USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1780-1783 > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
1 Clinton-Cornwallis Controversy, vol. I, 472.
CHAPTER IX
1781
GREENE, who on the morning of the 25th of April had been so confident of victory and the capture of Rawdon's army, that evening despatched to Sumter an order to col- lect all his force and join him immediately. His army, he wrote, was too small to maintain his ground before Cam- den, and therefore it had become necessary that they should form a junction of their forces. The enemy had advanced that morning and given battle. They had driven him some little distance from the field, but he had saved his stores and taken some prisoners.1
The next morning he received letters from Marion, in- forming him of the capture of Fort Watson, and wrote at once, congratulating that officer upon his success and ap- proving the articles of capitulation. The enemy, he wrote, had advanced upon him yesterday and given him battle. The conflict had been short and seemed once to promise him advantage, but he had been obliged to retire and give up the field, though with no material loss. He was now within five miles of Camden and should closely invest it in a day or two again. That he might be enabled to cooper- ate with more certainty against the post, he requested Marion to move up immediately to their assistance and take post on the north side of the town.2 Orders were also sent to Colonel Lee, requiring him to join the army
1 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 92.
2 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 60.
204
205
IN THE REVOLUTION
forthwith.1 The fact is that Greene, mortified at the result of the battle, was now contemplating the abandonment of the State, and the withdrawal of his army to Virginia.2 This, it is true, Johnson, his biographer, will not allow, but the evidence is conclusive that it was so; and the re- sult of the movement which he now ordered opened the way for Watson to rejoin Rawdon.
As soon as the capitulation of Fort Watson had been signed, Lee, followed by his infantry, hastened to the cavalry of his Legion, who were still in front of Watson, and, on the next morning, was joined by Marion, who had been delayed, disposing of the prisoners and stores. Watson, it will be remembered, after crossing the Santee in his movement from Georgetown, had cautiously advanced to Monck's Corner. As Marion and Lee were directly in his way by the Nelson's Ferry road, he turned to his left, and, moving up the southwest bank of the Santee, through what is now Orangeburg County, beyond where the Con- garee and Wateree uniting form the Santee, taking the route by Fort Motte, crossed the Congaree at McCord's Ferry, then proceeding up the west bank of the Wateree, through what is now Richland County, he finally joined the army by crossing the Wateree near Camden. Watson had placed himself at a considerable distance before his enemy discovered his course. Lee was, nevertheless, about to attempt to intercept him, when he received Greene's
1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 341.
2 Lee writes : " General Greene, heretofore soured by the failure of his expected succor from Sumter, now deeply chagrined by the inglorious behavior of a favorite regiment, converting his splendid prospects into the renewal of toil and difficulty, of doubt and disgrace, became for a while discontented with his advance to the south. He sent orders to Lieutenant-Colonel Lee requiring him to join the army forthwith, and indicated by other measures a disposition to depart from his adopted system." - Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 341.
206
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
order to rejoin the army. This he at once obeyed, and, moving with all possible despatch, he had marched thirty- two miles during the course of the day and a part of the night, when he was met with an order countermanding his junction with the army. In the meanwhile the possibility of stopping Watson had been lost. Captain Finley, with the piece of artillery which Greene had despatched upon Marion's application, joined Lee, and they at once returned to that officer, who was at the High Hills of Santee, in the vicinity of the Congaree and Wateree, waiting for Wat- son's advance. But Watson had eluded them.
The day after the battle Greene moved his army to Rugeley's Mill, where he remained for several days ; then, breaking up his camp there, he crossed the Wateree into what is now Fairfield County, and took a strong position on Twenty-five Mile Creek, hoping in this way to inter- cept Watson upon his southern route.1
Neither Sumter, Marion, or Lee joined Greene, as called upon to do, after the battle of the 25th. Lee, as it has appeared, moved at once to do so, but was met by counter- manding orders, and returned to Marion, and with him proceeded to Black River. Sumter has been much criti- cised because he did not come as ordered.2 This criticism, which came first from Greene himself, was most unjust, as appears from their correspondence at the time. On the 19th of April Greene writes to Sumter, informing him of his arrival within three miles of Camden, telling him that his greatest dependence was upon him for supplies, and inquiring as to his situation. On the 23d he writes again - fearing that his letter of a day or two before had fallen
1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 342 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 105.
