to fight him, for he expected to overtake him on a retreat. He rode
cautiously forward to reconnoiter, but the shots of the advanced corps
of riflemen obliged him to retire precipitately to his lines. Yet,
feeling sure of an easy victory, Tarleton quickly arranged his line in
battle order upon the Spartanburg road, within three hundred yards
of Morgan's first line. At this moment, Morgan, with solemn voice and
sententious sentences, addressed his troops. He exhorted the militia of
the first line to be steady, and fire with sure aim; and expressed
his conviction that, if they would pour in two volleys at a killing
distance, victory would be theirs. He addressed the second line in a
similar manner, informed them that he had ordered the militia to
fall back after delivering two volleys, and exhorted them not to be
disconcerted by that movement. Then taking post with his line, near
Lieutenant-colonel Howard, he awaited in silence the approach of the
British van, already in motion. It consisted of the light troops and the
legion infantry, with the 7th regiment, under Major New-marsh. In the
center of this line were the two pieces of artillery. Upon each
flank was a troop of cavalry; and in the rear, as a reserve was Major
M'Arthur, with the battalion of the 71st regiment and the remainder of
the cavalry. Tarleton placed himself in the first line.
It was now about nine o'clock in the morning. The sun was shining warm
and bright over the summits of Thicketty Mountain, and gave brilliancy
to the martial array in the forests below. At a signal from Tarleton,
his advance gave a loud shout, and rushed furiously to the contest,
under cover of their artillery and an incessant discharge of musketry.
The riflemen, under Cunningham and M'Dowell, delivered their fire with
terrible effect, and then fell back to the flanks of the first line
under Pickens. The British still shouting, rushed forward, and poured
in a close fire upon the militia. These stood firm, until assailed with
bayonets, when they fell back to the second line. M'Call s militia fled
to their horses, while the remainder, under Pickens, took post upon
Howard's right. Upon the main body Tarleton now made a vigorous charge,
and was met with equal valor and determination. The contest was close
and severe, and the British line began to bend, when M'Arthur, with the
reserve, was ordered to advance. This movement reanimated the quailing
Britons, and they plied ball and bayonet with incessant force. While the
contest was raging, M'Arthur
* Between this eminence and the one on which Howard was stationed, the
Mill-gap road passes.
[[[Charge of Tarleton.--Bold Maneuver of Howard.--Americans
Victorious.--Colonel Washington.]]]
{641}attempted movement His order to gain the American flank under
Colonel Howard. That officer perceived the and its intent, and instantly
ordered his first company to charge the British 71st. was mistaken, and
the company fell back.
[Illustration: 9651]
The whole line also gave way at the same moment, and Morgan ordered
it to retreat to the eminence behind which the cavalry were posted.
Tarleton, believing this maneuver to be a precursor of flight,
ordered another charge, and, with shouts, his infantry rushed forward
impetuously, in disorder. When close to Howard, that officer ordered his
line to face about and give his pursuers a volley. Instantly a close and
murderous fire laid many of the British line dead upon the earth, and
the living, terrified by the unexpected movement, recoiled in confusion.
Howard perceived the advantage of the moment, and followed it up with
the bayonet. This decided the victory in favor of the Americans. At the
same time, a portion of Tarleton's cavalry having gained the rear of the
Americans, fell upon M'Call's mounted militia. Now was the moment for
Lieutenant-colonel Washington * to act. With his cavalry, he struck the
British horsemen a decisive blow, and drove them in confusion before
him. The reserve, under M'Ar-
* William Augustine Washington, "the modern Marcellus," "the sword
of his country," was the eldest son of Baily Washington, of Stafford
county, Virginia. He was educated for the Church, but the peculiar
position of public affairs led him into the political field. He early
espoused the patriot cause, and entered the army under Colonel Hugh
(afterward General) Mercer, as captain. He was in the battle near
Brooklyn, Long Island, distinguished himself at Trenton, and was with
his beloved general when he fell at Princeton. He was afterward a major
in Colonel Baylor's corps of cavalry, and was with that officer when
attacked by General Grey, at Tappan, in 1778. The following year, he
joined the army under Lincoln in South Carolina, and was very active in
command of a light corps, in the neighborhood of Charleston. He became
attached, with his corps, to the division of General Morgan, and with
that officer fought bravely at the Cowpens. For his valor on that
occasion, Congress presented him with a silver medal. He was an active
officer in Greene's celebrated retreat, and again fought bravely at
Guilford Court House. He behaved gallantly at Hobkirk's Hill, near
Camden, and at the battle at Eutaw Springs be exhibited signal valor;
but his horse being shot under him, he was there made a prisoner. He
remained a captive until the close of the war. Having become attached to
a South Carolina lady during his captivity, he married her and settled
in Charleston. He represented that district in the State Legislature.
His talents as a statesman were so conspicuous, that he was solicited to
become a candidate for governor. He declined the honor, chiefly because
he could not make a speech. When President Adams appointed General
Washington commander-in-chief of the American army, he chose Colonel
Washington to be one of his staff, with the rank of brigadier. Colonel
Washington died on the sixth of Mardi, 1810. He was tall in person,
possessed of great strength and activity, and in society was taciturn
and modest.
[Illustration: 0651]
* The following are the device and inscriptions: An officer mounted at
the head of a body of cavalry, charging flying troops; Victory is flying
over the heads of the Americans, holding a laurel crown in her right
hand and a palm branch in her left.' Legend: The American Congress to
William Washington commander of a regiment of cavalry. Reverse: 17th
January, 1761--"Because, having vigorously pursued the foe with a small
band of soldiers, he gave a brilliant specimen of innate valor in the
battle at the Cowpens, seventeenth January, 1731." This inscription is
within a laurel wreath.
[[[Retreat of the British.--Encounter between Washington and
Tarleton.--Result of the Battle.]]]
{641}thur, were too much mixed up with the main forces of Tarleton,
to present a rallying point, and the whole body retreated along the
Mill-gap road to the place near Scruggs's, delineated on page 636, then
covered with an open wood like the ground where the conflict commenced.
There the battle ended, and the pursuit was relinquished. It was near
the northern border of that present open field that Washington and
Tarleton had a personal conflict. In the eagerness of his pursuit of
that officer, Washington had got far in advance of his squadron, when
Tarleton and two of his aids, at the head of the troop of the 17th
regiment of dragoons, turned upon him. An officer on Tarleton's right
was about to strike the impetuous Washington with his saber, when his
sergeant came up and disabled the assailant's sword-arm. An officer
on Tarleton's left was about to strike at the same moment, when
Washington's little bugler, too small to wield a sword, wounded the
assailant with a pistol-ball. Tarleton, who was in the center, then made
a thrust at him, which Washington parried, and gave his enemy a wound in
the hand. * Tarleton wheeled, and, as he retreated, discharged a pistol,
by which Washington was wounded in the knee. During that night and the
following morning, the remnant of Tarleton's force reached Hamilton's
Ford, on Broad River, and also the encampment of Cornwallis, at Turkey
Creek, about twenty-five miles from the Cowpens. For this defeat,
Tarleton's cotemporaries censured him severely. **
The loss of the Americans in this decisive battle was about seventy men,
of whom, strange to say, only twelve were killed. The British, according
to Cornwallis's letter to Sir Henry Clinton, written a few days
afterward, lost ten officers and ninety privates killed, and
twenty-three officers and five hundred privates taken prisoners. Almost
the whole of the British infantry, except the baggage guard, were killed
or taken. The two pieces of artillery, *** eight hundred muskets, two
standards, thirty-five baggage wagons, and one hundred dragoon horses,
fell into the possession of the Americans. **** To the honor of the
victors, it is declared that, notwithstanding the cruel warfare which
Tarleton had waged had exasperated the Americans to the last degree, not
one of the British was killed or wounded, or even insulted, after they
had surrendered.
