USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1780-1783 > Part 11
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single file and proceeded with them to the fence, where they were addressed by Marion. "My brave soldiers," he said, "you are twenty men picked this day out of my whole brigade. I know you all and have often witnessed your bravery. In the name of your country I call upon you once more to show it. My confidence in you is great, and I am sure it will not be disappointed. Fight like men, as you have always done, and you are sure of victory." This short speech, we are told, was received with applause, and the party under Vanderhorst advanced towards the oak. The British party had also formed in like order in front of the tree. But just as they were about to engage, an officer was seen to advance swiftly towards the oak, when the British shouldered their muskets and retreated with quick steps towards the main body. Vanderhorst and his men gave three huzzas, but did not fire. James, who relates this story, observes that thus a British officer was met on his own boasted ground and proved recreant ; but it is more probable that McLeroth, finding himself at such disadvantage with Marion's mounted men, skilfully availed himself of the opportunity for delay, and accepted the challenge without any intention of meeting it, but merely in order to gain time.1
The next morning, McLeroth abandoned his heavy baggage, left his fires burning, and retired silently from the ground, along the river road, towards Singleton's Mill, distant ten miles. Near day Marion discovered his move-
1 Sir Walter Scott's novel, The Fair Maid of Perth, it will be remem- bered, is based upon the story of two powerful clans having deputed each twenty champions to fight out a quarrel of old standing in the presence of King Robert III, his brother the Duke of Albany, and the whole court of Scotland at Perth in the year of grace 1390. Sir Walter Scott's story had not yet been published, but Major McLeroth, a Scotchman, as his name suggests, was probably familiar with this legend, and availing him- self of it accepted Marion's proposition to amuse him while he arranged for his escape.
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ment, and detached Colonel Hugh Horry, with one hun- dred men, to intercept him before he could reach the mill. The colonel made all possible speed, but, finding he could not overtake McLeroth with his whole party, despatched a party, under Major James, on the swiftest horses, to cross the mill pond above, and take possession of Single- ton's houses, which stood on a high hill commanding a narrow defile, on the road between the hill and the Wateree swamp. Major James reached the houses as the British advanced to the foot of the hill, but found Single- ton's family down with the small-pox. This disease was more dreaded than the enemy. James therefore contented himself with giving them a fire, by which a British captain was killed, and then retired. As McLeroth was now in a strong position, Marion pursued him no farther.1
Marion, in this movement, had been operating from his fastness at Snow Island, keeping open his communication with that retreat. Sumter, now partially recovered from his wound but still greatly suffering, took the field for bolder enterprises.
On the 30th of January, General Greene writes to Sumter from Sherard's Ferry, on the Catawba, in North Carolina : "I have the pleasure to hear, by General Morgan, that you are almost well enough to take the field. Nothing will afford me greater satisfaction than to see you at the head of the militia again; and I can assure you I shall take a pleasure in giving you every opportunity to exercise that talent of enterprise which has already rendered you the terror of your enemies and the idol of your friends." 2 Again, on the 3d of February, he writes, endeavoring to allay Sumter's jealousy of Morgan, assur- ing him that, when he shall be able to take the field and
1 James's Life of Marion, 94-97.
2 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 79.
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embody his militia, he shall have the command of the whole, whether employed in South Carolina or with the Continentals.1 General Greene appears to have wished Sumter to operate in the rear of the British army under Cornwallis. He gave, however, no specific directions to him to do so. On the 9th of February he writes to Sumter, acknowledging the receipt of a letter from him of the 7th,2 in which it appears that Sumter had reported himself in the field, and saying : -
" There are few or no militia with us, nor are there many in the enemy's rear. I heard by several people that you were with the latter, which gave me great pleasure ; but I find I was misinformed. Before I heard of your being out I had sent General Pickens to take the command in the rear. His character and influence I hope will be useful." 3
But Sumter had other plans. General Greene had scarcely exaggerated Sumter's influence when he wrote that he was the terror of his enemies and the idol of his friends, for Cornwallis himself, in a letter to Tarleton, declared, "Sumter's corps has been our greatest plague in this State." 4 At his call only would the heroes of Hanging Rock, King's Mountain, and Blackstock come out. Lacey, Taylor, and his other leaders now at once joined him. Collecting his whole force in his old camping ground, the Waxhaws, he marched for Fort Granby on the Congaree, where he arrived on the 19th of February. This was a stockade work on the west side of the Congaree, three miles below the junction of the Broad and the Saluda rivers, and a half mile below the present city of Columbia on the opposite bank. It was defended by about three hundred
1 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 79.
