USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1780-1783 > Part 17
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VOL. IV. - N
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all their attempts, and to keep alive the expiring hopes of an op- pressed militia when all succor seemed to be cut off. To fight the enemy bravely with a prospect of victory is nothing, but to fight with intrepidity under the constant impression of defeat, and to inspire irregular troops to do so, is a talent peculiar to yourself. Nothing will give me greater pleasure than to do justice to your merit, and I shall miss no opportunity of declaring to Congress, the Commander-in-chief of the American army, and to the world in general, the great sense I have of your merit and services." 1
He writes on the 24th, to Marion, that history affords no instance wherein an officer had kept possession of a coun- try under so many disadvantages as he had - hunted from every quarter with veteran troops, he had found the means to elude all their attempts, and to keep alive the expiring hopes of an oppressed militia when all succor seemed to be cut off. He assures Marion that he will miss no opportunity of de- claring to Congress, the Commander-in-chief of the Ameri- can army, and to the world in general, the great sense he had of Marion's merits and services. General Greene had just had an opportunity of informing the Commander-in- chief, General Washington, of what Marion had dared and accomplished, and of declaring to Congress through his Excellency his great sense of Marion's merit and services, and this is the way in which he had done so. Two days before he wrote to Marion, i.e. on the 22d, he had written to Washington : 2-
" The conflict may continue for some time longer; and Generals Sumter and Marion, and many others, 'deserve great credit for their exertions and perseverance, but their endeavors rather seem to keep the contest alive, than lay any foundation for the recovery of these States."
Would Marion have considered this lukewarm and in- different report to Washington what he had a right to sup-
1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 59.
2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 92.
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pose from Greene's letter to him that Greene would have made ? To Marion he recognizes that that partisan officer had kept possession of the country under circumstances of which he extravagantly says history affords no parallel. To Washington he reports with faint praise that Sumter and Marion were good and brave men, but that their efforts accomplished nothing but to keep the contest alive !
The letter to Washington was written on the 22d, two days before the letter to Marion. The battle of Hobkirk's Hill was fought and lost on the 25th. A few days after, i.e. on May 4th, in one of his voluminous communications to his friend, Governor Reed of Pennsylvania, he is more un- guarded in his language, and instead of taking this oppor- tunity-so favorable a one of reaching the ears of Congress -of extolling Marion, his faint praise to Washington degen- erates into little less than complaint and disparagement.1
"You frequently hear," he writes, "of great things from Generals Marion and Sumter. These are brave and good officers ; but the people with them just come and go as they please. These parties rather seem to keep the dispute alive than lay any foundation for the recov- ery of the country. Don't be deceived in your expectations from this quarter ; if greater support cannot be given for the recovery of these States, they must and will remain in the hands of the enemy."
This is the version of the letter of the 4th of May given by Johnson, in the text of his life and correspondence of Greene ; but there is another letter of the same date to the same person, given by Gordon in his work on the American war,2 or another version of the same letter, in which Greene is still more disparaging. He writes: -
"Generals Marion and Sumpter have a few people who adhere to them, perhaps more from a desire and the opportunity of plundering than from any inclination to promote the independence of the United States."
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 88.
2 Gordon's Am. Revolution, vol. IV, 88.
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Judge Johnson, in a subsequent part of his work in which he is engaged in defending Greene's character from the imputation of a connection with Mr. Banks's fraudulent speculations, in a note is compelled to admit the genuine- ness of this latter version; but does not account for the version which he had previously given in the body of his work. He says that he has looked into the original corre- spondence, and found that there was actually such a passage as that quoted by Gordon.1 A possible solution of the matter is that the passage given by Johnson in the body of his work was from the first draft retained by Greene, and that found among Governor Reed's papers and quoted by Gordon, the letter as actually written out and sent by Greene. Certain it is that the letter in its most objec- tionable form was that actually sent to Governor Reed, for it was found among his papers after his death. Judge Johnson endeavors to defend Greene from the apparent in- sincerity of his correspondence in this matter by observing that this was a private letter to Governor Reed, not intended for publication, and only published by the indiscretion of Gordon.2 That may be so, but Governor Reed was a per- son of large influence near Congress, whose personal views would have great weight, and, indeed, it was because of this fact that Greene was so assiduous in his voluminous correspondence with him. He was Greene's mouthpiece at
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 436.
