THE WAR IN THE SOUTH.--BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN.
Cornwallis having, as he supposed, entirely crushed the "rebel cause"
in South Carolina, by the defeats of Gates and Sumter, remained for
some time at Camden, detained by the excessive heat of the weather and
the sickness of part of his troops, broken down by the hardships of
campaigning under a southern sun. He awaited also supplies and
reinforcements.
Immediately after the victory at Camden, he had ordered the friends to
royalty in North Carolina "to arm and intercept the beaten army of
General Gates," promising that he would march directly to the borders
of that province in their support: he now detached Major Patrick
Ferguson to its western confines, to keep the war alive in that
quarter. This resolute partisan had with him his own corps of light
infantry, and a body of royalist militia of his own training. His
whole force was between eleven and twelve hundred men, noted for
activity and alertness, and unincumbered with baggage or artillery.
His orders were to skirr the mountain country between the Catawba and
the Yadkin, harass the whigs, inspirit the tories, and embody the
militia under the royal banner. This done, he was to repair to
Charlotte, the capital of Mecklenburg County, where he would find Lord
Cornwallis, who intended to make it his rendezvous. Should he,
however, in the course of his tour, be threatened by a superior force,
he was immediately to return to the main army.
During the suspense of his active operations in the field, Cornwallis
instituted rigorous measures against Americans who continued under
arms. Among these were included many who had taken refuge in North
Carolina. A commissioner was appointed to take possession of their
estates and property; of the annual product of which a part was to be
allowed for the support of their families, the residue to be applied
to the maintenance of the war. Letters from several of the principal
inhabitants of Charleston having been found in the baggage of the
captured American generals, the former were accused of breaking their
parole, and holding a treasonable correspondence with the armed
enemies of England; they were in consequence confined on board of
prison ships, and afterwards transported to St. Augustine in Florida.
Among the prisoners taken in the late combats, many, it was
discovered, had British protections in their pockets; these were
deemed amenable to the penalties of the proclamation issued by Sir
Henry Clinton on the 3d of June; they were therefore led forth from
the provost and hanged almost without the form of an inquiry. These
measures certainly were not in keeping with the character for
moderation and benevolence usually given to Lord Cornwallis; but they
accorded with the rancorous spirit manifested toward each other both
by whigs and tories in Southern warfare.
Cornwallis decamped from Camden, and set out for North Carolina. In
the subjugation of that province, he counted on the co-operation of
the troops which Sir Henry Clinton was to send to the lower part of
Virginia, which, after reducing the Virginians to obedience, were to
join his lordship's standard on the confines of North Carolina.
Advancing into the latter province, he took post at Charlotte, where
he had given rendezvous to Ferguson. The surrounding country was wild
and rugged, covered with close and thick woods, and crossed in every
direction by narrow roads. The inhabitants were stanch whigs, with the
pugnacious spirit of the old Covenanters. Instead of remaining at home
and receiving the king's money in exchange for their produce, they
turned out with their rifles, stationed themselves in covert places,
and fired upon the foraging parties; convoys of provisions from Camden
had to fight their way, and expresses were shot down and their
despatches seized.
The capture of his expresses was a sore annoyance to Cornwallis,
depriving him of all intelligence concerning the movements of Colonel
Ferguson, whose arrival he was anxiously awaiting. The expedition of
that doughty partisan officer here calls for especial notice. He had
been chosen for this military tour as being calculated to gain friends
by his conciliating disposition and manners. He however, had a loyal
hatred of whigs, and to his standard flocked many rancorous tories,
besides outlaws and desperadoes, so that his progress through the
country was attended by many exasperating excesses.
He was on his way to join Cornwallis when a chance for a signal
exploit presented itself. An American force under Colonel Elijah
Clarke, of Georgia, was retreating to the mountain districts of North
Carolina, after an unsuccessful attack upon the British post at
Augusta. Ferguson resolved to cut off their retreat. Turning towards
the mountains, he made his way through a rugged wilderness and took
post at Gilbert-town, a small frontier village of log-houses. "All of
a sudden," say the British chroniclers just cited, "a numerous, fierce
and unexpected enemy sprung up in the depths of the desert. The
scattered inhabitants of the mountains assembled without noise or
warning, under the conduct of six or seven of their militia colonels,
to the number of six hundred strong, daring, well-mounted and
excellent horsemen."
