USA > North Carolina > The state records of North Carolina, Vol XV > Part 22
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In case of a Misfortune at Pensacola, St. Augustine becomes a Frontier in this Quarter, & I think I shall direct Lieut. Colonel Clarke to take the Command there, with the Regiment of Wissen- bach and some Provincials, & remove the detachments of the 60th (upon which, from their composition, there can be no great depen-
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dence) to Savannah, to assist in the interior business of the prov- ince ; For with East Florida in our possession on one Side, & South Carolina on the other, it is not probable that Georgia can be an object to a foreign Enemy.
Since my arrival at this place I have been employed in the internal Regulations of the Province, & settling the Militia of the lower districts, both of which are in forwardness, & I have kept up a constant correspondence with the Frontiers & the interior parts of North Carolina, where the Aspect of Affairs is not so peaceable as when I wrote last. Majr. General de Kalb is cer- tainly at Hilsborough with 2,000 continental Troops, including some Cavalry, & said to be preparing to advance to Salisbury ; Porterfield is in the Neighborhood of Salisbury with 300 Vir- ginians, & Rutherford with some Militia with him; Caswell with 1,500 Militia is march'd from Cross Creek to the Deep River, between Hillsborough & Salisbury, and Sumpter, with about the same Number of Militia, is advanced as far as the Catauba Set- tlement. Lord Rawdon reports to me that many of the disaffected South Carolinians from the Waxhaw, and other Settlements on the Frontier, whom be had put on parole, have availed themselves of the general Release of the 20th of June, & have joined General Sumpter.
Accounts from Virginia, thro' different Channels, say that two Thousand five hundred of their Militia had followed de Kalb, that the Assembly had voted five thousand men to be immediately drafted, to serve as a Corps of Observation, & had vested their Governor with absolute power during their Recess. The Gov- ernment of North Carolina is likewise making great exertions to raise Troops, & persecute our Friends in the most cruel manner, in consequence of which Colonel Bryan, altho' he had promised to wait for my orders, lost all patience, & rose with about 800 men on the Yadkin, and by a difficult & dangerous March joined Major McArthur on the Borders of Anson County; about two thirds only of his People were armed, & those I believe but indiffer- ently.
The Effects of the exertions which the Enemy are making in those two Provinces will, I make no doubt, be exaggerated to us ; But upon the whole there is every reason to believe that their Plan is not only to defend North Carolina but to commence offen-
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sive Operations immediately, which reduces me to the Necessity, if I wanted the inclination, of following the Plan which I had the Honour of transmitting to Your Excellency in my Letter of the 30th June, as the most effectnal means of keeping up the Spirits of our Friends & securing this Province. To enable me to begin, I am first using every possible dispatch in transporting to Camden Rum, Salt, Regimental Stores, Arms & Ammunition, which, on Account of the distance & excessive heat of the Season, is a work of infinite Labour & requires a considerable time. In the mean while, the measures that I have directed Lord Rawdon to take will, I trust, put it out of the power of the Enemy to strike a blow at any of our Detachments, or to make any considerable Inroads into this Provinee. I have the Satisfaction to assure Your Excel- leney that the Numbers & Disposition of our Militia equal my most sanguine expectations. But still I must confess that their want of Subordination & Confidence in themselves will make a considerable regular Force always necessary for the defence of the province untill North Carolina is perfectly reduced. It will be needless to attempt to take any considerable Number of the South Carolina Militia with us when we advance; they can only be looked upon as light Troops, & we shall find Friends enough in the Prov- inee of the same Quality, & we must not undertake to supply too many useless Mouths.
When the Troops march into North Carolina, it will be absolutely necessary to get supplies up some of the principal Rivers of that Province. I therefore thought it proper to apply to Captain Henry to detain the Sandwich, which will be more useful to ns than any Frigate in the Service, & could not, in my opinion, be much wanted at New York, where the Admiral will have it in his power to fit up so many Vessels of the same kind. Captain Henry has consented, & I hope with her Assistance and the Galleys to proenre a tolerable water communication pretty high up in the Country. The bringing the troops down toward the Coast before the Month of November would be leading them to certain destruction.
I have agreed to the proposal of Mr. Cunningham in the Ninety- six District to raise a Corps on the footing of Major Harrison's, which I believe will be the last Provincial Corps that I shall
15-17
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attempt. I have rejected all plans for raising Cavalry, except the Augmentation of the Legion to seventy men a troop.
