THE WAR IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
The fishing-boat was disposed of for a few pounds, and Harold and
Jake were again fitted out in the semi-uniform worn by the scouts. On
December 13, the very day after their arrival, a considerable
detachment of troops, under General Leslie, arrived, and on the 19th
marched, 1500 strong, to join Lord Cornwallis. Harold and his mates
accompanied them, and the united army proceeded northwest, between
the Roanoke and Catawba rivers. Colonel Tarleton was detached with a
force of 1000 men, consisting of light and German legion infantry, a
portion of the Seventh Regiment and of the first battalion of the
Seventy-first, 350 cavalry, and two field-pieces. His orders were to
pursue and destroy a force of some 800 of the enemy under General
Morgan. The latter, finding himself pressed, drew up his troops for
action near a place called the Cowpens. Then ensued the one action in
the whole war in which the English, being superior in numbers,
suffered a severe defeat.
Tarleton, confident of victory, led his troops to the attack without
making any proper preparations for it. The infantry advanced bravely,
and, although the American infantry held the ground for a time with
great obstinacy, they drove them back and the victory appeared to be
theirs. Tarleton now sent orders to his cavalry to pursue, as his
infantry were too exhausted, having marched at a rapid pace all
night, to do so. The order was not obeyed, and Major Washington, who
commanded the American cavalry, advanced to cover his infantry. These
rallied behind their shelter and fell upon the disordered British
infantry. Thus suddenly attacked when they believed that victory was
in their hands, the English gave way and were driven back. A panic
seized them and a general rout ensued. Almost the whole of them were
either killed or taken prisoners.
Tarleton in vain endeavored to induce his German legion cavalry to
charge; they stood aloof and at last fled in a body through the
woods. Their commander and 14 officers remained with Tarleton, and
with these and 40 men of the Seventeenth Regiment of dragoons he
charged the whole body of the American cavalry and drove them back
upon the infantry.
No partial advantage, however brilliant, could retrieve the
misfortune of the day. All was already lost, and Tarleton retreated
with his gallant little band to the main army under Lord Cornwallis,
twenty-five miles from the scene of action. The British infantry were
all killed, wounded, or taken prisoners, with the exception of a
small detachment which had been left in the rear, and who fell back
hastily as soon as the news of the result of the action reached them.
The legion cavalry returned to camp without the loss of a man.
The defeat at Cowpens had a serious influence on the campaign. It
deprived Lord Cornwallis of the greater portion of his light
infantry, who were of the greatest utility in a campaign in such a
country, while the news of the action had an immense influence in
raising the spirits of the colonists. Hitherto they had uniformly met
with ill success when they opposed the British with forces even
approaching an equality of strength. In spite of their superior arms
and superior shooting, they were unable to stand the charge of the
British infantry, who had come almost to despise them as foes in the
field. The unexpected success urged them to fresh exertions and
brought to their side vast numbers of waverers.
General Morgan, who was joined by General Greene, attempted to
prevent Cornwallis passing the fords of the Catawba. It was not till
February 1 that the river had fallen sufficiently to render a passage
possible. Colonel Webster was sent with his division to one of the
principal fords, with orders to open a cannonade there and make a
feint of crossing, while the general himself moved toward a smaller
and less-known ford. General Davidson, with 300 Americans, was
watching this point, but the brigade of guards were ordered to
commence the passage and were led by their light infantry companies
under Colonel Hall. The river was five hundred yards across, and the
stream so strong that the men, marching in fours, had to support one
another to enable them to withstand its force. The ford took a sharp
turn in the middle of the river.
The night being dark, the guards were not perceived until they had
reached this point, when the enemy immediately opened fire upon them.
The guide at once fled, without his absence being noticed until it
was too late to stop him. Colonel Hall, not knowing of the bend in
the ford, led his men straight forward toward the opposite bank, and
although their difficulties were much increased by the greater depth
of water through which they had to pass, the mistake was really the
means of saving them from much loss, as the Americans were assembled
to meet them at the head of the ford, and would have inflicted a
heavy loss upon them as they struggled in the stream. They did not
perceive the change in the direction of the column's march until too
late, and the guards, on landing, met them as they came on and
quickly routed and dispersed them. The British lost 4 killed, among
whom was Colonel Hall, and 36 wounded.
The rest of the division then crossed. Colonel Tarleton, with the
cavalry, was sent against 500 of the Americans who had fallen back
from the various fords, and, burning with the desire to retrieve the
defeat of the Cowpens, the legion horse charged the enemy with such
fury that they were completely routed, 50 of them being killed.
