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After sketching this, we visited the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court, and made the fac similes and extracts from its records, printed on pages 573—4. We next visited the head-quarters of Cornwallis, a large frame building situated in the rear of Morris'sHillsborough House, on King Street. Generals Gates and Greene also occupied it when they were in Hillsborough, and there a large number of the members of the Provincial Congress were generally lodged.
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The old court-house, where the Regulators performed their lawless acts, is no longer in existence. I was informed by Major Taylor, an octogenarian on whom we called, that it was a brick edifice, and stood almost upon the exact site of the present court-house, which is a spacious brick building, with steeple and clock.
The successor of the first was a wooden structure, and being removed to make room for the present building, was converted into a place of meeting for a society of Baptists, who yet worship there.1849Upon the hill near the Episcopal church, and fronting King Street, is the spot "where the Regulators were hung.
The residence of Governor Tryon, while in Hillsborough was on Church Street, a little west of Masonic Hall. These compose the chief objects of historic interest at Hillsborough. The town has other associations connected with the Southern campaigns, but we will not anticipate the revealments of history by considering them now.
At one o'clock I exchanged adieus with the kind Dr. Wilson, crossed the Eno, and, pursuing the route traversed by Tryon on his march to the Allamance, crossed the rapid and now turbid Ha, ** just below the falls, at sunset. I think I never traveled a worse road than the one stretching between the Eno and the Haw. It passes over a continued series of red clay hills, which are heavily wooded with oaks, gums, black locusts, and chestnuts. Small streams course among these elevations; and in summer this region must be exceedingly picturesque. Now every tree and shrub was leafless, except the holly and the laurel, and nothing green appeared among the wide-reaching branches but the beautiful tufts of mistletoe which every where decked the great oaks with their delicate leaves and transparent berries. Two and a half miles beyond the Haw, and eighteen from Hillsborough, I passed the night at Foust's house of entertainment, and after an early breakfast, rode to the place where Colonel Pyle, a Tory officer, with a considerable body of Loyalists, was deceived and defeated by Lieutenant-colonel Henry Lee and his dragoons, with Colonel Pickens, in the spring of 1781. Dr. Holt, who lives a short distance from that locality, kindly accompanied me to the spot and pointed out the place where the battle occurred; where Colonel Pyle lay concealed in a pond, and where many of the slain were buried. The place of conflict is about half a mile north of the old Salisbury highway, upon a "plantation road," two miles east of the Allamance, in Orange county. Let us listen to the voices of history and tradition.
In February, 1781, General Greene, then in command of the American army at the South, accomplished a wonderful and successful retreat across North Carolina into Virginia, closely pursued by Lord Cornwallis. This memorable retreat we shall consider presently.
* This view is from the piazza of the Union Hotel. The building is of logs, covered with clap-boards. When James Monroe (afterward President of the United States) visited the Southern army in 1780, as military commissioner for Virginia, he used this building for his office while in Hillsborough.
** The Haw River (which derives its name from the abundance of hawthorns in that region) rises in Rockingham and Guilford counties, and in Chatham county unites with the Deep River, and forms the northwest branch of the Cape Fear.
Cornwallis at Hillsborough.—Greene's Plans.—Expedition under Lieutenant Colonel Lee.—His Public-Life
When Cornwallis was certified that Greene had escaped across the Dan with all his force, baggage, and stores, he ordered a halt,Feb 14, 1781and, after refreshing his wearied troops, moved slowly back to Hillsborough, and there established his head-quarters.' His object was partially accomplished; he had not captured the "rebel army," but he had driven it from the Carolinas, and he now anticipated a general rising of the Tories, to assist him in crushing effectually the remaining Republicanism at the South. Although driven across the Dan, Greene had no idea of abandoning North Carolina to the quiet possession of the enemy.
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In the fertile and friendly county of Halifax, in Virginia, his troops reposed for a few days, and then they were called again to the field of active exertion. He resolved to recruit his thinned battalions, and as soon as possible recross the Dan and confront Cornwallis.
Among the most active and efficient officers engaged in the Southern campaigns was Henry Lee, ** at this time lieutenant colonel, in command of a corps of choice cavalry. He was in Greene's camp when that general issued his orders to prepare for recrossing the Dan into the Carolinas. His patriot heart leaped for joy when the order was given, and he was much gratified when himself and General Pickens, who commanded a body of South Carolina militia, with Captain Oldham and two companies of Maryland veteran militia, were directedFeb 18, 1781to repass the Dan and reconnoitre the front of Cornwallis, for he burned to measure strength with the fiery Tarleton. They were sent by Greene to interrupt the intercourse of Cornwallis with the country surrounding his army at Hillsborough, and to suppress every attempt of the Loyalists to join him in force. This proved necessary, for the British commander issued a proclamation on the twentieth of February,1781inviting the Loyalists to join his standard at Hillsborough.