I inclose a duplicate of a Letter from Governor Tryon with some accounts ; the former ones were, I believe, forwarded to You by Brigr. General Paterson.
It gave me great pleasure to hear last night by a Vessel from New York of Your Excellency's safe Arrival.
I have the honour to be,
Your most Obedient & most humble Servant,
CORNWALLIS.
His Excellency Sir Henry Clinton, K. B., &c., &c., &c.
EARL CORNWALLIS TO SIR HENRY CLINTON.
CHARLESTOWN, August 6th, 1780.
SIR :
I received by Major England your letters of the 14th & 15th of July, and am very glad to find by the latter that you do not place much dependence on receiving troops from hence. My letter of the 14th, by the Halifax, will have convinced you of the impossi- bility of weakening the force in this Province, and every thing which has happened since that time tends more strongly to confirm it. The general State of things in the two Provinces of No. & So. Carolina is not very materially altered since my Letters of the 14th & 15th of last . Month were written. Frequent skirmishes, with various Success, have happened in the Country between the Catauba River & Broad River. The Militia about Tiger & Ennoree rivers was formed by us under a Colonel Floyd ; Col. Neale, the Rebel Colonel, had Fled, but Lt. Col. Lisle, who had been Paroled to the Islands, exchanged on his arrival in Charlestown his Parole for a Certificate of his being a good Subject, returned to the Country and carried off the whole Battalion to join General Sumpter at Catauba. We have not, however, on the whole, lost ground in that part of the Country.
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Turnbull was Attacked at Rocky Mount by Sumpter with abont 1,200 men, Militia & Refugees from this Province, whom he repulsed with great loss. We had on our part an Officer Killed & one wounded, & about ten or twelve men killed & wounded. Col. Turnbull's conduct was very meritorious. The affair of Capt. Honek turned out of less consequence than it appeared_at first ; the Captain and three men of the Legion were killed, and Seven men of the New York Volunteers taken.
On the Eastern part of the Province we have been more nnfor- tunate ; Major, McArthur, seeing the great importance of the Post at Cheraw Hill, and finding himself perfectly secure from any Attack of the Enemy, desired to continue there longer than it was intended he should when I had the honour of writing to yon on the 15th. At last, however, the 71st Regiment grew so exceedingly Sickly that He found it absolutely necessary to move, and marched on the 24th to the East Branch of Linche's Creek. Gates, who has taken the command of de Kalb's Corps, was still on Deep River, and Rutherford no further advanced than Rocky River, Pedee. Knowing of no Enemy within many Miles, he ventured to send about one hundred Sick in Boats down the Pedee to George town. By this time the reports industriously propagated in this Province of a large Army coming from the Northward had very much intimidated our friends, encouraged our enemies, and determined the wavering against ns, to which our not advancing and acting offensively likewise contributed. Col. Mills, who commanded the Militia of the Cheraw District, tho' a very good Man, had not complied with my instructions in forming his Corps, but had placed more faith in Oaths and pro- fessions, and attended less to the former conduct of those whom he admitted. The instant that this Militia found that McArthur had left his Post, & were assured that Gates would come there the next day, they seized their own Officers and a hundred Sick, & carried them all prisoners into North Carolina. Col. Mills with difficulty made his escape to Georgetown, where I was mnch alarmed for Wemys, whose party was much weakened by sickness. The whole Country between Pedee & Santee has ever since been in an absolute State of Rebellion ; every friend of Government has been carried off and his Plantation destroyed ; and detachments of the enemy have appeared on the Santee and
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threatened our Stores & Convoys on that river. I have not heard that they have as yet made any attempt on them, & I hope by this time that the steps I have taken will secure them. This unfortunate business, if it should have no worse consequences, will shake the confidence of our friends in this Province & make our situation very uneasy until we can advance.