Morgan and Greene withdrew their army through the Roanoke River,
hotly pursued by the English. For a few days the British army
remained at Hillsborough, but no supplies of food sufficient for its
maintenance could be found there, so it again fell back. General
Greene, being re-enforced by a considerable force, now determined to
fight, and accordingly advanced and took up a position near Guilford
Court House.
[Illustration: Battle of Guilford Fought on the 16th of March 1781.]
The American force consisted of 4243 infantry and some 3000
irregulars--for the most part backwoodsmen from the frontier--while
the British force amounted to 1445, exclusive of their cavalry, who,
however, took little part in the fight. About four miles from
Guilford the advanced guards of the army met and a sharp fight
ensued--the Americans, under Colonel Lee, maintaining their ground
stanchly until the Twenty-third Regiment came up to the assistance of
Tarleton, who commanded the advance.
The main American force was posted in an exceedingly strong position.
Their first line was on commanding ground, with open fields in front;
on their flanks were woods, and a strong fence ran along in front of
their line. The second line was posted in a wood three hundred yards
in rear of the first, while four hundred yards behind were three
brigades drawn up in the open ground round Guilford Court House.
Colonel Washington, with two regiments of dragoons and one of
riflemen, formed a reserve for the right flank; Colonel Lee, with his
command, was in reserve on the left.
As soon as the head of the British column appeared in sight two guns
upon the road opened fire upon them and were answered by the English
artillery. While the cannonade continued the British formed in order
of attack. The Seventy-first, with a provincial regiment, supported
by the first battalion of the guards, formed the right; the
Twenty-third and Thirty-third, led by Colonel Webster, with the
grenadiers and second battalion of guards, formed the left. The light
infantry of the guards and the cavalry were in reserve.
When the order was given to advance the line moved forward in perfect
steadiness, and at 150 yards the enemy opened fire. The English did
not fire a shot till within 80 yards, when they poured in a volley
and charged with the bayonet. The first line of the enemy at once
fell back upon the second; here a stout resistance was made. Posted
in the woods and sheltering themselves behind trees, they kept up for
some time a galling fire which did considerable execution. General
Leslie brought up the right wing of the first battalion of guards
into the front line and Colonel Webster called up the second
battalion. The enemy's second line now fell back on their third,
which was composed of their best troops, and the struggle was a very
obstinate one.
The Americans, from their vastly superior numbers, occupied so long a
line of ground that the English commanders, in order to face them,
were obliged to leave large gaps between the different regiments.
Thus it happened that Webster, who with the Thirty-third Regiment,
the light infantry, and the second battalion of guards turned toward
the left, found himself separated from the rest of the troops by the
enemy, who pushed in between him and the Twenty-third. These again
were separated from the guards. The ground was very hilly, the wood
exceedingly thick, and the English line became broken up into
regiments separated from each other, each fighting on its own account
and ignorant of what was going on in other parts of the field.
The second battalion of guards was the first that broke through the
wood into the open grounds of Guilford Court House. They immediately
attacked a considerable force drawn up there, routed them, and took
their two cannon with them; but, pursuing them with too much ardor
and impetuosity toward the woods in the rear, were thrown into
confusion by a heavy fire from another body of troops placed there,
and being instantly charged by Washington's dragoons, were driven
back with great slaughter and the cannon were retaken.
At this moment the British guns, advancing along the road through the
wood, issued into the open and checked the pursuit of the Americans
by a well-directed fire. The Seventy-first and the Twenty-third now
came through the wood. The second battalion of guards rallied and
again advanced, and the enemy were quickly repulsed and put to
flight. The two guns were recaptured, with two others.
Colonel Webster, with the Thirty-third, returned across the ravine
through which he had driven the enemy opposed to him, and rejoined
the rest of the force. The Americans drew off in good order. The
Twenty-third and Twenty-first pursued with the cavalry for a short
distance and were then recalled. The fight was now over on the center
and left, but on the right heavy firing was still going on. Here
General Leslie, with the first battalion of guards and a Hessian
regiment, had been greatly impeded by the excessive thickness of the
woods, which rendered it impossible to charge with the bayonet. As
they struggled through the thicket the enemy swarmed around them, so
that they were at times engaged in front, flanks, and rear. The enemy
were upon an exceedingly steep rise, and lying along the top of this
they poured such a heavy fire into the guards that these suffered
exceedingly; nevertheless they struggled up to the top and drove the
front line back, but found another far more numerous drawn up behind.