The defeat of the British at the Cowpens has not been inaptly compared
to that of the Germans of Burgoyne's army near Bennington. The disaster,
in both cases, dealt a severe blow against the success of the main army.
The battle near Bennington paralyzed the energies of Burgoyne's army;
the battle at the Cowpens equally affected the power of Cornwallis. He
was advancing triumphantly toward the heart of North Carolina, having
placed
* It is related that this wound was twice the subject for the sallies
of wit of two American ladies, who were sisters, daughters of Colonel
Montfort, of Halifax county, North Carolina. When Cornwallis and his
army were at Halifax, on their way to Virginia, Tarleton was at the
house of an American. In the presence of Mrs. Wilie Jones (one of these
sisters), Tarleton spoke of Colonel Washington as an illiterate fellow,
hardly able to write his name. "Ah! colonel," said Mrs. Wilie, "you
ought to know better, for you bear on your person proof that he knows
very well how to make his mark.'" At another time, Tarleton was speaking
sarcastically of Washington, in the presence of her sister, Mrs. Ashe.
"I would be happy to see Colonel Washington," he said, with a sneer.
Mrs. Ashe instantly replied, "If you had looked behind you, Colonel
Tarleton, at. the battle of the Cowpens, you would have enjoyed that
pleasure." Stung with this keen wit, Tarleton plaeed his hand on his
sword. General Leslie, who was present, remarked. "Say what you please,
Mrs. Ashe, Colonel Tarleton knows better than to insult a lady in my
presence."--Mr. Ellet's Women of the Revolution.
** See Siedman, ii., 324.
*** These two pieces of artillery were first taken from Burgoyne at
Saratoga; then retaken by the British at Camden; now were recovered
by the Americans, and afterward fell into the hands of Cornwallis
at Guilford. They were of the kind of small field-pieees called
"grasshoppers."
**** Ramsay, Gordon, Marshall, Lee, Johnson, Tarleton, Moultrie.
[[[The Heroes of the Cowpens.--Departure from that Place.--Cherokee
Ford.--Indians in the Carolinas.]]]
{643}South Carolina, as he thought, in submission at his feet. The
defeat of Ferguson at King's Mountain, and now of Tarleton, his favorite
partisan, withered his hopes of Tory organization and co-operation.
His last hope was the destruction of Greene's army by his own superior
force, and for that purpose he now commenced the pursuit which we
have considered in a preceding chapter, the capture of Morgan and his
prisoners being his first object.
The victory of the Cowpens gave great joy to the Americans throughout
the confederacy. Congress received information of it on the eighth of
February, and on the ninth of March that body voted an award of a gold
medal to Morgan; a silver medal to Howard and Washington; a sword to
Colonel Pickens; and a vote of thanks to the other officers and men
engaged in the battle. *
It was almost sunset when I left the Cowpens to return to a house of
entertainment upon the road to the Cherokee Ford, seven miles distant;
for the resident there could not find a corner for me in his dwelling,
nor for Charley in his stable, that cold night, "for love nor money,"
but generously proposed that I should send him a copy of my work when
completed, because he lived upon the battle-ground! To a planter
on horseback, from Spartanburg, who overtook me upon the road, I am
indebted for kindness in pointing out the various localities of interest
at the Cowpens; to the other for the knowledge that a small building
near his house was the depository of a field-piece used by an artillery
company in the vicinity, when celebrating the anniversary of the battle.
After dark, I reached the house of Mrs. Camp, where I was comfortably
lodged for the night; and early the following morning, accompanied by
one of her sons on horseback, I proceeded to the Cherokee Ford, on the
Broad River, ten miles distant. The road was very rough most of the way,
and quite hilly. At the ford, on the west side of the river, is a large
iron manufactory. The ore is brought from the neighboring mountains,
smelted there, and wrought into hollow-ware, nails, spikes, tacks, &c.
Around the establishment quite a little village has grown up, and there,
as at Matson's Ford (Conshohocken), on the Schuylkill, where hostile
parties were seen during the Revolution, and all around was a
wilderness, the hum of busy industry is heard, and the smiles of
cultivation are seen. Here, as we have observed (page 633), the
Americans, who gained the victory at King's Mountain, crossed this
stream on the morning of the battle.
Before crossing the Broad River, the _Estwawpuddenah_ of the Cherokee
Indians, let us take a historical survey of the most important
occurrences westward of this stream, in the beautiful country watered
by the Tyger, the Ennoree, and the Saluda, and further on to the noble
Savannah. Standing here upon the western selvage of civilization when
the war broke out, and where the aborigines were sole masters but a few
years before, let us glance, first, at the record of events which mark
their conflicts with the over-reaching white race, who beat them back
beyond the mountains. **
We have already noticed, on page 562, the efforts of the Corees,
Tuscaroras, and other Indians of the Neuse and Cape Fear region to expel
the Europeans.[[1712]] This conflict was soon succeeded by another,
more serious in its character. For a while, the very existence of the
Southern colony was menaced. The powerful nation of the Yamassees, who
* Journals of Congress, vii, 47.
** South Carolina was occupied by twenty-eight Indian nations when the
Europeans first made a permanent settlement upon the Ashley River. The
domain of these tribes extended from the ocean to the mountains.
The Westos, Stonos, Coosaws, and Sewees occupied the country between
Charleston and the Edis-to Rivers. They were conquered by the Savannahs,
and expelled from the country. The Yamassees and Tuspahs held the
territory in the neighborhood of Port Royal. The Savannahs, Serannahs,
Cussobos, and Euchees occupied the middle country, along the Isundigia,
or Savannah River. The Apalachians inhabited the head waters of
the Savannah and Alatamaha, and gave their name to the mountains of
Apalachy, and the bay of Apalachicola. The Museoghees or Creeks occupied
a part of the country between the Savannah and Broad Rivers, being
divided by the latter from the country of the Cherokees. The Congarees,
Santees, Waterees, Saludas, Catawbas, Peedees, and Winyaws lived
along the rivers which bear their respective names. The Museoghees and
Catawbas were the most warlike; the Cherokees were more numerous than
either, but more peaceful. These various nations, when Charleston was
founded, could muster, probably, fifty thousand warriors.--See Simms's
History of South Carolina, page 67.