2 This may be true, but was Judge Johnson aware that Gordon was assisted in the commencement of the preparation of his work by General Greene himself ? Prof. Edward Channing, in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History, vol. VI, 518, says: "The most valuable history of the Revolution from a British pen is Gordon's well-known work. This author was assisted by Gates and Greene so far as the Southern campaigns was concerned." See this quoted by Orin Grant Libby, Ph.D., in Ann. Re- port Am. Hist. Ass., 1899, vol. I, 368. General Greene died, however, it should be remembered, June 19, 1786, two years before Gordon's work was published.
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the seat of government. Was this letter consistent with Greene's voluntary promise to testify to Washington and to Congress of the great work Marion had accomplished ?
Gordon's work on the Revolution, as it happened, appeared in 1788, and Sumter, who had just then been elected a member of the first Congress under the Constitu- tion, in a circular to his constituents on the 24th of August, 1789, concludes with this paragraph : 1 -
"The following is an abstract of a letter from General Greene to Governor Reed of Pennsylvania dated May, 1781, taken from Gordon's history of America just published, 'Generals Marion and Sumpter have a few people who adhere to them, perhaps more from a desire and opportunity of plunder than from any inclination to promote the independence of the United States.' View this and suppress your indignation if you can ! "
Sumter was also a member of the House of Representa- tives in the Second Congress, in 1792, when upon the petition of General Greene's widow for indemnity of his estate on matters growing out of the Banks affair, he was present to pronounce these letters of Greene to Washing- ton and Governor Reed as "gross calumnies on and mis- representations of the character of the people."2
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 437.
2 Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, vol. I, 341. It cannot be understood that in this charge against the followers of Sumter and Marion, General Greene was alluding to the system of pay in spoil upon which Sumter was attempting to organize regiments of State troops upon the basis of regulars, (1) because that scheme was inaugurated with Greene's own concurrence and approval (See his instructions to Sumter of 17th of May, 1781, Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 101-102), (2) because at the date of the letter it had not yet gone into actual operation at all, (3) because it never was adopted by Marion in his brigade, and (4) because Greene's own immediate army was practically living upon the same means, i.e. spoils taken from the Tories and impressments from the Whigs. Indeed, we shall see him refusing to return horses belonging to Whigs recaptured by his men, under the specious plea of the doctrine of postliminium, and appropriating them to the use of his officers.
CHAPTER VIII
1781
BREAKING up his camp at Ramsay's Mill on the 7th of April, the day after he had despatched Lee to Marion, Greene sent off all the stores that could be spared from present demands on the route by Salisbury to the head of the Catawba; and, crossing the Deep River, he made a day's march, as if following Cornwallis, then, taking the first convenient road to the right, he advanced directly upon Camden. The route which he pursued crosses the Pee Dee River below the mouth of Rocky River, and passing through Anson County in North Carolina and the eastern part of Lancaster in South Carolina, crosses the branches of Lynch's Creek some miles above their confluence. The distance to Camden was about 130 miles, the country poor and exhausted, yet such was the perseverance with which his march was urged that, although delayed at the Pee Dee for want of boats full four days, on the 19th the American general made his appearance before Camden.1
On the road General Greene received a communication from Sumter by Captain McBee, telling him that a party of the enemy, numbering about 150 horse and foot, from Camden, had made a raid into the Waxhaws, burnt the meeting-house and several other houses, barns, etc., killed, wounded, and taken several persons, and plundered the set- tlement, carrying off horses; that he had at once detached Colonels Hampton and Taylor after them, but did not ex-
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 44.