2 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 341 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 213 ; Campaigns in the Carolinas, 290.
207
IN THE REVOLUTION
into the hands of the Tories - that he had the mortifica- tion to learn that the South Carolina Royalists had, the day before, thrown themselves into Camden; that he must depend entirely upon him for security against parties from Ninety Six. Neither of these letters appear to have reached Sumter for some days -that of the 23d certainly did not until the 27th. But on the 25th, the day of the date of Greene's order, and of the battle, Sumter, of his own motion, had written a long letter to Greene, giving him a full account of his movements, telling him that he had gone into the Mobley settlement to relieve their friends in that section; that he would march to-morrow with all speed for the Congaree; that he had detached Colonel Hampton to the Wateree with wagons for provisions to be sent to him; that Hampton would also keep small parties from going into or coming out of Camden. Sumter received Greene's letter of the 23d on the 27th, and again writes fully.1 On the 28th Captain Pierce, aide-de-camp, writes to Sumter, "General Greene has received your letter of the 25th, and desires me to return his thanks for your exertions." 2 And yet in a letter, which from its con- text is supposed to have been written on the 29th, Greene complains to Lee: "General Sumter has got but few men ; he has taken the field and is pushing after little parties of Tories towards Ninety Six. Mayor Hyrne is gone to him, if possible to get him to join us, but this I know he will avoid, if he can with decency, for the same reason that you wish to act separately from the army." 3
This correspondence discovers, to say the least, great want of candor on the part of the commanding general.
1 Sumter MSS., Nightingale Collection, Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 10-12.
2 Ibid., 92.
8 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 64.
208
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In pushing towards Ninety Six himself, and sending Hampton with wagons for supplies for Greene's army, Sumter had but obeyed the general's own orders as far as received, and anticipated those not received. He was en- deavoring to do just what Greene's letters directed him to do, to secure Greene against parties from Ninety Six. Upon his report of what he had done, Greene returns bare thanks for his exertions, and the next day writes to Lee, implying that Sumter was contravening his wishes in going on expeditions for his own personal ends. Lee falls at once into the general's humor, and replies :-
" You do me great honor in calling the adopted plan mine. I have no pretence to such distinction. It gave me pleasure to know that my sentiments coincided with yours, and this honor I claim. I am so convinced of the wisdom of the operations that no disaster can affect my opinion. Hitherto all is well, and nobody to blame but General Sumter. I do not conceive how you can assimilate any part of my conduct to this gentleman's, especially when you recollect that by my own request I am under General Marion," etc. 1
Thus Greene, desiring to get out of the business, and Lee, anxious to keep him to it by flattery or other- wise, unite in putting the blame of failure at Hobkirk's Hill upon Sumter. And yet the facts were that Sumter had promptly replied to Greene's request to collect a force and join him, writing on the very day the request was received, to wit, the 25th, and that in such a manner that Greene on the 28th -only the day before he complains to Lee-returns thanks for his exertions, telling him that Major Hyrne has been sent to acquaint him with the situa- tion.2 Major Hyrne returned to Greene the morning of the 30th, with a letter from Sumter of the 29th, to which Greene writes in reply on the 30th : 3_
1 Campaigns in the Carolinas, 290.
2 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 92.
8 Ibid., 93.
209
IN THE REVOLUTION
" Both by the Major's report and your letter I find you think it will be prejudicial to the public service for you to cross the Wateree and join me. Our situation requires it; but you press so many objections, and I am so desirous to rouse the people in that quarter, I have thought it most advisable to revoke the order and leave you at liberty to prosecute your original plan. General Marion and Col. Lee had orders to cross the Santee, and one or both undoubtedly will. If both cross, I am afraid Watson, who is now in Georgetown, will throw himself into Camden. If they separate, I fear one part will be too weak to oppose him. You will keep yourself informed of both his and Major McArthur's movements, the latter of whom, with the Hessian Horse, I fear got into Camden last evening. However, this is not certain." 1
On the 2d of May Sumter acknowledged the receipt of this letter of Greene's of the 30th. "I am glad," he writes, "you are so circumstanced as to permit the troops with me to remain in this quarter." He reports that Hampton had returned from the Wateree, that he had killed thirteen of the enemy's guard at Friday's Ferry, five of another party going to the fort (Granby), and had taken a number of horses and several negroes. He reports also that Colonel Thomas had just returned from Bush River, in what is now Newberry County, where he fell in with a party of Tories, killed three, and took twelve prisoners, four wag- ons, and several negroes; that while he was not well informed as to McArthur's movements, he had no appre- hensions that he could get into Camden without his knowing of it; that he had ten wagons on their way to Greene with meat, and that he could furnish more. He thought that if he had a six-pounder this place (Granby) might be taken.2
1 Major McArthur, it will be recollected, was at Cowpens, commanding the Seventy-first Regiment, where he was taken, surrendering his sword to General Pickens. He now appears again in the field, but we have no account of his release or exchange.
