USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780 > Part 35
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1 Clinton-Cornwallis controversy, growing out of the campaigns in Virginia, 1781. B. F. Stevens's Compilation, 1888 (London), vol. I, 144. 2 Gordon's Am. War, vol. III, 259.
8 See, also, to the same effect, Steadman's Am. War, vol. II, 120.
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taste of what was in store for the invaders if regular operations were undertaken and war really transferred to this State. Prevost had been near enough to Charles- town, too, to learn of its great importance to the other States; for though the town was too far away to be under the protection of Washington's Continental army, still it was the mart for supplying goods to most of the States south of New Jersey, and it was the port to which the privateers resorted with their prizes. Its harbor was crowded with shipping. How great was its importance in this respect will be appreciated from the following casual notice in the Gazette of the State of South Carolina of November 5, 1779: "Last Sunday his Most Christian Majesty's frigate Iphigene, commanded by M. de Kerfaint, sailed upon a cruize. 'Tis remarkable that during the time this ship was in the port, tho' there were near one thousand foreign sailors here at once, not the smallest riot happened." To break up this rendezvous of foreign vessels in sympathy with the Revolutionists was of itself of great importance to the British authorities.
Prévost's invasion, though not immediately successful in itself, had found also the true approach to Charlestown, and had demonstrated that it was not by the sea front, but through the inlets and sea islands to the rear of the town. It had tried also the sentiment of the people, and had shown that there existed great divisions among all classes. It had shown, too, that the Revolutionary government could not rely upon the militia it might bring into the field, not only because of the divisions among the people, but because men, however patriotic, would not leave their families to the mercy of the negroes upon their plantations in the face of an invasion.
Washington, having all the Continental forces, except those of South Carolina and Georgia, with him upon the
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Hudson and around New York, had strongly intrenched himself and could not be induced by Sir Henry Clinton to leave his fastnesses and meet him upon the field. Sir Henry therefore determined to draw in all his forces around New York and transfer a large part of them, for the winter season at least, to South Carolina, hoping quickly to crush the small American force there and take the city before assistance could be obtained from France, which was now expected. Rhode Island was evacuated, the troops and stores brought away, the garrisons brought off from Stoney and Verplanck's points, and all his forces concentrated at New York, which he put in the strongest condition of defence.
Admiral Arbuthnot arrived about this time with a fleet bringing 3000 fresh troops and a supply of provisions and stores. The number of British troops in America on the 1st of December, 1779, amounted to 38,569, which were distributed as follows: New York and its dependen- cies, 28,756; Halifax and Penobscot, 3460; Georgia, 3930; West Florida, 1787; Bermuda and Providence Island, 636.1 Washington's army, as we have seen, was nominally 27,000 strong. It was apparently practicable, therefore, now that D'Estaing had gone to the West Indies and left the coast clear, and now that he had the fleet under Arbuthnot to convoy his army, for Sir Henry Clinton to transport a sufficient force to strike a successful blow in South Carolina during the months in which opera- tions were suspended at the North. With ordinary weather ten days was sufficient, as it was supposed, to reach Charlestown by sea, while it would take Washington three months at least to reënforce Lincoln with any body of the troops on the Hudson.2 As soon, therefore, as Sir
1 British Forces in America; summaries from State Papers Office, London ; Washington's Writings, vol. V, 542.
2 Annual Register (1780), vol. XXIII, 217.
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Henry Clinton had received positive information that D'Estaing had departed with his fleet from the American coast, he ordered a number of transports to be fitted up for the reception of a corps of 8500, with horse ordnance and victualling vessels requisite for such an army.
Washington received reports of the fitting out of the expedition, and at once conjectured its destination. Colonel Laurens, his former aide, had come on to him from South Carolina, sent by Lincoln, to represent the defence- less condition of the State and to appeal for assistance.
Lincoln's force at this time consisted of the South Carolina Continentals, which were now so reduced by death, desertion, battles, and the expiration of their terms of service, that they did not exceed 800;1 a detachment of Virginia Continentals, under Lieutenant Colonel Will- iam Heth, numbering about 400,2 which had arrived the December before; 3 and a body of cavalry, consisting of Colonel Horry's dragoons ; the remains of Pulaski's legion, under Major Vernier, which, however, all together did not muster but 379 men.4 Excepting the militia, Lincoln's whole force, therefore, at this time, did not muster 1600 men. Of the militia he had about 2000, including the Charlestown battalion of artillery, Colonel Simons's Charlestown Regiment, and General Lillington's North Carolina Brigade.5
Washington, however, before Colonel Laurens's arrival, as soon as satisfied that Clinton's destination was South
1 Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 46.