Lieutenant-colonel Lee crossed the Dan on the eighteenth, and was followed
* Cornwallis remained in Hillsborough about ten days. While a detachment of his army lay at the Red House, a short distance from the town, they occupied the Church of Hugh M'Aden, the first located missionary in North Carolina. Supposing M'Aden (then a short time in his grave) to have been a rebel, be-cause he was a Presbyterian, the British burned his library and papers. His early journal escaped the flames.—Fuote, 273.
** Henry Lee. was born at the family seat, in Stratford (see page 423), on the twenty-ninth of January, 1756. He was educated at Princeton College, where he graduated in 1773. Fond of active life, and imbued with a military spirit, he sought and obtained the command of a company, in Colonel Bland's regiment of Virginia volunteers, in 1776. He joined the Continental army in September, 1777. where he soon attracted the favorable notice of Washington. He was promoted to the rank of major, in command of a separate corps of cavalry. On the sixth of November, 1780, Congress promoted him to lieutenant eolonel, and ordered him to join the Southern army under General Greene, where his career was marked by great skill and bravery. His military exploits and the honors conferred upon him by Congress, are noticed in various places in this volume. In 1786, he was appointed a delegate to Congress, which position he held until the adoption of the Constitution. In 1791, he succeeded Beverly Randolph as governor of Virginia, and remained in office three years. He commanded the forces, by appointment of Washington, which were sent to quell the whisky insurrection in Pennsylvania. He was a member of Congress in 1799, and was chosen to pronounce a funeral oration at Washington, on the occasion of the death of the first president. He wrote his Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States, in 1808. He was active in quelling a mob in Baltimore in 1814, and from wounds received at that time he never fairly recovered. Toward the close of 1817, he repaired to the West Indies for the benefit of his health, but without success. Returning, he stopped at Cumberland Island, near St. Mary's, in Georgia, to visit Mrs. Shaw, the daughter of General Greene, where he died on the twenty-fifth of March, 1818, at the age of sixty-two years. The names of Lee, Marion, Morgan, Sumter, and Pickens form a brilliant galaxy in the Southern firmament of our Revolutionary history.
Pursuit of Tarleton.—Approach of Tories under Colonel Pyle.—Conception of a Plan to Ensnare them.
by Pickens and Oldham. He sent out his scouts, and early on the morning of the nineteenth he was informed by them that Tarleton and his legion were out toward the Haw reconnoitering, and offering protection to the Loyalists who were desirous of marching to Cornwallis's camp. Lee and Pickens pushed on to gain the great road leading from Hillsborough to the Haw. They ascertained that Tarleton had passed there the day before, and was probably then on the western side of the Haw. The next dayFeb 21the Americans crossed the Haw, and were informed that the Loyalists between that and the Deep River were certainly assembling to join the earl. They also learned from a countryman (a sort of passive Tory named Ephraim Cooke) that Tarleton's force consisted of most of his cavalry, four hundred infantry, and two light field pieces; and that he was encamped about four miles distant with all the carelessness of confident security. Lee determined to surprise him, and placed his little army in battle order for a quick march. They reached the designated spot too late, for Tarleton had left and proceeded a few miles further, to the plantation of Colonel William O'Neil, whose memory, if common report speaks true, deserves a greater share of the odium of his countrymen than the most bitter Tory, for by his avaricious acts while claiming to be a Whig, he drove many of his neighbors to join the ranks of the Loyalists. * Two of Tarleton's officers, who were left behind, were captured.
Lee now resolved to employ stratagem. His legion greatly resembled that of Tarleton, and he made the country people believe that his was a detachment sent by Cornwallis to re-enforce that officer. The two prisoners were commanded to favor the deception, under penalty instant death. The legion took the van in the march,Feb. 25, 1781with Lieutenant-colonel Lee at the head, preceded, at the distance of a few hundred yards, by a scout. The officer of the van soon met two well-mounted young men, who, believing him to belong to a British re-enforcement, promptly answered an inquiry by saying that they were "rejoiced to fall in with him, they having been sent forward by Colonel Pyle, the commander of quite a large body of Loyalists, to find out Tarleton's camp, whither he was marching with his followers." A dragoon was immediately sent to Lee with this information, and was speedily followed by the young men, who mistook "Legion Harry" for Tarleton, and, with the greatest deference, informed him of the advance of Colonel Pyle. Lee dispatched his adjutant to General Pickens to request him to place his riflemen (among whom were those of Captain Graham, ** who had just joined him) on the left flank, in a place of concealment in the woods, while he himself should make an attempt to capture the deceived Loyalists. Lee also sent one of the duped young men, with the dragoon who escorted them, to proceed to Colonel Pyle with his compliments, and his request "that the colonel would be so good as to draw out his forces on the side of the road, so as to give convenient room for his (Lee's) much wearied troops to pass by without delay to their right position." The other young countryman was detained to accompany Lee himself, whom he supposed to be Tarleton. The van officer was ordered to halt as soon as he should perceive the Loyalists. This order was obeyed; and presently the young man who had been sent to Colonel Pyle, returned with that officer's assurance that he was "happy to comply with the request of Colonel Tarleton." It was the intention of Lee, when his force should obtain the requisite position to have the complete advantage of Colonel Pyle, to reveal his real name and character, demand the immediate surrender of the Tories, and give them their
* See Caruthers's Life of Caldwell, page 213.
