USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1780-1783 > Part 4
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It had so happened that just at this time Colonel Davie had left the field in disgust. When Cornwallis fell back from Charlotte in October, Davie, with three hundred mounted infantry, had advanced and occupied the out- post at Landsford. There the term of his gallant little band, which he had raised and equipped at his own ex- pense, expired in November. General Smallwood, then in command of the North Carolina State troops, entertaining the highest opinion of Davie's military talents, desired to retain his services, and at his suggestion application for the purpose was made to the " Board of War" of North
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 337, 342.
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Carolina, then sitting at Halifax. This board, lately cre- ated with extraordinary powers, overshadowed the Gov- ernor, though by the constitution the latter was "captain general and commander-in-chief." It was given to this board "to have the direction of the militia, provide am- munition, stores, appoint officers and remove such as they might deem proper, establish posts, and carry on military operations." The board was composed of three men who were unfit for such a position and incompetent for the du- ties. As was to have been anticipated, collisions occurred between the Governor and this body. Colonel Davie's ap- plication made to the board was by it referred to the Gov- ernor, and between the two it was not even considered. Greatly offended at such treatment, Colonel Davie retired. It was just at this time that General Greene, in need of one to fill the position of commissary, who possessed talents, integrity, influence, and zeal, appealed to Davie to under- take the duties. It has been seen that the talents and courage of this officer particularly fitted him for command in the field; combining, as it was said of him, the dash of Sumter and the caution of Marion. His tastes and ambi- tion were all for active service. The office of commissary involved labor, untiring exertion, and great responsibility, while it could add to him but little honor and no oppor- tunity of distinction. No one knew better than Greene himself the sacrifice it would cost one of Davie's tempera- ment to accept the duties of such a position, for he himself had gone through the same trial when taken from the field by Washington and made Quartermaster General. Indig- nantly he had then written to Washington : "There is a great difference from being raised to an office and descend- ing to one, which is my case. There is also a great differ- ence between serving where you have a fair prospect of honor and laurels, and where you have no prospect of
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either, let you discharge your duties ever so well. Nobody," he contemptuously adds, "ever heard of a quartermaster in history."1 Taught by experience the sentiments of one who, like Davie, had exhibited such genius for the field, he does not seek to find a position in which Davie's great talents might further be displayed to the benefit of the country, but, as Washington had called upon him, he called upon Davie. Fortunately, strong as was Davie's love of fame, his love for his country was stronger. Ill suited as were the duties of the position to his stirring and chivalric temper, his patriotism overrode all personal ambition. He did not stop to complain that no one ever heard of a commissary in history, but accepted at once the trust, and from this time he became the faithful sub- ordinate, confidant, and friend of Greene. Performing the arduous duties of supplying the army with subsistence, his previous knowledge of the country and experience in the field were always as much at the service of his chief as if he was to share the honors to which they contributed. To the appointment of commissary in the Continental army in be- half of the United States, were added also appointments of State commissary both for North and South Carolina.2
On the 16th of December the troops were put under marching orders, but incessant rains prevented them from abandoning their huts until the 20th. On that day they took up the line of march by Wadesboro to Haley's Ferry, where it was originally designed they should be posted, but on the recommendation of Kosciuszko, who accompanied General Greene as an engineer, they were moved down the east side of the Pee Dee nearly opposite Cheraw Hill, the present site of the town of Cheraw,
1 Nathanael Greene, Great Commanders Series (F. V. Greene), 97.
2 Wheeler's Hist. of No. Ca., 196 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 342 ; vol. II, 116.
1
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then known as Chatham, in South Carolina.1 On this march the troops were under the immediate command of General Isaac Huger, who, it will be recollected, had been in Gates's army, and was one of the few officers of the Carolina Continental line not then in captivity.
On the day the army was put under marching orders for the Pee Dee Morgan's corps was ordered to cross the Catawba and threaten the position of Lord Cornwallis at Winnsboro. He was directed to move down the west side of the Catawba, where he would be joined by a body of volunteer militia of North Carolina under the command of General Davidson, and by the volunteers lately under the command of General Sumter. This force, with any other which might join him from Georgia, he was to employ either offensively or defensively, as his prudence and discretion might direct. Morgan was given entire command west of the Catawba, and all officers and soldiers engaged in the American cause were enjoined to obey him.
