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Fashioning a pine-log so as to resemble a cannon, he placed it in such a position near the bridge as, apparently, to command both the house and barn of Colonel Rugeley. He then made a formal demand for a surrender, menacing the garrison with the instant demolition of their fortress. Alarmed at the apparition of a cannon, Rugeley sent out a flag, and, with his whole force of one hundred and twelve men, immediately surrendered. Poor Rugeley never appeared in arms afterward. Cornwallis, in a letter to Tarleton,Dec. 4said, "Rugeley will not be made a brigadier.
Soon after leaving Rugeley's, I came to a shallow stream which flows out of Gum Swamp, and known in the Revolution as Graney's Quarter Creek. It was thickly studded with ginn shrubs and caries, the latter appearing as green and fresh as in summer. It was now about noon, and while I made the accompanying sketch, Charley dined upon corn, which the generous driver of a team "hauling cotton," gave me from his store. Between this stream and Sander's Creek, within seven miles of Camden, is the place of Gates's defeat.Aug. 16, 1780The hottest of the engagement occurred upon the hill, just before descending to Sander's Creek from the north, now, as then, covered with an open forest of pine-trees. When I passed through it, the undergrowth had just been burned, and the blackened trunks of the venerable pines, standing like the columns of a vast temple, gave the whole scene a dreary, yet grand appearance. Many of the old trees yet bear marks of the battle, the scars of the bullets being made very distinct by large protuberances. I was informed that many musket-balls have been cut out of the trees; and I saw quite a number of trunks which had been recently hewn with axes for the purpose. Some pines had been thus cut by searchers for bullets which must have been in the seed when the battle occurred. Within half a mile of Sander's Creek, on the north side, are some old fields, dotted with shrub pines, where the hottest of the battle was fought. A large concavity near the road, filled with hawthorns, was pointed out to me as the spot where many of the dead were buried.
Sander's Creek is a considerable stream, about two hundred feet wide, and quite shallow at the ford. Though flowing through a swamp like Graney's Quarter, its waters were very
* This view is from the south side of the bridge. The counterfeit cannon was plaeed in the road where the first wagon is seen. The house and barn of Rugeley were in the cleared field seen beyond the wagons,
** Tarleton's Memoirs, &c, 205.
***This view is from the south side of the stream.
Lincoln Calumniated.—De Kalb sent to the South.—His March.—Sketch of his Public Life
limpid. Numerous teams drawing heavy loads of cotton, on their way to Camden, were passing at the time, and the songs and loud laughter of the happy teamsters enlivened the dreary aspect of nature. *
Let us consider the important events which occurred here.
Misfortune is too often mistaken for a fault, and censoriousness seldom makes candid distinctions.
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When General Lincoln was finally obliged to surrender Charleston and his army to Sir Henry Clinton,May 12, 1780calumny, with its busy tongue, decried his fair fame, and whispered doubts respecting his skill and courage. That blow, struck by a skillful hand, almost demolished the Southern army, and for a moment the patriots were dismayed. But the elasticity of hope was found in the national councils, and preparations were soon made to concentrate the various detachments of the regular army then in the South, and the volunteers whom Sumter and others were collecting, to turn back toward the sea-board the flood of invasion. A month before the fall of Charleston, when it was perceived that the chief theater of the campaign of 1780 was to be in the Southern States, Maryland and Delaware troops were sent thither, under the Baron De Kalb, *** a German officer, who had distinguished himself in the French service.
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He left Morristown
April 14, 1780with fourteen hundred effective men; reached the head of Elk in May; left Petersburg early in June, passed through Hillsborough, and halted on Deep River, in North Carolina, on the sixth of July. In the mean while,
* All the way from Yorkville I passed caravans of wagons with cotton, on their way to Camden or Columbia. The teams are driven by negroes, sometimes accompanied by an overseer. They carry corn and fodder (corn-stalks) with them, and camp out at night, in the woods, where they build fires, cook their bacon, bake their hoe-cake, and sleep under the canvas covering of their wagons. It is a season of great delight to those who are privileged to "haul cotton" to market.
** This view is from the north side of the Creek. Like the other stream, it is filled with canes, shrubs, and many blasted pines.
