9643
and Colonel Seviers *** formed a large column on the right wing. The other part of Cleaveland's regiment, headed by Colonel Cleaveland himself, and Colonel Williams's regiment, composed the left wing. In this order we advanced, and got within a quarter of a mile of the enemy before we were discovered. Colonel Shelby's and Colonel Campbell's regiments began the attack, and kept up a fire on the enemy, while the right and left wings were advancing to surround them, which was done in about five minutes, and the fire became general all around. The engagement lasted an hour and five minutes, the greater part of which time a heavy and incessant fire was kept
* Colonel Williams had just been joined by sixty men from Lincoln, under Colonel Hambrite and Major Chronicle.
** Joseph Winston was a native of North Carolina, and was the first senator in the Republican Legislature, from Stokes county. He was a member of Congress from 1793 to 1795, and again from 1803 to 1807. He died in 1814.
*** John Sevier was descended from an ancient French family. The original orthography of the name was Xavier. His father settled on the Shenandoah, in Virginia, where this son was born, about 1740. In 1769, he accompanied an exploring party to East Tennessee, where, with his father and brother, he settled on the Holston River. He aided in the construction of Fort Watauga; and while in that fortress as commander, bearing the title of captain,he caught a wife!One day, in June, 1776, he saw a young lady speeding, like a fawn, toward the fort, closely pursued by Cherokees, under "Old Abraham." She leaped the palisades, and fell into the arms of the gallant captain. Her name was Catharine Sherrill; and in 1779 she became the second wife of Sevier, by whom he had ten children. Sevier was with Shelby at the battle of Point Pleasant, in 1774. During the first five years of the war, he was an active Whig partisan, on the mountain frontier of the Carolinas, was raised to the rank of colonel, and greatly distinguished himself at King's Mountain. He was in the battle near Musgrove's Mills, and early in the following year he chastised some of the turbulent Indians among the mountains. At the close of the war, he received the commission of brigadier; and he was so much beloved by the people, that by acclamation he was acknowledged governor of the "State of Franklin" or Frankland." * He was so often engaged in treaties with the Indians, that they called him the treaty-maker. When the State of Tennessee was organized, and admitted into the Union, Sevier was elected its first governor. In 1811, he was elected to a scat in Congress, with Felix Grundy and John Rhea, and in 1813 was re-elected. During the war, Madison appointed him Indian commissioner, and while engaged in his duties, near Fort Decatur, on the east side of the Tallapoosa River, he died, on the twenty-fourth of September, 1815. Under the direction of the late General Gaines, he was buried with the honors of war. No stone marks his grave; but in the Nashville cemetery, a handsome marble monument to his memory has lately been erected. Upon the monument is the following inscription: "Sevier, noble and successful defender of the early settlers of Tennessee; the first, and for twelve years governor; representative in Congress; commissioner in many treaties with the Indians. He served his country faithfully for forty years, and in that service died. An admirer of patriotism and merit unrequited erects this cenotaph."
* At the close of the Revolution, that portion of North Carolina bordering East Tennessee contained quite a large and exceedingly active population. Dissatisfied with the course pursued by North Carolina, they called a convention, adopted a Constitution, and organized a state government, which they called Frankland, in honor ot Dr. Franklin. They chose John Sevier for governor, and organized a judiciary, &e. When informed of this movement, Governor Caswell issued a proclamation against "this lawless thirst for power," and denounced it as a revolt. But the mountaineers did not heed official menaces. Violence ensued. The difficulties were finally settled, and the State of Frankland disappeared.
Surrender of the British and Tories.—Loss in the Battle.—Effect of the Battle.—Death of Ferguson.
up on both sides. Our men in some parts where the regulars fought, were obliged to give way a distance, two or three times, but rallied and returned with additional ardor to the attack.
9644
The troops upon the right having gained the summit of the eminence, obliged the enemy to retreat along the top of the ridge to where Colonel Cleaveland commanded, and were there stopped by his brave men. A flag was immediately hoisted by Captain Depeyster, * the commanding officer (Major Ferguson having been killed a little before), for a surrender. Our fire immediately ceased, and the enemy laid down their arms (the greatest part of them charged), and surrendered themselves prisoners at discretion.
8644
It appears from their own provision returns for that day, found in their camp, that their whole force consisted of eleven hundred and twenty-five men, out of which they sustained the following loss:
7644
Of the regulars, one major, one captain, two sergeants, and fifteen privates killed; thirty-five privates wounded, left on the ground not able to march; two captains, four lieutenants, three ensigns, one surgeon, five sergeants, three corporals, one drummer, and forty-nine privates, taken prisoners. Loss of the Tories, two colonels, three captains, and two hundred and one killed; one major, and one hundred and twenty-seven privates wounded, and left on the ground not able to march.
One colonel, twelve captains, eleven lieutenants, two ensigns, one quarter-master, one adjutant, two commissaries, eighteen sergeants, and six hundred privates taken prisoners.
Total loss of the enemy, eleven hundred and five men at King's Mountain.
Given under our hands at camp.
No battle during the war was more obstinately contested than this; for the Americans were greatly exasperated by the cruelty of the Tories, and to the latter it was a question of life and death. It was with difficulty that the Americans, remembering Tarleton's cruelty at Buford's defeat, could be restrained from slaughter, even after quarter was asked. In addition to the loss of men on the part of the enemy, mentioned in the report, the Americans took from them fifteen hundred stand of arms. The loss of the Americans in killed was only twenty, but they had a great number wounded. Among the killed was Colonel Williams and Major Chronicle. Colonel Hambrite was wounded. Major Chronicle and Major Ferguson were buried in a ravine at the northern extremity of the battle-hill, where the friends of the former erected a plain monument, a few years ago, with inscriptions upon both sides. The monument is a thick slab of hard slate, about three feet high, rough hewn, except where the inscriptions are. ***
* Captain Depeyster belonged to a corps of Loyalists, called the King's American Regiment. His signature, here given, I copied from a letter of his to General Gates a few days after the battle, while Depeyster was a prisoner.
** The following is a copy of the inscriptions: North side.—"Sacred to the memory of Major William Chronicle, Captain John Mattocks, William Robb, and John Boyd, who were killed here fighting in defence of America, on the seventh of October, 1780." South side.—Colonel Ferguson,* an officer belonging to his Britannic majesty, was here defeated and killed."
* Major Patrick Ferguson was a Scotchman, a son of the eminent jurist, James Ferguson, and nephew of Patrick Murray (Lord Elibank). He entered the army in Flanders at the age of eighteen years. He came to America in the spring of 1777. and was active in the battle on the Brandywine, in September of that year. He was active on the Hudson in 1779, and accompanied Sir Henry Clinton to South Carolina. He so distinguished himself at the siege of Charleston in 1780, that he was particularly mentioned by the commander-in-chief. He was on the high road to military fame, when he was slain on King's Mountain. His rank is incorrectly given on the monument. He was only a major.
