a native of Alsace (a German province ceded to France), and was
educated in the art of war in the French army. He was connected with the
quarter-master general's department, and his experience in the duties of
that station rendered his services very valuable to the American army.
Toward the close of the Seven Years' War, he was dispatched to the
British colonies in America, as a secret agent of the French government.
He traveled in disguise; yet on one occasion, he was so strongly
suspected, that he was arrested as a suspicious person. Nothing being
found to confirm the suspicion, he was released, and soon afterward
returned to Europe. De Kalb came to America again, in the spring of
1777, with La Fayette and other foreign officers, and was one of the
party who accompanied the marquis in his overland journey, from South
Carolina to Philadelphia. Holding the office of brigadier in the French
service, and coming highly recommended, Congress commissioned him a
major general on the fifteenth of September, 1777. He immediately joined
the main army under Washington, and was active in the events which
preceded the encampment of the troops at Valley Forge. He was afterward
in command at Elizabethtown and Amboy, in New Jersey; and while at
Morristown in the spring of 1780, was placed at the head of the Maryland
division. With these, and the Continental troops of Delaware, he marched
southward in April, to re-enforce General Lincoln, but was too late to
afford him aid at Charleston. Gates succeeded Lincoln in the command of
the Southern army, and reached De Kalb's camp, on the Deep River, on
the twenty-eighth of July. 1780. In the battle near Camden, which soon
followed, De Kalb, while trying to rally the scattered Americans, fell,
pierced with eleven wounds. He died at Camden three days afterward,
and was buried there. An ornamental tree was placed at the head of his
grave, * and that was the only token of its place until a few years
since, when the citizens of Camden erected over it the elegant marble
monument depicted in the engraving.
[Illustration: 9678]
* The corner stone was laid by La Fayette in 1825. It is upon the green,
in front of the Presbyterian church, on De Kalb Street. The large base,
forming two steps, is of granite; the whole monument is about fifteen
feet in height. Upon the four sides of the monument are the following
inscriptions: South side, fronting the street.--"Here lies the remains
of Baron Dr Kalb, a German by birth, but in principle a citizen of
the world." North side.--a In gratitude for his zeal and services, the
citizens of Camden have erected this monument." East side.--"His love
of Liberty induced him to leave the Old World to aid the citizens of the
New in their struggle for Independence. His distinguished talents and
many virtues weighed with Congress to appoint him major general, in
their De Kalb's Monument. Revolutionary army." West side.--"He was
second in command in the battle fought near Camden, on the sixteenth of
August, 1780, between the British and Americans; and there nobly
fell, covered with wounds, while gallantly performing deeds of valor in
rallying the friends and opposing the enemies of his adopted country."
The death of De Kalb was a great public loss. Congress, on the
fourteenth of October, 1780, ordered a monument to be erected to his
memory in the city of Annapolis, in Maryland, ** with an appropriate
inscription, but, like kindred resolves, the order was never obeyed.
* This appointment was made without consulting the commander-in-ehief.
He intended to recommend General Greene.
* Alluding to this fact, an anonymous poet wrote:
"But where, O where's the hallowed sod
Beneath whose verd the hero's ashes sleep?
Is this the cold, neglected, moldering clod?
Or that the grave at which I ought to weep?
Yet, soldier, thy illustrious name is known,
Thy fame supported, and thy worth confess'd;
That peerless virtue which in danger shone,
Is shining still, where thou art laid in rest.
Why rises not some massy pillar high,
To grace a name that fought for Freedom's prize?
Or why, at least, some rudely-etch'd stone nigh.
To show the spot where matchless valor lies?
And though no monumental script is seen.
Thy worth to publish, and thy deeds proclaim,
Each son of Freedom, passing near this green,
Shall hail De Kalb, and venerate his name."
* In the inscription ordered by Congress (Journal, vi., 147) to
be placed upon De Kalb's monument, it is said that he was "in the
forty-eighth year of his age." General Henry Lee, who knew him well,
says in his Memoirs, page 425, "Although nearer seventy than sixty
years of age, such had been the temperance of his life, that he not only
enjoyed to the last day the finest health, but his countenance still
retained the bloom of youth; which circumstance very probably led to the
error committed by those who drew up the inscription on the monument to
be erected by Congress." Lee speaks of him as "possessing a stout
frame, moderate mental powers "sober, drinking water only; abstemious
to excess, and exceedingly industrious." The pay of De Kalb was
considerably in arrears at the time of his death. Within a few years,
some of his immediate descendants have petitioned the American Congress
for the payment of these arrearages, principal and interest. Both Houses
have had reports in favor of the petitioners, but the money yet (1852)
remains unpaid. Among the petitioners are five of De Kalb's great
grandchildren, who, by the loss of both parents, are cast upon the
support and protection of an aunt, a grand-daughter of the baron. They
are residing about thirty miles from Paris.
[[[Gates in chief Command.--De Kalb's Monument and
Inscription.--Tardiness of Justice.]]]
{668}Charleston had been captured, General Lincoln was a prisoner on
parole, and De Kalb became the commander-in-chief at the South. Although
Congress reposed confidence in the skill of De Kalb, it was thought
proper to send an officer better known to the people for past services,
and on the thirteenth of June,[[1780]] General Gates was appointed to
the command. * He was then at his estate in Virginia, a few miles from
Shepherdstown, and the glory of Saratoga was not yet dimmed.
[Illustration: 9678]
He immediately departed[[June 26]] for the camp of De Kalb, taking
with him, as secretary, his friend William Clajon, and reached his
destination on the twenty-fifth of July. The prospect before him was
far from flattering. An army without strength; a military chest without
money; but little public spirit in the
[[[Situation of Gates's Army.--Plan of Operations.--Sketch of Gates's
Publie Life.]]]
{669}Commissary Department; a climate unfavorable to health; the spirits
of the Republicans pressed down; Loyalists swarming in every direction,
and a victorious enemy pressing to spread his legions over the territory
he had come to defend, were obstacles in the way of success.
[Illustration: 8679]
Yet he did not despond, and, retaining De Kalb in command of his
division, prepared to march into South Carolina. His whole force
consisted of the Maryland and Delaware troops, a legionary corps of
sixty horse and as many foot soldiers, under Colonel Armand, and three
companies of artillery. There was elsewhere a considerable force of
North Carolina militia in the field, under General Caswell; and on the
morning of the twenty-seventh,[[July 1780]] Gates marched at the the
head of his little army to effect a junction with those troops.
He passed the Deep River at the Buffalo Ford, and in the afternoon
encamped upon Spinks's farm, on the road to Camden. There the plan
of immediate operations was decided upon. De Kalb and Colonel Otho H.
Williams (the deputy adjutant general) thought it expedient to march
to Charlotte, establish a hospital and magazine at Salisbury, leave the
women and all the heavy baggage there, and from thence proceed toward
Camden, without impediment, through a well-cultivated and friendly
country, by the way of the Waxhaw. These opinions had no weight with
* Horatio Gates was a native of England, and was educated to the
military profession. He was an officer under Braddoek when that general
was defeated, but does not seem to have acquired particular distinction.