2 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 145.
8 Gazette of the State of So. Ca., December 8, 1779.
4 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 50.
5 Upon the surrender the Charlestown militia numbered 1086, but these included the sick and infirm besides the wounded. Lillington's North Carolina militia numbered 1000. Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 52.
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Carolina, had ordered the North Carolina Continental Brigade, under General Hogan, to march to reënforce Lincoln. This brigade, when it passed Philadelphia, numbered about 700 men; recruits had been gathered for it at Halifax in North Carolina, but they were not sent forward.1 The brigade did not reach Charlestown until the 3d of March, 1780, nearly three months after the march was commenced, the extreme cold and deep snows having retarded their progress. Upon Colonel Laurens's appeal Washington wrote to Congress proposing, ill as he could spare them, to send the whole Virginia troops, amounting to 3000 and odd,2 except those whose term of service would expire by the last of January. But he went on to point out to Congress that from the great distance from New York to Charlestown, from the fact that Virginia, the home of these troops, lay in the way, and from the inclement season he was persuaded that if the troops proceeded by land their number would be so reduced by fatigue, sickness, and desertions, and the expiration of their enlistments, that their aid would be of scarcely any consideration when they arrived. In this view he suggested to Congress to provide for their trans- portation by sea from the Chesapeake Bay with a good convoy. Congress having consented to allow the Vir- ginia troops to go, on the 13th of December Washington wrote to General Woodford, expressing his pleasure that the rear of the column would march the next morning, and informing him that Congress had determined that the whole should move by water from the head of the Elk River to Williamsburg and thence by land to South Caro-
1 No. Ca., 1780-81 (Schenck), 32.
2 Washington's Writings, vol. VI, 417; July 17, 1780, MS. Lincoln papers, collection of Thomas Addis Emmet, LL.D., New York; Year Book of the City of Charleston, 1897 (Smyth), 352-355.
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lina. He warns him of the danger of desertion as the troops pass through their own State, and exhorts him to vigilance and care in preventing it. "Nothing," he writes, "will make me happier than to hear at all times that the Virginia line distinguishes itself in every quality that does honor to the military profession. Its composition is excellent, and a strict discipline will always entitle it to vie with any corps in this or any other service." Colonel Washington, with Bland and Baylor's horse, not probably numbering more than 100, joined General Huger at Monck's Corner about the 1st of April. It was not until the 6th that General Woodford, 1 with 750 Continen- tals, reached Charlestown, and to accomplish this he had made a march of 500 miles in twenty-eight days, thus showing his command worthy of the confidence with which Washington regarded them. These North Carolina and Virginia troops, amounting in all perhaps to 1500 men, a few Continental horsemen, under Colonels Wash- ington and White, two frigates, a twenty-gun ship, and a sloop of war composed all the aid which Lincoln re- ceived from Congress.
Lincoln had received assurances from Governor Rut- ledge that he would call down 2000 of his militia, and from Governor Caswell of North Carolina that he would send on the remainder of the drafts made the fall before, amounting to 1500, when called for, and that he would permit General Rutherford to march with all the volun- teers he could collect, which Lincoln was encouraged to believe would amount to 500 more. Lincoln was prom- ised also 900 troops from Virginia, besides the Virginia line and Washington's horse which General Washington had proposed to send, returned to him as 3000 and odd.
1 William Woodford, Brigadier General, Continental army; taken prisoner at Charlestown, May 12, 1780 ; died November 13, 1780.