As the guards struggled up to the crest they were received by a
tremendous fire on their front and flanks and suffered so heavily
that they fell into confusion. The Hessian regiment, which had
suffered but slightly, advanced in compact order to the left of the
guards, and, wheeling to the right, took the enemy in the flank with
a very heavy fire. Under cover of this the guards re-formed and moved
forward to join the Hessians and complete the repulse of the enemy
opposed to them. They were again attacked both in the flank and the
rear, but at last they completely dispersed the troops surrounding
them and the battle came to an end.
This battle was one of the most obstinate and well-contested
throughout the war, and the greatest credit is due to the British,
who drove the enemy, three times their own number, from the ground
chosen by them and admirably adapted to their mode of warfare.
The loss, as might have been expected, was heavy, amounting to 93
killed and 413 wounded--nearly a third of the force engaged. Between
two and three hundred of the enemy's dead were found on the field of
battle, and a great portion of their army was disbanded. The
sufferings of the wounded on the following night were great. A
tremendous rain fell, and the battle had extended over so large an
area that it was impossible to find and collect them. The troops had
had no food during the day and had marched several miles before they
came into action. Nearly 50 of the wounded died during the night.
Decisive as the victory was, its consequences were slight. Lord
Cornwallis was crippled by his heavy loss, following that which the
force had suffered at the Cowpens. The two battles had diminished the
strength of his little force by fully half. Provisions were difficult
to obtain, and the inhabitants, some of whom had suffered greatly
upon previous occasions for their loyal opinions, seeing the weakness
of the force and the improbability of its being enabled to maintain
itself, were afraid to lend assistance or to show their sympathy, as
they would be exposed on its retreat to the most cruel persecutions
by the enemy.
Three days after the battle Lord Cornwallis retired, leaving 70 of
the wounded, who were unable to move, under the protection of a flag
of truce. From Guilford Court House he moved his troops to
Wilmington, in North Carolina, a seaport where he hoped to obtain
provisions and stores, especially clothing and shoes.
General Greene, left unmolested after his defeat, reassembled his
army, and receiving re-enforcements, marched at full speed to attack
Lord Rawdon at Camden, thinking that he would, with his greatly
superior force, be able to destroy him in his isolated situation. The
English commander fortified his position and the American general
drew back and encamped on Hobkirk Hill, two miles distant, to await
the coming of his heavy baggage and cannon, together with some
re-enforcements. Lord Rawdon determined to take the initiative, and
marching out with his whole force of 900 men, advanced to the attack.
The hill was covered at its foot by a deep swamp, but the English
marched round this and stormed the position. The Americans made an
obstinate resistance, but the English climbed the hill with such
impetuosity, in spite of the musketry and grape-shot of the enemy,
that they were forced to give way. Several times they returned to the
attack, but were finally driven off in confusion. One hundred
prisoners were taken, and Lord Rawdon estimated that 400 of the enemy
were killed and wounded. The American estimate was considerably
lower, and as the Americans fought with all the advantage of
position, while the English were exposed during their ascent to a
terrible fire, which they were unable to return effectively, it is
probable that the American loss, including the wounded, was inferior
to that of the English, whose casualties amounted to 258.
Harold and his companions did not take part either in the battle of
Guilford Court House or in that of Hobkirk Hill, having been attached
to the fort known as Ninety-six, because a milestone with these
figures upon it stood in the village. The force here was under the
command of Lieutenant Colonel Cruger, who had with him 150 men of a
provincial corps known as Delancey's, 200 of the second battalion of
the New Jersey volunteers, and 200 local loyalists. The post was far
advanced, but so long as Lord Rawdon remained at Camden its position
was not considered to be dangerous. The English general, however,
after winning the battle of Hobkirk Hill, received news of the
retirement of Lord Cornwallis toward Wilmington, and seeing that he
would thereby be exposed to the whole of the American forces in South
Carolina and would infallibly be cut off from Charleston, he
determined to retire upon that port. Before falling back he sent
several messengers to Colonel Cruger, acquainting him of his
intention. But so well were the roads guarded by the enemy that none
of the messengers reached Ninety-six.
Colonel Cruger, being uneasy at the length of time which had elapsed
since he had received any communication, sent Harold and the two
scouts out with instructions to make their way toward the enemy's
lines and, if possible, to bring in a prisoner. This they had not
much difficulty in doing. Finding out the position of two parties of
the Americans, they placed themselves on the road between them. No
long time elapsed before an American officer came along. A shot from
Peter's rifle killed his horse, and before the officer could recover
his feet, he was seized by the scouts. They remained hidden in the
wood during the day and at night returned with their prisoner to
Ninety-six, thirty miles distant, avoiding all villages where
resistance could be offered by hostile inhabitants.
From the prisoner Colonel Cruger learned that Lord Rawdon had
retreated from Camden and that he was therefore entirely isolated.
