USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780 > Part 52
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72
1 Hist. of Williamsburg Church, 49.
2 Ramsay's So. Ca., vol. II, 404 ; James's Life of Marion, 45.
3 Judge James speaks of Marion as "General," and states that he was commissioned by Governor Rutledge. But this is a mistake. Governor Rutledge was still in Philadelphia, trying to get assistance from Congress. Marion was not commissioned General until the October following.
4 Ramsay's So. Ca., vol. II, 404.
652
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
gathered around to obtain a sight of their new com- mander.
Marion was soon on the move. On the second day after his arrival, that is, on the 12th of August, placing white cockades upon his men to distinguish them from the Tories, he crossed the Pee Dee at Port's Ferry to dis- perse a large body, under Major Gainey, stationed on Britton's Neck between the Great and Little Pee Dee rivers. He surprised them at dawn in the morning, killed one of their captains and several privates, and had two men wounded. Major James was detached at the head of a volunteer troop of horse to attack the Tory horse. He came up with them, charged, and drove them before him. In this affair he singled out Major Gainey as the object of his own attack. At his approach Gainey fled, and James pursued him closely, nearly within the reach of his sword, for half a mile, when behind a thicket he came upon a party of Tories who had rallied. Not at all intimidated, but with great presence of mind, Major James called out : "Come on, my boys ! Here they are ! Here they are!" And the whole body of Tories broke again and rushed into the swamp. Another party of Tories lay higher up the river, under the command of Captain Barfield, who had been a soldier in one of the South Carolina regiments. These stood to their ranks, and were so resolute that Marion hesitated to attack on such equal terms; feigning, therefore, a retreat, he led them into an ambuscade, where they were defeated. This was his first manœuvre of the kind, for which he afterwards became so conspicuous.1
To the list of engagements recorded in the last two chapters two more are now added, and the record for the month commencing the 12th of July and ending the
1 James's Life of Marion, 46.
653
IN THE REVOLUTION
12th of August now stood thus : Williamson's Plantation, York, Huck's defeat, 12th of July; Cedar Spring, Spartan- burg, 13th of July ; Earle's Ford, Pacolet River, Spartan- burg, 14th of July ; McDowell's Camp, Spartanburg, 15th of July ; Flat Rock, Lancaster, 20th of July ; Thicketty Fort, Spartanburg, 30th of July; Rocky Mount, Chester, 1st of August; Hanging Rock, Lancaster, 1st of August ; Hunt's Bluff, Darlington, 1st of August; Hanging Rock, Lancaster, 6th of August; Old Iron Works, Spartanburg, 7th of August; Port's Ferry, Williamsburg, 12th of August. In these twelve engagements about three hundred British and Tories had been killed and wounded, and about two hundred taken prisoners, at a loss of not half that num- ber to the Americans.1 These battles had been fought by the volunteers of North and South Carolina and Georgia, who rose up in the path of the conqueror and held him at bay while the Continental army was slowly making its way through the sands of North Carolina.
The field had thus been thoroughly prepared for Gates's advance with the Continentals for which Congress had been asked. The people in South Carolina had not waited for his approach. They had themselves risen, and with- out waiting for arms or organization, or even commissions under which to fight, they had formed volunteer parties, chosen their leaders for the occasion, and in twelve engage- ments during the month from the 12th of July to the 12th of August, had driven in the enemy's outposts and had established an impromptu line from Georgetown on the coast to the foot of the Blue Ridge in Spartanburg. Mar- ion had established a camp on the Pee Dee, threatening the British right; Sumter and Davie were on their front from Lynch's Creek to the Catawba, and from the Catawba to
1 Exact numbers cannot be stated, as in some instances the number of casualties is not to be ascertained.
654
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
the Broad; while McDowell and Shelby and Sevier and Clarke were pressing in on their left. Everywhere these partisan bands had been successful. True, they had achieved no great victories, but they had crossed their swords and bayonets with British regulars and Tory Provincials, and held their own. They had tested their own courage and capacity, and could now trust to them- selves with confidence. They had also found leaders who were developing military genius and enterprise. They had, in fact, already supplied the great want of the army advancing to their succor, that of light cavalry, to beat up the quarters of the enemy, to uncover his positions and communications, and ascertain his strength and his re- sources. All this preliminary work of an invading army Gates would find already accomplished as he entered the State. Everything was auspicious to a decisive and brill- iant victory, - by the hero of Saratoga, -if, indeed, Gates was really entitled to the laurels accorded to him for that glorious achievement.