When the Continental army was organized in 1775, he was appointed
adjutant general, with the rank of brigadier. He was then residing in
Virginia. He accompanied Washington to Cambridge, in July, 1775; and in
June, 1776, the chief command of the Northern army was conferred upon
him, and he was promoted to major general. In the autumn of that
year, he joined the main army in the Jerseys, with a detachment of his
command, but his career was not marked by any brilliant action. In the
summer of 1776, he was unjustly placed in command of the Northern army,
in place of General Schuyler, who had succeeded him in the "spring of
that year; and the victory over Burgoyne, at Saratoga, by the army under
his command, gave him great eclat. "The glory of that achievement was
not due to him, but to the previous operations of Schuyler, and the
bravery and skill of Arnold and Morgan. In the winter of 1778. he was
involved in attempts to wrest the supreme command from Washington. His
position as President of the Board of War enabled him to throw obstacles
in the way of the chief, nor were they withheld. From that period until
appointed to the command of the Southern army, his military operations
were of little account, and were chiefly in Rhode Island. When Congress
gave him the command of the Southern forces, General Charles Lee said,
"His Northern laurels will be exchanged for Southern willows." The
prophecy was soon fulfilled, when the disastrous battle, near Camden,
scattered his troops, and, apparently panic-stricken himself he fled
toward Charlotte. He was superseded in his command by General Greene, in
the autumn of that year, and his conduct was scrutinized by a committee
of Congress. Upon their report, he was acquitted of blame. He was
reinstated in his military command in the main army in 1782, but active
service was no longer required. At the close of the war, he retired to
his estate in Virginia, and in 1790 took up his permanent abode upon
Manhattan Island, almost three miles from the then city of New York.
His mansion, which was an elegant country residence, near Rose Hill,
was standing as late as 1845, near the corner of Twenty-third Street and
Second Avenue. In 1800, he was elected a member of the Legislature of
New York, where he served but one term. He died at his residence, on the
tenth of April, 1806, at the age of seventy-eight years.
* General Gates was an accomplished gentleman in his manners, but did
not possess a brilliant or highly-cultivated intellect. He possessed
many excellent social qualities, but was entirely deficient in the
qualifications necessary for a great military commander. His vanity
misled his judgment, and often perverted the finer feelings of his
nature. He was always a generous friend, and not an implacable enemy.
Humanity marked his treatment of prisoners, and benevolence was a ruling
principle of his heart. A few years before his death, he manumitted all
his slaves, but so great was the attachment of many, that they preferred
to remain in his family. He died without surviving issue, his only son
having been taken from him by death, at the moment when he was informed
that General Greene had superseded him. On that occasion, Washington
wrote him a most touching letter, consoling him for his domestic
affliction, and sympathizing with him on account of the troubles of his
public life. His patriotism is undoubted, and the faults of his military
career may be charged to errors of judgment.
[[[Sufferings of the Army.--Alarm of the British.--Cornwallis at
Camden.--Approach of Gates.]]]
{670}Gates, whose vanity overruled his judgment, and on the
twenty-eighth, having been joined that morning by Lieutenant-colonel
Porterfield with about one hundred Virginians, he marched directly for
Camden.
The country through which the Americans passed was sparsely populated,
and in many places exhibited nothing but swamps and pine barrens. The
heat was intense. Sickness and want of provisions soon began the work
of death. Lean cattle found in the woods, green corn, and peaches,
constituted the principal portion of their food. Dysentery ensued, and
at one time the total destruction of the army seemed inevitable. Yet
Gates pressed slowly forward, and on the day when Sumter achieved his
partial victory at Hanging Rock, he reached the banks of Little Lynch's
Creek, a few miles distant, where he was joined by General Caswell. *
Let us glance a moment at the movements of the British troops. We have
noted how the grand army was divided and spread over South Carolina (see
page 664) soon after the fall of Charleston, the northern portion of
which was placed under the command of Cornwallis. This disposition of
the forces of the enemy had hardly taken place, when intelligence of the
approach of De Kalb was received; also of the gathering of Virginians
under Porterfield; of North Carolinians, under Rutherford, in the west;
and of a large body of North Carolina militia, under Caswell, in the
east. Then came the intelligence that Gates, the conqueror of Burgoyne,
was on his way, with a large force, to recover all that Lincoln
had lost, and more, if possible. Rumor magnified their numbers. The
Loyalists became alarmed; the patriots took courage; and, as we have
seen, Marion and Sumter had raised their standards. The British
officers were perplexed; and Lord Rawdon, who was second in command
to Cornwallis, and had his post at Camden, called in some of his more
distant outposts. Major M'Arthur, who was at Cheraw to encourage the
Loyalists, was ordered to fall back toward Camden; and the most distant
outposts were upon Lynch's Creek, at Hanging Rock, and at Rocky Mount.
These, as we have seen (page 662), were attacked by Sumter, Davie, and
other active officers, with their men.
Cornwallis, perceiving the gathering storm on the borders of South
Carolina, hastened from Charleston to join Rawdon at Camden. He arrived
there on the thirteenth of August, and learned, with much concern, the
successes of Sumter, and the disaffection of the people, especially in
the county between the Black River and the Pedee. Nearly eight hundred
of his troops were sick at Camden, and his effective force amounted to
only a little more than two thousand men, fifteen hundred of whom
were regulars. The remainder were militia and North Carolina refugees.
Cornwallis would gladly have retreated to Charleston, but the
consideration that he must leave his sick behind, abandon or destroy
his magazines, and relinquish all the territory they had gained, except
Charleston, prevented that step. He therefore resolved to move forward
and attack Gates before the Virginia troops, known to be approaching,
could join him.
On the day when Cornwallis reached Camden, Gates advanced to Clermont,
and encamped near Rugeley's Mill. Those who had opposed Sumter at
Hanging Rock had fled to Camden on the approach of Gates, and Lord
Rawdon had also called in the garrison which he had stationed at
Rugeley's. The day after his arrival there[[Aug. 15, 1780]] Gates was
joined by General Stevens, with seven hundred militia; and, at about
noon, a message from Sumter announced the approach of stores and
clothing on the west side of the Wateree, for the enemy at Camden.
The capture of these stores, and the dispersion of the escort, we have
considered on page 660.
Notwithstanding Gates had weakened his army by sending a strong
re-enforcement to Sumter, he prepared to march upon Camden, to divert
attention from Sumter's enterprise,
* Richard Dobbs Spaight, afterward (1792) governor of North Carolina,
was General Caswell's aid on this occasion.
[[[Gates's Night-march toward Camden.--Cornwallis's March to meet
Gates.--General Gist.]]]
{671}and to fight, if necessary. On the evening of the fifteenth, he
sent his sick extra stores, and heavy baggage, under guard, to the
Waxhaw, and at ten o'clock at night commenced his march. Colonel
Annand's legion composed the van, flanked upon the right by
Porterfield's infantry, in Indian file, two hundred yards from the
road; and upon the left by Armstrong's infantry, in the same order.
