USA > Tennessee > The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century: Comprising Its Settlement, as the. > Part 21
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JOHN SEVIER, JNO. MCNABB,
JOSEPH WILLSON, JONATHAN TIPTON, GODFREY ISBELL."
WM. TRIMBLE, JAMES STINSON,
On the same page is a list of captains. They are " Cap- tains McKnabb, Sevier, Hoskins, Been, Brown, Isbell, Trim- ble, Willson, Gist, Stinson, Davis, Patterson, Williams."
A similar requisition was made upon Isaac Shelby, the Colonel of Sullivan county. He was then absent in Ken- tucky. Fortunately General Rutherford was hurried off with such reinforcements as were near at hand, and the militia of these remote counties were not, with him, placed under the command of General Gates in the ill-advised and badly arranged engagement near Camden. Well was it for the future fame of Sevier and Shelby; well was it for the cause in which, soon afterwards, they acquired distinction for themselves and led their comrades in arms to victory and glory, that they were still left in their mountain recesses to quicken the patriotic impulses, and arouse the martial spirit of their countrymen, and lead them forth against the enemies of their country and of freedom. This duty they were soon called to perform. Col. Charles McDowell, in the absence of General Rutherford, succeeded in command, and immediately forwarded a despatch to Sevier and Shelby, informing these officers of the surrender of Charleston and the main south- ern army, and that the enemy had overrun South-Caro- lina and Georgia, and were rapidly approaching the limits of North-Carolina ; and requesting them to bring to his aid all the riflemen that could be raised, and in as short time as
213
COLONEL SHELBY AND HIS RIFLEMEN.
possible. Sevier had already enrolled, under the requisition of General Rutherford, one hundred of the militia of Wash- ington county. At his call, another hundred immediately volunteered, and, with these two hundred mounted riflemen, he started, at once, across the mountain for the camp of Mc- Dowell. The despatch to Shelby reached him the 16th of June, in Kentucky, where he was locating and surveying lands. He immediately returned home, determined to go to the aid of his bleeding country and sustain the struggle in which she was engaged, till her independence should be secured. His appeal to the chivalry of Sullivan county was met by a hearty response, and early in July he found himself at the head of two hundred mounted riflemen, whom he rapidly led to the camp of McDowell, near the Cherokee ford of Broad River, in South-Carolina. Sevier, with his regiment, had arrived there a few days before.
In the meantime, the British army had advanced to Ninety- Six, Camden and Cheraw, in South-Carolina. At the for- ( mer place Nesbitt Balfour commanded, and, on the 1780 15th July, issued the following proclamation :
" Notwithstanding the extraordinary lenity shown the misled inhabi- tants of this province, that they may now plainly see their true interest is to unite sincerely with his Majesty's forces to suppress every invader of the public tranquillity, I have certain information that some persons who have been received into his Majesty's protection, forgetting every tie of honour and gratitude, and led by the hope of enriching them- selves by plundering the peaceable inhabitants, and are engaged in the work of subverting his Majesty's mild and just government, have t * * and are now actually in arms, with a body of rebels, assembled against the peace of this province.
"This is, therefore, to give notice that every inhabitant of this province who is not at his own home by the 24th instant, or cannot make it appear that he is absent on lawful business, is hereby declared an out- law and is to be treated accordingly, and his property, of whatsoever kind, confiscated, and liable to military execution."
Lord Cornwallis meeting with little obstruction in his vic- torious march, contemplated an extension of his conquest through North-Carolina. He had instructed the loyalists of that state not to rise until his approach to its southern bound-
+ The original, from which this is copied, is here illegible. It was taken from a tory officer by Col. Sevier.
214
CAPTURE OF COLONEL MOORE.
ary would favour their concentration with his forces, and at the same time intimidate the whigs. As he approached Cam- den, Col. Patrick Moore appeared at the head of a large band of disaffected Americans from Tryon (since Lincoln) county, and erecting the royal standard, invited to it all the loyalists in that section of North and South-Carolina lying between the Catawba River and the mountains. The rapid successes of the enemy and his near approach, encouraged the rising of the tories, and Colonel Moore, after an uninterrupted march, took post in a strong fort built by General Williamson, about four years before, during the Cherokee war. It was sur- rounded by a strong abbatis and was otherwise well provided with defences. It stood upon the waters of Pacolet River.