CHAPTER XXX
1780
IT will be recollected that General Duportail had in- formed Lincoln on his arrival in Charlestown that Con- gress had proposed to General Washington to send the Maryland line to his relief, but that this had not been decided upon when he left Philadelphia on the 3d of April.1 The proposition appears to have come from Wash- ington to Congress, rather than from Congress to him.2 It was not until the 17th of April that the division marched for Charlestown. To the Maryland line were attached the Delaware regiment, and the First Regiment of artillery with eight field-pieces, besides those attached to the bri- gades.3 This force was under the command of Baron De Kalb, whom Washington had sent in advance to Philadel- phia to have everything in readiness to move as soon as Congress should give its consent.
Baron De Kalb, though a native of Germany, from his long service in the armies of France cannot but be con- sidered a Frenchman, especially as it appears that during the entire period of his holding an American commission he continued a pensioner of that government, and as in the case of Duportail was one of its most indefatigable agents. During the year 1767 he had visited the colonies of Great Britain, by the direction of the Court of France, to ascer-
1 So. Ca. in the Revolution (Simms), 135.
2 Washington's Writings, vol. VI, 7.
3 Ibid., 7, 20.
655
656
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
tain the points in which they were the most vulnerable, and to discern how far it was practicable to generate dis- satisfaction, to excite jealousy against the mother country, and to arouse a desire of independence. He had been engaged in 1776 by Silas Deane to serve in the American army, and with Lafayette had arrived in April, 1777, at North Island, Winyaw Bay, near Georgetown, in South Carolina. Landing near the plantation of Major Ben- jamin Huger, - who fell afterwards, as has been seen, dur- ing Prévost's invasion, - they were cordially received by him upon their announcing themselves, hospitably enter- tained, and, anxious to reach their destination, were sent to Charlestown in Major Huger's own conveyance, and thence made their way to Washington. Having been appointed a Major General by Congress, he took part in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and after spending the winter at Valley Forge he had served in New Jersey.1
By great exertions the detachment had been put upon the march, and after moving through Jersey and Pennsyl- vania they were embarked at the head of the Elk and were conveyed by water to Petersburg, Virginia, whence they proceeded by land. Charlestown had fallen before De Kalb had passed through the State of Virginia. Indeed, it was not until the 20th of June that he entered North Carolina, and then he halted at Hillsboro to rest his weary troops.2 His advance had been retarded by various diffi- culties, the most important of which was want of provi- sions. This had been especially the case since his arrival in North Carolina. The legislative or executive power, he complained, gave him no assistance, nor could he obtain
1 Garden's Anecdotes, 211 ; Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), Ap- pendix D, 575.
2 No. Ca., 1780-81 (Schenck), 50.
657
IN THE REVOLUTION
supplies from the people but by military force. There was no flour in the camp, nor was attempt made to furnish any. His troops were reduced for a time to short allow- ance, and at length on the 6th of July brought to a posi- tive halt at Coxe's Mills on Deep River but a few miles beyond Hillsboro.1
The militia of North Carolina embodied under General Caswell were preparing to join the Baron on his route, while Brigadier General Stevens with some militia from Virginia was hastening also to the appointed rendezvous. Caswell and Stevens had been selected in consequence of past services. Caswell had early in the war given unques- tionable proofs of his decision, zeal, and activity by the gallant stand he had made in 1776 at Moore's Bridge against a superior force, which terminated in the complete discomfiture of the Royalists and the consequent suppres- sion of a formidable opposition to the new government. He had been the first Governor of the State of North Carolina. General Stevens had commanded a Continen- tal regiment during the campaigns of 1777 and 1778, and fought under Washington in all the battles of those years, very much respected as a brave, vigorous, and judicious officer. Neither of these bodies, however, had yet formed a junction with the Continental army under De Kalb, which did not exceed fifteen hundred men, including Armand's dragoons and three companies of Harrison's regiment of artillery. Lieutenant Colonel Porterfield with his command of four hundred Virginians was still on the confines of South Carolina. While De Kalb was at Buffalo Ford on Deep River deliberating as to the line of his march, he received news of measures adopted by Congress for the Southern campaign.2
