USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1780-1783 > Part 49
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"Yours of the 7th came to hand. I asked leave of the House to return but they would not grant it; there are three laws now on the carpet which they insist I should stay until finished. If I leave the House the business will be over as many will go with me and they will not be able to make a House. Our material business is the three laws above hinted at. These reasons oblige me to stay until Wednes- day next when I hope I shall set out. If your health is such as to require your absence from camp you will leave the command of the brigade to Col. Maham," 2 etc.
General Greene had decided against Maham's preten- sions, but in doing so he had given offence to Horry ; so on the 14th he writes a long letter of explanation replete with moral reflections, urging Horry to take the initiative in making friends with Maham, as he was in a superior position to do so with dignity.3 On the same day Marion writes that he cannot yet return, as his going away will break the House and put a stop to business, " but hope we shall get through by the beginning of next week,"4 that is, by the 18th or 19th. The Assembly did not, however, finish its business until the 26th, and in the meantime the
1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 248. 3 Ibid., 251, 252.
2 Ibid., 249.
4 Ibid., 253.
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enemy, doubtless through the women who were allowed to go to town against Marion's orders, were fully apprised of the disorganized condition of the forces on the Cooper River, and prepared to take advantage of them.
On the British side a new character appeared on the field at this late day. The celebrated Count Rumford, then Colonel Thompson, a Massachusetts Tory who had been in England since the evacuation of Boston by the British army, and had, under Lord George Germain, reached the high post of Under Secretary of State, and in the prosecution of his scientific pursuits had been elected Fellow of the Royal Society, had now returned to America, and come to South Carolina as a cavalry officer burning for an opportunity of distinction. Arriving at the opportune moment, a detachment of two hundred horse, five hundred infantry, and two pieces of artillery was formed, and under his command moved up the Cooper River. Early information of this movement had been communicated by the numerous and vigilant con- fidants in Charlestown; and Greene, it is said, had re- peatedly hinted to Marion the necessity of his return to his command.1 But the State officials were all so bent at the time upon the enactment of the unfortunate Confisca- tion Act, they seemed to have been unable to consider other matters, however important. Marion did not leave Jacksonborough until the British detachment was actually in motion. Then, accompanied by Colonel Maham, who had also left his command for his legislative duties, by a cir- cuitous route and a very rapid ride, on the 24th of February, he reached the ground on which Maham's regiment was encamped at Mepkin. Here they were informed that the enemy was retiring, and while Maham paid a visit to his 2 own plantation, Marion remained to rest and refresh him- r 1 7e at er
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 306.
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self before they resumed their journey for the encamp- ment of the brigade. In five hours after Maham's depar- ture an express arrived with the alarming intelligence that the brigade had been surprised and dispersed.1
Colonel Horry had by Marion's orders taken a position on the north side of Wambaw Creek. His position there was in an angle formed by two roads which passed from Lenud's Ferry to Elias Horry's plantation, about a quarter of a mile from the bridge over the creek. In his rear was a wood. His newly raised Continental regiment, scarcely yet half completed, lay at Durant's plantation, about a mile above, under the immediate command of Major Benison. On the 23d of February Horry had out patrols upon the Christ Church road, and scouts in St. Thomas's Parish. Thinking himself secure, and being sick, on the 24th he went over the river to his own planta- tion, leaving the brigade under the command of Colonel McDonald, contrary, says James in his Life of Marion, to General Marion's order, which was to leave it in such case under Maham.2 But this criticism is unjust, for not only had Maham separated his command from Horry, but Maham himself at the time was with Marion at Jackson- borough.3
Colonel Thompson's detachment, consisting of the cavalry, Cuningham's and Young's troops of mounted militia, the Yagers, Volunteers of Ireland, a detachment of the Thirtieth Regiment, and one three-pounder, on Sunday, the 24th of February, crossed Cooper River to Daniel's Island in St. Thomas's, and rapidly advanced to attack Horry's position. By the very spirited exertions of the troops and by mounting the infantry occasionally
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 307.
2 James's Life of Marion, 160-161.
8 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 307.