2 This letter is not found in the Nightingale collection.
3 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 82.
4 Tarleton's Campaigns, 203.
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men, under the command of Major Maxwell. The same ruse de guerre which had twice before been successfully used was again resorted to, - Quaker guns of logs and tobacco hogsheads were mounted and trained upon the works, but this time without effect.1 An attack was made, and kept up for two days; and as all supplies were cut off, the place must have been taken had not Lord Rawdon appeared on the opposite bank of the river early on the third day. His lordship's arrival was not unex- pected. On the 20th, Sumter writes to Marion : -
" Hurry of business obliges me to be laconic. I arrived at this place yesterday morning about four o'clock. Shortly after attacked the fort, with which I have been ever since engaged. Everything hitherto favorable, and have no doubt but I shall succeed if not interrupted by Lord Rawdon, who, I know, will strip his post as bare of men as possible to spare; to obviate which, as far as possible, may be in your power, it is my wish that you would be pleased to move in such a direction as to attract his attention and thereby prevent his designs. Timely assistance in this way portends much good to this State. ... If you can with propriety advance southwardly so as to cooperate or correspond with me it might have the best of con- sequences." 2
Marion did not, however, receive this letter in time, and Lord Rawdon, having learned of Sumter's bold move, had, as Sumter had anticipated, marched at once from Camden with all his force; but his appearance did not induce Sumter to abandon the enterprise until he had de- stroyed the British magazines and supplies. This having been accomplished on the third day (21st of February), in the presence of Lord Rawdon's party, he moved away that night.3 There is no statement of the casualties on either side in this affair.
1 Sumter MSS.
2 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-83), 23.
8 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 226 ; Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 273.
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Rawdon had supposed that Sumter, upon his approach, would have retreated up the west bank of the Congaree, and so on towards the upper part of the State, and accord- ingly he had seized all the passes above. But in this supposition he was mistaken. Sumter had still other designs. Raising the siege of Granby, he marched with the utmost celerity in the opposite direction, and arrived the next morning, the 22d of February, before the British post at Colonel Thomson's plantation, thirty-five miles from Granby. This post was near the site of Fort Motte, in what is now Orangeburg County. It was a stockade which was formed around Colonel Thomson's house, the outhouses forming a part of the defences. The troops advanced through an open field, under a severe fire, and reached a part of the works. The enemy defended themselves with great bravery. The houses were set on fire by the Ameri- cans, but the defenders succeeded in extinguishing the flames and resisting every assault. The assault was given up in about half an hour, but the investment was contin- ued. Sumter was encamped at Manigault's Ferry, two miles below Thomson's, refreshing a part of his troops, while a strong detachment maintained the investment of the post. He had also sent out several smaller detachments for various purposes, so that he had with him not more than one hundred men. In this condition, early the next day, the 23d, he received information of the approach of a consider- able body of troops, with a number of wagons. The enemy advanced so rapidly that he had only time to form for their reception on a well-chosen piece of ground half a mile below his encampment. The British, upwards of eighty in number, forming a compact line, advanced with a daring front, affecting a contempt for the troops formed to oppose them. The ground was open. Both parties seemed assured of victory. The contest was short and decisive. The Brit-
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ish were outflanked and defeated. They lost thirteen killed and sixty-six taken prisoners, and twenty wagons with clothing, supplies, and arms intended for Lord Rawdon's army. To secure a prize so seasonable to the wants of the captors became an object of the greatest importance. It happened that the Santee was overflowed and impassable for the wagons. But Sumter had collected and secured all the boats at Fort Granby, and also at Thomson's. On board these were placed the captured stores, under a deter- mined officer, who was ordered to fall down the river to a point where Sumter would meet him with the troops. These dispositions had not long been completed when, on the day following, the 24th, at about three o'clock, Lord Rawdon appeared, coming to the relief of the post at Thomson's. Sumter, informed of his approach, had all his parties called in and his troops formed in order of battle, expecting only to meet the light troops of his lordship, but when he saw his whole army was with him, he moved off leisurely