USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1780-1783 > Part 42
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1 Campaign in the Carolinas (H. Lee), 503-505. We may also observe that the letters fail to establish, as Mr. Lee supposes, that Lieutenant-Colonel Lee, the junior, commanded his senior, Colonel Laurens, in this expedition.
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ing a party of dragoons sent forward for the purpose of decoying any of the American detachments traversing this quarter, he rushed upon it. Armstrong, it was said, was one of the most gallant of the brave, too apt in the con- fidence he reposed in his sword to lose sight of those con- siderations which prudence suggested. Eager to close with his flying foe, he pursued vehemently, and fell into the snare spread for his destruction. The moment he dis- covered his condition he turned upon his enemy and drove at him in full gallop. The bold effort succeeded so far as to open a partial avenue of retreat, which was seized by his subalterns and some of his dragoons, but Armstrong was taken - the first and only mounted officer of the Legion, it was said, captured during this war. Lee states that four privates were also taken. The Royal Gazette says that seven rebels were killed and eight taken prisoners, among whom were Captain Armstrong and Richard Ellis, who formerly kept the Quarter House.1 The contemporaneous evidence of the Gazette is again preferable to the recollec- tion of Lee after many years. Thus closed the military operations of the year 1781.
1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 538 ; The Royal Gazette, Decem- ber 29, 1781, to January 2, 1782.
CHAPTER XXII
1781
IT will be recollected that upon the approach of Sir Henry Clinton in February, 1780, the General Assembly then sitting in Charlestown had broken up, delegating "till ten days after their next session to the Governor John Rutledge, Esquire, and such of his Council as he could conveniently consult, a power to do everything nec- essary for the public good, except the taking away the life of a citizen without a legal trial." Before the investment of the town had been completed, the governor with three of his Council, Colonel Charles Pinckney, Daniel Huger, and John L. Gervais, had gone out of the lines so as to avoid the capture of the whole government upon the fall of the town then impending. Governor Rutledge proceeded to Camden, where he remained for some days; then, moving on to Colonel Rugeley's, he just escaped Tarleton when that officer rushed to Buford's slaughter.
The capitulation of Charlestown, involving, as it did, the capture of the lieutenant governor and of almost every other person connected with the civil government, rendered it of vital importance that Governor Rutledge and the three of the Council who had gone out with him should avoid any possible danger of falling into the enemy's hands. Un- happily Colonel Charles Pinckney and Daniel Huger gave up in despair and accepted royal protection. John L. · Gervais, like the governor, made his escape into North
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Carolina. The governor, upon whose freedom now so much depended, made his way to Philadelphia, where he exerted himself to the utmost to procure men and supplies for the recovery of his State. He appears to have been so engaged there, with, however, but little success, during the months of June, July, and August, 1780. In September he returned to the South, stopping at Hillsboro in North Carolina, where with the governor of that State he was con- certing measures for the prosecution of the war, and giving what aid he could to General Gates, who was then endeavor- ing to reorganize his shattered army. Here it was, as has been seen, that he issued his first commission of brigadier- general to Colonel Williams, which he recalled at the instance of the delegation from Sumter's men, who went to him for the purpose of protesting against the appointment of that officer, and of urging the promotion of Sumter. From Hillsboro he issued the commissions of brigadier- general to Sumter and Marion, putting Sumter in com- mand of all the militia of the State, and placing himself in communication with these officers, supporting and sanction- ing their efforts, which had before this been made entirely upon their own individual responsibility without any governmental authorization. He had joined Greene when that general reached Hillsboro and assumed the command of the Southern Department, with him had moved first to Charlotte and thence to Cheraw, when Greene established his headquarters near that place. From Cheraw, in January, 1781, Governor Rutledge found means of opening communication with the friends of the American cause in Charlestown.