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In all, therefore, he hoped to have 9900 men in addition to the South Carolina and other Continentals, in all about 10,000.1 But the South Carolina militia from the country refused to enter the town on account of the smallpox, which had made its appearance there, and but few of the North Carolinians came. None of the Virginia State troops appeared. General Scott,2 who had been expected, came himself, but brought not a single man with him. Of the reinforcements promised, Lincoln received but 1950.3
On the 26th of December, 1779, Sir Henry Clinton, sat- isfied of the departure of the French fleet, turned over the command of the King's troops at New York to Lieutenant General Knyphausen, and with Earl Cornwallis embarked with four flank battalions, twelve regiments and corps, - British, Hessian, and provincial, -a powerful detachment of artillery, two hundred and fifty cavalry, and ample sup- plies of stores and provisions. Vice Admiral Arbuthnot, with a naval force superior to anything in the American seas, sailed as a convoy to the expedition.
For a few days the weather proved favorable; the Admiral led the van and kept inshore, but a succession of storms arose and dispersed the fleet, and scarcely any of the ships arrived at Tybee in Georgia, the appointed place of rendezvous, before the end of January; some were taken, others sepa- rated, one ordnance vessel foundered most of the artillery,
1 Lincoln's Letter to Washington ; Gordon's Am. War, vol. III, 348.
2 Charles Scott, Brigadier General, Continental army. 300
3 Of South Carolina militia Of North Carolina militia 300 600
Of General Hogan's brigade 600
Of the Virginia line from the army 750 1350
1950
- Lincoln's Letter to Washington
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and all the cavalry horses perished. These accidents deranged and impeded the intended attack upon Charles- town; but Sir Henry and Admiral Arbuthnot devoted themselves with great energy to remedy their misfortunes, and in this they were greatly assisted by the troops who had so gallantly defended Savannah the October before, and who now welcomed the arrival of the Royal army.
Tarleton, in his history of the campaigns of 1780 and 1781, observes that according to the American accounts the delay occasioned by the damage sustained on the voy- age gave them a favorable opportunity to augment the for- tifications of Charlestown and render them formidable; but if so the delays and accidents which befell the King's troops in their voyage did not in the end prove a real calamity, for it allowed the Americans so to strengthen their fortifications as to induce them to believe they could hazard their lives and fortunes upon the event of a siege, and thus concentrating their forces in the town allowed the British, by the decision of a single operation, to cap- ture their whole force. The observation was without doubt just, and Washington took the same view.
The British ships injured in the voyage having been re- fitted, the fleet, with the transports, sailed from Tybee to North Edisto; and on the 11th of February the troops were disembarked on John's Island, about thirty miles below Charlestown. Part of the fleet was immediately sent round to block up the harbor by sea whilst the troops made their way across James Island, opposite the town, taking pos- session of John's Island and Stono Ferry, James Island, Perroneau's Landing, and Wappoo Cut. The advanced part of the King's army occupied the Ashley River oppo- site the town. Such was the extreme caution of Sir Henry Clinton in establishing and fortifying posts to pre- serve his communications with the sea, that it was not
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until the 29th of March that the advance of the army crossed the Ashley River and landed on Charlestown neck.
The Assembly was sitting in Charlestown when the British made their appearance on the Edisto. They imme- diately adjourned, and all officers, many of whom were members of the legislature, were ordered to their posts. Before the Assembly adjourned, however, they delegated still greater power to the Governor and the Council than they had done on the former occasion - power by which for two years John Rutledge was enabled to keep up an organization of the government, and almost alone to carry on the war. The power delegated to him was, "till ten days after their next session to the Governor, John Rutledge, Esquire, and such of the Council as he could conveniently consult, a power to do everything necessary for the public good except the taking away the life of a citizen without a legal trial." 1
Acting upon this power Governor Rutledge issued a proclamation requiring "such of the militia as were regu- larly drafted, and all the inhabitants and owners of property in the town, to repair to the American standard and join the garrison immediately, under pain of confiscation."2 But the proclamation was met by a counter one from Sir Henry Clinton, not only as Commander-in-chief of his Majesty's forces, but as commissioner for restoring peace and good government in the provinces in rebellion, offering a free and general pardon for all treason and treasonable offences theretofore committed, with the strongest assurance of effectual countenance, protection, and support; and warn- ing the people of the guilt and danger of refusing such
1 Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 48. No copy of the act conferring this authority and power upon the Governor and Council has been preserved. From the power thus conferred upon him John Rutledge is commonly spoken of as " The Dictator." 2 Ibid.
