by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XX.
THE WAR IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
The fishing-boat was disposed of for a few pounds, and Harold andJake were again fitted out in the semi-uniform worn by the scouts. OnDecember 13, the very day after their arrival, a considerabledetachment of troops, under General Leslie, arrived, and on the 19thmarched, 1500 strong, to join Lord Cornwallis. Harold and his matesaccompanied them, and the united army proceeded northwest, betweenthe Roanoke and Catawba rivers. Colonel Tarleton was detached with aforce of 1000 men, consisting of light and German legion infantry, aportion of the Seventh Regiment and of the first battalion of theSeventy-first, 350 cavalry, and two field-pieces. His orders were topursue and destroy a force of some 800 of the enemy under GeneralMorgan. The latter, finding himself pressed, drew up his troops foraction near a place called the Cowpens. Then ensued the one action inthe whole war in which the English, being superior in numbers,suffered a severe defeat.
Tarleton, confident of victory, led his troops to the attack withoutmaking any proper preparations for it. The infantry advanced bravely,and, although the American infantry held the ground for a time withgreat obstinacy, they drove them back and the victory appeared to betheirs. Tarleton now sent orders to his cavalry to pursue, as hisinfantry were too exhausted, having marched at a rapid pace allnight, to do so. The order was not obeyed, and Major Washington, whocommanded the American cavalry, advanced to cover his infantry. Theserallied behind their shelter and fell upon the disordered Britishinfantry. Thus suddenly attacked when they believed that victory wasin their hands, the English gave way and were driven back. A panicseized them and a general rout ensued. Almost the whole of them wereeither killed or taken prisoners.
Tarleton in vain endeavored to induce his German legion cavalry tocharge; they stood aloof and at last fled in a body through thewoods. Their commander and 14 officers remained with Tarleton, andwith these and 40 men of the Seventeenth Regiment of dragoons hecharged the whole body of the American cavalry and drove them backupon the infantry.
No partial advantage, however brilliant, could retrieve themisfortune of the day. All was already lost, and Tarleton retreatedwith his gallant little band to the main army under Lord Cornwallis,twenty-five miles from the scene of action. The British infantry wereall killed, wounded, or taken prisoners, with the exception of asmall detachment which had been left in the rear, and who fell backhastily 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. Itdeprived Lord Cornwallis of the greater portion of his lightinfantry, who were of the greatest utility in a campaign in such acountry, while the news of the action had an immense influence inraising the spirits of the colonists. Hitherto they had uniformly metwith ill success when they opposed the British with forces evenapproaching an equality of strength. In spite of their superior armsand superior shooting, they were unable to stand the charge of theBritish infantry, who had come almost to despise them as foes in thefield. The unexpected success urged them to fresh exertions andbrought to their side vast numbers of waverers.
General Morgan, who was joined by General Greene, attempted toprevent Cornwallis passing the fords of the Catawba. It was not tillFebruary 1 that the river had fallen sufficiently to render a passagepossible. Colonel Webster was sent with his division to one of theprincipal fords, with orders to open a cannonade there and make afeint of crossing, while the general himself moved toward a smallerand less-known ford. General Davidson, with 300 Americans, waswatching this point, but the brigade of guards were ordered tocommence the passage and were led by their light infantry companiesunder Colonel Hall. The river was five hundred yards across, and thestream so strong that the men, marching in fours, had to support oneanother to enable them to withstand its force. The ford took a sharpturn in the middle of the river.
The night being dark, the guards were not perceived until they hadreached this point, when the enemy immediately opened fire upon them.The guide at once fled, without his absence being noticed until itwas too late to stop him. Colonel Hall, not knowing of the bend inthe ford, led his men straight forward toward the opposite bank, andalthough their difficulties were much increased by the greater depthof water through which they had to pass, the mistake was really themeans of saving them from much loss, as the Americans were assembledto meet them at the head of the ford, and would have inflicted aheavy loss upon them as they struggled in the stream. They did notperceive the change in the direction of the column's march until toolate, and the guards, on landing, met them as they came on andquickly routed and dispersed them. The British lost 4 killed, amongwhom was Colonel Hall, and 36 wounded.
