CHAPTER LVI.
AFFAIRS BEGIN TO DRAW TO A HEAD. PREPARATIONS FOR BATTLE. A PICTURE OFTHE TWO ARMIES.
After leaving Gilbert-town, Campbell moved steadily toward the point atwhich he proposed to meet Williams, and by night-fall had accomplishedabout one half of the journey. The march furnished Henry Lindsayunalloyed pleasure. Every incident belonging to it awakened the fancieswhich he had indulged in reference to military life, and he wasdelighted in the contemplation of this actual accomplishment of some ofthe many dreams of glory which his boyish romance had engendered athome. Besides, being a favorite of those in command, he was allowed toride in the ranks whenever it suited his pleasure, and to amuse himselfwith what subject of interest the journey afforded; whilst, at the sametime, he found his personal ease so much attended to as to leave him butlittle room to complain of the discomfort or toil of the campaign.
The night was spent in the woods, and it was scarcely daybreak, when theexhilarating though harsh clamor of the horns summoned the troops to therenewal of their journey, which was pursued until the afternoon, when,about four o'clock, they reached the border of the tract of countryknown as the Cowpens. Afar off, occupying a piece of elevated ground,Campbell was enabled to descry a considerable body of cavalry, whosestandard, dress, and equipment, even at this distance, sufficiently madeknown to him their friendly character,--a fact that was immediatelyafterwards confirmed by the report of some videttes, who had beenstationed upon the road by which Campbell advanced. A brief intervalbrought the two parties together, and the force of the allied bands wasthus augmented by the addition of our gallant friend Williams, at thehead of four hundred sturdy companions.
"Make a short speech of it," said Shelby, addressing Williams, afterthat officer had ridden into the circle of his comrades, and hadexchanged with them a friendly greeting, "you have been busy,fellow-soldier, whilst we were waiting to see the grass grow. What hasbecome of the runaway?"
"He left this spot but yesterday," replied Williams; "Ferguson hassomething of the bull-dog in him: his retreat, now that he is forced toit, is surly and slow; he stops to snarl and growl as if he defied us tofollow him. If he had but stood his ground here, we should have had himin as pretty a field as one might desire. Devil thank him for hisprudence! But he is now at the Cherokee Ford of Broad river--so Iconjecture, by the report of my scouts--hard upon thirty miles fromhere, on his way towards Charlotte."
"Say you so?" exclaimed Campbell; "then, by my faith, we have no time tolose! Gentlemen, we will rest but an hour, and then to it, for a nightmarch. Pick me out your best men and stoutest horses; leave the footmenbehind, and the weakest of the cavalry. This fellow may take it into hishead to show his heels. If I can but tread upon the tail of thecopperhead with one foot, he will throw himself into his coil forfight,--that's the nature of the beast,--and after that, if need be, wecan threaten him until all our force arrives. Shelby, look to theimmediate execution of this order."
"That's glorious, sergeant," said Henry, who, with his companion,Robinson, had stolen up to the skirts of the circle of officers duringthis conference, and had heard Campbell's order. "I am of this party,whoever goes. Colonel Campbell," he added, with the familiarity of hisprivilege, "the Rangers are ready for you, at any rate."
"There's a mettlesome colt," said Campbell, laughing and speaking to theofficers around him, "that bird shows fight before his spurs are grown.Pray, sir," he continued, addressing Henry, "what command have you?"
"I consider myself answerable for the second platoon of the AmherstRangers," replied Henry, with a waggish sauciness, "and they march thisnight, whatever happens."
"You shall serve with me in the staff, master," said Campbell,playfully, "such fiery young blades must be looked after. Get your menready; you shall go, I promise you."
Henry, delighted at the notice he had received, rode off with alacrityto spread the news.
The council broke up, and the earliest arrangements were set on foot tomake the draught required by the general orders.
