USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1780-1783 > Part 44
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
Indulging in such an injudicious, if not absolutely im- proper, correspondence with one of his officers in regard to another, it cannot be doubted that at length his views in regard to Sumter should be impressed upon his Excellency the governor, and that he should at last procure in this way the reduction of Sumter's command, and the dis- mounting of his men, while Marion's were to retain their horses. But how different is the tenor of the fol- lowing letter from what should be expected under the circumstances ? On the 15th of December General Greene writes in this strain to Sumter : 3-
" I was persuaded you would meet with difficulty in reducing your battalions and in dismounting them, but the good of the service re- quires you should persevere in both. It is true the public have neglected them but what have they had it in their power to do? Poverty and want stare us in the face on every side. But never mind little difficulties, we have gone through greater and I persuade myself we shall be happy at the last, and your country if they have any justice and
1 Campaigns in the Carolinas (Lee), 436.
2 Ibid., 450.
$ Sumter letters, Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 132.
on
533
IN THE REVOLUTION
gratitude will not fail to bless and reward you for your exertions made in the darkest hours they ever felt. I shall always bear testimony to your firmness, and don't fail to tell the people how much you did when others hid their heads."
How could General Greene reconcile this letter to Sumter with that to Lee of the 29th of July, in which he referred to his opinion of the former as well known to his correspondent to be of a derogatory character ?
Sumter appears to have written with indignation to Governor Rutledge upon the subject of the treatment of his command, for in a letter of the 25th of December, 1781, his Excellency replies : "I do not understand the passage of your letter which says 'the State brigade is too little the object of public attention & in various cases ludicrously treated.' I am not conscious of having treated any man or body of men ludicrously nor do I know what attention government could or should have paid which it has not to that brigade. My orders to all the Brigadiers of mili- tia with respect to the tours of duty are in the same terms ; nor do I know of any other difference in the mode of your brigade & any other doing duty except that my instruc- tions which at General Greene's particular recommenda- tion directed the several draughts to come on foot instead of coming on horseback to camp was altered by General Greene's recommendation as to General Marion's bri- gade." 1
Sumter's State brigade was reduced to two regiments, one of cavalry under Colonel Wade Hampton, the other of infantry under Colonel Mydelton; and that under Hampton was detached from his command. Colonel Henry Hampton, who had been with Sumter from the commencement of his command and had so distinguished 132 himself, was put out of commission ; thereupon, on the 4th
1 Sumter MSS.
- 0 n y is S. in
he ne
our re- are do? aind If we , and
534
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
of January, 1782, Sumter wrote to General Greene from Orangeburgh : " In my last I took the liberty to request permission to withdraw from this place upon private busi- ness, or rather to prepare to attend the Assembly. I hope to be indulged, and beg not to be honored again with your commands until a proper inquiry can be made whether I am worthy of them." 1
Soon after the Jacksonborough Assembly met, General Sumter resigned his commission and Colonel Henderson was appointed brigadier-general to succeed him. Colone? Lacey appears to have remained in command of his militia regiments.2
The cabal of Greene and Lee had at last succeeded in driving from the field the man who had been the first te stem the tide of conquest in South Carolina, and whose exertions had rendered their subsequent careers in th State possible.
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 303; Sumter letters, Year Bool City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 70.
2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 303 ; Sumter MSS.
c g to th th cor f fer f. nen In t
night
vani On a
office
Philac reers rent [ Pen comp e sha hen se
CHAPTER XXIII
1781
GLOOMY, indeed, had been the prospect of the American cause when the year 1781 began. The resolution of Con- gress had called for an army of thirty-seven thousand men to be in camp by the 1st of January. At no time during the campaign of this year in the Southern Department, that is from Pennsylvania to Georgia inclusive, until the the coming of the French fleet and Washington's movement to the South, did the regular force amount to three thousand effective men. In the Northern Department, from New Jersey to New Hampshire inclusive, as late as the month of April it did not reach six thousand.1 In both depart- ments the Continental troops were in a state of destitution. In the Northern destitution resulted in mutiny. On the night of the 1st of January the discontent of the Pennsyl- vania line broke out in open and almost universal revolt. On a signal given, the great body of non-commissioned officers and privates paraded under arms, and marched for Philadelphia to obtain redress from Congress. The muti- eers kept the field for two weeks, when they were met at Trenton by a committee of Congress and President Reed of Pennsylvania, with a part of his executive council, and compromise was come to on the 15th, a result which, as ve shall see, emboldened them to repeat the experiment when sent to South Carolina the next year. The success
1 Marshall's Life of Washington vol. IV, 445, 446.
535
n el ia
to ose
I
536
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
of the Pennsylvania line inspired a part of that of Jersey, many of whom were foreigners, with the hope of obtaining similar advantages, and stimulated them to a like attempt. On the night of the 20th a part of the Jersey brigade rose in arms, making precisely the same claims which had been yielded to the Pennsylvanians. But this second mutiny was speedily crushed.1
In the meanwhile Virginia had been invaded by a British force under the traitor Arnold. Landing at Westover on the James on the 4th of January, Arnold had marched upon Richmond, at which place and in its neighborhood he had destroyed a large quantity of stores, public and private, had burnt founderies, mills, magazines, and other buildings.