The Wheat harvest in North Carolina is now over, but the weather is still excessively hot ; and notwithstanding our utmost exertions, a great part of the Rum, Salt, Clothing and necessaries for the Soldiers, and the Arms for the Provincials & Ammunition for the Troops are not very far advanced on their way to Camden. However, if no material interruption happens, this business will be nearly accomplished in a fortnight or three Weeks. It may be doubted by some whether the Invasion of North Carolina may be a prudent measure, but I am convinced it is a necessary one, and that if we do not Attack that Province we must give up both South Carolina and Georgia & retire within the Walls of Charles town. Our assurances of Attachment from our poor distressed Friends in North Carolina are as strong as ever, and the patience & fortitude with which those unhappy People bear the most oppressive and cruel Tyrrany that was ever exercised over any Country deserves our greatest admiration. The Highlanders have offered to form a Regiment as soon as we enter the Country, & have desired that Governor Martin may be their Chief. I have consented, with the rank of Lieut Colonel Commandant. The Men, they assure us, are already engaged.
An early diversion in my favour in Chesapeak Bay will be of the greatest and most important advantage to my operations. I most earnestly hope that the Admiral will be able to spare a Con- voy for that purpose.
As Major Graham's Corps grew very weak, and was very une- qually composed, some of the Men of the 16th being totally unfit for Light Infantry, and the Major himself is not in a good state of health, I thought it best to break up that Corps. The 71st I shall send to their Regiment, except as many as will compleat those already with Tarleton to a Troop of 70. The Provincials will likewise join their respective Corps, & the detachment of
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the 16th, consisting of about 60 men, will be attached to the Field Artillery, except 17 or 18, who are represented to me to be active young men, and whom I intend at present to lend to Tarleton.
I propose taking the following Corps with me into North Caro- lina : 23d, 33d, 63d, 71st, Volunteers of Ireland, Hamilton's, Harrison's new raised Legion Cavalry & Infantry, & North Caro- lina Refugees. I intend to leave on the Frontiers from Pedee to Waxhaw, to awe the disaffected, who, I am sorry to say, are still very numerous in that Country, & to prevent any Insurrections in our rear, the N. York Volunteers & Brown's Corps, & some of the Militia of the Camden district, who are commanded by Col. Rugeley, a very active & spirited man. I shall place Ferguson's Corps & some Militia of the Ninety-Six district, which Col. Bal- four assures me have got into very tolerable order, owing to the great assidnity of Ferguson, on the borders of Tryon County, with . directions for him to advance with a part of them into the Mount- ains and secure the left of our March. Lieut. Colonel Cruger, who Commands at Ninety-Six, will have his own Corps, Innes's, & the remainder of the Militia of that district to preserve that Frontier, which requires great attention, & where there are many disaffected & many constantly in Arms: Allen's Corps, and for a time the Florida Rangers, are stationed at Augusta, under the command of Lient. Colonel Allen, He being, by all 'Accounts, a much properer Man than Col. Brown to trust with commands. Besides, the latter will have sufficient business in the Indian department.
Poor Hanger is always willing to do his best, but he did not. think that he should be very useful in collecting the lists, fixing the Officers & establishing the Militia in the different districts, and as he found that the Attempt would take him up many Months, & would be entirely a civil employment, He beg'd that he might act as a Volunteer Major of Tarleton's Cavalry. As Tarleton seemed to wish it very much, I have given my consent until your pleasure shall be known.
Major Stuart is rather inconveniently placed with the 63d Reg- iment, and as He and Major Wemys are not on very good terms, & the Regiment being joined with other Troops would occasion a constant change of command from one to the other, which would be prejudicial to the Regiment and the service, I have given him
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leave to go to New York, where, he tells me, he was appointed to remain aş Major of Brigade before the sailing of the Expedition. Major Graham has no further duty to detain him here, his Corps being dissolved. I beg leave to assure Your Excellency that He has served with Zeal and Attention. I forgot to apologize to You for letting Lieut. Colonel McDonald go to New York to Solicit leave to go home. His business in Europe seemed pressing, and I did not see any inconvenience in the command's devolving upon Major McArthur, who is an excellent Officer.
Lient. Colonel Balfour has arrived, and I have great reason to think that He will render very essential Services at this place. It will be a great convenience to us if Your Excellency will please to Anthorize the Paymaster General to grant Money upon the Warrant of the Commandant at Charlestown for the Subsist- ence of the Garrison, &c., as I may probably be at a very consid- erable distance. A Deputy Paymaster will, for the same reason, be much wanted for the Troops in the Field.
