Nathaniel Greene, the Hero of the South, and Francis Marion, the "Swamp
Fox"
[1742-1786]
[Illustration: Nathaniel Greene.]
We have rapidly glanced at the course of the Revolution so far as
Washington was concerned in it. But we should fail to understand the
connection of events were we to pass over without mention the work of
the brilliant general, Nathaniel Greene, who by common consent is
regarded as a military leader second to Washington alone.
As already noted, the first fighting in the Revolution was in New
England. Failing there, the British generals vainly tried to get control
of the Hudson River and the Middle States.
Their attention was now turned to the South, where there were many
Tories who would give material support to the King's forces. George the
Third had great hopes of conquering all the Southern States, and holding
them at the end of the struggle as English territory, even though the
Americans should succeed in keeping possession of New England and the
Middle States.
Beginning in Georgia in 1778, the British captured Savannah, but not
until 1780 did they undertake the serious business of conquering the
South. In May of that year General Lincoln, the American commander of
the Southern army, surrendered his entire force at Charleston, and in
the following August, General Gates, at the head of a second American
army, suffered a crushing defeat in the battle of Camden. The outlook
for the patriot cause appeared dark. One thing was certain. An able
military leader must take charge of the Americans, or the British would
soon overcome all opposition. Washington had great faith in General
Greene's ability, and without hesitation selected him for this important
task.
Nathaniel Greene was born in Warwick, R. I., in 1742. His father, a
Quaker preacher on Sundays and a blacksmith and miller on week days,
brought up his son in the strictest Quaker principles, and trained him
to work in the field, in the mill, and at the forge. Nathaniel was
robust and athletic, a leader in outdoor sports. From an early age he
was studious in his habits, and in his manhood, when the troubles with
England seemed to threaten war, he eagerly turned his attention to the
study of military tactics.
In 1774 Greene took an active part in organizing, in Rhode Island, a
military company called the Kentish Guards, in which he at once enrolled
himself as a private. In order to procure a musket it was necessary for
him to make a trip to Boston where, in his Quaker costume of
drab-colored clothes and broad brimmed hat, he was a picturesque and
interested observer of the British regulars taking their customary
drill. On his return he brought with him not only a musket, which he
concealed under some straw in his wagon, but also a British deserter to
drill his company.
On the news of the battle of Bunker Hill a brigade of three regiments
was raised in Rhode Island, and Greene was placed at its head with the
rank of brigadier-general. With this brigade he at once marched to
Boston, and when Washington arrived to take command of the American
troops, General Greene had the honor of welcoming him in behalf of the
army.
[Illustration: Map Showing the War in the South.]
At this time Greene was thirty-three years old, six feet tall, with a
strong, vigorous body and a frank, intelligent face. He speedily won the
friendship and confidence of Washington, who afterward placed him in
positions of great responsibility. Throughout the entire war General
Greene was actively engaged, and in all his campaigns he showed
remarkable energy and promptness. It was natural that a general so able
should be sought in 1780 as commander of the American army in the South.
When General Greene reached the Carolinas (December 2, 1780), he found
the army in a forlorn condition. There was but one blanket for every
three soldiers, and there were not enough provisions in camp to last
three days. The men were disheartened because they had suffered defeat,
rebellious because they were unpaid, and sick because they were unfed.
They camped in rude huts made of fence rails, corn-stalks, and
brushwood.
But by his masterly way of doing things Greene soon inspired the
confidence of officers and soldiers alike. A story is told that well
illustrates the faith his men had in their general. Once he saw a
bare-footed sentry and said to him, "How you must suffer from cold!" "I
do not complain," the sentry answered, not aware that he was addressing
his commander. "I know I should fare well if our general could procure
supplies."
Not long after taking command of the army he sent General Morgan with
900 picked men toward the mountains in the Carolinas to threaten the
British posts there, while he himself, with the remainder of the army,
took a position nearer the coast on the Pedee River. General Cornwallis,
in command of the British army in the South, detached Tarleton to march
against Morgan. Early on the morning of January 17, 1781, after a hard
night march, Tarleton, over-confident of success, attacked Morgan at
Cowpens. But the Americans repelled the attack with vigor and won a
brilliant victory. The British lost 230 killed and wounded and 600
prisoners, almost their entire force.
Cornwallis was deeply chagrined, for he had expected that Tarleton would
crush the American force. He now planned to march rapidly across the
country and defeat Morgan before Greene's army could unite with him. But
Morgan, feeling certain that Cornwallis would make a strenuous effort to
overwhelm him and rescue the 600 prisoners, marched with all possible
speed in a northeasterly direction, with the purpose of crossing the
Catawba River before Cornwallis could overtake him.
[Illustration: Lord Cornwallis.]
Moreover, when Greene heard the glorious news of the American victory,
he knew that there was great danger that Morgan's force would fall into
the hands of Cornwallis. He therefore planned not only to prevent such a
catastrophe, but also to lead Cornwallis far away from his base of
supplies at Wilmington on the coast, to a place where his own force
united with Morgan's might fight a winning battle.
With these plans in mind, having ordered General Huger to march rapidly
with the army in a northerly direction, Greene himself, with a small
guard, swiftly rode a distance of 150 miles across the rough country to
Morgan's army. On the last day of January he reached it in the Catawba
Valley, and began to direct its movements.