These were the people of the mountains which form the frontiers of the
Carolinas and Georgia, "mountain men," as they were commonly called, a
hardy race, half huntsmen, half herdsmen. Beside these, there were
other elements of war suddenly gathering in Ferguson's vicinity. A
band of what were termed "the wild and fierce" inhabitants of
Kentucky, with men from other settlements west of the Alleghanies, had
crossed the mountains, led by Colonels Campbell and Boone, to pounce
upon a quantity of Indian goods at Augusta; but had pulled up on
hearing of the repulse of Clarke. The stout yeomen, also, of the
district of Ninety-Six, roused by the marauds of Ferguson, had taken
the field, under the conduct of Colonel James Williams, of Granville
County. Here, too, were hard-riders and sharp-shooters, from Holston
River, Powel's Valley, Botetourt, Fincastle, and other parts of
Virginia, commanded by Colonels Campbell, Cleveland, Shelby and
Sevier. Such were the different bodies of mountaineers and
backwoodsmen, suddenly drawing together from various parts to the
number of three thousand.
In this exigency, Ferguson remembered the instructions of Cornwallis,
that he should rejoin him should he find himself threatened by a
superior force; breaking up his quarters, therefore, he pushed for the
British army, sending messengers ahead to apprise his lordship of his
danger. Unfortunately for him, his missives were intercepted.
Gilbert-town had not long been vacated by Ferguson and his troops,
when the motley host we have described thronged in. Some were on foot,
but the greater part on horseback. Some were in homespun garb; but the
most part in hunting-shirts. Each man had his long rifle and
hunting-knife, his wallet, or knapsack and blanket, and either a
buck's tail or sprig of evergreen in his hat. There was neither tent
nor tent equipage, neither baggage nor baggage-wagon to encumber the
movements of that extemporaneous host. Being told that Ferguson had
retreated by the Cherokee road toward North Carolina, about nine
hundred of the hardiest and best mounted set out in urgent pursuit;
leaving those who were on foot, or weakly mounted, to follow on as
fast as possible. Colonel William Campbell, of Virginia, having come
from the greatest distance was allowed to have command of the whole
party; but there was not much order nor subordination. Each colonel
led his own men in his own way.
A rapid and irregular march was kept up all night in murky darkness
and through a heavy rain. About daybreak they crossed Broad River,
where an attack was apprehended. Not finding the enemy, they halted,
lit their fires, made their morning's meal, and took a brief repose.
By nine o'clock they were again on the march. The rainy night had been
succeeded by a bright October morning, and all were in high spirits.
Ferguson, they learnt, had taken the road toward King's Mountain,
about twelve miles distant. When within three miles of it their scouts
brought in word that he had taken post on its summit. The officers now
held a short consultation on horseback, and then proceeded. The
position taken by Ferguson was a strong one. King's Mountain rises out
of a broken country, and is detached, on the north, from inferior
heights by a deep valley, so as to resemble an insulated promontory
about half a mile in length, with sloping sides, excepting on the
north. The mountain was covered for the most part with lofty forest
trees, free from underwood, interspersed with boulders and masses of
gray rock. The forest was sufficiently open to give free passage to
horsemen.
Dismounting at a small stream which runs through a ravine, the
Americans picketed their horses or tied them to the branches of the
trees, and gave them in charge of a small guard. They then formed
themselves into three divisions of nearly equal size, and prepared to
storm the heights on three sides. Campbell, seconded by Shelby, was to
lead the centre division; Sevier with McDowell the right, and
Cleveland and Williams the left. The divisions were to scale the
mountain as nearly as possible at the same time. The fighting
directions were in frontier style;--when once in action, everyone must
act for himself. The men were not to wait for the word of command, but
to take good aim and fire as fast as possible. When they could no
longer hold their ground, they were to get behind trees, or retreat a
little, and return to the fight, but never to go quite off.