Next followed the first and second Maryland brigades, under Brigadiers
Smallwood and Gist, and the Delaware troops, all commanded by De Kalb:
then the North Carolina division, under Caswell; the Virginia division,
under Stevens; with a rear-guard of volunteer cavalgage.
[Illustration: 8681]
Confident in his strength by such a disposition of his troops, he
ordered Colonel Armand to withstand the attack of the enemy's cavalry,
whatever its number. The most profound silence was commanded, and
instant death was threatened to the soldier who should fire a gun until
ordered. **
Cornwallis, notwithstanding his inferior force, marched to attack Gates
at Rugeley's, being informed that his position was a weak one. At the
same hour when Gates marched toward Camden, Cornwallis upon
the flanks struck his tents at that place, and proceeded
cautiously toward Rugeley's. His troops consisted of the 23d and 33d
regiments, under Lieutenant-colonel Webster (who was afterward mortally
wounded at Guilford); Tarleton's legion; Irish Volunteers; a part of
Lieutenant-colonel Hamilton's North Carolina regiment; and Bryan's corps
of Loyalists, under Lord Rawdon, with two six and two three pounders
commanded by Lieutenant M'Leod; and the 71st regiment. Camden was left
in the care of Major M'Arthur, with the sick and convalescents. Silently
both armies marched in the gloom of night. The air was sultry; no moon
was in the heavens, but the stars looked down in serene radiance upon
the earth. Not a footfall was heard in the deep sand, and neither party
was aware that the other had struck his tents, until the advanced guards
of each met at about two o'clock in the morning,[[Aug. 16, 1780]] upon
the gentle slope about half a mile north of Sander's Creek.
* Mordecai Gist was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1743. His ancestors,
early emigrants to Maryland, were English. He was educated for
commercial pursuits, and was engaged in the vocation of a merchant when
the storm of the Revolution began to lower. The young men of Baltimore
associated under the title of the "Baltimore Independent Company," and
elected Gist captain. This was the first company raised in Maryland for
the defense of popular liberty. Gist was appointed major of a battalion
of Maryland regulars in 1776, and was with them in the battle near
Brooklyn, at the close of the summer of that year. He was promoted to
colonel in 1777, and was in the battle at Germantown, in September of
that year. In January, 1779, Congress appointed him a brigadier in the
Continental army, and he was honored with the command of the 2d Maryland
brigade. He fought bravely, and suffered defeat in the battle near
Camden, In 1780. Gist was present at the surrender of Cornwallis, and
afterward joined the Southern army, under Greene. When that commander
remodeled the army, in 1782, while lying near Charleston, he gave
General Gist the command of the light corps." It was a part of his
command, under Colonel Laurens, that dealt one of the last blows upon
the enemy, in an engagement upon the banks of the Combahee. At the close
of the war, he retired to a plantation which he bought near Charleston,
where he resided until his death, which occurred in Charleston, in 1792.
General Gist had but two children, sons; one he named Independent, and
the other States.
** When Deputy-adjutant-general Williams received these orders from
Gates, with the estimates of the forces, he perceived that the commander
was much deceived in his idea of the number of the troops. Instead of
there being almost seven thousand men, he showed, by his returns, that
there were only three thousand six hundred and sixty-three, exclusive of
those detached in aid of Sumter. Gates did not alter his plan on account
of this discovery.
[[[Meeting of the Armies. Skirmish.--Council of War.--Preparations for
Battle.--The Attack.]]]
{672}Both parties were surprised, and each fired almost at the same
moment. Some of Arrnand's troops were killed at the first fire, and so
sudden and unexpected was the attack that the remainder fell back in
disorder upon the first Maryland brigade. That column was broken by the
shock, and the whole line was filled with consternation. Porterfield,
with his usual gallantry, rushed forward and attacked the left of
the enemy's van, while Armstrong, with equal gallantry and decision,
attacked them on the right, and they were brought to a pause.
Porterfield was severely wounded, carried to the rear of the army, and
died a few days afterward. Both armies halted, and some prisoners having
been taken by both parties, the position of the respective forces
became known to each other. The situation of the British was far more
advantageous than that of the Americans. They had crossed Sander's
Creek, and they were completely guarded in the rear by an impenetrable
swamp.
[Illustration: 9682]
The Americans were upon rising ground in an open wood, and were obliged
to be watchful of their flanks.
When the first excitement of the encounter had subsided, Gates called a
council of officers. A retreat was practicable, and would doubtless have
been prudent. No one seemed willing to propose it; and when, to Gates's
remark, "Gentlemen, you know our situation, what are your opinions?"
General Stevens replied, "It is now too late to retreat;" the silence
that ensued was interpreted as favorable to an attack, and the
commander-in-chief remarked, "Then we must fight; gentlemen, please take
your posts."
The British army formed in line for battle, the right under the command
of Webster, and the left under Rawdon, and anxiously awaited the dawn.
The Americans, also, soon recovered from the panic produced by the
attack, and formed in battle order. The second Maryland brigade, and the
Delaware troops, under General Gist, took the right; the North Carolina
militia, under Caswell, the center; and the Virginians, under Stevens,
the left. The first Maryland brigade, under Smallwood, was formed in
reserve. De Kalb, charged with the line of battle, took post on the
right. The artillery of both armies was planted directly in front of
the center. All these preparations were made in darkness, and the
belligerents were ignorant of each others' movements. In the plan here
given, copied from Stedman, the black parallelograms denote the British
troops, and the open ones the Americans.
The first beam of morning was the signal for attack. While the British
were maneuvering to gain a better position, the American artillery
opened its volleys upon them. At the same moment, Colonel Williams, with
a band of volunteers, pressed forward upon the enemy's right, followed
by Stevens, with his Virginians, who were urged to rely upon the
bayonets with which they had been furnished the day before. Webster
immediately brought the British right to bear upon Williams and Stevens,
with such
[[[Battle at Sander's Creek.--General William Smallwood.]]]
{673}force, as to break the Virginia column and scatter it to the winds.
They delivered only a single fire, and then, panic-stricken, threw away
their arms, and fled in great confusion. The North Carolina militia
(except Dixon's regiment, which was next to the Continentals) followed
the shameful example, and the exertions of Stevens, Caswell, and even of
Gates himself, to stop or rally the fugitives, were unavailing.
[Illustration: 8683]
Only the Continental troops, with Dixon's regiment, were now left to
oppose the enemy. Upon the Maryland and Delaware troops fell the weight
of battle, and for a while they nobly sustained it. On the right, De
Kalb and Gist maintained their ground, though sorely pressed by Rawdon
and his regulars.
Lieutenant-colonel Howard (the subsequent "hero of the Cowpens"),
with Williams's regiment, charged the enemy with great vigor, and
disconcerted them. Inch by inch the Marylanders gained ground, and, had
the militia stood firm, and kept Webster employed, the British must have
been routed and driven in confusion across Sander's Creek. That skillful
officer had detached Tarleton in pursuit of the fugitives, and when
Smallwood * came forward with his reserve to fill the place of the
scattered militia, Webster brought his regiments to bear upon him.