The rest of the division then crossed. Colonel Tarleton, with thecavalry, was sent against 500 of the Americans who had fallen backfrom the various fords, and, burning with the desire to retrieve thedefeat of the Cowpens, the legion horse charged the enemy with suchfury 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 armyremained at Hillsborough, but no supplies of food sufficient for itsmaintenance could be found there, so it again fell back. GeneralGreene, being re-enforced by a considerable force, now determined tofight, and accordingly advanced and took up a position near GuilfordCourt House.
Battle of Guilford Fought on the 16th of March 1781.]
The American force consisted of 4243 infantry and some 3000irregulars--for the most part backwoodsmen from the frontier--whilethe British force amounted to 1445, exclusive of their cavalry, who,however, took little part in the fight. About four miles fromGuilford the advanced guards of the army met and a sharp fightensued--the Americans, under Colonel Lee, maintaining their groundstanchly until the Twenty-third Regiment came up to the assistance ofTarleton, 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 oftheir line. The second line was posted in a wood three hundred yardsin rear of the first, while four hundred yards behind were threebrigades drawn up in the open ground round Guilford Court House.Colonel Washington, with two regiments of dragoons and one ofriflemen, formed a reserve for the right flank; Colonel Lee, with hiscommand, was in reserve on the left.
As soon as the head of the British column appeared in sight two gunsupon the road opened fire upon them and were answered by the Englishartillery. While the cannonade continued the British formed in orderof attack. The Seventy-first, with a provincial regiment, supportedby the first battalion of the guards, formed the right; theTwenty-third and Thirty-third, led by Colonel Webster, with thegrenadiers and second battalion of guards, formed the left. The lightinfantry of the guards and the cavalry were in reserve.
When the order was given to advance the line moved forward in perfectsteadiness, and at 150 yards the enemy opened fire. The English didnot fire a shot till within 80 yards, when they poured in a volleyand charged with the bayonet. The first line of the enemy at oncefell back upon the second; here a stout resistance was made. Postedin the woods and sheltering themselves behind trees, they kept up forsome time a galling fire which did considerable execution. GeneralLeslie brought up the right wing of the first battalion of guardsinto the front line and Colonel Webster called up the secondbattalion. The enemy's second line now fell back on their third,which was composed of their best troops, and the struggle was a veryobstinate one.
The Americans, from their vastly superior numbers, occupied so long aline 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 towardthe left, found himself separated from the rest of the troops by theenemy, who pushed in between him an
d the Twenty-third. These againwere separated from the guards. The ground was very hilly, the woodexceedingly thick, and the English line became broken up intoregiments separated from each other, each fighting on its own accountand ignorant of what was going on in other parts of the field.
The second battalion of guards was the first that broke through thewood into the open grounds of Guilford Court House. They immediatelyattacked a considerable force drawn up there, routed them, and tooktheir two cannon with them; but, pursuing them with too much ardorand impetuosity toward the woods in the rear, were thrown intoconfusion by a heavy fire from another body of troops placed there,and being instantly charged by Washington's dragoons, were drivenback with great slaughter and the cannon were retaken.
At this moment the British guns, advancing along the road through thewood, issued into the open and checked the pursuit of the Americansby a well-directed fire. The Seventy-first and the Twenty-third nowcame through the wood. The second battalion of guards rallied andagain advanced, and the enemy were quickly repulsed and put toflight. The two guns were recaptured, with two others.
Colonel Webster, with the Thirty-third, returned across the ravinethrough which he had driven the enemy opposed to him, and rejoinedthe rest of the force. The Americans drew off in good order. TheTwenty-third and Twenty-first pursued with the cavalry for a shortdistance and were then recalled. The fight was now over on the centerand left, but on the right heavy firing was still going on. HereGeneral Leslie, with the first battalion of guards and a Hessianregiment, had been greatly impeded by the excessive thickness of thewoods, which rendered it impossible to charge with the bayonet. Asthey struggled through the thicket the enemy swarmed around them, sothat they were at times engaged in front, flanks, and rear. The enemywere upon an exceedingly steep rise, and lying along the top of thisthey poured such a heavy fire into the guards that these sufferedexceedingly; nevertheless they struggled up to the top and drove thefront line back, but found another far more numerous drawn up behind.As the guards struggled up to the crest they were received by atremendous fire on their front and flanks and suffered so heavilythat they fell into confusion. The Hessian regiment, which hadsuffered but slightly, advanced in compact order to the left of theguards, and, wheeling to the right, took the enemy in the flank witha very heavy fire. Under cover of this the guards re-formed and movedforward to join the Hessians and complete the repulse of the enemyopposed to them. They were again attacked both in the flank and therear, but at last they completely dispersed the troops surroundingthem and the battle came to an end.