1 Life of Washington (Irving), vol. IV, 91.
2 Bancroft, V, 384.
VOL. III. - 2 U
658
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Washington had desired General Nathanael Greene to succeed Lincoln in command; but Congress not asking his advice, nor ignorant of his opinion, on the 13th of June unanimously appointed Gates, the hero of Saratoga, who had been the centre of all the cabals and intrigues against the Commander-in-chief, to the independent com- mand of the Southern army. Gates received his orders from Congress, and was to make his reports directly to that body. He was authorized to address himself directly to Virginia and the States beyond it for supplies, to ap- point all staff officers, and to take such measures as he should think most proper for the defence of the South.1 It has been seen how Lincoln, his second in command at Saratoga, had failed in this department. He came now full of confidence in his ability to recover the State which Lincoln had lost. On his way through Petersburg it is said that General Charles Lee, who had himself tried the effect of the Southern climate upon the flowers of an adventurer's ambition, called after him on parting, to be- ware lest his Northern laurels should turn into Southern willows. But no such doubt crossed the mind of the man who believed himself superior to Washington, and who hesitated at no course, however dishonorable, to secure the opportunity of demonstrating it to the world.
Gates arrived and superseded De Kalb on the 25th of July. He at once ordered the troops to be prepared to march at a moment's warning. It had been De Kalb's purpose to move by the way of Salisbury and Charlotte through the fertile and friendly counties of Rowan and Mecklenburg; but Gates, on the morning of the 27th of July, put what he called the "Grand Army" on its march by the shortest route to Camden through the sand hill region of North Carolina, a belt of " pine barren " as it is called, which com-
1 Bancroft, V, 384.
659
IN THE REVOLUTION
mencing in Virginia extends through North and South Carolina into Georgia, -a country which then could offer no food but lean cattle, fruit, and unripe Indian corn, - a route which caused him to pass through the neighbor- hood of Cross Creek, the region most unfriendly to the American cause. This course he adopted against the wishes and advice of the principal officers of his army presented to him in a memorial. He crossed the Pee Dee at Mask's Ferry in North Carolina on the 3d of August, making a junction on its southern bank with Lieutenant Colonel Potterfield, who had found it difficult, in this region, to subsist even his small command.
Colonels White and Washington, after the fall of Charlestown, had retired into North Carolina to recruit their regiments, which had suffered so severely at Monck's Corner and at Lenuds's Ferry ; they now solicited Gates to assist their efforts by the aid of his authority, so as to enable them to advance with him to the theatre of action ; but Gates paid no attention to this request, and thus deprived himself of the most active corps belonging to the Southern army. Indeed, he did not conceal his opinion that he held the cavalry in the Southern field in no estima- tion.1 He had promised, when setting out upon the march, that plentiful supplies of rum and rations were on the route and would overtake them in a day or two; and when these provisions failed, other promises were as recklessly made. The expectation founded on assurances of finding a plentiful supply of provisions at a place known as May's Mills, says Colonel Williams, the adjutant general to his army,2 induced the troops again to obey with cheerful- ness the order to march ; but again disappointed, fatigued,
1 Colonel Williams's narrative, Life of Greene (Johnson), Appendix B, 506.
2 Ibid., 488.
660
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
and almost famished, their patience forsook them ; mutiny was ready to manifest itself, and the most unhappy conse- quences were apprehended; but regimental officers going among the men and remonstrating with them appeased their murmurs, for which unhappily there was too much cause. The officers by appealing to their own empty canteens and mess cases satisfied the rank and file that all suffered alike, and exhorting them to exercise the fortitude of which they gave the example, assured them that the best means of alleviating the present distress should be immediately adopted; and that if the supplies expected by the General did not arrive very soon, detachments would be sent from each corps in all directions to pick up what grain might possibly be found in the country and brought to the mill. Fortunately, at May's Mill, a small quantity of Indian corn was brought into camp. The mill was set to work, and as soon as a mess of meal was ground it was delivered out to the men, and all were served in the course of a few hours. More poor cattle were sacrificed, the camp settlements all engaged, the men were busy but silent until they had eaten, and then all was again content, cheerfulness, and mirth. It was as astonishing as it was pleasing, says Colonel Williams, to observe the transition.