Soon after the arrival of Sevier and Shelby at the Chero- kee ford, Col. McDowell detached them, and Col. Clarke, of Georgia, with about six hundred men, against Moore. His post was more than twenty miles distant. The riflemen took up the line of march at sunset, and at the dawn of day next morning surrounded the fort. Shelby sent in one of his men (William Cocke, Esq.) and made a peremptory demand of the surrender of the fort. Moore replied that he would de- fend it to the last extremity. The lines of the assailants were immediately drawn in, within musket-shot of the enemy all round, with a determination to make an assault upon the fort. But before proceeding to extremities a second message was sent in. To this Moore replied, that he would surrender on condition that the garrison be paroled not to serve again during the war. The assailants were as humane as they were brave; and to save the effusion of the blood of their deluded countrymen, the terms were agreed to. The fort was sur- rendered. Ninety-three loyalists and one British sergeant- major were in the garrison, with two hundred and fifty stand of arms, all loaded with ball and buckshot, and so disposed of at the port-holes that double the number of the whigs might have been easily repulsed.
As confirming the accuracy of the account as here given of the surrender of Colonel Moore, the subjoined letter is here for the first time published. It was taken amongst the spoils at King's Mountain, and is now so worn as to be nearly
215
OTHER MEASURES TAKEN TO EMBODY THE LOYALISTS.
illegible : the writer's name is no longer upon it. It may be the despatch of Major Ferguson himself to Lord Cornwallis, apolo- gizing for the conduct of some loyalist then under censure. Speaking of the fort and garrison commanded by Col. Moore, the writer says :
" It had an upper line of loop-holes and was surrounded by a very strong abbatis, with only a small wicket to enter by. It had been put in thorough repair at the request of the garrison, which consisted of the neighbouring militia that had come to and was defended by eighty men against two or three hundred banditti without cannon, and each man was of opinion that it was impossible ·
The officer next in command and all the others, gave their opinion for defending it, and agree in their account that Patrick Moore, after proposing a surrender, acquiesced in their opinion and offered to go and signify as much to the rebels, but returned, with some rebel officers, whom he put in possession of the gate and place, who were instantly followed by their men, and the fort full of rebels to the surprise of the garrison. He plead cowardice, I understand
" Mr. Gibbs is a very loyal man and has suffered much in this rebel- lion. Maj. Gibbs's fidelity and zeal for the King's service is undoubted. I have only laid the above circumstances before your Lordship, as a proof of the very bad consequences to the pub- lic service Lordship, measures that may follow from the mistaken humanity of easy, well-meaning men to the utter subversion of all justice and policy."
This bold incursion of the mountain men, together with the capture of the garrison under Moore, induced Lord Corn- wallis to detach from his main army some enterprising offi- cers, with a small command, to penetrate through the country, embody the loyalists and take possession of the strongest posts in the interior. This had become the more necessary as the advance of the American army under De Kalb, and afterwards under Gates, began to inspirit the desponding whigs and at the same time restrained the vigor- ous co-operation of the tories with the British troops. Mea- sures were, therefore, adopted to embody and discipline the zealous loyalists, and for this purpose Col. Ferguson, an active and intelligent officer, and possessing peculiar quali- fications for attaching to him the marksmen of Ninety-Six, was despatched into that district.
" To a corps of one hundred picked regulars, he soon succeeded in attaching twelve or thirteen hundred hardy natives ; his camp became
216 FERGUSON SECURES THE ALLEGIANCE OF THE INHABITANTS.
the rendezvous of the desperate, the idle and vindictive, as well as of the youth of the loyalist, whose zeal or ambition prompted them to military service. There was a part of South-Carolina which had not yet been trodden by a hostile foot, and the projected march through this unex- plored and as yet undevastated region, drew many to the standard of Ferguson. This was the country which stretches along the foot of the mountain towards the borders of North-Carolina. The progress of the British commander and his unnatural confederates, was marked with blood and lighted up with conflagrations."*
Astonished by the 'bold and unexpected incursion of the western volunteer riflemen, under Shelby and Sevier, and apprehending that the contagion of their example and their presence might encourage the whigs of Carolina to resume their arms, Ferguson and the loyalists took measures to secure the allegiance of the inhabitants by the following written agreement, entered into and signed by disaffected American militia officers. The original is now before the writer. It was found in the possession of a tory colonel, by Sevier, at King's Mountain.