** The father of the present Secretary of the Navy.
Destruction of the Loyalists.—Escape of Colonel Pyle.—The Battle-ground.—Escape of Tarleton.
choice, to return quietly to their homes, after being disarmed, or to join the patriot army. Thus far every thing had worked favorably to Lee's humane design.
Lee's cavalry first approached the Loyalists, who, happily for the furtherance of the plan, were on therightside of the road; consequently, the horsemen following Lee were obliged to countermarch and confront the Loyalists. As Lee approached Colonel Pyle, the Loyalists raised the shout, "God save the king!" He rode along the Tory column (who were also mounted, with their rifles on their backs), and, with gracious smiles, complimented them on their fine appearance and loyal conduct. As he approached Pyle and grasped his hand (the signal for his cavalry to draw when he should summon the Tories to surrender), the Loyalists on the left discovered Pickens's militia, and perceived that they were betrayed.
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They immediately commenced firing upon the rear-guard of the American cavalry, commanded by Captain Eggleston. * That officer, as a matter of necessity, instantly turned upon the foe, and this movement was speedily followed by the whole column. A scene of dreadful slaughter followed, for the Loyalists, taken by surprise, could not bring their rifles to bear before Lee had struck the fatal blow. Colonel Pyle commanded four hundred Loyalists; ninety of them were killed in that brief moment, and a large portion of the remainder were wounded. A cry for mercy arose from the discomfited Tories, but the hand of mercy was stayed until the red arm of war had placed the Americans beyond danger. ** Colonel Pyle was badly wounded, and fled to the shelter of a small pond, which was environed and deeply shaded by a fringe of oaks, persimmons, hawthorns, crab-trees, and black jacks, trellised with the vines of the muscadine. Tradition says that he laid himself under the water, with nothing but his nose above it, until after dark, when he crawled out, made his way home, and recovered. The place of his concealment is yet known as "Pyle's Pond," of which the engraving is a correct view, as it appeared when I visited the spot in 1849.Jan 2It is on the verge of a cultivated field, of some six acres, half a mile northwest from the Salisbury road. Its dense fringe is gone, and nothing indicates its former concealment but numerous stumps of the ancient forest.
Lee and Pickens did not pursue the retreating Loyalists; but, anxious to overtake Tarleton, who was at Colonel O'Neil's, upon the Greensborough road, three miles northward, he resumed his march, notwithstanding it was almost sunset. He halted within a mile of O'Neil's, and encamped for the night, where they were joined by Colonel Preston and three hundred hardy mountaineers from Virginia, who had hastened to the support of Greene. At ten o'clock in the morning, the Americans formed for attack, when it was ascertained that Tarleton, alarmed by the exaggerated stories of some of the survivors of Pyle's corps, who made their way to his camp, had hastened to obey the orders of Cornwallis, just received, and was moving toward the Haw. The Americans pursued him as far as that river, when they halted, and Tarleton, after a narrow escape at the ford, returned in safety to Hillsborough. "Fortune, the capricious goddess," says Lee, "gave us Pyle, and saved Tarleton." ****
* Captain Eggleston was one of the most efficient cavalry officers in Lee's legion, during the campaigns further south the same year. We shall meet him hereafter.
** In this action the Americans did not lose a single man, and only one horse. The generally accurate and impartial Stedman, influenced, doubtless, by wrong information, called the event a "massacre;" says that "no quarter was granted" when asked; and that "between two and three hundred of them were inhumanly butchered while in the act of begging for mercy."—History of the American War, ii., 334.
*** About a quarter of a mile northwest from this pond, is the spot where the battle occurred. It was then heavily wooded; now it is a cleared field, on the plantation of Colonel Michael Holt. Mr. Holt planted an apple-tree upon the spot where fourteen of the slain were buried in one grave. Near by, a persimmon-tree indicates the place of burial of several others.
**** Memoirs, page 160.
The Allamance.—Factory Labor.—Regulator Battle-ground.—Greensborough
"Cornwallis led a country dance;
The like was never seen, sir;
Much retrograde, and much advance,
And all with General Greene, sir.
They rambled up and rambled down.
