USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina, V I pt 2 > Part 28
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on them and hacked up about thirty of the Loyalists before the mistake became known. As Pyle's Tories had suffered by mistaking Lee for Tarleton, so this party from Deep River suffered at Tarleton's hands by being mistaken for Graham's company. These mishaps tended to dissipate the zeal of the Tories, so that but few united with the British army. Indeed, Cornwallis was so disappointed at the luke- warmness of the Regulators, from whom he had expected much aid, that he wrote to Clinton : "I could not get one hundred men in all the Regulators' country to stay with us even as militia."
S. R .. XVII, IOII Graham's Graham, 329
To avoid a battle until ready. Greene directed the several detachments of his army to be constantly in motion, chang- ing their location every night, so that Cornwallis would not know where to strike. During the period of manœuvring there were several affairs between the cavalry and Tarleton's legion : one at Clapp's Mill on March 2d, followed by sev- eral minor collisions the next day ; and at Whitsell's Mill on March 6th there was a hotly contested battle. In these encounters Pickens's brigade, embracing Graham's troopers, participated with much credit.
Lee's Memoirs, 265
But the time of that brigade expired on the 3d, and after remaining a few days longer, the men were dismissed and re- turned to their homes.
Battle of Guilford Court House
Finally, about March 7th, the British commander moved farther west, near the Quaker settlement at New Garden ; and four days later Greene, having been joined by sufficient reinforcements, prepared to give him battle. Several im- portant highways met at Guilford Court House, and on the 14th Greene took post on the New Garden, or Salisbury, road leading to the west from that hamlet. He had carefully selected his ground ; indeed, it is thought that on his hasty march some weeks before he had chosen that battlefield. For his first line he placed on the right of that road Eaton's militia, and on the left Butler's, both being protected by a rail fence that skirted an open field which lay in their front. On either Hank there were stationed some three hundred regulars to give stability to the militia. In the rear of this
Lee's Memoirs, 272
1. GUILFORD COURT HOUSE BATTLEFIELD TO-DAY 2. NATHANAEL GREENE
659
NASH'S CONTINENTALS
line there was a woodland, in which three hundred yards distant he posted the Virginia militia under Lawson and Stevens; while the continentals were reserved for his main line some five hundred yards still farther to the rear.
The British moved with precision, being well-trained vet- erans. Cornwallis's own regiment was renowned and had fought many battles. The Welsh Fusiliers, distinguished by having the Prince of Wales nominally for its colonel, was commanded by Colonel Webster, one of the most accom- plished officers in the army. The Seventy-first Scotch High- landers, known in the annals as the Black Watch, had a record of great glory: and the Queen's Guards, com- manded by Colonel Stuart, was a famous corps. The field pieces, as usual, began the engagement. As the British regulars advanced with fixed bayonets, they gained the open field and approached within forty yards before perceiving the North Carolina militia behind the fence. For a moment the two lines stood in silence, then Webster, as gallant in action as wise in counsel, ordered a charge, and his troops rushed forward, receiving a hot fire from the American line. Dreadful was the havoc on both sides at this initial point of the conflict. The fire on the right was deadly, some of the Americans fighting like heroes. The militia, however, speedily broke before the British bayonets, Eaton first, then Butler's, and retreating, passed through the Virginians posted in their rear, throwing them into con- fusion. Lawson's Virginians likewise gave way, but Stevens's brigade made a firm stand. Eventually they, too, were pressed back on the continentals. Here the Second Maryland Battalion, a new organization, never before under fire, followed the example of the militia : but the First Mary- land, after a well-directed volley, charged with the bayonet, routed the enemy and pursued them. Bloody and fierce now was the battle. the continentals and Washington's cavalry fighting with courage and resolution seldom surpassed. The British loss bears witness to the valor of their foe. Greene's army had, however, been severed into detached fragments, and he feared to risk a prolongation of the contest. The enemy rallying and threatening his rear, he prudently and skilfully withdrew his forces from the field.
1781 --
March 15th
Lee's Memoirs, 277, 280
Lamb's Hist. Am. Rev., 361 Schenck's North Carolina, 1780-81, 345 McRee's Iredell, 1, 493 S. R .. XVII, 1003
660
NASH'S ADMINISTRATION. 1780-81
178 t
A similarity is to be observed on the American side be- tween the arrangement of the troops in this and in the battle of Cowpens. and also in the course of events during the progress of the battles up to the breaking of the Second Maryland Continentals. But on the British side there was much difference. At Cowpens the action of Tarleton's corps was not comparable to the steady conduct of the regulars in this great battle, comprising some of the most famous or- ganizations in the history of the British army. Apparently they might have been destroyed, but could not have been driven from the field.
