USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1780-1783 > Part 50
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come alongside, as the captain wished to purchase some provisions. Rudulph obeyed, and, as he got alongside,, threw some of his poultry on deck, his disguised men att the same time taking fast hold of the galley. On signal from Rudulph, Smith and the soldiers rose and boarded the galley. Three or four of the men of the galley, including the sentinel, were killed. Some escaped in the darkness of the night by throwing themselves into the river, and the captain with twenty-eight sailors were captured. The galley mounted twelve guns besides swivels, and wa: manned with forty-three seamen. Rudulph did not lose a man, and after taking out such stores as he found on board the galley he burnt her, and returned to his place o embarkation.
The enterprise was productive of excellent effect upor the British garrison in the town. It counteracted the suc cesses of Coffin and Thompson, and alarmed the enem lest the town might be assailed, as Greene contemplated and to open the way for which this adventure had, in fac been first designed. Every alarm in the night excited dir apprehensions : sometimes Greene was moving to forc their lines ; at others he was floating down the Ashley and in one way or other he was ever present to their di turbed imaginations. But such fears were illusory. Afte a critical examination of the enemy's situation, no poir was found vulnerable, and the general was obliged relinquish any attempt on the city.1 1
There was distress and great discontent in the army this time. No supplies could be obtained from Congres and none from Virginia or North Carolina. For two yea two armies had ravaged the State of South Carolina, drar ing their supplies entirely from its fields. The arrival
1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 537, 545-546 ; Moultrie's 1 moirs, 297.
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reinforcements from Pennsylvania now, after the fighting was nearly over, but added so many more mouths to be filled. On the 9th of March General Greene addressed the President of Congress as follows : -
" Your officers are in distress, having drained every private resource for support. Your soldiers are complaining for want of pay and clothing; and though both have shown as much merit and virtue, as much patience and forbearance, as can be found in history, yet you cannot but be sensible that this is a dangerous foundation to build upon - though it may last for a time it will have an end. I shall use all the address and influence I am master of to gain time; but some fundamental alteration must take place or opposition will fail ; and whenever a discontent begins to discover itself a dissolution will follow -a temper I dread the approach of, and a consequence I fear much more than the force of the enemy.
"Great part of my troops are in deplorable situation for want of clothing, and it would have been much worse had it not been for some small supplies from the people at large and from the merchants of Charlestown by the advice and approbation of the Governor and council of the State, who have, upon every occasion, done everything in their power for our relief and support.
in " Not a rag of clothing has come from the northward, except a small quantity of linen for the officers. A considerable quantity has been in Virginia all winter, and a number of arms which we have been, and still are in great want of. We have three hundred men with- WEput arms, and more than a thousand men are so naked for want of fteclothing, that they can only be put on duty in cases of desperate ne- essity. Men in this situation, without pay or spirits, it is difficult to ell what charm keeps them together. I believe that nothing but the pride of the army, and the severity of discipline support them under heir sufferings." 1 d
When General Greene first entered South Carolina there vas no civil government, and he had exercised the right f impressment from military necessity. And when Gov- rnor Rutledge joined him on the Pee Dee the governor vas at hand to support him to the extent of his dictatorial
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 316, 317.
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powers. But this power of impressment had been greatly abused in Virginia, and, as has been seen, offensively exercised by Colonel Lee in this State. It is not surpris- ing, therefore, that among the acts of the Jacksonborough Assembly was one prohibiting impressments. The State did not, however, stop to bargain for the support of the army now left entirely upon her, for Georgia could dd nothing ; but without contract or reference to the inquiry whether it would amount to more or less than her quota took upon herself its maintenance. The fact was, as after wards appeared, South Carolina was already creditor to the largest amount of any State in the Union excep Massachusetts, notwithstanding the greater devastation which had been committed within her borders. But this she did not stop to compute. Congress had assigned ai her quota of $1,000,000, the Continental estimate for the year 1782, the sum of $73,598. In consideration of the scarcity of specie, Mr. Morris, the Superintendent o Finance of the United States, proposed that supplies fo the army should be furnished by the State in kind, instead of in money to that amount. The Assembly accepted thi proposition, and passed an act reciting the facts and pledg ing the faith of the State for procuring and furnishin supplies to the army to the amount asked for. For thi purpose commissioners were appointed who were charge with obtaining these supplies in a manner most equal an least burdensome to the people. But in doing this th Assembly also provided that no other persons than thos who should be appointed by the governor should allowed or permitted to procure supplies for the army Impressments were thus emphatically prohibited. It wa objected that this prohibition was calculated to make th