Before the day had departed, nine hundred picked men, well mounted andequipped, were seen spurring forward from the line, and taking aposition in the column of march, which was now prepared to move. All theprincipal officers of the army accompanied this detachment, in whichwere to be seen the Amherst Rangers with their redoubtable recruits,Henry Lindsay and the sergeant.
It rained during the night, a circumstance that, however it increasedthe toils of the soldiers, but little abated their speed--and, an hourbefore daybreak, they had reached the destined point on Broad river: butthe game had disappeared. Ferguson, as we have seen, had pushed hismarch on the preceding evening beyond this spot, and had taken the road,as it was reported, towards King's mountain, which was not above twelvemiles distant.
A few hours were given by Campbell to the refreshment of his troops, whohalted upon the bank of the river, where, having kindled their fires andopened their wallets, they soon found themselves in a condition thatpleasantly contrasted with the discomforts of their ride during thenight. The enemy consisted principally of infantry--and Campbell, havinggained so closely upon their footsteps, felt no doubt of overtaking themin the course of the day. He, therefore, determined to allow his menfull time to recruit their strength for the approaching conflict.
The rain had ceased before the dawn. The clouds had fled from thefirmament before a brisk and enlivening autumnal breeze, and the sunrose with unusual splendor. It was one of those days which belong toOctober, clear, cool, and exhilarating--when all animal nature seems tobe invigorated by breathing an atmosphere of buoyant health. For morethan an hour after the sun had cast his broad beams over the landscape,the wearied encampment was seen stretched in slumber--the camp-guardsonly, and some occasional parties on fatigue service, were to beobserved in motion. By degrees, the drowsy soldiers woke up, refreshedby the change of weather, no less than by the repose which they hadsnatched in the short moments of the halt. A general summons, at last,brought every one into motion. By nine o'clock of the morning, the armywere in condition to prosecute their march, as little wanting inalacrity or vigor as when they first commenced their labors; and, at thehour designated, they were seen to prick forth upon their way with anelastic movement that had in it the vivacity of a holiday sport. Evenour young martialist, Henry, had become so inured to the toils of theroad, that now, with the aid of a sleep which Horse Shoe hadaffectionately guarded until the last moment--to say nothing of a goodluncheon of broiled venison, which the boy discussed after he hadmounted into his saddle--he might be considered the most light-heartedof the host.
Towards noon, the army reached the neighborhood of King's mountain. Thescouts and parties of the advance had brought information that Fergusonhad turned aside from his direct road, and taken post upon thiseminence, where, it was evident, he meant to await the attack of hisenemy. Campbell, therefore, lost no time in pushing forward, and wassoon rewarded with a view of the object of his pursuit. Some two orthree miles distant, where an opening through the forest first gave hima sight of the mass of highland, he could indistinctly discern the arrayof the adverse army perched on the very summit of the hill.
The mountain consists of an elongated ridge, rising out of the bosom ofan uneven country, to the height of perhaps five hundred feet, andpresenting a level line of summit or crest, from which the earth slopesdown, at its southward termination and on each side, by an easy descent;whilst northward, it is detached from highlands of inferior elevation bya rugged valley--thus giving it the character of an insulatedpromontory, not exceeding half a mile in length. At the period to whichour story refers, it was covered, except in a few patches of barrenfield or broken ground, with a growth of heavy timber, which was so farfree from underwood as in no great degree to embarrass the passage ofhorsemen; and through this growth the eye might distinguish, at aconsiderable distance, the occasional masses of grey rock that werescattered in huge boulders over its summit and sides.
The adjacent region, lying south from the mountain,
was partiallycleared and in cultivation, presenting a limited range of open ground,over which the march of Campbell might have been revealed in frequentglimpses to the British partisan, for some three or four miles. We maysuppose, therefore, that the two antagonists watched each other, duringthe advance of the approaching army across this district, with emotionsof various and deep interest. Campbell drew at length into a ravinewhich, bounded by low and short hills, and shaded by detached portionsof the forest, partly concealed his troops from the view of the enemy,who was now not more than half a mile distant. The gorge of this dell ornarrow valley opened immediately towards the southern termination of themountain; and the column halted a short distance within, where a bareknoll, or round, low hill, crowned with rock, jutted abruptly over theroad, and constituted the only impediment that prevented each party frominspecting the array of his opponent.