2 Sumter's Letters, Nightingale Collection, Year Book, City of Charles- ton, 1889, Appendix, 13.
VOL. IV. - P
210
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
From these letters it appears that Sumter had so con- vinced Greene that his withdrawal from the Wateree would be prejudicial to the service as to induce him to revoke the order requiring him to do so. Sumter was reporting to him daily, and they were apparently acting in the fullest accord. On the 4th of May Greene writes Sumter of in- telligence he had received that Lord Cornwallis had moved up towards Cross Creek, and, it was thought, was on his way to Camden, which, however, was uncertain. Corn- wallis's movements would oblige him to collect all his regular forces, for which purpose he sends to Sumter letters to be forwarded to Marion and Lee. He was glad to hear that the people were joining him, but was afraid it was little to be depended upon. He wished to know what force Sumter had, and what Marion could join them with. " If our collective strength would warrant an attack upon Lord Cornwallis," he writes, " I should be glad to make it, for defeating him will be next to an entire recovery of the country, and anything else a partial business." So far from disapproving Sumter's course at this time, he con- tinues: "If you can possess the forts upon the Congaree with a field-piece, it can be sent you immediately. But then, whatever is done must take place immediately, or the enemy will in all probability be soon upon our tracks." Writing to Lee, he had expressed distrust of Sumter, and now, writing to Sumter, he complains of Marion in a matter which came near losing that officer's indispensable services to the country. "Don't fail to get us all the good dragoon horses that you can, for we are in the utmost distress for want of them. Genl. Marion, I am told, has a considerable number of them, on which he has mounted his militia. It is a pity that good horses should be given into the hands of people who are engaged for no lim- ited time." Though Sumter, because of his wound in
211
IN THE REVOLUTION
the shoulder, wrote with great pain, letters were passing between these two officers daily, sometimes twice a day. On the 6th of May Greene acknowledges the receipt of two letters of the 4th, and, giving Sumter the latest in- formation of Cornwallis's movements, discussing with him their probable object, thanking him for the supplies he is furnishing, and sending him arms and ammunition, the General continues, "I fully agree with you that vigorous measures are necessary to strike terror into our enemies, and give spirit to our people." And the next day he again writes, "Be in readiness to join us if necessity requires it, but you may depend upon not being called from the Congaree but from the most pressing necessity ; for I am as fully impressed with the advantages of your continuing there as you can be." So diligent was Sumter in his re- ports to his general at this time, that he appears to have made some apology for troubling him with his commu- nications, for Greene writes to him in this letter: "Your writing needs no apology, rely upon it. I understand you perfectly, and meet with no difficulty in reading your letters. On the contrary, they are plain, clear, and intel- ligible." It thus appears that both Lee and Sumter urged upon Greene the importance of striking beyond the Con- garee, and that Greene expressed himself to both of them as convinced in regard to it. Sumter's course at this time is thus fully vindicated by Greene himself. The general, through his own mistake, had deceived himself as to the number of men Sumter had hoped to bring into the field, and suffered much under the disappointment, the blame for which he continued to visit upon him. Then Sumter had taken position as agreed upon between himself and Major Hyrne, sent by the commander to arrange it with him. Then he orders Sumter, Marion, and Lee to join him upon his defeat at Hobkirk's Hill. The order to the two
212
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
latter he himself revokes, and yields to Sumter's remon- strances, again made through Major Hyrne, as to him ; and now, ten days afterwards, he declares himself as fully im- pressed with the advantages of Sumter's course as Sumter himself could be. All this is fully explained by Johnson, and yet, in a subsequent summary of the causes of com- plaint which Greene had against Sumter, that author enumerates Sumter's failure to join him at this time as one of them, and adds to it another. "When," says this author, "he was ordered to march toward Camden and form a junction with the main army, General Greene yielded to his remonstrances, and revoked the order, substituting for it a particular charge to watch the movements of Colonel Watson to the west of the Wateree, and prevent his junc- tion with Lord Rawdon, when, instead of bending his whole attention to this object, . . . Watson was suffered to pass him, and Rawdon again acquired the command of the field." 1