Execution of Tories.—Character of the Battle-ground.—One of Sumter's Men.—Route to the Cowpens
On the morning after the battle,Oct. 8, 1780a court-martial was held, and several of the Tory prisoners were found guilty of murder and other high crimes, and hanged. Colonel Cleaveland had previously declared that if certain persons, who were the chief marauders, and who had forfeited their lives, should fall into his hands, he would hang them. Ten of these men were suspended upon a tulip-tree, which is yet standing—a venerable giant of the forest. This was the closing scene of the battle on King's Mountain, an event, which completely crushed the spirits of the Loyalists, and weakened, beyond recovery, the royal power in the Carolinas. Intelligence of the defeat of Ferguson destroyed all Cornwallis's hopes of Tory aid. He instantly left Charlotte, retrograded, and established his camp at Winnsborough,Oct. 29, 1780in Fairfield District, between the Wateree and Broad Rivers.
It was from this point he commenced the pursuit of Morgan and General Greene, after the battle at the Cowpens, as detailed in a preceding chapter.
After making the sketch on page 629, and that of the monument on King's Mountain, we rode back to Mr. Leslie's. It was twilight when we arrived; for we had proceeded leisurely along the way, viewing the surrounding scenery. I could perceive at almost every turn of our sinuous road the originals of Kennedy's graphic sketches in the scenery ofHorse Shoe Robinson, and a recurrence to that tale at the house of Mr. Leslie awoke pleasing reminiscences connected with its first perusal. On our return, we ascertained that the grandfather of Mr. Leslie, the venerable William M'Elwees, had just arrived. His company for the evening was a pleasure I had not anticipated. He was one of Sumter's partisan corps, and fought with him at Rocky Mount and Hanging Rock. He was also in the battle at Guilford, and during the whole war was an active Whig. Mr. M'Elwees was eighty-seven years of age when I saw him,Jan. 1849yet his intellect seemed unclouded. His narrative of stirring incidents, while following Sumter, was clear and vivid; and when, at a late hour, the family knelt at the domestic altar, a prayer went up from that patriarch's lips, equal in fervid eloquence, both in words and accents, to any thing I ever heard from the pulpit.
A cold, starry night succeeded my visit to the battle-ground on King's Mountain, and at sunrise the next morning I was on my way to the Broad River and the Cowpens. The ground was frozen and very rough. I traversed King's Mountain in a northwesterly direction, and in the deep narrow valley at its western base crossed King's Creek, a large and rapid stream. The country over which I passed, from Leslie's to Ross's Ferry, on the Broad River, a distance of twenty-one miles, is exceedingly rough and hilly. In some places the road was deep gullied by rains; in others, where it passed through recent clearings, stumps and branches were in the way, endangering the safety of wheel and hoof. Within a mile of the ferry, I discovered that the front axle of my wagon was broken, evidently by striking a stump; but, with the aid of a hatchet and strong cord with which I had provided myself, I was enabled to repair the damage temporarily.
The sun was about an hour high when I reached the eastern bank of the Broad River, a little below the mouth of Buffalo Creek. The house of Mrs. Ross, the owner of the ferry, was upon the opposite side. For more than half an hour I shouted and made signals with a white handkerchief upon my whip, before I was discovered, when a shrill whistle responded, and in a few minutes a fat negro came to the opposite shore, and crossed, with a miserable bateau or river flat, to convey me over. The river, which is there about one hundred and twenty yards wide, was quite shallow, and running with a rapid current, yet the ferryman had the skill to "pole" his vessel across without difficulty. I was comfortably lodged at the house of Mrs. Ross for the night, and passed the evening very agreeably in the company of herself and two intelligent daughters. Here I observed, what I so frequently saw in the upper country of the Carolinas, among even the affluent planters—the windows without sashes or glass. In the coldest weather these and the doors are left wide open, the former being closed at night by tight shutters. Great light-wood (pine) fires in the huge chimney-
Ventilation of Southern Houses.—Thicketty Mountain.—Loss of Way.—Visit to the Cowpens Battle ground.
places constantly blazing, in a measure beat back or temper the cold currents of air which continually flow into the dwellings. This ample ventilation in cold weather is universally practiced at the South. At Hillsborough and Charlotte, I observed the boarders at the hotels sitting with cloaks and shawls on at table, while the doors stood wide open! I was now within fifteen miles of the Cowpens, and at daybreak the next morningJan 1849started for that interesting locality.
9646
I was informed that the place of conflict was among the hills of Thicketty Mountain, and near the plantation of Robert Scruggs. To that gentleman's residence I directed my inquiries. After traversing a rough road, much of it, especially along the water-courses, of red clay, I began the ascent of Thicketty Mountain, upon the Mill-gap road, at the forks leading to Clarke's iron-works and Rutherfordton. Here the ground was covered with snow, and I had no means of discriminating between the beaten track of the Mill-gap way and the numerous forks. I ought to have turned to the northwest after leaving the Rutherfordton Fork half a mile, and descended the northern slope of the mountain. Instead of that, I kept along the ridge road, skirted by the forest on each side, without any indication of habitation. For an hour I slowly traversed this gradually ascending way, and almost imperceptibly approached the summit of Thicketty Mountain, until convinced that I was not in the Mill-gap road. Far to the northward, some thirty miles distant, I could see the azure range of the Blue Ridge, near the Nutgap, where the springs of the Broad River gush out from the mountains. They were covered with snow, and from their lofty summits came a keen breeze, like that of December at the North. The day was waning, and I had no time to lose in deliberation, so I turned back and sought a lateral road, toward the west, to the settlements below. Presently I heard the crying of a child, and looking in the direction of the sound, I saw some thin blue smoke curling among the trees near. I tied Charley to a laurel shrub, and soon discovered a log cabin, in front of which some children were at play. They fled at my approach, and the mother, a lusty mountaineer, whose husband was at work in the iron-beds which abound in that mountain, appeared astonished at the apparition of a stranger. From her I learned that I had left the Mill-gap road at least three miles back. By her direction I found it, and at about four o'clock reached the residence of Mr. Scruggs. His house is upon the Mill-gap road, and about half a mile west of a divergence of a highway leading to Spartanburg, the capital of Spartanburg District, in which the Cowpens * are situated. Upon the gentle hills on the borders of Thicketty Creek, covered with pine woods, within a triangle, formed by the Spartanburg and Mill-gap roads, having a connecting cross-road for a base, the hottest part of the fight occurred. The battle ended within a quarter of a mile of Scruggs's, where is now a cleared field, on the northeast side of the Mill-gap road, in the center of which was a log-house, as seen in the annexed engraving. The field was covered with blasted pines, stumps, and stocks of Indian corn, and had a most dreary appearance. ** In this field, and along the line of conflict, a distance of about
* This name is derived from the circumstance that, some years prior to the Revolution, before this section of country was settled, some persons in Camden (then called Pine-tree) employed two men to go up to the Thicketty Mountain, and in the grassy intervales among the hills, raise cattle. As a compensation they were allowed the entire use of the cows during the summer for making butter and cheese, and the steers for tilling labor. In the fall, large numbers of the fattest cattle would be driven down to Camden to be slaughtered for beef, on account of the owners. This region, so favorable for rearing cows, on account of the grass and fine springs, was consequently called The Cowpens.