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on the dragoons' horses, Colonel Thompson was enabled to carry on the whole corps thirty-six miles without halting, when, falling in with a party of Horry's, an officer and six men, none of whom escaped to give intelligence, he pressed on with the cavalry and mounted militia, leaving the infantry posted at Drake's plantation.1
Major Benison was at dinner when Captain Bennett, who commanded the scouts in St. Thomas's, came in with the intelligence that the British were approaching. Finding Benison, it is said, incredulous of the report, and unwilling to be disturbed at his meal, Bennett proceeded to head- quarters, where he found McDonald also at dinner. He likewise refused to believe the intelligence because, he said, he had been down into Christ Church the day before; but he desired Major James, who had just arrived in camp and came for orders, to take command of his regiment. In less than half an hour after firing com- menced at Durant's.
McDonald's regiment was on the right towards Echaw Creek, and two regiments of six-months men were on the left towards Wambaw. Major James immediately formed McDonald's regiment in the wood in the rear, and rode to the left for orders from the ranking officer present, Colonel Screven ; but Screven's men had already broken and he was trying to rally them, but in vain.2
Benison, who commanded Horry's regiment of dragoons, when the pickets were driven in, crossed Wambaw bridge and formed the corps in very good order on rising ground one hundred yards beyond. He had scarcely done so before the best of the Royal mounted militia, under Colonel Doyle, arrived, and formed at once opposite Benison's party to give time for the rest to come up.
1 The Royal Gazette, March 2, 1782.
2 James's Life of Marion, 160, 161.
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Colonel Doyle,1 however, judging from the movements of the American officers that Benison was about to attack; determined to anticipate the action, and made the signal with his whistle for a charge, which was instantly obeyed by the men with the greatest gallantry. Benison's men, newly raised Continental recruits, fired their pistols, then broke in confusion and were pursued with great slaughter, Benison himself being killed. The British asserted that nothing but the breaking down of Wambaw bridge, when the first of their dragoons were crossing, prevented a total extinction of Horry's corps.2
Benison's fugitives fell back upon Screven's men, who likewise gave way. Major James, perceiving the day to be lost, returned to his own regiment and ordered a retreat. The Americans did not claim to know their loss. The British asserted that, including patrols met in the morn- ing, forty were killed and four prisoners taken. The Americans admitted a loss of thirty-five horses.3
It was of this disaster that Marion heard while resting at Mepkin. Placing himself at once at the head of Maham's regiment, he hurried on across the country towards Wambaw, thirty or forty miles away. Arrived within five miles of the enemy, he halted at the house of Mrs. Tydiman to refresh his men and horses; and the latter were unbitted and feeding when the whole of the enemy's cavalry made their appearance.4 To deceive his opponents, Colonel Thompson, after his success on Sunday the 24th, had made a parade of driving off the cattle he
1 Colonel Doyle, it will be remembered, had sailed for England with Lord Rawdon on the 21st of August, 1781. The vessel in which they sailed was captured by the French. How Colonel Doyle was released and returned to South Carolina we do not know.
2 The Royal Gazette, March 2, 1782.
3 Ibid. ; James's Life of Marion, 162.
4 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II., 307 ; James's Life of Marion, 162.
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had collected and sending his infantry in the direction of Wappetaw, in Christ Church Parish. Then, at eight o'clock on the morning of the 25th, with his cavalry and mounted militia, he pushed on to the Santee. Approaching Tydiman's plantation, he discovered two pickets with bay- onets, who were, he assumed, Continental soldiers. Learn- ing from this the presence of infantry, Colonel Thomp- son formed his line with rapidity, but with great care.1 Alarmed by the fire of the advanced pickets, Captain John Carraway Smith, commanding Maham's corps, having had time to bit the horses and mount his men, drew them up promptly in column, and General Marion, posting a small body of infantry along the fence of the lane, ordered Smith to charge. In order to avoid a pond in doing this, Smith was obliged to incline to the left to reach the enemy, and in performing the evolution, the regiment, being also newly raised and not yet well drilled, fell into disorder. Thomp- son at once seized the opportunity and charged with a shout. All was now rout and dismay. Many of the Americans, at- tempting to escape by swimming the Santee, were shot in the river by the enemy's riflemen, and others were drowned, among them Lieutenant Smyser of Horry's cavalry. A con- siderable party under the command of Captain Jones took the river road, and by lifting the Wambaw bridge arrested the progress of the enemy, and rallied at a short distance from their recent encampment. The number of slain was by no means as great as might have been supposed, for the pickets saved the infantry. The British claimed to have killed about twenty and captured twelve. James, how- ever, asserts that but three men were killed. The enemy's estimate is more probably correct.2