The General and field officers were not the first served upon this occasion, nor were they generally the most satis- fied ; but as no one could suggest the means of immediate redress, no remonstrances took place with the commanding officer. Gates, however, was well informed of what was passing in camp and the critical disposition of the troops.
Colonel Otho Williams in his admirable narrative has loyally endeavored to explain the extraordinary adventure of his chief across the sand hills of this region of North and South Carolina, which then nearly resembled a desert, and has given the reason for his course as assigned by
661
IN THE REVOLUTION
Gates himself. He says that Gates, impressed by a sense of difficulties and perhaps conceiving himself in some degree accountable to the army for the steps he had taken, informed him that he had in a measure been forced to take the route he had followed; that General Caswell had evaded every order which had been sent to him, as well by the Baron De Kalb as by himself, to form a junction of the militia with the regular corps; that it appeared to him that Caswell's vanity was gratified by having a separate command; that probably he contem- plated some enterprise to distinguish himself and gratify his ambition, which, said Gates, " I should not be sorry to see checked by a rap on the knuckles, if it were not that the militia would disperse and leave their handful of brave men without even nominal assistance." He urged further that it was the more necessary to counteract the indiscre- tion of Caswell and save him from disaster, as he then com- manded the only corps of militia that were embodied in the Carolinas; that the assurances he had received from the executive of North Carolina gave him cause to suspect that supplies of provisions had been forwarded and used in profusion in Caswell's camp, notwithstanding intima- tions had been communicated to him that the militia were in as bad a situation in that respect as the regular corps.
This suspicion of insubordination in his own officers, and of their desire to eclipse and supplant him, is not to be wondered at in one who had spent so much of his own time in endeavoring to subvert the influence and fame of Washington and to supersede him as Commander-in-chief.
Gates urged also that having marched thus far directly toward the enemy, a retrograde or indirect movement would not only dispirit the troops, but intimidate the people of the country, many of whom had come in with arms. Danger- ous as deceptions had been, it was still thought expedient
662
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
to flatter the expectation of the soldiery with an abun- dance of provisions as soon as a junction could be formed with the militia. After collecting therefore all the corn which was to be found in the neighborhood of May's Mill, and saving all the meal that could be spared from their present necessities, the march was resumed toward Camden.1
As he crossed the State line General Gates issued a proclamation from the Pee Dee on the 4th of August, inviting the patriotic citizens of South Carolina to as- semble under his auspices to vindicate the rights of America, holding out amnesty to all who had subscribed paroles imposed upon them by the ruffian hand of con- quest, excepting only those who in the hour of trial had exercised acts of barbarity and devastation upon the per- sons and property of their fellow-citizens.2 But the patriots of the State had not awaited his tedious approach, nor were his bombastic words necessary to stimulate their zeal. They had already arisen under their own leaders, and had driven in the enemy's outposts, and cleared his front for the blow which he was to give. Fortunately for the cause, their fate was not to be entirely committed to his keeping. Their own chosen leaders were to keep up the war, after he had failed and fled, as they had kindled and kept it alive before he came.
When Gates passed the boundary line of South Caro- lina, the British post at Hanging Rock was abandoned and Lord Rawdon took position on the west branch of Lynch's Creek about fourteen miles from Camden, that is, within the present county of Kershaw. His force here consisted of the Twenty-third, Thirty-third, and Seventy-first regi-
1 Appendix to Johnson's Life of Greene, 489-490.
2 Ramsay's Revolution of So. Ca., vol. II, 145, 449-451 ; Tarleton's Campaigns, 98.
663
IN THE REVOLUTION
ments of infantry, the volunteers of Ireland, Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton's Provincial corps, about forty dragoons of the Legion, and four pieces of cannon. The hospital, the baggage, the provisions, the ammunition, and the stores remained under a weak guard at Camden.1
On the 7th of August the junction at last took place between Caswell, with his North Carolina militia, and Gates's Continental army. This junction was effected at the Cross Roads in what is now Chesterfield County, east of the east branch of Lynch's Creek, and fifteen miles east of the enemy's post.2
The spirits of both were greatly enlivened by the event. The militia were relieved from the apprehension of an attack under which they had been for some time; while the regulars exulted in the confidence with which they had inspired their new comrades. The army was formed into two divisions. Baron De Kalb commanded the regu- lars, which constituted the right wing, and General Cas- well the North Carolina militia, which constituted the left. In this order they marched a few miles toward the enemy and encamped for the night.