So it was that the battle of Cowpens was fought and won in South Carolina while the Northern army was in mutiny and Virginia overrun and pillaged by Arnold. Then had followed the renewed advance of Lord Cornwallis into North Carolina, which caused the abandonment of this State by Greene. For three months South Carolina was again left to struggle with her fate, unaided and alone, against a British force of more than four thousand men remaining within her borders after Cornwallis had left it with his army. Colonel Lee, with his Legion, which, after a leisurely march, had arrived in January, had at once been despatched to operate with Marion, whom he joined on the 23d, and with him had taken part in the attemp on Georgetown. He had been recalled and had follower the rest of Greene's army into North Carolina. But th war had not ceased in South Carolina, though the Stat was abandoned by the Continental army. Sumter an Marion had at once renewed the system of warfare upo the British posts by which they had accomplished so muc
1 Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. IV, 393-405.
C
su ac ho W at For Bro Pick had his p Ham
537
IN THE REVOLUTION
the year before. Parties of Marion's men under the Postells had made their successful raids upon Wadboo and Monck's Corner. Marion himself had fallen upon and driven McLeroth through the Halfway Swamp; had met and fought Watson at Wiboo, Mount Hope, and Black River, and finally had driven him into Georgetown. Then turning upon Doyle, who had, during his absence, destroyed his stores at Snow Island, Marion had attacked him at Witherspoon's Ferry, defeated, and pursued him. Sumter, though really unfit for service by reason of his wound, had again taken the field, and, gathering his men at their old camping ground on the Waxhaws, by a rapid and circuitous march to the western side of the Congaree, had appeared before Granby and laid siege to that post in the rear both of Rawdon at Camden, and of Cruger at Ninety Six, and after destroying a quantity of stores and supplies, had only raised the siege upon the approach of Lord Rawdon with his whole force. Then hastening to the British post at Thomson's plantation in Orangeburgh, he had fallen upon and captured a large convoy, taking prisoners all the party who were not killed, and had carried off the stores, which he unfortunately soon after lost by the treachery of a guide. Still more brilliant and successful was Harden, whom Marion had despatched across the country to carry the war back to the neighbor- hood of Charlestown itself -to its south and west. In a week he had four times attacked the British successfully at Four Holes, Barton's Post, Pocotaligo, in Colleton, and Fort Balfour, in Beaufort, and a few days after had fought Browne at Wiggins's Hill in what is now Barnwell County. Pickens, too, who had returned from Greene, with whom he had served in North Carolina, had fallen upon Dunlap and his party at Beattie's Mill in Ninety Six and destroyed them ; Hammond, one of his officers, a few days after capturing
uc
it
CP et P
at
538
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
a company at Horner's Corner in Edgefield. During Greene's absence, the South Carolina volunteer partisan bands had fought the British forces in the following affairs : -
IN WHAT IS NOW
AMERICAN COMMANDERS
BRITISH COMMANDERS
1
Wadboo (or Watboo)
Berkeley Co.
Jan. 24
Postell, James
2
Monck's Corner
Berkeley Co.
Jan. 24
Postell, John
3
Halfway Swamp
Clarendon Co.
Feb.
Marion
4 Fort Granby
Lexington Co.
Feb. 19
Sumter
5
Thomson's Plantation
Orangeburgh Co.
Feb. 23
Sumter
McLeroth Maxwell British officer
6
Wright's Bluff (Fort Watson)
Clarendon Co.
Feb. 27
Sumter
Watson
7
Mud Lick
Newberry Co.
March 2
Roebuck
8
Lynch's Creek
Kershaw Co.
March 6
Sumter
Fraser
9
Wiboo Swamp
Clarendon Co.
March
Marion
Watson
10
Mount Hope
Williamsburg Co.
March
Marion
Watson
11
Black River
Williamsburg Co.
March
Marion
Watson
12
Sampit
Georgetown Co. Marion Co.
