USA > New York > The natural, statistical, and civil history of the state of New-York, v. 3 > Part 32
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The whole southern army, at this time, consisted of about two thousand men, more than half of whom were militia. The regulars had been, for a long time, without pay, and were very deficient in clothing. The procuring of provisions was a matter of difficulty. Paper money had suffered the same deteri- oration in the southern states that it had in the middle and northern. Hard money had not a physical existence. The only mode left for supplying the army, was that of impress- ment. To seize on the property of the inhabitants, and at the same time preserve their affections, was a difficult business, and of delicate execution, but of the utmost moment, as it furnish- ed the army with provisions, without impairing the disposition of the inhabitants to co-operate with it in recovering the country. Such was the situation of the country, that it was almost equally dangerous for the army to go forward or stand still. In the first case every thing was hazarded ; in the last the confidence of the people would be lost, and all prospect of being supported by them. The nature of the country, thinly inhabited, abounding with swamps, and covered with woods, the inconsiderable force of the American army, the number of the disaffected, and the want of magazines, inclined General Greene to prefer a partisan war.
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With a small army, miserably provided, General Greene took the field against a superior British force, which had marched in triumph two hundred miles from the sea-coast. Soon after he divided his force, and sent General Morgan, with a detach- ment, to the western extremity of South Carolina, and about the same time marched with the main body to Hick's Creek, on the north side of the Pedee.
After the general submission of the militia in the preceding year, a revolution ensued highly favourable to the interest of the United States. The residence of the British army, instead of increasing the friends to royal government, diminished their numbers, and added strength to the Americans. The appear- ance of General Morgan in the district of Ninety Six, under these favourable circumstances, induced several persons to re- sume their arms, and to act in concert with his troops.
When Morgan made his appearance in the district of Ninety Six, Lord Cornwallis was far advanced in his preparations for the invasion of North Carolina. To leave Morgan in the rear might be attended with great detriment. In order, therefore, to drive him from this station, Lieutenant-colonel 'Tarleton was directed to proceed against him, with eleven hundred men. With these forces Tarleton, on the seventeenth of January, 1781, engaged Morgan, at a place called the Cowpens. The latter drew up his men in two lines, in an open wood. The southern militia, with one hundred and ninety from North Carolina, were put under the command of Colonel Pickens. These formed the first line, and were advanced a few hundred yards before the second, with orders to form on the right of the second, when forced to retire. The second line consisted of infantry and riflemen. Lieutenant-colonel Washington, with his cavalry and some mounted militia-men, were drawn up in the rear of the whole. On the side of the British, the legionary infantry and fusileers, though worn down, were ordered to form the line. Before this order was executed, the line, though far from being complete, was led to the attack by Colonel Tarle- ton himself. They advanced with a shout, and poured in a volley of musketry. Colonel Pickens directed his men to re-
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serve their fire till the British were within fifty yards. This order, though executed, was not sufficient to repel the advan- cing foes. Picken's men fell back. The British advanced, and engaged the second line, which after an obstinate conflict, was compelled to retreat. In this crisis, Colonel Washington made a charge on Captain Ogilvie, who, with forty dragoons, was cutting down the militia, and forced them to retreat. Co- lonel Howard at the same moment rallied the continentals, and charged with fixed bayonets. Nothing could exceed the as- tonishment of the British, occasioned by these unexpected charges. Their advance fell back on their rear, and commu- nicated a panic to the whole. Two hundred and fifty horse, which had not been engaged, fled with precipitation. The ar- tillery were seized by the Americans, and great confusion en- sued among the infantry. While they were in this state of dis- order, Colonel Howard called to them to lay down their arms. Some hundreds complied. Upwards of three hundred of the British were killed or wounded, and above five hundred made prisoners. Eight hundred muskets, two field-pieces, thirty-five baggage wagons, &c. fell into the hands of the victors.
The defeat of Colonel Tarleton was the first link in a chain of causes, which finally drew down ruin, both in South and North Carolina, on the royal cause.
