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In the South Part III. - Jun./Aug. 1780 |
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In the South Part III. - Jun./Aug. 1780 |
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| Compiled by: Paul R. Sarrett, Jr., 1991 |
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All opposition in South Carolina was for the moment at an end, when Lord Charles CORNWALLIS entered on his separate command. He proposed to keep possession of all that had been gained, and to advance as a conqueror to the Chesapeake. Sir Henry CLINTON had left with him no more than 5,000 effective troops in South Carolina, and less than 2,000 in Georgia; to these were to be added the regiments which he was determined to organize out of the southern people.
As fast as the districts submitted, the new commander enrolled all the inhabitants, and appointed field-officers with civil as well as military power. The men of property above 40 years of age were made responsible for order, but were not to be called out except in case of insurrection or of actual invasion; the younger men who composed the second class were held liable to serve six months in each year. Hundreds of commissions were issued for the militia regiments. The Scotts barrister and soldier Major Patrick FERGUSON, of the 71st. Highlanders; known from his services in New Jersey and the "Ferguson Rifle", was deputed to visit each district in South Carolina, to procure on the spot lists of the militia, and to see that the orders of Lord Charles CORNWALLIS were carried into execution.
Any Carolinian thereafter taken in arms against the king might be sentenced to death for desertion and treason. Proposals of those who offered to raise provincial corps were accepted; and men of the province, void of honor and compassion, received commissions, gathered about them profligate ruffians, and roamed through the state, indulging in rapine, and ready to put patriots to death as outlaws. Lord Charles CORNWALLIS never regarded a deserter, or any one whom a court-martial sentenced to death, as a subject of mercy. A quartermaster of British Lieut-Col. Banastre TARLETON's legion entered the house of Samuel WYLY near Camden, SC. and, because he had served as a volunteer in the defence of Charleston, cut him in pieces.
The Presbyterians supported the cause of independence; and indeed the American revolution was but the application of the principles of the reformation to civil government. One Huck, a captain of British militia, fired the library and dwelling-house of the clergyman at Col. James WILLIAMS's plantation in the upper part of South Carolina, and burned every Bible into which the Scottish translation of the psalms was bound. Under the immediate eye of Lord Charles CORNWALLIS, the prisoners who had capitulated in Charleston were the subjects of perpetual persecution, unless they would exchange their paroles for oaths of allegiance. Mechanics and shopkeepers could not collect their dues, except after promises of loyalty.
Lord RAWDON, who had the very important command on the Santee, raged equally against deserters from his Irish regiment and against the inhabitants. To RUGELY, at that time a major of militia in the British service and an aspirant for higher promotion, he on the first of July, 1780 addressed the severest orders for securing straggling soldiers, adding: "I will give the inhabitants ten guineas for the head of any deserter belonging to the volunteers of Ireland, and five guineas only if they bring him in alive."
The chain of posts for holding South Carolina consisted of Georgetown, Charleston, Beaufort, and Savannah on the sea; Augusta, Ninety-Six, and Camden in the interior. Of these, Camden was the key between the North and South; and, by a smaller post at Rocky Mount, it kept up a communication with Ninety-Six.
At the end of June, 1780 Lord Charles CORNWALLIS reported that he had put an end to all resistance in Georgia and South Carolina, and in September, after the harvest, would march into North Carolina to reduce that province. On hearing of the violence of the British, Samuel HOUSTON, the delegate in congress from Georgia, wrote to the 1st Chief Justice JAMES JAY: "Our misfortunes are, under God, the source of our safety. The enemy have overrun a considerable part of the state in the hour of its nakedness and debility; but, as their measures seem as usual to be dictated by infatuation, when they have wrought up the spirit of the people to fury and desperation they will be expelled from the country."
Patriots of South Carolina took refuge in the state on their north. Among them was Thomas "Gamecock" SUMTER, and Francis "Swamp Fox" MARION who in the command of a Continental Regiment had shown courage and ability. These irregular, bands preyed on the British lines of communication, and supply lines, waylaid the British detachments and terrorized the Loyalists. For the "Gorillas" use, the smiths of the neighborhood with wrought iron tools, would make into rude weapons; bullets were cast of pewter, collected from housekeepers. With scarcely three rounds of cartridges to a man, they could obtain no more but from their foes; and with the arms of the dead and wounded in one engagement they must equip themselves for the next.