1 The Royal Gazette, March 2, 1782.
2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 308 ; James's Life of Marion, 163 ; 162. The Royal Gazette, March 2, 1782.
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The detention of Marion at Jacksonborough in order to pass a confiscation bill, an unwise and unfortunate measure in itself, and the quarrel between Maham and Horry, now acting under Continental commissions which Greene had weakly allowed to continue without practical and definite decision, thus resulted in the annihilation of Marion's force for the time, with scarcely the loss of a man to the enemy. Few of his men had been killed or taken, but the loss of horses and arms was great ; above all was the blow to the confidence Marion had hitherto so successfully cherished in his men. But no sooner was Marion's actual presence known than they again gathered around him. McDonald collected about two hundred beyond the river. Maham, sadly vexed and mortified and not a little offended with his commander for marching without him, also gathered up his dispersed corps, and the greatest efforts were made once more to re- gain the tract of country now in the undivided possession of the enemy. The enemy's triumph was, however, of short duration ; fearing the result of Thompson's expedition, General Greene, immediately on hearing of its actual movements, ordered Colonel Laurens to march to Marion's support. On his approach Colonel Thompson, after gather- ing some stock and provisions, retired to Cainhoy, where he was securely posted and could retreat or be reenforced in perfect safety. Laurens then returned beyond the Ashley.1
After this brilliant exploit, Colonel Thompson formed a bold plan of surprising General Greene himself, whose headquarters were at Ashley Hall, and capturing the com- mander of the Southern department. To effect this he must cross Ashley River either over Bacon's bridge at Dorchester, which was too well secured for a sudden at- tack of cavalry, or at Ashley, now Bee's Ferry, ten miles 1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 308.
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from town. He chose the latter. But when he arrived there it was ebb tide, the water running out as from a mill sluice, the banks on each side were miry, the river at least one hundred yards wide, and there was not a boat. Thompson, unacquainted with the nature of the marshy banks, ordered Major Fraser to lead the first troop into the river and swim across. Fraser, who was an excellent and gallant officer, declared that he was not in the habit of disputing or hesitating to perform any order given by his commander, but protested that the thing was impos- sible. Thompson still persisted, but consenting that the attempt should be made by a sergeant, the best trooper and best swimmer in the corps mounted on a valuable charger belonging to Major Fraser - the horse was lost, and the sergeant himself barely saved; the further attempt to cross the river was abandoned and the scheme to capture Greene given up.1 With this attempt Colonel Thompson disappears from the scene in South Carolina to become minister of war, minister of police, and grand chamber- lain to the Elector of Bavaria.
After the late unfortunate occurrence, Marion found Horry's regiment so crippled and disorganized that it was ordered to fall back to the Pee Dee to recruit. Only sixty of Maham's horse could be brought into the field, and he could only muster forty militiamen. Thus re- duced, Marion was compelled to retire beyond the Santee until he could return in force to repossess the country. The interval of his absence was but too successfully improved by the enemy in predatory excursions. The cattle had been previously driven across the Santee, but provision and slaves to a considerable amount were carried off.2
1 James's Life of Marion, 164.
2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 309.