***The Baron De Kalb, knight of the royal military order of merit, was a native of Alsace (a German province ceded to France), and was educated in the art of war in the French army. He was connected with the quarter-master general's department, and his experience in the duties of that station rendered his services very valuable to the American army. Toward the close of the Seven Years' War, he was dispatched to the British colonies in America, as a secret agent of the French government. He traveled in disguise; yet on one occasion, he was so strongly suspected, that he was arrested as a suspicious person. Nothing being found to confirm the suspicion, he was released, and soon afterward returned to Europe. De Kalb came to America again, in the spring of 1777, with La Fayette and other foreign officers, and was one of the party who accompanied the marquis in his overland journey, from South Carolina to Philadelphia. Holding the office of brigadier in the French service, and coming highly recommended, Congress commissioned him a major general on the fifteenth of September, 1777. He immediately joined the main army under Washington, and was active in the events which preceded the encampment of the troops at Valley Forge. He was afterward in command at Elizabethtown and Amboy, in New Jersey; and while at Morristown in the spring of 1780, was placed at the head of the Maryland division. With these, and the Continental troops of Delaware, he marched southward in April, to re-enforce General Lincoln, but was too late to afford him aid at Charleston. Gates succeeded Lincoln in the command of the Southern army, and reached De Kalb's camp, on the Deep River, on the twenty-eighth of July. 1780. In the battle near Camden, which soon followed, De Kalb, while trying to rally the scattered Americans, fell, pierced with eleven wounds. He died at Camden three days afterward, and was buried there. An ornamental tree was placed at the head of his grave, * and that was the only token of its place until a few years since, when the citizens of Camden erected over it the elegant marble monument depicted in the engraving.
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* The corner stone was laid by La Fayette in 1825. It is upon the green, in front of the Presbyterian church, on De Kalb Street. The large base, forming two steps, is of granite; the whole monument is about fifteen feet in height. Upon the four sides of the monument are the following inscriptions: South side, fronting the street.—"Here lies the remains of Baron Dr Kalb, a German by birth, but in principle a citizen of the world." North side.—a In gratitude for his zeal and services, the citizens of Camden have erected this monument." East side.—"His love of Liberty induced him to leave the Old World to aid the citizens of the New in their struggle for Independence. His distinguished talents and many virtues weighed with Congress to appoint him major general, in their De Kalb's Monument. Revolutionary army." West side.—"He was second in command in the battle fought near Camden, on the sixteenth of August, 1780, between the British and Americans; and there nobly fell, covered with wounds, while gallantly performing deeds of valor in rallying the friends and opposing the enemies of his adopted country." The death of De Kalb was a great public loss. Congress, on the fourteenth of October, 1780, ordered a monument to be erected to his memory in the city of Annapolis, in Maryland, ** with an appropriate inscription, but, like kindred resolves, the order was never obeyed.
* This appointment was made without consulting the commander-in-ehief. He intended to recommend General Greene.
* Alluding to this fact, an anonymous poet wrote:
"But where, O where's the hallowed sodBeneath whose verd the hero's ashes sleep?Is this the cold, neglected, moldering clod?Or that the grave at which I ought to weep?Yet, soldier, thy illustrious name is known,Thy fame supported, and thy worth confess'd;That peerless virtue which in danger shone,Is shining still, where thou art laid in rest.Why rises not some massy pillar high,To grace a name that fought for Freedom's prize?Or why, at least, some rudely-etch'd stone nigh.To show the spot where matchless valor lies?And though no monumental script is seen.Thy worth to publish, and thy deeds proclaim,Each son of Freedom, passing near this green,Shall hail De Kalb, and venerate his name."
* In the inscription ordered by Congress (Journal, vi., 147) to be placed upon De Kalb's monument, it is said that he was "in the forty-eighth year of his age." General Henry Lee, who knew him well, says in his Memoirs, page 425, "Although nearer seventy than sixty years of age, such had been the temperance of his life, that he not only enjoyed to the last day the finest health, but his countenance still retained the bloom of youth; which circumstance very probably led to the error committed by those who drew up the inscription on the monument to be erected by Congress." Lee speaks of him as "possessing a stout frame, moderate mental powers "sober, drinking water only; abstemious to excess, and exceedingly industrious." The pay of De Kalb was considerably in arrears at the time of his death. Within a few years, some of his immediate descendants have petitioned the American Congress for the payment of these arrearages, principal and interest. Both Houses have had reports in favor of the petitioners, but the money yet (1852) remains unpaid. Among the petitioners are five of De Kalb's great grandchildren, who, by the loss of both parents, are cast upon the support and protection of an aunt, a grand-daughter of the baron. They are residing about thirty miles from Paris.
