CHAPTER LIV.
FERGUSON ADVANCES SOUTH.--HE HAS REASON TO BECOME CIRCUMSPECT.--ARTHURBUTLER FINDS HIMSELF RETREATING FROM HIS FRIENDS.
We return for a moment to look after Butler. As near as my informationenables me to speak--for I wish to be accurate in dates--it was aboutthe 23d of September when our hero arrived at Gilbert-town, and foundhimself committed to the custody of Ferguson. His situation, in manyrespects uncomfortable, was not altogether without circumstances toalleviate the rigor of captivity. Ferguson, though a rough soldier, andanimated by a zealous partisanship in the royal cause which imbued hisfeelings with a deep hatred of the Whigs, was also a man of education,and of a disposition to respect the claims of a gentleman fully equal tohimself in rank and consideration--even when these qualities were foundin an enemy. His intercourse, of late, had been almost entirely confinedto the wild spirits who inhabited the frontier, and who, impelled byuntamed passions, were accustomed to plunge into every excess which thelicense of war enabled them to practise. He had, accordingly, adaptedhis behavior to the complexion of this population, and maintained hisauthority, both over his own recruits and such of the opposite party ashad fallen into his hands, by a severe, and not unfrequently by even acruel bearing. Following the example set him by Cornwallis himself, hehad more than once executed summary vengeance upon the Whigs whom thechances of war had brought into his power; or, what was equallyreprehensible, had allowed the Tory bands who had enlisted under hisbanner, to gratify their own thirst of blood in the most revoltingbarbarities. Towards Butler, however, he demeaned himself with moreconsideration--and sometimes even extended to him such little courtesiesas might be indulged without risk to the principal purpose of his safecustody. A separate room was provided for the prisoner, and he wasallowed the occasional services of Harry Winter and the other companionsof his late misfortune. Still, the familiar scenes of suffering anddeath which Butler was constrained to witness amongst his compatriots,and the consciousness of his own inability to avert these calamities,greatly weighed upon his spirits. His persuasion, too, that Ferguson wasnow aiding, by what seemed to be a most effectual participation, in theplan for the capture of Clarke, and his belief that this blow wouldsadly afflict, if not altogether dishearten the friends of independencein the South, added to his private grief. He knew nothing of themustering of the mountaineers, and saw no hope of extrication from thedifficulties that threatened to overwhelm his cause.
Such was the condition of Butler during the first four or five days ofhis captivity at Gilbert-town. At the end of this period, circumstancesoccurred to raise in his bosom the most lively excitement. Suddenly, anorder was issued for the immediate movement of the army southwards--andthe prisoners were directed to accompany the march. It was apparent thatinformation of importance had been received, and that some decisiveevent was at hand. When, in pursuance of this command, the troops weremarshalled for their journey, and Butler was stationed in the column,along with all the other prisoners of the post, he was startled toobserve the dragoon, James Curry, appear in the ranks, as one regularlyattached to the corps. Butler had seen nor heard nothing of this mansince he had parted from him at Blackstock's after the battle ofMusgrove's mill; and his conviction, that, acting under the control ofsome higher authority, this individual had been the principal agent inhis present misfortunes, gave him a painful anxiety in regard to thefuture. This anxiety was far from being diminished, when he nowdiscovered that the same person, with a party of dragoons, was speciallyintrusted with his guardianship. Winter and the other troopers who had,until this moment, been allowed to keep him company, were now directedto take a station amongst the common prisoners, and Butler was furnishedwith his horse, and commanded to submit to the particular supervisionof the dragoon. These arrangements being made, the march of Fergusoncommenced.
The army moved cautiously towards the upper sections of the district ofNinety-Six. It was evident to Butler, from the frequent hints dropped inconversation by the royalist officers, that Ferguson supposed himself tobe getting every moment nearer to Clarke. In this state of suspense andweariness the first day's march was concluded.
The second was like the first. Ferguson still moved south, slowly, butsteadily. Every man that was met upon the road was questioned by thecommanding officer, to ascertain whether there was any report of troopswestward. "Had any crossed Saluda--or been heard of towards themountains!"--was an invariable interrogatory.
None, that the person questioned knew of--was the common reply.
"Tush! the devil's in it, that we can hear nothing of the fellow!"exclaimed Ferguson, after the fifth or sixth wayfarer had been examined."Clarke and his beggars are flesh and blood--they travel by land, andnot through the air! Faith, I begin to think Cruger has saved ustrouble, and has got his hand on the runaway's croup! James Curry."
The dragoon rode to the front and bowed.
"You left Fort Ninety-Six only on Wednesday?"
"I did."
"Where was Cruger then?"
"Marching towards Saluda, with Brown--following Clarke, as it wassupposed--but on rather a cold scent as one of the couriers reported."