Upon the advance of Lord Cornwallis in January, 1781, into North Carolina, the governor was again compelled to fall back with the army and for the time again to abandon the State. He continued, however, with General
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Greene until the 8th of March, when he wrote from the camp on Haw River, sending his letter by General Pickens to Sumter, whom he had put in command of all the militia forces, that the present situation of affairs rendering it impracticable for him to return immediately into South Carolina, and impossible to reestablish civil government there for some time, and there being no use of his remaining with the army there, he had determined to proceed again to Philadelphia to attempt to procure supplies of clothing for the militia, and to obtain, if possible, such effectual aid as to restore both Charlestown and the country to their possession. His utmost endeavors for these purposes should be exerted, and he flattered himself that he might succeed by personal applications. By General Pickens and Major Bowie, returning to the State, the governor sent three hundred militia commissions, which he authorized General Sumter to issue, empowering him to remove officers and to appoint others in the place of the removed. In North Carolina he procured twenty-five hundred yards of woollens, which he sent on to Sumter for the use of the militia.1 Thence proceeding by the way of Richmond, Governor Rutledge appears to have reached Philadelphia in May. There he was engaged in pressing upon Congress the necessities of the South till the latter end of the month when he went to Washington's headquarters to lay before the Commander-in-chief the condition of affairs in South Carolina. To Washington he represented the unhappy situation of the suffering soldiery, the prisoners of war a Charlestown, and urged that measures should be taken fo: their relief. It was owing to his importunities probably that General Wayne with his detachment marched fron Yorktown, Pennsylvania, on the 26th of May ; but the were detained in Virginia and did not reach South Carolin
1 Sumter MSS.
po as ren Ge and tim Hug eert had All Catte been to Ma yeste
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until the war was practically over, signalizing themselves there only by their second mutiny. Governor Rutledge, on his return, brought with him a small supply of medicines and some other articles which he had procured in Philadelphia ; but beyond this his personal applications - of the result of which he was so hopeful - had accomplished nothing.1
Learning of Lord Rawdon's retreat from Camden, his Excellency returned to South Carolina and on the 1st of August arrived at General Greene's headquarters on the High Hills of Santee. After conferring with the general he retired to Camden, and there set himself at work reor- ganizing the militia and the State troops which Sumter had partly embodied, and instituting civil government over the territory recovered from the enemy.2
Since the fall of Charlestown there had been really no militia in the State, though the partisan bands were usu- ally so called; for a militia, as we have had occasion to observe before, implies the existence of a government under which the citizens are enrolled and required to do duty. But since his Excellency's departure from the State there had been no government except that of the British
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, Vol. II, 247.
2 By the terms of the act conferring upon Governor Rutledge dictatorial powers they were to be exercised in concurrence with such of his Council as he could conveniently consult. The members of the Council, it may be remembered, were Colonel Charles Pinckney, Daniel Huger, John Lewis Gervais, Thomas Ferguson, David Ramsay, Richard Hutson, Roger Smith, and Benjamin Cattell. Major James, in his Memoirs, states that at this time Governor Rutledge had but two of his Council with him, Daniel Huger and John Lewis Gervais (Life of Marion, 143, note). He must certainly have been mistaken, however, in regard to Daniel Huger, for he had taken protection and had avowed himself a subject of his Majesty. All the other members of the council, with the exception of Smith and Cattell, had been exiles, and were then in Philadelphia, where they had been sent on their release from St. Augustine. Governor Rutledge writes to Marion, October 24, 1781, " All the gentlemen of our council arrived yesterday." (Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 196.)