** They have a dangerous practice at the South in clearing their wild lands. The larger trees are girdled and left standing, to decay and fall down, instead of being felled by the ax. Cultivation is carried on among them, and frequently they fall suddenly, and endanger the lives of the laborers in the field. Such was the condition of the field here represented.
Material of the Army under Morgan.—Biography of Morgan
two miles, many bullets and other military relics have been found. Among other things I obtained a spur, which belonged to the cavalry of either Washington or Tarleton.
9647
"Come listen a while, and the truth I'll relate,
How brave General Morgan did Tarleton defeat;
For all his proud boasting, he forced was to fly,
When brave General Morgan his courage did try."
Revolutionary Song.
We have noted on page 596 the disposition which General Greene made of the "shadow of an army" (less than two thousand men) which he received from Gates. Brigadier-general Daniel Morgan, * an exceedingly active officer, who was placed in command of the Western division, was stationed, toward the close of 1780, in the country between the Broad and Pacolet Rivers, in Spartanburg District. His division consisted of four hundred Continental infantry, under Lieutenant-colonel Howard of the Maryland line; two companies of the Virginia militia, under Captains Triplet and Tate; and the remnants of the first and third regiments of dragoons, one hundred in number, under Lieutenant-colonel William A. Washington. This force, at the time in question, was considerably augmented by North Carolina militia, under Major M'Dowell, and some Georgia militia, under Major Cunningham. At the close of December,1780Morgan and his troops were encamped near the northern bank of the Pacolet, in the vicinity of Pacolet Springs. From this camp Lieutenant-colonel Washington frequently sallied out to smite and disperse bodies of Tories, who assembled at different points and plundered the Whig inhabitants. He at-
8647
* Daniel Morgan was a native of New Jersey, where he was born in 1737, and at an early age went to Virginia. He was a private soldier under Braddock, in 1755, and after the defeat of that officer, returned to his occupation of a farmer and wagoner. When the war of the Revolution broke out, he joined the army under Washington, at Cambridge, and commanded a corps of riflemen. He accompanied Arnold across the wilderness to Quebec, and distinguished himself at the siege of that city.
* He was made a prisoner there. After his exchange, he was appointed to the command of the 11th Virginia regiment, in which was incorporated his rifle corps. * He performed great service at Stillwater, when Burgoyne was defeated. Gates unjustly omitted his name in his report of that affair to Congress. He served under Gates and Greene at the South, where he became distinguished as a partisan officer. His victory at the Cowpens was considered a most brilliant affair, and Congress voted him a gold medal. (See next pane). At the close of the war, he returned to his farm. He commanded the militia organized to quell the Whisky Insurrection in Western Virginia, in 1794, and soon afterward was elected a member of Congress. His estate in Clarke county, a few miles from Winchester, Virginia, was called Saratoga. He resided there until 1800, when he removed to Winchester, where he died on the sixth of July, 1802, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. The house in which he died stood in the northwest part of the town, and a few years since was occupied by the Reverend Mr. Boyd. His grave is in the Presbyterian grave-yard at Winchester; and over it is a plain horizontal slab, raised a few feet from the ground, upon which is the following inscription: "Major-general Daniel Morgan departed this life on July the 6th, 1802, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. Patriotism and valor were the prominent features of his character, and the honorable services he rendered to his country during the Revolutionary war crowned him with glory, and will remain in the hearts of his countrymen, a perpetual monument to his memory."
0648m
* In early life General Morgan was dissipated, and was a famous pugilist; yet the teachings of a pious mother always made him reverential when his thoughts turned toward the Deity. In his latter years, he professed religion, and became a member of the Presbyterian church in Winchester. "Ah!" he would often exclaim, when talking of the past, "people said old Morgan never feared—they thought old Morgan never prayed—they did not know old Morgan was often miserably afraid." He said he trembled at Quebec, and in the gloom of early morning, when approaching the battery at Cape Diamond, he knelt in the snow and prayed; and before the battle at the Cowpens, he went into the woods, ascended a tree, and there poured out his soul in prayer for protection. In person, Morgan was large and strong. He was six feet in height, and very muscular. *
* The following are the devices and inscriptions upon the medal: An Indian queen with a quiver on her back, in the act of crowning an officer with a laurel wreath; his hand resting upon his sword. A cannon lying upon the ground; various military weapons and implements in the background. Legend: Daniel Morgan duci Exercitus Comitia Americana—"The American Congress to General Daniel Morgan." Reverse: An officer mounted, at the head of his troops, charging a flying enemy. A battle in the back-ground. In front, a personal combat between a dragoon unhorsed and a foot soldier. Legend: Victoria libertatis vindex—"Victory, the maintenance of Freedom." "The foe put to flight, taken, or slain, at the Cowpens, January 17, 1781."
* This sketch of the flag of Morgan's rifle corps I made from the original in the Museum at Alexandria, in Virginia.
Defeat of Tories by Washington.—Pursuit of Morgan by Tarleton.—Gold Medal awarded to Morgan.
tacked and defeated two hundred of them at Hammond's store, and soon afterward a section of Washington's command dispersed another Tory force under Bill Cunningham. Cornwallis, who was still at Winnsborough, perceived these successes with alarm, and apprehending a design upon his important post at Ninety-Six, over the Saluda, determined to disperse the forces under Morgan, or drive them into North Carolina, before he should rally the Mountain Men in sufficient numbers to cut off his communication with Augusta. He accordingly dispatched Tarleton with his legion of horse (three hundred and fifty in number), and the foot and light infantry attached to it, the 7th regiment, and the first battalion of the 71st, with two field pieces, to force Morgan to fight, or retreat beyond the Yadkin. Tarleton's entire force consisted of about eleven hundred well-disciplined men, and in every particular he had the advantage of Morgan.