Joined bands, and off they ran, sir;
Our General Greene to old Charlestown,
And the earl to Wilmington, sir. *
There was Greene in the South; you must know him—
Whom some called a "Hickory Quaker;"
But he ne'er turned his back on the foeman,
Nor ever was known for a Shaker.'—William Elliot.
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LEFT the place of Pyle's defeat toward noon, and, following a sinuous and seldom-traveled road through a forest of wild crab-apple trees and black jacks, crossed the Allamance at the cotton-factory of Holt and Carrigan, two miles distant. ** Around this mill quite a village of neat log-houses, occupied by the operatives, were collected, and every thing had the appearance of thrift. I went in, and was pleased to see the hands of intelligent white females employed in a useful occupation. Manual labor by white people is a rare sight at the South, where an abundance of slave labor appears to render such occupation unnecessary; and it can seldom be said of one of our fair sisters there, "She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff." *** This cotton-mill, like the few others which I saw In the Carolinas, is a real blessing, present and prospective, for it gives employment and comfort to many poor girls who might otherwise be wretched; and it is a seed of industry planted in a generous soil, which may hereafter germinate and bear abundant fruit of its kind in the midst of cotton plantations, thereby augmenting immensely the true wealth of the nation.
At a distance of two miles and a half beyond the Allamance, on the Salisbury road, I reached the Regulator battle-ground; and, in company with a young man residing in the vicinity, visited the points of particular interest, and made the sketch printed on page 577. The rock and the ravine from whence James Pugh and his companions (see page 576) did such execution with their rifles, are now hardly visible. The place is a few rods north of the road. The ravine is almost filled by the washing down of earth from the slopes during eighty years; and the rock projects only a few ells above the surface. The whole of the natural scenery is changed, and nothing but tradition can identify the spot.
While viewing the battle-ground, the wind, which had been a gentle and pleasant breeze from the south all the morning, veered to the northeast, and brought omens of a cold storm. I left the borders of the Allamance, and its associations, at one o'clock, and traversing a very hilly country for eighteen miles, arrived, a little after dark, at Greensborough, a thriving, compact village, situated about five miles southeast from the site of old Guilford Court House. It is the capitol of Guilford county, and successor of old Martinsburg, where the
* These lines form a part of a song which was very popular at the close of the war, and was sung to the air of "Yankee Doodle."
** This factory, in the midst of a cotton-growing eountry, and upon a never-failing stream, can not be otherwise than a source of great profit to the owners. The machinery is chiefly employed in the manufacture of cotton yarn. Thirteen hundred and fifty spindles were in operation. Twelve looms were employed in the manufacture of coarse cotton goods suitable for the use of the negroes.
*** Proverbs, xxxi., 19.
Fire in Greensborough.—The Guilford Battle-ground.—Gates superseded by Greene
court-house was formerly situated. Very few of the villages in the interior of the state appeared to me more like a Northern town than Greensborough. The houses are generally good, and the stores gave evidences of active trade. Within an hour after my arrival, the town was thrown into commotion by the bursting out of flames from a large frame dwelling, a short distance from the court-house. There being no fire-engine in the place, the flames spread rapidly, and at one time menaced the safety of the whole town. A small keg of powder was used, without effect, to demolish a tailor's shop, standing in the path of the conflagration toward a large tavern. The flames passed on, until confronted by one of those broad chimneys, on the outside of the house, so universally prevalent at the South, when it was subdued, after four buildings were destroyed. I never saw a population more thoroughly frightened; and when I returned to my lodgings, far away from the fire, every bed in the house was packed ready for flight.
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It was past midnight when the town became quiet, and a consequently late breakfast delayed my departure for the battle-field at Guilford Court House, until nine o'clock the next morning.
A cloudy sky, a biting north wind, and the dropping of a few snow-flakes when I left Greensborough, betokened an unpleasant day for my researches. It was ten o clock when I reached Martinsville, once a pleasant hamlet, now a desolation. There are only a few dilapidated and dispirited dwellings left; and nothing remains of the old Guilford Court House but the ruins of a chimney, depicted on the plan of the battle, printed on page 608. Only one house was inhabited, and that by the tiller of the soil around it. Descending into a narrow, broken valley, from Martinsville, and ascending the opposite slope to still higher ground on the road to Salem, I passed among the fields consecrated by the events of the battle at Guilford, in March,March 141781, to the house of Mr. Hotchkiss, a Quaker, who, I was informed could point out every locality of interest in his neighborhood.
Mr. Hotchkiss was absent, and I was obliged to wait more than an hour for his return. The time passed pleasantly in conversation with his daughter, an intelligent young lady, who kindly ordered my horse to be fed, and regaled me with some fine apples, the first fruit of the kind I had seen since leaving the James River.