"Humph! I must get still nearer to the mountains," said Ferguson, as heclenched his teeth and seemed absorbed in thought.
In a short time after this, the column diverged from their former courseby a road that led westward.
Thus ended the second day.
During the next two days, Ferguson had become manifestly morecircumspect in his movement, and spent the greater portion of thisinterval upon a road which was said to extend from Ninety-Six, to theAllegany mountain. Here he remained, with the wariness of the tigerthat prepares to spring upon his prey; and it was with a petulant temperthat, after this anxious watch for forty-eight hours, he turned upon hisheel and summoned his officers around him, and announced hisdetermination to penetrate still further into the forest. Like a manperplexed and peevish with crosses, he soon changed his mind, andordered a lieutenant of cavalry into his presence.
"Take six of your best appointed men," he said, "and send one half ofthem up this road towards the mountains--the other half southwards--andcommand them not to stop until they bring me some news of thisnight-hawk, Clarke. Let them be trusty men that you can depend upon. Iwill wait but twenty-four hours for them. Meantime," he added, turningto another officer present, "I will send a courier after Cruger, whoshall find him if he is above ground."
The following day--which brings us to the third of October--a decisivechange took place in the aspect of affairs. Before either of the scoutsthat had been lately despatched had returned, a countryman was broughtinto Ferguson's camp, who, being submitted to the usual minuteexamination, informed the questioners, that some thirty miles, in thedirection of Fort Ninety-Six, he had met upon the road a large party ofcavalry under the command of Colonel Williams--and that that officer hadshown great anxiety to learn whether certain Whig troops had been seennear Gilbert-town. The informant added, that "Williams appeared to himto be strangely particular in his inquiries about Ferguson."
This intelligence seemed suddenly to awaken the British partisan from adream. He was now one hundred miles south of Cornwallis; and, both eastand west of the line of communication between them, it was apparent thathostile parties were assembling, with a view to some united actionagainst him. It struck him now, for the first time, that an enemy mightbe thrown between the main army at Charlotte and his detachment, andthus cause him some embarrassment in his retreat--but it was still withthe scorn of a presumptuous soldier that he recurred to the possibilityof his being forced to fight his way.
"They are for turning the tables on me," he said, in a tone ofderision, "and hope to pounce upon my back while I am taken up with thishalf-starved and long-legged fellow of the mountains, But I will showthem who is master yet!"
In this temper he commenced his retreat, which was conducted slowly andobstinately; and it may be supposed that Butler, as he involuntarilyfollowed the fortunes of his enemy, contemplated these mo
vements with ananxious interest. The common report of the camp made him acquainted withthe circumstances which had recommended the retreat, and he, therefore,watched the course of events in momentary expectation of some incidentof great importance to himself.
At night Ferguson arrived at the Cowpens, just twenty-four hours inadvance of his enemies. Whilst resting here he received intelligence ofthe stout array that had lately assembled at Gilbert-town, and which, hewas now told, were in full pursuit of him. It was, at first, with anincredulous ear that he heard the report of the numbers of thissuddenly-levied mountain-army. It seemed incredible that such a hostcould have been convened in such brief space and with such secretexpedition; and even more unworthy of belief, that they could have beenfound in the wild and thinly-peopled regions of the Allegany. His doubt,however, yielded to his fear, and induced him to accelerate his pace.
His first care was to despatch, on that night, a courier to Cornwallis,to inform the general of his situation and ask for reinforcements. Theletter which bore this request is still extant, and will show that evenin the difficult juncture in which we have presented the writer of it,his boastful confidence had not abandoned him.
Before the succeeding dawn he was again in motion, directing his hastymarch towards the Cherokee Ford of Broad river. This point he reached atsundown. His journey had been pursued, thus far, with unremittingindustry. If his motions had corresponded to his affected disesteem ofhis enemy, he would here have halted for rest; but, like one who flieswith the superstitious dread of a goblin follower, the retreatingpartisan looked over his shoulder with an unquiet spirit, and made asign to his companions still to press forward. They crossed the river atnight, and did not halt again until they had traversed some six or eightmiles beyond the further bank.
The anxiety, suspense, and eager expectation of Butler increased withthese thickening demonstrations of the approach of a period which heforesaw must be decisive, not only of his own hopes, but, in a greatdegree, of the hopes of his country. The retreat of Ferguson towardsKing's Mountain, which now lay but a few miles in advance, was a visibleand most striking type of the vanishing power which for a briefhalf-year had maintained its domination over the free spirits of thesouth, and which had aimed, by a cruel and bloody rule, to extinguishall that was generous and manly in these afflicted provinces.
Contenting myself with this rapid survey of events which, of themselves,possess an interest that would, if time and space permitted me, havejustified the detail of a volume, I go back to the regular current of mystory.
Horse-Shoe Robinson: A Tale of the Tory Ascendency Page 56