The position was desperate, but he determined to defend the post to
the last, confident that Lord Rawdon would, as soon as possible,
undertake an expedition for his release.
The whole garrison was at once set to work, stockades were erected,
earthworks thrown up, a redoubt--formed of casks filled with
earth--constructed, and the whole strengthened by ditches and
abattis. Blockhouses were erected in the village to enable the troops
to fire over the stockades, and covered communications made between
various works. The right of the village was defended by a regular
work called the Star. To the left was a work commanding a rivulet
from which the place drew its supply of water.
Colonel Cruger offered the volunteers, who were a mounted corps,
permission to return to Charleston, but they refused to accept the
offer, and, turning their horses into the woods, determined to share
the fate of the garrison. In making this offer the colonel was
influenced partly by motives of policy, as the stock of provisions
was exceedingly scanty, and he feared that they would not last if the
siege should be a long one. Besides this, he feared that, as had
already too often happened, should the place fall, even the solemn
engagement of the terms of the surrender would not be sufficient to
protect the loyalists against the vengeance of their countrymen.
On May 21 General Greene, with his army, appeared in sight of the
place and encamped in a wood within cannon-shot of the village. He
lost no time, and in the course of the night threw up two works
within seventy paces of the fortifications. The English commander did
not suffer so rash and disdainful a step to pass unpunished. The
scouts, who were outside the works, brought in news of what was being
done, and also that the working parties were protected by a strong
force.
The three guns which constituted the entire artillery of the
defenders were moved noiselessly to the salient angle of the Star
opposite the works, and at eleven o'clock in the morning these
suddenly opened fire, aided by musketry from the parapets. The
covering force precipitately retreated, and 30 men sallied out from
the fort, carried the intrenchments, and bayoneted their defenders.
Other troops followed, the works were destroyed, and the intrenching
tools carried into the fort. General Greene, advancing with his whole
army, arrived only in time to see the last of the sallying party
re-enter the village.
"I call that a right-down good beginning," Peter Lambton said, in
great exultation. "There's nothing like hitting a hard blow at the
beginning of the fight. It raises your spirits and makes t'other chap
mighty cautious. You'll see next time they'll begin their works at a
much more respectful distance."
Peter was right. The blow checked the impetuosity of the American
general, and on the night of the 23d he opened his trenches at a
distance of four hundred yards. Having so large a force, he was able
to push forward with great rapidity, although the garrison made
several gallant sorties to interfere with the work.
On June 3 the second parallel was completed. A formal summons was
sent to the British commander to surrender. This document was couched
in the most insolent language and contained the most unsoldierlike
threats of the consequences which would befall the garrison and its
commander if he offered further resistance. Colonel Cruger sent back
a verbal answer that he was not frightened by General Greene's
menaces and that he should defend the post until the last.
The American batteries now opened with a heavy cross-fire, which
enfiladed several of the works. They also pushed forward a sap
against the Star fort and erected a battery, composed of gabions,
thirty-six yards only from the abattis and raised forty feet high so
as to overlook the works of the garrison. The riflemen posted on its
top did considerable execution and prevented the British guns being
worked during the day.
The garrison tried to burn the battery by firing heated shot into it,
but from want of proper furnaces they were unable to heat the shot
sufficiently, and the attempt failed. They then protected their
parapets as well as they could by sand-bags with loop-holes, through
which the defenders did considerable execution with their rifles.
Harold and his two comrades, whose skill with their weapons was
notorious, had their post behind some sand-bags immediately facing
the battery, and were able completely to silence the fire of its
riflemen, as it was certain death to show a head above its parapet.
The enemy attempted to set fire to the houses of the village by
shooting blazing arrows into them, a heavy musketry and artillery
fire being kept up to prevent the defenders from quenching the
flames. These succeeded, however, in preventing any serious
conflagration, but Colonel Cruger ordered at once that the whole of
the houses should be unroofed. Thus the garrison were for the rest of
the siege without protection from the rain and night air, but all
risk of a fire, which might have caused the consumption of their
stores, was avoided.
While the siege had been going on the town of Augusta had fallen, and
Lieutenant Colonel Lee, marching thence to re-enforce General Greene,
brought with him the British prisoners taken there. With a scandalous
want of honorable feeling he marched these prisoners along in full
sight of the garrison, with all the parade of martial music, and
preceded by a British standard reversed.
If the intention was to discourage the garrison it failed entirely in
its effect. Fired with indignation at so shameful a sight, they
determined to encounter every danger and endure every hardship rather
than fall into the hands of an enemy capable of disgracing their
success by so wanton an insult to their prisoners.