" As the public safety and the preservation of our freedom and pro- perty depends upon our acting together in support of the royal cause, and in defence of our country against any enemy who may attack us ; it is the unanimous opinion of the officers and men of Gibbs', Plummer's, Cunningham's, Clairy's, King's and Kirkland's battalions of militia, and also of all the officers and men of Colonel Mills's battalion of North-Caro- nians, assembled under the command of Major Ferguson at Brannon's Settlement, August 13, 1780: That every man who does not assemble when required, in defence of his country, in order to act with the other good subjects serving in the militia, exposes his comrades to unnecessary danger, abandons the royal cause and acts a treacherous part to the country in which he lives ; and it is the unanimous opinion that whoever quits his battalion, or disobeys the order of the officers commanding, is a worse traitor and enemy to his king and country, than those rebels who are again in arms after having taken protection, and deserves to be treated accordingly ; and we do, therefore, empower the officers com- manding in camp as well as the officers commanding our several bat- talions of militia, from time to time, to cause the cattle and grain of all such officers and men, as basely fail to assemble and muster as re- quired in times of public danger, or who quit their battalions without leave, to be brought to camp for the use of those who pay their debt to the country by their personal services ; and we do also empower the said commanding officers, and do require of them, that they will secure the arms and horses of such delinquents, and put them into the possession of men who are better disposed to use them in defence of their country,
-
· Johnson.
-
217
SHELBY AND CLARKE AT THE CEDAR SPRING.
and that they will bring such traitors to trial, in order that they may be punished as they deserve and turned out of the militia with disgrace. The above resolutions agreed to by every man of the above mentioned regiments; as well as by the men of - and Philip's regiment, who were at camp at Edward Moverley's, this 16th day of August, 1780. Zach. Gibbs, Major, John Hamilton, Major, Thos. D. Hill, jun., Adjt, John Philips, L. C., W. T. Turner, L. Colonel, Daniel Plummer, Major.
" It was also this day unanimously, Resolved, by every officer and man now in camp, of all the above mentioned regiments, that whatever man should neglect to assemble and do his duty in the militia, when sum- moned for public service, shall be made to serve in the regular troops ; it being the unanimous opinion of every man present, that it is the duty of all who call themselves subjects, to assist in defence of the country one way or the other."
By such means as these were the whigs dispirited and the ranks of the British and tories hourly enlarged.
As he advanced, Ferguson increased his command till it
- amounted to above two thousand men, in addition to 1780 - a small squadron of horse. To watch their move- ments, and, if possible, to cut off their foraging parties, Col. McDowell, not long after the surprise and capture of Moore, detached Cols. Shelby and Clarke, with six hundred mounted riflemen. Several attempts were made by Ferguson to sur- prise this party, but, in every instance, his designs were baffled. However, on the first of August, his advance of six or seven hundred men came up with the party of Shelby and Clarke, at a place called Cedar Spring, where they had chosen to fight him. A sharp conflict of half an hour ensued, when Ferguson came up with his whole force, and the Americans withdrew, carrying off the field of battle twenty prisoners, with two British officers. The killed of the enemy was not ascertained. The American loss was ten or twelve killed and wounded. Among the latter was Col. Clarke, on the neck, slightly, with a sabre.
McDowell's policy was to change his camp frequently. He now lay at Smith's ford of Broad River. Here he re- ceived information that a party of four or five hundred tories were encamped at Musgrove's mill, on the south side of Eno- ree River, about forty miles distant. He again detached Shelby and Clarke, together with Col. Williams, of South- Carolina, who had joined his command, to surprise and dis-
218
BATTLE AT MUSGROVE'S MILL.