Great slaughter
The American loss was 14 officers and 312 of the con- tinental troops killed. wounded and missing. Many of the militia were missing. although no prisoners were taken. Of the militia, 4 captains and 17 privates were reported killed, a dozen officers and 60 privates wounded, as was also Brig- adier-General Stevens. The slaughter of the British was much greater. The official report states their loss at 532, of whom 93 were left dead on the battlefield. Colonel Stuart and Lieutenant O'Hara, brother to the general. and many other officers, were killed outright : but few escaped without wounds. Many. among them Colonel Webster. died of their wounds. Seldom has an army suffered so severely. At the outset there was terrible slaughter, the Highlanders being piled upon each other. In the progress of the battle Corn- wallis himself was unhorsed. his guards lay weltering in their blood. the gallant Webster on the ground. O'Hara disabled by his wounds. Tarleton with a rifle ball through his hand, Howard borne off the field, and Stuart still in death. The rank and file suffered alike. But the culmina- tion of the carnage was in the final encounters of that fate- ful dav. It was the immolation of an army of veterans intent on victory. The battle being joined, Cornwallis re- solved on destruction rather than defeat; and while he gained the victory. he lost his army.
Lee's Memoirs, 284
The terrible night
The night succeeding this day of blood was dark and cold. much rain falling. The dead lay unburied, the wounded unsheltered. and the groans of the dying and the shrieks of the living cast a deeper shade over the gloom of nature. Fatigued as the British troops were, without discrimination
66!
CORNWALLIS'S RETREAT
they took the best care of the fallen soldiers the situation admitted ; but without tents and the houses being few, many of both armies were exposed to the deluge of rain, and it was said that not less than fifty died during the night. The next morning was spent in burying the dead and in provid- ing comfort for the wounded, Cornwallis paying equal atten- tion to friends and foes. He was a man of generous and lofty spirit, and rancor was foreign to his nature. In Parlia- ment he had been a friend of America and had opposed the measures of the ministry. Now he treated the fallen witli- out discrimination. The dead being buried, he returned to New Garden, leaving some seventy of his wounded, incapa- ble of being moved, to the humanity of General Greene. There on the ISth he issued a proclamation calling on the Loyalists to return actively to their duties and contribute to the restoration of government .*
On the 18th he began to move eastward by easy marches, having care for the comfort of his wounded, and being obliged to subsist on the country. Greene at once notified Colonel Lee : "I mean to fight the enemy again, and wish you to have your legion and riflemen ready for action on the shortest notice." But it was not until the 20th that he could move, for ammunition had to be supplied, cartridges made and provisions collected. In the meantime Lee's legion and Campbell's riflemen pressed the rear of the British commander, who dared not hazard another encounter.
Willie Jones, who after the battle was appointed lieu- tenant-colonel of Read's militia regiment. while on the pur- suit wrote : "We expect to come up with them in a day or two 499 and to take a part, if not the whole British army." The men were now in fine spirits, and were so resolute that had Greene overtaken Cornwallis the British army would doubtless have been destroyed and Ramsey's Mills would have been an historic spot.
On the night of the 22d the British army lay at Dixon's Mills, on Cane Creek, in Chatham County. From there it
*Cornwallis wrote to Clinton: "Many of the inhabitants rode into camp. 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."
1731
S. R., XV111. 1007
Greene pursues Cornwallis
McRee's Iredell, I,
S. R., XVII 1061
662
NASH'S ADMINISTRATION, 1780-81
1781
London. Revo. Hist. Chatham County Lee's Memoirs, 290
marched to Pittsboro, and thence to Ramsey's Mills .* Here Cornwallis found it necessary to build a bridge and to collect supplies to carry him across the barreus to Campbellton. So quick had been his pursuers on the track that while he was yet at Ramsey's Greene reached Rigsden's Ford, on Deep River, twelve miles above, but hesitated to cross, uncertain of Cornwallis's intentions. The bridge completed, the Brit- ish commander. finding himself in peril, decamped with such speed that he left some of his dead unburied, and was unable to burn the bridge behind him. The next day, the 28th, Greene's main force arrived ; but it was considered impos- sible to subsist his army in the wake of Cornwallis's, and the pursuit was reluctantly discontinued.