Gates in chief Command.—De Kalb's Monument and Inscription.—Tardiness of Justice.
Charleston had been captured, General Lincoln was a prisoner on parole, and De Kalb became the commander-in-chief at the South. Although Congress reposed confidence in the skill of De Kalb, it was thought proper to send an officer better known to the people for past services, and on the thirteenth of June,1780General Gates was appointed to the command. * He was then at his estate in Virginia, a few miles from Shepherdstown, and the glory of Saratoga was not yet dimmed.
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He immediately departedJune 26for the camp of De Kalb, taking with him, as secretary, his friend William Clajon, and reached his destination on the twenty-fifth of July. The prospect before him was far from flattering. An army without strength; a military chest without money; but little public spirit in the
Situation of Gates's Army.—Plan of Operations.—Sketch of Gates's Publie Life.
Commissary Department; a climate unfavorable to health; the spirits of the Republicans pressed down; Loyalists swarming in every direction, and a victorious enemy pressing to spread his legions over the territory he had come to defend, were obstacles in the way of success.
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Yet he did not despond, and, retaining De Kalb in command of his division, prepared to march into South Carolina. His whole force consisted of the Maryland and Delaware troops, a legionary corps of sixty horse and as many foot soldiers, under Colonel Armand, and three companies of artillery. There was elsewhere a considerable force of North Carolina militia in the field, under General Caswell; and on the morning of the twenty-seventh,July 1780Gates marched at the the head of his little army to effect a junction with those troops.
He passed the Deep River at the Buffalo Ford, and in the afternoon encamped upon Spinks's farm, on the road to Camden. There the plan of immediate operations was decided upon. De Kalb and Colonel Otho H. Williams (the deputy adjutant general) thought it expedient to march to Charlotte, establish a hospital and magazine at Salisbury, leave the women and all the heavy baggage there, and from thence proceed toward Camden, without impediment, through a well-cultivated and friendly country, by the way of the Waxhaw. These opinions had no weight with
* Horatio Gates was a native of England, and was educated to the military profession. He was an officer under Braddoek when that general was defeated, but does not seem to have acquired particular distinction. When the Continental army was organized in 1775, he was appointed adjutant general, with the rank of brigadier. He was then residing in Virginia. He accompanied Washington to Cambridge, in July, 1775; and in June, 1776, the chief command of the Northern army was conferred upon him, and he was promoted to major general. In the autumn of that year, he joined the main army in the Jerseys, with a detachment of his command, but his career was not marked by any brilliant action. In the summer of 1776, he was unjustly placed in command of the Northern army, in place of General Schuyler, who had succeeded him in the "spring of that year; and the victory over Burgoyne, at Saratoga, by the army under his command, gave him great eclat. "The glory of that achievement was not due to him, but to the previous operations of Schuyler, and the bravery and skill of Arnold and Morgan. In the winter of 1778. he was involved in attempts to wrest the supreme command from Washington. His position as President of the Board of War enabled him to throw obstacles in the way of the chief, nor were they withheld. From that period until appointed to the command of the Southern army, his military operations were of little account, and were chiefly in Rhode Island. When Congress gave him the command of the Southern forces, General Charles Lee said, "His Northern laurels will be exchanged for Southern willows." The prophecy was soon fulfilled, when the disastrous battle, near Camden, scattered his troops, and, apparently panic-stricken himself he fled toward Charlotte. He was superseded in his command by General Greene, in the autumn of that year, and his conduct was scrutinized by a committee of Congress. Upon their report, he was acquitted of blame. He was reinstated in his military command in the main army in 1782, but active service was no longer required. At the close of the war, he retired to his estate in Virginia, and in 1790 took up his permanent abode upon Manhattan Island, almost three miles from the then city of New York. His mansion, which was an elegant country residence, near Rose Hill, was standing as late as 1845, near the corner of Twenty-third Street and Second Avenue. In 1800, he was elected a member of the Legislature of New York, where he served but one term. He died at his residence, on the tenth of April, 1806, at the age of seventy-eight years.
