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 22
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Colonel Gunby had been unhorsed early in the charge, and Lieutenant Colonel John Eager How- ard," the same who had handled the regiment so skillfully at Cowpens, took the command. Major Anderson, of this regiment, was killed. Lieuten- ant Colonel Stuart, of the Guards, was also among the slam. Johnson gives this thrilling account of his death :
"Two combatants particularly attracted the attention of those around them. These were Colonel Stuart of the Guards and Captain John Smithy of the Marylanders. both men conspicuous for nerve and sinew. . They had also met before on some occasion, and had vowed that their next meeting should eud in blood. Regardless of the bayonets that were clashing around them, they rushed at each other with a fury that admitted of but one result. The quick pass of Stuart's smail sword was skillfully put by with the left hand, whilst the heavy sabre of his antagonist cleft the Briton to the spine. In one moment the American was prostrate on the lifeless body of his enemy; and in the next was pressed beneath the weight of the soldier who had brought him to the ground. These are not imaginary incidents-they are related on the best authority."
"NOTE .- On the 14th of November, 17St, Greene, writing to a friend about Colonel Howard, said : " He deserves a statue of gold no less than the Roman and Grecian heroes." Colonel Howard was, after the revolution, Governor of Maryland and served in Congress.
¡Captain Smith survived the struggle for liberty. I have in my possession a sword exhumed near the scene of this conflict, in 1866, which is undoubtedly the one Colonel Stuart wore. It is beauti- fully chased with a coat of arms and is of the finest steel. Its scab- bard is German silver.
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The separation of the combatants enabled Gen- eral Greene to restore order to his line. The two pieces of artillery, lost at the new Salisbury road, were regained and placed on the left flank in the old Salisbury foad. The ist Maryland was sub- stituted on the left of the line for the 2d Maryland, which had fled. Lynch and Kirkwood formed the centre, with the other two pieces of artillery under Lieutenant Finley. Haves' and Green's regiments were on the right: Colonel Washington with his cavalry was in the concavity of the semi-circle in the rear.
Webster had rallied on the British left, and had made an unsuccessful charge, on Howes and Kirk- wood, and been repulsed. The remnant of the Second battalion of Guards, though few, had come into line. The zist and 23d, now disengaged, were , coming up on the right. A cannonade and occa- sional musketry fire were going on across the ravine between the contending forces.
Lee had suddenly left Campbell, without warning, and was now an idle spectator of this scene from the Court-House hill, across Hunting Creek, with- out notifying Greene of his presence, or offering to cover the flanks." Tarleton had been sent hur- riedly to bring Norton, with the First battalion of Guards, to the field for a final onslaught on the American line, and finding that Campbell was un- protected, had ordered the Hessians to fire, and then rushed on the riflemen under cover of the
*Johnson, vol. 2, p. 14.
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smoke and cut them to pieces. Colonel Campbell never forgave Lee this desertion. He retired from Greene's army shortly after in disgust .*
Colonel Campbell, with his Virginia and North Carolina riflemen, were the last to fire a gun on this bloody field, and were still firing when Greene sounded the retreat. They became scattered after the charge of Tarleton upon them, and made their way, as best they could, to the camp of Greene next dav.
The American commander, having now lost his militia from the field, and the 2d Maryland also, and Campbell's fate being unknown, and Lee inac- tive in the fight, perceived that the enemy were about to outnumber him in the charge, which they were preparing, and concluded to save his army by a timely retreat.
Green's regiment of Virginians were thrown in front to hold the line, while Washington covered the retreat through the rear of the old field and across the valley of Hunting Creek, until they came to the high-road leading north to MeQuis- tian's Bridge, ou Reedy Fork Creek. three miles distant.
Green checked the feeble pursuit of the enemy, and Washington easily drove Tarleton back to his lines, while General Greene leisurely pursued his retreat to Reedy Fork, where he waited to collect his stragglers and rest his men. He himself was so prostrated by the long and arduous labors
*Draper, p. 394.
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through which he had been passing for weeks, that, in this hour of relaxation, he fainted from sheer exhaustion, and for awhile was unconscious. He wrote his wife after the battle that he had not taken off his clothes for six weeks.
Lee, though in half a mile of the rear of Greene's retreating army, did not join it, but pursued his own line of retreat by the High Rock Ford road, and came into camp twenty-four hours after Greene.