Campbell allowed time for the flanking divisions to move to the right
and left along the base of the mountain, and take their proper
distances; he then pushed up in front with the centre division, he and
Shelby each at the head of his men. The first firing was about four
o'clock, when a picket was driven in by Cleveland and Williams on the
left, and pursued up the mountain. Campbell soon arrived within rifle
distance of the crest of the mountain, whence a sheeted fire of
musketry was opened upon him. He instantly deployed his men, posted
them behind trees, and returned the fire with deadly effect. Ferguson,
rushed out with his regulars, made an impetuous charge with the
bayonet, and dislodging his assailants from their coverts, began to
drive them down the mountain, they not having a bayonet among them. He
had not proceeded far, when a flanking fire was opened by one of the
other divisions; facing about and attacking this he was again
successful, when a third fire was opened from another quarter. Thus,
as fast as one division gave way before the bayonet, another came to
its relief; while those who had given way rallied and returned to the
charge. Ferguson found that he was completely in the hunter's toils,
beset on every side; but he stood bravely at bay, until the ground
around him was strewed with the killed and wounded, picked off by the
fatal rifle. His men were at length broken, and retreated in confusion
along the ridge. He galloped from place to place endeavoring to rally
them, when a rifle ball brought him to the ground, and his white horse
was seen careering down the mountain without a rider.
This closed the bloody fight; for Ferguson's second in command, seeing
all further resistance hopeless, hoisted a white flag, beat a parley
and sued for quarters. One hundred and fifty of the enemy had fallen,
and as many been wounded; while of the Americans, but twenty were
killed, though a considerable number were wounded. Among those slain
was Colonel James Williams, who had commanded the troops of
Ninety-Six, and proved himself one of the most daring of the partisan
leaders. Eight hundred and ten men were taken prisoners, one hundred
of whom were regulars, the rest royalists. The rancor awakened by
civil war was shown in the treatment of some of the prisoners. A
court-martial was held the day after the battle, and a number of tory
prisoners who had been bitter in their hostility to the American
cause, and flagitious in their persecution of their countrymen, were
hanged. This was to revenge the death of American prisoners hanged at
Camden and elsewhere.
The army of mountaineers and frontier men, thus fortuitously
congregated, did not attempt to follow up their signal blow. They had
no general scheme, no plan of campaign; it was the spontaneous rising
of the sons of the soil, to revenge it on its invaders, and, having
effected their purpose, they returned in triumph to their homes. They
were little aware of the importance of their achievement. The battle
of King's Mountain, inconsiderable as it was in the numbers engaged,
turned the tide of Southern warfare. The destruction of Ferguson and
his corps gave a complete check to the expedition of Cornwallis. He
began to fear for the safety of South Carolina, liable to such sudden
irruptions from the mountains; lest, while he was facing to the north,
these hordes of stark-riding warriors might throw themselves behind
him, and produce a popular combustion in the province he had left. He
resolved, therefore, to return with all speed to that province and
provide for its security.
On the 14th of October he commenced his retrograde and mortifying
march, conducting it in the night, and with such hurry and confusion,
that nearly twenty wagons, laden with baggage and supplies, were lost.
As he proceeded, the rainy season set in; the brooks and rivers became
swollen, and almost impassable; the roads deep and miry; provisions
and forage scanty; the troops generally sickly, having no tents. At
length the army arrived at Winnsborough, in South Carolina. Hence, by
order of Cornwallis, Lord Rawdon wrote on the 24th October to
Brigadier-general Leslie, who was at that time in the Chesapeake, with
the force detached by Sir Henry Clinton for a descent upon Virginia,
suggesting the expediency of his advancing to North Carolina, for the
purpose of co-operation with Cornwallis, who feared to proceed far
from South Carolina, lest it should be again in insurrection.
The victory at King's Mountain had set the partisan spirit throughout
the country in a blaze. Francis Marion was soon in the field. He had
been made a brigadier-general by Governor Rutledge, but his brigade,
as it was called, was formed of neighbors and friends, and was
continually fluctuating in numbers. He was nearly fifty years of age,
and small of stature, but hardy, healthy and vigorous. He had his
haunts and strongholds in the morasses of the Pedee and Black River.