Lord Cornwallis, though preparing to extend his conquests northerly, was not inattentive to the security of the royal cause in South Carolina. Besides the force at Charleston, he left a body of troops under Lord Rawdon. These were principally stationed at Camden, from which central situation they might easily be drawn to defend the frontiers, or to suppress insurrec- tions. To facilitate the intended operations against North Carolina, Major Craig, with a detachment of three hundred men from Charleston, and a small marine force, took posses- sion of Wilmington. The arrival of General Leslie in Charles- ton, gave Lord Cornwallis a decided superiority, and enabled him to attempt the reduction of North Carolina. Arnold was before him in Virginia, while South Carolina, in his rear, was considered as subdued. Whilst Lord Cornwallis viewed these
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prospects, he received intelligence that Colonel Tarleton was completely defeated. This surprised, but did not discourage him. He hoped by exertions soon to obtain reparation for this disastrous event, and even to recover what he had lost. With the expectation of retaking the prisoners captured at the Cow- pens, and to obliterate the impression made by the issue of the Jate action at that place, his lordship determined on the pursuit of General Morgan, who had moved off towards Virginia. The movements of the royal army, in consequence of this determina- tion, induced General Greene to retreat from Hicks' Creek, lest the British should get between him and Morgan's detachment. General Greene left the main army under General Huger, and rode one hundred and fifty, miles through the country to join Morgan's detachment, that he might be in front of Lord Corn- wallis, and direct the motions of both divisions of his army, so as to form a junction between them.
Immediately after the action at the Cowpens, General Mor- gan sont on his prisoners under a guard, and having made ar- rangements for their security, retreated with expedition. Never- theless, the British gained ground upon him. Greece, on bis arrival, ordered the prisoners to Charlotteville, and directed the troops to Guilford court-house, to which place he also or- dered General Huger to proceed with the main army.
In this retreat the Americans underwent hardships almost incredible. Many of them performed their march, without shoes, over frozen ground, which so gashed their naked feet, that their blood marked every step of their progress. Their march lay through a barren country, that scarcely afforded ne- cessaries for a few straggling inhabitants. In this severe sea- son they were reduced to the necessity of fording creeks, and of remaining wet, without any change of clothes, till the heat of their bodies, and occasional fires in the woods, dried their tattered rags. To all these hardships they submitted, without the loss of a man by desertion. Lord Cornwallis reduced the quantity of his own baggage, and the example was followed by his officers. Every thing which was not necessary in, action, or to the existence of his troops, was destroyed. The royal
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army, encouraged by the example of his lordship, submitted to every hardship with cheerfulness. The British had urged the pursuit with so much rapidity, that they reached Catawba on the evening of the same day on which the Americans had cross- ed it. Before the next morning a heavy fall of rain made that river impassable, by which means Morgan, with his detachment and prisoners, made good his retreat. When the flood had subsided, Lord Cornwallis, with the British army, crossed the river, where it was five hundred yards broad and three feet deep, under a constant fire from the militia on the opposite side, commanded by General Davidson. The infantry and grena- dier companies, as soon as they had reached the land, dispers- ed the Americans, General Davidson being killed at the first onset. The militia throughout the neighbouring settlements were dispirited, and but few of them could be persuaded to take or keep the field. A small party which collected about ten miles from the ford, was attacked and dispersed by Tarleton. The passage of the Catawba being effected, the Americans con- tinued to flee, and the British to pursue. The former crossed the Yadin on the second and third days of February, and se- cured their boats. Though the British were close in their rear, yet the want of boats and the rising of the river, made their cross- ing impossible. Thus the Americans in two instances escaped, in consequence of the rise of the streams after they had effected their passage, while the enemy were unable to cross them be- fore the waters had fallen. Before the British effected the pas- sage of the Yadkin, the two divisions of Greene's army made a junction at Guilford court-house. This was on the seventh of February. Though the junction had taken place, their com- bined numbers were so much inferior to the British, that Gene- ral Greene deemed it prudent not to risk an action. He, there- fore, retired over the Dan, to avoid an engagement till he was reinforced. Lord Cornwallis, knowing the inferiority of the Americans, conceived the hopes, by getting between General Greene and Virginia, to cut off his retreat, intercept his sup. plies and reinforcements, and oblige him to fight. With this view his lordship kept the upper country, where only the rivers
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are fordable. Supposing his adversaries, from the want of a sufficient number of boats, could not make good their passage, or in case of their attempting it, he expected to be able to over- take and force them to action. In this expectation he was de- ceived. General Greene eluded his lordship. The British urged their pursuit with so much rapidity, that the American light troops were on the fourteenth compelled to retire upwards of forty miles. General Greene bad the day before transported his army over the river Dan into Virginia. So rapid was the pursuit and so narrow the escape, that the van of. the British army just arrived as the rear of the American had crossed.