S. R., XVII, 1011 178x
At Cross Creek Cornwallis suffered another disappoint- ment in finding that his Loyalist friends were yet passive and had not brought in supplies for his army. He remained there several days, and then departed for Wilmington, where he arrived on April 7th. On the way it became his painful duty to bury the remains of the lamented Colonel Webster, who, borne on a litter between two horses, was found dead near Elizabethtown. The interment was on the plantation of Colonel Waddell.
Greene goes south
McRee's Iredell, 1, 497 S. R., XV, 434, 440. 443
Greene rested his army for a week, dismissed nearly all of his militia, and just as Cornwallis was entering Wilining- ton set out to recover South Carolina. At his camp on Deep River he left General Butler, who remained for some weeks on duty at that post. But notwithstanding Greene's departure from North Carolina, there was no relaxation in efforts to strengthen his army. The council ordered that those of Butler's and Eaton's brigades who had abandoned their posts at the battle of Guilford Court House should be drafted into the continentals for twelve months; and four days after Greene marched Butler sent forward two hun- dred and forty of these twelve months' continentals, and on the same day Major Pinketham Eaton received in Chat- ham a hundred and seventy of Eaton's brigade and con- ducted them to the south. This corps, reduced somewhat by desertions. under Major Eaton, later performed excellent service, especially at Augusta.
*Now Lockville.
663
BRITISH IN WILMINGTON
Arriving in South Carolina. Greene, divining the probable movement of Cornwallis, directed Sumner that if the British general should come south to the relief of Rawdon he should hurry with every available man to his assistance; but if Cornwallis marched to Virginia, then Sumner with his con- tinental drafts should go to the aid of Baron Steuben. Greene, as commander of the department, had direction of operations in Virginia as well as in the Carolinas, and he ordered Steuben to be very cautious and conservative and not to hazard a battle unless under very favorable cir- cumstances.
Craig at Wilmington
The approach of the British fleet bearing Major Craig's detachment caused the greatest consternation among the Whigs of Wilmington, and many families hastened to leave the town, seeking safety with friends in the country, while others thought it more prudent to trust to the humanity of the British officers. At that time Brunswick, which con- tained about sixty houses, was entirely deserted, and Wil- mington, where there were about two hundred houses, con- tained but a thousand inhabitants. At the first information of peril Bloodworth, the receiver of the tax in kind, stored 694 his commodities on a vessel, which he hurried up the North- east Branch of the Cape Fear ; but Craig made pursuit, over- took and burned the vessel some twenty miles from the town. Of the inhabitants a considerable proportion were disaffected, and soon a petition was circulated for all to sign, praying to be received as British subjects, and those who declined this abasement fell under the ban of displeasure.
Hardly had Craig settled himself on shore before squads of troopers were scouring the country to arrest those who were particularly obnoxious to the British, and the leading patriots fled for safety. Harnett had withdrawn to Onslow County. He had a considerable quantity of public funds in his care, and he hastened to place it in safe hands, and then proceeded to Colonel Spicer's. There he was seized with a fit of his malady, the gout, and became unable to travel farther. His place of refuge was betrayed by some Loyalist, and he speedily was captured and, notwithstanding
178I -
S. R., XXI,
S. R., XXII, 543
Death of Harnett Biog. Hist. of N. C., 11, 162
664
VISIT'S ADMINISTRATION, 1780-81
178t
his illness, was conveyed with indignity to the British quar- ters. He suffered much ill-treatment, which his enfeebled frame could not endure. and a few weeks later died, about April 30. 1781. Thus passed away "the Pride of the Cape Fear," who from the beginning had been the ardent advo- cate of his country's freedom.
Lillington at Heron Bridge
Similar efforts were made to capture every Whig of con- sequence. and many were taken by the Tories and British dragoons. But the patriot leaders, while beset by difficulties, were not dismayed. General Lillington, having embodied his militia, took post at Heron Bridge, ten miles up the Northeast River, where he was joined by Kenan with the Duplin militia and Moore with a detachment from Bruns- wick and some companies from Onslow; while Colonel Brown sought to hold in check the Tories of Bladen. The brigades of Caswell and Butler were at first ordered to his aid, but Cornwallis's operations at the west required that all the militia possible should be withdrawn to reinforce General Greene, and for a time Lillington was left to his own resources.