March
Marion
Doyle
14
Witherspoon's Ferry
Georgetown Co.
March
Marion
Doyle
15
Dutchman's Creek
Fairfield Co.
March
Grey
16
Beattie's Mill
Abbeville Co.
March 24
Pickens
Dunlap
17
Four Holes
Colleton Co.
April 7
Harden
A captain
18
Barton's Post
Colleton Co.
April 8
Harden
Barton
19
Pocotaligo Road
Colleton Co.
April 8
Harden
Fenwick
20
Fort Balfour
Beaufort Co.
April 13
Harden
Fenwick
21
Wiggins's Hill
Barnwell Co.
April
Harden
Browne
22
Horner's Corner
Edgefield Co.
April
Hammond
A captain
23
Hammond's Mill
Edgefield Co.
April
Hammond
13
Snow Island
March
Marion
Watson
It was indeed a glorious struggle which had thus been maintained by her own people in South Carolina while the Continental army was absent from the State. Sumter's in- vestment of Granby had required the movement of Lord Rawdon's force from Camden to dislodge him; and when dislodged it had only been to enable him to attack the still more interior posts at Orangeburgh and Wright's Bluff, while Marion had kept McLeroth, Watson, and Doyle all busy in his lordship's rear. This was the condition of
S
a
539
IN THE REVOLUTION
affairs in South Carolina which Wade Hampton, sent by Sumter, reported to Greene the day after the battle of Guilford Court-house. When therefore Cornwallis, though victorious in that battle, had been compelled to fall back before Greene to Cross Creek, and thence had turned aside and moved towards Wilmington, Greene, upon reaching Ramsay's Mill on Deep River, had had to decide whether to follow Cornwallis, or to return to South Carolina. Wade Hampton was with him to tell how the Whigs in that State, without assistance from any source, had kept up the war and broken up Lord Rawdon's communications, and was there to support Colonel Lee in urging the march upon Lord Rawdon at Camden rather than upon Lord Corn- wallis at Wilmington.
General Greene, as it has appeared, never giving himself heartily to the move, but always hankering after the rejected alternative, returned to South Carolina and fought, again unsuccessfully, the battle of Hobkirk's Hill. His defeat he, as usual, attributed to the failure of others. This time it was upon Colonel Gunby of Maryland that the blame of the immediate disaster was thrown; but Sumter was held equally responsible because he did not have one thousand men in the field by the 18th of April, as Greene alleged he had engaged to do. In this, as it has been shown, Greene was mistaken, nor could anything have been more unrea- sonable on his part than to suppose that Sumter, without the vestige of a government in his support, could have undertaken to bring into the field one thousand volunteers under his immediate command, besides five hundred under Marion, and another party under Pickens, when the great States of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Caro- lina, and Delaware, with established governments also in full operation, could not altogether furnish three thous- and men; nor could the Northern States furnish Wash-
540
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
ington himself with six thousand. Dissatisfied with the first result of his move into South Carolina, General Greene was on the point of again abandoning the State, and taking off with him the remains of the Continental army when Lord Rawdon, notwithstanding his victory at Hobkirk's Hill, evacuated Camden and fell back beyond the Congaree, a retrogression from which the British forces never recovered. To whom then is the credit of the great result due ?
It will readily be conceded that, however heroic and efficient the efforts of the partisan bands, the contest with the four thousand British troops in the State could not long have been maintained had not Greene returned with his Continental army; but it must as readily be granted that Lord Rawdon had not abandoned Camden because of his fear of Greene, whom he had so easily and so thoroughly beaten. His lordship declares that he had always reprobated the post as being on the wrong side of the river. But unless now moved by some new consideration, why had he not at once abandoned it as soon as left in command, upon the advance of Lord Cornwallis in January? It was, doubt- less, owing first to the fact that Sumter and Marion had demonstrated the correctness of his theory as to the position at Camden because of the length and vulnerableness of its line of communication, and their full understanding of the situation, and determination to avail themselves of it, that had compelled Rawdon seriously to contemplate the neces- sity of its abandonment. As long as there was no or- ganized force in his front, he was enabled by the activity of such good officers as Watson, McLeroth, and Doyle to protect in a measure the convoy of his supplies. The pres- ence of Greene with his Continental force, however small, as a menace to his front, required that these officers should join him, and in doing so to expose his communications. It was, therefore, primarily, the action of Sumter and Marion,
b h
g e h e Ir de CI
541
IN THE REVOLUTION
and secondarily, the return of Greene, which caused Lord Rawdon to abandon Camden and with it a large part of the State.