The continental army being driven out of North Carolina, Lord Cornwallis left the Dan, and proceeded to Hillsborough, where he erected the royal standard, and published a procla- mation inviting all loyal subjects to repair to it. But very few of the inhabitants evinced a disposition to range themselves un- der it. Notwithstanding the indifference or timidity of the loyalists, Lord Cornwallis hoped for aid from the inhabitants between Haw and the river Dan. He, therefore, detached Colonel 'Tarleton, with four hundred and fifty men, to give countenance to the friends of the royal government in that dis- trict. General Greene being informed that many of the inha- bitants had joined his lordship, and that they were repairing in great numbers to make their submission, determined, at every hazard, to re-cross the Dan. This was effected on the twentieth and twenty-first of February. Immediately after the return of the Americans to North Carolina, some of their light troops, commanded by General Pickens and Lieutenant-colonel Lee, were detached in pursuit of Tarleton, who had been sent to en- courage the insurrection of the royalists. Three hundred and fifty of these, commanded by Colonel Pyles, when on their way to join the British, fell in with this American party, and mistak- ing them for loyalists, were cut to pieces. Tarleton was re- freshing his legion about a mile from this scene of slaughter. Upon hearing the alarm, he re-crossed the Haw, and returned to Hillsborough. On his return, he cut down several of the royalists, as they were advancing to join him, mistaking them VOL. IIF. 46
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for the Americans. These events, together with the return of the American army, overturned all the schemes of Lord Coru- wallis. The tide of public sentiment was no longer in his fa- vour. The advocates for the royal government being discou- raged, could not be induced to act.
Though General Greene had re-crossed the river Dan, his plan was not to venture upon an immediate action, but to keep alive the spirits of his party, depress that of the loyalists, and har- rass the foragers and detachments of the British, till the expected reinforcements should arrive. He manœuvered for three weeks, constantly avoiding an engagement, when two brigades of militia from North Carolina, and one from Virginia, together with four hundred regulars, arrived. These gave him a superi- ority of numbers, and he determined no longer to decline a battle with the enemy. Lord Cornwallis having long sought for this, no longer delay took place on either side. The Amer- ican army consisted of four thousand four hundred men, of whom more than one half were militia ; the British of two thou- sand four hundred troops. The former was drawn up in three lines. The first was composed of North Carolina militia, the second of Virginia militia, and the third of continentals under General Huger and Colonel Williams. After a brisk cannon- ade in front, the British advanced in three columns. The Hes- sians on the right, the guards in the centre, and Colonel Web- ster's brigade on the left, and attacked the front line. This gave way, when their adversaries were at the distance of one hundred and forty yards, and precipitately quitted the field. The Virginia militia stood their ground, and kept up their fire, till they were ordered to retreat. The continen- tals were the last engaged, and maintained the conflict with great spirit for an hour and a half. At length the enemy gain- ed the day. They broke the second Maryland brigade, turn- ed the American left flank, and got in the rear of the Virginia brigade .. They threatened Greene's right, which would have encircled the whole of the continental troops ; a retreat was therefore ordered. This was made in good order, and no farther than over the Reedy Fork, a distance of three miles.
