USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1780-1783 > Part 12
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2 Johnson's Traditions, 423-424 ; King's Mountain and its Heroes, 470.
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opposed by destroying bridges and harassing him at every step. At Mount Hope, in what is now Williamsburg County, Watson found the bridge destroyed, and had to sustain a second conflict with Marion's rear guard under Horry. But with the aid of his field-pieces and by the strength of his column he was enabled to make good his way. Near Murray's Ferry, Watson passed the Kingstree road to his left, and when he came to the Black River road which crosses at the lower bridge, he made a feint of still continu- ing down the Santee ; but soon after turning, took that road on which the lower bridge was, distant twelve miles. Marion had not been deceived. He had detached Major James at the head of seventy men, thirty of whom were riflemen under McCottry, to destroy the remnant of the bridge which had been partially broken up, and to take post there while he kept watch on Watson. Major James reached the bridge by a nearer route, crossed it, threw off the planks, fired the string-pieces at the northeastern end, and posted his riflemen so as to command the ford and all the approaches on the other side. Marion soon after arrived with the rest of his men, and disposed them in the rear so as to support James's party. Watson now appeared on the plain beyond and opened with his field-pieces, which had been so effective at Wiboo and Mount Hope, but, for- tunately for Marion, the topography of the ground here rendered them comparatively useless. Owing to the ele- vation on the southwestern side of the river, the effect of the artillery was but to cut off the tops and limbs of the trees above the heads of Marion's men. To remedy this Watson brought up his guns to the brow of the hill, so as, by depressing them there, to reach the riflemen on the low ground on the opposite side ; but these picked off the can- noneers with their rifles before they could bring their pieces to bear. An attempt was then made to carry the
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ford by direct attack. Watson drew up his columns in the old field over the river, and his advance was now seen approaching the ford with an officer at its head waving his sword. McCottry fired the signal gun, the officer clapped his hand to his breast, and fell to the ground. The rifle- men and musketeers next poured in a well-directed and deadly fire, and the British advance fled in disorder, nor did the reserve move forward to its support. Four men returned to bear off their fallen leader, but all four shared his fate. In the evening Watson succeeded in removing his dead and wounded, and took position at John Wither- spoon's, a mile above the bridge. General Marion then took position on a ridge below the ford of the river, which was afterwards called General's Island. The next day he pushed McCottry and Conyers over the river to annoy the British pickets and sentinels. Thereupon Watson moved farther up and established his camp at Blakeley's planta- tion. There he remained about ten days, during which, though he was posted on an open field, Marion's riflemen kept his regulars in constant dread and almost panic. While Blakeley's and Witherspoon's provisions lasted Watson was able to maintain himself here in comparative safety, notwithstanding the apprehensions caused by Marion's marksmen; but when these failed it became necessary to send out foraging parties, and this brought on daily skirmishes. In these affairs Captain Conyers greatly distinguished himself, his name becoming almost as great a dread to the British as Tarleton's had been to the Americans. An incident which is said to have in- creased the panic of the British was the shooting, at three hundred yards distant, of an officer, Lieutenant Torri- ano, by McDonald, the same who had been among the prisoners rescued by Marion at Nelson's Ferry the year before, and who had remained with him. For the removal
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of this officer and some other of his wounded men Watson applied for a pass to Charlestown, which Marion granted. Colonel Watson was now literally besieged. His supplies were cut off on all sides, and so many of his men killed that he is said by tradition to have sunk them in Black River to hide their number.
Watson at length abandoned the field, making a forced march down the Georgetown road, but paused at Ox Swamp, six miles below the lower bridge, for on each side of the road through it there was a thick boggy swamp, and Marion had trees felled across the causeway, and the bridges, of which there were three, destroyed. There was, moreover, a still more difficult pass at Johnson's, ten miles farther on. Watson, therefore, turned to the right and crossed through the open piney woods to the Santee road, distant about fifteen miles. Marion pressed on after him, sending Colonel Peter Horry in advance with the cavalry and riflemen. Watson was thus pressed and annoyed along his whole route until they reached Sampit bridge, nine miles from Georgetown, where the last skirmish took place. Here Marion received news of Doyle's movements, which arrested his progress and summoned him to meet new perils. Watson reached Georgetown with two wagon- loads of wounded men.1 An intercepted letter, dated March,2 without the day of the month, but which James gives as of the 20th, shows that he had been hemmed in so closely that he was in want of everything, and had taken this route to Georgetown, fifty miles out of his way, to obtain supplies. From the fort at Wright's Bluff Wat- son had not advanced more than forty miles on his way to join Doyle in an attack upon Snow Island. The loss of the British during these movements was great, but the