* General Gates was an accomplished gentleman in his manners, but did not possess a brilliant or highly-cultivated intellect. He possessed many excellent social qualities, but was entirely deficient in the qualifications necessary for a great military commander. His vanity misled his judgment, and often perverted the finer feelings of his nature. He was always a generous friend, and not an implacable enemy. Humanity marked his treatment of prisoners, and benevolence was a ruling principle of his heart. A few years before his death, he manumitted all his slaves, but so great was the attachment of many, that they preferred to remain in his family. He died without surviving issue, his only son having been taken from him by death, at the moment when he was informed that General Greene had superseded him. On that occasion, Washington wrote him a most touching letter, consoling him for his domestic affliction, and sympathizing with him on account of the troubles of his public life. His patriotism is undoubted, and the faults of his military career may be charged to errors of judgment.
Sufferings of the Army.—Alarm of the British.—Cornwallis at Camden.—Approach of Gates.
Gates, whose vanity overruled his judgment, and on the twenty-eighth, having been joined that morning by Lieutenant-colonel Porterfield with about one hundred Virginians, he marched directly for Camden.
The country through which the Americans passed was sparsely populated, and in many places exhibited nothing but swamps and pine barrens. The heat was intense. Sickness and want of provisions soon began the work of death. Lean cattle found in the woods, green corn, and peaches, constituted the principal portion of their food. Dysentery ensued, and at one time the total destruction of the army seemed inevitable. Yet Gates pressed slowly forward, and on the day when Sumter achieved his partial victory at Hanging Rock, he reached the banks of Little Lynch's Creek, a few miles distant, where he was joined by General Caswell. *
Let us glance a moment at the movements of the British troops. We have noted how the grand army was divided and spread over South Carolina (see page 664) soon after the fall of Charleston, the northern portion of which was placed under the command of Cornwallis. This disposition of the forces of the enemy had hardly taken place, when intelligence of the approach of De Kalb was received; also of the gathering of Virginians under Porterfield; of North Carolinians, under Rutherford, in the west; and of a large body of North Carolina militia, under Caswell, in the east. Then came the intelligence that Gates, the conqueror of Burgoyne, was on his way, with a large force, to recover all that Lincoln had lost, and more, if possible. Rumor magnified their numbers. The Loyalists became alarmed; the patriots took courage; and, as we have seen, Marion and Sumter had raised their standards. The British officers were perplexed; and Lord Rawdon, who was second in command to Cornwallis, and had his post at Camden, called in some of his more distant outposts. Major M'Arthur, who was at Cheraw to encourage the Loyalists, was ordered to fall back toward Camden; and the most distant outposts were upon Lynch's Creek, at Hanging Rock, and at Rocky Mount. These, as we have seen (page 662), were attacked by Sumter, Davie, and other active officers, with their men.
Cornwallis, perceiving the gathering storm on the borders of South Carolina, hastened from Charleston to join Rawdon at Camden. He arrived there on the thirteenth of August, and learned, with much concern, the successes of Sumter, and the disaffection of the people, especially in the county between the Black River and the Pedee. Nearly eight hundred of his troops were sick at Camden, and his effective force amounted to only a little more than two thousand men, fifteen hundred of whom were regulars. The remainder were militia and North Carolina refugees. Cornwallis would gladly have retreated to Charleston, but the consideration that he must leave his sick behind, abandon or destroy his magazines, and relinquish all the territory they had gained, except Charleston, prevented that step. He therefore resolved to move forward and attack Gates before the Virginia troops, known to be approaching, could join him.
On the day when Cornwallis reached Camden, Gates advanced to Clermont, and encamped near Rugeley's Mill. Those who had opposed Sumter at Hanging Rock had fled to Camden on the approach of Gates, and Lord Rawdon had also called in the garrison which he had stationed at Rugeley's. The day after his arrival thereAug. 15, 1780Gates was joined by General Stevens, with seven hundred militia; and, at about noon, a message from Sumter announced the approach of stores and clothing on the west side of the Wateree, for the enemy at Camden. The capture of these stores, and the dispersion of the escort, we have considered on page 660.