This battle was one of the most obstinate and well-contestedthroughout the war, and the greatest credit is due to the British,who drove the enemy, three times their own number, from the groundchosen by them and admirably adapted to their mode of warfare.
The loss, as might have been expected, was heavy, amounting to 93killed and 413 wounded--nearly a third of the force engaged. Betweentwo and three hundred of the enemy's dead were found on the field ofbattle, and a great portion of their army was disbanded. Thesufferings of the wounded on the following night were great. Atremendous rain fell, and the battle had extended over so large anarea that it was impossible to find and collect them. The troops hadhad no food during the day and had marched several miles before theycame into action. Nearly 50 of the wounded died during the night.
Decisive as the victory was, its consequences were slight. LordCornwallis was crippled by his heavy loss, following that which theforce had suffered at the Cowpens. The two battles had diminished thestrength of his little force by fully half. Provisions were difficultto obtain, and the inhabitants, some of whom had suffered greatlyupon previous occasions for their loyal opinions, seeing the weaknessof the force and the improbability of its being enabled to maintainitself, were afraid to lend assistance or to show their sympathy, asthey would be exposed on its retreat to the most cruel persecutionsby the enemy.
Three days after the battle Lord Cornwallis retired, leaving 70 ofthe wounded, who were unable to move, under the protection of a flagof truce. From Guilford Court House he moved his troops toWilmington, in North Carolina, a seaport where he hoped to obtainprovisions and stores, especially clothing and shoes.
General Greene, left unmolested after his defeat, reassembled hisarmy, and receiving re-enforcements, marched at full speed to attackLord Rawdon at Camden, thinking that he would, with his greatlysuperior force, be able to destroy him in his isolated situation. TheEnglish commander fortified his position and the American generaldrew back and encamped on Hobkirk Hill, two miles distant, to awaitthe coming of his heavy baggage and cannon, together with somere-enforcements. Lord Rawdon determined to take the initiative, andmarching 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 Englishmarched round this and stormed the position. The Americans made anobstinate resistance, but the English climbed the hill with suchimpetuosity, in spite of the musketry and grape-shot of the enemy,that they were forced to give way. Several times they returned to theattack, but were finally driven off in confusion. One hundredprisoners were taken, and Lord Rawdon estimated that 400 of the enemywere killed and wounded. The American estimate was considerablylower, and as the Americans fought with all the advantage ofposition, while the English were exposed during their ascent to aterrible fire, which they were unable to return effectively, it isprobable that the American loss, including the wounded, was inferiorto that of the English, whose casualties amounted to 258.
Harold and his companions did not take part either in the battle ofGuilford Court House or in that of Hobkirk Hill, having been attachedto the fort known as Ninety-six, because a milestone with thesefigures upon it stood in the village. The force here was under thecommand of Lieutenant Colonel Cruger, who had with him 150 men of aprovincial corps known as Delancey's, 200 of the second battalion ofthe New Jersey volunteers, and 200 local loyalists. The post was faradvanced, but so long as Lord Rawdon remained at Camden its positionwas not considered to be dangerous. The English general, however,after winning the battle of Hobkirk Hill, received news of theretirement of Lord Cornwallis toward Wilmington, and seeing that hewould thereby be exposed to the whole of the American forces in SouthCarolina and would infallibly be cut off from Charleston, hedetermined to retire upon that port. Before falling back he sentseveral messengers to Colonel Cruger, acquainting him of hisintention. But so well were the roads guarded by the enemy that noneof the messengers reached Ninety-six.
Colonel Cruger, being uneasy at the length of time which had elapsedsince he had received any communication, sent Harold and the twoscouts out with instructions to make their way toward the enemy'slines and, if possible, to bring in a prisoner. This they had notmuch difficulty in doing. Finding out the position of two parties ofthe Americans, they placed themselves on the road between them. Nolong time elapsed before an American officer came along. A shot fromPeter's rifle killed his horse, and before the officer could recoverhis feet, he was seized by the scouts. They remained hidden in thewood during the day and at night returned with their prisoner toNinety-six, thirty miles distant, avoiding all villages whereresistance could be offered by hostile inhabitants.
