USA > North Carolina > North Carolina, 1780-'81 : being a history of the invasion of the Carolinas by the British Army under Lord Cornwallis in 1780-'81 > Part 18
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From this we learn that the militia with Greene had recently been as many as 5000 at one time, of which number there were less than rooo Virginians.
The "finesse" to which Greene alludes was get- ting rid of mounted militia, who, Greene alleged. consumed the forage of the country and made it difficult to support his cavalry. For dispensing with this class of troops, who, from long custom in that kind of warfare, were active, rapid and vigi- lant, besides being hardy and courageous, General Greene has been severely censured. His whole
*Richard Campbell. tJohnson's Life of Greene, vol. I. P. 473.
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correspondence shows in what low esteem he held the citizen soldiery, and with what distrust he looked upon them. He seems to have made one exception, if Johnson is correct. This was General Pickens' command of North Carolinans, "on whose services he could depend from day to day."
But it seems, that on that roth day of March, there were still Sco or goo militia with General Greene, and as the Virginia reinforcements had not reached his camp, and those who were with him at Halifax had remained behind .* it is to be presumed that nearly if not quite all of these militia were North Carolinians. These were the men'left after General Greene had gotten rid of the "mounted militia" by finesse, and were no doubt hardy infantry and followed the fortunes of the American commander to Guilford Court-House, though he gives no names of these officers, and no muster-rolls show who they were. They were an unknown factor in that important conflict of arms.
Occasionally we can get glimpses of facts in the voluminous pages of Johnson, who had access to all the papers of General Greene, which throw much light on the number and character and indi- viduality of the troops engaged, though his con- clusions are so paradoxical that we cannot trust to their correctness. We can only gather together isolated facts, from here and there, and draw from them our own inferences. From Johnson's account of the battle one would infer that there were 110
*Tolinson. vol. 1, p. 471.
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North Carolina troops present except the two brigades of militia under Butler and Eaton, which reached Greene on the rith of March, and that these ran without firing a shot. This is the absurd and arbitrary assertion which he makes.
I shall now extract the real truth, or very much of it, in regard to the North Carolina troops in this battle, from Johnson's own statements made else- where, and disconnected with the battle.
In his account of the battle of Hobkirk's Hill, fought the 25th day of April, 17SI, he uses this language:
"The only militia force then with the army consisted of 254 North Carohnians; 150 of these, under Colonel Read, had joined. Greene soon after he crossed the Dan, and had faithfully adhered to him from that time. They were volunteers, men of the first respectability, and much might have been expected of them in action."*
Honorable George Davis, of Wilmington, kindly furnishes me the following sketch of Colonel James Read :
"WILMINGTON, N. C., February 9th, ISSS.
" HON. D. SCHENCK, Greensboro, N. C. :
"MY DEAR SIR :- It affords me pleasure to give you what meagre information I possess about Colonel James Read, of the Continental army, who was my great-uncle, the brother of my maternal grandmother. He was born in the town of Armagh, Ireland, but at what time, and 1
%Vol. 2, p. 77.
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when he emigrated to North Carolina, I do not know. From the fact that he threw himself early and heartily into the patriot cause, I infer that he must have been here some years before the revolution-long enough to have identified himself thoroughly with our country and people. On the 7th of July, 1776, he was commissioned a Lieutenant ; and on the 8th day of July, 1777, a Cap- tain in the ist Regiment of North Carolina troops, com- manded by Colonel, afterwards General, James Moore. I have no account of his military services, beyond what is related in McRee's Life of Iredell, vol. 1, pages 494, 199. 504, 545. 546. He was with Greene at Guilford Court-House and Hobkirk's Hill, and was reputed to have behaved well on both occasions. After the war he stoutly opposed the adoption of the Federal Constitution by North Carolina, and so drew upon himself the animadversion of Archibald Maclaine. (Life of Iredeil, vol. 2, p. 219. )
"In 1785, under an act of the General Assembly passed in 1784, Colonel Read was appointed, under the authority of the State, Collector of the Port of Brunswick, which position he held until the adoption by this State of the Federal Constitution, when that office was superseded by the authority of the United States. In 1790, Wil- mington was made the port of entry for the Cape Fear, and he was appointed Collector of that port by President Washington. This office he held until his death in 1802 or 1803. He lived and died in Wilmington. He was never married. Colonel Read had no relatives in this country, except his young sister Sarah, whom he brought over from Ireland, and who married my grandfather, Joseph Eagles. He had a brother, Andrew Read, who was a Colonel in the British army, but he never served
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in America, but was stationed in India, where he died without issue. "
Greene recrossed the Dan the 23d of February. and these men joined him "soon after." They were "volunteers," not militia, and men of the "first respectability" and had "faithfully adhered to Greene." and beyond question were in the battle at Guilford Court-House; but the account of that battle, by either Johnson or Lee, may be searched in vain for any mention of these "faithful volut- teers."