1 Statutes at Large, vol. IV, 325, 326.
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army altogether dependent upon the State for subsistence ; 1 but surely, if Congress could not or would not support it, the alternative, however disagreeable to General Greene, was the necessary consequence of the neglect of Congress, not the fault of the State. The condition in which the community would be placed, if the army could take what- ever they wanted or claimed that they wanted, would scarcely be preferable to the demands of the Royal authority. Though he made no complaint at the time, it is evident that Greene was not pleased with the arrange- ment. The sincerity and earnestness of the governor and council, as well as of the Assembly, however, were too conspicuous to admit of doubt of their intentions, and the general communicated to the governor the quantity of pro- visions in bread and meat necessary for the daily allowance of the army. This Governor Mathews undertook without hesitation to furnish.
Mr. William Hort was appointed commissary and forage master general in behalf of the State, and the new system went into operation under the most favorable auspices; but in less than six weeks murmurs began and General Greene was complaining. On the 1st of April he writes to the governor : -
" I am much afraid that Mr. Hort has not the activity or industry requisite for the duties of his appointment. We are from day to day kept ineasy for want of regular supplies of provision. One day we are with- but beef, the next without rice, and some days without either. Supplies coming to the army in this way keep the men continually murmuring und complaining. Men will bear disappointments for two or three lays at a time, but when the supplies are continually irregular and fre- quently deficient, the soldiers will get impatient and that will soon row up into disagreeable discontent. To produce these frequent dis- ppointments there must be a defect in the arrangements or a want f industry in the execution. I am not acquainted with Mr. Hort but
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 315.
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I am afraid he has more method than despatch. To fill the place he is in activity is no less requisite than method and integrity. Your Excellency knows of how much importance it is to have the army constantly and well supplied; and in our situation how dangerous a failure. I beg you will therefore explain to Mr. Hort the necessity of being punctual. The service must suffer if the troops are without provisions and God only knows what may be the consequences should the enemy avail himself of one of these unfortunate moments to at- tack. We are very near the enemy, even within surprising distance. It is dangerous hazarding the least discontent in a matter which never fails to produce ill humor in an army. Our troops have never been without provisions so much during all last campaign as they have since Mr. Hort has undertaken the business, and the provisions not more than twenty or thirty miles off." 1
Besides General Greene's usual querulousness, there is a tone of uneasiness and anxiety in this letter unwarranted by the irregularities in the supplies of which it complains. That Mr. Hort was able to supply the army at all under the circumstances should have caused congratulations rather than complaints. The country from which the supplies were to be drawn had been harried and ravaged now for two years. The dispersion of Marion's brigade had cut off the country from the Cooper to the Santee; that from the Santee to the Edisto had, during the whole of the preceding season, been traversed and pillaged to an extent which had pre- vented farming and interfered with the produce. Upon the evacuation of Camden, Sumter had cleared it as far as he could of cattle and horses, and Lord Rawdon on his re- treat had swept away all that Sumter had left. In the section to the south of the Edisto the planters had been in a turmoil since Harden had entered it the year before. Without means of transportation, the wonder is that the State commissary was able to accomplish as much as he did. Doubtless the army felt the check upon the arbitrary
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 315.