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gracious offer, and by an obstinate perseverance in re- bellion continuing to protract the calamities of war.1 Between these proclamations; between the imposing array of the well-equipped British army and navy on the one hand, and the few ragged Continental soldiers under Lincoln on the other; and between the threat of confis- cation by a government that now was reduced to but one man, and the dread of the smallpox in the town, there was but little response to Rutledge's call. Williamson had a camp of militia at Augusta, and it was hoped that one thousand more could be got from his brigade, and General Richardson and Colonel Kershaw were trying to raise the militia about Camden; but the militia would not come into the town, declaring that they were afraid of the smallpox breaking out when they were cooped up in it, which they said would be worse to them than the enemy.2 This unforeseen difficulty, a natural apprehen- sion, whether advanced now merely as an excuse or not, should of itself have determined Lincoln to abandon the attempted defence of the town. The epidemics of small- pox which had prevailed in the town in 1738 and in 1760 had been peculiarly fatal.3 The people in the country naturally dreaded a recurrence of it, and it was idle to suppose that any body of the militia could be induced to incur this risk in addition to the dangers of a siege.
In 1779 Spain had joined France in the alliance against Great Britain, and Don Juan de Miralles, the Spanish agent, was urging Washington to make a diversion with the troops
1 The Siege of Charlestown by the British Fleet and Army under the Command of Admiral Arbuthnot and Sir Henry Clinton, which termi- nated with the Surrender of that Place, 12 May, 1780. J. Munsell, 1867 edition of 100 copies), 24.
2 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 47.
3 Hist. of So. Ca. under Roy. Gov. (McCrady), 180, 423, 427. VOL. III. - 2 F
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of the United States against the British in Georgia.1 Governor Rutledge seized upon this opportunity if pos- sible to obtain assistance from that quarter. Lieutenant Colonel Ternant 2 was dispatched in the Eagle pilot boat to Havanna, with solicitations for assistance. He was authorized to promise two thousand men to cooperate with the Spaniards in the reduction of St. Augustine if they would now lend a force of ships and men sufficient for the defence of Charlestown.3 Colonel Ternant got back on the 20th of March, but to the great disappointment not only of the people generally, but of those in command, he brought no assistance.4 Moultrie, writing the day before Colonel Ternant's arrival, was in high spirits, telling his friends in the country that if the British fleet remained on the coast much longer, 5 they might be surprised by a Span- ish fleet. The people, indeed, still clung to the hope even after his return. Report asserted the evening after his arrival that three seventy-fours and thirteen frigates, with three thousand land forces, might be expected every hour.6 But they did not come. The Governor of Havanna doubted his authority to accede to Rutledge's proposition, and no assistance could be obtained from that quarter.
Sir Henry Clinton had heard, however, of all these as- surances of reinforcements to Lincoln and of the hourly additions expected from Virginia and the two Carolinas, and so he, too, determined to call for reinforcements.7 The
1 Washington's Writings, vol. VI, 475.
2 Jean Baptise Ternant, Lieutenant Colonel and Inspector, Conti- nental army ; served with Pulaski's legion; afterwards commanded Armand's partisan corps or legion.
3 Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 48.
4 So. Ca. in the Revolution (Simms), 92.
5 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 58.
6 Diary of the Am. Revolution (Moore), vol. II, 271.
7 Tarleton's Campaigns, 6.
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corps which he had brought with him was about 8500 men. 1 A part of this had been left in Georgia, bringing with him to Charlestown some 6000.2 From the garrison at Savan- nah he now called for 1200 more, and sent orders to the North for a reenforcement of 3000.3 The British army besieging the town was about 13,000 men, and these the very flower of the British troops in America.4 Indeed, in an extract from a letter dated Camp Charlestown, May 8, 1780, published in Rivington's Royal Gazette, June 10, 1780, it was stated that the retinue of the Royal army under Sir Henry Clinton amounted to Thirteen thousand five hundred and seventy-two men; 5 but this was after the arrival of Lord Rawdon with the reinforcements from New York for which Sir Henry had called. This was the largest British force engaged in any single operation during the Revolution, except in the expedition against Philadelphia, in which Sir William Howe had between 15,000 and 18,000.6
On the 19th of February General Lincoln, whose head- quarters were then in the city, ordered General Moultrie to proceed to Bacon's bridge, across the Ashley, about two miles above Dorchester, that is, about twenty-four
1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 3.