The Americans, strengthened by the junction of the troops who had
reduced Augusta, began to make approaches against the stockaded fort
on the left of the village, which kept open the communication of the
garrison with their water supply. The operations on this side were
intrusted to Colonel Lee, while General Greene continued to direct
those against the Star.
On the night of June 9 a sortie was made by two strong parties of the
defenders. That to the right entered the enemy's trenches and
penetrated to a battery of four guns, which nothing but the want of
spikes and hammers prevented them from destroying. Here they
discovered the mouth of a mine intended to be carried under one of
the defenses of the Star.
The division on the left fell in with the covering party of the
Americans, killed a number of them, and made their commanding officer
a prisoner.
On the 12th Colonel Lee determined to attempt a storm of the stockade
on the left, and sent forward a sergeant and six men, with lighted
combustibles, to set fire to the abattis. The whole of them were
killed before effecting their purpose. A number of additional cannon
now arrived from Augusta, and so heavy and incessant a fire was
opened upon the stockade from three batteries that on the 17th it was
no longer tenable, and the garrison evacuated it in the night.
The suffering of the garrison for want of water now became extreme.
With great labor a well had been dug in the fort, but no water was
found, and none could be procured except from the rivulet within
pistol-shot of the enemy. In the day nothing could be done, but at
night negroes, whose bodies in the darkness were not easily
distinguished from the tree-stumps which surrounded them, went out
and at great risk brought in a scanty supply. The position of the
garrison became desperate. Colonel Cruger, however, was not
discouraged, and did his best to sustain the spirits of his troops by
assurances that Lord Rawdon was certain to attempt to relieve the
place as soon as he possibly could do so.
At length one day, to the delight of the garrison, an American
royalist rode right through the pickets under the fire of the enemy
and delivered a verbal message from Lord Rawdon to the effect that he
had passed Orangeburg and was on his march to raise the siege.
Lord Rawdon had been forced to remain at Charleston until the arrival
of three fresh regiments from Ireland enabled him to leave that place
in safety and march to the relief of Ninety-six. His force amounted
to 1800 infantry and 150 cavalry. General Greene had also received
news of Lord Rawdon's movements, and, finding from his progress that
it would be impossible to reduce the fort by regular approaches
before his arrival, he determined to hazard an assault.
The American works had been pushed up close to the forts, and the
third parallel had been completed, and a mine and two trenches
extended within a few feet of the ditch. On the morning of June 18 a
heavy cannonade was begun from all the American batteries. The Whole
of the batteries and trenches were lined with riflemen, whose fire
prevented the British from showing their heads, above the parapets.
At noon two parties of the enemy advanced under cover of their
trenches and made a lodgment in the ditch. These were followed by
other parties with hooks to drag down the sand-bags and tools to
overthrow the parapet. They were exposed to the fire of the
block-houses in the village, and Major Green, the English officer who
commanded the Star fort, had his detachment in readiness behind the
parapet to receive the enemy when they attempted to storm.
As the main body of Americans did not advance beyond the third
parallel and contented themselves with supporting the parties in the
ditch with their fire, the commander of the fort resolved to inflict
a heavy blow. Two parties, each 30 strong, under the command of
Captains Campbell and French, issued from the sally-port in the rear,
entered the ditch, and, taking opposite directions, charged the
Americans who had made the lodgment with such impetuosity that they
drove everything before them until they met. The bayonet alone was
used and the carnage was great--two-thirds of those who entered the
trenches were either killed or wounded.
General Greene, finding it useless any longer to continue the
attempt, called off his troops, and on the following day raised the
siege and marched away with all speed, having lost at least 300 men
in the siege. Of the garrison 27 were killed and 58 wounded.
On the 21st Lord Rawdon arrived at Ninety-six and, finding that it
would be hopeless for him to attempt to overtake the retreating
enemy, who were marching with great speed, he drew off the garrison
of Ninety-six and fell back toward the coast.
A short time afterward a sharp fight ensued between a force under
Colonel Stewart and the army of General Greene. The English were
taken by surprise and were at first driven back, but they recovered
from their confusion and renewed the fight with great spirit, and
after a desperate conflict the Americans were repulsed. Two cannon
and 60 prisoners were taken; among the latter Colonel Washington, who
commanded the reserve. The loss on both sides was about equal, as 250
of the British troops were taken prisoners at the first outset. The
American killed considerably exceeded our own. Both, parties claimed
the victory; the Americans because they had forced the British to
retreat; the British because they had ultimately driven the Americans
from the field and obliged them to retire to a strong position seven
miles in the rear This was the last action of the war in South
Carolina.