A BRITISH PARTISAN.
As the events of this history are confined to the duration of the Tory
Ascendency in South Carolina, it becomes me to prepare my reader for the
conclusion to which, doubtless much to his content, he will hear that we
are now hastening. We have reached a period which brings us to take
notice of certain important operations that were in progress upon the
frontier, and touching the details of which, to avoid prolixity, I must
refer to the graver chronicles of the times. It answers my present
purpose merely to apprise my reader that Colonel Clarke had lately
assembled his followers and marched to Augusta, where he had made an
attack upon Brown, but that almost at the moment when his dexterous and
valiant adversary had fallen within his grasp, a timely succor from Fort
Ninety-Six, under the command of Cruger, had forced him to abandon his
ground, and retreat towards the mountain districts of North Carolina. To
this, it is important to add that Ferguson had now recruited a
considerable army amongst the native Tories, and had moved to the small
frontier village of Gilbert-town, with a purpose to intercept Clarke,
and thus place him under the disadvantage of having a foe both in front
and rear.
The midnight seizure of Arthur Butler and his friends, whilst returning
from Ramsay's funeral, was effected by McAlpine, who happened at that
moment to be hastening, by a forced march, with a detachment of
newly-recruited cavalry from Ninety-Six, to strengthen Ferguson, and to
aid in what was expected to be the certain capture of the troublesome
Whig partisan.
As M'Alpine's purpose required despatch, he made but a short delay after
sunrise at Drummond's cabin, and then pushed forward with his prisoners
with all possible expedition. The route of his journey diverged, almost
at the spot of the capture, from the roads leading towards Musgrove's
Mill, and he consequently had but little chance to fall in with parties
who might communicate to him the nature of the accident which threw the
prisoners into his possession; whilst the prisoners themselves were
sufficiently discreet to conceal from him everything that might afford a
hint of Butler's previous condition.
The road lay through a rugged wilderness, and the distance to be
travelled, before the party could reach Gilbert-town, was something more
than sixty miles. It was, accordingly, about the middle of the second
day after leaving Drummond's habitation, before the troop arrived at the
term of their journey, a period that coincided with that of Cornwallis's
breaking ground from his late encampment at the Waxhaws, which we have
seen in the last chapter.
Ferguson was a stout, fearless, and bluff soldier, and instigated
by the most unsparing hatred against all who took up the Whig cause.
He had been promoted by Earl Cornwallis to the brevet rank of
lieutenant-colonel, a short time before the battle of Camden, and
despatched towards this wild and mountainous border to collect together
and organize the Tory inhabitants of the district. His zeal and
activity, no less than his peremptory bearing, had particularly
recommended him to the duty to be performed; and he is, at least,
entitled to the commendation of having acquitted himself with great
promptitude and efficiency in the principal objects of his appointment.
He was now at the head of between eleven and twelve hundred men, of
which about one hundred and fifty were regulars of the British line, the
remainder consisting of the disorderly and untamed population of the
frontier.
Gilbert-town was a small village, composed of a number of rather
well-built and comfortable log-houses. It was situated in a mountainous
but fertile district of North Carolina, about the centre of Rutherford
country. And I may venture to add (which I do upon report only), that
although its former name has faded from the maps of the present day,
under that reprehensible indifference to ancient associations, and that
pernicious love of change which have obliterated so many of the
landmarks of our revolutionary history, yet this village is still a
prosperous and pleasant community, known as the seat of justice to the
county to which it belongs.
When the troop having charge of Butler and his companions arrived, they
halted immediately in front of one of the largest buildings of the
village, and in a short time the prisoners were marched into the
presence of Ferguson. They were received in a common room of ample
dimensions, furnished with a table upon which was seen a confused array
of drinking vessels, and a number of half-emptied bottles of spirit
surrounding a wooden bucket filled with water. Immediately against one
of the posts of the door of the apartment, the carcass of a buck,
recently shot and now stripped of its skin, hung by the tendons of the
hinder feet; and a soldier was at this moment employed with his knife in
the butcher-craft necessary to its preparation for the spit. Ferguson
himself, conspicuous for his robust, athletic, and weather-beaten
exterior, stood by apparently directing the operation. Around the room
were hung the hide and antlers of former victims of the chase,
intermingled with various weapons of war, military cloaks,
cartridge-boxes, bridles, saddles, and other furniture denoting the
habitation of a party of soldiers. There was a general air of disorder
and untidiness throughout the apartment, which seemed to bespeak early
and late revels, and no great observance of the thrift of even military
housekeeping. This impression was heightened to the eye of the beholder,
by the unchecked liberty with which men of all ranks, privates as well
as officers, flung themselves, as their occasions served, into the room
and made free with the contents of the flasks that were scattered over
the table.
The irregular and ill-disciplined host under Ferguson's command lay in
and around the village, and presented a scene of which the predominating
features bore a sufficient resemblance to the economy of their leader's
own quarters, to raise but an unfavorable opinion of their subordination
and soldier-like demeanor: it was wild, noisy, and confused.
When M'Alpine entered the apartment, the words that fell from Ferguson
showed that his mind, at the moment, was disturbed by a double
solicitude--alternating between the operations performed upon the
carcass of venison, and certain symptoms of uproar and disorder that
manifested themselves amongst the militia without.