Tarleton commenced his march on the eleventh of January. The roads were in a very bad condition, and it was not until the fifteenth that he approached the Pacolet. He had crossed the Broad River near Turkey Creek, and advanced with all possible speed toward the camp of Morgan. That officer was at first disposed to dispute Tarleton's passage of the Pacolet, but, informed of the superiority of his numbers, and that a portion had already crossed above him, he retreated hastily northward, and took post on the north side of Thicketty Mountain, near the Cowpens. Tarleton passed through the place of Morgan's camp in the evening, a few hours after he had left,Jan. 16, 1781and leaving his baggage behind, he pressed eagerly forward in pursuit, riding all night, and making a circuit around the western side of Thicketty Mountain. Early the following morning,Jan. 17he cap-
Disposition of the American Army.—John Eager Howard.—Silver Medal awarded to Howard.
tured two American videttes, and learned from them the place of Morgan s encampment. At eight o'clock he came in sight of the advanced guard of the patriots, and fearing that Morgan might again retreat, and get safely across the Broad River, he resolved to attack him immediately, notwithstanding the fatigue of his troops.
The Americans were posted upon an eminence of gentle descent, covered with an open wood.
8649
They were rested, had breakfasted, and were thoroughly refreshed after their flight from the Pacolet. And now expecting Tarleton, they were drawn up in battle order. On the crown of the eminence were stationed two hundred and ninety Maryland regulars, and on their right the two companies of Virginia militia, under Major Triplet. These composed the rear line of four hundred and thirty men, and were under the general command of Lieutenant-colonel Howard. One hundred and fifty yards in advance of this line was a body of militia, about three hundred in number, all practiced riflemen, and burning with a spirit of revenge, because of the cruelties which the British and Tories had inflicted. A part of these were commanded by Captain Beatty and Samuel Hammond, of South Carolina. *
They were commanded by Colonel Andrew Pickens, who, with his followers, had joined Morgan during the night. About one hundred and fifty yards in advance of this first line, were placed the best riflemen of the corps of M'Dowell and Cunningham. Those on the right were commanded by Cunningham, and those on the left by M'Dowell. These were directed to operate as circumstances should direct, after delivering their first fire, which was to be
* No accurate plan of the arrangement of the troops on this occasion has ever been made. Captain Hammond made a sketch many years afterward from memory, which is published in Johnson's Traditions and Reminiscences of the Revolution. As it does not fully agree with official reports, I forbear copying it.
0649m
** John Eager Howard was born in Baltimore county, Maryland, on the fourth of June, 1752. When the war commenced, he entered the service as captain of one of those bodies of militia termed flying camps. He was present at the battle near White Plains, New York. His corps was dismissed in December, 1776 and at the solicitation of his friends, he accepted of the commission of major in one of the Continental battalions of Maryland. In the spring of 1777, he joined the army under Washington, in New Jersey, with which he remained until the close of June, when he returned home, on account of the death of his father. A few days after the battle on the Brandywine, he rejoined the army, and was distinguished for his cool courage in the battle at Germantown, of which he wrote an interesting account. In that engagement, he was major of the 4th regiment, commanded by Colonel Hall, of Maryland. Major Howard was present at the battle of Monmouth, in 1778. On the first of June, 1779, he received a commission as lieutenant colonel of the 5th Maryland regiment, "to take rank from the eleventh day of March, 1778." In 1780, he went with the Maryland and Delaware troops to the South, and served under Gates until the arrival of Greene. Soon after this, we find him with Morgan, winning bright laurels at the Cowpens; and for his bravery there, Congress awarded him the honor of a silver medal. Howard again distinguished himself at the battle of Guilford, where he was wounded. At the conclusion of the war, Colonel Howard married Margaret, the daughter of Chief-justice Chew, around whose house at Germantown he had valiantly battled. In November 1788, he was chosen governor of Maryland, which office he held for three years. He was commissioned major general of militia in 1794, but declined the honor. Washington invited him to a seat in his cabinet at the head of the War Department, in 1795. That honor he also declined. He was then a member of the Maryland Senate. In 1796, he was elected to the Senate of the United States, where he served until 1803, when he retired from public life. When, in 1814, Baltimore was threatened with destruction by the enemy the veteran soldier prepared to take the field. The battle at North Point, however, rendered such a step unnecessary. He lost his wife in 1827; and on the twelfth of Oetober, 1827, he, too, left the scenes of earth, at the age of seventy-five years. Honor, wealth, and the ardent love of friends, were his lot in life, and few men ever went down to the grave more truly lamented than John Eager Howard.
* The following are the device and inscriptions: An officer mounted, with uplifted sword, pursuing an officer on foot hearing a stand of colors. Victory is seen descending in front, over the former, holding a wreath in her right hand over his head. In her left hand is a palm branch. Legend: "The American Congress to John Eager Howard, commander of a regiment of infantry." Reverse: A laurel wreath, inclosing the inscription, "Because, rushing suddenly on the wavering line of the foe, he gave a brilliant specimen of martial courage at the battle of the Cowpens, January 17,1781."
Morgan prepared to Fight—His Address to his Troops.—The Attack.—Tarleton's Charge.
given when the British should be within one hundred and fifty yards. In the rear of the second line, under Howard, and behind an eminence of sufficient height to conceal them, * the American reserve was posted. These consisted of Washington's cavalry, and M'Call's mounted militia of Georgia, armed with sabers.
Tarleton was rather disconcerted when he found that Morgan was prepared to fight him, for he expected to overtake him on a retreat. He rode cautiously forward to reconnoiter, but the shots of the advanced corps of riflemen obliged him to retire precipitately to his lines. Yet, feeling sure of an easy victory, Tarleton quickly arranged his line in battle order upon the Spartanburg road, within three hundred yards of Morgan's first line. At this moment, Morgan, with solemn voice and sententious sentences, addressed his troops. He exhorted the militia of the first line to be steady, and fire with sure aim; and expressed his conviction that, if they would pour in two volleys at a killing distance, victory would be theirs. He addressed the second line in a similar manner, informed them that he had ordered the militia to fall back after delivering two volleys, and exhorted them not to be disconcerted by that movement. Then taking post with his line, near Lieutenant-colonel Howard, he awaited in silence the approach of the British van, already in motion. It consisted of the light troops and the legion infantry, with the 7th regiment, under Major New-marsh. In the center of this line were the two pieces of artillery. Upon each flank was a troop of cavalry; and in the rear, as a reserve was Major M'Arthur, with the battalion of the 71st regiment and the remainder of the cavalry. Tarleton placed himself in the first line.
It was now about nine o'clock in the morning. The sun was shining warm and bright over the summits of Thicketty Mountain, and gave brilliancy to the martial array in the forests below. At a signal from Tarleton, his advance gave a loud shout, and rushed furiously to the contest, under cover of their artillery and an incessant discharge of musketry. The riflemen, under Cunningham and M'Dowell, delivered their fire with terrible effect, and then fell back to the flanks of the first line under Pickens. The British still shouting, rushed forward, and poured in a close fire upon the militia. These stood firm, until assailed with bayonets, when they fell back to the second line. M'Call s militia fled to their horses, while the remainder, under Pickens, took post upon Howard's right. Upon the main body Tarleton now made a vigorous charge, and was met with equal valor and determination. The contest was close and severe, and the British line began to bend, when M'Arthur, with the reserve, was ordered to advance. This movement reanimated the quailing Britons, and they plied ball and bayonet with incessant force. While the contest was raging, M'Arthur
* Between this eminence and the one on which Howard was stationed, the Mill-gap road passes.