Dickson's Letters, 3
S. R., XXI, 829
McRee's Iredell, I, 531
Bloodworth
About the end of February Craig advanced to dislodge him, making a night attack. Lillington's advanced guard was surprised and dispersed, and a smart skirmish occurred at the bridge. the British using their artillery on the Whig entrenchments on the farther side of the river. The militia, however, maintained their position, and at the end of two days Craig retired to Wilmington. He had occupied the Mckenzie place, known as Mount Blake, and when he with- drew a party of the Whigs crossed the river and burned that residence. Lillington continued quietly in his camp. with headquarters at the Mulberry plantation, near by, keeping watch and ward. For a time Craig busied himself in con- structing fortifications around Wilmington; but numerous were the forays of the British troopers, and often murderous in their execution. Tradition still survives of the massacre at tlie "eight-mile house," where butchery as a pastime added to the horrors of warfare. Some of the Whigs, too, dis- played boldness and enterprise. Bloodworth had kept the ferry from Point Peter across the mouth of the Northeast River in the outskirts of Wilmington, and was familiar with
1
665
CORNIT.ILLIS'S PLANS
that locality. Taking post within a large hollow tree on the Point he fired day after day, across the river, at the troopers as they brought their horses to water, several victims fall- ing at the unerring hand of their unseen and mysterious foc. Finally a party being sent to dislodge him, Bloodworth suc- cessfully escaped .*
Cornwallis's plans
When the wounded of Cornwallis's army reached Wil- mington the church building there was converted into a hospital, and later it is said was used by Craig's cavalry.
Although Cornwallis had succeeded in avoiding a second battle with Greene. he now found himself in a fearful dilemma. The generalissimo at the south could not.remain inactive. He must move either in one direction or the other. Conflicting indeed must have been his emotions when reflect- ing on his painful situation. He found himself under the necessity of abandoning Lord Rawdon to his fate. and almost in despair he resolved to seek his own safety in Virginia. "By a direct move toward Camden," he wrote, "I cannot get time enough to relieve Lord Rawdon; and should he have fallen [back] my army would be exposed to the utmost danger." He dwelt on the exhausted state of the country, the numerous militia, the almost universal spirit of revolt and the strength of Greene's army, whose con- tinentals alone were as numerous as his own force. Still he hoped to draw Greene back from the game of war in South Carolina by threatening the interior of North Caro- lina. He resolved to march by Duplin Court House, point- ing toward Hillsboro, expecting that this might lead to Greene's return ; and yet with his depleted ranks he feared to meet Greene again in battle. Ultimately he had in view to form a junction with General Phillips. But he realized that the attempt would be exceedingly hazardous and might prove wholly impracticable. and he warned that commander not to take any steps "that might expose your army to the danger of being ruined."
On April 23d he wrote to Clinton : "Neither my cavalry
* According to the tradition as the author heard it in 1547, Blood- worth, a gunsmith, used a long conical ball for his rifle on that occasion. The minie ball came into note some years later.
S. R., XVII. 1019, 1020
666
NASH'S ADMINISTRATION, 1780-81
1"8 : -.- or infantry are in readiness to move : the former are in want S. R., XVII, of everything, the latter of every necessary but shoes ; . . . I 1018. 1019 must, however, begin my march to-morrow. . .. My present undertaking sits heavy on my mind : I have experienced the distresses and dangers of marching some hundreds of miles The effects of Guilford Court House in a country chiefly hostile, without one active or useful friend, without intelligence and without communication with any part of the country. The situation in which I leave South Carolina adds much to my anxiety, yet I am under the necessity of adopting this hazardous enterprise hastily and with the appearance of precipitation. as I find there is no prospect of speedy reinforcement from Europe and that the return of General Greene to North Carolina . . . would put a junction with General Phillips out of my power." To Phillips he said: "My situation here is very distressing. Greene took advantage of my being obliged to come to this place, and has marched to South Carolina."
