USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780 > Part 66
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843
IN THE REVOLUTION
old, that those who had hired themselves for a penny a day complained bitterly when eleventh-hour recruits were put into their ranks at bounties which, while in the then state of the currency were really of no great value, ap- peared nominally to be immense. These considerations induced many to appeal to the civil courts to relieve them from their engagements, and many to desert.
A committee of Congress, having visited the army, reported that they found it unpaid for five months; that it seldom had more than six days' provisions in advance, and was, on several occasions, for several successive days, without meat; that it was destitute of forage; the medi- cal department insufficiently supplied ; that every depart- ment was without money and without even the shadow of credit ; that the patience of the soldiers, borne down by the pressure of complicated sufferings, was on the point of being exhausted. Upon this report, a resolution was adopted that Congress would make good to the line of the army and to the independent corps the deficiency of their original pay, which had been occasioned by the depre- ciation of the Continental currency. This resolution, which was published in general orders, produced a good impression for a while ; but promises for the future could not supply the pressing wants of the present. For a con- siderable time the troops received only from one-half to one-eighth of a ration of meat, and at length were for several days without any. All this caused relaxation of discipline, and the minds of the soldiers became soured to such a degree that their discontent broke out into actual mutiny.
Two regiments, belonging to Connecticut, on the 25th of May paraded under arms, with a declared resolution to return home or to obtain subsistence at the point of the bayonet. The soldiers of the other regiments, though
8-44
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
they did not actually join the mutineers, showed no dis- position to suppress the mutiny. By great exertions on the part of the officers, aided by the appearance of a neigh- boring brigade of Pennsylvania, the leaders were secured, and the two regiments brought back to their duty. This mutiny, though put down, disclosed a serious and alarm- ing condition of affairs. When reminded of the resolu- tion of Congress for making good in future the loss sustained by this depreciation of the currency, of the reputation acquired by their past good conduct, and of the great objects for which they were contending, they answered that their sufferings were too great to be longer supported, that they wanted present relief, and must have some present substantial recompense for their services. A paper was found in the brigade, which appeared to have been brought by some emissary from New York, stimulat- ing the troops by artful insinuations to the abandonment of this cause on which they were engaged. It was a knowledge of the existence of these discontented and mu- tinous spirits in the American army which induced Gen- cral Knyphausen to cross from Staten Island to invade New Jersey, and to burn the Connecticut Farms and Springfield.
The mutiny of the Connecticut troops took place on the 25th of May, that is, nearly two weeks after the fall of Charlestown and two days before the slaughter of Buford's men at the Waxhaws. The Continental army of the South was in captivity ; that of the North was in mutiny. Dark, indeed, for the American cause were the long days in June, 1780.
There was a temporary break, however, in the over- hanging clouds. The Marquis de La Fayette had re- turned from France, which he had revisited in the interest of the struggling States. He arrived late in April at
845
IN THE REVOLUTION
Boston in a French frigate, and hastened to Washington's headquarters. Thence he proceeded to Congress, with the information that his most Christian Majesty had con- sented to employ a considerable land and naval armament in the United States for the ensuing campaign. The Marquis bringing this intelligence was received with joy and affection, and some new impulse was given to both Congress and the State legislatures ; but the proceedings of the States were slow and far from producing the reën- forcements required. It was not until June and July that the legislatures of the respective States passed the acts which were required to bring into the field a force competent for the great objects now contemplated. In the meanwhile the army was reduced in June, as has appeared, to considerably less than four thousand men, and Wash- ington remained uninformed of the force on which he might rely to cooperate with the expected allies from France. He had hoped that his own army would be so reenforced by the time of the arrival of the French fleet that an attempt might be made on New York before Sir Henry Clinton's return from South Carolina. But in this he was disappointed. Sir Henry returned with about four thousand troops from Charlestown before the French fleet appeared. It was then determined that the arma- ment from France should on its arrival disembark at Newport in Rhode Island and there wait until a more definite plan of operation could be concerted. While Washington was still awaiting the action of the States, his army, in July, being increased by not more than one thousand men, intelligence was received that a large French fleet had been seen between the capes of Virginia ; and General Heath, who commanded there, was directed to make every preparation for their reception and accom- modation in Rhode Island.