General Greene was much pleased with the position he had taken on the Pee Dee. Judge Johnson, his biographer, gives this summary of his views in regard to it as expressed to his friends : 2 _
"I am here in my camp of repose, improving the discipline and the opportunity for looking about me. I am well satisfied with the move- ment, for it has answered thus far all the purposes for which I intended it. It makes the most of my inferior force, for it compels my adver- sary to divide his, and holds him in doubt as to his own line of con- duct. He cannot leave Morgan behind him to come at me, or his posts at Ninety Six or Augusta would be exposed. And he cannot chase Morgan far, or prosecute his views upon Virginia, while I am here with the whole country open before me. I am as near Charles- town as he is and as near Hillsborough as I was at Charlotte; so that I am in no danger of being cut off from my reinforcements, while an uncertainty as to my future designs has made it necessary to leave a
1 Gregg's Old Cheraws, 119. 2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 350.
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large detachment of the enemy's late reinforcements in Charlestown and move the rest up this side of the Wateree. But although there is nothing to obstruct my march to Charlestown, I am far from having such a design in contemplation in the present relative positions of the two armies. It would be putting it in the power of my enemy to compel me to fight him. At present my operations must be in the country where the rivers are fordable, and to guard against the chance of not being able to choose my own ground."
These comfortable assurances were soon to be rudely dispelled.
So effectual had been the work of the partisan bands, as we have seen, that Lord Cornwallis had been forced to fall back from Charlotte to Winnsboro, and instead of his tri- umphal advance to Baltimore and thence on farther north, his lordship had been compelled to send orders to Leslie to abandon his former instructions, and to proceed by sea to Charlestown and thence to reinforce him in the interior. While, therefore, Greene was lying in the "camp of repose " at Cheraws, this movement on the part of the British was taking place, and before the middle of Decem- ber General Leslie arrived at Charlestown with 2300 men and found orders awaiting him to join his lordship with the Brigade of the Guards, the Hessian regiment of von Bose, 120 yagers, and a detachment of light dragoons, amounting in all to 1530 men. The remainder of Leslie's corps was destined to strengthen Lord Rawdon at Camden, and the garrison at Charlestown.1
While General Greene was moving down to the Cheraws, Marion had been engaged in some very active movements against the British garrison at Nelson's Ferry, under Majors Mc Arthur and Coffin ; 2 and between that and the High Hills of Santee. To cut off his retreat by the Pee Dee, a strong
1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 184, 210.
2 Major Archibald McArthur of the Seventy-first Regiment, and Major John Coffin of the New York Loyal Volunteers.
VOL. IV. - C
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British detachment had been pushed on from Charlestown. But Marion soon secured intelligence of the movement, and divining its object retired across the country, and took a strong position on the north bank of Lynch's Creek, in the vicinity of his favorite retreat at Snow Island, where he kept a party to guard his boats and awe the Loyalists. From this point he communicated to General Greene, on the 27th of December, the arrival of General Leslie, and successively, Leslie's march for Camden, the return of a detachment which had marched to Georgetown, and the establishment of Colonel Watson near Nelson's Ferry with about two hundred men. 1
Colonel Pickens and other influential men in Ninety Six District had been often urged to resume their arms in the American cause ; but to these appeals and remonstrances Pickens had, hitherto, consistently replied that his honor was pledged and that he was bound by the solemnity of an oath not to take up arms unless the conditions of that pro- tection were violated by the British, or those who acted under the Royal government. Hitherto, Cornwallis's inju- dicious and cruel order, after the battle of Camden, had not been rigorously enforced in this region ; but the time had now come when neutrality, even under the terms of paroles, would no longer be allowed; and this district, which since the fall of Charlestown had taken little part in the struggle, was now to be the scene, not only of military operations, but of a civil strife far more terrible than legitimate warfare. All now who refused to take up arms in support of the British government were plundered of their property by parties of Loyalists and British troops.