Colonel Williams tells that on the first night after the junction, having much anxiety as adjutant general to observe the guards, he went with Lieutenant Colonel Ford, the officer of the day, at an unusual hour to inspect the lines. The guards and sentinels on the right wing were found as usual attentive, and hailed the visiting rounds with an alacrity and spirit which inspired confi- dence and security in that quarter; but in the left wing all was tranquil. The officers patrolled around the en- campment without being once hailed, and then rode into
1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 99.
2 Ramsay's Revolution of So. Ca., vol. II, 145 ; Williams's narrative, Appendix to Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 490.
664
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
the lines and among the tents, and even approached the marquees of some of the general and field officers - one of whom complained of being disturbed, and intimated that it was an unreasonable hour for gentlemen to call. The officers of the day were sent for, and guards and patrols were sent out to secure the encampment from surprise.
General Gates was now closely approaching the enemy ; but his troops still subsisted upon precarious supplies of corn meal and lean beef, of which they often did not re- ceive a ration per day, and no possibility existed of doing better without abandoning the route in which he had pertinaciously persisted. To have turned aside to the fertile fields of Black River, would have been leaving the garrison of Camden between him and the expected reën- forcement from Virginia under General Stevens. Besides this, hopes were still held out of considerable reenforce- ment from North Carolina in a few days. On the other hand, an abundant supply of provisions could be obtained in the Waxhaws settlement ; but to reach it would require two or three days' march, and the movement would have the appearance of retreating before the enemy, as it lay so much out of the way. There was no decision. There was hesitation. The army continued its march uncon- scious of what step was next to be taken. Gates, having refused the assistance of the dragoons of White and Wash- ington, having got rid of Marion and failed to use Sum- ter, now began to perceive the danger of approaching an enemy of whose numbers he had no intelligence. Strange to say, also, he was encumbered with an enormous train, and a multitude of women and not a few children. An effort was therefore made to get rid of some of the impedi- ments. A detachment under Major Deane and a number of wagons were detailed to convoy to Charlotte all the heavy baggage and as many of the women as could be
665
IN THE REVOLUTION
driven from the line; many of the latter, however, pre- ferred sharing every toil and every danger with the sol- diery to the security and provisions which were promised them. The army advanced; but upon approaching the enemy's post on Little Lynch's Creek it was discovered to be situated on the west side of the water on commanding ground, and to be very formidable. It was necessary, therefore, to depart from the shortest route to the enemy's principal outpost, Camden, which he had boasted it was his intent to hold to. The army defiled by the right, and Colonel Hall of Maryland with a detachment of three hundred men covered the left until it was out of danger from surprise, and then formed the rear-guard. This manœuvre on the 11th of August induced Lord Rawdon to retire with some precipitation to Camden.1
While the two armies were facing each other at Lynch's Creek, Lord Rawdon sent to Lieutenant Colonel Cruger at Ninety-Six to forward to Camden without loss of time the four companies of light infantry under Captain Charles Campbell. He directed the troops at Rugeley's Mills to quit their position. Major Carden from Hanging Rock with the detachment of Browne's regiment, which had been engaged in the fight on the 6th, was ordered to Camden, and the Legion Infantry under Captain Stewart were desired to find the most direct road from their present situation to Lynch's Creek. A guide conducted Captain Stewart to the outposts of General Gates's army; a warm salutation from the picket discovered the mistake. Lord Rawdon withdrew the corps from Rugeley's Mills because of its exposed situation, and for the same reason he ordered Lieutenant Colonel Turnbull to evacuate Rocky Mount and to join Colonel Ferguson at his position on Little River.2
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.