Finally, the battle raged along the whole line, and victory was
uncertain. Firm as a rock the phalanx of De Kalb and Gist remained At
length, perceiving an advantage, De Kalb ordered a bayonet charge.
The slaughter was great; the enemy recoiled, and fifty men became the
prisoners of the Americans.
Smallwood, in the mean time, sustained himself gallantly; but at length
Webster gained his flank, and his brigade receded. It soon regained its
position; was again driven back, and speedily it rallied to the combat.
Cornwallis perceived the point of strength to be with De Kalb and Gist,
and, concentrating his whole force, he made a terrible charge there. It
was the decisive stroke which smote down the American strength and won
the victory. Another charge was made; the brave Marylanders gave way,
and, with the Delaware regiment, broken and maimed, fled to the swamps.
They were hotly pursued, and many were killed in the flight. The militia
fell in great numbers under the sabers of Tarleton's cavalry, and for
more than two miles the open wood was strewn with the dead and dying.
Arms, artillery, horses, and baggage were scattered in every direction.
More than a third of the Continental troops were killed; and of the
wounded, one hundred and seventy men were made prisoners. The Delaware
regiment was nearly annihilated, and Colonel Vaughn and Major Patten
being taken prisoners, the remanent, less than two companies, were placed
under the command of the brave Kirkwood, the senior captain, who had
been with Washington at Trenton and Princeton. De Kalb, while trying to
keep his troops firm when the
* William Smallwood was a native of Maryland, and was among the patriots
of that colony who earliest expressed their attachment to Republican
principles. He was appointed a brigadier by the Continental Congress,
in October, 1776, and major general in September, 1780. He was in
the battle near Brooklyn, in August 1776, where his command suffered
severely. It was chiefly composed of young men from Maryland, many of
them members of the most respectable families of that state. He was in
the Brandywine and Germantown battles in 1777. He accompanied Gates to
the South, and shared in the mortifications of defeat near Camden.
It was a month after that event that Congress promoted him to major
general. He was elected a delegate in Congress, for Maryland, in 1785,
and the same year was chosen to succeed William Penn as governor of the
state. He was succeeded in office by John Eager Howard, in 1788. General
Smallwood died in February, 1792.
[[[Death of the Baron de Kalb.--Flight of the Americans.--British
Victorious.--The Armed Neutrality.]]]
{674}last charge was made, fell, pierced with eleven wounds. His
lieutenant, Du Buysson, threw his arms around him, gave his name and
rank, and while saving him from instant death, was terribly wounded
himself by British bayonets. In the mean while Gates had fled, "borne
off the field by a current of dismayed militia," who "constituted so
great a part of his army, that when he saw them break and flee, he lost
all hope of victory." * With Caswell, he hastened to Clermont, hoping
to cheek and rally the militia at their old encampment, near Rugeley's
Mill. This hope was vain, for the further the dismayed troops fled,
the more they became dispersed, and the generals giving up all as lost,
proceeded, with a few attendants, to Charlotte, where they arrived in
the evening of the same day, though about eighty miles distant. On his
way, Gates heard of the success of Sumter at the Wateree Ford, but that
triumph came too late to afford him aid, and, as we have seen (page
660), two days afterward,[[Aug 18, 1780]] Sumter and his band were
surprised and dispersed at Fishing Creek. General Rutherford surrendered
to a party of the British legion. The other generals escaped, but were
separated from their respective commands. The rout was complete, and
only Major Andrus, of the third Maryland regiment, succeeded in rallying
any part of the fugitives. Most of the Virginia militia retired to
Hillsborough by the road they came to camp, and there General Stevens
gathered many of them together. Their time of service soon expiring,
they were discharged. **
The victory of Cornwallis was complete, and for a moment the hopes of
the patriots, particularly at the South, were crushed; their only chance
of success seemed to be the intervention of European nations. *** Within
the space of three months, two armies had been almost annihilated by
capture and dispersion, and the most active partisan corps scattered to
the winds. **** Cornwallis considered the subjugation of South Carolina
accomplished, and,
* Gordon, iii., 104.
** Ramsay, ii., 145-152. Gordon, iii., 98-107. Marshall, i., 344-348.
Lee. 92-100.
*** It was during the summer of 1780, that Roehambeau and his army
arrived at Newport; an auspicious event for the Americans. A movement in
Europe, known in history as the Armed Neutrality, at about the same time
threatened to cripple the power of England, and promised indirect aid
to the Americans. The Empress Catharine, of Russia, with the duplicity
which has ever marked the diplomacy of that government, professed great
friendship toward England, and abhorrence of the rebellion in America.
She even entered into negotiations for sending Russian troops to America
to assist the British. All this while she was building a navy, and the
English were made to believe it was to aid them. As soon as she felt
strong enough to set England at defiance, her tone and, policy were
changed, and on the twenty-sixth of February, 1780. she issued a
manifesto, in which she declared the international doctrine (with a
qualification) so eloquently promulged and advocated by Kossuth in
America, in 1851-2, namely, that neutral states have a right to carry
on their commerce with belligerent powers unmolested, and even to convey
from one port to another of a belligerent power, all goods whatsoever,
except what could be deemed contraband in consequence of previous
treaties.* Hitherto ports were blockaded, not always by squadrons of
ships, but by a simple proclamation. Catharine declared that no port
should be considered blockaded, unless there was a sufficient force
present to maintain a blockade, and this was the qualification of the
doctrine concerning the rights of neutral nations; a qualification which
contains the essential maxim of despotism, "Might makes right." This
doctrine was contrary to the maritime policy of England, and inimical to
her interests. In the course of the summer, Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden
became parties to the policy declared by the Czarina, and entered into
a league with her; and in November the States General of Holland acceded
to the measure. Spain and France acquiesced in the new maritime code,
and at one time a general Continental war against England appeared
inevitable. But the personal caprices of Catharine, and her known
faithlessness, made the other powers hesitate, and the next year the
alliance resulted in inaction.
**** The exact loss sustained by the Americans in the engagement on
the sixteenth, and Sumter's surprise on the eighteenth, was never
ascertained. The estimated loss was as follows: exclusive of Dc Kalb
and General Rutherford, four lieutenant colonels, three majors, fourteen
captains, four captain lieutenants, sixteen lieutenants, three ensigns,
four staff, seventy-eight subalterns, and six hundred and four rank and
file. They also lost eight field-pieces, and other artillery, more than
two hundred baggage wagons, and the greater part of their baggage. That
of Gates and De Kalb, with all their papers, was saved. The loss of the
British was severe. Gates estimated that more than five hundred of the
enemy were killed and wounded; Stedman (ii., 210) says the British loss
was three hundred less than the Americans. A great many of the fugitive
militia were murdered in their flight. Armed parties of Tories, alarmed
at the presence of the Americans, were marching to join Gates. When they
heard of his defeat, they inhumanly pursued the flying Americans, and
butchered a large number in the swamps and pine barrens.