Chief among these marauders was Major James Dunlap,2
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 358. Lieutenant Colonel John Watson-Tadwell Captain and Lieutenant Colonel Foot Guards. - Index to Clinton-Cornwallis Controversy (Stevens).
2 Of the origin of this officer we have no account.
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who had taken a prominent part in the operations in the Spartan section during the preceding summer. He was a man of enterprise, a captain in the Queen's Rangers, a par- tisan corps raised in the fall of 1776 from native Loyalists, mostly refugees from Connecticut and from the vicinity of New York. He was one of the officers picked by Ferguson for his select corps on coming to South Carolina. He had already exhibited a most sanguinary disposition in the operations in New Jersey, and had rendered himself infa-
mous there by his barbarity. In the South his severities had already incensed the people against him. 1 It has been seen how he had sabred the sleeping Georgians at Earle's Ford, 2 the prominent part his dragoons had taken at Cedar Spring,3 and that he had been wounded at Cowan's Ford in North Carolina just before the battle of King's Mountain. 4 When Ferguson fell back from North Carolina to King's Mountain, Dunlap had been left wounded at the house of William Gilbert. There he is said to have been attacked and shot through the body, while lying in bed, in revenge for the death, by his hands, of Whigs in the neighborhood, and more especially for the death of a young woman whom he had abducted and who died while in his power.5 It
1 King's Mountain and its Heroes, 159.
2 Hist. of So. Ca. in the Revolution, 1775-80 (McCrady), 614.
8 Ibid., 637.
៛ Ibid., 755.
5 Draper has presented the following interesting story as illustrating the times, and especially the character of this officer : -
Major Dunlap when wounded at Cowan's Ford had been removed to the house of Captain Gilbert, a loyal supporter of the King, who had gone on with Ferguson. Soon after he was taken in there, a party from the Fair Forest region rode up, and Captain Gillespie, their leader, asked Mrs. Gilbert if Major Dunlap was not in the house. She, supposing that the party were Loyalists with some important communication for him, frankly replied that he was, She was soon disabused of her mistake, for the party told her that Dunlap had been instrumental in putting some of their
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was supposed by many that Dunlap had died of his wounds at that time, but he had not. He recovered, and as soon as he was able to ride was conveyed to Ninety Six. Indeed, neither wound received at that time could have been very serious, for he now, in December, but two months after, was again in the field at the head of his dragoons, plunder- ing and murdering as before. With his own troops and parties of Loyalists he made a general sweep over the coun- try. Colonel Pickens's house, notwithstanding his prom- ised protection, was plundered, and his property wantonly destroyed. Colonel McCall's family was left without a change of clothing or bedding, and a halter put around the neck of one of his sons, by order of Dunlap, with threats of execution, to extort secrets of which the youth was ignorant.
Colonel Pickens, who had so stedfastly observed his parole, as involving his personal honor, now considered its conditions broken, and with many of his former officers and men determined to resume their arms in defence of their country. But Pickens was not one, even under such circumstances, to steal away quietly without openly avowing his purpose. As soon as his determination was taken, he sought an interview with Captain Ker, a British officer at White Hall, General Williamson's residence,
friends to death, and had, moreover, abducted the beautiful Mary McRea. This lady was the affianced of Captain Gillespie himself, and Dunlap had seized and carried her off, as she would not encourage his amorous advances, and had kept her in confinement under which she had died of a broken heart. The party had come for revenge. Gillespie, uttering imprecations upon the head of the man who had destroyed his earthly hopes, mounted the stairs, and rushing into the room where Dunlap lay in bed, demanded, " Where is Mary McRea ?" " In heaven," was the reply. Whereupon Gillespie shot him through the body, and, supposing him dead, he and his party, mounting their horses, rode away. This, says Draper, is the tradi- tion sifted and collected as preserved in the Hampton family .- King's Mountain and its Heroes, 159, 160.