While tarrying there, the snow began to fall thickly, and when, about noon, I rambled over the most interesting portion of the battle-ground, and sketched the and directed General Washington to make the selection.
The scene is printed on page 611, the whole country was covered with a white mantle. Here, by this hospitable fireside, let us consider the battle, and those wonderful antecedent events which distinguished General Greene's celebratedRetreat.
After the unlucky battle near Camden, where General Gates lost the laurels he had obtained at Saratoga, Congress perceived the necessity of appointing a more efficient commander for the army in the Southern Department. The commander-in-chief appointed General Nathaniel Greene,Oct 30, 1780late the quarter-master general, who immediately proceeded to his field of labor.
Passing through Delaware, Maryland, and Vir-
* Nathaniel Greene was born of Quaker parents, at Warwick, in Rhode Island, in 1746. His father was an anchor smith, and in that business Nathaniel was trained. While yet a boy, he learned the Latin language, and by prudence and perseverance he collected a small library while a minor. The perusal of military history occupied much of his attention. He had just attained his majority, when his abilities were so highly estimated, that he was chosen a representative in the Legislature of Rhode Island.
* Fired with military zeal, and ardent patriotism, young Greene resolved to take up arms for his country, when he heard of the battle at Lexington. He was appointed to the command of three regiments in the Army of Observation, raised by his state, and led them to Roxbury. In consequence of this violation of their discipline, the Quakers disowned him. General Washington soon perceived his worth, and in August the following year, Congress promoted him from the office of brigadier of his state militia to that of major general in the Continental army. He was in the battles at Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown. In March, 1778. he was appointed quarter-master general, and in June was engaged in the battle of Monmouth. He resigned his office of quarter-master general in 1780, and was succeeded by Timothy Pickering. He took the command of the Southern Department, December third, 1780, and in February following made his famous retreat. He engaged in the battle of Guilford, in March, 1781, when he was defeated. In April following, he fought with Lord Rawdon, near Camden, where he was again defeated, but retreated in good order, and soon afterward captured several British posts in South Carolina. He besieged Fort Ninety-Six in May, but was unsuccessful. On the eighth of September, he gained a partial victory at Eutaw Springs, for which Congress presented him with a British standard and a gold medal. This engagement closed the war in South Carolina. He returned to Rhode Island at the conclusion of the war. He went to Georgia in 1785 to look after an estate belonging to him near Savannah. While walking one day, in June, without an umbrella, he was "sun struck," and died on the nineteenth of that month, in 1786, at the age of forty-six years. His body was buried in a vault in Savannah, on the same day, but owing to negligence in designating the one, a search for his remains, in 1820, was unsuccessful. No man living can now point out the sepulchre of that ablest of Washington's generals. On the eighth of August following, Congress adopted the following resolution: "That a monument be erected to Nathaniel Greene, Esq., at the seat of the Federal government, with the following inscription: Sacred to the memory of Nathaniel Greene, Esq., a native of the State of Rhode Island, who died on the nineteenth of June, 1786; late major general in the service of the United States, and commander of their army in the Southern Department. The United Slates, in Congress assembled, in honor of his patriotism, valor, and ability, have erected this monument." The Board of Treasury was directed to take action for the due execution of the foregoing resolutions. In person General Greene was rather corpulent, and above the common size. His complexion was fair and florid; his countenance serene and mild. His health was generally delicate, but was preserved by temperance and exercise.
Greene's Arrival in Carolina.—Courtesy of Gates.—Disposition of the belligerent Armies.
ginia, he ascertained what supplies he was likely to obtain from those states; and leaving the Baron Steuben to direct the defense of Virginia, and to raise levies and stores for the Southern army, he proceeded to Hillsborough, the seat of government of North Carolina. Governor Nash received him with joy, for the dangers which menaced the state were imminent. After remaining there a few days, he hastened on to Charlotte, the head-quarters of the army. General Gates received him with great respect, and on the day after his arrival he took formal command of the army.Dec 3. 1780Gates immediately set out for the head-quarters of Washington (then in New Jersey, near the Hudson), to submit to an inquiry into his conduct, which had been ordered by Congress.Oct 5, 1780From that time until the commencement of his retreat from the Carolinas, Greene was exceedingly active in the arrangement of the army, and in wisely directing its movements.
His first arrangement was to divide his army into two detachments, the largest of which, under himself, was to be stationed opposite Cheraw Hill, on the east side of the Peedee River, in Chesterfield District, upon a small stream called Hick's Creek, about seventy miles to the right of Cornwallis, who was then at Winnsborough, in Fairfield District. The other, composed of about one thousand troops, under General Morgan, was placed some fifty miles to the left, near the junction of the Broad and Pacolet Rivers, in Union District. Cornwallis sent Colonel Tarleton, with a considerable force, to disperse the little army of Morgan, and soon the memorable battle of the Cowpens occurred,Jan 17, 1781in which the Americans were victorious. Tarleton, with the remnant of his troops, retreated precipitately to the main army of Cornwallis, who was then at Turkey Creek; and Morgan, in the evening of the same day, crossed the Broad River, and moved, by forced marches, toward the Catawba, to form a junction with the division of General Greene.