Here, then, we have 15c. as a remuant of Read's volunteers: in all probability they numbered 200 at the battle of Guilford Court-House.
At another place" we are informed that on the 25th day of February. the day of " Prle's defeat." Pickens' command was reinforced by "two detach- ments of ico each under Majors Winston and Armstrong," both of North Carolina. Here then, were 200 more North Carolina "volunteers " who joined the American forces and "adhered faithfully to Greene." Draper, in his biography of Major Winston, says positively that he "shared in the battle of Guilford."+
Major Winstou was conspicuous for his bravery at King's Mountain, and led the van of the attack on the rear of the hill. He was a member of Con- gress from North Carolina in 1793, and again in
*Volume I, p. 455. tKing's Mountain and Its Heroes, p. 455.
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ISO3. He lived near Germantown, in Stokes County, and died in 1St, leaving a large family."
It is not only true that these riflemen of Surry were present, but they were the very last to leave the field, after. Tarleton's final charge which dis- persed the American forces on the left; for in that charge . Talliaferro, of Surry, was killed, and Jesse Franklin, afterwards Governor of North Carolina and United States Senator from this State, made a very narrow escape. The narrative of these occur- rences is given by Caruthers, in his Sketches of North Carolina, second series, upon the authority of the present Judge Jesse Franklin Graves, a grand- son of Governor Franklin, than whom no better man or purer Judge now adorns the bench of the "Old North State."
In " Tarleton's Campaigns," page 320, we find the official report of the killed and wounded in the battle of Guilford, by Otho Williams, Deputy Adjuant General. It contains this statement:
"The North Carolina cavalry: commanded by the Marquis Bretigny, lost one man killed and one man wounded." We learn elsewheret that this company consisted of 40 men.
From Colonel James Martin's application for a pension under the act of 1832, we learn that his force, about 200 strong, joined Greene at Guilford Court-House on the roth February, and that about 100 of them were still with Greene at the battle.
*Wheeler's History, vol. 2, p. 149. ¡Gordon's History, vol. 4. p. 54.
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Razosay, in his Annals of Tennessee, page 251, also says that "in response to Greene's earnest entreaties, a few of the pioneers of Tennessee were under Greene's command at the hotly-contested battle of Guilford Court-House."
"These men were under Charles Robertson," and were all North Carolinians. They numbered perhaps ico men.
To sum up the organized "volunteer" force of North Carolinans, in the Battle of Guilford Court- House, of whom no official report gives any account, we have the following :
Colonel Read's men, 200
Major Joseph Winston's men, - ICO
Major Armstrong, - - ICO
Forbis' men from Guilford, - - ICO
Sevier's men under Robertson, - ICO
Total, - - 600 nie11. -
Add to these the North Carolina
cavalry, 40 - - 111e11,
And we have a total of - - - 640 North Carolina volunteers who were in this battle, besides the icco militia who joined Greene on the rith day of March. The failure of Lee, in his Memoirs, or Campbell in his letter," to mention these troops or their organizations, or the absence of their names from the official report, are scarcely to be considered as evidence against my position,
#Gibbs' Doc. His. . 18577 p. F39.
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as but few persons are mentioned in the official report, except those of the muster-rolls of the army. It is as well established that Thomas Watkins. with a militia company of dragoons, from Prince Edward, Virginia, was present at this battle, as it is that Lee's Legion was there," and vet this troop of Watkins is nowhere mentioned by Lee or Campbell, or in Greene's official report. , It is also well established that Watkins' dragoons did gallant service in the charge on the Guards, and remained to cover Greene's retreat after Lee had, without orders, left the field.+
I think it but fair to infer from Greene's letter of the roth of February, when all his forces had rejoined the main army, that the "Sco or 900" militia, as he terinied them, included the 600 whom we have been able to trace directly to him, and that, in fact, instead of 6co. there were "Soo or 900" North Carolina volunteers, select, good infan- try. who remained with Greene after the "mounted infantry" had left .:
The brigade of North Carolinians under Pickens were not in the battle of Guilford. Their term of service ended on the 3d of March, but they remained a few days hoping to join in a general battle, and at last, by General Greene's order, they marched, in companies, for Rowan, Mecklenburg and Lincoln, where they were directed, should occasion require,
*Foote's Sketches of Virginia, Ist series, p. 403. +Johnson, vol. 2, p. 20. *Johnson, vol. I. p. 170.