[[[War with the Indians.--Peril of the White People.--Defeat and
Conquest of the Indians.--Seminoles]]]
{644}possessed the territory around Port Royal, where the French
Huguenots first attempted settlement, had long evinced their friendship
for the Carolinians, whose first settlement was in the neighborhood of
the present city of Charleston, by engaging with them as allies in their
wars against the Spaniards and some Indian tribes. The Spaniards at
St. Augustine, who were the mortal enemies of the Carolinians, finally
succeeded in uniting the Cherokees--"the mountaineers of aboriginal
America" * --the Muscoghees, Apalachians, and other Indian nations, in a
league for the destruction of the colony. They also won the confidence
of the Yamassees, and suddenly that powerful tribe appeared in arms
against the Carolinians. Already the Apalachian tribes, occupying
a large portion of the present State of Georgia, instigated by the
Spaniards, had desolated some of the frontier settlements.[[1703]]
Governor Moore, at the head of a body of Carolinians and friendly
Indians, penetrated into the very heart of the Apalachian settlements,
between the Savannah and the Alatamahaw Rivers.
He laid their villages in ashes, devastated their plantations slew about
eight hundred people, and, with a large number of captives, marched back
in triumph to Charleston. This invasion broke the spirit of the tribe,
and made the power of the Carolinians thoroughly respected among their
neighbors.
When the confederacy of the tribes of the upper country was effected,
and the Yamassees lifted the hatchet against the white people,[[1715]]
Governor Craven, who had promptly sent aid to the people of the northern
provinces, as promptly met the danger at his own door. So secretly had
the confederation been formed, and their plans matured, that the first
blow was struck, and almost a hundred people were slain, ** before
the Carolinians were aware of danger. The Yamassees, the Muscoghees or
Creeks, and Apalachians, advanced along the southern frontier, spreading
desolation in their track. The Cherokees, the Catawbas, and the
Congarees joined them, and the Corees, and some of the Tuscaroras, also
went out upon the war-path. Almost a thousand warriors issued from the
Neuse region, while those of the southern division amounted to more than
six thousand. Within forty days, the Indian tribes from the Cape Fear
to the St. Mary's, and westward to the Alabama, were banded together for
the destruction of the colony at Ashley River.
Governor Craven, whose character was the reverse of his name, acted
with the utmost energy when the confederation and its purposes were made
known. He immediately proclaimed martial law; laid an embargo on all
ships to prevent men or provisions from leaving the colony, and seizing
arms wherever they could be found, placed them in the hands of faithful
negroes, to co-operate with the white people. With twelve hundred men,
white and black, he marched to confront the Indians, now approaching
with the knife, hatchet, and torch, in dreadful activity. In the first
encounters of his advanced parties with the enemy the Indians were
victors, but Craven finally compelled them to fall back to their chief
camp upon the Salk-hatchie, *** whither the governor pursued them.
Desperate were the conflicts which ensued, and for a while the victory
was doubtful. The fate of the whole colony was suspended upon the
result, and the Carolinians contended with all the energy of men
fighting for life, home, and family. The Indians were repulsed, and,
hotly pursued by the white people and their black aids, they were driven
across the Savannah and sought shelter under the guns of the Spanish
fortress at St. Augustine. No longer useful to them, the Spaniards drove
their savage allies into the wilderness, and fearing to return to their
hunting-grounds north of the Savannah, the Indians set up their wigwams
among the everglades of Florida, and became, it is believed, the
ancestors of the powerful Seminoles of our day.
When the division of the Carolinas occurred,[[1729]]and the southern
portion became a
* Bancroft, iii., 246.
* This massacre was at Pocotaligo, an old village in the parish of
Prince William, in Beaufort District. It then contained about three
hundred inhabitants. There stood Fort Balfour, which was captured,
during the Revolution, by a few Americans under Colonel Harden.
*** This is the name of the south fork of the Combahee River, which
empties into St. Helena Sound. The place of the encampment was near
Barnwell, the capital of Barnwell District.
[[[Embassy to the Indians.--Erection of Forts.--War with the
Cherokees.--Small pox at Charleston.]]]
{645}royal province, the first care of the administration was to secure
the friendship of the neighboring tribes. In 1730, an embassy under
Sir Alexander Cumming, visited and explored the Cherokee country, three
hundred miles from Charleston. They made a favorable impression, secured
advantageous treaties, and laid, as they hoped, the foundation of a
permanent peace. For twenty years the treaty remained unbroken. In 1755,
the Cherokees renewed their treaty with the Carolinians, and at the
same time made cessions to them of large tracts of land. Upon this ceded
territory, stretching along the Savannah to the Tennessee River,
Glenn, then governor of South Carolina, built forts, and named them
respectively Prince George, * Moore, and Loudon. The first was upon the
Savannah, three hundred miles from Charleston; the second was about one
hundred and seventy miles below; and the latter was upon the waters of
the Tennessee River, five hundred miles from Charleston. These forts
were garrisoned by troops from Great Britain, and, promising security,
settlements rapidly extended in that direction. They served to awe the
Indian nations, and peace might have been always secured, had the white
people exercised ordinary prudence. But one rash act scattered the
power of treaties to the wind, and lighted the flames of war along the
Carolina frontier.
In 1757, during the administration of Governor Lyttleton (afterward Lord
Wescott), while a large party of the Cherokees, who had been assisting
the English against the French on the Ohio, were returning home, they
took possession of some horses from the back settlers of Virginia. The
white people pursued them, killed a number of warriors, and took several
captive. This violence exasperated the Indians, and they retaliated by
scalping every white man whom they met. Parties of young warriors fell
upon the border settlements of the Carolinas, and war was kindled
along the whole frontier. Lyttleton called the Carolinians to arms. The
Cherokee chiefs were alarmed, and sent a deputation to Charleston to
appease the wrath of the English. Lasting friendship might have been
at once secured had not Lyttleton indiscreetly refused to listen. He
collected fourteen hundred men upon the Congaree, conducted the Cherokee
delegation thither, under guard, and, extorting a pledge of peace
and alliance, he returned to Charleston, after sending to Fort George
twenty-two hostages, whom he had demanded for the delivery of the
warriors who had desolated the border settlements. The Cherokees were
very indignant, and the governor had scarcely reached his capital, when
he received intelligence that fourteen white people had been murdered
within a mile of Fort George. Soon the Cherokees surrounded that
fortress, led on by Occonastota, a chief of great influence, and the
implacable enemy of the English. Perceiving the power of his arms to be
vain, he had recourse to stratagem. Withdrawing his warriors, he spread
them in ambush, and while conferring with the commander of the garrison
and two other officers, whom he had decoyed to the margin of a stream
by expressions of friendship, he gave a signal, and instantly they were
surrounded by armed savages. The commander was slain, and the other
two were wounded and made prisoners. The garrison proceeded to put the
hostages in irons. They made a deadly resistance, and were all slain.