It was an hour after noon, and the present halt was improved by the menin making ready for battle. Meanwhile, the chief officers met togetherin front, and employed their time in surveying the localities of theground upon which they were soon to be brought to action. The knoll, Ihave described, furnished a favorable position for this observation, andthither they had already repaired.
I turn from the graver and more important matters which may be supposedto have occupied the thoughts of the leaders, as they were groupedtogether on the broad rock, to a subject which was, at this moment,brought to their notice by the unexpected appearance of two females onhorseback, on the road, a full half mile in the rear of the army, andwho were now approaching at a steady pace. They were attended by a manwho, even thus far off, showed the sedateness of age; and, a short spacebehind them, rode a few files of troopers in military array.
It was with mingled feelings of surprise and admiration at the couragewhich could have prompted her, at such a time, to visit the army, thatthe party recognised Mildred Lindsay and her attendants, in theapproaching cavalcade. These emotions were expressed by them in therough and hearty phrase of their habitual and familiar intercourse.
"Let me beg, gentlemen," said Campbell, interrupting them, "that youspeak kindly and considerately of yonder lady. By my honor, I have neverseen man or woman with a more devoted or braver heart. Poor girl!--shehas nobly followed Butler through his afflictions, and taken her shareof suffering with a spirit that should bring us all to shame. Horse ShoeRobinson, who has squired her to our camp, even from her father's house,speaks of a secret between her and our captive friend, that tellsplainly enough to my mind of sworn faith and long-tried love. As men andsoldiers, we should reverence it. Williams, look carefully to hercomfort and safety. Go, man, at once, and meet her on the road. Godgrant that this day may bring an end to her grief!"
Williams departed on his mission, and when he met the lady her brotherand the sergeant were already in her train.
Allen Musgrove explained the cause of this unlooked-for apparition. Theparty, in obedience to Mildred's urgent wish, and scarcely less to thecontent of all the others, had quitted their secluded position atGilbert-town on the preceding morning; and learning in the course of theday from persons on the road, that Ferguson had moved northwards, themiller had taken a direction across the country which enabled him tointercept the army at its present post, with little more than half thetravel which the circuitous route of the march had required. They hadpassed the night under a friendly roof some ten or twelve miles distant,and had overtaken their companions at the critical moment at which theyhave been introduced to view.
At Mildred's request she was conducted into the presence of Campbell,who still retained his station on the knoll. A thoughtful and amiabledeference was manifested towards her by the assembled soldiers, whoreceived her with many kind and encouraging greetings. That air ofperturbation and timidity which, in spite of all efforts atself-control, the novelty of her position and the consciousness of thedreadful scene at hand had thrown over her demeanor, gradually began togive way before the assurances and sympathy of her friends; and, atlength, she became sufficiently self-possessed to look around her andmark the events that were in progress.
The important moment of battle drew nigh, and the several leadersrespectively took their leave of her, with an exhortation to be of goodcheer, and to remain at her present post under the charge of her trustycompanion, the miller, who was fully instructed by Campbell as to thecourse he should take for the lady's safety, in whatever emergency mightarise.
Here we leave her for a moment, whilst we cast a glance at thepreparations for battle.
It was three o'clock before these arrangements were completed. I haveinformed my reader that the mountain terminated immediately in front ofthe outlet from the narrow dell in which Campbell's army had halted, itsbreast protruding into the plain only some few hundred paces from thehead of the column, whilst the valley, that forked both right and left,afforded an easy passage along the base on either side. Fergusonoccupied the very summit, and now frowned upon his foe from the midst ofa host confident in the strength of their position, and exasperated bythe pursuit which had driven them into this fastness.