S. R., XVII, 1921
Indeed. Cornwallis's discomfiture at Guilford Court House altered the situation so greatly that Clinton wrote to Phil- lips that, it has "considerably changed the complexion of our affairs to the southward, and all operations to the north- ward must probably give place to those in favor of his Lordship, which at present appear to require our more im- mediate attention." Phillips had with him in Virginia thirty- five hundred men, and Clinton embarked seventeen hundred more to strengthen that corps for the benefit of Cornwallis.
After a fortnight's rest at Wilmington, the remnants of his shattered regiments again fell into ranks and began their march to the northward. Gloomy indeed must the outlook have been to the commander-in-chief of the British armies at the south when, baffled, disappointed, defeated. and dis- tressed, in the closing days of April he bade farewell to Major Craig and Josiah Martin, the whilom governor of North Carolina, and with a heavy heart once more essayed the chances of doubtful war.
His progress was unopposed. When information of this movement was despatched to Governor Nash at New Bern he directed Lillington to fall back to Kinston, where Major- General Caswell. the commander-in-chief, had his head- quarters, and the governor sent Baron Glaubeck to the front
Cornwallis marches to Virginia
667
CORNWALLIS MOVES NORTH
to watch the enemy. He ordered the militia of Halifax and of the neighboring counties to assemble at Tarboro, and he himself hastened to that point.
On reaching Kinston, presumably under the orders of Major-General Caswell. Lillington disbanded his militia, ex- cept one company retained to guard the artillery and stores, and the men returned to their respective homes to protect their families from marauders.
The inhabitants distressed
The march of the British column was slow and delib- erate. The Whigs, unable to resist. scurried into the swamps or fled to a distance. The disaffected rosc in numbers and gave every manifestation of loyalty. They now wreaked vengeance on their neighbors for all they had suffered since the beginning of the Revolution. The track of the army was a scene of desolation, and the Whig settlements were scourged as by the plagues of Pharaoh.
In Duplin the whole country was struck with terror, almost every man leaving his habitation and his family to the mercy of the merciless enemy. Horses, cattle and every kind of stock were driven off from every plantation, corn and forage taken, houses plundered, chests and trunks broken, and the clothing of women and children, as well as that of the men, was carried away. These outrages were com- mitted for the most part by the camp followers, who, under the protection of the army, plundered the distressed inhab- itants. There were also many women who followed the army in the character of wives of the officers and soldiers, a certain number of women being allowed for each company. These were generally mounted on fine horses and were dressed in the best clothes that could be taken from the inhabitants as the army marched through the country.
On May 6th Cornwallis reached Peacock's Bridge, on s. R., XV, the Cotechney. and there was the first clash of arms. Colonel 456 Gorham with four hundred militia made a stand at the bridge, but Tarleton by a bold dash drove him off, and there was no further opposition. All the stores and the men drafted for the continentals and the militia were moved to the westward, and Governor Nash and General Sumner, in
1781
N C. Uni. Mag., IV, 83 (1855)
Dickson's Letters, 15
668
V.ISH'S ADMINISTRATION, 1780-81
1781
Warren, listened for news of the British progress. Glau- beck. trained from early youth a soldier, was seeking to procure arms for the men assigned to his command, and in the absence of swords, improvised weapors made of hickory clubs. With these he hung on the outskirts of the British lines and kept in check the barbarous camp followers. In Nash a squad of Tories, who had risen on their neighbors, were roughly handled and hotly pursued.
S. R., XV, 46t "Not a man of any rank or distinction, or scarcely any man of property." wrote Colonel Seawell, "has lain in his house since the British passed through Nash County. We are distressed with all the rogues and vagabonds that Corn- wallis can raise to pest us with. . . . A certain Robert Beard with fifteen others on Friday last seized the person of John Ferrell, Isham Alford and Robert Melton. together with seven horses and I think three guns, . . . and carried them all off. Our men after collecting, pursued them : but night coming on, and drawing near the enemy's lines, they re- turned without any luck."
On May toth Cornwallis entered Halifax, and after a short rest marched on to Petersburg, where he arrived on the 20th, finding to his sorrow that a week carlier General Phil- lips had died from disease. His departure, however, was not followed by a calm. From Heron's Bridge to Halifax the Tories had their day of rejoicing, and the Whigs fled to hiding places, their farms ravaged and the sanctity of their homes often violated. For days and weeks the Tory bands held high carnival, and no Whig dared sleep in his house for fear of capture. Many were seized and carried to Wilmington, where some were thrown into irons and sub- jected to cruel indignities.
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