846
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
On the 10th of July, in the afternoon, the fleet appeared in sight of Newport. The ships stood into the harbor, and, upon landing, the commander was put into possession of all the forts and batteries in and about Newport. Profit- ing by the experience at Savannah of a divided command, De Rochambeau, the French commander, was placed by his government under the command of General Washing- ton, and the French troops were to be considered as auxil- iaries only. Every effort was made to prevent friction or jealousies between the two armies. It was first pro- posed to employ the joint forces in an attempt to recover New York ; but for this it was assumed that a decisive naval superiority was essential. Without it nothing could be effected. The 5th of August was named as the day on which the French troops should reembark, and the Americans assemble at Morrisiana for the expedition. In further consideration of a former experience, it was settled as a preliminary to any undertaking that the fleet and army of France should at all events continue their aid until the enterprise undertaken should be successful, or be abandoned by mutual consent. The disaster before Savannah, which, says Marshall, had been a prelude to all the calamities in the South, most probably suggested this precaution.1
The French squadron commanded by Chevalier de Ter- nay was decidedly superior to that of Admiral Arbuthnot, who lay in New York with only four ships of the line and a few frigates. But three days after De Ternay had reached Newport, Admiral Graves arrived with six British ships of the line, and thus the superiority at sea was entirely reversed. This change of circumstance caused the aban- donment of the plan against New York. On the arrival of Graves, Arbuthnot put out from that harbor, and, learn-
1 Life of Washington, vol. IV, 257.
847
IN THE REVOLUTION
ing that De Ternay had reached Rhode Island, immediately proceeded thither. De Ternay dared not attack him, and the French army and navy, from which so much had been expected, were confined to Newport, where they remained " bottled up," as it has since been expressed, for nearly a year, while the war was waging in the South. De Ternay was at first hopeful of relief by the coming of a second division of the French fleet ; but, instead, Admiral Rodney had appeared in September with eleven British ships of the line and four frigates, disconcerting all the plans of the allies, and enabling Sir Henry Clinton in security to send Leslie to Virginia to cooperate with Corn- wallis in South Carolina. Then had followed the treason and escape of Arnold and the capture of Major Andre, who this time had not been so lucky in his venture into the enemy's lines as he had been during the siege of Charles- town.
General Washington, during the fall, continued his ef- forts to induce Congress to provide a permanent military force or a regular system of filling the vacant ranks with drafts who should join the army on the first day of Janu- ary in each year, but Congress was not only unable but unwilling to do so. A committee of cooperations, of which John Mathews of South Carolina was chairman, had been several months with the army, consulting with the Com- mander-in-chief and devising schemes for its reorganiza- tion. But so strong was the opposition to anything like a standing army that the fact of their sojourn with the army, instead of entitling the views of the committee to considera- tion, rendered them unpopular with some of the members, who charged them with being " too strongly tinctured with the army principles." 1 There were two parties in Congress : one which entered fully into the views of the Commander-
1 Washington's Writings, vol. VII, 226.
848
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
in-chief ; the other, jealous of the army and apprehensive of its hostility to liberty when peace should be restored, was unwilling to give it stability by increasing its num- bers.1 On the one hand, it is clear from Washington's letters from the beginning to the end of the war, echoed also by Greene, that he underrated the value and efficiency of a volunteer force ; that his dependence was entirely upon a regular army of enlisted and paid soldiers. He placed little or no reliance upon the patriotism of a private soldier. He desired a strong army to establish a govern- ment. So his friends in Congress were for founding and maintaining a strong and permanent army ; while on the other hand those who were jealous of the existence of an army, fearing that if independence from England was established by such a body that it would be the ground- work upon which a monarchy perhaps would be erected, contented themselves with opposing and thwarting all efforts to strengthen it, while proposing nothing them- selves upon which to carry on the war.
The allied armies, Continental and French, went into winter quarters without a battle having been fought - the former in such a condition of discontent as again to break out in open meeting.in the first of the coming year.
Writing to John Mathews on the 23d of October, informing him of the appointment of Greene, who had declined longer to act as Quartermaster General of the army, to the command of the Southern Department, Wash- ington observed : "You have your wish in the officer appointed to the Southern command. I think I am giving you a general, but what can a general do without men, without arms, without clothing, without shoes, without provisions ? "2 Let us compare the results of the two sys-
1 Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. IV, 292.
2 Washington's Writings, vol. VII, 277.
849
IN THE REVOLUTION
tems upon which the struggle for liberty had been carried on North and South, during this year 1780, in which the Southern States were regarded as conquered ; and sum up what had been done in South Carolina, not only without enlisted or paid men, without arms, without clothing, with- out shoes, without provisions, but without even a general!