* See Florida Blanca's Representation, as cited by Arch-deacon Coxe in
his Memoirs of the Kings of Spain, of the Throne of Bourbon.
[[[Confidence of the British.--Rendezvous at Hillsborough.--Governor
Nash.--Colonel Buncombe.]]]
{675}confident of future success, moved toward the North State to
establish royal rule there. His march to, and retreat from Charlotte;
the defeat of his detachments at King's Mountain and the Cowpens; the
pursuit of Greene; the battle at Guilford; the retreat of the British
to Wilmington; their march into Virginia; and the final capture of
Cornwallis's army at Yorktown, have been considered in preceding
chapters.
General Gates was much censured on account of the defeat of the
Americans on Sander's Creek, because he provided for no place of
rendezvous in the event of being obliged to retreat; for not having his
baggage and stores at a proper distance from the scene of action; and
because of an improper arrangement of his army for attack, placing
his unskilled militia on the right, opposite the British veterans of
Webster. Armand spoke harshly of Gates, and even intimated that he was
a coward or a traitor. Gates's great fault appears to have been a too
sanguine belief that he could easily crush the inferior force of his
enemy. His vanity was always the source of his greatest trouble. In this
instance he was too confident of success, and made no provision for
the contingencies of adversity; and hence his utter weakness when the
victorious blow was struck by the British, and he was obliged to flee.
On the seventeenth and eighteenth, [[August 1780]]Smallwood and Gist
arrived at Charlotte, with several other officers, and there they found
more than one hundred regular infantry, Armand's cavalry, Major Davie's
partisan corps from the Waxhaw settlement, and a few militia. Gates
began to hope that another army might be speedily reorganized, when
intelligence of the disaster of Sumter at Fishing Creek reached him. He
retreated to Hillsborough, where the Provincial Congress was in session,
with Governor Abner Nash * at its head. That officer exerted all the
power and influence of his station to
[Illustration: 8685]
* Abner Nash was a member of the Provincial Council of North Carolina,
and an active politician. When the war of the Revolution broke out, he
and his brother Francis* were found in the ranks of the patriots; Abner
in the council, Francis in the field. Their father emigrated from Wales,
and settled in Prince Edward county, Virginia, where Abner was born. At
an early age he went to North Carolina, where he was educated for the
bar. He was the first speaker of the North Carolina Legislature under
its Republican Constitution; and in 1779, succeeded Caswell, the first
governor, in the office of chief magistrate of the state. He represented
a constituency in the Assembly, from 1782 to 1785, and was a member of
the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1786. He resided for many years
at Newbern, where he died, greatly respected for his public and private
virtues. His memory is perpetuated in the state by a county called
by his name. Governor Nash's first wife was the young widow of the
venerable Governor Dobbs.
[Illustration: 9685]
[Illustration: 6685]
* I have noticed the death of General Francis Nash at Germantown, on
page 320. Since writing that account, I have been in formed that his
wound consisted of a laceration of the flesh and the fracture of the
bone of his thigh by a cannon-ball, which killed his horse, and also his
aid, Major Witherspoon, son of Dr. Witherspoon, of Princeton College.
His remains lie in the Mennonist Burying-ground, at Kulpsville,
twenty-six miles from Philadelphia. Through the patriotic endeavors
of John F. Watson, Esq., the annalist, the citizens of Germantown and
Norristown have erected a neat marble monument to the memory of General
Nash, upon which is the following inscription: "In memory of General Nash
of North Carolina, mortally wounded at the battle of Germantown, here
interred, October 17, 1777, in presence of the army here encamped. J. F.
W."
* Among the gallant officers who accompanied General Nash to the North,
and fought at Brandywine and Germantown, was Colonel Edward Buncombe. He
was wounded and made a prisoner at Germantown, and died soon afterward
at Philadelphia. His character for generous hospitality may be inferred
from the following distich, which he affixed over the door of his
mansion, in Washington county, North Carolina
"Welcome, all,
To Buncombe Hall."
*In 1791. his name was given to a county in North Carolina. From 1817 to
1823, the district which includes Buncombe was represented in Congress
by one, not an orator. On one occasion, he attempted to address the
House in favor of a bill providing pensions for militiamen; but a
determination not to hear him was manifested. He appealed to the late
Mr. Lowndes to interpose in his behalf, intimating that he would be
satisfied with the allowance of five minutes for a speech that might be
published in the newspapers, and assuring him that his remarks were not
intended for the House, but for Buncombe. He was gratified, and spoke
under the five minutes' rule. To the astonishment of the good people
of Buncombe, the speech of their representative (a curious specimen of
logic and oratory) appeared in the Washington City Gazette, covering
nearly a broadside of that paper. "Speaking for Buncombe" (not Bunkum)
is a term often applied since to men who waste the time of legislative
bodies in making speeches for the sole purpose of receiving popular
applause.
* This parole (Alexandria) and countersign (Bedford, Colchester), upon
a small slip of paper, is in the handwriting of Washington. The original
is in the possession of J. Wingate Thornton, Esq., of Boston. It is
the practice in camps for the command er-in-chief to issue a parole and
countersign every morning. It is given in writing to his subordinates,
and by them communicated to those who wish to leave the camp and return
during the day and evening, &c. The object is to guard against the
admission of spies into the camp.
[[[Partial Organization of an Army.--Hobkirk's Hill.--View at the
Spring.--Gates's Order.--Parole.]]]
{676}aid the discomfited general. The Legislature provided for procuring
arms, ammunition, and stores; ordered militia drafts, and took other
vigorous measures for the defense of the state. Salisbury, toward
which it was believed Cornwallis would march, was made the place of
rendezvous.
[Illustration: 9686]
The fragments of the army broken at Sander's Creek were collected
together at Hillsborough early in September, and on the sixteenth
of that month, Colonel Buford, having recruited his corps so cruelly
handled by Tarleton, reached head-quarters, from Virginia. There he was
joined by sixty Virginia militia, and about fifty of Porterfield's light
infantry. All of these, with the Maryland and Delaware regiments, were
formed into brigade, under Smallwood. The intervening events, from this
time until 1780. Greene succeeded Gates in the command of the Southern
army,[[Dec. 3, 1780]] have already been considered. *
An hour's ride from Sander's Creek, over a very sandy and gently rolling
country, brought me to the summit of Hobkirk's Hill, a high ridge
overlooking the plains of Camden. Upon the table-land of its summit is
a beautiful village, composed of many fine houses, the residences of
wealthy inhabitants of that region, who have chosen this spot for its
salubrity in summer. It was just at sunset when I first looked from this
eminence upon the town below and the broad plain around it. Although
it was midwinter, the profusion of evergreens gave the landscape the
appearance of early autumn. Here was fought one of the memorable battles
of our War for Independence; and yonder, stretching away toward the
high hills of Santee, is the plain once red with British legions, and
glittering with British bayonets. Before descending to Camden, a mile
distant, let us open the old
* The irritation which Gates exhibited when he was succeeded by General
Schuyler in the command of the Northern army, in 1777, was not visible
when Greene reached Charlotte, and gave him the first notification of
his having been superseded. On the contrary, he received Greene with the
utmost courtesy, and expressed his warmest thanks for the tender
manner in which that officer announced the action of Congress and the
commander-in-chief. On the morning after Greene's arrival, Gates issued
the following order:
[Illustration: 9686]
*"Head-quarters, Charlotte, 3d December, 1780. Parole, Springfield;
countersign. Greene. The Honorable Major-general Greene, who arrived
yesterday afternoon in Charlotte, being appointed by his excellency,
General Washington, with the approbation of the Honorable Congress, to
the command of the Southern army, all orders will, for the future, issue
from him, and all reports are to be made to him. General Gates returns
his sincere thanks to the Southern army for their perseverance,
fortitude, and patient endurance of all the hardships and sufferings
they have undergone while under his command. He anxiously hopes their
misfortunes will cease therewith, and that victory and the glorious
advantages attending it maybe the future portion of the Southern army."
