THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION IN THE SOUTH.
=217. Utter Failure thus far to subdue the Colonists.=--Midway in the war
of the Revolution there was a period of over two years when active
fighting was for the most part suspended. After the surrender of
Burgoyne at Saratoga, the English seemed to lose heart. A feeble effort
was even made by the British government to secure peace. England would
yield everything except the claim of the colonies to independence. This
was the very thing that now, after three years of fighting, the colonies
would not yield.
Each side seemed to be tired of bloodshed. The patriots were in a bad
enough way, and England had her troubles with other nations.
Of all the territory the British had occupied during three years, the
only spot they now held was New York, and even there Washington's superb
generalship with his small but active army was giving them constant
trouble.
=218. The British now attempt to subdue the Southern Colonies.=--Thus it
became necessary for the British to contrive some plan that would offer
better results. They now proposed to go south, subdue one colony after
another, and so push their conquests northward.
The British had already tried their hand at the south, and with results
not quite to their liking. In June, 1776, General Clinton came with a
fleet to capture Charleston. But Colonel William Moultrie had built on
an island in the harbor a low redoubt of palmetto logs and sand bags,
from which his guns made sad havoc with the fleet, while the British
shot could not pierce through the tough, spongy logs of the fort. After
a disastrous fight, Clinton went back disheartened. The gallant defense
of this fort had a most wholesome effect upon the patriot cause.
[Illustration: SERGEANT JASPER'S BOLD DEED.]
One heroic deed of the battle is often told. The flag of the fort
floated from a high mast, against which the enemy directed their fire
until the top of the flagstaff was shot away and fell over the ramparts
on the beach. A daring soldier by the name of William Jasper leaped over
the wall of palmetto logs, walked the whole length of the fort in the
face of the enemy's fire, tore away the flag, fastened it to the rammer
of a cannon, and floated it on the ramparts.
=219. Disasters to the Patriot Cause.=--In December, 1778, a large British
force, sent from New York, landed and captured Savannah with about five
hundred prisoners. The enemy also captured Augusta, brought all Georgia
under British control, and put the royal governor back into office.
In October, 1779, our General Lincoln and a French fleet made a combined
attack on Savannah, hoping to recapture it, but they utterly failed.
These two disasters in two years were very discouraging to all
Americans.
The year 1780 brought still worse fortune, for early in the year Clinton
came again from New York and made a second attack on Charleston. In May
he captured the city and all Lincoln's army, with four hundred cannon.
Clinton then returned to New York, leaving Cornwallis in command with
five thousand men.
The British, possessing Savannah and Charleston with the river
connections, held the key to the whole of Georgia and South Carolina.
They could obtain all their supplies by water, and so did not need to
rely upon the country for support.
=220. The Bitter and Cruel Warfare in the South.=--The patriots did not
now have a body of soldiers in the south large enough to call an army.
The entire region was open to British plunder.
Bands of soldiers roamed through the country, plundering, burning, and
killing without restraint. No mercy was shown to patriots. A squad of
soldier bandits once came to the home of Thomas Sumter, the famous
patriot officer, turned his wife and children out of doors and burned
the house.
Sumter was a bold and energetic fighter in the wild warfare of the
south. He was a tall and powerful man and of a very stern make-up. He
lived to be ninety-nine years of age--the last surviving general of the
Revolution. "But for Sumter and Marion," said Cornwallis, "South
Carolina would be at peace."
There now remained in South Carolina but one battalion of patriot
soldiers. These were about four hundred in number under Colonel Buford,
then in the northwestern part of the state. Clinton sent against him a
force of seven hundred regulars and Tories under Colonel Tarleton, an
active but base and cruel man.
Tarleton surrounded the patriots and demanded their surrender. While
Buford was quietly discussing the matter, his soldiers resting at ease
under the protection of a flag of truce, Tarleton treacherously arranged
his men for an attack. Suddenly the flag of truce was taken down, and
instantly the British cavalry rushed from all sides upon Buford's men
and killed one hundred and thirteen and wounded one hundred and fifty.