Charge of Tarleton.—Bold Maneuver of Howard.—Americans Victorious.—Colonel Washington.
attempted movement His order to gain the American flank under Colonel Howard. That officer perceived the and its intent, and instantly ordered his first company to charge the British 71st. was mistaken, and the company fell back.
9651
The whole line also gave way at the same moment, and Morgan ordered it to retreat to the eminence behind which the cavalry were posted. Tarleton, believing this maneuver to be a precursor of flight, ordered another charge, and, with shouts, his infantry rushed forward impetuously, in disorder. When close to Howard, that officer ordered his line to face about and give his pursuers a volley. Instantly a close and murderous fire laid many of the British line dead upon the earth, and the living, terrified by the unexpected movement, recoiled in confusion. Howard perceived the advantage of the moment, and followed it up with the bayonet. This decided the victory in favor of the Americans. At the same time, a portion of Tarleton's cavalry having gained the rear of the Americans, fell upon M'Call's mounted militia. Now was the moment for Lieutenant-colonel Washington * to act. With his cavalry, he struck the British horsemen a decisive blow, and drove them in confusion before him. The reserve, under M'Ar-
* William Augustine Washington, "the modern Marcellus," "the sword of his country," was the eldest son of Baily Washington, of Stafford county, Virginia. He was educated for the Church, but the peculiar position of public affairs led him into the political field. He early espoused the patriot cause, and entered the army under Colonel Hugh (afterward General) Mercer, as captain. He was in the battle near Brooklyn, Long Island, distinguished himself at Trenton, and was with his beloved general when he fell at Princeton. He was afterward a major in Colonel Baylor's corps of cavalry, and was with that officer when attacked by General Grey, at Tappan, in 1778. The following year, he joined the army under Lincoln in South Carolina, and was very active in command of a light corps, in the neighborhood of Charleston. He became attached, with his corps, to the division of General Morgan, and with that officer fought bravely at the Cowpens. For his valor on that occasion, Congress presented him with a silver medal. He was an active officer in Greene's celebrated retreat, and again fought bravely at Guilford Court House. He behaved gallantly at Hobkirk's Hill, near Camden, and at the battle at Eutaw Springs be exhibited signal valor; but his horse being shot under him, he was there made a prisoner. He remained a captive until the close of the war. Having become attached to a South Carolina lady during his captivity, he married her and settled in Charleston. He represented that district in the State Legislature. His talents as a statesman were so conspicuous, that he was solicited to become a candidate for governor. He declined the honor, chiefly because he could not make a speech. When President Adams appointed General Washington commander-in-chief of the American army, he chose Colonel Washington to be one of his staff, with the rank of brigadier. Colonel Washington died on the sixth of Mardi, 1810. He was tall in person, possessed of great strength and activity, and in society was taciturn and modest.
0651m
* The following are the device and inscriptions: An officer mounted at the head of a body of cavalry, charging flying troops; Victory is flying over the heads of the Americans, holding a laurel crown in her right hand and a palm branch in her left.' Legend: The American Congress to William Washington commander of a regiment of cavalry. Reverse: 17th January, 1761—"Because, having vigorously pursued the foe with a small band of soldiers, he gave a brilliant specimen of innate valor in the battle at the Cowpens, seventeenth January, 1731." This inscription is within a laurel wreath.
Retreat of the British.—Encounter between Washington and Tarleton.—Result of the Battle.
thur, were too much mixed up with the main forces of Tarleton, to present a rallying point, and the whole body retreated along the Mill-gap road to the place near Scruggs's, delineated on page 636, then covered with an open wood like the ground where the conflict commenced. There the battle ended, and the pursuit was relinquished. It was near the northern border of that present open field that Washington and Tarleton had a personal conflict. In the eagerness of his pursuit of that officer, Washington had got far in advance of his squadron, when Tarleton and two of his aids, at the head of the troop of the 17th regiment of dragoons, turned upon him. An officer on Tarleton's right was about to strike the impetuous Washington with his saber, when his sergeant came up and disabled the assailant's sword-arm. An officer on Tarleton's left was about to strike at the same moment, when Washington's little bugler, too small to wield a sword, wounded the assailant with a pistol-ball. Tarleton, who was in the center, then made a thrust at him, which Washington parried, and gave his enemy a wound in the hand. * Tarleton wheeled, and, as he retreated, discharged a pistol, by which Washington was wounded in the knee. During that night and the following morning, the remnant of Tarleton's force reached Hamilton's Ford, on Broad River, and also the encampment of Cornwallis, at Turkey Creek, about twenty-five miles from the Cowpens. For this defeat, Tarleton's cotemporaries censured him severely. **
The loss of the Americans in this decisive battle was about seventy men, of whom, strange to say, only twelve were killed. The British, according to Cornwallis's letter to Sir Henry Clinton, written a few days afterward, lost ten officers and ninety privates killed, and twenty-three officers and five hundred privates taken prisoners. Almost the whole of the British infantry, except the baggage guard, were killed or taken. The two pieces of artillery, *** eight hundred muskets, two standards, thirty-five baggage wagons, and one hundred dragoon horses, fell into the possession of the Americans. **** To the honor of the victors, it is declared that, notwithstanding the cruel warfare which Tarleton had waged had exasperated the Americans to the last degree, not one of the British was killed or wounded, or even insulted, after they had surrendered.
The defeat of the British at the Cowpens has not been inaptly compared to that of the Germans of Burgoyne's army near Bennington. The disaster, in both cases, dealt a severe blow against the success of the main army. The battle near Bennington paralyzed the energies of Burgoyne's army; the battle at the Cowpens equally affected the power of Cornwallis. He was advancing triumphantly toward the heart of North Carolina, having placed
* It is related that this wound was twice the subject for the sallies of wit of two American ladies, who were sisters, daughters of Colonel Montfort, of Halifax county, North Carolina. When Cornwallis and his army were at Halifax, on their way to Virginia, Tarleton was at the house of an American. In the presence of Mrs. Wilie Jones (one of these sisters), Tarleton spoke of Colonel Washington as an illiterate fellow, hardly able to write his name. "Ah! colonel," said Mrs. Wilie, "you ought to know better, for you bear on your person proof that he knows very well how to make his mark.'" At another time, Tarleton was speaking sarcastically of Washington, in the presence of her sister, Mrs. Ashe. "I would be happy to see Colonel Washington," he said, with a sneer. Mrs. Ashe instantly replied, "If you had looked behind you, Colonel Tarleton, at. the battle of the Cowpens, you would have enjoyed that pleasure." Stung with this keen wit, Tarleton plaeed his hand on his sword. General Leslie, who was present, remarked. "Say what you please, Mrs. Ashe, Colonel Tarleton knows better than to insult a lady in my presence."—Mr. Ellet's Women of the Revolution.