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authorities under the protection of the Royal army. Dur- ing the four months of June, July, August, and Septem- ber, 1780, in which so much had been done by the partisan bands under Sumter, Marion, Clarke, and Shelby, there had not been even a militia commission in the hands of these leaders. Davie, who was so brilliantly acting with them, had, it was true, a commission as major from North Caro- lina, and Marion, as an officer in the Continental line, had also one in that service ; but these commissions as such were ignored, and their authority in those operations was derived only from their followers. These bands were thus purely volunteers fighting from patriotism only, without pay or reward. From North Carolina Governor Rutledge, as we have said, had commissioned first Sumter, and then Marion, and later Pickens, as brigadier-generals of militia, and authorized them to organize their followers and commis- sion their officers as militia. The individual spirit of such men was generally of the highest character, as their ser- vices were of the most disinterested patriotism. But the want of discipline and the shifting and fluctuating char- acter of such bodies rendered them unreliable for the per- sistent and continued operations of a systematic campaign. Greene's pedantry could allow him to see nothing beyond the manifest evils of the system. He had no appreciation for what it had in fact accomplished, notwithstanding its admitted defects. To meet his reiterated complaints upon the subject, Sumter, with his approval, had inaugurated the plan of raising a body of State troops - neither militia nor Continental - to serve for a certain definite period for pay to be derived from the spoils taken from the enemy.
But, as might have been expected, the system did not work well; and now that the greater portion of the State had been recovered from the enemy, his Excellency the governor devoted himself to the task of organizing a
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more regular militia and of improving the organization of State troops.
The nucleus of each of the militia regiments was the regimental district of 1779, and so they were called regi- ments, and their officers lieutenant-colonels. They seldom, however, numbered more in action than from one hundred to two hundred men each, and were changing and fluctuating bodies, the men of the district or neighborhood coming and going as the occasion demanded and their necessities allowed or their caprice suggested, and generally expecting to be relieved at the end of two months, the limit of service required by the old militia law. The commandant when commissioned was a lieutenant-colonel. There were no colonels in the Continental line after the expiration of the first organizations, for this reason. In the British army,
then as now, the colonel of a regiment was an honorary officer only -the lieutenant-colonel being the actual com- mandant. Thus, as the Prince of Wales, now King Ed- ward VII., was the honorary colonel of the Life Guards, Sir William Howe, the commander-in-chief in America (1776- 1778), was the colonel of the Twenty-third Regiment, of which Nisbet Balfour, the commandant of Charlestown, was lieutenant-colonel, and Earl Cornwallis was the colo- nel of the Thirty-third, of which James Webster, killed at Guilford, was lieutenant-colonel. As, therefore, the commanding officer of a British regiment in the field was only a lieutenant-colonel, it became important, in order to facilitate and equalize the exchange of prisoners taken, that the American regimental officer should have only the same rank. The rule adopted in the Continental line was followed in the State service.1
1 From letters of Governor Rutledge to Generals Sumter and Marion, dated 17th of September, 1781, an account of clothing issued to Sumter's brigade from 20th of April to 8th of October, 1781 (Sumter MSS.), and VOL. IV. - 2 L
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By the " act for the more effectual defence of the State " of 1779, the whole militia had been divided into three classes, one of which was required to hold themselves in readiness to march to such place as they should be ordered, to do duty for two months from the time of their joining headquarters or arriving at the place of their destination, at the expiration of which time they should punctually be relieved by another class, which should do duty for two months, and at the expiration of their time they should also be relieved by the third class, who should serve for the like term, and they again should be relieved by the first, and thus every class should do equal duty in rotation.1
Governor Rutledge now proceeded to reorganize the militia under this law. On the 17th of September he issued instructions to the brigadier-generals, to have the regiments fully and properly officered, mustered, and classed or drafted, as soon as possible, and to march one-third of them with the utmost expedition to headquarters, or such other place as General Greene should direct, to do duty under his orders for two months from the time of their arrival. He enclosed extracts from the several laws as were necessary to be made known to the militia, a copy of which he directed to be furnished to each colonel, and
from other sources the following table of the regiments of State troops and militia has been compiled : -
Sumter's Brigade, State Troops: (1) Henry Hampton's, (2) Wade, Hampton's, (3) Mydelton's. Militia: (1) Bratton's, (2) Lacey's, d (3) Winn's, (4) Taylor's, (5) Postell's, afterwards Kimball's, (6) Hill's. Marion's Brigade, State Troops : (1) Peter Horry's, (2) Maham's. Militia : (1) Hugh Horry's, (2) Baxter's, (3) McDonald's, (4) Richard- son's, (5) Irwin's, (6) Benton's, formerly Kolb's, (7) Vanderhorst's, for- merly Maybank's.
