1780. we shall attempt a fecondary object. The reduction of Charlestown, Savannah, &c. may come into contem

.

plation." The prospect of giving relief to the southern states, by an operation against New York, was the principal inducement for propofing it.

The fouthern operations have been peculiar. Before they are related, let it be remarked, that when gen. Gates paffed through Richmond on his way home, the Virginia house of delegates on December the 28th"Refolved, nemine contradicente, That a committee of four be appointed to wait on major general Gates, and to affure him of the high regard and esteem of this house:-That the remembrance of his former glorious fervices cannot be obliterated by any reverse of fortune, but that this houfe, ever mindful of his great merit, will omit no opportunity of teftifying to the world the gratitude which, as a member of the American union, this country owes to him in his military character." To this refolve, when communicated by the committee of four, the general anfwered the fame day-" Sirs, I fhall ever remember with the utmost gratitude, the high honor this day done me, by the honorable the house of delegates of Virginia. When I engaged in the noble cause of freedom and the United States, I devoted myfelf entirely to the service of obtaining the great end of their union. That I have been once unfortunate is my great mortification; but let the event of my future fervices be what they may, they will, as they always have been, be directed by the most faithful integrity, and animated by the trueft zeal for the honor and intereft of the United States."

When

When gen. Greene entered upon his command, he 1780. found himself under the greatest embarrassments. The numerous whig militia that had been kept on foot in North Carolina, had laid waste almost all the country. The troops were deftitute of every thing neceffary either for their comfort or convenience. The men were naked; there were no magazines; and the army was fubfifted by daily collections. Every thing depended upon opinion; and it was equally dangerous for him to go forward or to ftand ftill; for if he loft the confidence of the people, he loft all fupport; and if he rushed on to danger, all was hazarded. The impatience of the people to drive off the enemy, if regarded, would precipitate him into a thoufand misfortunes. The mode of conducting the war, moft to the liking of the inhabitants, was the leaft likely to effect their falvation *, By the genuine returns on the 8th of December, it appears, that the infantry then serving under Greene were, rank and file, prefent and fit for duty 1482, and on command 547, in all 2029; of thefe 821 were continentals, and 1208 militia. Add to thefe 90 cavalry, 60 artillery, and 128 continentals on extra fervice, and his whole operative force was 2307. The fewness of his troops, the nature of the country, filled with woods and fwamps, and thinly inhabited, the toryifm of numbers, and the want of magazines, led the general to conclude on a partizan war. He confidered the maxims of European generals, but was far from confining himfelf to them; for he obferved that however they might fuit that part of the world, they were not adapted to the place where he was to act, only in certain circumstances, The general's own letters,

to

1780. to which when they occurred, he meant to be attentive. On his arrival at camp, he learned that the troops had made a practice of going home without permiffion, staying weeks and then returning. Determined to stop such a dangerous custom, the general gave out that he would make an example of the first deserter of the kind he caught; and one was accordingly shot at the head of the army drawn up to be spectators of the punishment. At night he sent officer's round the camp to listen to the talk of the foldiers, and was happy to find that the meafure had taken its defired effect, and that the language of the men was only-" We must not do as we have been used to: it is new lords new laws." But it was a mortification to him to learn from another quarter, that by the folly or treachery of those who had the charge of the prisoners taken at King's Mountain, all except about 130 had been enlarged upon different conditions; by which he loft upward of 600 men, who would have been of the utmost importance in an exchange with lord Cornwallis. His lordship on the 1ft of December addressed to him the following note-" I think it proper to reprefent to you, that the, officers and men taken at King's Mountain, were treated with an inhumanity fcarcely credible. I find myself under the disagreeable neceffity of making fome retaliation for thofe unhappy men, who were fo cruelly and unjustly put to death at Gilberttown." Gen. Greene answered to it on the 17th-" I am too much a ftranger to the tranfactions at Gilberttown to reply fully to that fubject. They must have been committed before my arrival in the department, and by perfons under the character of volunteers, wha were independent of the army. However, if there was

Dec.

17.

any

any thing done in that affair contrary to the principles 1780. of humanity and the law of nations, and for which they had not the conduct of your army as a precedent, I fhall be ever ready to testify my disapprobation of it.-The first example was furnished on your part, as appears by the lift of unhappy fufferers enclosed; and it might have been expected, that the friends of the unfortunate should follow it.-Punishing capitally for a breach of military parole is a severity, that the principles of modern war will not authorize, unless the inhabitants are to be treated as a conquered people, and subject to all the rigor of military government.-The feelings of mankind will for ever decide, when the rights of humanity are invaded. I leave them to judge of the tendency of your lordship's order to lieut. col. Balfour after the action near Camden, of lord Rawdon's proclamation, and of Tarleton's laying wafte the country and diftreffing the inhabitants, who were taught to expect protection and fecurity, if they obferved but a neutrality.-Sending the inhabitants of Charlestown to St. Auguftine, contrary to the articles of capitulation, is a violation which I have alfo to represent, and which I hope your lordship will think yourfelf bound to redrefs." The lift referred to was this"William Stroud and Mr. Dowel, executed near Rocky Mount, without a trial, by order of lieut. col. Turnbull. Richard Tucker, Samuel Andrews, and John Miles, hanged in Camden by order of lord Cornwallis. Mr. Johnson hanged fince the action of Black Stocks, by lieut. col. Tarleton. About thirty perfons hanged at Augufta by col. Brown. Adam Cufack hanged at Peedee by one col. Mills."

General

1780.

General Greene perceiving that he could not bring provifions to his army from any distance, refolved to march his army to the provifions. The country about Charlotte, and from thence to Camden, was exhausted, having been long the scene of military operations. The river Peedee afforded the nearest supply; and what was a confiderable inducement to repair thither, the canebrakes in that part of the country afforded good pafturage for the horfes. The only difficulty was, that the fituation proposed to be taken was more diftant from the enemy than Charlotte; and the general hesitated about making his first motion retrograde. The confidence of the enemy, the diffidence of his troops, and the despair of the people, might all be excited by fuch a manœuvre. Such was his dilemma, that he must either relinquifh a confiderable part of the country, or divide his small force fo as to render each part too inconfiderable for the defence of it. He faw the danger of feparating his force, but was obliged to fubmit to neceffity. Brigadier general Morgan, who was invested with the command of the light troops by gen. Gates, was continued in that command by Greene; and the corps was completed by fresh draughts from the line to 300 infantry under lieut. col. Howard, 170 Virginia riflemen under major Triplett, and about 70 light dragoons under lieut. col. Washington. The light troops were detached to the weftward of the Wateree into South Carolina, to watch the motions of the enemy at Wynfborough and Camden, and to shift for themselves. They took their position in the western extremity of the state on the 25th of December.

The