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with whom he had become very intimate, to whom he disclosed his intentions and assigned his reasons. Ker earnestly advised him against the measure, assuring him that his execution was certain, in case he should thereafter fall into the hands of the British, and that he would liter- ally fight with a halter around his neck ; that though their countries were at war, he had given him proofs of personal friendship, and ardently hoped he might never fall into the power of the British government. To this Colonel Pickens replied that he had honorably and conscientiously adhered to the rules laid down in his protection, but that he now considered himself completely absolved from its obligations by the plunder and wanton waste which had been com- mitted upon his plantation, and the insults and indignities which had been offered to his family. He requested Cap- tain Ker to communicate these remarks to Colonel Cruger, the commanding officer at Ninety Six, and to thank him for his civilities while he was under the protection of the British government.
This state of things was communicated to the com- manding officer of the Georgia troops, who made another diversion into the neighborhood of Ninety Six, to favor the assemblage of Pickens and his friends in that quarter. At a council of officers, Colonel McCall was sent to invite the cooperation of Colonel Pickens; and Major Samuel Ham- mond was despatched to White Hall to Williamson, who, it will be recollected, upon the fall of Charlestown, had in vain urged his companions and followers in Ninety Six to retreat with him into North Carolina to carry on the war there, but who, accepting their decision, had given his parole and taken protection, to appeal to him, now that the British had violated its terms, once more to join his old friends in resistance. Major Hammond indeed was directed to seize his person and to bring him into camp, with or without his
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consent. This plan was probably resorted to upon the hope that Williamson, if involuntarily recaptured by the Amer- icans, would regard himself as released thereby from his parole. This hope was encouraged by the friendly dispo- sition which the General had evinced to the families of those who had espoused and adhered to the cause of their country. But though willing six months before, in the very darkest days of the war, to leave his home and con- tinue the struggle, even in another State if necessary, Williamson would not now resume his arms and rejoin his friends. He was taken by Hammond and brought to the Whig encampment at Long Cane ; but he escaped and made his way to Charlestown. It was generally believed that there he took a British commission, but there is no evidence of his having done so, and he certainly did not engage in any active military movement in their service. Indeed, it is said that he was one of those in the town from whom General Greene later obtained information of the British movements through the influence of Colonel John Laurens.1 Colonel Pickens being the senior militia officer in Ninety Six, in the absence of Williamson, assumed the command of such of the men of that District as would act with him, and marched towards the Pacolet River to join Morgan.
Pickens was a great accession to the patriot cause. He was younger than either Sumter or Marion, had not the experience in war of either of them, but he had exhibited in the action at Kettle Creek enterprise and ability. These qualities he was still more to illustrate, and to render mili- tary service of high order. But it was the weight of his high personal character which now brought so much influ- ence to the cause of the country. His extreme conscien- tiousness in regard to the observance of his parole now
1 McCall's Hist. of Ga., 353 ; Johnson's Traditions, 148-154 ; Johnson's Life of Greene.
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rendered his conduct all the more important to the cause of liberty. Many would now follow his example who would not have been influenced by him had he more lightly absolved himself from the restraints of his given word. Fully understanding the warning of Captain Ker, he and many of his followers devoted their lives to the cause, knowing that for them there would be no quarter if taken by the enemy, but that ignominious death would be their certain fate. They entered the war again, as Captain Ker had warned Pickens, literally with the halter around their necks. Men who knowingly faced such consequences and so dared to die were not easily to be conquered.
In obedience to Greene's order, Morgan had crossed the Catawba, and moved through what is now York County, had crossed the Broad River above the mouth of the Paco- let, into what is now Union County, and there on the 25th of December took post at Grindal's Shoals on the Pacolet. Here Pickens, with Colonel McCall, joined him, at the head of about one hundred men, sending their families and slaves over the mountain for security.