His men were hardy and abstemious as himself; they ate their meat
without salt, often subsisted on potatoes, were scantily clad, and
almost destitute of blankets. Marion was full of stratagems and
expedients. Sallying forth from his morasses, he would overrun the
lower districts, pass the Santee, beat up the small posts in the
vicinity of Charleston, cut up the communication between that city and
Camden; and having struck some signal blow, so as to rouse the
vengeance of the enemy, would retreat again into his fenny fastnesses.
Hence the British gave him the bye-name of the _Swamp Fox_, but those
of his countrymen who knew his courage, his loftiness of spirit and
spotless integrity, considered him the _Bayard of the South_.
Tarleton, who was on duty in that part of the country, undertook, as
he said, to draw the swamp fox from his cover. He accordingly marched
cautiously down the east bank of the Wateree with a body of dragoons
and infantry, in compact order. The fox, however, kept close; he saw
that the enemy was too strong for him. Tarleton now changed his plan.
By day he broke up his force into small detachments or patrols, giving
them orders to keep near enough to each other to render mutual support
if attacked, and to gather together at night. The artifice had its
effect. Marion sallied forth from his covert just before daybreak to
make an attack upon one of these detachments, when, to his surprise,
he found himself close upon the British camp. Perceiving the snare
that had been spread for him, he made a rapid retreat. A close pursuit
took place. For seven hours Marion was hunted from one swamp and
fastness to another; several stragglers of his band were captured, and
Tarleton was in strong hope of bringing him into action, when an
express came spurring from Cornwallis, calling for the immediate
services of himself and his dragoons in another quarter.
Sumter was again in the field! That indefatigable partisan having
recruited a strong party in the mountainous country, to which he
retreated after his defeat on the Wateree, had re-appeared on the west
side of the Santee, repulsed a British party sent against him, killing
its leader; then, crossing Broad River, had effected a junction with
Colonels Clark and Brannan, and now menaced the British posts in the
district of Ninety-Six.
It was to disperse this head of partisan war that Tarleton was called
off from beleaguering Marion. Advancing with his accustomed celerity,
he thought to surprise Sumter on the Enoree River. A deserter apprised
the latter of his danger. He pushed across the river, but was hotly
pursued, and his rear-guard roughly handled. He now made for the Tyger
River, noted for turbulence and rapidity; once beyond this, he might
disband his followers in the woods. Tarleton, to prevent his passing
it unmolested, spurred forward in advance of his main body with one
hundred and seventy dragoons and eighty mounted men of the infantry.
Before five o'clock (Nov. 20th) his advanced guard overtook and
charged the rear of the Americans, who retreated to the main body.
Sumter finding it impossible to cross Tyger River in safety, took post
on Black Stock Hill with a rivulet and rail fence in front, the Tyger
River in the rear and on the right flank, and a large log barn on the
left. The barn was turned into a fortress, and a part of the force
stationed in it to fire through the apertures between the logs.
Tarleton halted on an opposite height to await the arrival of his
infantry, and part of his men dismounted to ease their horses. Sumter
seized this moment for an attack. He was driven back after some sharp
fighting. The enemy pursued, but were severely galled by the fire from
the log barn. Enraged at seeing his men shot down, Tarleton charged
with his cavalry but found it impossible to dislodge the Americans
from their rustic fortress. At the approach of night he fell back to
join his infantry, leaving the ground strewed with his killed and
wounded. The loss of the Americans was only three killed and four
wounded. Sumter who had received a severe wound in the breast,
remained several hours on the field of action; but understanding the
enemy would be powerfully reinforced in the morning, he crossed the
Tyger River in the night. He was then placed on a litter between two
horses, and thus conducted across the country by a few faithful
adherents. The rest of his little army dispersed themselves through
the woods.