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Greene halted there, and drew up till he had collected most of the stragglers, and then retired to Speedwell's Iron Works, ten miles distant from Guilford. The Americans lost four pieces of cannon, and two ammunition wagons. The victory cost the British dear. Their killed and wounded numbered several hundreds. Colonel Stuart and three captains fell, and Colonel Webster died of his wounds. Generals O'Hara and Howard, and Colonel Tarleton were wounded. About three hundred continentals, and one hundred of the Virginia militia were killed or wounded. Among the former was Major Anderson, of the Maryland line ; of the latter, Generals Huger and Ste- vens. The American army sustained a great diminution, by the number of fugitives, who, instead of rejoining the camp, went to their homes. Lord Cornwallis suffered so much, that he was in no condition to improve the advantage he had gain- ed. The British had only the name, the Americans all the good consequences of a victory. General Greene retreated, and Lord Cornwallis kept the field ; but, notwithstanding, the British interest, in North Carolina, was from that day ruined. On the nineteenth of March, Lord Cornwallis left his hospital, and seventy-five wounded men, with the loyalists in the vicinity, and began a march towards Wilmington, which had the ap- pearance of a retreat. This was on the nineteenth of March, four days after the battle of Guilford.
General Greene no sooner received information of this movement of Lord Cornwalls, than he put his army in mo- tion to follow him. The Americans continued the pursuit of Cornwallis till they had arrived at Ramsay's Mills, on Deep River, but for good reasons desisted from following any farther.
Lord Cornwallis halted, and refreshed his army for about three weeks at Wilmington, and then marched across the coun- try to Petersburgh in Virginia. Before it was known that his lordship had determined on this movement, the resolution of returning to South Carolina was formed by General Greene. Had the American army followed his lordship, the southern states would have considered themselves as conquered ; for their hopes and fears prevailed just as the armies marched north or south.
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While the two armies were in North Carolina, the whig iu- habitants, in some parts of South Carolina, were animated by the actions of Sumpter and Marion. These partisans, while surrounded with enemies, kept the field. Having mounted their followers, their movements were rapid, and their attacks unexpected. They intercepted the British convoys, infested their outposts, beat up their quarters, and harassed their de- tachments with such frequent alarms, that they were obliged to be constantly on their guard. On the western extremity of the state, Sumpter was supported by Colonels Neil, Lacey, Hill, Win, Bratton and Brandon ; and in the northeastern Marion received assistance from Colonels Horry, Baxter and Postel. The inhabitants, either as affection or vicinity induced, arrang- ed themselves under these officers.
Before. General Greene set out on his march for South Ca- rolina, he sent orders to General Pickins to prevent supplies from going to the British garrisons at Ninety Six and Au- gusta, and also detached Colonel Lee to advance before the continental troops. 'The latter, in eight days, penetrated through the country to General Marion's quarters, upon the Santee. The main army, in a few days more, completed their march from Deep River to Camden. The British had erect- ed, in South Carolina, a chain of posts from the capital to the extreme districts of the state, which had communications with each other. While General Greene was marching against Camden, Fort Watson, which lay between Camden and Charleston was invested, and taken by Marion and Lee.
General Greene reached Camden about the twenty-fourth of April. Camden, before which the American army encamped, is a village, situated on a plain, covered on the south and east sides, by the Wateree and a creek. It was defended by Lord Rawdon, with about nine hundred men. The American force consisted of about the same number of. continentals; and three hundred militia. It occupied a position about a mile from the town. . Lord Rawdon, on the twenty-fifth of April, armed his whole force; and attacked the Americans. Victory at first, in- clined to the latter, but in the progress of the action, it declared
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for the former. General Greene was obliged to retreat, but he conducted it with so much order, that he carried off most of his wounded and all his artillery. The British returned to Camden, and the Americans encamped about five miles from the field of battle.
On the seventh of May, Lord Rawdon received a reinforce- ment of five hundred men. With this increase of strength, he attempted on the next day to compel "General Greene to ano- ther action, but found that general disinclined. Having failed in this design, he returned to Camden and burned the jail, mills, many private houses, and a great deal of his own bag- gage. Ile then evacuated that post, and retired to the south- ward of the Santee. The fall of Fort Watson, broke the com- munication with Charleston, and the position of the American army in a great measure intercepted supplies. The British, in. South Carolina, now cut off from all communication with Lord Cornwallis, would have hazarded Charleston, by keeping large detachments in their distant posts; they therefore resolved to contract their limits, by retiring within the Santee. While Ge- neral Greene lay in the neighbourhood of Camden he hung in one day, eight soldiers, who had deserted from his army. This had such effect, that afterwards there was no desertion for three months. On the day after the evacuation, Camden, the post at Orangeburgh, consisting of seventy British militia, and twelve regulars, surrendered to General Sumpter. On the next day Fort Motte above the fork, on the south side of the Congaree, capitulated.