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It was now determined to consolidate the remnants of the two Continental regiments of Horry and Maham into one, and the question as to which of the two should be retained as the commander of this consolidated regiment was one of great delicacy and embarrassment. Governor Mathews at last, however, extorted from Marion his deci- sion. Horry and himself had begun their careers together as captains in the regular regiments raised in 1775, had been together at Fort Moultrie, and in the Continental service until the fall of Charlestown ; Horry had been with him from his first return from North Carolina under Gates, and had joined him in raising again the standard of Amer- ican freedom when the State was declared subjugated ; and during all this time he had been conspicuous for his gal- lantry and patriotism. His property had been wasted and his life exposed recklessly in the cause of his country. Nevertheless, the fact appears to have been that Horry, though a good infantry officer, failed in the most essential requisite of a commander of cavalry, and the most common accomplishment of a gentleman of the time, that of horse- manship. Strange to say, though ambitious of the fame of a good cavalry officer, he was a poor rider. In several charges he made, it is said that he was indebted to some one or other of his men for saving his life. This Marion with great reluctance was forced to admit, and Maham was appointed to the command of the new regiment. Horry resigned, but as some consolation Marion made him commandant of Georgetown, with full power not only to defend it from the enemy, but to regulate its trade. The latter was a duty for which, however, he was scarcely better fitted than for the command of cavalry.1
Maham had but a short enjoyment of the preference shown him and of the command for which he was so am-
1 James's Life of Marion, 165.
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bitious. He was soon after taken sick, and retired to his plantation, at which a militia guard was posted to watch the enemy and to apprise him of any danger that should threaten. The news of his absence from his corps could not be long concealed from the enemy -so much in the habit of attaching importance to the presence of particu- lar leaders ; an adventurous young lieutenant of Cuning- ham's Loyalists undertook and executed the bold enterprise of penetrating sixty miles into the country and of making Maham prisoner. Among the negroes taken from Maham's neighborhood he found guides to conduct him through the woods and into the house of the colonel, whilst he sat at supper with his physician and one of his lieutenants. The surprise was too complete to admit of resistance. From the conduct of Cuningham's parties in recent in- stances and the known hostility of the Loyalists to Maham, nothing but death appeared to await the prisoners, when Robins, for that was the name of the young man, demanded their surrender to an officer of General Cuningham. Robins could neither read nor write, and his conduct was said to have proved his ignorance of the forms of service, but with true bravery and humanity the apprehensions of his prisoners were soon allayed by his telling them, "We "shall do you no injury ; treat my men with humanity when you meet them in the field." "How much blood," ob- served Johnson, from whom this account is taken, "would have been saved had a similar spirit animated all who had borne a part in this dreadful drama !" Maham was paroled o his own house, but the original parole was left in his possession ; and Robins, though requested, had exhibited o commission.1
Maham's career was ended. Horry retired to an uncon- 1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 334 ; The Royal Gazette, May 22, 782.
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genial local command to which he was not suited, and Marion's brigade generally was disorganized. This was the result of Marion's detention at Jacksonborough, and the dispute between the two officers as to their rank - a dispute which the commander of the department, usually so arbitrary, had not the firmness peremptorily to decide.
About the same time that Thompson started upon his raid, a Tory son of South Carolina undertook a like in- cursion below. Young Andrew De Veaux, who earlier in the war, in order to commit his followers irrevocably, had ravaged General Stephen Bull's plantation and burnt Sheldon Church, in what is now Beaufort County, after several brilliant and perilous personal adventures had risen to the rank of major in the Royal militia, and as such had been in command when Harden took Fort Balfour, was again in the field. He sailed from the Stono with a party of soldiers in three small vessels, and foraged all along the inland watercourses, extending his incursions all the way to Ossabaw in Georgia.
General Wayne, who it will be remembered had been despatched by General Greene into Georgia, and was now operating against Savannah, was endeavoring to circum- scribe the country from which the garrison of that town was drawing its supplies, as Greene had curtailed that which supplied Charlestown. A considerable quantity of rice which had not been thrashed remained on Hutch- inson's Island, opposite Savannah, and so near the town as to be under the cover of the enemy's guns. There was
also a large amount of stacked rice on Governor Wright's plantation, about half a mile northeast of the town. Unable to get possession of this rice himself, Wayne de- termined to attempt its destruction. His plan was to make simultaneous attempts to burn the forage and grain collected both at Wright's and on Hutchinson's Island,
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The time appointed was between twelve and two in the night of the 24th of February, and it was arranged that the party under Wayne should advance and occupy the attention of the enemy, whilst General Barnwell, crossing from the Carolina side of the river in canoes, should per- form his part of the undertaking.