1 James's Life of Marion, 99-104.
2 Gibbes's Documentary Hist., 1781-82, 47.
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exact number is unknown. Marion is said to have lost but one man.
In the meanwhile, Colonel Doyle, in pursuance of the plan of their joint operations, after crossing Lynch's Creek at McCallam's Ferry, had moved down on the east of that river towards Snow Island, which, it will be recollected, had been left with a small guard under Colonel Erwin. This officer, after a short engagement in which he lost seven killed and fifteen prisoners,1 retreated; but before doing so he had the supplies there of army stores and ammunition thrown into Lynch's Creek. This, at this crisis, was a most serious loss.
From Sampit Marion marched back towards Snow Island. On the way, receiving intelligence that Doyle lay at With- erspoon's Ferry, across Lynch's Creek, he proceeded forth- with to attack him. Doyle had taken a position on the north or Georgetown side of the ferry, and when McCottry in advance with his mounted riflemen arrived at the creek, the British were scuttling a ferry-boat on the opposite side. From a position behind the trees, he gave them a well- directed fire, under which a British officer and sergeant were wounded.2 They ran to their arms, and returned the fire with a heavy volley, which, however, inflicted no loss upon the Americans. Doyle then retired. The ferry- boat being scuttled, and Lynch's Creek swollen, and at this place wide and deep, Marion moved up its course until he reached a more practicable place for crossing, five miles above the ferry, there he swam the river and pursued Doyle. He continued the pursuit for two days, when, coming up to a house at which Doyle had destroyed all his heavy baggage, and learning that he had proceeded with great celerity towards Camden, he halted.
Marion now learned of the loss of his ammunition and 1 The Royal Gazette, April 4, 1781. 2 Ibid.
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stores at Snow Island. It was a great blow to him, and under present circumstances appeared irretrievable ; but his spirit was still unbroken. In the meantime, Colonel Watson, having refreshed and reenforced his party, and received a fresh supply of military stores and provisions at Georgetown, turned again towards the Pee Dee, and marched to Catfish Creek, a mile from where the town of Marion now stands. Here Gainey's party 1 had flocked in to him in such numbers that he was soon said to be nine hundred strong. Returning from the pursuit of Doyle, and hearing of the approach of Watson, Marion crossed the Pee Dee at the Wrahees, five miles from him. His own force was now increased to five hundred men, but he had no more than two rounds of ammunition to each man. It was proposed, therefore, to retreat into North Carolina, or, if necessary, to the mountains, and Colonels Peter Horry, Hugh Horry, James Postell, and John Erwin, Majors John James, John Baxter, and Alexander Swinton, had agreed to go with him, when the news was received of the approach of Colonel Lee, the advance of General Greene, upon his return to South Carolina. The circum- stances which led to this event must be reserved to another chapter.
1 Major Micajah Gainey, son of an Englishman, Stephen Gainey, who had settled at an early period on a spot six miles below the present town of Marion. He had a respectable property and at first took sides with the Revolutionary party, but considering himself aggrieved, he went over to the enemy, and was rewarded with a commission of major and put in com- mand of the Tories of his neighborhood. He became a person of con- siderable influence on the Tory side in that section.