On the fourteenth of May, the British abandoned their post at Nelson's Ferry. On the day following, the garrison of Fort Granby, consisting of three hundred and fifty-two men, mostly royal militia, surrendered to Lieutenant-colonel Lec.
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General Marion, with a party of militia, marched about this time to Georgetown, and began regular approaches against it. The enemy, on the first night after his men had broken ground, left the town, and retreated to Charleston. In the manner just related, the British lost six posts, and abandoned all the northeastern extremities of South Carolina. Immediately after
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the surrender of Fort Granby, Lieutenant-colonel Lee, com- menced his march for Augusta, and in four days arrived before it. Lee, on his arrival, joined General Pickens, who, with a body of militia, had for some time past taken post in its vicini- ty. They jointly carried on their approaches against Fort Cornwallis, at Augusta, in which Colonel Brown commanded. On the fifth day of June, when farther resistance became hope- less, the garrison, to the number of three hundred, surrendered ' on terms of capitulation. After the surrender, Lieutenant-co- lonel Grierson, of the British militia, was shot by the Americans, Individuals, whose passions were inflamed by injuries and exas- perated with animosity, were eager to gratify revenge in viola- tion of the laws of war. Murder's had produced murders. Plundering, assassinations. and house-burnings . had become common. Zeal for the royal cause, or independence, were the ostensible motives of action ; but in several of both sides, the love of plunder, private pique, and a savage disposition, led to actions which were disgraceful to human nature.
While operations were carrying on against the small posts, General Greene proceeded with his army, and laid siege to Ninety Six, in which Lieutenant-colonel Cruger, with upwards of five hundred men, was posted. On the left of the besiegers was a work erected in the form of a star, on the right was a strong blockade fort, with two block-houses in it. The town was also picketed and surrounded with a ditch and bank. The siege was prosecuted with indefatigable industry, from the twen- ty-fifth of May to the eighteenth of June, when General Greene was forced to raise it. He was compelled to do this, in conse- quence of the near approach of Lord Rawdon with two thou- sand men. Before he raised the siege, he endeavoured to carry the place by assault, but was repulsed. General Greene took a position on the other side of the Saluda. Truly distressing was the situation of the American army at this time. When they were nearly masters of the whole country, they were com- pelled to seek safety, by retreating to its utmost extremity. In this gloomy situation, General Greene was advised to retire with his remaining force to Virginia; but he nobly declined,
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and adopted the only expedient now left him, that of avoiding an engagement, till the British forces should be divided.
"Lord Rawdon, who was near Ninety Six at . the time of the assault, pursued the Americans as far as the Enoree River, but without being able to overtake them. Desisting from this hope- less pursuit, he drew off a part of his force from Ninety Six, and fixed a detachment at Congaree. General Greene, on learning that the British force was divided, faced about to give them battle. Lord Rawdon, alarmed at this unexpected movement, abandoned the Congaree in two days after he had reached it, and marched to Orangeburgh. General Greene pursued him, and offered battle, but his lordship declined.
The British about the middle of July, withdrew their troops from Ninety Six. General Greene, being unable to prevent these troops from joining those under Lord Rawdon, and still less so to stand before them after combined, retired to the high hills of Santee. The evacuation of Camden having been effect- ed by striking at the posts below it, the same plan was now at- tempted to induce the British to leave Orangeburgh. With this view Generals Sumpter and Marion, with their brigades and the legionary cavalry, were detached to Monk's Corner and Dorchester. They moved down different roads, and com- menced separate and successful attacks on convoys and detach- ments in the vicinity of Charleston. In this manner was the war carried on. While the British kept their forces concen- trated, they could not cover the country, and when they divided them, the Americans attacked and defeated them in detail. The people found that their late conquerors could not protect them. The spirit of revolt became general, and the royal interest daily declined.
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