Pickens's Brigade, Militia : (1) Harden's, formerly of Marion's, (2) Roebuck's, (3) Brandon's, (4) Thomas's, (5) Anderson's, (6) Hayes's,
(7) Wilkinson's, (8) Samuel Hammond's, (9) Le Roy Hammond's.
1 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. IV, 503.
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ordered to be read at the head of his regiment; a copy to be taken by each of his field officers and captains. He directed the brigadiers to appoint the most proper men in their brigades for officers, and to have the laws carried strictly and steadily into execution. The men drafted were directed to come on foot, as they were to serve as infantry, and their horses could not be kept in camp, nor could any drafted men be spared to carry them back.
But how were the provisions of the act of 1779 to be enforced? That statute provided this curious and impracticable scheme, viz., that every person who should refuse or neglect to turn out properly armed and accoutred when drafted should forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding £500, and treble his last tax, to be sued for and recovered in a summary way and manner by a court composed of three commissioned officers and four privates of the com- pany to which the offender belonged, or if it should be impracticable to draw the privates from the company, they should be chosen from the regiment. The privates forming part of these courts were not to be selected by officers, but drawn nearly in the manner as jurors then were; the names of each private in the company or regi- ment to which the offender belonged was to be written on a piece of paper and put into a hat, and publicly and fairly drawn out by a commissioned officer. On the non-payment of the fine imposed by such a court the defaulter was obliged to serve as a common soldier in one of the Continental regiments raised in the State, for not less than four nor more than twelve months.1
With the singular composition of these courts his Ex- cellency does not appear to have interfered, though it is scarcely to be supposed that, thus constituted, they would have been very effective in enforcing the drafts. He
1 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. IV, 465.
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did, however, in the exercise of his plenary powers, dic- tate an amendment to the act in regard to the currency in which the penalties, if imposed, should be paid. Con- currently with his instruction to the brigadiers he is- sued a proclamation suspending the resolves and acts of the Legislature which made the paper currency a tender in law, in payment of debts, and enclosing a copy to them, he wrote : -
"My proclamation of this date" (September 17, 1781) " suspends until ten days after the next meeting and sitting of the General Assembly, the acts which make Continental and State money a tender in law; all fines must therefore be paid in specie, it is necessary to ascertain to what amount in specie the court may fine. In 1776 the militia were entitled to ten shillings current money a day. There was at that time no difference in the value of specie and paper money. In March, 1778, the pay of the militia continued the same, it is therefore to be presumed that no difference had taken place between paper money and specie, at least there is no legislative acknowledgment of any depreciation. But in February, 1779, the pay of militia was raised from 10s. to 32s. 6d. per day, the paper money having and being admitted by the Legislature to be depreciated in that proportion. From these observations we may fix the following rule as the most just and equitable for determining how far the court may fine in specie. For fines imposed by the act of 1778 to the amounts of the sums mentioned in the law. Thus £100 in specie (according to the current rate of gold or silver) for £100 currency. But for fines under the act of 1779 they must not exceed in specie the sums therein mentioned as £150 specie (according to the old currency rate of rate of gold and silver) £500 currency."
It will be recollected that, in order to complete the quota of troops to be raised by the State for the Conti- nental line, the degrading condition was imposed on that service that vagrants and other offenders were by sentence of court impressed in the regiment of that line; his Ex cellency the governor after thus scaling the fines to be imposed for failure to perform militia duty, ordered also
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that all offenders who might be condemned to the Conti- nental service should be sent under guard to head- quarters.1 To the idle, lewd, and vagrant hitherto forced into the Continental service, were now added cowards and deserters from the militia.