As I have the strongest assurances that Your Excellency intended that Lieut. Colonels Webster & Clarke should receive Pay & for- age Money as Brigadier Generals, I shall take it upon me to give it to them. It is absolutely necessary that Balfour should have it, or he would be ruined by being Commandant of Charlestown. I likewise think it highly proper that, as Lord Rawdon is acting with & commanding all these Officers, He should be offered the same allowance. I have appointed Lient. Colonel Clarke to com- mand in East Florida as well as Georgia, & He is gone with Mon- crief to inspect the condition of St. Augustine.
I have already explained the measures I had taken for estab- lishing a Government and seenring this Country by Means of a Militia. I have likewise paid as much attention as possible to the Civil and Commercial matters. The principal objects of my attention will appear in the five Proclamations which I have Issued, which I have the honour of enclosing to Your Excellency.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient & most humble Servant,
CORNWALLIS.
His Excellency Sir Henry Clinton, K. B., &c., &c., &c.
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EARL CORNWALLIS TO LORD GEORGE GERMAIN.
-
CAMDEN, SO. CAROLINA, 20th Augt., 1780.
(No. 1.)
Earl Cornwallis Recd. 9th Oct, 2 inclosures.
MY LORD :
Your Lordship will have been informed by Sir Henry Clinton of every thing that passed in the Province of South Carolina from the reduction of Charles town to the defeat of the Corps under Colonel Buford by the great exertions & valour of Lieut. Col. Tarleton.
Sir Henry soon afterwards embarked for New York, and appointed me to the command of His Majesty's Forces in the Southern Provinces. I was then at Camden, but the Corps with ine being totally destitute of Millitary Stores, Clothing, Rum, Salt, & other articles necessary for Troops in the operations of the Field, and Provisions of all kinds being deficient, almost approach- ing to a Famine in North Carolina, it was impossible for me to penetrate into that Province before the Harvest. I therefore employed myself in fixing posts of Troops from the Pedee to the Savannah rivers, to awe the disaffected and encourage the loyal Inhabitants, And I took every measure in my Power to raise some Provincial Corps, & to establish a Militia as well for the Defence as for the internal Government of South Carolina. One Provin- cial Corps, to consist of five hundred men, was put in Commission to be raised between the Pedee and Wateree, to be commanded by Mr. Harrison with the rank of Major ; And another of the same number was ordered to be raised in the district of Ninety-Six, to be commanded by Mr. Cunningham, to whom, on account of his active Loyalty for several years past, I gave the rank of Lieut. Colonel ; And there appeared to be great reason to expect that both these Corps would be soon compleated, as well as the first South Carolina Regt., which was composed of Refugees who had now returned to their native Country.
In the district of Ninety-Six, by far the most populous and powerful of the Province, Lt. Col. Balfour, by his great attention & diligence, and by the active assistance of Mair. Ferguson, who was appointed Inspector General of the Militia of this Province
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by Sir Henry Clinton, had formed seven Battalions of Militia, con- sisting of above four thousand Men, and entirely composed of per- sons well affected to the British Government, which were so regu- lated that they could with ease Furnish fifteen hundred Men at a short notice for the defence of the Frontier or any other home Service. But I must take this opportunity of observing that this Militia can be oflittle use for distant Military operations, as they will not stir without an Horse, & on that account Your Lordship will easily conceive the impossibility of keeping a number of them together without destroying the Country. Many Battalions were likewise formed by myself & other Officers on the very extensive line from Broad River to Cheraws, but they were in general either weak or not much to be relied on for their fidelity. In order to protect the raising of Harrison's Corps & to awe a large tract of disaffected Country between the Pedee & Black River, I posted Major McArthur with the 71st Regt. & a troop of Dragoons at Cheraw Hill on the Pedee, where his detachment was plenti- fully supplied by the Country with Provisions of all kinds. Other small Posts were likewise established in the front & on the left of Camden, where the people were known to be ill disposed, And the Main body of the Corps was posted at Camden, which, for this Country, is reckoned a tolerably healthy place, and where the Troops could most conveniently subsist & receive the necessary supplies of various kinds from Charlestown. I likewise had set- tled good channels of Correspondence with our friends in North Carolina,and had given them positive directions to attend to their harvests, & to remain quiet untill I could march to their relief. In this business I was greatly assisted by Governor Martin, from whose abilities & zeal for the service I have on many occasions derived great advantages, And which I must beg that your Lord- ship will please to represent in the strongest terms to his Majesty.