Cornwallis, who had but little means of transpor- tation, and a very scant supply of provisions and medicines, found his ammunition nearly exhausted, more than one-third of his force (over 600) killed or wounded. Stuart was cold in death ; O'Hara and Howard wounded and sick: Webster, the pride of the army, valianit in battle and wise in council, had received a mortal wound : and the mournful spectacle of the dead and dying, on every hand, was enough to dishearten the British commander. He gathered his wounded, as best he could, and buried his dead, and realizing that his only safety was now in flight. he left the field on the 17th, and placing those of his wounded, whom he could not transport, in care of the humane Quakers at New Garden Meeting- House, he hastened to put the Deep River between him and his adversary, and gave no rest to his feet until he reached the fork of that river, with the Haw, at Ramsey's Mill. Here he could burn a bridge behind him on either stream, as necessity required. From thence he fled to Wilmington, leaving the corpse of Webster in North Carolina,
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near Elizabethtown. He had died near town while swing in a litter between two horses. He literally died in the flight."
In the evening of the battle the weather turned suddenly cold and a heavy rain began to fall. lasting through the whole night. Many wounded died from the dreadful exposure.
The next morning after the battle, as was the English custom, Cornwallis sent his officers to the few prisoners he had captured with offers of liberty and money, if they would join his service. They
*I am indebted to Colonel T. D. MeDowell, of Bladen County, for the following account of Colonel Webster's death :
"ELIZABETH TOWN, March zoth, 1555.
. Hon. D. Schenck :
" DEAR SIR :- The postmaster has handed me your letter dated in February. I have just received it, and give you what information I can in regard to Colonel Webster
' It -eems in these days the army had no ambulances, a- at the present day, and the wounded men were carried on a litter swung between two horses It was in this manner that Colonel Webster was carried on the retreat from the battle of Guilford Court House. On ascen ling the hill at Baker's Creek, five miles above Elizabethtown. it was first discovered that he was dead. The army marched on through the village and camped two miles b.loin on Brown's Creek, on the planta- tion belonging to the Waddell family. Lord Cornwallis stopped in the village and got his supper.
"Captain James Child4, who was well known to the old citizens of Hillsboro, told nie that he was a small boy, and going to the Waddell mill, with a bag of corn on a horse had to pass along by where the army was camped, and he saw the corpse of Colonel Web-ter lying on a litter between two pine trees. iI have frequently seen the stamp, of the trees,) When the late Judge To omer was comparatively a young man he, in company with several other gentlemen, spent a night with Mr. Waddell during our court week, and allusion being made to Colonel Webster, it was proposed that they should dig open the grave as the spot was well known to an old negro man belonging to the Waddell family .. They found the body with the sword lying beside it. It looked quite natural, until a puff of wind scattered it like dust. The exact spot is now known to noone-though it is certain he is buried near the stumps referred to.
"If this information is of any service to you, you are welcome to it. "Very respectfully,
" THO. D. MCDOWELL."
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had been confined all that dreary, rainy, cold night in a rail pen, herded like cattle, and listened to these appeals with silence and sullenness. They were then told that the American army had been routed and Greene had fled from the State, but still these staunch old Whigs, drenched with rain and shivering with cold, maintained their stolid indiffer- ence.
Just then the sound of the morning guns from Greene's camp came reverberating from the hills. An old Tar Heel. who had squatted in a corner of the rail pen, heard the familiar signal, and, rising with a smile, he cried out: "LISTEN, BOYS! THE OLD COCK IS CROWING AGAIN." and a shout of defi- ance went up from the rail pen that convinced the English officer that patriotism. in the old North State, was above the temptation of bribery or the intimidation of British power.
That "old cock" Nathanael Greene, and the "blue hen's chickens" around him, continued to crow until Cornwallis was admonished of his sins and his danger, and prepared for flight.
Eager to meet the American army, which he had been pursuing for two months through mud and rain, thirsting for the glory of annihilating his foe, Cornwallis had marched out from his camp with fluttering banners aud martial music to accept the challenge of the American General ; he looked with pride on the veteran soldiers of his line and the splendid officers who led them ; the half-clad soldiers of the American army and the untutored militia of
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the State were contemptible in his eyes. The scene at Camden was to be repeated -- the militia would flee at his approach, the Continentals would be outnumbered and crushed, and Tarleton would revenge the defeat of Compens by putting the re- treating masses to the sword; Greene would for- sake the field and find a refuge in the mountains of Virginia, and the Royal government would be restored in North Carolina.