A few days later he wrote to Marion, forbidding the practice of allowing substitutes for militia duty. " The law," he wrote, "does not allow any man the privilege of sending substitutes, nor does it exempt him from militia duty by paying such a sum as an officer may think proper to receive either in lieu of personal service, to find a Continental or State soldier, or for any other purpose." 2 In subsequent letters he directed, however, that no such arrangements as had actually been made should be dis- turbed, but none allowed in the future. His intention was, he declared, that no man outside of Charlestown should be excused from militia duty under a pretence that he was on parole or a British subject, unless he had been fairly taken in arms and paroled as an officer. To any others claiming exemption on this account he directed that they should take their choice, either of doing duty or going into the enemy's lines. If any such refused both alternatives, he was to be court-martialed and fined.
The governor also writes: "I find there are many gentlemen riding about the country under the description of volunteers who render no kind of service to it. This practice being very injurious should be immediately suppressed ; and no man is to be excused from doing militia duty in the district of the regiment to which he belongs unless he is actually enrolled and obliged for some certain time to serve in some regular corps of cavalry,
1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 164-165 ; Sumter MSS.
2 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 174.
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not merely as a volunteer, but to do the same duty and be subject to the articles as the rest of the corps are obliged to do or are subject to." 1
But while the governor was engaged thus endeavoring to restore order and to enforce the militia law of the State, the absolute necessity of finding means to support the army, Continentals as well as militia, was forced upon him. Congress neither would nor could do anything further than to permit the experiment of a bank to be tried. Mr. Robert Morris, on undertaking the management of the American finances, had laid before Congress the plan of a national bank, the capital of which was to consist of $400,000, to be made up by individual subscription. It was to be incorporated by government, and subject to the inspection of the superintendent of the finances, who was at all times to have access to the books. Their notes were to be receivable as specie from the respective States into the treasury of the United States. The plan was adopted
by Congress,2 and was for a time at least a partial success. Colonel Laurens's mission to France had resulted in hasten- ing, if not actually securing, a gift from Louis XVI. of 6,000,000 livres, and loans amounting to 14,000,000 more.3 From these sources specie made its appearance in circula- tion at Philadelphia ; members of Congress and all the retinue of attendants at the seat of government were paid in hard money ; a general exhilaration was produced ; the financier was the channel through which all flowed; and all who drank at the fount bestowed on it a benediction But the stream sank in the sands, as it was said, long before it reached the State of South Carolina, and neve: reached it until after the fall of Lord Cornwallis ; nor fo:
1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 179-180; Sumter MSS.
2 Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. IV, 458.
8 Bancroft's Hist. of the U. S., vol. V, 469.
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long after, except indirectly through the supplies acquired by conquest. On the contrary, the only fund in the mili- tary chest was ordered to be withdrawn from it. There was a balance on hand of certain bills drawn upon Dr. Franklin, about $300,000 in amount, and which by the resolves of Congress were among the funds placed at the disposal of the financier. Marshall, indeed, relates that, in order to compel the Southern army to the utmost exertion to sup- port itself without drawing supplies from the general gov- ernment, Mr. Morris employed an agent to attend the army as a volunteer, whose powers were unknown to General Greene. This agent was instructed to watch the situation, and only to furnish assistance when it appeared impossible for the general to extricate himself from his embarrass- ments ; and then, upon his pledging the faith of the gov- ernment for repayment, to furnish him with a draft on the financier, for such a sum as would relieve the urgency of the moment.1 The sale of drafts on the government thus niggardly doled out, and of shares on Mr. Morris's bank, were the only means allowed for the support of the army in South Carolina.2
Governor Rutledge had attempted during his journey from Philadelphia to interest the people in the country in the support of Mr. Morris's bank, and by the sale of shares to raise some money for the support of the army; but his route was through a tract of country where the inhabitants were little acquainted with commerce, and therefore not likely to become adventurers in a measure of that sort. But whether it was owing to objections to this particular scheme or to all projects of the kind, it is certain that not a single subscriber could be found nor a shilling of money raised. Upon his arrival at Greene's headquarters he
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