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to embody again, and hang on the flanks of the enemy if he retreated in that direction. There were, however, a number of individuals of this North Carolina brigade, who remained for the battle ; among them Abram Forney, of Lincoln County. ancestor of the present Judge Shipp, and of General Robert D. Johnson and Captain J. F. Johnson, of Birmingham, Alabama, late of Charlotte, N. C. Abram Forney was an old Indian and frontier fighter and could not endure the idea of missing his favorite pastime. He was on the front line and fired until the point of the British bayonet was too close for further amusement. There were others, of that Mecklenburg and Lincoln Legion, who were with Forney, but I cannot gather their names. There were also many individual riflemen of the surrounding country who, as soon as Greene advanced to Guilford Court-House, repaired to the "shooting-match," as they designated it; some of these we may mention by name in subsequent pages.
It has been previously stated that the North Carolina militia who joined General Greene at High Rock Ford (or Troublesome Creek, according to General Graham), consisted of two brigades of 500 men each. The aggregate, however, was 1060. The one was under Brigadier General John Butler, of Orange County, one of the old Regulators, who had adhered to his ideas of resistance to tyranny, from Alamance, in May 1771, to that time. He had been in arms from the beginning of the war and had recently been at Gates' defeat and escaped
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capture. He is represented as a man of great cour- age and much force of character. He was very popular with his neighbors and retained their respect by his honest and straightforward dealings with them. There was no time during the revolu- tionary war when the name of General Butler was uot conspicuous in North Carolina. as a patriot and soldier. He never laid down his arms until inde- pendence was declared and won. The militia who served under him at Guilford Court-House were from Orange, Granville and Guilford counties.
General Thomas Eaton, who commanded the other brigade, had been prominent in the civil and political service of the State. In 1775 he was one of the councillors of the Provisional Government in North Carolina, of which Cornelius Harnett was the "head.""
In 1776 he was Colonel of a battalion of militia and was ordered out to repel a threatened invasion by Sir Henry Clinton, on the Cape Fear .; He was at the battle of Briar Creek, under General Ashe. March the 3d, 1779, and narrowly escaped capture.
In the " Life and Times of Iredell,"# we find this anecdote about him:
"Eaton (afterwards General) was at Briar Creek. He had a very small foot and wore a boot of unusual finish
*Moore's History, vol. I, p. 197. +Moore's History, vol. I, p. 215. *Vol. I, p. 408, note.
20
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.
and neatless. In the haste of his flight he left his boots behind : they were recognized and purchased of a soldier by Colonel John Hamilton, who afterwards commanded a regiment of loyalists in the British service. After the war, at a dinner party at Willie jones', Colonel Hamilton, with some good-humored raillery, produced the boots and passed them to their former owner, who, greatly incensed, threw them across the table at Hamilton's head. "
General Eaton was the ancestor of the late Honorable William Eaton, of Warren County, Attorney General of the State.
The aggregate of the North Carolina troops who were in the battle of Guilford Court-House was, approximately, 17oo of all arms.
We shall now endeavor to ascertain the troops from Virginia, outside of the regulars, who composed the army of General Greene.
On the 25th day of February, after the " Hack- ing Match." as Pyle's defeat was called, Johnson says :* _
"But notwithstanding the approach of darkness, the American commander resolved not to rest until he had thrown himself between Tarleton and the approaching reinforcements. For this purpose the detachment was ordered to proceed, and a place of encampment being selected, three miles in advance of the British party, Pickens halted for the night and made every arrange- ment for attacking the enemy by the break of day.
*Vol. 1, p. 455.
*
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Never was there a more formate step taken than this ; for one mile beyond the American encampment, Colonel Preston" (of Virginia, "with 300 respectable followers, had halted for the night, and at small intervals beyond him were two other small detachments of about 1oo each, under Majors Winston and Armstrong."
Colonel William Campbell, of Washington County, Virginia, did not arrive at the camp of Pickens, in Guilford County, near Alamance, until about the 3d of March. He was on his way the 25th of February, as we learn by the following letter from Martin Armstrong to him:
"FEBRUARY 25TH. 17SI.