Even the boys were nerved to deeds of valor. A schoolboy named Andrew
Jackson, thirteen years old, who had seen the dead of the Buford
massacre, and helped care for the wounded, and whose own brother had
been killed by the British, was himself captured. While under guard, a
pompous British officer came up to him and cried out:--
"Here, boy! clean my boots!"
"No, sir! clean your own boots. I am a prisoner of war and entitled to
better treatment."
Down came the officer's sword, aiming at the boy's head. Warding off the
blow with his arm, he received a wound, the marks of which he carried to
his grave. This boy grew up to become the seventh president of the
United States!
=221. General Gates meets with Disaster.=--When General Washington learned
of the disasters in the south, the loss of Savannah and Charleston and
of Lincoln's army, he was anxious to send down General Greene, his
right-hand man. But Congress unwisely interfered, and sent General
Gates, who had contrived to get the credit of Burgoyne's capture at
Saratoga.
In August, Gates moved to Camden, S. C., to meet Cornwallis. A strange
battle ensued. Each general had planned to surprise the other by a night
attack; the armies met in the dark. Both waited till daylight, and then
the battle began. It was a disastrous defeat for the patriots. Gates's
army was destroyed. This was perhaps the worst catastrophe of the war.
Now the patriot prospect was wretched enough. Where could there be any
hope? The Tories all through the state were delighted, and thronged to
the British side.
=222. Marion proves a Source of Terror to the British.=--The patriots felt
now that they must defend themselves singly or in small groups; there
was no army to help them. So they assembled, a few dozen here and there,
and used their utmost endeavors on every opportunity to cripple the
enemy. The British had small stations through the state, from which
murderous raids could be made. They would plunder, burn, slay, and then
return to their posts. To attack these posts, or to do any military work
successfully, the patriots needed a leader. One soon came, Francis
Marion, who combined a few groups of patriots and did most effective
work with them.
[Illustration: MARION'S TROOPERS ATTACKING A BRITISH CAMP.]
This gallant and intrepid partisan chieftain was rather below the middle
stature, lean, and swarthy. His forehead was large and high, and his
eyes black and piercing. He was at this time about forty-eight years of
age, with a body capable of enduring great fatigue and every privation.
He never tarnished his fame with acts of cruelty.
"Never shall a house be burned by one of my men," said he; "to distress
helpless women and children is what I detest."
Marion used to wear a close-fitting red jacket and a leather cap. His
body was so slight that he never did personal deeds of valor. His sword
was so rarely used that once he could not draw it from the scabbard on
account of the rust.
Never was Napoleon's guard more attached to their general than were
Marion's men to the partisan chief who so often led them to victory.
=223. How the "Swamp Fox" did his Fighting.=--Marion was familiar with the
country, and in many of the numerous swamps he occupied, with his
troopers, secret haunts approached by devious paths not easily followed.
The British, smarting under his attacks, called him the "swamp fox"; but
he proved to them rather a wolf or a tiger. These patriots who sprang to
his side to defend their homes were patriots indeed. They had no pay, no
uniforms, and but scanty clothing. They were a shabby-looking band of
soldiers; but their arms were strong and their hearts were true.
Many had no guns, until they supplied themselves from the enemy. They
melted their pewter dishes for bullets. They often made their breakfast
on blackberries, dined on potatoes and green corn, and not infrequently
supped on the memory of their dinner.
Much of the time Marion himself did not have even a blanket. One night
his bed of brush caught fire, and it not only burnt his blanket but
singed his hair and spoilt his leather cap!
Marion always kept his plans secret, even from his own officers, until
the moment for action came. There was an air of mystery in what he
undertook, and a bustle of hearty enterprise about his movements, which
gave a charm to life in his famous brigade. Marion enjoyed fully the
confidence of his men, shared all their privations, and braved more than
his share of their dangers.
=224. One of Marion's First Exploits.=--One of Marion's first exploits was
against a large force of Tories under Major Gainey. Marion and his men
fell on his camp at daybreak as suddenly as if they had dropped from the
clouds. Gainey fled on horseback, closely pursued by Major James, who
followed so fast and so far that he suddenly found himself alone and
getting surrounded by Tories. His quick wits saved him.