** See Siedman, ii., 324.
*** These two pieces of artillery were first taken from Burgoyne at Saratoga; then retaken by the British at Camden; now were recovered by the Americans, and afterward fell into the hands of Cornwallis at Guilford. They were of the kind of small field-pieees called "grasshoppers."
**** Ramsay, Gordon, Marshall, Lee, Johnson, Tarleton, Moultrie.
The Heroes of the Cowpens.—Departure from that Place.—Cherokee Ford.—Indians in the Carolinas.
South Carolina, as he thought, in submission at his feet. The defeat of Ferguson at King's Mountain, and now of Tarleton, his favorite partisan, withered his hopes of Tory organization and co-operation. His last hope was the destruction of Greene's army by his own superior force, and for that purpose he now commenced the pursuit which we have considered in a preceding chapter, the capture of Morgan and his prisoners being his first object.
The victory of the Cowpens gave great joy to the Americans throughout the confederacy. Congress received information of it on the eighth of February, and on the ninth of March that body voted an award of a gold medal to Morgan; a silver medal to Howard and Washington; a sword to Colonel Pickens; and a vote of thanks to the other officers and men engaged in the battle. *
It was almost sunset when I left the Cowpens to return to a house of entertainment upon the road to the Cherokee Ford, seven miles distant; for the resident there could not find a corner for me in his dwelling, nor for Charley in his stable, that cold night, "for love nor money," but generously proposed that I should send him a copy of my work when completed, because he lived upon the battle-ground! To a planter on horseback, from Spartanburg, who overtook me upon the road, I am indebted for kindness in pointing out the various localities of interest at the Cowpens; to the other for the knowledge that a small building near his house was the depository of a field-piece used by an artillery company in the vicinity, when celebrating the anniversary of the battle.
After dark, I reached the house of Mrs. Camp, where I was comfortably lodged for the night; and early the following morning, accompanied by one of her sons on horseback, I proceeded to the Cherokee Ford, on the Broad River, ten miles distant. The road was very rough most of the way, and quite hilly. At the ford, on the west side of the river, is a large iron manufactory. The ore is brought from the neighboring mountains, smelted there, and wrought into hollow-ware, nails, spikes, tacks, &c. Around the establishment quite a little village has grown up, and there, as at Matson's Ford (Conshohocken), on the Schuylkill, where hostile parties were seen during the Revolution, and all around was a wilderness, the hum of busy industry is heard, and the smiles of cultivation are seen. Here, as we have observed (page 633), the Americans, who gained the victory at King's Mountain, crossed this stream on the morning of the battle.
Before crossing the Broad River, theEstwawpuddenahof the Cherokee Indians, let us take a historical survey of the most important occurrences westward of this stream, in the beautiful country watered by the Tyger, the Ennoree, and the Saluda, and further on to the noble Savannah. Standing here upon the western selvage of civilization when the war broke out, and where the aborigines were sole masters but a few years before, let us glance, first, at the record of events which mark their conflicts with the over-reaching white race, who beat them back beyond the mountains. **
We have already noticed, on page 562, the efforts of the Corees, Tuscaroras, and other Indians of the Neuse and Cape Fear region to expel the Europeans.1712This conflict was soon succeeded by another, more serious in its character. For a while, the very existence of the Southern colony was menaced. The powerful nation of the Yamassees, who
* Journals of Congress, vii, 47.
** South Carolina was occupied by twenty-eight Indian nations when the Europeans first made a permanent settlement upon the Ashley River. The domain of these tribes extended from the ocean to the mountains. The Westos, Stonos, Coosaws, and Sewees occupied the country between Charleston and the Edis-to Rivers. They were conquered by the Savannahs, and expelled from the country. The Yamassees and Tuspahs held the territory in the neighborhood of Port Royal. The Savannahs, Serannahs, Cussobos, and Euchees occupied the middle country, along the Isundigia, or Savannah River. The Apalachians inhabited the head waters of the Savannah and Alatamaha, and gave their name to the mountains of Apalachy, and the bay of Apalachicola. The Museoghees or Creeks occupied a part of the country between the Savannah and Broad Rivers, being divided by the latter from the country of the Cherokees. The Congarees, Santees, Waterees, Saludas, Catawbas, Peedees, and Winyaws lived along the rivers which bear their respective names. The Museoghees and Catawbas were the most warlike; the Cherokees were more numerous than either, but more peaceful. These various nations, when Charleston was founded, could muster, probably, fifty thousand warriors.—See Simms's History of South Carolina, page 67.
War with the Indians.—Peril of the White People.—Defeat and Conquest of the Indians.—Seminoles
possessed the territory around Port Royal, where the French Huguenots first attempted settlement, had long evinced their friendship for the Carolinians, whose first settlement was in the neighborhood of the present city of Charleston, by engaging with them as allies in their wars against the Spaniards and some Indian tribes. The Spaniards at St. Augustine, who were the mortal enemies of the Carolinians, finally succeeded in uniting the Cherokees—"the mountaineers of aboriginal America" * —the Muscoghees, Apalachians, and other Indian nations, in a league for the destruction of the colony. They also won the confidence of the Yamassees, and suddenly that powerful tribe appeared in arms against the Carolinians. Already the Apalachian tribes, occupying a large portion of the present State of Georgia, instigated by the Spaniards, had desolated some of the frontier settlements.1703Governor Moore, at the head of a body of Carolinians and friendly Indians, penetrated into the very heart of the Apalachian settlements, between the Savannah and the Alatamahaw Rivers.
He laid their villages in ashes, devastated their plantations slew about eight hundred people, and, with a large number of captives, marched back in triumph to Charleston. This invasion broke the spirit of the tribe, and made the power of the Carolinians thoroughly respected among their neighbors.
When the confederacy of the tribes of the upper country was effected, and the Yamassees lifted the hatchet against the white people,1715Governor Craven, who had promptly sent aid to the people of the northern provinces, as promptly met the danger at his own door. So secretly had the confederation been formed, and their plans matured, that the first blow was struck, and almost a hundred people were slain, ** before the Carolinians were aware of danger. The Yamassees, the Muscoghees or Creeks, and Apalachians, advanced along the southern frontier, spreading desolation in their track. The Cherokees, the Catawbas, and the Congarees joined them, and the Corees, and some of the Tuscaroras, also went out upon the war-path. Almost a thousand warriors issued from the Neuse region, while those of the southern division amounted to more than six thousand. Within forty days, the Indian tribes from the Cape Fear to the St. Mary's, and westward to the Alabama, were banded together for the destruction of the colony at Ashley River.