CHAPTER V
1781
GENERAL GREENE, as it has appeared, was anxious to bring out and organize the militia to operate in the rear of Cornwallis during his invasion of North Carolina, and for this purpose he had called upon the Whigs of Meck- lenburg. Unhappily General Davidson, the gallant com- mander of the militia of North Carolina, had already fallen while resisting the crossing of the Catawba at Cowan's Ford by the British; and the office to which Colonel Davie had been assigned having withdrawn him from the field, the Whigs in this neighborhood were left without either leader under whom they had formerly acted, and none other appeared sufficiently popular to in- spirit and conduct them to further enterprise. They there- fore held a meeting and requested General Greene to assign Morgan to their command ; but Morgan had become dissatisfied, and, suffering also from a serious indisposition, declined the command and retired from the field. Greene, it also appears, was in hope that when Sumter came out he would undertake this duty, but, as has been seen, he had moved in another direction. General Greene now turned to Pickens, who, as soon as he was relieved of the charge of the Cowpens prisoners, had rejoined his commander at Salisbury. His followers were now reduced to a handful, for the retreat of the army had called most of them away to provide for the subsistence and safety of their families. The Whigs of North Carolina were advised to place them-
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selves under the command of Pickens, who had now been made brigadier general by Governor Rutledge and he was instructed to hang upon the skirts of the enemy, watch the movements of his small detachments, guard particu- larly against surprise, and as soon as an opportunity af- forded, to pass Lord Cornwallis and join Greene's army at Guilford or wherever else he should make a stand. Gen- eral Huger, who on his march from the Cheraws had been overtaken by Colonel Lee from the lower Pee Dee, formed a junction with General Greene and Morgan's com- mand at Guilford on the 7th of February. On the 10th of the month the two armies lay within twenty-five miles of each other, the one at Salem, the other at Guilford. From Guilford Greene retreated to the lower Dan and crossed into Virginia, while Cornwallis marched to Hills- boro. The armies were in these positions when Greene resolved, on the morning of the 22d, to strike a blow at one of the British posts at Hart's Mill, two and a half miles from Hillsboro. Captain Eggleston of the Legionary corps was accordingly despatched for the purpose, and with boldness and precaution approached the position of the picket, but found himself anticipated and the whole picket already killed or in possession of an American party.
This service, says Johnson, was performed by Colo- nel McCall detached for the purpose by General Pickens.1 The necessities of their families, as we have said, had obliged one-half of Pickens's command to return to their homes ; but the gallant little band of South Carolinians under McCall still adhered to him, and by the accession of volunteers from Virginia and North Carolina their num- bers were increased to 360 rank and file, consisting of Mc-
1 Johnson speaks of this officer as Hugh McCall ; but there is evidently a mistake. It was James McCall.
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Call's party of horse, about 45 in number, and the rest well-mounted riflemen. With this party Pickens ad- vanced upon Cornwallis by the direct road from Guilford to Hillsboro, and without knowing of his near approach to the party under Lee, although apprized of their being on the same service, had anticipated him in the enterprise against the British picket.1 Schenck charges that John- son falls into an error in ascribing this coup de main to McCall of South Carolina, and asserts that it was really performed by Captain Graham of North Carolina, that McCall was in fact ten miles distant from the scene.2 But the evidence of Pickens and Greene is decisive upon the point. Greene writes to Pickens on the 26th of February : " I have to acknowledge the receipt of your two letters of the 23d, wherein you acquaint me with the surprise of a British picket by Colonel McCall. ... The affair of Colo- nel McCall was executed with firmness and address, and discovered a spirit of enterprise and genius which I shall be ever happy to cherish." 3 This contemporaneous testi- mony of the two commanding officers was certainly suffi- cient to warrant Johnson in crediting the affair to McCall. It is not at all impossible, however, that Captain Graham may have commanded the detachment which under McCall's orders actually made the attack and capture.
On the night of the 21st, General Greene, attended by a small escort, had visited General Pickens's camp, and spent the greater part of the night in his bush tent in consultation with Pickens and Lee as to their future movements. Then,
committing the combined detachments of Pickens and Lee to the command of the former, he exhorted the two com- manders to let nothing disturb their harmony - an admoni-
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 450.