General Greene, in his letter to Washington of the 29th of March, giving his reasons for the move into South Caro- lina, had observed that by doing so the enemy would be obliged to follow him or give up his posts in South Caro- lina. That if the enemy followed him, it would draw the war out of North Carolina and give that State an oppor- tunity to raise its proportion of men. That if they left their posts in South Carolina to fall, they must lose more than they would gain in North Carolina. That if he con- tinued in North Carolina, the enemy would hold their possessions in both.1 Those were certainly weighty consid- erations in the last days of March ; but had they not been as urgent in the January before ? In describing the advan- tages of the position he had taken at Cheraw in December, Greene had pointed out in his correspondence that Lord Cornwallis could not move towards Virginia and leave Morgan behind him on one side, and himself upon the other. That if he did so he would have the whole country open to him, with nothing to obstruct his march to Charlestown. Such a march, however, he did not contemplate, because it would be putting it in the power of the enemy to compel him to fight without choosing his ground. Cornwallis had, nevertheless, advanced into North Carolina, re- gardless of Greene's position at Cheraw, and abandoning entirely the supposed advantages of that position, Greene had with great difficulty been able to unite with Morgan, even though Morgan had defeated Tarleton at Cowpens. In contemplating such an advance by Cornwallis, he had declared that the only objection to his own move upon Charlestown would be that the enemy might force him to
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 37.
d S. D,
)
542
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
battle. But this Cornwallis had done in North Carolina, at Guilford Court-house, and now upon his return one of the conditions of the problem was the necessity of attack- ing Lord Rawdon on his own chosen field. Would not, therefore, every condition have been better fulfilled had General Greene, instead of following Lord Cornwallis in the first instance, pursued the plan then contemplated by him, but rejected, of advancing upon Charlestown, anticipat- ing the battle of Eutaw by eight months. Surely if he felt himself strong enough to attack Rawdon after his heavy losses at Guilford, he should have considered himself strong enough to meet him before his own army was so weakened. And if ultimately successful at Eutaw, notwithstanding his losses, not only at Guilford, but at Hobkirk's Hill and Ninety Six, and that against the enemy reinforced by three fresh regiments, is it not reasonable to suppose that if the move was wise in March, it would have been wiser in Janu- ary? And that if the movement had taken place then, with Sumter and Marion's assistance, he might have recovered the State months before, or have compelled Cornwallis to return to South Carolina and leave Washington with Rochambeau to deal with Sir Henry Clinton.
The evacuation of Camden on the 10th of May had been followed by a series of brilliant successes. Sumter took the post at Orangeburgh with its garrison on the 11th. Fort Motte surrendered to Marion and Lee on the 12th, and Fort Granby to Lee on the 15th. Lord Rawdon, crossing the Santee at Nelson's Ferry, had been met by Colonel Balfour with the report that the whole country was in revolt, and Charlestown in no condition to stand a siege, as the old works had been levelled for new ones which had not yet been constructed ; within the lines of the town the Royal militia had mutinied and had been disarmed, but were ready to seize the gates of the town if Greene should ap-
r
543
IN THE REVOLUTION
pear. Without a full knowledge of all these details Sum- ter had perceived that the time had come for the combined movement for which Greene had before been so anxious. The British morale had been completely broken, and the country was ready to rise against them. But Greene, in- stead of summoning to him Marion and Lee, and acting upon Sumter's advice, turned back to besiege Augusta and Ninety Six, and let the opportunity slip from his grasp. Orders had been issued for the evacuation of both of these places by the British garrisons ; and then evacuation had only been prevented by the capture of the messengers. While sitting down before Ninety Six Greene had learned of the arrival of reinforcements in Charlestown, and these were soon on the way to raise his siege. The ebb of the tide of British power had been stayed; and the tide now turned again upon him. Lord Rawdon reappeared with fresh troops. The siege of Ninety Six, after great loss to the Americans, was abandoned, and Greene was soon in full retreat before the returning foe.
All the country below the great rivers which had been recovered had been again lost, and Greene was making his way for the settlement known as the Catawba Nation, in what is now York County, just across from Lancaster, -that is, the neighborhood in which Sumter had first rallied and formed his bands for recovering the State the year before, - when it was learned that Rawdon had abandoned Ninety Six and was endeavoring to form a junction with Stuart at Orangeburgh. Upon this Greene had returned, and again resumed the offensive, hoping to cross the Congaree before this junction could be made, and to strike one or the other of the parties which should first come up. But in this he had failed. Rawdon, Stuart, and Cruger united at Orangeburgh, and Greene, with his Continental army, retired to the High Hills of Santee for repose.