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impressments in which they had been indulged during the last year, and that in this way it was true that they had not been as restricted during the last campaign. Governor Mathews, who had experience as chairman of the commit- tee of Congress, at Washington's headquarters, was quite as competent to judge of Mr. Hort's efficiency as General Greene ; and while he made the most zealous efforts to keep the troops supplied, General Greene's complaints did not shake his confidence in Mr. Hort's industry and capac- ity. Probably, too, Governor Mathews was aware of the general's habit of finding some one responsible for all his own misadventures, and that not even Colonel Davie, who had sacrificed opportunities of fame in the field, to act as his commissary and had served him so faithfully, and apparently possessed so large a portion of his esteem, could escape expressions of the general's impatience.1
The truth is that Greene had deeper causes of anxiety at this time than could have been given by the absence of rum and tobacco, and the irregularities of the commissariat. The whole Continental line was doubtless in a deplorable state for the want of clothing and other necessaries ; but beyond physical suffering, which many other armies have endured without rebellion, there was at this time a spirit of unrest and insubordination throughout his army. Colonel Lee, who had been so petted and spoiled by General Greene, could not brook being outranked by Colonel Laurens, and conceiving that Greene had not done him justice in his official reports, on the 26th of January, 1782, requested leave of absence in a letter in which he does not attempt to conceal his discontent and dissatisfaction. A wordy and platitudinous correspondence ensued between the former friends, in which they declared their love for each other; but Lee refused to withdraw his letter, and left the army
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 248.
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in which he had so greatly distinguished himself, and thee operations of which he had so greatly influenced.1 Upon his retirement General Greene reorganized his light troops into a brigade, which he placed under the command of General Gist of Maryland. By this arrangement the cavalry of the Legion and that of the Third and Fourth Virginia Regiments were united under Colonel Baylor ; the infantry of the Legion, the dismounted dragoons of the Third Regiment, the Delaware Regiment, and one hundred men detached from the line and commanded by Major Beale, were formed into a body of infantry under the command of Colonel Laurens. This arrangement gave new cause for offence, as it prevented the promotion of Major Rudulph, who had so long and so efficiently served, but who, in Greene's opinion, did not possess the requisites for such a command. Connected with this objection was also an indisposition to serve under Colonel Laurens. The result was the resigna- tion in a body of Major Rudulph and all the officers of the Legion. Then the captains and subalterns of the Pennsyl- vania line were offended because Captain Wilmot of the Maryland line had been put in charge of a criticalservice, and undertook to remonstrate against it and discuss with the general the propriety of the detail.2 It was not surprising, as General Wayne declared, that such a spirit of discontent and insubordination should be communicated to the men. Nor was it to be expected that the state of the army or the sentiment of the soldiers could be concealed from an enemy but twenty miles distant; and unfortunately the army at this time had in it a mass of material too easy
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 321-322. Colonel Lee concludes by declaring his wish that he could bind his mind to another decision. He writes, "I have tried much, but the sores of my wounds are only irritated by such efforts."
2 Captain William Wilmot, Second Maryland Continental Regiment, who was to fall just before the end of the war, his blood the last spilled in the Revolution.
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to be worked upon. This was in the Pennsylvania line, whose officers were now disputing with the general the propriety of his orders, and whose men were the very mutineers who had triumphed over the government in the insurrection in New Jersey the year before, and who, as Lafayette observed, "had been well paid and well clothed in consequence of it." There was even in it one of the sergeants who had been put in command of the regiments in the mutiny, and a number of others of the same description who had deserted from the enemy whilst they lay in Philadelphia. It was believed that this man, Sergeant Gornell, and several others, including the gen- eral's steward, had been bought over by secret emissaries ; and had the zeal of these agents not prompted them to make an attempt on the fidelity of the Maryland line, the most fatal consequences might have ensued.1
The first indication of the trouble was a placard near the quarters of General St. Clair, who commanded the Penn- sylvanians, to this effect, " Can soldiers be expected to do their duty clothed in rags and fed on rice." The Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia Continentals were doubtless in rags at this time ; but the Pennsylvania line, as Lafayette observed, were from their mutiny the best-clothed troops in the army. These men were no doubt unaccustomed to rice, but it was a substantial and nutritious food. Pam- pered, indeed, must have been the soldiers who would mutiny rather than eat it. Suspicion attaching to certain of the line, they went over at once to the enemy, and the trouble apparently ended. But it had not; a conspiracy was formed by Gornell and the general's steward, and a correspondence opened with the enemy to deliver up on a given day the commander and every officer of distinction. The quick ear of a camp-woman, who had noticed the
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 319.