"DEAR COLONEL :- Yesterday I had an express from Colonel Locke's camp ; he is at the High Rock Ford on Haw River: General Pickens is near Hillsboro, and by this time considerable strong; General Greene on his march towards the enemy, with a number of the Virginia militia and regulars; General Butler, with the Orange district militia, lies below Hill-borough, and by every intelligence, the enemy are penned up in that town. It is generally supposed that a reinforcement is on its march to the assistance of the British ; our people are gathering from all quarters, and the enemy's pickets are constantly harassed by our reconnoitering parties. The arrival of your troops would add vigor to us and discour- age the enemy, who, no doubt, have heard of your being on your march towards them. Pray send back this express as quick as possible. I shall endeavor to have some meat for you at Bethabara ; meal and corn you can
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have a plenty, but meat is scarce. However, I shall try my best. This day Colonel Preston, I think, will join General Pickens: if any extraordinary news comes to hand before you arrive at Bethabara, I shall let you know by another express.
"I am, in haste, sit, your humble servant, "MARTIN ARMSTRONG."
Lee, in relating the dash of Cornwallis on the 6th of March, says:
"The left of our light troops was composed of militia who had lately joined under Colonel Campbell, one of the heroes of King's Mountain, relieving Brigadier Pickens and the corps who had so faithfully adhered to General Greene during the trying scenes just passed. Campbell's men were part of the conquerors of Ferguson ; better suited, as has been before observed, for the field of battle than for the security of camp. In this quarter, through some remissness in the guards, and concealed by the fog, Lieutenant Colonel Webster, commanding the British van, approached close before he was discor- ered. "*
Johnson, relating the junction of Colonel William Campbell with Greene's army, states:+
"The gallant Colonel Campbell, who had promised a reinforcement of one thousand hardy mountaineers, flushed with the capture of an entire army on King's Mountain, had, almost desperate with mortification, presented himself with only sixty followers."
*Lee's Memoirs, p. 265. tJohnson, vol. I, p. 469.
.
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The reason for this disappointment was, that the Cherokee Indians instigated by British emissaries, had suddenly appeared on the western frontiers, and almost every available man of that portion of the State was called out to repel the invasion.
This fact, too, accounts for the absence of Sevier's and Shelby's men, who were engaged in the same service. These latter spared a company. under Robertson, for General Greene, as we have seen.
It is worthy of observation that. though Campbell brought fewer men to the field than any other leader, he is made one of the most conspicuous figures in the battle. His reputation was made by commanding leaders subordinate to him in rank, and all his command was, for convenience of narra- tive, called "Campbell's Corps."
The next volunteer corps of Virginia was a battalion of riflemen under Colonel Charles Lynch.
I have not been able to find in Johnson or Lee, who give particulars, or in any general history, an estimate of their number.
In a note, p. 269, Lee says: "Colonel Lynch had lately joined, commanding one of the battalions of Virginia militia which arrived" (on the rith March) "under Brigadier Lawson," and Johnson says they were all volunteers and riffemen. It may be safe to estimate them between one and two hun- dred men, say 150.
This was the Colonel Charles Lynch who gave the name of " Lynch law" to the summary punish- ment of violent and desperate criminals.
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He was of Quaker descent and an ardent Whig; he folded up his non-combatant principles when they were in the way of his patriotic impulses. He inflicted these punishments generally on the worst class of Tories: but to his character for merev, be it said, he did not take human life. Iu Judge Lynch's court there generally sat as associates Robert Adams and Thomas Calloway, and an old song commemorating their judgments ran thus :
" Hurrah for Colonel Lynch, Captain Bob and Calloway. They never turned a Tory loose Until he shouted liberty."
Colonel Lynch died October 29th, 1796, aged 60 vears .*
There was a company of militia dragoons from Prince Edward County, Virginia, commanded by Thomas Watkins, with Lieutenants Philemon Hol- comb, Charles Scott, and Samuel Venable, and among the privates was the giant Peter Francisco, long the sergeant-at-arms of the House of Bur- gesses in Virginia. They did gallant service, as we shall see. They perhaps numbered 50 men.t.
The militia of Virginia which joined Greene on the rith March, and constituted the brigades of Stevens and Lawson, has been variously estimated. Gordon fixes the number at 1693,2 Johnson, who underrates the number of Greene's forces of every
+Robert Carroll in Chicago Inter-Ocean.
tFoote's Sketches of Virginia, first series, p. 403. +Gordon, vol. 4, p. 54.