On the rumor of an advancing American army, Lord RAWDON called on all the inhabitants round Camden, SC. to join him in arms. 160 who refused he crowded during the heat of midsummer into one prison, though some of them were protected by the capitulation of Charleston. More than 20 were loaded with chains. On the 12th day of July, 1780 Captain HUCK was sent out with 35 dragoons, 20 mounted infantry, and 60 militia, on a patrol. His troops were posted in a lane at the village of Cross Roads, near the source of Fishing Creek; and women were on their knees to him, vainly begging mercy; when suddenly Thomas "Gamecock" SUMTER and his men, though inferior in number, dashed into the lane at both ends, killed the British Captain HUCK, and destroyed nearly all his party. This was the first advantage gained over the British forces since the beginning of the year.
The order by which all the men of Carolina were enrolled in the militia drove into the British service prisoners on parole and all who had wished to remain neutral. One LISLE, who thus suffered compulsion in the districts bordering on the rivers Tyger and Enoree, waited till his battalion was supplied with arms and ammunition, and then conducted it to its old commander who was with Thomas "Gamecock" SUMTER in the Catawba settlement.
Thus strengthened, Thomas "Gamecock" SUMTER, on the 13th of July, 1780 made a spirited though unsuccessful attack on Rocky Mountain Having repaired his losses, on the 6th of August he surprised the British post at Hanging Rock. A regiment of refugees from North Carolina fled with precipitation; their panic spread to the provincial regiment of the Prince of Wales, which suffered severely. In the beginning of the action not one of the Americans had more than ten bullets; before its end they used the arms and ammunition of the fallen. Among the partisans who were present in this fight was ANDREW JACKSON, an orphan boy of Scotch-Irish descent, whom hatred of oppression and love of country impelled to deeds beyond his years. Thomas "Gamecock" SUMTER drew back to the Catawba settlement, and from all parts of South Carolina patriots flocked to his standard.
So far the South had rested on its own exertions. Relying on the internal strength of New England and the central states for their protection, George WASHINGTON was willing to incur hazard for the relief of the Carolinas; and, with the approval of congress, from his army of less than 10,500 men, of whom 2,800 were to be discharged in April, 1780 he detached the Baron DeKALB with the Maryland division of nearly 2,000 men and the Delaware militia. Marching orders for the southward were given to the corps of Major General Charles LEE. The movement of General DeKALB was slow for want of the means of transportation. At Petersburg in Virginia he added to his command a regiment of artillery with twelve cannons.
Of all the states, Virginia, of which Thomas JEFFERSON was then the governor, lay most exposed to invasion from the sea, and was in constant danger from the savages on the west; yet it was unmindful of its own perils. Its legislature met on the 9th of May 1780. Within ten minutes after the house was formed, Richard Henry LEE proposed to raise and send 2,500 men to serve for three months in Carolina, and to be paid in tobacco, which had a real value. Major NELSON with 60 horses, and Colonel ARMAND with his Corps, were already moving to the south. The force assembled at Williamsburg for the protection of the country on the James river consisted of no more than 300 men; but they too were sent to Carolina before the end of the month. North Carolina made a requisition on Virginia for arms, and received them. With a magnanimity which knew nothing of fear, Virginia laid herself bare for the protection of the Carolinas.
The news that Charleston had capitulated (12 May 1780) found Baron DeKALB still in Virginia. On the 20th of June, 1780 he entered North Carolina, and at Hillsborough halted to repose his wayworn soldiers. He found no magazines, nor did the governor of the state much heed his requisitions or his remonstrances. CASWELL, who was in command of the militia, disregarded his orders from the vanity of acting separately. Yet, under all privations, the officers and men of his command vied with each other in maintaining order and harmony. In his camp at "Buffalo Ford", on Deep river, while he was still doubting how to direct his march, he received news of measures adopted by congress for the southern campaign.
General George WASHINGTON wished Brigadier General Nathanel GREENE to succeed Major-General Benjamin LINCOLN; Congress, not asking WASHINGTON'S advice but not ignorant of his opinion, on the 13th of June, 1780 unanimously appointed General Horatio GATES (the victor of Saratoga) to the independent command of the Southern Army. He received his orders from congress and was to make his reports directly to that body. He might address himself directly to Virginia and the states beyond it for supplies; of himself alone appoint all staff-officers; and take such measures as he should think most proper for the defence of the South. From his plantation in Virginia, General GATES made his acknowledgment to congress without elation; to General Benjamin LINCOLN he wrote in modest and affectionate language. He enjoined on all remnants of continental troops in Virginia to repair to the southern army with all possible diligence.
Upon information received at Hillsborough from HUGER of South Carolina, General GATES formed his plan to march directly to Camden, assured of its easy capture. To General JOHANN KALB he wrote: "Enough has been lost in a vain defence of Charleston; if more is sacrificed, the southern states are undone; and this may go nearly to undo the rest."