Campbell resolved to assail this post by a spirited attack, at the samemoment, in front and on the two flanks. With this intent his army wasdivided into three equal parts. The centre was reserved to himself andShelby; the right was assigned to Sevier and M'Dowell; the left toCleveland and Williams. These two latter parties were to repair to theirrespective sides of the mountain, and the whole were to make the onsetby scaling the heights as nearly as possible at the same instant.
The men, before they marched out of the ravine, had dismounted andpicqueted their horses under the winding shelter of the hills; and,being now separated into detached columns formed in solid order, theywere put in motion to reach their allotted posts. The Amherst Rangerswere retained on horseback for such duty as might require speed, andwere stationed close in the rear of Campbell's own division, which nowmerely marched from behind the shelter of the knoll and halted in theview of the enemy, until sufficient delay should be afforded to theflanking divisions to attain their ground.
Mildred, attended by Allen Musgrove and his daughter, still maintainedher position on the knoll, and from this height surveyed thepreparations for combat with a beating heart. The scene within her viewwas one of intense occupation. The air of stern resolve that sat uponevery brow; the silent but onward movement of the masses of menadvancing to conflict; the few brief and quick words of command thatfell from the distance upon her ear; the sullen beat of the hoof uponthe sod, as an occasional horseman sped to and fro between the moreremote bodies and the centre division, which yet stood in compactphalanx immediately below her at the foot of the hill; then thebreathless anxiety of her companions near at hand, and the short note ofdread, and almost terror, that now and then escaped from the lips ofMary Musgrove, as the maiden looked eagerly and fearfully abroad overthe plain; all these incidents wrought upon her feelings and caused herto tremble. Yet, amidst these novel emotions, she was not insensible toa certain lively and even pleasant interest, arising out of thepicturesque character of the spectacle. The gay sunshine striking aslantthese moving battalions, lighting up their fringed and many-coloredhunting-shirts, and casting a golden hue upon their brown andweather-beaten faces, brought out into warm relief the chiefcharacteristics of this peculiar woodland army. And Mildred sometimesforgot her fears in the fleeting inspiration of the sight, as shewatched the progress of an advancing column--at one time moving in closeranks, with the serried thicket of rifles above their heads, and atanother deploying into files to pass some narrow path, along which, withtrailed arms and bodies bent, they sped with the pace of hunters beatingthe hill-side for game. The tattered and service-stricken banner thatshook its folds in the wind above these detached bodies, likewise lentits charm of association to the field the silence and steadfastness ofthe array in which it was borne, and its constant onward motion; showingit to be encircled by strong arms and stout hearts.
Turning from these, the lady's eye was raised, with
a less joyousglance, towards the position of the enemy. On the most prominent pointof the mountain's crest she could descry the standard of Englandfluttering above a concentrated body, whose scarlet uniforms, as the sunglanced upon them through the forest, showed that here Ferguson hadposted his corps of regulars, and held them ready to meet the attack ofthe centre division of the assailants; whilst the glittering of bayonetsamidst the dark foliage, at intervals, rearward along the line of thesummit, indicated that heavy detachments were stationed in this quarterto guard the flanks. The marching and countermarching of the frequentcorps, from various positions on the summit; the speeding of officers onhorseback, and the occasional movement of small squadrons of dragoons,who were at one moment seen struggling along the sides of the mountain,and, at another, descending towards the base or returning to the summit,disclosed the earnestness and activity of the preparation with which acourageous soldier may be supposed to make ready for his foe.
It was with a look of sorrowful concern which brought tears into hereyes, that Mildred gazed upon this host, and strained her vision in thevain endeavor to catch some evidences of the presence of Arthur Butler.
"We both look, perchance," she said to herself, "at this very instant,upon yon hateful banner--and with the same aversion: but oh, with whatmore painful apprehension it is my fortune to behold it! Little does hethink that Mildred's eyes are turned upon it. 'Tis well he does not--hisnoble heart would chafe itself with ten-fold anguish at the cruelthraldom that separates us. Yes, 'tis well he does not dream that hisMildred is here to witness this dreadful struggle," she continued,musing over the subject of her grief, "it might tempt him to some rashendeavor to break his bondage. It is better as it is; the misery of thethought of our afflictions should be mine only; the brave patience of amanly soldier is his, and should not be embittered with sorrows thatbelong not to the perils of war."