"When Cornwallis heard of the defeat of Tarleton and the direction that Morgan had taken, he resolved on pursuit, with the hope of regaining the prisoners taken at the Cowpens, and of demolishing the Americans before they could reach the Catawba. He was joined on the eighteenth by General Leslie and his troops, from Camden. To facilitate his march, he ordered all the superfluous baggage and wagons to be destroyedJan 25at Ram-
Greene in Co-operation with Morgan.—Conference of the Commanders.—Battle at Ramsour's Mills.—General Rutherford.
sour's Mills, on the south fork of the Catawba. * In the mean while, General Greene had been apprised of the battle and the result, and on the same day when Cornwallis commenced pursuit, he ordered Brigadier Stevens to march with his Virginia militia (whose term of service was almost expired) by way of Charlotte, to take Morgan's prisoners and conduct them to Charlottesville, in Virginia. Greene, anxious to confer with Morgan personally, left the eamp on the Pedee, under the eommand of General Huger and Colonel Otho H. Williams, and started, with one aid and two or three mounted militia, for the Catawba.Jan 28On the route he was informed of Cornwallis's pursuit and immediately sent an express to Huger and Williams to break up the camp, and march with all possible dispatch to form a junction with Morgan's light troops at Salisbury or Charlotte. Greene reached Sherrard's Ford, on the Catawba, on the thirty-first, where he had an interview with Morgan, and directed his future movements.
* At this place a severe battle was fought on the twentieth of June, 1780, between a body of North Carolina militia and a large force of Loyalists. Early in June, General Rutherford * was in command of more than five hundred North Carolina militia, and was in the vicinity of Charlotte. Having received intelligence that the Tories were embodying in arms beyond the Catawba, in Tryon county, he issued orders to commanders in the vicinity to arouse the militia for the dispersion of those men. Ramsour's Mills, in the present county of Lincoln, on the south fork of the Catawba, was their place of rendezvous, and toward that point he marched, he having received intelligence that Lord Rawdon had retired to Camden. The Tories were assembled under Colonels John Moore and Major Nicholas Welch, to the number of almost thirteen hundred, on the twentieth of June. On Sunday, the eighteenth, having concentrated the militia of Mecklenburg, Rowan, and neighborhood, Rutherford proceeded to the Catawba, and crossed that river at the Tuckesege Ford, on the evening of the nineteenth. He dispatched a messenger to Colonel Francis Locke, of Rowan, informing him of the state of affairs, and ordering him to form a junction with him between the Forks of the Catawba, sixteen miles from Ramsour's. That officer, with the militia under several other subordinate commanders, in all about four hundred men, encamped on the nineteenth on Mountain Creek, higher up on the Catawba, above Beattie's Ford, and also sixteen miles from Ramsour's. At a council of the officers, junction with Rutherford, who was about thirty-five miles distant, was not deemed prudent, and they resolved to attack the Tories without delay. Colonel Johnson, one of their number, was dispatched to apprise General Rutherford of the situation of affairs. He reached Rutherford's camp at ten o'clock the same night. Late in the evening of the nineteenth, Colonel Locke and his companions commenced their march, and at daylight the following morning they were within a mile of the enemy's eamp. The latter were upon a high hill, three hundred yards east of Ramsour's Mill, and half a mile from the present village of Lincolnton.
* Their position was very advantageous, and as there were but few trees upon the slope, they could fire effectually upon an approaching foe. The companies of Captains Falls, M'Dowell, and Brandon, of the patriot army, were on horseback, and led on to the attack; the footmen were under the immediate command of Colonel Loeke. The Tories were surprised. Their pickets fired when the patriots appeared, and then retreated to the camp. For a moment the Tories were confused, but, recovering, they poured such a deadly fire upon the horsemen, who had pursued the pickets to the lines, that they were compelled to fall back. They rallied, and soon the action became general. Captain Hardin now gained the right flank of the Tories, while the action was warm in the center. In two instances the parties were so close that they beat each other with the buts of their guns. The Whigs soon drove the Tories from the hill, when they discovered them collected in force on the other side of the mill stream. Expecting an immediate attack, messengers were sent to urge Rutherford forward. They met him within six miles of Ramsour's, pushing on with all possible haste. Major Davie, with his cavalry, started off at full gallop, followed by Colonel Davidson's infantry. They were met within two miles of Ramsour's, with the intelligence that the Tories had retreated. Rutherford marched to the scene of action, and there encamped. The conflict was very severe, and seventy men were left dead on the ground. As all were in "citizen's dress," it was difficult to distinguish the Whigs from the Tories among the dead. It is believed that each party had an equal number killed. About one hundred men on each side were wounded. Fifty Tories were taken prisoners. A terrible voice of wail went up from that battle-field the next day, when the relatives of the slain came there in search of them.