2 Siege of Charlestown (Munsell), 32.
8 Ibid. ; Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 55 ; Gordon's Am. War, vol. III, 353.
4 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 274 ; Gordon's Am. War, vol. III, 357.
5 Siege of Charlestown (Munsell), 142. Returns in British State Papers Office puts the effective force at 12,847. So. Ca. in the Revolutionary War.
6 Life of Washington (Irving), vol. III, 126. The British army during the siege of Boston numbered 10,000. At the battle of Long Island Sir William Howe had 9000, with which he landed, and was reenforced by Sir Henry Clinton from Charlestown with possibly 3000, making his whole force 12,000.ª Burgoyne's army was about 9000.3
a Steadman's Am. War, vol. 1, 191, 193.
b Ibid., 352.
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miles from Charlestown, and to form a camp there of the militia of the neighborhood and of those who were ordered to the town. There was also under his command there the cavalry, amounting to 379, and a body of Con- tinental light infantry of 227, which had been drawn from the three Continental regiments and organized into a corps under Lieutenant Colonel Marion, until Lieuten- ant Colonel Henderson should relieve him, when Marion was ordered to report to General Lincoln in the town.1 Moultrie's command amounted in all to 606. He was ordered to remove all the horses, cattle, carriages, boats, and everything that could be of use to the enemy or facili- tate his march, excepting only what was necessary for the support of the families left behind. He was to scour the country between that and the Stono and keep Lincoln informed of any movement they might make in that direc- tion. Three days after assuming command, on the 23d, Moultrie writes to Lincoln, giving him such information as he had obtained with his cavalry, under Major Jameson, 2 and reporting that he had not one single militiaman doing duty there; that he was informed that they were patrol- ling in their different districts, but that they declared against going into town, as they were afraid of the small- pox. He informed Lincoln that the enemy were collect- ing flat-bottom boats, and warns him of the danger of their effecting a crossing by other means to the western part of the town. He wrote to the same effect to Governor Rut- ledge. On the 25th he again reports ninety flat-bottom boats and canoes as having gone down the Stono to Wappoo Cut a few days before. The next day he sends prisoners taken by his cavalry, but again reports that there was no militia at the post. He had, however,
1 Documentary Hist. (Gibbes), 1781-82, 9, 10.
2 John Jameson of Virginia of Second Continental Dragoons.
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ordered Colonel Skirving to send his militia to disperse the disaffected who were gathering in arms. Lincoln writes on the 29th to Moultrie very indignantly in regard to the militia who were so unreasonable as to avoid the town. "Are not," he asks, "the North Carolinians here who have not had the smallpox? Have they views and interests that the inhabitants of this State have not? Surely no! The safety of the town depends upon their coming to its assistance." He insisted that they should be sent, and went on to say that he had made the strictest inquiry, and that there was then no smallpox in the town. The garrison, he said, was so weak he should be obliged to send for the light troops as soon as Moultrie could get a hundred or two militia to join him. Moultrie was taken sick and had to be relieved. General Huger was sent out, on the 9th of March, to take command of the post.1
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 47, 55.
In the Siege of Charlestown (Munsell), 68, we find the following : -
"EXECUTION OF COLONEL HAMILTON BALLENDINE.
" (From Dunlop's Packet of April, 1780.) " WILLIAMSBURG IN VIRGINIA, APRIL 18.
" On the 5th Ult. was hanged at Charlestown, South Carolina, Colonel Hamilton Ballendine, for drawing Draughts of the town and Fortifica- tions. He was taken by a Picquet Guard, which General Lincoln sent out that Night to Stono, as he was making his Way to the enemy ; and when he was hailed by the Guard his Answer was, 'Colonel Hamilton Ballendine.' The Guard told him that would not do, and carried him to the commander of the Picquet, upon which he pulled out of his Pocket the Draughts. The Officer told him he was mistaken, and carried him to General Lincoln, who ordered him for Execution." - New York Royal Gazette, April 16.
See, also, Moore's Diary of the Revolution, vol. II, 260. The story is also incorporated in the text of the Annual Register for 1780 (Lon- don), vol. XXIII, 222, in which it is said that Ballendine suffered " the unpitied death of a traitor." Both Simms ( So. Ca. in the Revolutionary
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