"Sister," said Henry, who had stolen up the hill unobserved, and nowstood beside Mildred, "take courage and keep a good heart! The very dayI often prayed to see has come--and it has come sooner than you promisedit should. Here I am in the field, amongst men, and no play-game is it,either, to keep us busy, but downright earnest battle. And then, dearsister, you are here to look on--isn't that a piece of good luck?"
"Ah, brother, I could talk to you with a boastful tongue when allaround us was peace and security. I cannot exhort you now. If I dare, Iwould beg you to stay by my side. I have need of your comfort, andshudder with a chilly fear. Henry, that small hand of yours can do noservice to-day--and in truth, I cannot bear to see you exposed todanger."
"In tears, sister! Come now, this is not like you. Hasn't Arthur foughtmany a day and often? And didn't you set him on, with good brave wordsfor it?"
"I was not there to see him," interrupted Mildred.
"Well, sister, I must get to my post," said Henry. "I serve asaide-de-camp, and Horse Shoe is to help me. By-the-by, Mildred, thesergeant is uncommonly silent and busy to-day. He smells this battlelike an old soldier, and I heard him give a few hints to Campbell,concerning the marching up yonder hill:--he told him the column shouldnot display until they got near the top, as Ferguson has no cannon; andthe Colonel took it very gladly. Horse Shoe, moreover, thinks we willbeat them--and the men have great dependence on what he says. I shallnot lose sight of him to-day."
"For Heaven's sake, Henry," exclaimed Mildred, "my dear brother, do notthink of following the sergeant! I cannot part with you," she added,with great earnestness; "it is an awful time for brother and sister toseparate--stay with me."
The cadet turned a look upon his sister of surprise, at the new light inwhich her present fears represented her.
"I thought, Mildred," he said, "you were brave. Hav'n't we come all thisway from home to assist Butler? And are you now, for the firsttime--just when we are going to pluck him from the midst of the wolvesupon that mountain--are you now to weep and play the coward, sister?"
"Go, go!" said Mildred, as she covered her eyes with her hand, "but,dear Henry, remember you have a weak arm and a slender frame, and arenot expected to take upon you the duties of a man."
"Besides," said Mary Musgrove, who had been a silent and perplexedwitness of this scene, and who now put in her word of counsel, out ofthe fulness of her heart, "besides, Mister Henry Lindsay, what troublewould it give to Sergeant Robinson, and all the rest of them, if youshould get lost scampering about the hills, and they shouldn't knowwhere to find you? It would take up so much of their precious time inlooking for you: and, I am sure, they hav'n't much to spare!"
"You are as valiant as a mouse," replied Henry, laughing, "and monstrouswise, Mary Musgrove. Do you take care of my sister, and speak a word nowand then to keep up her spirits--that is, if your tongue doesn't growtoo thick with fright. Your teeth chatter now. A kiss, Mildred. There:God bless you! I must get to my post."
With these words, Henry bounded off towards the valley to rejoin hiscomrades. Half way, he met Allen Musgrove, who was now on his return tothe top of the hill, whence he had withdrawn for a brief space to holdsome converse with Robinson.
"A word," said Allen to Henry, as they met; "you are but a stripling.Remember that this day's work is to be wrought by men of might--thosewho are keen of eye and steady of foot. In the tempest of battle yourweight, Mister Henry, would be but as a feather in the gale. Yet in thisfight none might be crushed whose fall would bring more anguish thanyours. Let me beg you, as a rash and thoughtless youth, to think ofthat. The good lady, your sister--"
"I cannot stay to hear you," interrupted Henry; "the column is beginningto move."
And in a moment he was at the foot of the hill.
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