to importations. Natural trade and commerce, made the more necessary by the prevalent conditions, were totally arrested, and this evil he sought to remedy.
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