On the second day after Morgan's arrival on the Pacolet, an opportunity for enterprise presented itself which was promptly embraced. A body of Loyalists had advanced from the Savannah to Fair Forest Creek, to check the spirit of disaffection to British interests which had begun to man- ifest itself there, and had commenced their depredations upon settlements on that stream. Their distance was about twenty miles in advance of Morgan's, in the direction towards Ninety Six, and their number was reputed at 250. Colonel Washington, with his cavalry of 75 only in number, but of very superior quality, and 200 mounted volunteers under Lieutenant-Colonel McCall, consisting of a selection from his own men and Clarke's Georgians now under the command of Major John Cunningham, were despatched to
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dislodge this body of Loyalists. The latter, learning of the approach of Washington, retreated about twenty miles to a place called Hammond's Store, in what is now Abbeville County, where, being covered as they supposed on their right by Lord Cornwallis at Winnsboro, and on their left by the post at Ninety Six, they halted in mistaken security. Washington pressed the pursuit with such rapidity and diligence that he overtook them early the next day, the 3d of December, after a march of forty miles, and instantly charged them. It was a flight and not a conflict that ensued. The killed and wounded of the enemy were re- ported at 150 and the prisoners at 40. There was little time for hesitation or room for pursuit, for Washington was now so far advanced between the enemy's posts, and so near Tarleton, at the head of 250 cavalry, that prompt measures alone could assure him safety. Washington would not, however, forego the opportunity of striking another blow.
Robert Cuningham, who, it will be recollected, had been arrested by Williamson in 1775 and sent to Charles- town, where he had moderately, but firmly, refused to recognize the authority of the new government, and whose arrest had created such indignation in the back country, continuing true to his allegiance to the King, had now been appointed by Corn wallis Brigadier of the Loyal mili- tia, as one who had by far the greatest influence in that region.1 He was now posted in the stockade fort at Fer- guson's former camp at Williamson's plantation with about 150 men. Thither Colonel Hayes 2 at the head of a detach-
1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 205.
2 Colonel Joseph Hayes of Saluda served first as captain in all or nearly all of the services peformed by Colonel Williams in Georgia, Brier Creek, Stono campaign against the Cherokees, and at Savannah ; and in 1780 at Hanging Rock, Musgrove's Mills. and King's Mountain, where he succeeded
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ment of infantry and Cornet Simons1 with a detachment of the cavalry were immediately despatched. As soon as the Americans were discovered General Cuningham and all his men abandoned the fort. Cornet Simons, coming up, stationed his detachment and, advancing with a flag, de- manded their surrender. Cuningham requested time to consult his officers and five minutes were given him for the purpose. In that short time the whole body of Tories ran off and dispersed through the woods. A few of them were killed and some were taken. The fort, which con- tained a great deal of plunder taken from the Whig in- habitants, and was well stored with forage grain and other provisions for the use of the British army, was destroyed.2
to the command of Williams's men on his death. He was also at Black- stock, and at Hammond's Store. - King's Mountain and its Heroes (Draper), 467-468.
1 Cornet James Simons. This officer was the only Continental officer (or as far as is known Continental soldier) from South Carolina in this battle.
2 Ramsay's Revolution of So. Ca., vol. II, 195-196 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 363.
CHAPTER II
1781
WHEN the year 1781 came in it found Greene with his small army at the Cheraws on the Pee Dee, the position with which he was so much pleased; while Morgan at Grindal's Shoals on the Pacolet was threatening Ninety Six, and Marion from Snow Island was pushing his scout- ing parties on the road to Charlestown, his foraging parties nearly to Georgetown, and bringing in provisions to his snug retreat. Cornwallis, preparing for another attempt to carry out the ministerial plan of carrying the war from South to North by an advance into North Carolina, still lay at Winnsboro, between the Catawba and the Broad, with about thirty-five hundred fighting men1; and Leslie was on the march to join Cornwallis with fifteen hundred more.2 Leslie, instead of approaching Cornwallis by Granby 3 on the Congaree and marching up the Wateree or Catawba, his shortest route, was by his lordship's orders moving by the old way of Nelson's Ferry to Camden, thus placing a deep and rapid river and often impracticable swamps between the reinforcements he was bringing and the main army. Cornwallis had directed Leslie to pursue this route because of Greene's position at the Cheraws, which threatened Camden, and in order also to mislead Greene as long as possible as to his own intended move- ment. Leslie was much retarded by the waters in the
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