From the prisoner Colonel Cruger learned that Lord Rawdon hadretreated from Camden and that he was therefore entirely isolated.The position was desperate, but he determined to defend the post tothe 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 withearth--constructed, and the whole strengthened by ditches andabattis. Blockhouses were erected in the village to enable the troopsto fire over the stockades, and covered communications made betweenvarious works. The right of the village was defended by a regularwork called the Star. To the left was a work commanding a rivuletfrom 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 theoffer, and, turning their horses into the woods, determined to sharethe fate of the garrison. In making this offer the colonel wasinfluenced partly by motives of policy, as the stock of provisionswas exceedingly scanty, and he feared that they would not last if thesiege should be a long one. Besides this, he feared that, as hadalready too often happened, should the place fall, even the solemnengagement of the terms of the surrender would not be sufficient toprotect the loyalists against the vengeance of their countrymen.
On May 21 General Greene, with his army, appeared in sight of theplace and encamped in a wood within cannon-shot of the village. Helost no time, and in the course of the night threw up two workswithin seventy paces of the fortifications. The English commander didnot suffer so rash and disdainful a step to pass unpunished. Thescouts, who were outside the works, brought in news of what was beingdone, and also that the working parties were protected by a strongforce.
The three guns which constituted the entire artillery of thedefenders were moved noiselessly to the salient angle of the Staropposite the works, and at eleven o'clock in the morning thesesuddenly opened fire, aided by musketry from the parapets. Thecovering force precipitately retreated, and 30 men sallied out fromthe fort, carried the intrenchments, and bayoneted their defenders.Other troops followed, the works were destroyed, and the intrenchingtools carried into the fort. General Greene, advancing with his wholearmy, arrived only in time to see the last of the sallying partyre-enter the village.
"I call that a right-down good beginning," Peter Lambton said, ingreat exultation. "There's nothing like hitting a hard blow at thebeginning of the fight. It raises your spirits and makes t'other chapmighty cautious. You'll see next time they'll begin their works at amuch more respectful distance."
Peter was right. The blow checked the impetuosity of the Americangeneral, and on the night of the 23d he opened his trenches at adistance of four hundred yards. Having so large a force, he was ableto push forward with great rapidity, although the garrison madeseveral gallant sorties to interfere with the work.
On June 3 the second parallel was completed. A formal summons wassent to the British commander to surrender. This document was couchedin the most insolent language and contained the most unsoldierlikethreats of the consequences which would befall the garrison and itscommander if he offered further resistance. Colonel Cruger sent backa verbal answer that he was not frightened by General Greene'smenaces and that he should defend the post until the last.
The American batteries now opened with a heavy cross-fire, whichenfiladed several of the works. They also pushed forward a sapagainst the Star fort and erected a battery, composed of gabions,thirty-six yards only from the abattis and raised forty feet high soas to overlook the works of the garrison. The riflemen posted on itstop did considerable execution and prevented the British guns beingworked 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 shotsufficiently, and the attempt failed. They then protected theirparapets as well as they could by sand-bags with loop-holes, throughwhich the defenders did considerable execution with their rifles.
Harold and his two comrades, whose skill with their weapons wasnotorious, had their post behind some sand-bags immediately facingthe battery, and were able completely to silence the fire of itsriflemen, as it was certain death to show a head above its parapet.
The enemy attempted to set fire to the houses of the village byshooting blazing arrows into them, a heavy musketry and artilleryfire being kept up to prevent the defenders from quenching theflames. These succeeded, however, in preventing any seriousconflagration, but Colonel Cruger ordered at once that the whole ofthe houses should be unroofed. Thus the garrison were for the rest ofthe siege without protection from the rain and night air, but allrisk of a fire, which might have caused the consumption of theirstores, was avoided.
While the siege had been going on the town of Augusta had fallen, andLieutenant Colonel Lee, marching thence to re-enforce General Greene,brought with him the British prisoners taken there. With a scandalouswant of honorable feeling he marched these prisoners along in fullsight of the garrison, with all the parade of martial music, andpreceded by a British standard reversed.
If the intention was to discourage the garrison it failed entirely inits effect. Fired with indignation at so shameful a sight, theydetermined to encounter every danger and endure every hardship ratherthan fall into the hands of an enemy capable of disgracing theirsuccess by so wanton an insult to their prisoners.