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* Griffith Rutherford was an Irishman by birth, brave and patriotic, but uncultivated in mind and manners. He resided west of Salisbury, in the Locke settlement, and in 1775 represented Rowan county in the Convention at Newbern. In 1776 he led a large force into the Cherokee country, and assisted the people of South Carolina in destroying their corn-fields and villages. He was appointed a brigadier by the Provincial Congress, in April, 1776. He commanded a brigade in the battle near Camden, in August, 1781, and was taken prisoner by the British. He was exchanged, and was in command at Wilmington when that place was evacuated by the British at the close of the war. He was a state senator in 1784, and soon afterward removed to Tennessee, where he died. A county both in North Carolina and Tennessee bears his name.
Morgan pursued by Cornwallis.—Narrow Escape of the former.—Passage of the Catawba by Cornwallis's Army.===The pursuit by Cornwallis had been keen and untiring. He had kept between the Broad and the Catawba Rivers, and his sole efforts were to reach the fords toward which Morgan was pressing, in time to cut him off. Morgan's march was equally rapid, and he crossed the Catawba at the Island Ford, on the northern border of the present Lincoln county, with his prisoners and baggage, two hours before the arrival of the British van-guard, under Brigadier-general O'Hara.Jan 28, 1781It was sunset, and the earl, confident of his prey, postponed further pursuit until morning.
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This delay was fatal to his success. Rain fell copiously during the night, and in the morning the Catawba was brimful, and entirely unfordable. Thus it remained for forty-eight hours; and in the mean while Morgan's prisoners were sent forward to a place of safety, and measures were adopted to dispute the passage of the river with the British. Had the flood in the river happened a few hours earlier, Morgan's little army must have been lost. The event was properly marked by the friends of liberty as the tangible interposition of Providence. The arrival of Greene, at this juncture, was equally providential; for Morgan had resolved upon a line of retreat which must have proved fatal. Greene interposed counter orders, and the whole army was saved.
When the waters subsided, Cornwallis resumed his pursuit. Lieutenant-colonel Webster, with a small detachment, moved toward Beattie's Ford, to give the impression that the British army would cross there; while Cornwallis, decamping at midnight with the main body, moved rapidly toward Cowan's Ford, six miles below. This was a private crossing-place, and the earl supposed he would thus elude the vigilance of Greene and Morgan. It was a miscalculation, as numerous camp-fires assured him when he approached the ford, a little before dawn.Feb 1, 1781General Davidson, the commander in Salisbury District, who had arrived the day before with three hundred North Carolina militia, was sent by Greene, who was quartered at Salisbury, * to guard the ford and dispute its passage if attempted. Neglecting to place his main body near the river, so as to make an imposing appearance he did not deter Cornwallis from proceeding to cross. The current was rapid, the stream in many places waist-deep, and almost five hundred yards wide, yet the brave Britons, led on by General O'Hara, plunged into the stream, and in the face of a severe fire from Captain Graham's ** riflemen, who were posted at the ford, pressed forward
* Greene was quartered at Salisbury, in the house of Elizabeth Steele, a patriot of purest mold. She had heard Greene utter words of despondency, and her heart was touched. While he was at table, she brought two bags full of specie, the earnings of years of toil, and presented them to him, saying, "Take these"; for you will want them, and I can do without them." Greene was grateful; and before he left her house he wrote upon the back of a portrait of the king, hanging in the room, "O George, hide thy face and mourn!" and then hung it up, with the face to the wall. That portrait, with the writing, is in the present possession of the Honorable David L. Swain, of Chapel Hill.