Turning in his saddle and waving his sword, he shouted back as if to a
large body of followers, "Come on, boys! Here they are!" The Tories
scattered and fled! In this little brush Marion did not lose a man.
Marion was always on the alert--quick, dash, fire, away!--that was his
way of fighting. No wonder he carried terror to the enemy. And yet he
never used exactly the same tactics twice. Once he planned to fall
suddenly on a force twice as large as his own. It had a watchful leader
who could not be caught napping. Dangerous business, we say. Yes, but
see how the "swamp fox" did it! He carefully hid a body of his best
sharpshooters in ambush along the road about a mile from the British.
Then he made a lively attack on the enemy and soon retreated along this
road. Of course the enemy followed briskly, when up sprang Marion's
troopers in ambush and soon defeated them. "All's fair in war," says the
proverb.
These furious and almost incessant attacks kept the British in terror.
They never knew when they were safe.
=225. Some of Marion's Famous Exploits.=--Many a story of this daring
chieftain's exploits used to be told by the evening fireside. In
October, 1780, Marion brought hope to the patriots by one of his
brilliant attacks. Colonel Tynes was gathering a large body of Tories to
assist the British, and he held stores of guns, ammunition, and clothing
for their use. Marion's scouts learned all the facts. These were just
the articles he wanted for his half-clothed, half-fed, and poorly armed
men.
For him to resolve was to act. He came cautiously at midnight. The
camp-fires were burning; some soldiers were singing, some playing
cards, some eating stolen chickens; but nobody was on guard. Marion's
troopers rushed in with a wild shout, and the attack went all one way. A
large number were killed, twenty-three were taken prisoners, and the
supplies of the Tory camp were enjoyed by Marion's men for a long time.
Not one of his force was lost.
Soon after Gates's defeat, Marion learned by his scouts that the British
were not far off with a large body of American prisoners. He sent at
midnight a squad to hold the road to their camp, and before dawn he
approached it silently with his own force. Just at daylight he made a
sudden attack upon them. The surprise and the assault were an amazing
success. Twenty-four of the enemy were killed or captured, and one
hundred and fifty captives were set free, while not one of his men was
lost.
=226. Marion invites a British Officer to Dinner.=--One day a young
British officer came to Marion under a flag of truce, to plan an
exchange of some prisoners. The business finished, Marion asked the
officer to dine with him. The dinner consisted entirely of baked sweet
potatoes brought by a negro on a piece of bark for a plate, with a log
for a table.
"But this can't be your usual fare?" asked the Britisher.
"Yes, indeed," said Marion, "and we are lucky to-day to have enough for
company."
This was no idle talk to affect the young officer, but it did impress
him; for the story is that on returning to his own camp he said, "It's
no use trying; I've seen Marion, and I tell you that men who work for no
pay and live on potatoes while fighting for their liberties, are not
going to be beaten, and I am not going to fight any longer against them.
I shall resign to-day."
[Illustration: MARION INVITES A BRITISH OFFICER TO DINE WITH HIM.]
=227. A Great Victory at King's Mountain.=--After the Camden disaster the
deep gloom continued till October, when Colonel Ferguson was sent with a
force of British and Tories to the northwest to subdue the patriots in
that region. Instantly there was a general uprising of the hunters and
farmers of this wild and romantic region to defend their homes from the
brutal enemy. These hardy mountaineers, ready to move at a moment's
warning, came from every direction to a common meeting-place.
At King's Mountain, in North Carolina, where the British were
entrenched, these American riflemen charged up the steep sides,
surrounded the enemy, and cut them down till about half were killed and
the rest fled in dismay. It was a brilliant victory, won by sheer hard
fighting, and it brought supreme joy to the long-suffering patriots; for
it proved to be decisive. It turned the tide of British rule in the
south.