* The site of this spring, the source of one of the tributaries of Pine
Tree Creek, is denoted in the map, on page 676. It is at the head of
a ravine, scooped out of the northeastern slope of Hobkirk's Hill. The
noble trees which shadow it are tulips, poplars, and pines. The house
seen on the top of the hill, toward the left, is the residence of
William E. Johnson, Esq., president of the Camden Bank. A few yards
below the spring a dike has been cast up, across the ravine, by which a
fine duck pond is formed, and adds beauty to the scene, in summer.
[[[Greene's Movements toward South Carolina.--His Encampment near
Camden.--Lee's Legion and Wolves.]]]
{677}chronicle, and peruse an interesting page. It is a balmy
evening[[Jan. 17, 1859]] birds are chirping their vespers among the
dark-green foliage of the wild olives in the gardens, and buds are
almost bursting into blossoms upon every tree. Here, upon a bench by the
babbling spring, where General Greene was at breakfast when surprised by
Lord Rawdon, we will read and ponder in the evening twilight.
We left General Greene and his broken army on their march from
Cornwallis's camp, on the Deep River,[[April 6, 1781]] toward Camden.
(See page 613.)
[Illustration: 8687]
Greene had determined to strike a blow for the recovery of South
Carolina. To secure the provisions which grow upon the borders of the
Santee and Congaree Rivers, and to keep a communication with the Indians
on the frontier, the British had established military posts at several
points, the most important of which was Fort Watson, upon Wright's
Bluff, in the present Sumter District. These, with the more remote post
of Ninety-Six, Greene resolved to attack almost simultaneously with
his movement against Lord Rawdon, then at Camden. He dispatched
Lieutenant-colonel Lee with his legion, to join Marion, then encamped
in the swamps on Black River, in Williamsburg District. * These brave
partisans met on the fourteenth,[[April 1781]] and immediately prepared
to march against Fort Watson. Brigadiers Sumter and Pickens were
informed of the intended movement, and refused to co-operate. Greene
desired Sumter to join him at Camden, while Pickens was directed to
assemble the western militia and invest Ninety-Six, or, at least,
to prevent a re-enforcement marching from that post to the relief of
Rawdon.
With only about fifteen hundred men (after detaching Lee's force),
Greene descended the Southern slope of Hobkirk's Hill[[April 19]] and
encamped at Log Town, within half a mile a mile of the enemy's works, at
Camden.
Lord Rawdon, who had been left in command of the
* Lee in his Memoirs (page 215), relates an amusing circumstance which
occurred while he was on Ins way to join Marion among the swamps on
Black River, in Williamsburg District. Lee's detachment had reached
Dimming Creek, a branch of the Pedee, and were encamped for the night.
Toward morning, the officer of the day was informed that noises, like
the stealthy movements of a body of men, were heard in front of the
pickets, toward the creek. Presently a sentinel fired, the bugles
sounded for the horse patroles to come in, and soon the whole detachment
were on the alert for the approaching enemy. Soon another sentinel fired
in a different direction, and intelligence came that an invisible enemy
were in the swamp. The troops were formed in accordance with the latest
information of the whereabouts of the secret foe. With great anxiety
they awaited the approach of dawn, not doubling that its first gleam
would be the signal for a general assault, by ihe enemy. Suddenly the
line of sentinels in their rear, upon the great road they had traversed,
fired in quick succession, and the fact that the enemy had gained their
rear in force could not be doubted. Lee went cautiously along his line;
informed his troops that there was no alternative but to fight; reminded
them of their high reputation, and enjoined them to be firm throughout
the approaching contest. He conjured the cavalry to be cautious, and
not allow any partial success to tempt them to pursue, for no doubt
the enemy would ambuscade. At break of day, the whole column advanced
cautiously to the great road, infantry in front, baggage in the
center, and cavalry in the rear. No enemy appeared, and the van officer
cautiously examined the road to find the trail of the foe. He soon
discovered the tracks of a large pack of wolves! These animals
had attempted to pass along their accustomed path, but finding it
obstructed, had turned from point to point when met by the fire of the
sentinels. The circumstance occasioned great merriment among the troops.
Each considered himself a dupe. The poor pickets, patroles, and officer
of the day were made the butt of severest ridicule.
* Francis Rawdon, son of the Earl of Moira, was born in 1754, and
entered the army in 1771. He was distinguished for his bravery during
his first campaign in America, and in 1778 was appointed adjutant
general of the British forces. He was at the storming of Forts Clinton
and Montgomery in 1777, and was with Sir Henry Clinton at the battle of
Monmouth. He was promoted to brigadier, and was succeeded in his office
of adjutant general by Major Andre. Rawdon afterward received the
commission of a major general. In 1812, he was appointed Governor
General of British India, which office he held until 1822. During his
administration, the Nepaulese, Pindarees, and other native powers, were
subjugated, and the British authority made supreme in India. During
his absence in the East, he was created Marquis of Hastings. He died in
1825.
[[[Lord Rawdon at Camden.--Greene's Camp on Hobkirk's Hill.--Rawdon's
Preparations to Attack Greene.]]]
{678}Southern division of the royal army when Cornwallis marched into
North Carolina, was now at Camden. He was apprised of Greene's approach,
and notwithstanding his force was inferior (about nine hundred men), he
was too strongly intrenched to fear an attack. Greene perceived that his
little army was unequal to the task of carrying the place by storm,
or even of completely investing it. * Hoping to be joined by a
re-enforcement of militia, he withdrew to Hobkirk's Hill, and encamped.