This event maddened the whole Indian nation, and, with gleaming
hatchets, they swept along the Carolina frontier like the scythe of
Death. Men, women, and children were butchered without mercy; and the
war-belt was sent to the Catawbas and other tribes, inviting them to
confederate for the extermination of the English.
About this time, Charleston was severely scourged by the small-pox, and
was too weak to send efficient succor to the frontiers. Lyttleton had
been appointed governor of Jamaica, and, sailing for that island about
this time, was succeeded by William Bull, a native Carolinian. Bull sent
to Virginia and North Carolina for aid, and those states furnished seven
troops of rangers for the service. These, with the British regulars
under Colonel Montgomery (afterward Earl of Eglinton), sent from Canada
by General Amherst, marched into the
* Fort Prince George was a strong work. It was quadrangular, with an
earthen rampart six feet high, upon which stockades were placed. Around
it was a ditch, and it had a natural glacis on two sides. At each angle
was a bastion, on which four small cannons were mounted. It contained
barracks for a hundred men.
[[[Montgomery's Expedition against the Indians.--Peace.--Renewal of
War.--Grant and Middleton's Expedition.]]]
{646}Indian country. Before proceeding, Montgomery rendezvoused at
Monk's Corner,[[April, 1760]] near Charleston, where volunteers flocked
to his standard. The Cherokees were advised of these preparations for
invading their territory, and were at first uneasy. Their beautiful
domain spread out between the Broad and Savannah Rivers, and was fenced
in by rugged mountains. They had then sixty-four towns and villages,
and upon an emergency could call six thousand warriors to the field.
Reflecting upon this force, they felt strong. Montgomery, with only two
thousand men, proceeded against the Indians. In several engagements he
chastised them severely, and pressed on to the relief of Fort Prince
George, then closely invested by the red warriors. The Indians fled at
his approach toward the secure fastnesses of the mountains and morasses,
and hither Montgomery pursued them. The wilderness was vast and fearful
over which he marched, and the streams to be forded were often deep and
turbid. The enemy finally made a stand at Etchoee, the nearest town of
their middle settlements. Within five miles of this village a severe
battle was fought. The Cherokees fell back slowly before the cold
bayonet; and when they saw the English pressing toward the town,
they fled thither precipitately, to save their women and children.
Montgomery, feeling unsafe in that far off and desolate region, returned
to Fort Prince George, and from thence toward Charleston. All the way to
the populous settlements, he was annoyed by the Indians, who hung upon
his rear, and the purpose of the campaign was only half accomplished.
Montgomery and his regulars soon afterward returned to New York.
While this retreat was in progress, the distant post of Fort Loudon,
on the Tennessee, was invested by the Cherokees. The garrison of two
hundred men was daily melting away by famine. The Virginia Rangers
attempted its relief, but without success. The garrison finally
surrendered. Safe guidance to the frontier settlements, with ammunition
and other baggage was promised them; but they had gone only a short
distance on their way, when their guides forsook them, and another body
of Indians fell upon and massacred twenty-six of them. A few escaped,
and Stuart, their commander, and some others, remained captives a long
time.
The Cherokees were now willing to treat for peace, but the French
had sent emissaries among them, who kept their fears and animosities
constantly excited. Soon the war was renewed with all its former
violence, while Carolina was left almost wholly to her own resources.
She raised a provincial regiment of twelve hundred men, and gave the
command to Colonel Middleton, a brave and accomplished officer. Among
his subordinates were Henry Laurens, Francis Marion, William Moultrie,
Isaac Huger, and Andrew Pickens, all of whom were very distinguished
patriots during the Revolution. This was their first military school,
and the lessons they were there taught were very useful in a subsequent
hour of need. When this little band was ready to march into the Cherokee
country, Colonel James Grant, with the regiments formerly commanded by
Montgomery, landed at Charleston.[[April, 1761]] The united forces of
Grant and Middleton, with some of the Chickasaw and Catawba Indians as
allies, in all twenty-six hundred men, reached Fort
Prince George on the twenty-ninth of May. Nine days afterward[[June 7]]
they advanced toward Etchoee, where, upon the ground where Montgomery
fought them, a large body of Cherokees were gathered. Well skilled
in the use of fire-arms, and now well supplied by the French, they
presented a formidable front. They also had the advantage of superior
position, and the battle which ensued was severe and bloody. For three
hours the conflict raged in that deep wilderness; and it was not until
the deadly bayonet, in the hands of desperate men, was brought to bear
upon the Indians, that they gave way. Inch by inch they fell back,
until finally, completely overpowered, they fled, hotly pursued by their
conquerors. How many were slain is not known; the English lost nearly
sixty men. Like Sullivan in the Seneca country, Grant followed up his
victory with the torch. Etchoee was laid in ashes; the cornfields and
granaries were destroyed, and the wretched people were driven to the
barren mountains. * So terrible was the punishment, that the name of
Grant was to them a synonym for _devastation_.
* Marion, in a letter quoted by Weems, mentioned the wanton destruction
of the corn, then in full ear, and said, "I saw every where around the
footsteps of the little Indian children, where they had lately played
under the shelter of the rustling corn. No doubt they had often looked
up with joy to the swelling shocks, and gladdened when they thought of
their abundant cakes for the coming winter. When we are gone, thought I,
they will return, and, peeping through the weeds with tearful eyes,
will mark the ghastly ruin poured over their homes, and the happy fields
where they had so often played. 'Who did this?' they will ask their
mothers. 'The white people; the Christians did it!' will be the reply."
[[[Treaty of Peace and Friendship.--Influence of Royal
Emissaries.--Indian Hostilities renewed.--John Stuart.]]]
{647}By this victory, the spirit of the Cherokee Nation was broken, and
the French, whose machinations had urged them to continued hostilities,
were hated and despised by them. Through the venerable sachem,
Attakullakulla, who had remained a friend of the white people, the
chiefs of the Nation humbly sued for peace. "The Great Spirit," said the
old man, "is the father of the white man and the Indian; as we all live
in one land, let us all live as one people." His words of counsel were
heeded; a treaty of amity was concluded, and a bloody war was ended. The
Treaty of Paris, between the English and French, was concluded in 1763,
and, except the feeble Spaniards on the South, the Cherokees had no
enemies of the English thereafter to excite them to war.
From 1761, until the war of the Revolution commenced, the Indians upon
the Carolina and Georgia frontiers were generally quiet and peaceful.
Pursuant to the secret instructions which the royal governors received
from the British ministry, to band the Indians against the colonists,
Tory emissaries went up from the sea-board and excited the Cherokees
and their neighbors to go upon the war-path. Among the most active
and influential of these emissaries of the crown was John Stuart, a
Scotchman, and at that time his majesty's Indian agent for the Southern
colonies. * Stuart arranged a plan with Wright, Campbell, Martin,
Dunmore, and other royal governors, to land a British army at St.