Arriving in the camp of Baron de KALB the first words of General HORATIO GATES ordered the troops to be prepared to march at a moment's warning. The safest route, recommended by a memorial of the principal officers, was by way of Salisbury and Charlotte, through a most fertile, salubrious, and well- cultivated country, inhabited by Presbyterians who were heartily attached to the cause of independence. But General GATES, on the morning of the 27th of July, 1780 put what he called the "grand army" on its march by the shortest route to Camden, through a barren country which could offer no food but lean cattle, fruit, and unripe maize. [Corn]
On the 3rd of August, 1780 the army crossed the Pedee River, making a junction on its southern bank with Lieutenant- Colonel PORTERFIELD of Virginia, an excellent officer, who had been sent to the relief of Charleston, and had found means to subsist his small command on the frontier of South Carolina.
The force of which General GATES could dispose revived the hopes of the South Carolinians, who were writhing under the insolence of an army in which every soldier was licensed to plunder, and every officer outlawed peaceful citizens at will. The British commander on the Pedee called in his detachments, abandoned his post on the Cheraw Hill, and repaired to Lord RAWDON at Camden. An escort of Carolinians, who had been forced to take up arms on the British side, rose against their officers and made prisoners of a 106 British invalids who were descending the Pedee river. A boat from Georgetown, laden with stores for the British at Cheraw, was seized by Americans. A revolt in the public mind against British authority invited General GATES onward. Misled by false information, from his camp on the Pedee he announced on the fourth by a proclamation, that their late triumphant and insulting foes had retreated with precipitation and dismay on the approach of his numerous, well-appointed, and formidable army.
On the 7th August, 1780, at the Cross Roads, the troops with General GATES made a junction with the North Carolina militia under CASWELL, and proceeded toward the enemy at Lynch's creek.
In the following night that post was abandoned, and Lord RAWDON occupied another on the southern bank of Little Lynch's Creek, unassailable from the deep, muddy channel of the river, and within a day's march of Camden. Here he was joined by Lieut- Col. Banastre TARELTON with a small detachment of cavalry, who on their way had mercilessly ravaged the country on the Black River as a punishment to its patriot inhabitants, and as a terror to the dwellers on the Wateree and Santee. By a forced march up the stream, General GATES could have turned Lord RAWDON's flank and made an easy conquest of Camden. Missing his opportunity, on the 11th August, 1780 after a useless halt of two days, the defiled by the right, and, marching to the north of Camden, on the 13th August encamped at Clermont, which the British had just abandoned. In the time thus allowed, Lord RAWDON strengthened himself by four companies from Ninety-Six, SC. as well as by the troops from Clermont, and threw up redoubts at Camden.
On the evening of the 10th August, 1780 Lord Charles CORNWALLIS left Charleston, and arrived at Camden before the dawn of the 14th. At ten o'clock on the night of the 15th he set his troops in motion, in the hope of joining battle with the Americans at the break of day.
On the 14th American General GATES had been joined by 700 Virginia militia under the command of STEVENS. On the same day Thomas "Gamecock" SUMTER, appearing in camp with 400 men, asked for as many more to intercept a convoy with its stores on the road from Charleston to Camden. General GATES, who believed him self at the head of 7,000 men, granted his request. Thomas "Gamecock"SUMTER left the camp, taking with him 800 men, and on the next morning captured the wagons and their escort.
An exact field return proved to General GATES that he had but 3,052 rank and file present and fit for duty. "These are enough," said he, "for our purpose;" and on the 15th August, 1780 he communicated to a council of officers an order to begin their march at ten o'clock in the evening of that day. He was listened to in silence. Many wondered at a night march of an army, of which more than two thirds were militia that had never even been paraded together; but General GATES, who had the "most sanguine confidence of victory and the dispersion of the enemy," appointed no place for rendezvous, and began his march before his baggage was sufficiently in the rear.
To a council of the American general officers, held immediately in the rear of the lines, General GATES communicated the report of a prisoner, that a large regular force of British troops under Lord Charles CORNWALLIS was 5 or 600 hundred yards in their front, and submitted the question whether it would be proper to retreat. STEVENS declared himself eager for battle, saying that "the information was but a stratagem of Lord RAWDON to escape the attack." No other advice being offered, for even Baron de KALB remained silent, General GATES desired them to form in line of battle.
The position of Lord Charles CORNWALLIS was most favorable. A swamp on each side secured his flanks against the superior numbers of the Americans. At daybreak his last dispositions were made. The front line, to which were attached two six-pounders and two three-pounders, was commanded on the right by Lieutenant- Colonel WEBSTER, on the left by Lord RAWDON; a battalion with a six-pounder was posted behind each wing as a reserve; the cavalry were in the rear, ready to charge or to pursue.