These were the exultant visions that floated before his lordship's eyes as he gave the command, "Forward for Guilford Court-House !"
He sought the American army and advanced upon the militia, but he found them in "forty paces, with their rifles resting on the rails," and aiming with the "nicest precision" at his line, and the next moment there was "havoc" in Webster's brigade. He looked to the right and witnessed one-third of the Highlanders drop ; he galloped his charger into the midst of the fight, but in a moment was unhorsed by the riffemen on the flank; in fury he rode to the valley where his Guards were weltering in blood, and returned to shoot them down in pro- miscuous carnage with his own guns; he called for Webster to lead the last charge for victory. but found him in the hands of the surgeon; he looked for O'Hara and saw him bleeding at his side; to the inquiry for General Howard came the response, "wounded and carried to the rear;" gazing anxiously at the Guards, who were emerging from the smoke and carnage under the hill, he
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missed the stalwart figure of Stuart, now stiff and cold in death. Still he hoped for the realization of his dreams when he saw the Americans turn from the field of blood, and calling for Tarleton, he ordered him to charge the retreating foe. Tarleton came with a rifle-ball through his hand, but was met by Green and Washington and hurled back to his commander with disordered ranks.
The visions of glory had vanished; the truth came rushing over his mind that the victor of this battle was not the man who held the field, and that the ground on which he stood would soon become the scene of his captivity if he tarried to rest his bleeding cohorts.
Greene had lost but three hundred and twenty (320) men, and by the evening of the 17th, he found still around him 1350 Continental soldiers, more than 1500 militia, and the 600 riflemen.
An American officer relates that his compassion was so excited by the pitiable condition of the Eng- lish army, in their retreat, that he had no heart to strike them a blow. The roadside was strewn with the dead who had vainly tried to drag their wounded bodies along with the retreating army.
The march was tracked by the blood that flowed from the wounds of those who were borne in litters, and here and there a soldier, wounded and forsaken, begged for mercy and protection. When pressed in their camp at Ramsey's Mill, they made a hur- ried flight across the bridge and burned it behind them. Reaching Cross Creek (now Fayetteville).
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his lordship expected to glide safely down the Cape Fear in boats; but found Lillington's militia lining the river and ready to pick off his men from every covering on the banks. Sadly he resumed his mournful march and only found safety under his guns at Wilmington.
Cornwallis had boasted, in the spring of 1;So, that he was only waiting for the harvest to ripen in North Carolina, to subsist his troops, and he would then hasten to effect its subjection. The harvest had ripened, but his lordship had not garnered the sheaves; he came to the fields of Mecklenburg, but a voice from King's Mountain sent dismay and ter- ror to the hearts of his reapers and they forsook the State.
Another spring had come with its sunshine and warmth, and the earth was waiting for the seed. The furrows were drawn but the sowers were free- men still; the summer came and patriots rested undismayed under the shade of their own vines and fig trees; no roval standard floated over their heads and North Carolina, vet, was free. Georgia and South Carolina were trodden under foot, but the proud hearts of the "Old North State" were never humbled before the British throne. They declared for liberty and maintained it, unsubdued, to the end. The Battle of Guilford Court-House made it impossible that another British soldier should invade her soil, and thenceforth she had peace and rest and a free government for her people.
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No longer able to maintain the conflict in the Carolinas, his lordship continued his flight to York- town, and before the frosts of October had tinged the leaves of the forest, he marched out of his breastworks an humbled and heart-broken captive, and with the surrender of his army came indepen- dence to the colonies.
The fatal wound to royal authority, from which it lingered, and lingering died, on the 19th day of October, ITS1, was given at Guilford Court-House on this 15th day of March, 17SI.
There are many interesting anecdotes and inci- dents of this bloody battle preserved by the various writers who have attempted to describe it, each illustrating some characteristics of the struggle or the men who were engaged in it.
Cornwallis had two horses shot under him and made two narrow escapes from death or capture.