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corps. puts the number "as two brigades of 600 cach.">
The aggregation of Virginia forces under Greene. outside of the regular army. is-
Colonel William Preston's command. 300
Colonel William Campbell's command, 60
Colonel Charles Lynch's command, - 150
50
Watkins' dragoons .. - Virginia militia, 6
1693
Total, - 2253 -
Greene's regular troops were as follows: Virginia brigade, two regiments, under Colo-
nel Green and Lieutenant Colonel Hawes, 778 commanded by Gen. Huger of South Carolina. Two Maryland regiments of regulars. under Lieutenant Colonel Howard and Colonel Ford, forming a brigade under Otho Wil- liams, to which were attached Kirkwood's Delawares, the remnant brought off from Gates' defeat, in all 630 - - The artillery consisted of four (4) six-pounders under Captain Anthony Singleton and Lieutenant Finley, with sixty matrosses+ 60
from Virginia and Maryland.
Lee's cavalry, 75
Washington's cavalry, 90
-
82
Lee's infantry,
-
Total, - -
- - - 1715
t.Artillerymen.
#Vol. 2. p. 3.
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These are the figures of Johnson as to the regu- lars, which. I suspect, are too small.
To make a summary of Greene's forces, we have North Carolinians, - 1700
Virginians, -
2253
Regular army, - - - 1715
Total,
- 5668 ,
In my opinion, this is more probably under the true figures than over it, as there were so many irregular troops, going and coming, that it is impos- sible to locate themi at any one place.
Turning to the camp of Cornwallis at Bell's Mill, on Deep River, I will endeavor to ascertain the number and character of the troops composing the British army, though I find it a most difficult and complex problem to solve. I do not know that I can do better than condense the argument in the words of Johnson :#
" It is no easy undertaking to determine the number of men bronght by the enemy into the battle of Guilford. The assertion of Lord Cornwallis that they amounted to only 1360 is sneered at by Sir Henry Clinton, and not even contended for by the British historians. It is an unfortunate fact, for the support of this assertion, that he admits a loss of more than 500 killed and wounded, and yet admits a total on the Ist of April of 1723. Deduct from this number Hamilton's loyal regiment, which does not appear to have been in the action, and there will still remain inore than 2000 exclusive of the artillery.
*Vol. 2, pp. 3-4.
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It is also observable that Colonel Tarleton admits his cavalry to have amounted to 200, and yet the whole Legionary corps is set down in Cornwallis' account at 174. By the army returns of the ist March. it appears that his total was 2213, which will leave 2000 after deducting Hamilton's regiment. Sir Henry Clinton supposes that Lord Cornwallis ought to have had with him, after the affair of the Cowpens, 3000 men, exclusive of cavalry and militia, and General Greene constantly insists that his force, when at Hillsboro, as ascertained from his daily rations and other means resorted to by military men, exceeded 2500 and approached 3000. No author, that we recollect, ventures to state it at less than 2000."
It is probable that Cornwallis had at least 2000 mien engaged in the fight, with Hamilton's loyalists in charge of his baggage in the rear.
These were all veteran soldiers, inured to war by long experience and inspired to deeds of glory by the history and traditions of these regiments.
The brigade commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James Webster was composed of the 23d and 33d regiments of infantry.
The 23d was the regiment of the Prince of Wales and was known as the " Welsh Fuzileers." They bore the motto of the Prince-Ich dien (I serve)-01 the buttons of their uniformn."
Sir William Howe was its Colonel in 1775, with Nesbett Balfour Lieutenant Colonel, and Willian Blakeny, Major.
"I have one of these buttons in my possession.
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The sad regiment was one of the most honorable in the English service. It was the old regiment of Cornwallis and was his pet and pride. In the British Army Records we find that on the 21st March, 1766, Charles E. Cornwallis was appointed its Colonel, and that he was made Lieutenant General, August 29th, 1777. lts other officers were Lieutenant Colonel James Webster and Major Wil- liam Dansey. Captain Frederick Cornwallis com- manded one of the companies in the regiment.
The Fist was a Scotch regiment. It seems from the "Historical Records of the British Army" that it was newly reorganized in October, 1775. specially for service in America. They wore "green plaid pants, close fitting red vests and high fur caps." They were Highlanders. Their officers in 1779 were Colonel Simon Fraser, afterwards Major General, Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell and Major Alexander McDonald.
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