Augustine, in Florida, which, uniting with the Indians and Tories, might
invade the state at an interior point, while a fleet should blockade
its harbors, and land an invading army on the sea-board. This plan was
discovered by the Carolinians, but not in time entirely to defeat it;
for, when Parker and Clinton made their attack upon Charleston,[[June
28, 1776]] the Cherokees commenced a series of massacres upon the
western frontiers of the province. Already a few stockade forts had been
erected in that section, and to these the terrified borderers fled
for safety. Colonel Williamson, of the district of Ninety-Six, who was
charged with the defense of the upper country, raised about five hundred
true men, and in his first skirmish with the Indians, in which he took
some prisoners, discovered thirteen white men, Tories, disguised as
savages, and wielding the tomahawk and scalping knife. The indignation
excited against these men extended to their class, and this discovery
was the beginning of those bloody scenes between bands of Whigs and
Tories which characterized many districts of South Carolina. The
domestic feuds which ensued were pregnant with horrid results; the
ferocity of the tiger usurped the blessed image of God in the hearts of
men, and made them brutes, with fearful power to be brutal.
When intelligence of the affair at Charleston reached the interior, the
patriots were encouraged, and Williamson soon found himself at the
head of a force of twelve hundred men, and daily augmenting. With a
detachment of three hundred horsemen, he proceeded to attack an Indian
and Tory force at Oconoree Creek. He fell into an ambuscade, and himself
and companions narrowly escaped destruction. His horse was shot under
him; his squad-
* John Stuart came to America with Oglethorpe, probably with the
Highlanders under M'Intosh, the father of General Lachlin M'Intosh, of
the Revolution, who settled upon the Alatamahaw, and called the place
New Inverness. The Indians were greatly pleased wilh the dress and
character of the Highlanders, and to this circumstance is attributed
Stuart's influence among them. Stuart went to Charleston; became Indian
agent; married Niss Fenwick, daughter of one of the wealthiest men in
the province, and finally became one of the king's council. He lived
in the house on the corner of Wadd and Orange Streets. Charleston,
now (1851) owned by William Carson. Esq. He had commanded a corps on
Cumberland Island, who gallantly repulsed the Spaniards in 1745, and
this was the commencement of his popularity which led up to the civil
station that he held in council. He chose the royal side when the
Revolution broke out, and to him was attributed all of the difficulties
with the Indians upon the frontier during the first year of that
strangle. Alarmed for his personal safety, he fled to St. Augustine. His
estate was confiscated. He died in England. His son, Sir John Stuart,
became a distinguished general in ihe British army.--See Johnson's
Traditions of the Revolution, page 107.
[[[Desolation of the Cherokee Country.--Expeditions under Rutherford and
Pickens.--Present Condition of the Cherokees]]]
{648}ron were thrown into disorder; and but for the skill and coolness
of Colonel Hammond in rallying them, they would have been routed,
and many slain. They were victorious, and shortly after this event,
Williamson marched, with two thousand men, to lay waste the Cherokee
country. Again he fell into an ambuscade, in a narrow defile among the
rugged mountains, near the present town of Franklin. From the rocky
heights, and from behind the huge trees of the forest, twelve hundred
warriors, with some Tories, poured a destructive fire upon the Whigs.
But again the Indians were repulsed, and Williamson pressed forward
cautiously but efficiently in the work of conquest and desolation. The
valleys were smiling with crops of corn, and numerous villages dotted
the water-courses. Towns were laid in ashes; the standing corn was
trampled down and destroyed; and over all the Indian settlements
eastward of the Apalachian Mountains, the broom of desolation swept with
terrible effect. The destruction of food invited famine to a revel, and,
to avoid starvation, five hundred warriors crossed the Savannah and fled
to the Loyalists in Florida.
In the mean while, General Rutherford, of North Carolina, with a force
fully equal to Williamson's, crossed the Blue Ridge at Swannanoa Gap,
and proceeded to the valley of the Tennessee River, laying waste the
Indian country on the line of his march. There he joined Williamson on
the fourteenth of September. The work of destruction being completed,
Rutherford returned to Salisbury in October, where he disbanded his
troops. The conquest was consummate. The Cherokees sued for peace, but
they had no Attakullakulla to intercede for them, for he had gone
down into silence. They were compelled to submit to the most abject
humiliation, and to cede to South Carolina all their lands beyond the
mountains of Unacaya, now comprised within the fertile districts of
Greenville, Anderson, and Pickens, watered by the tributaries of the
Savannah, the Saluda, and the Ennoree. *
Only once again did the Cherokees lift the hatchet, during the war. In
1781, British emissaries induced them to go upon the war-path. With a
large number of disguised white men, they fell upon the inhabitants in
Ninety-Six, massacred some families, and burned their houses. General
Pickens, with a party of militia, penetrated the Cherokee country, and
in the space of fourteen days he burned thirteen of their villages,
killed more than forty of the Indians, and took nearly seventy of them
prisoners. They sued for peace, promised never to listen to the British
again, and from that time they remained quiet. **
The spirit of the North Carolina Regulators was infused into the back
settlers of South Carolina, beyond the Broad River, and about 1769,
the leading men of that region took the law into their own hands. To
suppress their rising power and importance, the governor employed a man
of low habits, but of haughty demeanor, named Scovill, to go thither and
enforce the laws of the province. He gave him the commission of colonel,
and, with the mistaken policy of a narrow mind, he used rigorous
measures, instead of evincing forbearance and a spirit of conciliation.
The sufferings which they endured made them reprobate all government,
and when asked to espouse the cause of Congress, they refused, on the
ground that all congresses or instruments of government are arbitrary
and tyrannical. These formed the basis of the Tory ascendency in that
section of the state at the beginning of the war; and before the
names of Whig and Tory became distinctive appellations, the name of
Scovillites was applied to those who opposed the Republicans. There
were also many Dutch settlers between the Broad and Saluda Rivers, who
had received bounty lands from the king.
* Moultrie, Ramsay, Simms, Johnson.
** A greater portion of the Cherokee Nation, now in existence, occupy
territory west of the Mississippi. A remnant of them remain in North
Carolina, at a place ealled Qualla Town, in Haywood county. They were
allowed to remain when the general emigration of their nation took
place. They have a tract of seventy-two thousand acres of land.
Almost every adult can read in the Cherokee language, and most of them
understand English. They manufacture all their necessaries; have courts,
lawyers, and judges of their own, and have all the political rights of
free citizens of the state. They are sober, industrious, and religious.
Their present business chief (1851) is William H. Thomas, Esq., senator
from that district (50th). The Qualla Town Cherokees exhibit some
remarkable cases of longevity. In 1850, Messrs. Mitchell and Smoot,
while on an official visit there, saw Kalostch, who was then one hundred
and twenty years old. His wife "went out like a candle," as Kalosteh
said, the year before, at the age of one hundred and twenty-five years.
It is said that people one hundred years old are not uncommon there.