2 No. Ca., 1780-81 (Schenck), 275.
8 See letter, Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 457.
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tion which was not violated by either of them during the war. The orders given to Pickens were to make every effort to prevent the embodying of the Loyalists and impede the progress of the British army should their commander attempt to retreat before the main army could advance to attack it. Pickens lost not a moment in performing the service committed to his charge. By the examination of prisoners taken by McCall, Greene became satisfied that Corn wallis had no intention of moving southwardly ; and having been joined by about a thousand militia from North Carolina and expecting a thousand more in a few days, Greene determined to prepare for a decisive blow by hasten- ing on his reinforcements, while he occupied with the main army a position favorable for covering the concentration and for cutting off the enemy's communication with the upper country. For this purpose he recrossed the Dan, and marched toward the head of Haw River on the route to Guilford in a westwardly direction. Pickens directing his march in a line nearly parallel to that of the main army, and about twenty miles distant from it, purposed to pass the Haw, and by secret and rapid move- ments to disperse several parties of Tories who were collecting. This route soon brought him upon the trail of Tarleton, and apprehensive of the safety of several parties of militia who were marching to join him, as they were without cavalry to oppose to Tarleton, Pickens, without hesitation, moved at once in his pursuit. Such was the ex- pedition with which he pressed the pursuit that at noon on the 25th he was near surprising the great cavalry leader when quietly at his dinner. Following Tarleton as he was, from the direction of Hillsboro, his party was taken for a reenforce- ment to that officer, a mistake the more easily made because of the similarity in the uniforms of Tarleton's and Lee's Legions. Never, declared Pickens, was there a more glorious
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opportunity of cutting off a detachment, when it was lost by a most singular circumstance - a circumstance, however, which brought about the utter destruction of a party of Tories instead. While pushing on in the pursuit of Tarle- ton, Pickens fell in with a body of two hundred or three hundred Tories under the command of a Colonel Pyles. The situation of Pickens was now embarrassing in the extreme, between Tarleton's Legion and this body of Tories. But for- tunately observing from the confident approach of a courier from the Tories, that they had also mistaken his command for a British party, he boldly resolved to pass without undeceiv- ing them, and to hasten to the attack of Tarleton, then within one mile encamped, without an apprehension of danger. Pyles, unfortunately for himself and his band, inspired with a loyal desire to pay due homage to his Majesty's troops, had drawn up his men on the right of the road very near to its margin. They were all mounted and their guns resting on their shoulders. So complete was the imposition that the dragoons which marched in file in front, their swords drawn, had reached the end of Pyles's line before a suspicion was ex- cited. The infantry of the Legion might also have passed, and probably the militia, for there was nothing to distinguish them from the troops with Tarleton; but, unfortunately, the Maryland companies under Lee had been too familiarly known in that neighborhood and their uniform had nothing like it in the British army. Their appearance exposed the deception, and the instantaneous discharge of a few guns in the rear brought the whole corps upon the unfortunate Loyalists. What followed was the result of a very few
minutes. Those who did not sink under the first onset of the cavalry broke away in confusion, and many fell beneath a volley from the riflemen. Pickens made the most earnest efforts to suppress the firing, not only from the dictates of humanity, but from the fear of alarming the unsuspecting
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Tarleton. But before his order could be enforced, the work had been done, one hundred had been left dead on the field, and very few escaped not grievously wounded. Pyles himself fell under many strokes of the sword, but survived, though dreadfully mutilated.1 So complete was the decep- tion that Tarleton relates that several of the wounded Loyalists entered the British camp and complained to Tarleton of the cruelty of his dragoons.2 This was the first explanation given him of the firing which had been heard in his camp. Night put an end to the slaughter, and Pickens, notwithstanding the darkness, proceeded at once to place himself between Tarleton and his own approaching reënforcements. Tarleton, with no suspicion that he was in the neighborhood of so superior an enemy, had actually drawn up his men at midnight to strike at Preston, who was in command of one of the parties for whose safety Pickens was so solicitous, when an express from Lord Cornwallis recalled him instantly to Hillsboro. His lord- ship had heard of the advance of the Americans, and had at once sent to warn Tarleton of his danger and to recall him to the main army.
It is not within the scope of this history to follow the movements of the armies under Greene and Cornwallis, which culminated at Guilford Court-house, or to detail the events of that battle, in which South Carolina, save in the presence of General Isaac Huger, had no part. It is more immediately concerned in the history of the small party under Pickens. From the time this officer had joined General Morgan it has been seen that he had not rested a day. Some of the officers and men under him had been engaged in the most active service ever since the fall of Charlestown. The rest had abandoned their homes with Pickens himself, and had taken to the field when, in 1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 454-455. 2 Tarleton's Campaigns, 232.