In the meantime Cornwallis, with desperate energy, was pressing in
pursuit. For the next ten days it was a race for life, with the odds in
favor of Cornwallis. But Greene was exceedingly alert and masterful. The
Catawba had been safely crossed, but Cornwallis might overtake the
Americans before they could cross the Yadkin. To make all possible
provision for a speedy crossing, Greene sent men ahead to see that boats
should be collected on this river, ready for use when he should need
them. He also had the fore-thought to carry with his army boats mounted
on wheels. When crossing a river these boats would carry the wheels, and
in advancing across the country the wheels would carry the boats.
Having taken these precautions, Greene sent Morgan forward toward
Salisbury, while he himself waited for a force of militia that was to
guard fords on the Catawba in order to delay Cornwallis. But while
waiting he heard that the militia had been scattered. When this
unfortunate news reached him, he started upon a solitary ride through
the heavy mud and drenching rain in search of Morgan's force. When
Greene alighted at the Salisbury Inn, which had been turned into a
hospital for the soldiers, the army physician greeted him, asking how
he was. "Fatigued, hungry, alone, and penniless," he answered. The
landlady, Mrs. Elizabeth Steele, on hearing the reply, brought out two
bags of money, the savings of many a hard day's labor. She said, "Take
these, you will need them, and I can do without them."
In this famous retreat of 200 miles through the Carolinas the Americans
forded three rivers, whose waters, swollen by recent rains soon after
the Americans had crossed, checked the British in their pursuit. Greene
crossed the last of these rivers, the Dan, with the two parts of his
army now united, just in time to escape Cornwallis.
In all this time of trial and uncertainty General Greene received
valuable aid from partisan leaders in the South. One of the most noted
of these was Francis Marion, who was born near Georgetown, S.C., in
1732. Although as a child, he was extremely delicate, he grew strong
after his twelfth year. In his mature years he was short and slight in
frame, but strong and hardy in constitution.
When the British began to swarm into South Carolina he raised and
drilled a company of his neighbors and friends known as "Marion's
Brigade." These men, without uniforms, without tents, and without pay,
were among the bravest and best of the Revolutionary soldiers. Old saws
beaten at the country forge furnished them with sabres, and pewter mugs
and dishes supplied material for bullets. The diet of these men was
simple. Marion, their leader, usually ate hominy and potatoes, and
drank water flavored with a little vinegar.
The story is told that one day a British officer entered the camp with a
flag of truce. After the conference, Marion, with his usual delicate
courtesy, invited him to dinner. We may imagine the officer's surprise
when, seated at a log used for a table, they were served to a dinner
consisting of roasted sweet potatoes handed to them on pieces of bark.
The British officer was still more surprised to learn that at times
Marion's men were not fortunate enough to have even potatoes.
[Illustration: General Francis Marion.]
"Marion's Brigade" of farmers and hunters seldom numbered more than
seventy, and often less than twenty. With this very small force he
annoyed the British beyond measure by rescuing prisoners and by
capturing supply-trains, foraging parties, and outposts. One day a scout
brought in the report that a party of ninety British with 200 prisoners
were on the march for Charleston. Waiting for the darkness to conceal
his movements, Marion with thirty men sallied out, swooped down upon the
British camp, captured, the entire force, and rescued all the American
prisoners.
It was the custom of Marion's men when hard pressed by a superior force
to scatter, each one for himself, and, dashing headlong into the dense,
dark swamps, to meet again at the well-known hiding-place. Even while
the British were in search of them they sometimes darted out just as
suddenly as they had disappeared, and surprised another British party
near at hand. Well did Marion deserve the name of "Swamp Fox," given him
by the British.
[Illustration: Marion and His Men Swooping Down on a British Camp.]
With the aid of such partisan leaders, and by the skilful handling of
his army, Greene was more than a match for Cornwallis. On receiving
reinforcements from Virginia Greene turned upon his enemy at Guilford
Court House, N. C., where he fought a losing battle. But although
defeated, he so crippled the British army that Cornwallis was obliged
to retreat to the coast to get supplies for his half-famished men before
marching northward into Virginia. In this long and trying campaign
Greene had completely outwitted Cornwallis.
At the close of the war, as he passed through Philadelphia on his way
home, the people received him with great enthusiasm. In 1785 he moved
with his family to a plantation which the State of Georgia had given
him. Here he lived in quiet and happiness less than a year, when he died
of sunstroke at the age of forty-four. His comrade, Wayne, who was with
him at the time of his death, said of him: "He was great as a soldier,
great as a citizen, immaculate as a friend.... I have seen a great and
good man die."
REVIEW OUTLINE
THE BRITISH ATTEMPT TO GET CONTROL IN THE SOUTH.
DARK OUTLOOK FOR THE AMERICANS.
YOUNG GREENE A LEADER IN OUT-DOOR SPORTS.
GREENE MADE BRIGADIER-GENERAL.
HE TAKES COMMAND IN THE SOUTH.
GENERAL GREENE AND HIS ARMY.
THE BATTLE OF COWPENS.
GREENE'S PLANS.
HIS ALERTNESS AND FORESIGHT.
A FAMOUS RETREAT.
PARTISAN LEADERS.
FRANCIS MARION AND HIS MEN.
MARION'S METHODS: THE "SWAMP FOX."
GREENE OUTWITS CORNWALLIS.
GENERAL GREENE AFTER THE WAR.
TO THE PUPIL
1. Why did the British wish to get control of the South?
2. How did Greene look? What do you admire in his character?
3. What was the condition of his army when he took command of it
in the South?
4. What was the "race for life"? How did it result?
5. Describe Francis Marion and tell all you can about his habits.
6. Tell the story of Marion and the British officer.
7. What were Marion's methods of annoying the British?
8. Are you constantly trying to form mental pictures as you read?