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pect that they would be able to overtake them. He also reported that he had just received accounts from General Pickens that he had collected a few men of his brigade, and also a few Georgians, but was unable to attempt anything against the enemy ; that he had ordered four of his regi- ments to join Pickens, and had requested him to move down and take position upon Tyger River near Fishdam ford, to cover the country and collect provisions ; that he had just learned from Captain McBee, the bearer of the letter he was writing, that, with the men of the four regi- ments he had detached and sent to him, Pickens was mov- ing upwards, which, if with the design to take them to the Savannah, would weaken him considerably, but that he had written to General Pickens, telling him of the measures necessary in consequence of his (Greene's) movements towards Camden, and that he did not think Pickens would go far - however, he expected to have near the number in the field he had mentioned to Major Hyrne; he missed his four regiments he had sent to Pickens, but intended to form a junction of all that were embodied on Tuesday next (which would be the 17th of April).1 This letter was handed by Captain McBee to General Greene on the 15th, who at once replied that he was on his way to Camden, where he expected to arrive in four or five days; that Lieutenant-Colonel Lee was on his march from the Pee Dee to the Santee, and would cross that river somewhere near Nelson's Ferry and come up on the other side; and sug- gested that perhaps Sumter might make his movements cooperate with Lee's, and also with Pickens's. He charged him, however, to bear in mind that their whole force when collected was very small, and that he should not lose sight of a junction should Lord Cornwallis move that way; if
1 Nightingale Collection, Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appen- dix, 8-9.
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Lord Cornwallis did not, and if the garrison at Camden was not well supplied with provisions, it must fall in a few days; that was his hope, for he had no battery cannon and too few troops to warrant a storm of the post. He charged Sumter to give him constant intelligence of his force and situation, as matters might grow very critical by and by.1
Upon his arrival before Camden, General Greene at once wrote to Sumter that he had taken a position three miles from the town, that the country was barren and promised no hope of support : he depended entirely on him for supplies, corn and meal ; both these articles were immediately wanted, and unless Sumter could furnish them it would be impos- sible for him to keep his position ; he wished very much to know Sumter's situation, and how he had disposed of him- self to cooperate with his army in any particular emer- gency.2 Four days after, that is, on the 23d, he wrote again, mentioning his former letter, to which he had received no answer, and expressing the fear that it had fallen into the hands of the Tories. He had since, he went on to say, carefully examined the fortifications of the place, and found them much superior to what he had expected; that the garrison was likewise stronger, and that he had the morti- fication yesterday to learn that the South Carolina Royalists had the day before thrown themselves into the place, com- ing from Ninety Six ; that he was too weak in numbers to invest the place, and must depend upon him to secure him on the quarter from Ninety Six and Charlestown on the west side of the Wateree, while Marion did so on the east side from Georgetown and Charlestown. He mentioned that Marion and Lee were at Nelson's Ferry, and had closely invested the fort at that place, but for want of cannon he was afraid they would fail of taking it.3
1 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 88-90. 2 Ibid. 8 Ibid., 90-91.
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By Greene's letter of instructions to Sumter of the 15th, the latter was to cooperate with Marion and Lee at Nel- son's Ferry, as well as with Pickens from the neighborhood of Ninety Six. On the 25th, the day the battle of Hob- kirk's Hill was fought, but of which Sumter knew nothing, he writes to Greene reporting his operations under his instructions. His movements, he wrote, had been very slow, and he feared attended with many disadvantages ; the militia were coming in tolerably well; he had a num- ber of wagons coming down, and he expected to be joined by three more well-appointed troops from North Carolina. As he found delay unavoidable, he had marched into the Mobley and Sandy Run (Tory) settlements with a view of harassing the enemy, which had effectually been done, and he hoped would give relief to their friends in that neigh- borhood. Some small skirmishes had taken place; he had lost no men; several of the enemy had fallen and many others had been taken prisoners ; upon the whole they had been pretty well scourged. He would send some large parties into the Dutch Fork to clear that place, and call out the well-disposed inhabitants, and then march with all speed for the Congaree. He had detached Colonel Hampton to the Wateree with a few wagons for provisions, if any could be found, to be sent to Greene. Hampton would also keep small parties of the enemy from going into and coming out of Camden. Pickens had joined him, but had none of his men with him. Pickens would set off the next day with a regiment of Sumter's brigade to take command in the neighborhood of Ninety Six. The Georgians had gone back into their own State and had been joined by almost every man in the Up-Country.1 In those move- ments Sumter had been strictly carrying out Greene's in-
1 Nightingale Collection, Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appen- dix, 10-11.
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
structions. But on the day on which Sumter wrote the battle of Hobkirk's Hill had been fought, and Greene had been defeated.