There had been fought in South Carolina during this year in all thirty-four battles, great and small,1 including as one the siege of Charlestown, which lasted from the 20th of March, when the British fleet crossed the bar and passed Fort Moultrie, to the 12th of May, - that is, fifty- three days. So that during this year, while the Continen- tal army under Washington was lying around New York in hopeless inactivity and discontent, and the French fleet and army cooped up harmlessly in Newport, there had been actual and active fighting in South Carolina for eighty-six days out of the three hundred and sixty-five, or about one day in every four. The siege of Charles- town, and the accompanying affairs of Salkehatchie, Pon Pon, Rantowle's, Monck's Corner, and Lenuds's Ferry, Buford's defeat at the Waxhaws, and the battle of Cam- den, were battles and engagements in which Continental troops were engaged ; the other twenty-six actions were fought entirely by volunteer bands of the people organized under leaders for each special occasion, the unpaid men of the Carolinas and Georgia of whose names, even, there was no muster roll or record. The scene of these engage- ments covered, under Marion, the Horrys, and James, the whole country between the Pee Dee and Santee ; under Sumter, Davie, Bratton, Lacey, Hill, Taylor, and the
1 Three more considerable affairs were yet to take place in December, 1780, but they more properly belong to Greene's campaign of the next year, in our history of which they will be told. These were Rugeley's Mills, December 4 ; Hammond's Store, December 20; Williams's Planta- tion, December 31.
VOL. III. - 31
850
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Hamptons, that principally between the Catawba and the Broad, but extending into Lancaster on the one side, and Spartanburg and Union on the other; while Williams, Clarke, and McCall extended it from the Broad to the Savannah. In addition to these engagements which took place in South Carolina during the year, there had been fought just beyond the line in North Carolina the battles of Ramsour's Mill, Charlotte Town, and Cowan's Ford, and in Georgia the siege of Augusta. But restricting the exami- nation for the present to the operations in South Carolina alone, the following statistical table of the engagements which took place within the limits of the State will best illustrate the magnitude and importance of the results accomplished by the uprising of the people themselves without the aid of Congress. The engagements marked in Roman letters were those in which the Continental troops took part. Those in italics were fought by the partisan bands alone.
AMERICAN.
BRITISH.
Engagement.
Date.
Killed and
wounded.
Prisoners
lost.
Total.
Killed and
wounded.
Prisoners lost.
Total.
1780
1
Salkehatchie
Mar. 18
21
21
2
2
2
Pon Pon
" 23
10
4
14
3
3
3
Rantowle's
26
7
4
Monck's Corner
Apr. 12
33
33
3
3
5
Siege of Charlestown
Mar. 20-May 12
258
5683
5941
267
20
287
6
Lenuds's Ferry
May 18
35
35
2
2
7
Waxhaws, Buford's Deft.
" 29
263
263
19
19
8
Williamson's Plantation
July 12
1
1
85
85
9
Brandon's Camp
=
12
1
1
(routed)
10
Stallions' 8
66 12
11
Cedar Springs
66
13
"
14
4
32
36
13
McDowell's Camp
July 15 and 16
38
38
8
8
14
Flat Rock
July 20
4
4
10
10
15
Thicketty Fort
30
94
94
6
28
34 (several)
12
Gowen's Old Fort
7
851
IN THE REVOLUTION
AMERICAN.
BRITISH.
Engagement.
Date.
Killed and
wounded.
Prisoners
lost.
Total.
Killed and
wounded.
Prisoners lost.
Total.