Having made the above arrangements, & everything wearing the face of tranquillity and submission, I set out on the 21st of June for Charlestown, leaving the command of the Troops on the frontier to Lord Rawdon, who was, after Brigadier General Paterson, the Commandant of Charlestown, the next Officer in rank to me in the Province.
About this time, I heard that two thousand of the Maryland & Delaware Continental Troops were entering North Carolina
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under Major General Baron DeKalb, & that he meant to take his quarters at Hilsborough. There was then in that Country a Corps of three hundred Virginia Lt. Infantry under Col. Porterfield, some Militia at Salisbury & Charlottetown under Geuls. Rutherford & Sumpter, & a large body of Militia at Cross Creek under Genl. Caswell. As all these Corps were at a great distance from us, and as I knew it to be impossible to march any considerable body of Men across the Province of North Carolina before the Harvest, I did not expect that onr posts on the frontier would be mnch disturbed for two months, And by that time I hoped to be able to undertake offensive operations.
I had much business to do at Charlestown, in regulating the Civil and Commercial Affairs of the Town & Country, in endeavouring to form a Militia in the lower districts, and in forwarding the preparations for taking the Field at the time intended. The business of the Country was particularly difficult, for many parts of the lower districts are extremely rebellions, and this Climate (except in Charlestown) is so bad within an hundred miles of the Coast, from the end of June untill the middle of October, that Troops could not be stationed among them during that period without a certainty of their being rendered useless for some time for Military service, if not entirely lost ; And our principal Friends for the same reasons, were extremely unwilling to remain in the Country during that period, to assist in forming the Militia and establishing some kind of Government. However, under all these difficulties the business was going on, when our tranquillity was first disturbed by the accounts of a premature rising of our Friends in Tryon County, North Carolina, in the latter end of June, who, having assembled without concert, plan, or proper leaders, were, two days after, surprised and totally routed by the Son of Genl. Rutherford. Many of them fled into this Province, where their reports tended much to terrify our friends and enconrage our enemies. And about the same time, notwithstanding my injunctions to the contrary, another body of Loyalists rose at the forks of the Yadkin under Col. Bryan, (driven to it, as they said, by the most barbarons persecution,) and after a long and difficult march joined Major McArthur at the Cheraws to the amount of upwards of 700 Men.
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Hostilities now commenced in different parts of the frontier. Genl. Sumpter, an active & daring man, assembled at Catawba about a thonsand Men, chiefly Refugees from South Carolina & Georgia, and was constantly Menacing our small posts & putting ns nnder the necessity of calling out the Militia of Ninety Six. He was joined by many disaffected persons who had been enrolled in our Militia, but as there was no serious alarm I was very unwilling to put the Troops in Motion before our preparations were compleat, & during the intense heat of the summer.
Baron de Kalb moved early in July to Deep River, where he was joined first by Genl. Caswell from Cross Creek, & about the 25th by General Gates, who took the command of the Army. But as he was still above an hundred miles from Majr. MeArthur, which was the nearest post to him, Lord Rawdon did not think it necessary to make any material alteration in the disposition of the Troops. From this time untill the 20th of July many skir- mishes happened on the frontiers of Ninety Six & towards Wax- haw, but none of any material consequence. The Enemy had, however, in the mean time filled this Province with their emis- saries, and in all the Eastern part of it were planning a general revolt, which our lenity had left but too much in their power. The Cheraw Hill was a post of great consequence, & had the Appearance of being healthy, but it proved so much the Contrary, and sickness came on so rapidly, that in nine days at least two thirds of the 71st Regt. were taken ill of Fevers & Agues, & ren- dered unfit for service. Abont this time the enemy were known to be in Motion, but the rigour of their Government (Many of our principal friends in N. Carolina being confined in Dungeons, loaded with Irons, & several having been put to Death) had so intimidated those on whose good will & ability to give the most accurate intelligence we had the greatest reason to depend that Lord Rawdon could obtain no certain accounts of them.
The Salvation of the 71st Regt., as well as every other consid- eration, determined his Lordship to withdraw the post at Cheraw Hill. This the active incendiaries of the enemy represented as an act of fear, & so encouraged the disaffected & terrified the wavering that the whole country between Pedee & Black River openly avowed the Principles of Rebellion, and collecting in Par- ties commenced acts of Hostility.
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