As has already appeared, Lord Rawdon had received in- formation of Greene's approach and received the reënforce- ment of a considerable body of Loyalists and recruits from the Saluda and the Broad rivers, under Major Frazier ; and, to his great mortification, Greene found that the garri- son of Camden was fully equal, if not superior, to the force he had brought against it. There is a great discrepancy among the authorities in regard to the numbers of Greene's army. Ramsay, on the one hand, states that the American army consisted of about seven hundred Continentals, and makes no mention of any militia or other body,1 while Colonel Lee, on the other, estimates its numbers at fifteen hundred.2 But as Lee himself states that the force was inadequate to the investment of Camden, it is preferred to adopt Johnson's careful estimate in detail, which is as follows : -
The whole regular infantry of the American army at the battle of Hobkirk's Hill was 843 present fit for duty. The approach to an enemy's garrison had, as usual, increased desertions ; the Virginia line was continually fluctuating in numbers from the daily discharge of those whose time of service had expired, and this was partially the case at this time with the Maryland troops; and long marches, hard service, and great exposure had sent many men to the hos- pital, most of whom had necessarily been left in the rear when they crossed from the Cape Fear to Camden. The cavalry nominally consisted of two regiments, White's and Washington's, but actually in number only 87, and only 56 of these were mounted. The artillery also
1 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 230.
2 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 333.
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nominally constituted a regiment and was commanded by Colonel Harrison in person, but actually there were not men enough to fight three pieces, and after sending off the piece to Marion not above 40 artillerists remained. The only militia force then with the army consisted of 254 North Carolinians. Of these 150 under Colonel Read had joined Greene soon after he crossed the Dan, and had faith- fully adhered to him from that time. They were, like Sumter's and Marion's men, volunteers -men of the first respectability, from whom much might have been expected in action. The rest had escorted the supplies sent to the army by Colonel Davie. Those authors who extend the American force beyond this estimate, says Johnson, must be led into some error, since General Greene repeatedly asserts that the forces of the combatants were nearly equal.1 The Americans thus numbered 939. The British accounts assert that Lord Rawdon, by arming every person in the garrison capable of bearing arms, musicians and drummers, mustered an effective force of about 900.2 The two armies, thus nearly equal in numbers, were as well matched in the quality of the troops. Greene's army consisted of 650 Con- tinentals, or regulars, including the First Maryland Regi- ment, which had distinguished itself alike at Cowpens and Guilford Court-house, so that it was spoken of as the Tenth Legion. And of the 250 militia 150 at least were volun- teers of the first respectability. Lord Rawdon's force was made up of the Sixty-third Regiment of the British line, his own regiment, the Volunteers of Ireland, organized in Phila- delphia, the King's American Regiment, raised in and around New York, Colonel Turnbull's New York Volun- teers, the South Carolina Provincial Regiment, and a small
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 77.
2 Stedman's Am. War, vol. II, 356; Annual Register, vol. XXIV, 81 ; see also Gordon's Am. Revolution, vol. IV, 81.
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body of New York Dragoons under Captain Coffin. These provincial regiments were of the same character as the Continental regiments of the American service. They were regular troops enlisted in America. Besides these regulars, Lord Rawdon had a body of Loyalists who corre- sponded to the militia under Greene.