16
Hunt's Bluff
Aug. 1
100
100
17
Rocky Mount
66
1
6
6
12
12
18
Hanging Rock
1
50
19 Hanging Rock
6
100
10
110
150
150
20
Old Iron Works
=
8
14
14
50
50
21
Port's Ferry
15
30
30
22
Camden or Wateree Ferry
.6
15
7
100
107
23
Camden
66
16
850
1220
2070
313
11
324
24
Fishing Creek
18
150
310
460
16
16
25
Musgrove's Mills
66
19
13
13
153
70
223
26
Nelson's Ferry
=
20
2
2
183
183
27
Kingstree
27
15
15
30
28
Black Mingo
Sept. 14
50
50
60
60
29
Tarcote
.6
14
26
26
30
Wahub's Plantation
.6 20
1
1
60
60
31
King's Mountain
Oct. 7
90
90
242
664
906
32
Fishdam
Nov. 9
2
2
21
21
33
Blackstock
" 20
4
4
192
192
34
Long Cane
Dec. 11
21
21
3
3
Total
1967
7227
9194
1816
1317
3133
1780
50
In examining this table it will appear that there was no great difference in the losses in killed and wounded during this time in the two armies, the Americans having lost 1967 and the British 1816, - the small difference of 151 being in favor of the British, - while in prisoners the Americans lost 7227, the British but 1317. This is in some measure accounted for by the number claimed as soldiers taken in arms by the British upon the fall of Charlestown and who are thus described by General Moultrie : -
" The next day," that is the day after the surrender, "the militia were ordered to parade near Lynch's pasture and to bring all their arms with them, guns, swords, pistols, &c., and those that did not strictly comply were threatened with having the grenadiers turned in among them; this threat brought out the aged, the timid, the disaf-
852
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
fected, the infirm ; many of them had never appeared during the whole siege, which swelled the number of militia prisoners at least three times the number of men we ever had on duty. I saw the column march out and was surprised to see it so large, but many of them we had excused from age and infirmities; however, they would do to enroll on a conqueror's list." 1
Among these doubtless were included the two hundred addressers to Sir Henry Clinton, who declared themselves loyal subjects. But however this may have been, it will be observed that the great losses of the Americans took place in the siege and fall of Charlestown, the massacre of Buford's party in the Waxhaws, the battle of Camden, and the surprise at Fishing Creek. The first three of these were instances in which Continental officers commanded. Indeed, upon an analysis of these figures some curious facts will appear. The following table will show the casual- ties in both armies which occurred in battles in which Con- tinental troops engaged the British : -
AMERICAN.
BRITISH.
Engagement.
Date.
Killed and
wounded.
Prisoners lost.
Total.
Killed and
wounded.
Prisoners lost.
Total.
1780
1
Salkehatchie (Lincoln)
Mar. 18
21
21
2
2
Pon Pon (Lincoln)
" 23
10
4
14
4
3
3
Rantowle's (Lincoln)
26
4
Monck's Corner (Lincoln)
Apr. 12
33 258
56S3
33 5941
267
20
287
6
Lenuds's Ferry (Lincoln)
May 18
35
35
2
2
7
Waxhaws, Buford's Deft. (Lin- coln)
29
263
263
19
19
8
Camden (Gates)
Aug. 16
850
1220
2070
313
11
324
Total
1470
6907
8377
616
31
647
7
7
5
Siege of Charlestown (Lincoln)
Mar. 20-May 12
3
3
The regularly organized armies under the Continental generals, Lincoln and Gates, lost in killed and wounded 1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 106-107.
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IN THE REVOLUTION
1470 men, and in prisoners 6907, in all 8377. The British lost in the engagements with these generals 616 killed and wounded and 31 prisoners, in all 647. In these battles the British had obtained the great advantage in killed and wounded of 854, and in prisoners taken of 6876, in all of 7730. The next table will show how much the partisan leaders had done to correct this balance : -
-
Engagement.
Commander.
Date.
Killed and
wounded.
Prisoners
Total.
Killed and
wounded.
Prisoners
Total.
lost,
1
Williamson's Plantation
Bratton, Lacey
July 12
1
1
85
2
Brandon's Camp
Brandon
12
1
1
3
Stallions's
Brandon
12
6
28
34
4
Cedar Springs
Thomas
13
5
Gowan's Old Fort
Jones
14
4
32
36
6
McDowell's Camp
McDowell
" 15,16
38
38
8
8
7
Flat Rock
Davie
20
4
4
10
10
8
Thicketty Fort
McDowell
30
94
94
9
Hunt's Bluff
Gillespie
Aug. 1
100
100
10
Rocky Mount
Sumter
1
6
6
12
12
11
Hanging Rock
Davie
1
50
50
12
Hanging Rock
Sumter and Davie
6
100
10
110
150
150
13
Old Iron Works
Clarke and Shelby
8
14
14
50
50
14
Port's Ferry
Marion
15
30
30
15
Camden or Wateree Ferry
Sumter
66 15
7
100
107
16
Fishing Creek &
Sumter
18
150
310
460
16
16
17
Musgrove's Mills
Shelby, Clarke, and Williams
19
13
13
153
70
223
18
Nelson's Ferry
Marion
20
2
2
183
183
19
Kingstree
Marion
27
15
15
30
20 Black Mingo
Marion
Sep. 14
50
50
60
60
21
Tarcote
Marion
14
26
26
22
Wahub's Plantation
Davie
66
20
1
1
60
60
23
King's Mountain
Campbell
Oct. 7
90
90
242
664
906
24
Fishdam
Sumter
Nov. 9
2
2
21
21
25
Blackstock
Sumter
20
4
4
192
192
26
Long Cane
Clarke
Dec. 11
21
21
3
3
Total
497
320
817
1200
1286
2486
« Fishing Creek, in which so great a loss to the Americans occurred, is placed in the list of battles by partisan corps because the party was commanded by Sumter, and composed mostly of his men ; but Colonel Woolford and four hundred Continental infantry were with the party.