Notwithstanding Gates had weakened his army by sending a strong re-enforcement to Sumter, he prepared to march upon Camden, to divert attention from Sumter's enterprise,
* Richard Dobbs Spaight, afterward (1792) governor of North Carolina, was General Caswell's aid on this occasion.
Gates's Night-march toward Camden.—Cornwallis's March to meet Gates.—General Gist.
and to fight, if necessary. On the evening of the fifteenth, he sent his sick extra stores, and heavy baggage, under guard, to the Waxhaw, and at ten o'clock at night commenced his march. Colonel Annand's legion composed the van, flanked upon the right by Porterfield's infantry, in Indian file, two hundred yards from the road; and upon the left by Armstrong's infantry, in the same order. Next followed the first and second Maryland brigades, under Brigadiers Smallwood and Gist, and the Delaware troops, all commanded by De Kalb: then the North Carolina division, under Caswell; the Virginia division, under Stevens; with a rear-guard of volunteer cavalgage.
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Confident in his strength by such a disposition of his troops, he ordered Colonel Armand to withstand the attack of the enemy's cavalry, whatever its number. The most profound silence was commanded, and instant death was threatened to the soldier who should fire a gun until ordered. **
Cornwallis, notwithstanding his inferior force, marched to attack Gates at Rugeley's, being informed that his position was a weak one. At the same hour when Gates marched toward Camden, Cornwallis upon the flanks struck his tents at that place, and proceeded cautiously toward Rugeley's. His troops consisted of the 23d and 33d regiments, under Lieutenant-colonel Webster (who was afterward mortally wounded at Guilford); Tarleton's legion; Irish Volunteers; a part of Lieutenant-colonel Hamilton's North Carolina regiment; and Bryan's corps of Loyalists, under Lord Rawdon, with two six and two three pounders commanded by Lieutenant M'Leod; and the 71st regiment. Camden was left in the care of Major M'Arthur, with the sick and convalescents. Silently both armies marched in the gloom of night. The air was sultry; no moon was in the heavens, but the stars looked down in serene radiance upon the earth. Not a footfall was heard in the deep sand, and neither party was aware that the other had struck his tents, until the advanced guards of each met at about two o'clock in the morning,Aug. 16, 1780upon the gentle slope about half a mile north of Sander's Creek.
* Mordecai Gist was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1743. His ancestors, early emigrants to Maryland, were English. He was educated for commercial pursuits, and was engaged in the vocation of a merchant when the storm of the Revolution began to lower. The young men of Baltimore associated under the title of the "Baltimore Independent Company," and elected Gist captain. This was the first company raised in Maryland for the defense of popular liberty. Gist was appointed major of a battalion of Maryland regulars in 1776, and was with them in the battle near Brooklyn, at the close of the summer of that year. He was promoted to colonel in 1777, and was in the battle at Germantown, in September of that year. In January, 1779, Congress appointed him a brigadier in the Continental army, and he was honored with the command of the 2d Maryland brigade. He fought bravely, and suffered defeat in the battle near Camden, In 1780. Gist was present at the surrender of Cornwallis, and afterward joined the Southern army, under Greene. When that commander remodeled the army, in 1782, while lying near Charleston, he gave General Gist the command of the light corps." It was a part of his command, under Colonel Laurens, that dealt one of the last blows upon the enemy, in an engagement upon the banks of the Combahee. At the close of the war, he retired to a plantation which he bought near Charleston, where he resided until his death, which occurred in Charleston, in 1792. General Gist had but two children, sons; one he named Independent, and the other States.
** When Deputy-adjutant-general Williams received these orders from Gates, with the estimates of the forces, he perceived that the commander was much deceived in his idea of the number of the troops. Instead of there being almost seven thousand men, he showed, by his returns, that there were only three thousand six hundred and sixty-three, exclusive of those detached in aid of Sumter. Gates did not alter his plan on account of this discovery.
Meeting of the Armies. Skirmish.—Council of War.—Preparations for Battle.—The Attack.