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violation of their paroles, they had been called upon to serve in the British army. They had received neither clothing nor pay, and came into the service mounted at their own expense. They were not of that class of men who can minister to their own by invading the comforts of others ; most, if not all, were men of respectable connections and comfortable property. But their condition now was scarcely to be borne; they had not the clothing necessary to common decency. Yet no one deserted, no one mur- mured, but, foregoing the privileges of volunteers, they resisted the example of hundreds who daily came and went as they pleased, and never shrank from their duty in the midst of retreat, privation, and suffering. But Pickens could no longer forbear calling the attention of the com- manding general to their claims and suffering. In the neighborhood of their friends their tattered clothing might be replenished. No demand for discharge was hinted at. But besides their own increasing necessities, affairs in their own State were now demanding their return. In addition to the large British force retained in South Carolina, appearances on the frontier threatened a serious invasion from the Indians. Not only their own apprehensions, but those of General Greene himself, were seriously awakened for the fate of their families and connections ; and General Pickens was ordered to repair to the back parts of South Carolina to protect the Whigs, suppress the Loyalists, and cooperate with General Sumter in the active enterprises in which that indefatigable patriot was then engaged.1
While General Pickens was on his march to South Caro- lina, a party of the New York Volunteers under the com- mand of Captain Grey was detached by Lord Rawdon from Camden, to disperse a body of militia who were gathering on Dutchman Creek, in what is now Fairfield County.
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 469.
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This the New York Volunteers succeeded in doing, killing two captains, sixteen privates, and taking eighteen pris- oners without the loss of a man on their part.1
General Pickens on his return to South Carolina was joined by Colonel Elijah Clarke, who had now recovered from his wounds received in the affair at Long Cane in December. As he was pursuing his march, Pickens re- ceived intelligence that Major Dunlap with seventy-five British dragoons had been detached from Ninety Six into the country on a foraging expedition. Pickens at once detached Clarke and McCall to attack him. On the 24th of March they came up with Dunlap, encamped at Beattie's Mill, on Little River, in what is now Abbeville County. A bridge over which Dunlap must pass in retreat was seized by a party detached for the purpose, and with the main body Clarke himself advanced to the attack. Dunlap, sur- prised, retired into the mill and some outhouses, but these were too open for defence against riflemen. Recollecting, no doubt, his infamous conduct and dreading the revenge of these men-if not of Pickens and McCall themselves - for his outrageous treatment of their families and friends, Dunlap resolved to sell his life dearly, and resisted for several hours, until thirty-four of his men were killed and others wounded, himself among the latter, when he held out a flag and surrendered. The prisoners taken were forty- two, including the wounded. These were sent to Watauga, in what is now East Tennessee, for safe-keeping.2
McCall, the historian of Georgia, states that Dunlap died the ensuing night, and adds, "The British account of this affair stated that Dunlap was murdered by the guard after he had surrendered, but such is not the fact, however much he deserved such treatment." Commenting upon this,
1 The Royal Gazette, March 21, 1781.
2 McCall's Hist. of Ga., 361.
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Draper observes that McCall errs in supposing that Dunlap was not killed by his guard, or by some one with their connivance. It was covered up as much as possible by those who perpetrated the act; but General Pickens, whose high sense of honor revolted against such turpitude, even against an officer of Dunlap's infamous character, "offered a handsome reward for the murderer," as General Greene subsequently testifies in a letter to Colonel Balfour, ac- companied with a copy of Pickens's order proclaiming the reward.1 It will be remembered that once before Dun- lap was supposed to have been killed. It is curious that a doubt should have again existed as to his death at this time; and it is worthy of observation that The Royal Ga- zette - published in Charlestown -the faithful chronicler of the affairs of the British army, especially of all alleged atrocities on the part of the Americans, should have no notice of this affair, or even of Dunlap's death. Draper asserts, however, that a successor was appointed to his place, whose commission bore date the 28th of March, which he supposes to be the date of Dunlap's death. Certain it is that this noted and cruel man disappears from the scene of the war at this period, and, as Draper observes, while the manner of his taking off is to be regretted, he had little reason to expect better treatment.
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