perse them. Ferguson lay, with his whole force, at that time, exactly between. The detachment amounted to six hundred horsemen. These took up their line of march, just before sundown, on the evening of the eighteenth of August. They went through the woods until dark, and then took a road leaving Ferguson's camp some three or four miles to the left. They rode very hard all night, and at the dawn of day, about half a mile from the enemy's camp, were met by a strong patrol party. A short skirmish followed, when the enemy retreated. At that moment a countryman, living just at hand, came up and informed the party that the enemy had been reinforced the evening before with six hundred regular troops, under Col. Ennes, which were destined to join Ferguson's army. The circumstances of this informa- tion were so minute that no doubt could be entertained of its truth. For six hundred men, fatigued by a night ride of forty miles, to march on and attack the enemy, thus rein- forced, seemed rash and improper. To attempt an escape by a rapid retreat, broken down as were both men and horses, was equally hopeless, if not impossible. The heroic determination was, therefore, instantly formed to make the best defence they could under the existing circumstances. A rude and hasty breast-work of brush and old logs was immediately constructed. Captain Inman was sent forward with about twenty-five men to meet the enemy and skirmish with them as soon as they crossed the Enoree. The sound of their drums and bugles soon announced their movements, and induced the belief that they had cavalry. Inman was ordered to fire on them, and retreat according to his own discretion. This stratagem, which was the suggestion of the captain himself, drew the enemy forward in disorder, as they believed they had driven the whole party. When they came up within seventy yards, a most destructive fire from the riflemen, who lay concealed behind their breast-work of logs, commenced. It was one whole hour before the enemy could force the Americans from their slender defences, and just as they began to give way in some points, the British commander, Col. Ennes, was wounded. All his subalterns, except one, being previously killed or wounded, and Captain
219
THE BRAVE CAPTAIN INMAN KILLED.
Hawsey, the leader of the loyalists on the left, being shot down, the whole of the enemy's line began to yield. The riflemen pursued them close, and drove them across the river. In this pursuit the gallant Inman was killed, bravely fight- ing the enemy hand to hand. In this action Col. Shelby commanded the right, Col. Clarke, the left, and Col. Williams, the centre.
The battle lasted one hour and a half. The Americans lay so closely behind their little breast-work that the enemy entirely over-shot them, killing only six or seven, amongst whom the loss of the brave Captain Inman was particularly regretted. His stratagem of engaging and skirmishing with the enemy until the riflemen had time to throw up a hasty breast-work-his gallant conduct during the action, and his desperate charge upon their retreat-contributed much to the victory. He died at the moment it was won. The number of the enemy killed and wounded was considerable. The tories were the first to escape. Of the British regulars un- der Col. Ennes, who fought bravely to the last and prolonged the conflict even against hope, above two hundred were taken prisoners.
The Americans returned immediately to their horses, and mounted with a determination to be in Ninety-Six before night. This was a British post less than thirty miles distant, and not far from the residence of Col. Williams, one of the commanders. It was considered best to push their successes into the disaffected regions before time would allow rein- forcements to reach them. Besides, by making their next expedition in the direction of Ninety-Six, they would avoid Ferguson's army, near whose encampment they would have necessarily to pass on their return to McDowell's head-quar- ters, at Smith's Ford. At the moment of starting, an express from McDowell rode up in great haste, with a short letter in his hand from Governor Caswell, dated on the battle ground, apprising McDowell of the defeat of the American grand army under General Gates, on the sixteenth, near Camden, advising him to get out of the way, as the enemy would, no no doubt, endeavour to improve their victory to the greatest advantage, by cutting up all the small corps of the Ameri-
290
THE AMERICANS RETIRE ACROSS THE MOUNTAIN.
£ can armies. Fortunately, Col. Shelby was well acquainted with the hand-writing of Governor Caswell, and knew what reliance to place upon the intelligence brought by the ex- press. The men and horses were fatigued by the rapid march of the night, as well as the severe conflict of the morning. They were now encumbered with more than two hundred British prisoners and the spoils of victory. Besides these difficulties that surrounded the American party, there was another that made extrication from them, dangerous if not impossible. A numerous army under an enterprising leader lay in their rear, and there was every reason to be- lieve that Ferguson would have received intelligence of the daring incursion of the riflemen, and of the defeat of his friends at the Enoree. The delay of an hour might have proved disastrous to the victors. The prisoners were imme- diately distributed among the companies, so as to leave one to every three men, who carried them alternately on horse- back. They rode directly towards the mountains, and con- tinued the march all that day and night, and the succeeding day, until late in the evening, without ever stopping to re- fresh. This long and rapid march-retreat it can scarcely be called, as the retiring troops bore with them the fruits of a well earned victory-saved the Americans. For, as was af- terwards ascertained, they were pursued closely until late in the evening of the second day after the action, by Major Du- poister, and a strong body of mounted men from Ferguson's army. These became so broken down by excessive fatigue, in hot weather, that they despaired of overtaking the Ameri- cans and abandoned the pursuit.