Both parties were surprised, and each fired almost at the same moment. Some of Arrnand's troops were killed at the first fire, and so sudden and unexpected was the attack that the remainder fell back in disorder upon the first Maryland brigade. That column was broken by the shock, and the whole line was filled with consternation. Porterfield, with his usual gallantry, rushed forward and attacked the left of the enemy's van, while Armstrong, with equal gallantry and decision, attacked them on the right, and they were brought to a pause. Porterfield was severely wounded, carried to the rear of the army, and died a few days afterward. Both armies halted, and some prisoners having been taken by both parties, the position of the respective forces became known to each other. The situation of the British was far more advantageous than that of the Americans. They had crossed Sander's Creek, and they were completely guarded in the rear by an impenetrable swamp.
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The Americans were upon rising ground in an open wood, and were obliged to be watchful of their flanks.
When the first excitement of the encounter had subsided, Gates called a council of officers. A retreat was practicable, and would doubtless have been prudent. No one seemed willing to propose it; and when, to Gates's remark, "Gentlemen, you know our situation, what are your opinions?" General Stevens replied, "It is now too late to retreat;" the silence that ensued was interpreted as favorable to an attack, and the commander-in-chief remarked, "Then we must fight; gentlemen, please take your posts."
The British army formed in line for battle, the right under the command of Webster, and the left under Rawdon, and anxiously awaited the dawn. The Americans, also, soon recovered from the panic produced by the attack, and formed in battle order. The second Maryland brigade, and the Delaware troops, under General Gist, took the right; the North Carolina militia, under Caswell, the center; and the Virginians, under Stevens, the left. The first Maryland brigade, under Smallwood, was formed in reserve. De Kalb, charged with the line of battle, took post on the right. The artillery of both armies was planted directly in front of the center. All these preparations were made in darkness, and the belligerents were ignorant of each others' movements. In the plan here given, copied from Stedman, the black parallelograms denote the British troops, and the open ones the Americans.
The first beam of morning was the signal for attack. While the British were maneuvering to gain a better position, the American artillery opened its volleys upon them. At the same moment, Colonel Williams, with a band of volunteers, pressed forward upon the enemy's right, followed by Stevens, with his Virginians, who were urged to rely upon the bayonets with which they had been furnished the day before. Webster immediately brought the British right to bear upon Williams and Stevens, with such
Battle at Sander's Creek.—General William Smallwood.
force, as to break the Virginia column and scatter it to the winds. They delivered only a single fire, and then, panic-stricken, threw away their arms, and fled in great confusion. The North Carolina militia (except Dixon's regiment, which was next to the Continentals) followed the shameful example, and the exertions of Stevens, Caswell, and even of Gates himself, to stop or rally the fugitives, were unavailing.
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Only the Continental troops, with Dixon's regiment, were now left to oppose the enemy. Upon the Maryland and Delaware troops fell the weight of battle, and for a while they nobly sustained it. On the right, De Kalb and Gist maintained their ground, though sorely pressed by Rawdon and his regulars.
Lieutenant-colonel Howard (the subsequent "hero of the Cowpens"), with Williams's regiment, charged the enemy with great vigor, and disconcerted them. Inch by inch the Marylanders gained ground, and, had the militia stood firm, and kept Webster employed, the British must have been routed and driven in confusion across Sander's Creek. That skillful officer had detached Tarleton in pursuit of the fugitives, and when Smallwood * came forward with his reserve to fill the place of the scattered militia, Webster brought his regiments to bear upon him.
Finally, the battle raged along the whole line, and victory was uncertain. Firm as a rock the phalanx of De Kalb and Gist remained At length, perceiving an advantage, De Kalb ordered a bayonet charge. The slaughter was great; the enemy recoiled, and fifty men became the prisoners of the Americans.