in the presence of Rawdon, who did not attempt pursuit, and has- tened to meet his little flotilla at the point where he proposed crossing the river. The point selected for this purpose was some distance above Wright's Bluff, on the Santee, about ten miles above Nelson's Ferry, where the British had a post on the east side of the river commanding it. Unhappily the fatality which so often pursued Sumter's most brilliant movements again overtook him. By the treachery of the pilot, the boats were permitted to drop below the proposed point, within range of the guns of the British post, and the stores fell into the enemy's hands. The guard escaped and rejoined Sumter. Great as was the loss of the stores, that of the boats was still greater. Without them the passage of the river and the swamps on the low ground was extremely difficult. It was, however, determined on, and effected by the aid of such canoes as
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could be collected, and the post at Wright's Bluff, known as Fort Watson, was attacked to regain the stores. To recover the ample supply of arms and clothing which had been captured and so treacherously lost to him, which would have relieved so many of the wants of his men, induced Sumter to hazard all on one effort. The attack was begun at twelve o'clock, on the 27th of February, by a direct assault. The post had been reenforced but a few hours before by the arrival of Colonel Watson with a detachment of four hundred provincial light infantry. The Americans were received with a tremendous fire, which they sustained for some time, but at length were obliged to give way, with considerable loss. The British accounts claimed that eighteen were killed, and some prisoners and many horses taken.1
Upon this repulse Sumter led his troops to a secure po- sition within five or six miles of the fort, where his wounded were attended to. Thence he moved to the High Hills of Santee and rested. In response to his letter of the 20th, Marion had, on the 26th, written to Sumter reporting his progress towards him; but while at the camp on the High Hills of Santee2 Sumter received, on the 4th of March, another letter, dated the 2d, from which it appeared that
1 The Royal Gazette, March 3, 1781.
2 " The High Hills of Santee are a long, irregular chain of sand hills on the left bank of the Wateree, near twenty miles north of its junction with the Congaree, and some ninety miles northwesterly of Charleston. They are huge masses of sand and clay and gravel, rising two hundred feet above the river banks, twenty-four miles long, varying in breadth from five miles to one. Though directly above the noxious river, the air on them is healthy and the water pure, making an oasis in the wide tract of miasma and fever in which the army had been operating. Both officers and men felt the vigor return as soon as they inhaled the pure breezes." - Greene's Life of Greene, vol. III, 335. These hills were from time to time in occupation of both armies, British and American. Upon them we shall see Greene in his Camp of Repose later on in the summer.
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Marion was still far out of the way of meeting him. Sum- ter was much disappointed, and wrote : 1_
"I made no doubt but your route to me would be by the way of King's Tree or the Ferry, and after receiving yours of the 28th ultimo, informing me what the number of your men were, I found you to be very weak and the enemy near at hand in force. This determined me to move on to meet you, to concert measures for our further oper- ations, which is still absolutely necessary. I shall therefore remain at or near this place for that purpose, and beg that you may come this way with all possible speed; if not convenient with all your men to facilitate an interview, please come with a few. My horses are so worn out that I can scarce move at all, and officers and men are quite discouraged, finding no force in these parts, not even men enough to join to guide me through the country. But notwithstanding little may be done now, yet much good might be expected to result here- after from a personal consultation, which I hope to have the favor of by to-morrow night," etc.
But Marion did not come. The British, indeed, were lay- ing meshes for his capture, and, no doubt, he was busy avoiding them. Still, it is strange that, within a day's jour- ney of Sumter, he does not appear to have made any re- sponse to the earnest appeal for a conference, or even to have communicated to Sumter his own difficulties. After waiting in vain for Marion a day or two, finding his men somewhat rested and refreshed, Sumter began a retreat from the High Hills of Santee to the Waxhaws by way of Black River, leaving Camden about twenty miles to the left. On the 6th of March, while on this march, he was intercepted by a considerable body of British troops under Major Fraser on Lynch's Creek, and a sharp con- flict ensued in which neither party gained a decided advantage. The British claimed a victory, but Sumter's retreat was not impeded, to effect which was the object of the British movement. By the enemy's account Sumter
1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 27, 28.