Governor Craven, whose character was the reverse of his name, acted with the utmost energy when the confederation and its purposes were made known. He immediately proclaimed martial law; laid an embargo on all ships to prevent men or provisions from leaving the colony, and seizing arms wherever they could be found, placed them in the hands of faithful negroes, to co-operate with the white people. With twelve hundred men, white and black, he marched to confront the Indians, now approaching with the knife, hatchet, and torch, in dreadful activity. In the first encounters of his advanced parties with the enemy the Indians were victors, but Craven finally compelled them to fall back to their chief camp upon the Salk-hatchie, *** whither the governor pursued them. Desperate were the conflicts which ensued, and for a while the victory was doubtful. The fate of the whole colony was suspended upon the result, and the Carolinians contended with all the energy of men fighting for life, home, and family. The Indians were repulsed, and, hotly pursued by the white people and their black aids, they were driven across the Savannah and sought shelter under the guns of the Spanish fortress at St. Augustine. No longer useful to them, the Spaniards drove their savage allies into the wilderness, and fearing to return to their hunting-grounds north of the Savannah, the Indians set up their wigwams among the everglades of Florida, and became, it is believed, the ancestors of the powerful Seminoles of our day.
When the division of the Carolinas occurred,1729and the southern portion became a
* Bancroft, iii., 246.
* This massacre was at Pocotaligo, an old village in the parish of Prince William, in Beaufort District. It then contained about three hundred inhabitants. There stood Fort Balfour, which was captured, during the Revolution, by a few Americans under Colonel Harden.
*** This is the name of the south fork of the Combahee River, which empties into St. Helena Sound. The place of the encampment was near Barnwell, the capital of Barnwell District.
Embassy to the Indians.—Erection of Forts.—War with the Cherokees.—Small pox at Charleston.
royal province, the first care of the administration was to secure the friendship of the neighboring tribes. In 1730, an embassy under Sir Alexander Cumming, visited and explored the Cherokee country, three hundred miles from Charleston. They made a favorable impression, secured advantageous treaties, and laid, as they hoped, the foundation of a permanent peace. For twenty years the treaty remained unbroken. In 1755, the Cherokees renewed their treaty with the Carolinians, and at the same time made cessions to them of large tracts of land. Upon this ceded territory, stretching along the Savannah to the Tennessee River, Glenn, then governor of South Carolina, built forts, and named them respectively Prince George, * Moore, and Loudon. The first was upon the Savannah, three hundred miles from Charleston; the second was about one hundred and seventy miles below; and the latter was upon the waters of the Tennessee River, five hundred miles from Charleston. These forts were garrisoned by troops from Great Britain, and, promising security, settlements rapidly extended in that direction. They served to awe the Indian nations, and peace might have been always secured, had the white people exercised ordinary prudence. But one rash act scattered the power of treaties to the wind, and lighted the flames of war along the Carolina frontier.
In 1757, during the administration of Governor Lyttleton (afterward Lord Wescott), while a large party of the Cherokees, who had been assisting the English against the French on the Ohio, were returning home, they took possession of some horses from the back settlers of Virginia. The white people pursued them, killed a number of warriors, and took several captive. This violence exasperated the Indians, and they retaliated by scalping every white man whom they met. Parties of young warriors fell upon the border settlements of the Carolinas, and war was kindled along the whole frontier. Lyttleton called the Carolinians to arms. The Cherokee chiefs were alarmed, and sent a deputation to Charleston to appease the wrath of the English. Lasting friendship might have been at once secured had not Lyttleton indiscreetly refused to listen. He collected fourteen hundred men upon the Congaree, conducted the Cherokee delegation thither, under guard, and, extorting a pledge of peace and alliance, he returned to Charleston, after sending to Fort George twenty-two hostages, whom he had demanded for the delivery of the warriors who had desolated the border settlements. The Cherokees were very indignant, and the governor had scarcely reached his capital, when he received intelligence that fourteen white people had been murdered within a mile of Fort George. Soon the Cherokees surrounded that fortress, led on by Occonastota, a chief of great influence, and the implacable enemy of the English. Perceiving the power of his arms to be vain, he had recourse to stratagem. Withdrawing his warriors, he spread them in ambush, and while conferring with the commander of the garrison and two other officers, whom he had decoyed to the margin of a stream by expressions of friendship, he gave a signal, and instantly they were surrounded by armed savages. The commander was slain, and the other two were wounded and made prisoners. The garrison proceeded to put the hostages in irons. They made a deadly resistance, and were all slain. This event maddened the whole Indian nation, and, with gleaming hatchets, they swept along the Carolina frontier like the scythe of Death. Men, women, and children were butchered without mercy; and the war-belt was sent to the Catawbas and other tribes, inviting them to confederate for the extermination of the English.
About this time, Charleston was severely scourged by the small-pox, and was too weak to send efficient succor to the frontiers. Lyttleton had been appointed governor of Jamaica, and, sailing for that island about this time, was succeeded by William Bull, a native Carolinian. Bull sent to Virginia and North Carolina for aid, and those states furnished seven troops of rangers for the service. These, with the British regulars under Colonel Montgomery (afterward Earl of Eglinton), sent from Canada by General Amherst, marched into the
* Fort Prince George was a strong work. It was quadrangular, with an earthen rampart six feet high, upon which stockades were placed. Around it was a ditch, and it had a natural glacis on two sides. At each angle was a bastion, on which four small cannons were mounted. It contained barracks for a hundred men.
Montgomery's Expedition against the Indians.—Peace.—Renewal of War.—Grant and Middleton's Expedition.
Indian country. Before proceeding, Montgomery rendezvoused at Monk's Corner,April, 1760near Charleston, where volunteers flocked to his standard. The Cherokees were advised of these preparations for invading their territory, and were at first uneasy. Their beautiful domain spread out between the Broad and Savannah Rivers, and was fenced in by rugged mountains. They had then sixty-four towns and villages, and upon an emergency could call six thousand warriors to the field. Reflecting upon this force, they felt strong. Montgomery, with only two thousand men, proceeded against the Indians. In several engagements he chastised them severely, and pressed on to the relief of Fort Prince George, then closely invested by the red warriors. The Indians fled at his approach toward the secure fastnesses of the mountains and morasses, and hither Montgomery pursued them. The wilderness was vast and fearful over which he marched, and the streams to be forded were often deep and turbid. The enemy finally made a stand at Etchoee, the nearest town of their middle settlements. Within five miles of this village a severe battle was fought. The Cherokees fell back slowly before the cold bayonet; and when they saw the English pressing toward the town, they fled thither precipitately, to save their women and children. Montgomery, feeling unsafe in that far off and desolate region, returned to Fort Prince George, and from thence toward Charleston. All the way to the populous settlements, he was annoyed by the Indians, who hung upon his rear, and the purpose of the campaign was only half accomplished. Montgomery and his regulars soon afterward returned to New York.