Smallwood, in the mean time, sustained himself gallantly; but at length Webster gained his flank, and his brigade receded. It soon regained its position; was again driven back, and speedily it rallied to the combat. Cornwallis perceived the point of strength to be with De Kalb and Gist, and, concentrating his whole force, he made a terrible charge there. It was the decisive stroke which smote down the American strength and won the victory. Another charge was made; the brave Marylanders gave way, and, with the Delaware regiment, broken and maimed, fled to the swamps. They were hotly pursued, and many were killed in the flight. The militia fell in great numbers under the sabers of Tarleton's cavalry, and for more than two miles the open wood was strewn with the dead and dying. Arms, artillery, horses, and baggage were scattered in every direction. More than a third of the Continental troops were killed; and of the wounded, one hundred and seventy men were made prisoners. The Delaware regiment was nearly annihilated, and Colonel Vaughn and Major Patten being taken prisoners, the remanent, less than two companies, were placed under the command of the brave Kirkwood, the senior captain, who had been with Washington at Trenton and Princeton. De Kalb, while trying to keep his troops firm when the
* William Smallwood was a native of Maryland, and was among the patriots of that colony who earliest expressed their attachment to Republican principles. He was appointed a brigadier by the Continental Congress, in October, 1776, and major general in September, 1780. He was in the battle near Brooklyn, in August 1776, where his command suffered severely. It was chiefly composed of young men from Maryland, many of them members of the most respectable families of that state. He was in the Brandywine and Germantown battles in 1777. He accompanied Gates to the South, and shared in the mortifications of defeat near Camden. It was a month after that event that Congress promoted him to major general. He was elected a delegate in Congress, for Maryland, in 1785, and the same year was chosen to succeed William Penn as governor of the state. He was succeeded in office by John Eager Howard, in 1788. General Smallwood died in February, 1792.
Death of the Baron de Kalb.—Flight of the Americans.—British Victorious.—The Armed Neutrality.
last charge was made, fell, pierced with eleven wounds. His lieutenant, Du Buysson, threw his arms around him, gave his name and rank, and while saving him from instant death, was terribly wounded himself by British bayonets. In the mean while Gates had fled, "borne off the field by a current of dismayed militia," who "constituted so great a part of his army, that when he saw them break and flee, he lost all hope of victory." * With Caswell, he hastened to Clermont, hoping to cheek and rally the militia at their old encampment, near Rugeley's Mill. This hope was vain, for the further the dismayed troops fled, the more they became dispersed, and the generals giving up all as lost, proceeded, with a few attendants, to Charlotte, where they arrived in the evening of the same day, though about eighty miles distant. On his way, Gates heard of the success of Sumter at the Wateree Ford, but that triumph came too late to afford him aid, and, as we have seen (page 660), two days afterward,Aug 18, 1780Sumter and his band were surprised and dispersed at Fishing Creek. General Rutherford surrendered to a party of the British legion. The other generals escaped, but were separated from their respective commands. The rout was complete, and only Major Andrus, of the third Maryland regiment, succeeded in rallying any part of the fugitives. Most of the Virginia militia retired to Hillsborough by the road they came to camp, and there General Stevens gathered many of them together. Their time of service soon expiring, they were discharged. **
The victory of Cornwallis was complete, and for a moment the hopes of the patriots, particularly at the South, were crushed; their only chance of success seemed to be the intervention of European nations. *** Within the space of three months, two armies had been almost annihilated by capture and dispersion, and the most active partisan corps scattered to the winds. **** Cornwallis considered the subjugation of South Carolina accomplished, and,
* Gordon, iii., 104.
** Ramsay, ii., 145-152. Gordon, iii., 98-107. Marshall, i., 344-348. Lee. 92-100.
*** It was during the summer of 1780, that Roehambeau and his army arrived at Newport; an auspicious event for the Americans. A movement in Europe, known in history as the Armed Neutrality, at about the same time threatened to cripple the power of England, and promised indirect aid to the Americans. The Empress Catharine, of Russia, with the duplicity which has ever marked the diplomacy of that government, professed great friendship toward England, and abhorrence of the rebellion in America. She even entered into negotiations for sending Russian troops to America to assist the British. All this while she was building a navy, and the English were made to believe it was to aid them. As soon as she felt strong enough to set England at defiance, her tone and, policy were changed, and on the twenty-sixth of February, 1780. she issued a manifesto, in which she declared the international doctrine (with a qualification) so eloquently promulged and advocated by Kossuth in America, in 1851-2, namely, that neutral states have a right to carry on their commerce with belligerent powers unmolested, and even to convey from one port to another of a belligerent power, all goods whatsoever, except what could be deemed contraband in consequence of previous treaties.* Hitherto ports were blockaded, not always by squadrons of ships, but by a simple proclamation. Catharine declared that no port should be considered blockaded, unless there was a sufficient force present to maintain a blockade, and this was the qualification of the doctrine concerning the rights of neutral nations; a qualification which contains the essential maxim of despotism, "Might makes right." This doctrine was contrary to the maritime policy of England, and inimical to her interests. In the course of the summer, Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden became parties to the policy declared by the Czarina, and entered into a league with her; and in November the States General of Holland acceded to the measure. Spain and France acquiesced in the new maritime code, and at one time a general Continental war against England appeared inevitable. But the personal caprices of Catharine, and her known faithlessness, made the other powers hesitate, and the next year the alliance resulted in inaction.