=228. General Greene takes Command in the South.=--A new Continental army
was now to be sent from the north, and this time Washington had his
choice of commanders. He sent one of his best and most trusted officers,
General Greene, who had been a Rhode Island blacksmith. He knew how to
fight; for he had served under the eye of Washington in many battles,
and so had been well trained in military matters.
It was in December, 1780, that Greene took command of the so-called
"southern army" at Charlotte, a little town in North Carolina. He had in
all about two thousand men, but only eight hundred were fit for duty.
On the day Greene took command there were not three days' provisions in
camp. He had no money. The people would not touch the Continental paper
money. Ably, patiently, and brilliantly, this sagacious general at once
set to work to effect his great purpose of driving the British armies
from the south.
With Greene came another famous officer, General Daniel Morgan, the man
who had marched with Arnold to Canada, and who commanded the infantry at
Stillwater and Saratoga.
[Illustration: GENERAL GREENE TAKING COMMAND OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY.]
This was the man who, when he heard of Lexington, led his riflemen six
hundred miles in twenty-one days, from Virginia, to join Washington in
Cambridge.
Morgan was of gigantic stature, vast physical strength, and wonderful
powers of endurance. In his youth he was a teamster. One day by order of
a tyrannical British officer he was given five hundred lashes for some
slight offense. He walked away saucy and defiant as before.
Of a gentle and unselfish nature, resolute, fearless in battle, a born
fighter, Morgan was the ideal leader of the riflemen of the frontier.
His force was smaller than Greene's, who had detached him to occupy a
post in South Carolina.
=229. How General Morgan defeated the British at Cowpens.=--Cornwallis in
January, 1781, sent Tarleton with eleven hundred troops to meet Morgan
and dispose of him. They met at Cowpens, but Morgan, with a smaller
army, reversed the order and disposed of Tarleton! He killed a large
number, ten officers and more than one hundred men, took over five
hundred prisoners, with all the artillery and stores.
It was at Cowpens that Colonel Washington, a distant relative of the
Commander-in-Chief, wounded Tarleton in a hand-to-hand combat. Shortly
afterwards this hated British officer said to a lady:--
"You seem to think very highly of Colonel Washington; and yet I have
been told that he is so ignorant a fellow that he can hardly write his
name."
"It may be so," quickly replied the lady; "but no man can testify better
than yourself that he knows how to 'make his mark.'"
At another time the haughty Tarleton, boasting of his own deeds and
speaking with disdain of the continental cavalry, said to a lady:--
"I have a very earnest desire to see your far-famed hero, Colonel
Washington."
"Your wish, colonel, might have been gratified," she promptly replied,
"had you dared to look behind you at the battle of Cowpens!"
=230. Greene's Masterly Retreat.=--How angry Cornwallis was at the ruin of
his best army at Cowpens! He started to pursue Morgan and punish him.
But the patriot general foresaw this, and not having soldiers enough, he
got well ahead, and one day at dusk crossed the Catawba River. The
advanced detachment of Cornwallis's army came up two hours later, and
waited for morning. That night a heavy rain swelled the stream and
checked the British advance. Morgan pushed on to the Yadkin and crossed,
meeting Greene's army.
Determined that his little band should not be destroyed, since the fate
of the war in the south depended upon it, and not being strong enough to
meet Cornwallis with his well-equipped regiments in open battle, Greene
now planned a retreat with as much method and care as he would have
exercised in preparing for a battle.
The river Roanoke for a long distance runs near the boundary between
Virginia and North Carolina. The upper portion of this stream is called
the Dan. Greene now started for the fords of this river, seventy miles
away, with Cornwallis close at his heels. The roads were deep with mud
and almost impassable. The patriot soldiers, wretchedly clothed and
nearly barefoot, struggled along, marking the road, as Greene wrote to
Washington, with blood-stained tracks.
"How you must suffer from the cold!" said the general to a barefooted
sentry.
"I do not complain," replied the soldier; "I know I should fare well if
our general could procure supplies; and if, as you say, we fight in a
few days, I shall take care to get some shoes."
It was a most masterly and gallant retreat. The men were kept in hand,
and a serious encounter with the enemy was avoided.