Shelby having seen the party and its prisoners beyond the reach of danger, retired across the mountains. He left the prisoners with Clarke and Williams, to be carried to some place of safety to the North, for it was not known then that there was even the appearance of a corps of Americans any where south of the Potomac. So great was the panic after the defeat of Gates, and the disaster of Sumpter, that McDow- ell's whole army broke up. He, with several hundred of his followers, yielding to the cruel necessity of the unfortunate circumstances which involved the country, retired across the
221
DEPRESSED CONDITION OF THE AMERICAN CAUSE.
mountains, and scattered themselves among the hospitable settlers in the securer retreats of Watauga and Nollichucky.
At this period a deep gloom hung over the cause of
S American Independence, and the confidence of its 1780 ( most steadfast friends was shaken. The reduction of Savannah, the capitulation of Charleston and the loss of the entire army under General Lincoln, had depressed the hopes of the patriot whigs, and the subsequent career of British conquest and subjugation of Georgia and South-Carolina, excited serious apprehension and alarm for the eventual success of the American cause. At the urgent appeal of the patriotic Governor Rutledge, Virginia had sent forward rein- forcements under Col. Buford. His command was defeated and his men butchered by the sabres of Tarleton. At Cam- den a second southern army, and commanded by General Gates, was dispersed, captured and signally defeated by Cornwallis.
But besides these disasters, there were other circumstances that aggravated the discouraging condition of American affairs. The finances of Congress were low ; the paper cur- rency had failed ; its depreciation was every where sinking with a rapid proclivity still lower ; the treasuries of the states were exhausted and their credit lost ; a general distress per- vaded the country ; subsistence and clothing for the famish- ing and ill-clad troops, were to be procured only by impress- ment ; and the inability of the government, from the want of means, to carry on the war, was openly admitted. British posts were established, and garrisons kept up at numerous points in the very heart of the country, and detachments from the main army were with profane impudence rioting through the land in an uninterrupted career of outrage, ag- gression and conquest. Under the protection of these, the loyalists were encouraged to rise against their whig coun- trymen, to depredate upon their property, insult their fami- lies, seek their lives and drive them into exile upon the Western waters. This was the general condition of Ameri- can affairs in the South, immediately after the defeat near Camden. General Gates endeavouring to collect together the shattered fragments of his routed army, made a short
222
CORNWALLIS ADVANCES TO CHARLOTTA.
halt at Charlotte. He afterwards fell back further and made his head-quarters at Hillsboro'.
After the discomfiture of the American army at Camden, and the defeat and dispersion of Sumpter's corps, Lord Corn- wallis waited only for supplies from Charleston, before he proceeded to North-Carolina, which he now scarcely con- sidered in any other light than as the road to Virginia. A junction with the royal forces in that state, was expected at so early a day as to give time for prosecuting further opera- tions against Maryland and Pennsylvania. The expectation of some went so far as to count upon a junction with the royal army in New-York, and the subjugation of every state south of the Hudson, before the close of the campaign .* Elated with such delusive prospects of conquest and renown, from achievements so magnificent and romantic, Lord Corn- wallis, until provisions for his army arrived, resumed at Cam- den the consideration of civil affairs, hoping to give quiet and stability to the province he had subdued. Finding that many Americans, after swearing allegiance to the British government, had, on the approach of Gates, revolted, he thought it necessary to prevent further defection by severity towards the most active and forward in violation of their oaths. The estates of such were sequestered. Instant death was denounced against those, who after taking protection, should be found in arms against the king. Other measures were at the same time adopted, to secure the submission of the whigs. Some of the most influential of these, in defiance of the terms of surrender and the faith of treaty, were torn from their families, hurried into transports and conveyed to the fortress of St. Augustine. . Among these was General Rutherford, whose offence was that while a prisoner at Cam- den, he manifested no signs of penitence for his rebellion, nor of submission to his captors. The lives and property of the whigs were subjected to a military despotism.
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