The Americans, strengthened by the junction of the troops who hadreduced Augusta, began to make approaches against the stockaded forton the left of the village, which kept open the communication of thegarrison with their water supply. The operations on this side wereintrusted to Colonel Lee, while General Greene continued to directthose against the Star.
On the night of June 9 a sortie was made by two strong parties of thedefenders. That to the right entered the enemy's trenches andpenetrated to a battery of four guns, which nothing but the want ofspikes and hammers prevented them from destroying. Here theydiscovered the mouth of a mine intended to be carried under one ofthe defenses of the Star.
The division on the left fell in with the covering party of theAmericans, killed a number of them, and made their commanding officera prisoner.
On the 12th Colonel Lee determined to attempt a storm of the stockadeon the left, and sent forward a sergeant and six men, with lightedcombustibles, to set fire to the abattis. The whole of them werekilled before effecting their purpose. A number of additional cannonnow arrived from Augusta, and so heavy and incessant a fire wasopened upon the stockade from three batteries that on the 17th it wasno 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 wasfound, and none could be procured except from the rivulet withinpistol-shot of the enemy. In the day nothing could be done, but atnight negroes, whose bodies in the darkness were not easilydistinguished from the tree-stumps which surrounded them, went outand at great risk brought in a scanty supply. The position of thegarrison became desperate. Colonel Cruger, however, was notdiscouraged, and did his best to sustain the spirits of his troops byassurances that Lord Rawdon was certain to attempt to relieve theplace as soon as he possibly could do so.
At length one day, to the delight of the garrison, an Americanroyalist rode right through the pickets under the fire of the enemyand delivered a verbal message from Lord Rawdon to the effect that hehad passed Orangeburg and was on his march to raise the siege.
Lord Rawdon had been forced to remain at Charleston until the arrivalof three fresh regiments from Ireland enabled him to leave that placein safety and march to the relief of Ninety-six. His force amountedto 1800 infantry and 150 cavalry. General Greene had also receivednews of Lord Rawdon's movements, and, finding from his progress thatit would be impossible to reduce the fort by regular approachesbefore his arrival, he determined to hazard an assault.
The American works had been pushed up close to the forts, and thethird parallel had been completed, and a mine and two trenchesextended within a few feet of the ditch. On the morning of June 18 aheavy cannonade was begun from all the American batteries. The Wholeof the batteries and trenches were lined with riflemen, whose fireprevented the British from showing their heads, above the parapets.At noon two parties of the enemy advanced under cover of theirtrenches and made a lodgment in the ditch. These were followed byother parties with hooks to drag down the sand-bags and tools tooverthrow the parapet. They were exposed to the fire of theblock-houses in the village, and Major Green, the English officer whocommanded the Star fort, had his detachment in readiness behind theparapet to receive the enemy when they attempted to storm.
As the main body of Americans did not advance beyond the thirdparallel and con
tented themselves with supporting the parties in theditch with their fire, the commander of the fort resolved to inflicta heavy blow. Two parties, each 30 strong, under the command ofCaptains Campbell and French, issued from the sally-port in the rear,entered the ditch, and, taking opposite directions, charged theAmericans who had made the lodgment with such impetuosity that theydrove everything before them until they met. The bayonet alone wasused and the carnage was great--two-thirds of those who entered thetrenches were either killed or wounded.
General Greene, finding it useless any longer to continue theattempt, called off his troops, and on the following day raised thesiege and marched away with all speed, having lost at least 300 menin the siege. Of the garrison 27 were killed and 58 wounded.
On the 21st Lord Rawdon arrived at Ninety-six and, finding that itwould be hopeless for him to attempt to overtake the retreatingenemy, who were marching with great speed, he drew off the garrisonof Ninety-six and fell back toward the coast.
A short time afterward a sharp fight ensued between a force underColonel Stewart and the army of General Greene. The English weretaken by surprise and were at first driven back, but they recoveredfrom their confusion and renewed the fight with great spirit, andafter a desperate conflict the Americans were repulsed. Two cannonand 60 prisoners were taken; among the latter Colonel Washington, whocommanded the reserve. The loss on both sides was about equal, as 250of the British troops were taken prisoners at the first outset. TheAmerican killed considerably exceeded our own. Both, parties claimedthe victory; the Americans because they had forced the British toretreat; the British because they had ultimately driven the Americansfrom the field and obliged them to retire to a strong position sevenmiles in the rear This was the last action of the war in SouthCarolina.