This additional charge against Sumter is best answered by the previous narration of the same author. Thus he says2 it appears that Sumter was not only released from the order to form a junction with the commander at this time, but particularly charged with the execution of most impor- tant services. The punctuality with which they were executed is attested by the numerous communications of this period, not only daily as required, but repeated as often as the occurrences of the day rendered it proper. Provisions were sent, the communications of the enemy assiduously watched, swamps explored to cut off the enemy's supplies, and particular attention paid to the approach to Camden, by the west side of the Wateree. Yet Watson managed to elude all their preparations to cut him off. Major McArthur appears on this occasion to have exhibited
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 213. 2 Ibid., 109.
213
IN THE REVOLUTION
the character of an active and enterprising soldier. He commanded a corps of indifferent cavalry formed of drafts of the Hessian troops at the time in Charlestown. Scouring the country in front of Watson, he appears to have com- pletely masked his advance, and, after throwing twenty- five of his command under Doyle into Camden, to have returned to Fort Motte, and succeeded in getting into that place a piece of artillery.
No intelligence reached Sumter of the approach of Watson until the latter was discovered crossing the Wateree. Immediately, as he was apprised of the fact, he despatched 250 of his mounted men with orders to harass and detain him until he could advance with the infantry on his left whilst Marion came up in his rear. But Watson, by a rapid and unremitting march, succeeded in crossing the ferry opposite the present Stateburg and, with the Wateree between himself and his enemy, proceeded in safety to join Rawdon with 500 men.1
Johnson's defence of Sumter for not joining Greene is coupled, it will be observed, with the allegation that he was particularly charged with the duty of watching Watson and preventing his junction with Rawdon. But this is scarcely just. It was Marion and Lee who had been opposing Watson, and who, as soon as released from Greene's order to join him, returned at once to intercept him. It was only incidentally that Sumter was charged to look after him. Greene writes to Sumter his apprehension that if both Marion and Lee crossed the Santee as he had ordered them to do, that Watson would evade them, and directs Sumter to keep himself informed as to the move- ments of both Watson and McArthur. Colonel Lee himself, so prompt as he always was to put blame upon Sumter, does not in this case think of doing so, but assumes
1 Stedman's Am. War, vol. II, 360.
214
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
upon Marion and himself the miscarriage. He says :1 " Had these two officers [Marion and himself] confined their attention entirely to the north side of the river, the much- desired interception would have been effected : for with horse, foot, and artillery it was not to be expected that a corps of infantry only could make good its landing in the face of an equal foe, and secure its arrival into Camden. Mortified with the result of their unceasing exertions, the deranging information was immediately forwarded to Gen- eral Greene, and the disappointed commandants moved upon Fort Motte."
On the 3d of May Greene had received information of the delay which had attended Marion's movements to cut off Watson on the south of the Santee, and he foresaw that not a moment would be lost by Lord Rawdon in strik- ing a blow at the main army should Watson succeed in reaching Camden. Information had also been received of the advance of the Virginia militia which he had been so impatiently expecting. He resolved, therefore, to wait in covert whilst his detachments were overrunning the State. For this he had to thank Sumter's wisdom, as the whole country down to the mouth of the Congaree was now com- manded by Sumter's parties, protecting him against any attack from that quarter, and securing to him the provis- ions which had been husbanded by the enemy in that fertile part of the State, and from which he immediately began to draw supplies of meat, the great want in the American camp.2
Anticipating Rawdon's advance as soon as joined by Watson, Greene had chosen a position nine miles in the rear of his encampment on Twenty-five Mile Creek. This was at a point just beyond the present dividing line
1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 343.