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lost ten killed and about fifty wounded.1 Ramsay claims that the British lost twenty killed and were obliged to retreat.2
General Sumter having fallen back to the Waxhaws, Lord Rawdon now determined upon a concerted move to crush Marion. For this purpose Colonel Watson, with his own regiment and Harrison's regiment of Tories,3 amounting in the whole to more than five hundred men, was ordered to march from Nelson's Ferry (Fort Watson) down the Santee towards Snow Island; and soon after
1 The Royal Gazette, March 14, 1781.
2 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 226. So engrossed have historians and romancers been with Marion's brilliant performances that they have been oblivious to Sumter's. Thus we find one of our own historians stating that, "during the absence of Greene from South Carolina, Marion was the only force in active operation against the British." (Simms's Life of Marion, 205). Sumter's equally brilliant operations at this time are entirely ignored. Judge Johnson, in his Life of Greene, speaks of Sumter's force as " a body of about two hundred and fifty North Carolinians " (vol. II, 31), but this is a mistake. The account of these operations here given is taken from the Sumter manuscript which states that "when Sumter had nearly recovered from his wound, finding that Lord Cornwallis had left the State of South Carolina, he collected his whole force in the Waxhaws and marched for the lower country." His force was certainly composed of South Carolina volunteers, and not North Carolina militia. In the Life of Edward Lacey it is stated : "Early in February, 1781, General Sumter had so far recovered from his wounds as to take the field again. When he ordered out the militia of his part of the State Colonel Lacey immediately joined him with his regiment and was with him at the assault on Friday's Ferry i.e. Granby the 19th February, 1781." - Moore's Life of Lacey, 24.
3 This corps was organized under the authority of Colonel Tarleton (Tarleton's Campaigns, 117). Lord Cornwallis speaks of it as " Harrison's new varied Legion, cavalry and infantry " ( Clinton-Cornwallis Controversy, vol. I, 238), " but it was not a success " (ibid., 260). It was organized at first from the Tories on Lynch's Creek in the neighborhood of McCallam's Ferry (Gregg's Old Cheraws, 308). Of the character of Harrison and his brother we have already spoken (Hist. of So. Ca. in the Revolution, 1775-80 [McCrady], 642, 650).
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Colonel Doyle 1 with the Volunteers of Ireland was directed to proceed from the neighborhood of Camden, crossing to the east of Lynch's Creek at McCallam's Ferry into what is now Darlington County, and moving down Jeffers's Creek to the Pee Dee, was to form a junction with Watson. This joint expedition was begun about the 1st of March.
1 Lieutenant colonel of Lord Rawdon's American regiment, "The Volunteers of Ireland," recruited in Philadelphia, afterwards General Sir John Doyle, G.C.B. and K.C., created a baronet October 29, 1805. See an account of this officer by his nephew, Sir Francis Hastings Doyle, in his Reminiscences, etc., Appleton, 1887, 365-369, in which this interesting story of the times we are now treating is quoted from a speech of Sir John while a member of Parliament, in support of an establishment in Ireland for the relief of worn-out and disabled soldiers. "Another brilliant example of devotion to duty flashes across my mind. When Lord Rawdon was in South Carolina he had to send an express of great importance through a country filled with the enemy's troops. A corporal of the Seventeenth Dragoons known for his courage and intelligence was selected to escort it. They had not proceeded far when they were fired upon, the express killed, and the corporal wounded in the side; careless of his wound, but he thought of his duty ; he snatched the despatch from the dying man and rode on until from the loss of blood he fell, when, fearing the despatch would be taken by the enemy, he thrust it into his wound until the wound closed upon it, and concealed it. He was found the next day by a British patrol, with a smile of honorable pride upon his countenance, and with life just sufficient to point to the fatal depository of his secret. In searching the body was found the cause of his death, for the surgeon declared the wound itself was not mortal, but was ren- dered so by the irritation of the paper. Thus fell," exclaimed Sir John, " this patriot soldier ; in rank, a corporal, he was in mind a hero. His name was O'Leary, from the parish of Moria in County Down. Whilst memory holds her seat, the devotion of this generous victim to his own sense of duty will be present to my mind. I would not for worlds have lost his name. How much would it have lived in Greek or Roman story ! Not the Spartan hero of Thermopyla, not the Roman Curtius, in their self-devotion went beyond him. Leonidas fought in the presence of a grateful country, he was in a strange land unseen. Curtius had all Rome for his spectators, O'Leary gave himself to death alone in a desert. He adopted the sentiment without knowing the language, and chose for his epitaph, Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori."