While the attention of the enemy was thus engaged by the enterprises
of Sumter and Marion and their swamp warriors, General Gates was
gathering together the scattered fragments of his army at
Hillsborough. The vanity of Gates was completely cut down by his late
reverses. To add to his depression of spirits, he received the
melancholy intelligence of the death of an only son, and, while he was
yet writhing under the blow, came official despatches informing him of
his being superseded in command. A letter from Washington, we are
told, accompanied them, sympathizing with him in his domestic
misfortunes, adverting with peculiar delicacy to his reverses in
battle, assuring him of his undiminished confidence in his zeal and
capacity. The effect of this letter was overpowering. Gates was found
walking about his room in the greatest agitation, pressing the letter
to his lips, breaking forth into ejaculations of gratitude and
admiration, and when he could find utterance to his thoughts, declared
that its tender sympathy and considerate delicacy had conveyed more
consolation and delight to his heart than he had believed it possible
ever to have felt again.
General Greene arrived at Charlotte, on the 2d of December. On his way
from the North he had made arrangements for supplies from the
different States; and had left the Baron Steuben in Virginia to defend
that State and procure and send on reinforcements and stores for the
Southern army. On the day following his arrival, Greene took formal
command. The delicacy with which he conducted himself towards his
unfortunate predecessor is said to have been "edifying to the army."
Consulting with his officers as to the court of inquiry on the conduct
of General Gates, ordered by Congress, it was determined that there
was not a sufficient number of general officers in camp to sit upon
it; that the state of General Gates' feelings, in consequence of the
death of his son, disqualified him from entering upon the task of his
defence; and that it would be indelicate in the extreme to press on
him an investigation, which his honor would not permit him to defer.
Gates, in fact, when informed in the most delicate manner of the order
of Congress, was urgent that a court of inquiry should be immediately
convened: he acknowledged there was some important evidence that could
not at present be procured; but he relied on the honor and justice of
the court to make allowance for the deficiency. He was ultimately
brought to acquiesce in the decision of the council of war for the
postponement, but declared that he could not think of serving until
the matter should have been properly investigated. He determined to
pass the interim on his estate in Virginia.
The whole force at Charlotte, when Greene took command, did not much
exceed twenty-three hundred men, and more than half of them were
militia. It had been broken in spirit by the recent defeat. The
officers had fallen into habits of negligence; the soldiers were loose
and disorderly, without tents and camp equipage; badly clothed and
fed, and prone to relieve their necessities by depredating upon the
inhabitants.
A recent exploit had given some animation to the troops.
Lieutenant-colonel Washington, detached with a troop of light-horse to
check a foraging party of the enemy, scoured the country within
thirteen miles of Camden. Here he found a body of loyalist militia
strongly posted at Clermont, the seat of Colonel Rugeley, their tory
commander. They had ensconced themselves in a large barn, built of
logs, and had fortified it by a slight intrenchment and a line of
abatis. To attack it with cavalry was useless. Colonel Washington
dismounted part of his troops to appear like infantry; placed on two
wagon-wheels the trunk of a pine-tree, shaped and painted to look like
a field-piece, brought it to bear upon the enemy, and, displaying his
cavalry, sent in a flag summoning the garrison to surrender instantly,
on pain of having their log castle battered about their ears. The
garrison, to the number of one hundred and twelve men, with Colonel
Rugeley at their head, gave themselves up prisoners of war.
The first care of General Greene was to reorganize his army. He went
to work quietly but resolutely; called no councils of war;
communicated his plans and intentions to few, and such only as were
able and willing to aid in executing them. Finding the country round
Charlotte exhausted by repeated foragings, he separated the army into
two divisions. One, about one thousand strong, was commanded by
Brigadier-general Morgan, of rifle renown, and was composed of four
hundred Continental infantry, under Lieutenant-colonel Howard of the
Maryland line, two companies of Virginia militia under Captains
Tripplet and Tate, and one hundred dragoons under Lieutenant-colonel
Washington. With these Morgan was detached towards the district of
Ninety-Six, in South Carolina, with orders to take a position near the
confluence of the Pacolet and Broad Rivers, and assemble the militia
of the country. With the other division, Greene made a march of
toilful difficulty through a barren country, to Hicks' Creek, in
Chesterfield district, on the east side of the Pedee River, opposite
the Cheraw Hills. There he posted himself, on the 26th, partly to
discourage the enemy from attempting to possess themselves of Cross
Creek, which would give them command of the greatest part of the
provisions of the lower country--partly to form a camp of repose.