2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 111.
215
IN THE REVOLUTION
between Kershaw and Fairfield counties, in the latter, where the road, running parallel with the Wateree on its western side, crosses Colonel's Creek, the north bank of which was commanding. Here, he had determined, the enemy were to be met.
On the 6th of May Greene wrote Sumter from Twenty- five Mile Creek : --
"I am exceeding sorry that Col. Watson has found means to get into Camden. This reenforcement, if Col. Small1 is with Watson, will enable Lord Rawdon to attack us. I am also a little apprehensive for the safety of Col. Lee's detachment who is ordered to join the army on this side of the river. Should the enemy attempt anything against you or him you will form a junction, and for this purpose you will advise Col. Lee of your situation and point out to him the safest and best route to form a junction with me. Don't run any great haz- ard until the Virginia militia come up, which will enable you to push your operations with rapidity and safety." 2
The date of this letter, the original of which is now before us, is undoubtedly the 6th ; and yet on the 7th Greene writes to Marion : " Col. Watson I find is on his way to Camden. This is a rather unfortunate circumstance, as the enemy will begin to be impudent and to show them- selves without their works, which they have never ven- tured upon since the morning of the 25th."3 There is no doubt that it was on the 7th that Watson reached Camden, for Lord Rawdon so reports to Cornwallis.4 On that night his lordship crossed the Wateree at Camden Ferry to turn the flank and attack the rear of Greene's army, where the ground was not strong.5 Greene had, however, moved
1 In the MS. it appears to be "Small" or "Smole." There was no officer of such a name. It is doubtless Colonel Doyle who is meant.
2 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 96, 97.
* Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 67.
4 Tarleton's Campaigns, 476 ; Clinton-Cornwallis Controversy, vol. I, 481.
5 Ibid.
CD S e
216
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
early that afternoon. Breaking up his camp upon an hour's notice, he had fallen back to a safe position beyond an intermediate stream called Sawney's Creek and encamped for the night. Rawdon approached, drove in his pickets and examined his position, but, finding it so strong that he could not have forced it without much loss, he recrossed the Wateree and returned to Camden that evening.
Upon the publication of Johnson's Life of Greene, a bitter controversy took place between Mr. Henry Lee, the son of Colonel Lee, and the author of that work in regard to the course and views of General Greene at this time ; 1 but it is difficult now to perceive why Mr. Lee, the author of the Campaigns in the Carolinas, so warmly assailed the account given by Judge Johnson upon the authority of Colonel Davie, as his own differs with that rather in regard to the motives of the American commander upon the occasion than as to his conduct. They agree that at this time Gen- eral Greene had determined to give up his attempt for the recovery of the State, as Colonel Lee himself intimated that he intended to do, and to leave it to its fate. John- son's authority for this is a circumstantial and detailed account of a conference between Greene and Colonel Davie, who was then serving upon Greene's staff, as given by Davie himself.2
"This evening " [the 9th], says Davie, "the General sent for me ear- lier than usual; I found the map on the table, and he introduced the business of the night with the following striking observations : 'You see we must again resume the partisan war. Rawdon has now a de- cided superiority of force- he has pushed us to a sufficient distance to leave him free to act on any object within his reach. He will strike at Lee and Marion, reenforce himself by all the troops that can be spared from the several garrisons, and push me back to the mountains.
1 The City Gazette, Charleston, April, May, and June, 1822 ; Campaigns in the Carolinas (Lee), 1824.
2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 116-118.
217
IN THE REVOLUTION
You acted in this quarter in the last campaign. I wish you to point out the military positions on both sides the river ascending to the mountains, and give me the necessary information as to the prospect of subsistence. You observe our dangerous and critical situation. The regular troops are now reduced to a handful, and I am without mili- tia to perform the convoy or detachment service, or any immediate prospect of receiving any reenforcement. .. . North Carolina dispirited by the loss of her regular troops in Charleston, stunned into a kind of stupor by the defeat of Gates, and held in check by Major Craig and the loyalists, makes no effort of any kind. Congress seems to have lost sight of the Southern States and have abandoned them to their fate, so much so that I am even as much distressed for ammunition as for men.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.