Unfortunately for this enterprise, De Veaux with his flotilla appeared at Beaufort at this time, and, though deceived and foiled by a party of gentlemen representing themselves in the dusk of the evening as an advanced guard of a large force, upon his first landing at Beaufort Island he succeeded in destroying the boats which General Barnwell was collecting for Wayne's expedition. Col- onel Robert Barnwell was, however, ordered with fifty men in boats to pass the river and burn the rice upon the island. By some misfortune he was betrayed or dis- covered, and being fired upon as he advanced, retreated, losing five or six of his men killed and as many taken prisoners. Wayne, hearing the firing, advanced, in order to draw the attention of the enemy to himself, and com- pletely succeeded in effecting his part of the undertaking.1 It was at this time that the opposition to General Barn- well's command and discontent at his appointment ran highest; and he very soon after resigned.2
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 293, 294 ; McCall's Hist. of Geor- gia, vol. II, 402 ; Johnson's Traditions, 178; The Royal Gazette, March 13, 1782.
2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 293-294.
CHAPTER XXVII
1782
WHEN the Jacksonborough Assembly adjourned, Gen- eral Greene moved the army from Skirving's plantation on the Pon Pon to Bacon's bridge at the head of the Ashley. From this point a communication by boat was opened with Charlestown, and a contraband trade carried on with the concurrence of the governor and council, and with the connivance of the general himself. Means were brought to his consideration by which certain offers of goods in return for rice were suffered to enter. Charlestown. Some supplies for the most distressing wants of the army were received in this way under the eyes of Colonels Laurens and Lee.
From the time of the failure of the expedition to John's Island, General Greene had in contemplation a bold move- ment into the peninsula or neck of land on which stands the city of Charlestown. His plan was to float a detach- ment down the Ashley, in the night, to enter the town in that quarter, in connection with an assault by him upon the enemy's lines in front. Sumter, being consulted upon the plan, just before his resignation, wrote that there was no difficulty of carrying the post at the Quarter House, and thus entering the neck ; the question was as to the ma- terials which Greene had for the assault upon the lines of the town, and the danger of being flanked from the rivers .?
1 General Sumter to General Greene, December 22, 1781; Sumter's letters, Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 68.
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As the scheme presented great difficulties, it was not to be attempted without the careful preliminary examinations of the river. Unfortunately a British galley, for some un- known purpose, had been pushed high up the Ashley and stationed there. Greene was anxious to have the obstruc- tion removed, and intimated his wish, provided the galley could be destroyed without too great a sacrifice. Captain Rudulph of Lee's Legion was advised by Lee of the gen- eral's wish, and charged with the device of some plan for
the execution. Rudulph at once undertook the project, but its attempt was for the time postponed by a movement of the enemy to beat up Lee's quarters at McQueen's plan- tation, forcing Lee to fall back nearer the army. Rudulph did not, however, give up the scheme. Soon after the defeat of Marion's brigade, that is, early in March, he pre- sented a plan to Colonel Lee, who laid it before General Greene. He had observed the facility with which boats going to market passed the galley ; and he proposed to put in one of these boats an adequate force, disguising himself in a countryman's dress, and three or four soldiers in the garb and color of negroes. The boat was to be stored with the usual articles for the Charlestown market, under cover of which he concealed his armed men, while the boat was apparently manned only by himself as a countryman, and four negroes. Lieutenant Smith of the Virginia line, who had with him arranged the plan, joined the captain in its execution. Everything having been prepared with pro- found secrecy, Rudulph and Smith embarked with their parties at a concealed landing-place high up the Ashley on he night of the 18th of March. Between three and four n the morning, Rudulph got near to the galley, when the entinel hailed the boat. He was answered in the negro lialect that it was a market boat, going to town, and asked permission to proceed. In reply the boat was ordered to
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