Lamb, who was in Webster's brigade on the left. relates the following incident as occurring after Eaton's brigade had retreated and the British were about to assail the front of the Virginians under Lawson :
"On the instant, however, I saw Lord Cornwallis riding across the clear ground. His lordship was mounted on a dragoon's horse, his own having been shot; the saddle-bags were under the creature's belly, which much retarded his progress, owing to the vast quantity of underwood that was spread over the ground; his lord- ship was evidently unconscious of his danger. I immedi- ately laid hold of the bridle of his horse and turned his
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head. I then mentioned to him that if his lordship had pursued the same direction he would, in a few moments. have been surrounded by the enemy, and perhaps cut to pieces or captured. Icontinned to run along the side of the horse, keeping the bridle in my hand, until his lord- ship gained the agd regiment, which was at that time drawn up in the skirt of the woods. "-P. 302.
Tradition fixes the point where the second horse of his lordship was shot as on the right of Law- son's brigade, probably a shot from Lynch's or Kirk- wood's men.
"The next escape from danger by Lord Cornwailis, took place at the foot of the steep hill just beyond the fork of the Bruce road, near the ancient white oak which still marks the spot.
"Cornwallis came down from his post at the fork of the Bruce road, to the ravine below. to see the condition of the battle, and under the cover of the smoke, rode up to that old white oak, just in the skirts of the fiery con- test. Washington, who had drawn off his troops, was hovering round to watch his opportunity for another onset, and approached that same oak unperceived by his lordship, stopping to beckon on Lis men to move and intercept the officer, then unknown to him, he happened to strike his unlaced helmet from his head. While he dismounted to recover it, a round of grape from the British artillery so greviously wounded the officer next in command to Washington, that, incapacitating him to manage his horse, the animal wheeled around and carried him off the field, followed by the rest of the cavalry, who,
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unhappily, supposed that the movement had been directed. Thus Cornwallis escaped."
General Greene was not exempt from peril darius this sanguinary battle. Johnson relates his escape during the conflict with the Continental line, as follows:
"Such also had been the apprehensions for the conse- quences of the defeat of the second battalion of the Guards, that the first battalion had been ordered up from the left and had reached the New Garden road, on which Greene was anxiously observing the progress of events. The bush on the roadside had so effectually concealed the advance of this corps from view that General Greene had approached within a few paces of them, when they were discovered by his aid, Major Morris, and pointed out to him. He had the presence of mind to retire in a walk ; a precipitate movement would, probably, have drawn upon him a volley of musketry."
The death of Colonel Arthur Forbis was tragical and cruel. After he had fallen with two bullets, one in the neck, the other in his leg, and after he had endured all the horrors of that dreadful night of cold and rain, a Tory by the name of Shoemaker, a weaver from the neighborhood of Alamance, who was plundering, came near to Forbis, who begged him for water. Shoemaker, recog- nizing him, cursed him and thrust at him with a bayonet, which passed entirely through his leg. Another Tory, more humane, brought water in his. hat and administered to the famishing soldier.
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On the same day, Miss Montgomery, who was searching for her brother, discovered Colonel Forbis. and helping him on her horse, she held the bridle, and led the horse towards home. At a point near where Holt's Chapel now is, two miles east of Greensboro, · they were met by the wife of Colonel Forbis, who was starting to look for him. She did not recog- nize the pallid face and sunken eyes of him who was so dear to her, when in a feeble voice he said. "Bettie, don't you know me?"
Colonel Forbis was carried to his home, and Doctor Caldwell, both a Doctor of medicine and of divinity, with his son, attended him. They insisted on amputating the leg, but the Colonel replied: "I want all my body to be buried together." and refused. He lived three weeks. His remains are buried in the cemetery at Alamance Church, five miles south of Greensboro. The citizens of Guilford County erected a handsome marble monument over his grave, and a granite monument has been erected by the "Guilford Battle-Ground Company," who own the battle-ground, on the battle-field, to his memory. He was not more than thirty-five years old when killed. "Shoemaker" was soon found at his home, one night, by the Whigs and hanged to a tree near an old church. The door of the old church was used as a litter to convey his body to his family.
Cornwallis makes the following official report of his losses in this battle:
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"RETURN OF THE KILLED, WOUNDED AND MISSING OF THE TROOPS UNDER THE COMMAND OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL EARL CORNWALLIS, IN THE ACTION AT GUILFORD, MARCH 15TH, ITSI.
Royal Artillery-One Lieutenant, one rank and file, killed : four rank and file wounded.