[[[The Western Settlers.--Growth of Party Spirit.--The
Cunninghams.--Seizure of Powder.]]]
{649}Government emissaries persuaded these settlers to believe that an
espousal of the rebel cause would be the sure precursor of the loss of
their lands. These augmented the loyal population when the inhabitants
were called upon to make a political decision. Still another class, the
Scotch-Irish Protestants, had experienced the bounty of the king, and
these, with a feeling of gratitude, adhered to the royal government.
Over all these, Lord William Campbell, the royal governor when the
war broke out, had unbounded influence, and probably in not one of the
thirteen colonies was loyalty more rampant and uncompromising than
in South Carolina. Many, whose feelings were all in harmony with the
opposers of royal rule, were urged by self-interest to remain quiet; for
they felt secure in person and property under present circumstances, and
feared the result of commotion. Thus active and passive loyalty sat like
an incubus upon the real patriotism of South Carolina; and yet, in every
portion of the state, the Tories were outnumbered by the Whigs, except
in the section we are now considering, between the Broad and Saluda
Puvers. The inhabitants there could not be persuaded to furnish men and
arms for the army of Congress, nor to sign the American Association.
Early in 1776, William Henry Drayton, Colonel William Thomson, Colonel
Joseph Kershaw, and Reverend William Tennent, were sent by the Council
of Safety at Charleston into that district, to explain to the people
the nature of the dispute. Emissaries of government counteracted their
influence by persuading the people that the inhabitants of the seaboard
desired to get their tea free of duty, while those in the interior would
be obliged to pay a high rate for salt, osnaburgs, and other imported
necessaries. The baneful seeds of suspicion and mutual distrust were
sown broad-cast among the settlers. The men of each party banded
together in fear of the violence of the other, and soon opposing
camps were formed. Moderate men endeavored to prevent bloodshed, and a
conference of their respective leaders was finally effected. A treaty
of mutual forbearance was agreed to, and for a while agitation almost
ceased. But restless spirits were busy. Among these, Robert and Patrick
Cunningham, ** Tory leaders, were the most active, and they soon
disturbed the repose of party suspicion and animosity. By their
machinations, it was aroused to wakefulness. The Whigs, fearful of
Robert Cunningham's influence, seized and conveyed him to Charleston,
where he was imprisoned. His brother Patrick raised a force to attempt a
rescue.
At about this time, a thousand pounds of powder, on its way as a present
to the Cherokees, was seized by these Loyalists. This excited the
already vigorous efforts of the Council of Safety to more efficient
measures. Colonel Williamson (the same officer who chastised the
Cherokees), with a party of patriots, was sent to regain the powder.
They seized Patrick Cunningham, the leader, when the Tories gathered in
strength, and drove Williamson into a stockade fort at Ninety-Six. Alter
remaining there some days, an agreement for a cessation of hostilities
was concluded, and both parties dispersed to their homes.
* Mr. Drayton was, at this time, quite a young man, a descendant of one
of the leading families of South Carolina. He was a nephew of Governor
Bull. When Republican principles began to work up to the surface, and
become visible at the South, in 1771, his pen was employed on the side
of government, in opposition to Christopher Gadsden and others. 'These
essays brought him into notice. He was introduced at court, and was
appointed one of Governor Bull's council. As the Revolution advanced to
a crisis, Drayton saw the injustice of Great Britain, and espoused
the Republican cause. He became a favorite of the people, and, while a
delegate in the Continental Congress, he died in their service in 1779.
** Robert Cunningham was an Irish settler in the District of Ninety-Six,
now Abbeville, where he was commissioned a judge in 1770. After his
release, in 1776, he removed to Charleston. In 1780, he was appointed a
brigadier general to command the Loyalists of that province. His estate
was confiscated in 1782, and not being allowed to remain in the province
at the close of the war, he went to Nassau, New Providence, where he
died in 1813, at the age of seventy-four years. The British government
indemnified him for his losses, and gave him a pension. His brother
Patrick was deputy surveyor of the colony in 1769. He received the
commission of colonel, under Robert, in 1780. His property, also, was
confiscated in 1782, and at the close of the war he went to Florida. The
South Carolina Legislature afterward treated him leniently, and restored
a part of his property. He was elected a member of the Legislature by
his Tory friends. He died in 1794.
[[[Tory Faithlessness.--Expedition against them--Battle at Musgrove's
Mill.]]]
{650}The treaty at Ninety-Six was soon violated by the Tories, when
the Provincial Congress, resolving no longer to rely upon words, sent
a large body of militia and newly-raised regulars, under Colonels
Richardson * and Thomson, ** to apprehend the leaders of the party which
seized the powder, and to do all other things necessary to suppress the
present and future insurrections. *** They were joined by seven hundred
militia from North Carolina, under Colonels Thomas Polk and Griffith
Rutherford, and two hundred and twenty regulars, commanded by Colonel
James Martin. This was a wise step. It gave the Tories an exalted idea
of the strength of the friends of government, and entirely destroyed
their organization. Colonel Richardson used his discretionary powers
with mildness. The most obstinate leaders were seized and carried to
Charleston. Quiet was restored, and the Loyalists made no demonstration
of moment until after the reduction of Savannah, when a considerable
party arose in favor of the royal government, having for their leader
Colonel Boyd, who had been secretly employed by the British government
to head the Tories. These were routed and dispersed at Kettle Creek,
while on their way to the British posts in Georgia. This event will
be noticed in detail hereafter. From that time until the British took
possession of Charleston, in 1780, the Tories remained rather quiet upon
their plantations. On the eighteenth of August, 1780, Colonel Williams
(who was killed at King's Mountain a few weeks afterward), with Colonels
Shelby and Clarke, attacked quite a large body of British under Colonel
Innis and Major Fraser, near Musgrove's Mill, upon the Ennoree River, in
the northeast corner of Laurens's District. Many Tories were collected
there, and were joined on the seventeenth by Innis and Fraser. The whole
force was about three hundred strong, and were encamped upon the
south side of the river, where they commanded a bad, rocky ford. The
Americans, whose force was much less, took post upon the north side,
upon a small creek which empties into the Ennoree just below the
Spartanburg line, about two miles above Musgrove's Mill. It was agreed
that Williams should have the chief command. He drew up his little army
in ambush, in a semicircle within a wood, and then proceeded to entice
his enemy across the river. For this purpose he took a few picked
men, appeared at the ford, and fired upon the enemy. The stratagem was
successful. Innis immediately crossed the ford to dislodge the "rebels."
Williams and his party retreated, hotly pursued by Innis until within
the area of the patriot ambuscade, when a single shot by Colonel Shelby
gave the signal for attack. With a loud shout, the concealed Americans
arose, and within two minutes the Tories were completely surrounded.
Colonel Innis was slightly wounded, but with the larger part of his
regulars he escaped. Major Fraser was killed, with eighty-five others.