1
544
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Then it was that Sumter had been permitted to carry out his plan of again assailing the enemy's post in his rear. While Pickens watched the Tories at Ninety Six, and Harden with Hayne approached from the lower part of the State, with Marion, and with Lee, who was assigned to his command for the occasion, Sumter had made the splendid raid by which the British posts from the Santee to Charles- town itself had all been assailed and carried, Hayne, Hampton, and Lee each successively striking within five miles of the town itself, carrying the war back to its very gates, and exciting terror within its lines. The incursions of Sumter and Marion in the winter, during the absence of Greene, again renewed with increased vigor upon the return of the Continental army, had caused the evacuation of Camden and the abandonment of the country north and east of the Congaree; this vigorous movement of the South Carolina troops, with the assistance only of Lee and his Legion, had shaken the British power to its very centre. Rawdon and Stuart and Cruger, it is true, were at Orange- burgh, but the whole country around was now in arms against them. The battle of Quinby Bridge, in which this movement culminated, had not, it is true, resulted as suc- cessfully as had reasonably been hoped, but a severe battle had been fought with advantage, the enemy losing all their baggage and many prisoners, besides the killed and wounded, within twenty miles of the town.
1
The British never recovered from the effects of this movement. The battle of Eutaw, which took place six weeks later, has generally been considered as the culmina- tion of the war in South Carolina, and in many respects it was so. But that battle was for the Americans at best but a drawn one. It was not an American victory. Greene, who had attacked, collected his shattered forces seven miles from the battle-field at night; while Stuart
545
IN THE REVOLUTION
remained upon the field and leisurely retreated the next day. The battle had not altered the situations of the two parties. The movement was made and the battle fought for purposes not immediately affecting the war in South Carolina. Greene moved to put himself in a posi- tion to intercept Cornwallis should that general, retreat- ing before Washington and Rochambeau, attempt to reach
Charlestown. It failed in that object, for Greene was obliged again to retire to his former position on the High Hills of Santee, where he remained for two months. The anticipated movement of Cornwallis which induced Greene's advance had not taken place. His lordship had not re- treated, but remained to be captured at Yorktown. The battle of Eutaw therefore left matters in the State unal- tered. It was the incessant and vigorous partisan warfare of Sumter, Marion, Harden, Lee, and latterly, of Washing- ton, breaking up the enemy's communication, destroying his posts, and carrying the war into his rear, which had compelled the abandonment of the country by the British. It was the "little strokes," the "partisan strokes," which Greene had in January written to Sumter were like the garnish of a table, but not to be depended upon for the great business of the army, which had really accom- plished so much. Greene had been beaten in every great affair he had attempted; and yet the country had been recovered. To whose policy was this great success due? Was it to Greene's ; or to that of Sumter, Marion, and Lee ?
The Continental troops while at the High Hills of Santee had been in great distress, without money or stores, and, worse than all, without medicines or hospital supplies. Sickness had increased since the battle of Eutaw, probably from the operations in the swamps of the Congaree, and the wounded were in a most deplorable condition. Tarleton
VOL. IV. - 2 N
546
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
and Simcoe in Virginia had destroyed the hospital stores on the way to South Carolina. It was at this time, says Johnson, when pressed to the earth by the distresses that surrounded him, and listening to the daily representations made of the forlorn state of his men and officers, not un- frequently accompanied with the indignant exclamation, " We are abandoned, let us retire," that the general uttered that celebrated declaration which South Carolina will never forget, " I will deliver the country or perish."1 The State certainly showed itself not ungrateful for such services as the commander of the Southern Department did render within her borders. The warmest acknowledgments for what he had done were cordially made, and substantial emoluments bestowed upon him; while the deeds of her own generals were accepted but as services due of right. The State to-day does not look back grudgingly upon what she then gave heartily. But the historian, in view of all that is now known, and of Greene's correspondence, which is now public, cannot but observe that this determination to stand by South Carolina or perish was not announced until General Washington himself had assumed command of the Southern Department. Until Washington appeared in Vir- ginia, Greene's mind was set upon the command in that State. It was Lee's importunity and Rawdon's evacuation of Camden only that had prevented his abandonment of the State immediately after his defeat at Hobkirk's Hill. It was his intention to have returned to Virginia with a part if not all of his forces, had Ninety Six fallen, leaving the volunteer bands of South Carolina alone to oppose Lord Rawdon's army, which, though then below the Santee, was no weaker than when it had beaten him at Hobkirk's Hill. He had failed before Ninety Six and was in full retreat northward when Rawdon's evacuation of Ninety
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.