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murmuring of the disaffected and unguarded expressions of the ringleader, occasioned the discovery of the plot.
Steps were at once taken to meet and crush the revolt. The light troops, who had been relieved of outpost duty and were being indulged with more comfortable quarters in the rear to recover from the fatigues of the severe ser- vice they had undergone, were quietly brought forward. To these not a shade of suspicion attached. Washington's and the Legion cavalry took their station in advance. The Delawares, Smith's company of Virginia regulars, and the Legion infantry were drawn nearer to headquarters. A troop of horse was pushed forward to watch the motions of the enemy. These arrangements having been quietly but promptly made, Sergeant Gornell was arrested. That night every soldier who apprehended he had committed himself broke away and joined the enemy, then advanced to receive them; for this it appears was the very day the plot was to have been executed. For many days before symptoms of mutiny had appeared, and movements of the enemy had taken place which had put the American com- mander on his guard.
Sergeant Gornell was tried and convicted and executed on the 22d of April. He walked to his execution with a firm step and composed countenance, distributing, as he passed along, to such of his companions as approached him, several articles of his clothing, at that period valuable legacies. His hat he gave to one, his coat to another, his sleeve-buttons to a third. Every countenance, we are told, expressed sorrow, but not a murmur was heard. Arrived at the fatal spot, the doomed man, in a few words, but in the most impressive manner, called upon his comrades "not to sully their glory nor forego the advantages they would specially realize from a termination of the war; and if a thought of desertion had been harbored in their bosoms
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at once to discard it." "I have no cause," he added, " to complain of the court. I certainly spoke imprudently, and from the evidence given of my guilt they could not have acted otherwise." He then gave the signal to the platoon selected from his own corps, was fired on, and expired.1
Some others, believed to be associates with the sergeant, among whom were Peters and Owens, domestic servants at headquarters, were also tried; but the testimony was not deemed conclusive by the court. Four other sergeants of the Pennsylvania line were sent into the interior under guard. The decisive conduct of General Greene crushed effectually the mutiny, and the result proved that, although the temper of complaint and of discontent pervaded the army, but few of the soldiers were in reality guilty of the criminal intentions which were believed at first to have spread far through the ranks.
On the morning of the execution Captain O'Neal of the Legion, accompanied by Lieutenant John Middleton and Captain Rudulph, who had volunteered, was sent to watch the movements of the enemy. Passing Bacon's bridge, they patrolled the road for several miles below Dorchester, and seeing no appearance of the enemy without their lines, O'Neal turned his troop to retire. Rudulph and two dragoons were in the advance. On a sudden three well- mounted black troopers appeared in their front. These were immediately charged. The chief of the negro party fell by the arm of Pope, a soldier of distinguished gal- lantry. Rudulph dismounted the second, and made him a prisoner. The third escaped. From the captive they learned that a troop under the command of Captain Daw- kins had gone by the way of Goose Creek bridge and were to return by way of Dorchester. Upon this informa-