" Brigade of Guards-One Lieutenant Colonel, eight Sergeants, twenty-eight rank and file, killed ; two Briga- dier Generals, six Captains, one Ensign, one staff officer, two Sergeants, two drummers, one hundred and forty- three rank and file, wounded ; twenty-two rank and file missing.
"23d Foot-Que Lieutenant, twelve rank and file, killed ; one Captain, one Sergeant, fifty-three rank and file, wounded.
"33d Foot -- One Ensign, one Sergeant, nine rank and file, killed ; one Lieutenant Colonel, two Lieutenants, three Ensigns, one staff officer, one Sergeant, fifty-five rank and file, wounded.
"jist Foot-One Ensign, one Sergeant, eleven rank and file, killed : four Sergeants, forty-six rank and file, wounded.
"Regiment of Bose-Three Sergeants, seven rank and file, killed ; two Captains, two Lieutenants, one Ensign, six Sergeants, three drummers, fifty-three rank and file, wounded ; one Sergeant, two rank and file, missing.
"Yagers-Four rank and file, killed ; three rank and file, wounded ; one rank and file, missing.
"British Legion-Three rank and file, killed ; one Lieutenant Colonel, one Sergeant, twelve rank and file, wounded.
"Total-One Lieutenant Colonel, two Lientenants,
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two Eusigns, thirteen Sergeants, seventy-five rank and file, killed ; two Brigadier Generals, two Lieutenant Colonels, nine Captains, four Lientenants, five Ensigns, two staff officers, fifteen Sergeants, five drumminers, three hundred and sixty-nine rank and file, wounded ; one Sergeant, twenty-five rank and file, missing.
"OFFICERS: NAMES KILLED AND WOUNDED.
"ist Royal A Artillery -.- Lieutenant O' Hara, killed.
" Brigade of Guards-Honorable Lieutenant Colonel Stuart, killed ; Brigadier Generals O' Hara and Howard and Captain Swanton, wounded ; Captains Schultz, May- nard and Goodricke, wounded, and since dead ; Captains Lord Douglass and Maitland, Ensign Stewart and Adju- tant Colquhoan, wounded.
"23d Foot-Second Lieutenant Robinson, killed ; Captain Peter. wounded.
"33d Font-Ensign Talbot, killed ; Lieutenant Colonel Webster (since dead), Lieutenants Salvin, Wynyard, Ensigns Kelly, Gore and Hughes, and Adjutant Fox, wounded.
"Test Foot-Ensigu Grant, killed.
"Regiment Bose-Captains Wilinousky (since dead), Eichendrobt, Lieutenants Schwener and Graife, Ensign de Trott (since dead), wounded.
" British Legion-Lieutenant Col. Tarleton, wounded. "J. DESPARD, " Deputy Adjutant General."
Cornwallis also reports that he captured four brass cannons, six-pounders, mounted on traveling carriages, with limbers and boxes complete.
Of the British officers wounded, the following died: Colonel Webster, Captains Schultz, Maynard
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and Goodricke. General O'Hara was so badly wounded that his recovery was long in doubt. General Leslie's health gave way under the expos- ure and fatigue, and he was obliged to retire a long time from service. General Howard, who was without a 'regular command. it seems, was only slightly wounded. Colonel Tarleton received a rifle-ball through his right hand (his unlucky member) in the morning encounter.
Johnson says that "the American killed and wounded could never be ascertained with precision. That the returns of the day could furnish no cor- rect idea on the subject, for one-half the North Carolina militia, and a large number of the Vit- ginians, never halted after separating from their officers. but pushed on to their homes."
This proportion of the North Carolina and Vir- ginia militia is too large. It is based on the reports made on the 17th, and many of these men came. in afterwards. The North Carolina militia, being nearer home, could the more easily return. The Virginians left by whole companies, in the face of raging officers, and, Mr. Houston says, they hid in the mountains, so that for years they feared the approach of officers.
The North Carolinians, whose term of service was only six weeks, and four of which had expired, supposed they would escape censure and punish- ment; but they were mistaken in this. The law followed them and brought them back to service, `where, as we will see in the sequel, they became
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brave and disciplined soldiers, who wiped out their disgrace in blood, and returned. after twelve months (such of them as did not sleep under the sod of South Carolina and Georgia), crowned with honors and welcomed with the plaudits of their fellow- citizens. They added training to courage and made the best of soldiers.
It is probable that Creene's loss was about three hundred besides the militia.
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