On the twenty-first, he received the startling information that Colonel
Watson, with between four and five hundred men, was marching up the
Santee to join Rawdon. To prevent this junction, it was necessary
to intercept Watson some distance from Camden. To this task Greene
immediately applied himself. He crossed Sand Hill Creek, and encamped
on the east of Camden,[[April 22]] upon the Charleston road. It being
impossible to transport the artillery across the marshes on the borders
of that creek, Lieutenant-colonel Carrington was directed to return
with it toward Lynch's Creek, where it would be safe from the patrolling
parties of the enemy. Finally, convinced that the intelligence of the
approach of Watson was false, ** Greene hastened back to Hobkirk's
Hill, and ordered Carrington to join him, with the artillery
immediately.[[April 24]] The hill was then completely covered with a
forest, and the Americans were so strongly posted, with the swamp on
Pine Tree Creek in their rear, that they felt no fear of an attack from
the enemy. Yet the ever-cautious Greene had the army encamped in battle
order, ready to repel a sortie of Rawdon, should he have the temerity to
attempt one. During the day, he had received information of the capture
of Fort Watson by Marion and Lee, and just at evening the prisoners were
brought into camp, among whom were several American soldiers, previously
captured, and who, as they said, had enlisted in the British service as
the best means of escaping to their friends.
During the night of the twenty-fourth, a drummer, named Jones, one of
the Americans taken at Fort Watson, deserted, and made his way to the
British camp. He informed Rawdon of the detachment of the artillery from
the main army, the lack of provisions in the American camp, and the fact
that Sumter had not arrived. Rawdon resolved to strike a blow at this
favorable moment, for his own provisions were almost exhausted; and
before daylight his garrison was in marching order. The country between
Hobkirk's Hill and Camden was so thickly wooded that the movements of
the enemy were not discerned until his van-guard approached the American
pickets. The patriots were unsuspicious of danger. Greene and his
officers were leisurely taking breakfast under the shade of the trees
at the spring, pictured on page 676 (for it was a clear, warm morning);
some of the soldiers were washing their clothes, and the horses of
Washington's cavalry were unsaddled. Rawdon did not march directly for
the American camp, on the Waxhaw road, but took a circuitous route,
toward the Pine Tree Creek. At about ten o'clock, the American advanced
guard discerned the approach of the enemy. Their pickets were commanded
by Captain Benson, of Maryland, and Captain Morgan, of Virginia,
supported by Captain Kirkwood, *** with the re-
* Camden, the capital of Kershaw District, stands upon a gentle
elevation, covered on the southwest by the Wateree at a mile distant,
and on the east by Pine Tree Creek, a considerable stream. The country
around it was heavily wooded at the lime in question, and the town
itself (formerly ealled Pine Tree, but then named in honor of Lord
Camden) was but a small village of a few houses.
** Colonel Watson had really commenced his march up the Santee, but
was obliged to turn back because Marion and Lee, after capturing Fort
Watson, had got in front of him, and effectually guarded all the passes
and ferries.
*** That portion of Hobkirk's Hill, on its southeastern slope, where
the first of the battle commenced, is now called Kirkwood. It is covered
with fine residences and beautiful gardens, and is valued as a healthful
summer resort by the people of Camden.
[[[Disposition of the Two Armies.--Battle on Hobkirk's Hill.--Yielding
of Maryland Troops.]]]
{679}mains of the Delaware regiment. These, at a distance of about a
quarter of a mile from the camp, gallantly received and returned the
fire of the British van, and kept them at bay while Greene formed his
army in more complete battle order.
Fortunately for Greene, Carrington, with the artillery, had joined
him early in the morning, and brought to camp a competent supply of
provisions.
[Illustration: 8689]
The line was soon formed, and so confident was Greene of success,
that he unhesitatingly ordered Lieutenant-colonel Washington, with his
cavalry, to turn the right flank of the British, and to charge in their
rear. The American line was composed of the Virginia brigade on the
right, under Brigadier Huger, with Lieutenant-colonels Campbell and
Hawes; the Maryland brigade, led by Colonel Williams, seconded by
Colonel Gunby, and Lieutenant-colonels Ford and Howard, occupied the
left; and in the center was Colonel Harrison, with the artillery. The
reserve consisted of Washington's cavalry, and a corps of two hundred
and fifty North Carolina militia, under Colonel Reade. (See the map.)
The skirmish of the van-guards was severe for some time, when Rawdon,
with his whole force, pressed forward, and drove Kirkwood and his
Delawares back upon the main line. The King's American regiment was on
his right; the New York Volunteers in the centre; and the 63d regiment
composed the left. His right was supported by Robertson's corps, and his
left by the Irish Volunteers. (See map.) The British presented a narrow
front, which was an advantage to Greene. As they moved slowly up the
slope, Campbell and Ford were ordered to turn the flanks of the British,
while the first Maryland regiment, under Gunby, was ordered to make an
attack in front. Rawdon perceived this movement, and, ordering the Irish
corps into line, strengthened his position by extending his front. The
battle opened from right to left with great vigor. The two Virginia
regiments, led by Greene in person, aided by Huger, Campbell, and Hawes,
maintained their ground firmly, and even gained upon the enemy. At the
same time, Washington, with his cavalry, was sweeping every thing before
him upon the right flank of the British. The artillery was playing upon
the center with great execution, and Gunby's veteran regiment rushed
forward in a deadly charge with bayonets. Notwithstanding their
inferiority of numbers and disadvantage of position, the British
maintained their ground most gallantly until Gunby's charge, when they
faltered. Hawes was then descending the hill to charge the New York
Volunteers, and the falchion that should strike the decisive blow of
victory for the Americans was uplifted. At that moment, some of Gunby's
veterans gave way, without any apparent cause. Colonel Williams, who was
near the center, endeavored to rally them, and Gunby and other officers
used every exertion to close their line. In this attempt, Colonel
Ford was mortally wounded and carried to the rear. Gunby, finding it
impossible to bring them into order, directed them to rally by retiring
partially in the rear. This order was fatal. Perceiving this retrograde
movement, the British advanced with a shout, when a general retreat of
the Amer-
* Note.--Explanation of the Plan.--This plan of the battle on Hobkirk's
Hill is copied from Stedman, a a, are the American militia, on the
Waxhaw road, leading from Camden to Salisbury; b b, the Virginia line;
c c, the Maryland line; d. the reserve, with General Greene; e, British
light infantry, approaching the American camp from Pine Tree Creek; f
volunteers from Ireland; g, South Carolina Loyalists; h, 63d regiment;
New York Loyalists; /, King's American regiment; k, convalescents; l,
with swords crossed, the place where the first attack was made; m m,
British dragoons. The spring was known as Martin's.