** Captain Joseph Graham was an excellent specimen of those young men of Carolina who flocked to the armv fighting for independence. He was born in Pennsylvania, on the thirteenth of October, 1759, and at the age of seven years accompanied his widowed mother to North Carolina. He was educated at Queen's Museum, in Charlotte, and was a spectator at the famous convention, held there in May, 1775. In May, 1778, at the age of nineteen, young Graham enlisted in the fourth regiment of North Carolina regular troops, under Colonel Archibald Lyle. Marching northward, his commander received instructions to return to Carolina, and Graham went home on furlough. He was called into active service in the autumn of that year, and accompanied General Rutherford to the banks of the Savannah, soon after the defeat of General Ashe at Brier Creek. He was with General Lincoln while maneuvering against Prevost, and was in the severe battle at Stono, in June, 1779. A fever prostrated him, and he returned home. While plowing in the field, he heard of the fall of Charleston and defeat of Buford at the Waxhaw, and, like Cincinnatus, he left the furrow to engage in public duties. He was appointed adjutant of the Mecklenburg regiment. He was engaged in active service for some time, and fought the enemy with Major Davie, at Charlotte, in the autumn of 1780. In that engagement he was cut down and severely wounded by a British dragoon. He received six sabre and three bullet wounds. These confined him in the hospital for two months. When recovered, he raised a company of mounted riflemen, and, with his fifty men, disputed the passage of the British army at Cowan's Ford. With his company, and some troops from Rowan, he surprised and captured a British guard at Hart's Mill, only a mile and a half from head-quarters at Hillsborough, and the next day was with Lee when Pyle was defeated. He was engaged in active service all that summer, and in September was appointed a major, and, with a pretty strong force, proceeded toward Wilmington to rescue Governor Burke, who had been abducted from Hillsborough by Fanning, a noted Tory, and his associates. South of Fayetteville he encountered a band of Tories, and, after a severe skirmish, defeated them. His force was only one hundred and thirty-six; that of the Tories was six hundred. It was a brilliant achievement. He was engaged in two or three other military enterprises soon afterward, when the surrender of Cornwallis caused a cessation of hostilities at the South. With this campaign, Major Graham's revolutionary services closed. In the course of four years (at the end of which he was only twenty-three years of age) he had commanded in fifteen engagements, and was greatly beloved by his companions.
* Major Graham was elected the first sheriff of Mecklenburg, alter the close of the war, and, in 1787, married a daughter of John Davidson, one of the members of the famous Mecklenburg Convention. By her he had twelve children, the youngest of whom, the Honorable William A. Graham, is now (1852) Secretary of the Navy of the United States. Soon after his marriage, he erected iron-works, and settled in Lincoln county, eight miles from Beattie's Ford, where he lived forty years, and died. In 1814, one thousand men were raised in North Carolina to assist the Tennessee and Georgia volunteers against the Creek Indians. Graham was urgently solicited to take the command. He consented, and received the commission ol major general. He arrived with his corps just as the Creeks had submitted to Generals Jackson, Coffee, and Carroll, after the battle at the Horse Shoe. For many years after that war, General Graham was the senior officer of the fifth division of the stale militia. Temperate in all things, he enjoyed remarkable health until about the time of his death, which occurred from apoplexy, on the twelfth of November, 1836, at the age of seventy-seven years. His honored remains lie in a secluded spot, near the great road leading from Beattie's Ford to Lincolnton.
Success of the British.—Death old General Davidson.—British Account of the Conflict.—Queen's-Museum.
to the opposite bank. * The British reserved their fire until they had gained the shore, and then, pouring a few volleys into the ranks of Graham, soon dispersed them. While ascending the bank, Colonel Hall, of the British army, was killed. General Davidson was stationed half a mile from the ford, with the main body of the militia. Hearing the firing, he hastened to the spot, with Colonel William Polk and the Reverend Thomas M'Caule. They arrived just as the Americans were about to flee. Davidson was the last upon the ground, and as he turned to follow his troops he was shot dead by a rifle ball. ** The mili-
* Stedman, an eye-witness, from whose work the plan is copied, gives the following account of the passage of the river. This description illustrates the plan. "The light infantry of the guards, led by Colonel Hall, first entered the water. They were followed by the grenadiers, and ihe grenadiers by the battalions, the men marching in platoons, to support one another against the rapidity of the stream. When the light infantry had nearly reached the middle of the river, they were challenged by one of the enemy's sentinels. The sentinel having challenged thrice and received no answer, immediately gave the alarm by discharging his musket; and the enemy's pickets were turned out. No sooner did the guide [a Tory] who attended the light, infantry to show them the ford, hear the report of the sentinel's musket, than he turned round and left them. This, which at first seemed to portend much mischief, in the end proved a fortunate incident. Colonel Hall, being forsaken by his guide, and not knowing the true direction of the ford, led the column directly across the river, to the nearest part of the opposite bank. This direction, as it afterward appeared, carried the British troops considerably above the place where the ford terminated on the other side, and where the enemy's pickets were posted, so that when they delivered their fire the light infantry were already so far advanced as to be out of the line of its direction, and it took place angularly upon the grenadiers, so as to produce no great effect."—History of the American War, ii., 328.
** General William Davidson was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1746. His family went to North Carolina (Rowan county) when he was four years old. He was educated at Queen's Museum, * an institution at Charlotte, where many of the patriots of Carolina were instructed; and when the war broke ont, he took up arms. He was major of one of the first regiments raised in Carolina, but first saw active service in New Jersey. In November, 1779, he was detached to reenforce Lincoln at the South. In a skirmish, near Carson's Mills, a ball passed through his body, near the kidneys, but the wound was not mortal.