On the 20th of April General Greene, advancing a little from the position he had taken the day before, took post at Hobkirk's Hill, to the north of Camden, about a mile and a half in advance of the British redoubts. Here he lay on his arms that day and the next, reconnoitring the enemy's position, getting intelligence of his strength, and hoping to tempt him into the field. He had received two pieces of artillery, as has been seen, to replace those lost at Guilford, one of which he proposed to send to Marion upon his urgent request, the more readily as he knew that Colonel Harrison was at the time on his march from Vir- ginia with two pieces more. To mask the departure of this gun, Greene moved his army down to the southeast of Camden, having, before he did so, sent back the artillery, his baggage, and everything that could impede his move- ments, with an escort of North Carolina militia under Colonel Carrington. This officer was directed to proceed no farther than Rugeley's Mill, from which the piece des- tined to Marion was to be sent under Captain Finley by the Black River road. Major Eaton, with 220 North Caro- lina levies just arrived, was to march with the piece for its protection. The meanwhile Greene lay beyond Pine Tree Creek, southeast of Camden, at a place called the South Quarter, until the 24th, when, learning of the approach of the body of North Carolina levies under Major Eaton, and despairing of tempting Lord Rawdon from his stronghold, he sent orders to Marion to march up as soon as he should have gained the fort and to assist him to invest Camden.
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To Carrington he sent orders to move down and rejoin him at Hobkirk's Hill. But this officer, instead of halting at Rugeley's Mill, ten miles distant, had conceived that it would be safer to move farther on, and had gone eight miles farther to a place called Upton's Mills. This un- fortunate disobedience of orders of which the general was unapprised, nearly doubled both the time it took the cou- riers to reach Carrington and the time necessary to comply with the orders to rejoin him. The consequences of this derangement, says Johnson, exhibited themselves in that hurry in camp on the morning of the 25th, which gave rise to the charge that Greene had suffered a surprise.1
Lord Rawdon, following the example of the Earl Corn- wallis the year before at the same place, assumed the of- fensive, as Greene had at first hoped that he would do. He had been informed by a deserter of Colonel Carrington's march to Rugeley's Mill, and deemed it an opportune mo- ment to attack Greene before Carrington or Marion should join him, or his artillery should come up. Accordingly, at nine o'clock in the morning of the 25th of April, he marched out from Camden with all the force he could muster. Turning aside from the direct road to Rugeley's Mill and keeping close to the edge of the swamp of Pine Tree Creek, under cover of the woods, he formed his army for attack upon the left of the American line. His order of battle was the same also as that of Cornwallis in the previ- ous engagement. His first line was composed of the Vol- unteers of Ireland on the right, the New York Volunteers in the centre, and the King's American Regiment on the left. The Sixty-third Regiment supported the volunteers of Ireland on the right, a detachment under a Captain Robertson supported the King's American Regiment on the left. The South Carolina Provincial Regiment and the New
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 75.
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York Dragoons were held in reserve. The accounts of this battle, English and American, generally agree that Greene was surprised by the advance of Rawdon and taken at a disadvantage. General Huger, the second in command, told General Moultrie that they had just come on the ground, and that so little did they expect the British out of their line that a number of officers, with himself, were washing their feet, and a number of soldiers were washing their kettles, in a small rivulet that ran by their camp, when their pickets were driven in.1 Colonel Lee states that the men were engaged in distributing provisions and washing their clothes ; 2 Stedman, that the Americans were resting in a fancied state of security when the pickets were driven in.3 The Annual Register goes farther, and accuses the Americans of being shamefully remiss and inattentive ; 4 but Johnson fully exonerates the American commander from this aspersion. He shows, we think satisfactorily, that though the attack was commenced while Greene him- self was at breakfast and his men were cooking theirs, his line was formed and every battalion was in its place, the artillery in battery, and all the baggage moved off, before the enemy presented themselves. As observed by Colonel Davie, who was present, "Men must cook and eat, and, when they can, will be washing and mending their clothes."5 This is unavoidable. Blame only is deserved when, in the performance of these duties, proper precau- tions are neglected. The American line of battle which Rawdon found posted was as follows: The two Virginia regiments, forming a brigade under General Isaac Huger,
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