**** The exact loss sustained by the Americans in the engagement on the sixteenth, and Sumter's surprise on the eighteenth, was never ascertained. The estimated loss was as follows: exclusive of Dc Kalb and General Rutherford, four lieutenant colonels, three majors, fourteen captains, four captain lieutenants, sixteen lieutenants, three ensigns, four staff, seventy-eight subalterns, and six hundred and four rank and file. They also lost eight field-pieces, and other artillery, more than two hundred baggage wagons, and the greater part of their baggage. That of Gates and De Kalb, with all their papers, was saved. The loss of the British was severe. Gates estimated that more than five hundred of the enemy were killed and wounded; Stedman (ii., 210) says the British loss was three hundred less than the Americans. A great many of the fugitive militia were murdered in their flight. Armed parties of Tories, alarmed at the presence of the Americans, were marching to join Gates. When they heard of his defeat, they inhumanly pursued the flying Americans, and butchered a large number in the swamps and pine barrens.
* See Florida Blanca's Representation, as cited by Arch-deacon Coxe in his Memoirs of the Kings of Spain, of the Throne of Bourbon.
Confidence of the British.—Rendezvous at Hillsborough.—Governor Nash.—Colonel Buncombe.
confident of future success, moved toward the North State to establish royal rule there. His march to, and retreat from Charlotte; the defeat of his detachments at King's Mountain and the Cowpens; the pursuit of Greene; the battle at Guilford; the retreat of the British to Wilmington; their march into Virginia; and the final capture of Cornwallis's army at Yorktown, have been considered in preceding chapters.
General Gates was much censured on account of the defeat of the Americans on Sander's Creek, because he provided for no place of rendezvous in the event of being obliged to retreat; for not having his baggage and stores at a proper distance from the scene of action; and because of an improper arrangement of his army for attack, placing his unskilled militia on the right, opposite the British veterans of Webster. Armand spoke harshly of Gates, and even intimated that he was a coward or a traitor. Gates's great fault appears to have been a too sanguine belief that he could easily crush the inferior force of his enemy. His vanity was always the source of his greatest trouble. In this instance he was too confident of success, and made no provision for the contingencies of adversity; and hence his utter weakness when the victorious blow was struck by the British, and he was obliged to flee.
On the seventeenth and eighteenth,August 1780Smallwood and Gist arrived at Charlotte, with several other officers, and there they found more than one hundred regular infantry, Armand's cavalry, Major Davie's partisan corps from the Waxhaw settlement, and a few militia. Gates began to hope that another army might be speedily reorganized, when intelligence of the disaster of Sumter at Fishing Creek reached him. He retreated to Hillsborough, where the Provincial Congress was in session, with Governor Abner Nash * at its head. That officer exerted all the power and influence of his station to
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* Abner Nash was a member of the Provincial Council of North Carolina, and an active politician. When the war of the Revolution broke out, he and his brother Francis* were found in the ranks of the patriots; Abner in the council, Francis in the field. Their father emigrated from Wales, and settled in Prince Edward county, Virginia, where Abner was born. At an early age he went to North Carolina, where he was educated for the bar. He was the first speaker of the North Carolina Legislature under its Republican Constitution; and in 1779, succeeded Caswell, the first governor, in the office of chief magistrate of the state. He represented a constituency in the Assembly, from 1782 to 1785, and was a member of the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1786. He resided for many years at Newbern, where he died, greatly respected for his public and private virtues. His memory is perpetuated in the state by a county called by his name. Governor Nash's first wife was the young widow of the venerable Governor Dobbs.