"Curse on these swaggering, upland bullies!" he said, whilst M'Alpine
and the prisoners stood inside the room, as yet unnoticed. "I would as
soon undertake to train as many wolves from the mountain, as bring these
fellows into habits of discipline. Thady, you cut that haunch too
low--go deep, man--a long sweep from the pommel to the cantle--it is a
saddle worth riding on! By the infernal gods! if these yelping savages
do not learn to keep quiet in camp, I'll make a school for them with my
regulars, where they shall have good taste of the cat! nine hours' drill
and all the camp duty besides! Ha, M'Alpine, is it you who have been
standing here all this while? I didn't observe it, man--my quarters are
like a bar-room, and have been full of comers and goers all day. I
thought you were but some of my usual free-and-easy customers. Damn
them, I am sick of these gawky, long-legged, half-civilized recruits!
but I shall take a course with them yet. What news, old boy? What have
you to tell of the rebels? Where is my pretty fellow, Clarke?"
"Clarke is still in the woods," replied M'Alpine. "It would take good
hounds to track him."
"And Cruger, I hope, has nose enough to follow. So, the cunning Indian
hunter will be caught at last! We have him safe now, M'Alpine. There is
but one path for the fox to come out of the bush, and upon that path
Patrick Ferguson has about as pretty a handful of mischievous imps as
ever lapped blood. The slinking runaway never reaches the other side of
the mountains while I am awake. With Cruger behind him--our line of
posts upon his right--the wild mountains, as full of Cherokees as
squirrels, upon his left--and these devils of mine right before him--we
have him in a pretty net. Who have you here, captain?"
"Some stray rebel game, that I picked up on my road, as I came from
Ninety-Six. This gentleman, I learn, is Major Butler of the Continental
army, and these others, some of his party."
"So, ho, more rebels! damn it, man," exclaimed the commandant, "why do
you bring them to me? What can I do with them"--then dropping his voice
into a tone of confidential conference, he added, "but follow the
fashion and hang them? I have got some score of prisoners already--and
have been wishing that they would cut some devilish caper, that I might
have an excuse for stringing them up, to get clear of them. A major in
the regular Continental line, sir?" he asked, addressing himself to
Butler.
Butler bowed his head.
"I thought the cuffs your people got at Camden had driven everything
like a daylight soldier out of the province. We have some skulking
bush-fighters left--some jack-o'-lantern devils, that live in the swamps
and feed on frogs and water-snakes--Marion and Sumpter, and a few of
their kidney: but you, sir, are the first regular Continental officer I
have met with. What brought you so far out of your latitude?"
"I was on my way to join one," replied Butler, "that but now you seemed
to think in severe straits."
"Ha! to visit Clarke, eh? Well, sir, may I be bold to ask, do you know
where that worshipful gentleman is to be found?"
"I am free to answer you," said Butler, "that his position, at this
moment, is entirely unknown to me. On my journey I heard the report that
he had been constrained to abandon Augusta."
"Yes, and in haste, let me tell you. And marches in this direction,
Major Butler, as he needs must. I shall make his acquaintance: and
inasmuch as you went to seek him, you may count it a lucky accident that
brought you here--you will find him all the sooner by it."
"Doubtless, sir, Colonel Clarke will feel proud to see you," returned
Butler.
"Well, M'Alpine," said Ferguson, "I have my hands full of business; for
I certainly have the wildest crew of devil's babies that ever stole
cattle, or fired a haystack. I am obliged to coax them into discipline
by a somewhat free use of this mother's milk"--(pointing to the
bottles)--"to which I now and then add a gentle castigation at the
drum-head, and, when that doesn't serve, a dose of powder and lead,
administered at ten paces from a few files of grenadiers. I have shot a
brace of them, since you left me, only for impertinence to their
officers! This waiting for Clarke plays the devil with us. I must be
moving, and have some thought of crossing the mountains westward, and
burning out the settlements. Faith! I would do it, just to keep my lads
in spirits, if I thought Clarke would give me another week. How, now,
Thady?--that buck should have been half roasted by this time. We shall
never have dinner with your slow work. Look at that, M'Alpine, there is
something to make your mouth water--an inch and a half of fat on the
very ridge of the back. Give over your prisoners to the camp major--he
will take care of them: and, hark you, captain," he added, beckoning his
comrade aside, "if you choose, as you seem to think well of this Major
Butler, you may bring him in to dinner presently, with my compliments.
Now, away--I must to business."
The prisoners were conducted to a separate building, where they were put
in charge of an officer, who performed the duties of provost-marshal
over some twenty or more Whigs that had been captured in the late
excursions of the Tories, and brought into camp for safe keeping. The
place of their confinement was narrow and uncomfortable, and Butler was
soon made aware that in the exchange of his prison at Musgrove's mill
for his present one, he had made an unprofitable venture. His condition
with Ferguson, however, was alleviated by the constantly-exciting hope
that the events which were immediately in prospect might, by the chances
of war, redound to his advantage.
In this situation Butler remained for several days. For although
Ferguson found it necessary to keep in almost constant motion, with a
view to hover about the supposed direction of Clarke's retreat, and,
conformably to this purpose, to advance into South Carolina, and again
to fall back towards his present position, yet he had established a
guard at Gilbert-town which, during all these operations, remained
stationary with the prisoners, apparently waiting some fit opportunity
to march them off to Cornwallis's army, that was now making its way
northwards. That opportunity did not present itself. The communications
between this post and the commander-in-chief were, by a fatal error,
neglected; and in a short time from the date of the present events, as
will be seen in the sequel, a web was woven which was strong enough to
ensnare and bind up the limbs of the giant who had, during the last five
months, erected and maintained the Tory Ascendency in Carolina.