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Marion's scouts informing him of Watson's movement, that gallant and intrepid leader did not wait for the attack, but himself at once assumed the offensive. Leaving Colonel Erwin in command of the camp at Snow Island, by one of his rapid movements, on March 6th Marion met Watson at Wiboo Swamp, about midway between Nelson's and Murray's ferries, in what is now Clarendon County. Hav- ing but little ammunition, not more than twenty rounds to each man, Marion resorted to strategy, and here he laid his first ambuscade. Colonel Peter Horry was placed in advance, while he with the cavalry and remainder of his brigade, amounting to about four hundred men, lay in reserve. Horry made considerable impression upon the Tories in advance, but Watson with two field-pieces at the head of his regulars dislodged Horry's men from the swamp, whereupon the Tory cavalry, under Major Harri- son, pursued. This had been anticipated, and Captain Conyers with a party of cavalry had been placed in a con- cealed position to meet it. As the British and Tories came up, Conyers dashed in among them, killing with his own hand the officer who led them, and with that Captain McCauley, upon Marion's order, charged and dispersed the enemy. In this action Gavin James, a private in Marion's ranks, of gigantic size, greatly distinguished himself, hold- ing a causeway single-handed against a strong party of the enemy.1
While these movements were being made by Sumter and Marion on the Congaree and Pee Dee, a spirited affair had taken place on the Saluda, in what is now Newberry
1 James's Life of Marion, 98, 99. The officer killed by Conyers, James says was said to have been one of the two Harrisons mentioned in a previous volume (Hist. of So. Ca. in the Revolution [McCrady], 642). And this supposition appears to have been correct (Gregg's Hist. of the Old Cheraws, 308).
VOL. IV. - I
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County. The battle of Mud Lick, as it was called, was fought on the 2d of March. A garrison of British sol- diers and Tories stationed at Williams's Fort, annoying the people in that neighborhood, Colonel Benjamin Roe- buck 1 and Colonel Henry White determined to break up the nest of plunderers. This they proceeded to do with a party of about one hundred and fifty men, and by a strata- gem induced the enemy to abandon the fort and come out to attack them. A party of mounted men showed them- selves before the fort and retreated. Upon this the enemy came out and began a hot pursuit, confident of an easy victory. The mounted Whigs fell back before the advanc- ing foe until they had drawn them within easy range of riflemen concealed in ambush. At the proper moment Colonel White fired a shot, killing one of the foremost British officers. The battle soon became general, and con- tinued for an hour with alternate advantages, ultimately resulting in the total rout of the British and Tories. The Whigs did not lose many, but among the killed was Captain Robert Thomas, an officer much beloved and lamented. Both Colonel Roebuck and Colonel White were wounded.2
After the affair at Wiboo Swamp, Watson rested a day or two at Cantey's plantation in what is now Clarendon, and then continued his march down the Santee, which Marion
1 Benjamin Roebuck was born in Orange County, Virginia, about 1755. His father settled in what is now Spartanburg County in 1777, and the next year young Roebuck served as lieutenant in Georgia, and was at Stono and Savannah. In 1780 he joined Sumter and was at Hanging Rock, Musgrove's Mills, and, as we have seen, at King's Mountain, distinguished himself at Cowpens, where he had a horse shot under him. He was now badly wounded, and made prisoner, was incarcerated at Ninety Six, where he remained during the siege, was subsequently taken to Charlestown, and placed on a prison ship until exchanged in August, 1781.
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