One morning during the retreat, when everything seemed dark, Greene rode
up to the door of a tavern. The host, a true friend, met him.
"What! alive, my dear general?"
"Yes; tired, hungry, alone, and penniless."
The hostess, Mrs. Elizabeth Steele, was of the stuff of which patriots
are made. She gave the weary general a good breakfast, and while he was
eating she put in his hands a bag filled with bright silver dollars,
saying, "You need them, and I can do without them."
As the story goes, the gallant Greene, admiring the devotion of the
noble woman, stepped to the mantel, over which hung a portrait of King
George, turned it to the wall, and wrote upon the back, "Hide thy face,
King George, and blush!"
[Illustration: THE PATRIOTIC AND GENEROUS LANDLADY.]
Cornwallis pressed the patriots hard through forests and over streams,
but he was baffled at every move. Reaching the river Dan, the American
army was safely carried over by the boats which its sagacious commander
had arranged for many days before.
Cornwallis came up in hot haste only to find that the deep and rapid
river flowed between him and his foe. It would have been madness for
him to cross the river. He sullenly withdrew his army to a point farther
south.
=231. Greene now begins to fight and shows Rare Generalship.=--Having
recruited and rested his men, Greene moved his army south of the Dan and
began active operations. He followed sharply after Cornwallis, and in
March brought him to battle at Guilford. The fight was severe, and the
British general, though he gained the advantage, was so roughly handled
that he retired towards Wilmington, the nearest point on the coast.
Greene now made a bold and hazardous move. Instead of preventing
Cornwallis from advancing to the north, he left the British general to
do as he pleased, faced about suddenly and boldly marched to South
Carolina. His plan was to thrust himself between the main British army
and its southern division and then attack the latter and their fortified
posts.
Like a skillful general, having decided upon this daring change, Greene
acted quickly. He marched with all speed for Camden, one hundred and
sixty miles distant. His object was to break the British hold upon South
Carolina.
A brighter day was now dawning, and the sunshine of hope was soon to
appear. The adroit activities of Marion, Sumter, and Pickens, and the
skill and vigor of Greene and Morgan were now bringing their harvest,
and they gave the patriots new life and cheer.
At Hobkirks Hill, near Camden, Greene attacked the British. He was
defeated, but it was a fruitless victory.
"We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again," wrote Greene to a friend.
One by one the strong posts of the enemy in South Carolina fell into our
hands. The British hold on both the Carolinas was slowly but surely
broken. The enemy wisely kept near the coast. The last battle of the
long and stubborn struggle was fought at Eutaw Springs, S. C., in
September, 1781. The contest was desperate on both sides; but the
British, badly crippled, retreated in the night to Charleston.
=232. Greene's Brilliant Campaign in the South.=--Greene had with the
scantiest of means done a great work in his southern campaign. He had
driven Cornwallis to Virginia, to meet his fate at Yorktown. He had
cleared both Carolinas of the British and restored them to the patriots.
In few if any campaigns carried on with small armies was ever so
effective and brilliant work done as did General Greene with his little
force of patriots. Most mortifying was it to the haughty British
commanders to know that they had been out-generaled, out-marched, and in
the long run, out-fought by a Yankee blacksmith.
The war in the south was now soon over. Savannah was captured in July,
1782; in December, 1783, the British left Charleston. It was a proud day
for Greene and Morgan and Marion when they followed with their army on
the heels of the departing foe. As the patriots marched in, happy
thousands cheered, and floral wreaths flew from crowded windows.
The noble Greene lived only a few years after he had carried the
Revolution to a triumph in the south. He died in 1786 from the effects
of a sunstroke.
Among the great generals of the American Revolution, it is generally
admitted that Greene ranked, in military genius, second only to
Washington.
General Anthony Wayne, called "Mad Anthony" on account of his daring,
who had fought by the side of Greene, and who watched by the death-bed
of his comrade, wrote to a friend: "He was great as a soldier, great as
a citizen, immaculate as a friend. The honors--the greatest honors of
war--are due his remains. I have seen a great and good man die."