While this retreat was in progress, the distant post of Fort Loudon, on the Tennessee, was invested by the Cherokees. The garrison of two hundred men was daily melting away by famine. The Virginia Rangers attempted its relief, but without success. The garrison finally surrendered. Safe guidance to the frontier settlements, with ammunition and other baggage was promised them; but they had gone only a short distance on their way, when their guides forsook them, and another body of Indians fell upon and massacred twenty-six of them. A few escaped, and Stuart, their commander, and some others, remained captives a long time.
The Cherokees were now willing to treat for peace, but the French had sent emissaries among them, who kept their fears and animosities constantly excited. Soon the war was renewed with all its former violence, while Carolina was left almost wholly to her own resources. She raised a provincial regiment of twelve hundred men, and gave the command to Colonel Middleton, a brave and accomplished officer. Among his subordinates were Henry Laurens, Francis Marion, William Moultrie, Isaac Huger, and Andrew Pickens, all of whom were very distinguished patriots during the Revolution. This was their first military school, and the lessons they were there taught were very useful in a subsequent hour of need. When this little band was ready to march into the Cherokee country, Colonel James Grant, with the regiments formerly commanded by Montgomery, landed at Charleston.April, 1761The united forces of Grant and Middleton, with some of the Chickasaw and Catawba Indians as allies, in all twenty-six hundred men, reached Fort
Prince George on the twenty-ninth of May. Nine days afterwardJune 7they advanced toward Etchoee, where, upon the ground where Montgomery fought them, a large body of Cherokees were gathered. Well skilled in the use of fire-arms, and now well supplied by the French, they presented a formidable front. They also had the advantage of superior position, and the battle which ensued was severe and bloody. For three hours the conflict raged in that deep wilderness; and it was not until the deadly bayonet, in the hands of desperate men, was brought to bear upon the Indians, that they gave way. Inch by inch they fell back, until finally, completely overpowered, they fled, hotly pursued by their conquerors. How many were slain is not known; the English lost nearly sixty men. Like Sullivan in the Seneca country, Grant followed up his victory with the torch. Etchoee was laid in ashes; the cornfields and granaries were destroyed, and the wretched people were driven to the barren mountains. * So terrible was the punishment, that the name of Grant was to them a synonym fordevastation.
* Marion, in a letter quoted by Weems, mentioned the wanton destruction of the corn, then in full ear, and said, "I saw every where around the footsteps of the little Indian children, where they had lately played under the shelter of the rustling corn. No doubt they had often looked up with joy to the swelling shocks, and gladdened when they thought of their abundant cakes for the coming winter. When we are gone, thought I, they will return, and, peeping through the weeds with tearful eyes, will mark the ghastly ruin poured over their homes, and the happy fields where they had so often played. 'Who did this?' they will ask their mothers. 'The white people; the Christians did it!' will be the reply."
Treaty of Peace and Friendship.—Influence of Royal Emissaries.—Indian Hostilities renewed.—John Stuart.
By this victory, the spirit of the Cherokee Nation was broken, and the French, whose machinations had urged them to continued hostilities, were hated and despised by them. Through the venerable sachem, Attakullakulla, who had remained a friend of the white people, the chiefs of the Nation humbly sued for peace. "The Great Spirit," said the old man, "is the father of the white man and the Indian; as we all live in one land, let us all live as one people." His words of counsel were heeded; a treaty of amity was concluded, and a bloody war was ended. The Treaty of Paris, between the English and French, was concluded in 1763, and, except the feeble Spaniards on the South, the Cherokees had no enemies of the English thereafter to excite them to war.
From 1761, until the war of the Revolution commenced, the Indians upon the Carolina and Georgia frontiers were generally quiet and peaceful. Pursuant to the secret instructions which the royal governors received from the British ministry, to band the Indians against the colonists, Tory emissaries went up from the sea-board and excited the Cherokees and their neighbors to go upon the war-path. Among the most active and influential of these emissaries of the crown was John Stuart, a Scotchman, and at that time his majesty's Indian agent for the Southern colonies. * Stuart arranged a plan with Wright, Campbell, Martin, Dunmore, and other royal governors, to land a British army at St. Augustine, in Florida, which, uniting with the Indians and Tories, might invade the state at an interior point, while a fleet should blockade its harbors, and land an invading army on the sea-board. This plan was discovered by the Carolinians, but not in time entirely to defeat it; for, when Parker and Clinton made their attack upon Charleston,June 28, 1776the Cherokees commenced a series of massacres upon the western frontiers of the province. Already a few stockade forts had been erected in that section, and to these the terrified borderers fled for safety. Colonel Williamson, of the district of Ninety-Six, who was charged with the defense of the upper country, raised about five hundred true men, and in his first skirmish with the Indians, in which he took some prisoners, discovered thirteen white men, Tories, disguised as savages, and wielding the tomahawk and scalping knife. The indignation excited against these men extended to their class, and this discovery was the beginning of those bloody scenes between bands of Whigs and Tories which characterized many districts of South Carolina. The domestic feuds which ensued were pregnant with horrid results; the ferocity of the tiger usurped the blessed image of God in the hearts of men, and made them brutes, with fearful power to be brutal.
When intelligence of the affair at Charleston reached the interior, the patriots were encouraged, and Williamson soon found himself at the head of a force of twelve hundred men, and daily augmenting. With a detachment of three hundred horsemen, he proceeded to attack an Indian and Tory force at Oconoree Creek. He fell into an ambuscade, and himself and companions narrowly escaped destruction. His horse was shot under him; his squad-
* John Stuart came to America with Oglethorpe, probably with the Highlanders under M'Intosh, the father of General Lachlin M'Intosh, of the Revolution, who settled upon the Alatamahaw, and called the place New Inverness. The Indians were greatly pleased wilh the dress and character of the Highlanders, and to this circumstance is attributed Stuart's influence among them. Stuart went to Charleston; became Indian agent; married Niss Fenwick, daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the province, and finally became one of the king's council. He lived in the house on the corner of Wadd and Orange Streets. Charleston, now (1851) owned by William Carson. Esq. He had commanded a corps on Cumberland Island, who gallantly repulsed the Spaniards in 1745, and this was the commencement of his popularity which led up to the civil station that he held in council. He chose the royal side when the Revolution broke out, and to him was attributed all of the difficulties with the Indians upon the frontier during the first year of that strangle. Alarmed for his personal safety, he fled to St. Augustine. His estate was confiscated. He died in England. His son, Sir John Stuart, became a distinguished general in ihe British army.—See Johnson's Traditions of the Revolution, page 107.