Colonel Clary, the commander of the militia, escaped, but
* Richard Richardson was a native of Virginia, where he was employed
as a land-surveyor at the time when Washington was engaged in the same
pursuit. He afterward settled in old Craven county, in South Carolina;
and during the Indian border wars, he commanded a regiment. As a
representative in the Provincial Congress of South Carolina, Colonel
Richardson assisted in forming the first Republican Constitution for
that state. He was with General Lincoln in his Southern campaigns, and
with that officer became a prisoner at Charleston, at which time he was
a brigadier. With others, he was sent to St. Augustine, from whence he
returned in September with a broken constitution, and soon died at
his residence, near Salisbury, in Sumter District, at the age of about
seventy-six years. Soon after his death, Tarleton occupied his house,
and, believing the family plate was buried with him, had his body
disinterred. When he was about leaving, that cruel man applied the torch
to the house with his own hand, avowing his determination to make it the
"funeral pile of the widow and her three young rebels." His son, James
B., was afterward governor of South Carolina.--See Johnson's Traditions,
page 158.
** William Thomson was a native of Pennsylvania, and a relative of
Charles Thomson, the secretary of the Continental Congress. He was
born about the year 1727, and, while a child, was taken to Orangeburg
District, in South Carolina. He was a patriot, and was placed in command
of the 3d regiment, called the Rangers. With his regiment, he fought
in the battle on Sullivan's Island in 1776. He was with General Howe
in Georgia, and served under the command of D'Estaing at Savannah. He
behaved gallantly, and suffered much during the greater part of the war.
At its close, he returned to his estate at Belleville, near Fort Motte,
mentioned on page 687, with shattered health and fortune. There he
continued in the pursuit of an indigo planter, which he began before the
war, until 1796, when declining health induced him to go to medicinal
springs in Virginia. He died there on the twenty-second of November of
that year, at the age of sixty-nine years.
*** Instructions of the Provincial Congress to Colonel Richardson.
[[[Gathering of Troops by Sumter.--His partisan Compatriots.--Attack
upon Wemyss at Fish Dam Ford.]]]
{651}most of his men were made prisoners. The Americans lost four men
killed and eleven wounded.
[Illustration: 9661]
After this victory, Williams, with the prisoners, encamped at the Cedar
Spring, in Spartanburg District, and from thence proceeded to Charlotte.
Williams and Clarke returned to the western frontier, and the prisoners,
under Major Hammond, marched to Hillsborough.
General Sumter, * after his defeat at the mouth of the Fishing Creek,
on the Catawba, in August, 1780,[[Aug. 18]] collected a small volunteer
force at Sugar Creek. Although, when the defeat of Gates at Camden was
effected, there was no regular army in the field in South Carolina for
three months, Sumter with his volunteers, maintained a warfare, and kept
up the spirit of liberty upon the waters of the Broad River and vicinity
for a long time. He crossed that stream, and by rapid marches ranged the
country watered by the Ennoree and Tyger Rivers, in the neighborhood
of the Broad His men were all mounted. They would strike a blow in one
place to-day; to-morrow, their power would be felt far distant. Marion
was engaged, at the same time, in similar service in the lower country;
while Clarke and Twiggs of Georgia, and Williams, Pickens, and others
of Ninety-Six, were equally active. The utmost vigilance of Cornwallis,
then at Winnsborough, was necessary to maintain a communication between
his various posts. While Tarleton was engaged in endeavors to find,
fight, and subdue Marion, the "Swamp Fox," then making his valor felt on
and near the banks of the Santee, Cornwallis perceived the operations
of Sumter with alarm. He surmised (what was really the fact) that Sumter
designed to attack his fort at Ninety-Six; he accordingly detached Major
Wemyss, a bold and active officer, to surprise the partisan, then on
the east side of the Broad River, at Fish Dam Ford, in Chester District,
fifty-three miles from Camden. Wemyss, with a considerable force of
well-mounted men, reached the vicinity on the evening of the eighth
of November.[[1780]] Fearing Sumter might be apprised of his proximity
before morning, and cross the river, Wemyss resolved to attack him at
midnight, and immediately formed his corps for battle. At about one
o'clock in the morning, he rushed upon Sumter's camp. That vigilant
officer was prepared to receive him. Colonel Taylor, who commanded
Sumter's advanced guard, had taken particular precautions. The
horses were all saddled and bridled, ready to retreat or pursue, as
circumstances might require. This preparation astonished the British,
for they believed their approach was unknown. As soon as they were
* Thomas Sumter was one of the South Carolina patriots earliest in the
field. Of his early life and habits very little is known. In March,
1776, he was a lieutenant colonel of a regiment of riflemen. After the
fall of Charleston, in 1780, when a partisan warfare was carried on in
the Carolines, Sumter began to display those powers which made him so
renowned. Governor Rutledge, perceiving his merits, promoted him to
brigadier of militia. His battles at Rocky Mount and Hanging Rock gave
him great eclat. He was defeated by Tarleton at Fishing Creek, on the
Catawba, just after the unfortunate battle near Camden. With a few
survivors, and other volunteers, he crossed the Broad River, ranged the
districts upon its western banks, and on the eighth of November,
1780, defeated Colonel Wemyss who had attacked his camp. He afterward
defeated Tarleton at Blackstocks. Sumter was wounded, but was able to
take the field early in February, 1781. While Greene was retreating
before Cornwallis, Sumter, with Marion, was humbling British garrisons
in the lower country. He continued in active service during the whole
campaign of 1781. Ill health caused him to leave the army before the
close of the war. He served a long time in the Congress of the United
States He died at his residence at Statesburg, near Bradford Springs,
in Sumter District, on the first of June, 1832, at the remarkable age of
ninety-eight years.
[[[Defeat of Wemyss.--Sumter pursued by Tarleton.--Halt and Battle at
Blackstocks's.]]]
{652}within rifle shot, Sumter gave a signal; a deadly volley ensued,
and twenty-three of the enemy were laid dead upon the field. The British
recoiled, but rallying in a moment, they renewed the attack. A hot
skirmish ensued, when the British gave way and retreated precipitately,
leaving their commander (who was wounded at the first attack), with many
slain and wounded comrades, upon the field. Major Wemyss was found
the next morning, bleeding profusely. The blood was stanched, and,
notwithstanding he had been guilty of various cruelties toward the
Whigs, and in his pocket was a list of houses he had burned, Sumter
treated him kindly, and allowed him to go to Charleston on parole.