AMERICAN.
BRITISH.
lost.
1780
85 (routed)
(several)
854
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
From the 12th of July -that is, the day after the French fleet and army had arrived at Newport, when Bratton and Lacey had surprised and destroyed the British party under Huck at Williamson's plantation -to the affair at Long Cane on the 11th of December, that is, in five months, the partisan bands in South Carolina under their own chosen leaders had fought twenty-six battles, inflicting a loss upon the British forces of 1200 in killed and wounded and 1286 in prisoners, in all of 2486, at a loss to them- selves of but 497 killed and wounded and 320 in prisoners, in all of 817; that is to say, they had killed, wounded, and taken prisoners of the enemy more than three times as many as the enemy had of themselves. It was this uprising of the people of North and South Carolina and Georgia, aided in one instance, that is at King's Mountain, by a party of Virginians, that after the battle of Camden had detained Cornwallis in the Waxhaws, and then at Charlotte forced him back from Charlotte to Winnsboro, and necessitated his change of Leslie's movements, requir- ing Leslie to come to Charlestown and thence to his own support instead of attempting, as was intended, the junc- tion of the two armies in North Carolina or Virginia. The British plan of campaign for this year, which will be readily recognized, as we have observed before, as the prototype of that of the winter of 1865 during the late war between the States, was thus disarranged and broken up by the partisan bands in South Carolina. The French army and fleet blockaded in Newport, Washington lay with the discontented, and at times mutinous, skeleton of an army in New Jersey, while the naval superiority of the British in American waters enabled them to reënforce Cornwallis from the Chesapeake, as Terry reinforced Sherman from Wilmington in 1865. Could Cornwallis have made his anticipated triumphal march from Camden
855
IN THE REVOLUTION
to Virginia, there joined by Leslie, he would have had but to march upon Baltimore, the objective point of the cam- paign, and thence to Philadelphia,1 and Washington, be- tween Sir Henry Clinton in New York and the British army advancing from Philadelphia, must have fallen as Lee did between Grant and Sherman. Time was all-important ; for the British now had the naval command of the Amer- ican shores, but another French fleet was hoped for by the Americans, and feared by the British. If this should come- as come it did the next year - and recover the command of the waters, then Rochambeau would be released, and Sir Henry Clinton confined to New York as Rochambeau now was to Newport. To detain Corn- wallis in South Carolina, therefore, until the other French fleet arrived, was of the utmost importance to the American cause. To detain him here and break up the plan of junction with Leslie across North Carolina, was the salvation of the country. This the voluntary uprising in the extreme Southern States, and the partisan battles fought in South Carolina, accomplished. Leslie's army of 2300 men, with which he arrived in Charlestown in December, did not quite replace the 2486 whom the partisan soldiers had killed, wounded, and taken.2
1 Sir Henry Clinton writes to Lord Cornwallis June 1, 1780, "Our first object will probably be the taking post at Norfolk or Suffolk, or near the Hampton Road, and then proceeding up the Chesapeake to Balti- more." - Clinton-Cornwallis Controversy, vol. I, 214.
2 Colonel Chesney of the British army, in his essay on " Cornwallis and the Indian Services," in passing thus comments on this campaign of his illustrious kinsman : "From the day ... that Britain lost the con- trol of the ocean, which divided her from her revolted colonies, the war could have but one result. A success on Cornwallis's part in Virginia might have added to his laurels already gained in New Jersey and the Carolinas, but would only have delayed the issue for a little space. Such a free communication as the Federal fleets had along the coast of the revolted States during the Civil War, was equally needed in our case.
856
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
South Carolina had in 1780 suffered already more than any other State ; but her cup of woe was not yet full. She was overrun, and her soil from the mountains to the seaboard was wet with the blood of her sons, some of which had been fratricidally shed ; but she was not con- quered. The war had not been brought on by her leaders; they had been imperceptibly drawn into it. The people of the section in which most of these battles had taken place, and in which it now was most ruthlessly waged, had been opposed to it. But the victorious British army in the year 1780 had converted to the cause of America thousands who would not follow the leaders in the Revo- lution. The people who stood listless and indifferent to the appeals of Tennent in 1775, had left their fair fields in the Waxhaws on the Catawba and on the Broad and were now following Sumter. Those who had resented Drayton's proclamation, were now coming out under Pickens.1
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