[[[Greene's Retreat.--Washington's Charge upon the Pursuers.--Marion and
Lee against Watson]]]
{680}cans took place. Greene, with his usual skill and energy, conducted
the retreat in such order that few men were lost after this first
action. Washington had been eminently successful; and at the moment when
the retreat began, he had two hundred prisoners. He hastily paroled the
officers, and then, wheeling, made a secure retreat, with the loss
of three men, and took with him fifty of his prisoners. The action
continued at intervals until about four o'clock in the afternoon, when
the Americans had retreated four or five miles, closely pursued by
parties of the enemy. Washington, with cavalry and infantry, then turned
upon the pursuers, and charging the mounted New York Volunteers with
great intrepidity, killed nine and dispersed the rest. This terminated
the battle. The British returned to their works at Camden, and Greene,
with his little army, encamped for the night on the north side of
Sander's Creek. The dead, alone, occupied the battle-field. So well was
the retreat conducted, that most of the American wounded (including six
commissioned officers), and all of their artillery and baggage,
with Washington's fifty prisoners, were carried off. The loss of the
Americans in killed, wounded, and missing, according to Greene's return
to the Board of War, was two hundred and sixty-six; that of the enemy,
according to Rawdon's statement, two hundred and fifty-eight. The killed
were not very numerous. Greene estimates his number at eighteen; among
whom was Ford and Beatty, of the Maryland line. * Rawdon's loss in
killed was thirty-eight, including one officer. **
This defeat was very unexpected to General Greene, and for a moment
disconcerted him, for, with the exception of the success of Marion
and Lee, in capturing Fort Watson, he did not know how the Southern
partisans were proceeding. *** The Maryland troops, so gallant and firm
on all former occasions, had now failed; his provisions were short;
Sumter, the speedy partisan, had not joined him; and supplies came
in tardily and meager. Yet Greene was not the man to be crushed by
adversity. On the contrary, he seemed to rise with renewed strength,
after every fall. Accordingly, on the morning succeeding the battle,
[[April 26, 1781]] he retired as far as Rugeley's, and after detaching a
small force with a six pounder under Captain Finley, to Nelson's Ferry,
to join Marion and Lee, and prevent Watson from re-enforcing Rawdon, he
crossed the Wateree, and took a strong position, where he could not
only cut off supplies for the garrison at Camden from that quarter, but
prevent the approach of Watson in that direction. In the mean while,
Marion and Lee were closely watching Colonel Watson. That officer had
now approached near to the confluence of the Congaree and Wateree, in
Orangeburg District; where he would cross it was difficult to tell; and
the vigilant partisans, fearing he might elude them if they took post on
the north side of the Congaree, crossed over, and endeavored to overtake
him. But Watson, who was "equally vigilant and active, crossed the
Congaree,[[May 6, 1781]] near its junction with the Wateree, and on the
seventh of May passed the latter stream and joined Rawdon at Camden.
Greene was early apprised of this junction, and, persuaded that Rawdon
would resume offensive operations at once, withdrew from the vicinity of
Camden Ferry to the high ground
* Marshall (ii., 6) says that the fall of Captain Beatty, of Gunby's
regiment, was the cause of its defection. His company and the one
adjoining it were thrown into contusion, and dropped out of the line,
and then the fatal disorder ensued.
** Marshall, ii., 1-8. Ramsay, ii., 230-31. Gordon, iii., 189-91. Lee,
220-24. Stedman, ii., 356-58.
*** The momentary despondency of Greene is expressed in the following
extract from a letter which he wrote to the Chevalier Luzerne, three
days after the battle: "This distressed country, I am sure, can not
struggle much longer without more effectual support. They may struggle a
little while longer, but they must fall; and I fear their fall will lay
a train to sap the independence of the rest ol America.... We fight, get
beaten, rise and fight again. The whole country is one continued scene
of blood and slaughter." To La Fayette he wrote, on the first of May:
"You may depend upon it, that nothing ean equal the sufferings of our
little army but their merit." in others he wrote in a similar strain,
imploring prompt and decisive action for supplying his handful of troops
with sustenance for the summer campaign, and with re-enforcements. It
must be remembered, that at this time the French army, under Rochambeau,
was lying idle in New England; and through Luzerne (the French minister)
and La Fayette, Greene hoped to hasten their advent in the field of
active operations. To Governor Read, of Pennsylvania, he wrote, on the
fourth of May: "If our good friends, the French, can not lend a helping
hand to save these sinking states, they must and will fall."
[[[British Evacuation of Camden.--Destruction of Property.--Fall of
British Posts.--Sale of Traveling Establishment.]]]
{681}beyond Sawney Creek, on the border of Fairfield District. He was
not mistaken. On the eighth,[[May]] Rawdon crossed the Wateree, at the
ferry below Camden, * and proceeded toward Greene's encampment. The
two armies were now equal in numbers; about twelve hundred each. On the
approach of the British, Greene retired to Colonel's Creek; at the same
time, Rawdon became alarmed at the intelligence of the increase of the
American army and of Greene's strong position, and returned to Camden.
Believing it impossible to drive Greene from his neighborhood, and
anxious for the safety of his menaced posts between him and Charleston,
Rawdon resolved to evacuate Camden, and with it all the country north
of the Congaree. He sent, orders to Lieutenant-colonel Cruger to abandon
Ninety-Six, and join Lieutenant-colonel Brown at Augusta, and also
directed Major Maxwell to leave Fort Granby (near the present city
of Columbia), and fall back upon Orangeburg, on the bank of the North
Edisto. He then burned the jail, mills, and several private houses at
Camden; destroyed all the stores which he could not carry with him, and
on the tenth left that place for Nelson's Ferry, hoping to cross there
in time to drive off Marion and Lee, then besieging Fort Motte. He took
with him almost five hundred negroes; and the most violent Loyalists,
fearing the vengeance of the patriots, followed him in great numbers. **
Within six days afterward, Orangeburg,[[May 11]] Fort Motte,[[May 12]]
the post at the post at Nelson's Ferry,[[May 14]] and Fort Granby,[[May
15]] fell into the hands of the Americans.
Greene, in the meanwhile, had marched toward Ninety-Six, where he
arrived on the twenty-second of May. The military events at these
several places will be noticed presently, in the order in which I
visited them.
It was almost dark when I rode into Camden and alighted at Boyd's
Hotel. Here was the end of my tedious but interesting journey of almost
fourteen hundred miles with my own conveyance; for, learning that I
could reach other chief points of interest at the South easier
and speedier by public conveyance, I resolved to sell my traveling
establishment. Accordingly, after passing the forenoon of the next
day[[Jan 18, 1849]] in visiting the battle-ground on Hobkirk's Hill,
sketching the scenery at the Spring, and the monument erected to the
memory of De Kalb, on the green in front of the Presbyterian church in
Camden, ** I went into the market as a trafficker. A stranger both to
the people and to the business, I was not successful. I confess there
was a wide difference between my "asking" and my "taking" price. My
wagon was again broken, and, anxious to get home, I did not "dicker"
long when I got an offer, and Charley and I parted, I presume, with
mutual regrets. He was a docile, faithful animal, and I had become much
attached to him. A roll of Camden bank-notes soothed my feelings, and
I left the place of separation at dawn the next morning in the cars for
Fort Motte and Columbia, quite light-hearted.
* There is now a fine bridge across the Wateree at this place, which
cost twenty thousand dollars.
** Many of these, who had occupied their farms near Camden, were reduced
to the most abject poverty. Outside of the lines at Charleston, men,
women, and children were crowded into a collection of miserable huts,
which received the name of Rawdontown.--Simms's History of South
Carolina. 223.
*** I was informed, after I left Camden, that the house in which
Cornwallis was quartered, while there, was yet standing, and very little
altered since the Revolution. It was one of the few saved when Rawdon
left the place. I was not aware of this fact while I was in Camden.
[[[Departure from Camden.--The High Hills of Santee.--Passage of the
Wateree Swamp.]]]
{682}