Sumter now prepared to cross the Broad River, for the purpose of
effecting his design upon Ninety-Six. He had agreed with Colonels
Clarke, Twiggs, and others, from Georgia, to join them on the west side
of the Broad River, and proceed to invest that post. For the purpose of
covering this expedition, and deceiving the British, he first approached
and menaced Camden, and then wheeling, by forced marches he crossed the
Broad River and joined Clarke and his associates between the Tyger
and Ennoree. Sumter took the command of the whole, and had crossed the
Ennoree, when he was intercepted by Tarleton. Cornwallis, alarmed for
the safety of Ninety-Six, had recalled that officer from the expedition
against Marion, and ordered him to proceed immediately in pursuit of
Sumter. With his usual celerity, Tarleton soon crossed the Broad River,
and, pushing up the southern side of the Ennoree, attempted to gain
Sumter's rear. A deserter from the British infantry informed that
officer of the approach and design of Tarleton, and he immediately
ordered a retreat. Backward they turned, but so near was the enemy,
that, while crossing the Ennoree, the rear guard of the Americans
were handled roughly by Tarleton's van. They escaped, however, with
a trifling loss. Sumter continued his retreat until he reached the
plantation of Blackstocks, on the southwest side of the Tyger River (in
the extreme western part of Union District), still closely pursued by
Tarleton. That place appeared favorable for a small force to do battle,
and Sumter resolved there to face his pursuers, maintain his ground
during the day, if possible, and, if compelled to retreat, to cross the
river at night. Tarleton did not approach as early as was apprehended,
and it was near the close of the afternoon,[[Nov. 20, 1780]] when, with
about four hundred of his command, he appeared near Blackstocks's. He
was in such haste to overtake Sumter before he should cross the Tyger,
that he pressed forward without waiting for the remainder of his force.
He found the Americans upon a hill near Blackstocks's house, ready for
battle and determined to fight. Major Jackson, of Georgia, who acted as
Sumter's volunteer aid on that occasion, assisted him essentially in the
proper formation of his troops, and in directing their movements.
In Sumter's front was a very steep bank, with a small rivulet at its
base, a fence, and some brushwood. His rear, and part of his right
flank, was upon Tyger River; his left was covered by a large log-barn.
Tarleton took position upon an eminence near by, and, believing the
victory for himself quite sure, he leisurely prepared to attack the
Americans, as soon as the remainder of his command should arrive. When
Sumter perceived that the whole of Tarleton's force was not with him, he
determined not to wait to be attacked, but to act on the offensive. He
issued his orders hastily, and in a few minutes his troops descended
suddenly from the hill, and poured a well-directed fire upon the
British. The latter met the unexpected shock with great valor, and then
rushed upon the American riflemen with bayonets. These fell back in good
order, when a reserve of riflemen, with a second volley, slew many of
the British, and repulsed the remainder. Tarleton, now observing the
peril of his little army, charged directly up the hill with his cavalry.
The Americans stood firm, and, making sure aim with their rifles, drove
the cavalry back beyond the rivulet. Tarleton, amazed at the result,
drew off his whole force, then, wheeling his cavalry, made a furious
charge upon Sumter's left flank, where the hill was less precipitous.
Here he was met by a little band of one hundred and fifty Georgia
militia, under Twiggs and Jackson, who, like veterans of many wars,
stood firm, and made a noble resistance for a long time, * until
* Colonel (afterward General) James Jackson, in a letter to the late
Mathew Carey, of Philadelphia, written many years subsequent to the
war (the original of which is in possession of H. C. Baird, Esq., of
Philadelphia), says, "General Sumter was wounded early in the action,
and retired. Colonel (now General) Twiggs and myself fought the enemy
three hours after this, and defeated them totally, bringing off upward
of thirty dragoon horses."
[[[Flight of Tarleton.--Sumter Wounded.--His Retreat.--Thanks of
Congress.--Patriotic Women.]]]
{653}hoof, and saber, and pistol, bore too hard upon them, and they gave
way. At that moment, tiie rifles of a reserve, under Colonel Winn, and
a sharp fire from the log-barn, decided the day. Tarleton fled, leaving
nearly two hundred upon the field. Of these, more than ninety were
killed, and nearly one hundred wounded. The Americans lost only three
killed and five wounded. Among the latter was General Sumter, who
received a ball in his breast early in the action, and was taken to the
rear, when Colonel Twiggs assumed the command. Though Sumter's wound was
severe, and kept him from the field for several months afterward, it
did not completely disable him at the time. Without waiting for the
remainder of Tarleton's force to come up, Sumter, as soon as he had
buried the dead, and made the wounded of the enemy as comfortable
as possible, forded the swift-flowing Tyger, bearing his wounded on
litters, and continued his retreat to the eastern side of the Broad
River, where a large portion of his followers separated, some to go
home, others to join new commanders. He proceeded into North Carolina,
and remained there until his wounds were healed. The Georgians turned
westward, and marched along the base of the mountains toward Ninety-Six.
The valorous achievements of Sumter (several more of which will be
noticed in detail hereafter) during the campaign of 1780 acquired for
him the title of the _Carolina Gamecock_. Cornwallis was obliged to
speak of him as the most troublesome of his enemies. On the thirteenth
of January, 1781, Congress passed a very complimentary resolution of
thanks to him and his men, in the preamble of which, his victory at
Hanging Rock, and his defeat of Wemyss and Tarleton, are particularly
mentioned. * With these latter events ended all the important military
operations westward of the Broad River, and north of the Saluda. **
The day is waning; let us cross the Eswawpuddenah, and resume our
journey.
* Journals of Congress, vii., 14.
** Tradition has preserved many thrilling accounts of the sufferings,
self-sacrifice, and great courage of the women westward of the Broad
River. The gentle maiden and the rough woodsman were, taught in the same
school of rude experience, and imbibed from the events of daily life a
spirit of self-reliance seldom seen in more refined society. Among
the heroines of this region, Sarah Dillard, of Spartanburg District,
mentioned on page 630, and Dicey Langston, of Laurens District, were
among the most conspicuous. Of the latter, Mrs. Ellet, in her admirable
sketches of Women of the Revolution, has recorded many interesting
anecdotes. One of these will suffice to illustrate the courage of
this young girl--a noble type of her class. Her father was infirm; her
brothers were abroad; and Dicey, then only sixteen, was her father's
chief companion and solace. A Tory band, called the Bloody Scout, under
the notorious Bill Cunningham, spread terror over that lonely region;
and the known patriotism of Dicey often jeopardized the life and
property of her father. On one occasion, she learned that the Scout were
about to fall upon a settlement beyond the Tyger, where her brothers
dwelt. She resolved to save them. At night and alone, she crossed the
Ennoree and hastened to the banks of the Tyger. It was swollen, yet she
did not recoil from the danger. The blackness of midnight was upon the
land, yet she went boldly into the stream. Neck deep in the channel, she
became confused, and did not know which way to go. God led her to the
northern bank; and, like an angel of mercy, she sped to the settlement.
When the Bloody Scout reached there the next day, no man was to be
found.
Miss Langston married Thomas Springfield, of Greenville, South Carolina,
where many of her descendants are still living. She died only a few
years ago. Mrs. Thomas, Mrs. Simms, Mrs. Otterson, Miss Jackson, Mrs.
Potter, and other less conspicuous of the women west of the Broad River,
were co-patriots with Dicey Langston. Of these, Mrs. Ellet has made many
interesting records.
[[[Cherokee Ford.--Romantic Mountain Gorge.--Passage of King's Creek.]]]
{654}