1 Garden's Anecdotes of the Revolution, 365-367.
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tion O'Neal pushed forward in full expectation of a com- plete triumph. Dawkins was soon discovered passing through the village of Dorchester and bearing down upon O'Neal. The charge was sounded on both sides and a fierce conflict began ; but before any material advantage could be gained, the bugle was heard from another quarter, and British infantry arose in every direction. A road leading to Goose Creek afforded the only chance of retreat; this was immediately taken, and, though exposed to a heavy fire, the officers and most of the privates escaped without injury - nine men and fifteen horses of the troop fell into the hands of the enemy. This was the only advantage resulting to the enemy in a conjuncture from which he expected to derive signal benefit.1
General Pickens, it will be remembered, had, about the 1st of November, been despatched to guard the frontiers against the Indians, who had again been incited to rise, a part of Cuningham's band having escaped in that direction after the massacre at Hayes's Station and joined the Cherokees there.2 Some time before General Pickens em- barked upon the expedition he communicated his intentions to Generals Rutherford and Sevier of North Carolina, re- questing their cooperation. These officers responded, and a plan of campaign, assailing the Indian country at differ- ent points, was arranged; but for some reasons unknown, Rutherford and Sevier did not comply with their under- taking. General Pickens, relying upon this promised assistance, about the 1st of January, with a party of Geor- gians under Major John Cunningham and a portion of his own brigade, made a rapid but cautious march into the eastern part of the Cherokee Nation, in what is now Oconee
1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 547, 549 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 319, 320; Garden's Anecdotes of the Revolution, 367, 368. 2 See ante, 484.
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County, and laid every town, village, and settlement in ashes on the east of the mountains. Receiving no intelli- gence, however, of the cooperation of Rutherford and Sevier, he fell back. This retrograde motion was construed by the Indians into fear of a general engagement, and dis- sipated the effect of the destruction of their towns and property. In this expedition Pickens killed forty Cherokees, with a great number of prisoners, burned thirteen towns, with the loss only of two men wounded.1
Colonel Robert Anderson of Pickens's brigade, obtain- ing intelligence that an attack was to be made by a body of Loyalists, Cherokees, and Creeks, communicated the information to Colonel Clarke of Georgia, and appointed Freeman Fort as the place of rendezvous on the 1st of April. Clarke repaired there with one hundred Georgians and was joined by Anderson with three hundred Carolinians. They marched early the next morning to Oconee River, passed over it a short distance, where they halted to obtain further intelligence of the enemy. Scouts were sent out in different directions, with orders to avoid if possible being discovered by the Indians. Captain Black, who commanded one of these parties, had not proceeded more than a mile before he fell in with the main body of the enemy. The discovery of each other was made at the same time by both parties. Black retreated towards camp, and was pursued and fired upon by the Indians, who appeared to have had no information of a formidable force being so near them. Colonel Clarke immediately advanced to the scene of action and met Black on the retreat. When the enemy discovered the American force, they fled in the ut- most confusion, and scattered in various directions so as to avoid a general engagement. Several of the Indians were killed, and two of the Loyalists were taken prisoners and 1 McCall's Hist. of Ga., vol. II, 698; Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 527. VOL. IV. - 2 s
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hanged - for former offences, as it was said. Their very presence with the Indians, however, under these circum- stances, would have justified their execution. Captain Holloway of Anderson's regiment was killed in the pur- suit by a wounded Indian. This defeat had a temporary effect, and left the inhabitants for a few months in the enjoyment of comparative quietness and peace.1
Lee justly observes that it is extraordinary that the Cherokees, who had complied with their engagements and kept the peace during the past campaign, when the success of Lord Cornwallis and the many difficulties Greene had to encounter gave such encouragement to their rising, should have delayed doing so until the British army in Virginia had been forced to surrender, and that acting in South Carolina had been compelled to take shelter under the guns of the forts and ships in Charlestown harbor; and that at this late hour they were so rash as to listen to exhortations often before applied in vain.
The inhabitants in the interior, between the Indians on the frontier and the armies now restricted to the coast, were yet in a fearful condition. Open war had ceased, and the armies had passed away, but the internecine struggle in many parts of the State still continued with fearful results. In some, however, truces were agreed upon between the Whigs and Loyalists. One instance of this was a truce made between the Loyalists on the Salkehatchie and the neighboring State militia in order to allow the cultivation of the crops for the ensuing summer. To effect this, proposals were made for a cessation of hostilities for a limited time. Commissioners authorized for the purpose met at the house of a Mr. Gray on the southern side of the Edisto, about ten miles above Saw 8
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