On the American side, the second Maryland brigade with General GIST for its brigadier, and the men of Delaware, occupied the right under Baron De KALB; the North Carolina division with CASWELL, the centre; and STEVENS, with the newly arrived Virginia militia the left: the best troops on the side strongest by nature, the worst on the weakest. The first Maryland brigade at the head of which SMALLWOOD should have appeared, formed a second line about two hundred yards in the rear of the first. The artillery was divided between the two brigades.
On 16 August, 1780, General GATES took his place in the rear of the second line. He gave no order till OTHO WILLIAMS proposed to him to begin the attack with the brigade of STEVENS, who had been with the army only one day. STEVENS gave the word; and, as they prepared to move forward, Lord Charles CORNWALLIS ordered WEBSTER, whose division contained his best troops, to assail them, while Lord RAWDON was to engage the American right. As the British with WEBSTER rushed on, firing and shouting huzza, STEVENS reminded his militia that they had bayonets; but they had received them only the day before, and knew not how to use them; so, dropping their muskets, they escaped to the woods with such speed that not more than three of them were killed or wounded.
CASWELL and the militia of North Carolina, except the few who had GREGORY for their brigadier, followed the example; nearly two thirds of the army, General GATES himself writes this of them, "ran like a torrent," and he, their general, ran with them. They took to the woods and dispersed in every direction, while General GATES disappeared from the scene, taking no thought for the continental troops whom he left at their posts in the field, and fleeing, or, as he called it, retiring, as fast as possible to Charlotte, SC.
The militia having been routed, WEBSTER came round the flank of the first Maryland brigade and attacked them in front and on their side. Though SMALLWOOD was nowhere to be found, they were sustained by the reserve till the brigade was outflanked by greatly superior numbers and obliged to give ground. After being twice rallied, they finally retreated. The division which Baron De KALB commanded continued long in action, and never did troops show greater courage than these men of Maryland and Delaware. The horse of Baron De KALB had been killed under him, and he had been badly wounded; yet he continued to fight on foot. At last, in the hope of victory, he led a charge, drove the division under Lord RAWDON, took 50 prisoners, and would not believe that he was not about to gain the day, when Lord Charles CORNWALLIS poured against him a party of dragoons and infantry. Even then he did not yield until disabled by many wounds.
The battle of CAMDEN, SC, on 16 Aug. 1780 was sheer disaster - in fact the worst battlefield disaster suffered by any American army in the American Revolution.
The victory cost the British about 500 of their best troops; "their great loss," wrote MARION, "is equal to a defeat." How many Americans perished on the field or surrendered is not accurately known. They saved none of their artillery and little of their baggage. Except one 100 continental soldiers whom GIST conducted across swamps through which the cavalry could not follow, every corps was dispersed. The canes and underwood that hid them from their pursuers separated them from one another.
Baron De KALB lingered for three days; but, before he closed his eyes, he bore an affectionate testimony to the exemplary conduct of the division which he had commanded, and of which two fifths had fallen in battle. OPULENT, and happy in his wife and children, he gave to the United States his life and his example. Congress decreed him a monument. The British parliament voted thanks to Lord Charles CORNWALLIS.
General GATES and CASWELL, leaving the army without orders, rode in all haste to Clermont which they reached ahead of all the fugitives, and then pressed on and still on, until, late in the night, they escorted each other into Charlotte. The next morning General GATES left CASWELL to rally such troops as might come in; and himself sped to Hillsborough, NC. where the North Carolina legislature was soon to meet, riding altogether more than 200 miles in 3 1/2 days, and running away from his army so fast and so far that he knew nothing about its condition. CASWELL, after waiting one day, followed his example.
On the 19th August, 1780, American officers, coming into Charlotte, placed their hopes of a happier turn of events on Thomas "Gamecock" SUMTER, who commanded the largest American force that now remained in the Carolinas. His detachment had, on the 15th August 1780, captured more than 40 British wagons laden with stores, and secured more than a hundred prisoners. On hearing of the misfortunes of "the grand army," Thomas "Gamecock" SUMTER retreated slowly and carelessly up the Wateree. On the 17th August he remained through the whole night at Rocky Mount, though he knew that the British were on the opposite side of the river, and in possession of boats and the ford. On the 18th he advanced only eight miles; and on the north bank of Fishing Creek, at bright mid-day, his troops stacked their arms; some took repose; some went to the river to bathe; some strolled in search of supplies; and Thomas "Gamecock" SUMTER himself fell fast asleep in the shade of a wagon. In this state a party under British Lieut-Col. Banastre TARLETON cut them off from their arms and put them to rout, taking 2 or 300 of them captive, and recovering the British prisoners and wagons. On the 20th August Thomas "Gamecock" SUMTER rode into Charlotte alone, without hat or saddle.
End of Part III.
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Paul R. Sarrett, Jr.Auburn, CA.