1780. SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF CHARLESTON.

47

horse; and so active and able was that officer, that the American force was surprised and utterly routed at Monk's Corner.

Having thus provided against the chances of relief, Sir Henry Clinton pushed the siege of Charleston with great vigour and success. At last, on the 11th of May, the Americans declared themselves willing to accept the terms of capitulation, which they had formerly refused; the articles were signed next day, and the English took possession of the town. The Americans, who laid down their arms on this occasion, marching out with certain honours of war, were upwards of 5,000. Of these the Continental troops and seamen were to remain prisoners, and the Militiamen to return to their homes upon parole. All their naval force was either destroyed or seized, together with a large amount of stores, and 400 pieces of artillery. Many other events in the American war, as the surprise at Trenton and the surrender of Saratoga, were no doubt of far higher moment in their consequences; but viewed as a military feat, as the result of skill and strategy combined with valour, this may, perhaps, be pronounced the most brilliant of all. The news of it reached England exactly at the close of Lord George Gordon's riots; and tended, in no small degree, to restore the public confidence, and to cheer the public mind.

Charleston being now in possession of the English, their next object was to secure, as far as possible, the general submission of the province. With this object Sir Henry Clinton issued several Proclamations, inviting support, and assuring of favour and protection all inhabitants who would return to their allegiance. Many hundreds did indeed consent to enrol themselves as loyal Militia, under Major Ferguson. At the same time, Sir Henry sent out several small expeditions to the interior of the country. One detachment, under Colonel Tarleton, fell in with a body of Virginians commanded by Colonel Buford, at Wax-haws. Here the English were not only inferior in numbers, but exhausted by long marches beneath the summer sun, having in fifty-four hours come 105 miles; nevertheless, in the conflict which ensued, Buford's troops were utterly broken.

The Americans could not deny the victory; but have alleged that the slaughter was needlessly great, Tarleton's party having refused quarter to their opponents after they had ceased to resist and laid down their

The Americans in the Southern States were now greatly dispirited. During the siege of Charleston, they had expected assistance, but in vain, first from the Spanish force in Florida, and next from the French fleet in the West Indies. They saw South Carolina apparently won back to the Royal cause, and with some probability that North Carolina would follow the example. But, at this crisis, intelligence reached Sir Henry Clinton, that the Americans upon the Hudson were on the point of receiving considerable succours; that a French fleet sent to their aid, with several French regiments on board, might soon be expected off the New England coasts. Sir Henry deemed it his duty to provide in person, for the safety of his principal charge. In the first days of June he accordingly re-embarked for New York, with a portion of his force; leaving, however, about 4,000 men under Lord Cornwallis's command. The instructions given to Lord Cornwallis, were to consider the maintenance of Charleston, and in general of South Carolina, as his main and indispensable objects; but consistently with these, he was left at liberty to make "a solid move," as it was termed, into North Carolina, if he judged it proper, or if he found it possible.

Charles, the second Earl, and afterwards the first Marquis, Cornwallis was born in 1738. Early in life he had embraced the military profession, which he pursued with undeviating honour, though variable success. In him the want of any shining talents was, in great measure, supplied by probity, by punctuality, by a steady courage, by a vigilant attention to his duties. 1766, on the Declaratory Bill, he had shown his conciliatory temper to the Colonies; denying with Lord Camden and only three Peers besides, any right we had to tax them while they remained unrepresented in the

* Gordon's Hist. vol. iii. p. 361. Ramsay, vol. ii. p. 158.

In

1780.

EARL CORNWALLIS.

49

House of Commons. * When, however, the war broke forth, he acted solely as became a soldier. Under Lord Cornwallis was now serving a young officer of no common spirit and daring, destined, like himself, to attain, at another period, the highest office that an Englishman, out of England, can fill the office of GovernorGeneral of India. This was Francis Lord Rawdon, subsequently better known, first as Earl of Moira, and then as Marquis of Hastings. In the ensuing battle of Camden, where he held the second rank and played a distinguished part, he was not yet twenty-six years of age; and he had already gained renown, five years before, in the battle of Bunker's Hill. †

While the siege of Charleston still went on, the Congress, alarmed for the two Carolinas, directed Washington to send thither a considerable detachment of his army, under Baron de Kalb. On the surrender of Lincoln at Charleston, De Kalb became the senior officer in the Southern States; but in the summer, as the alarm increased, the Congress appointed General Gates above him to the chief command. The affair at Saratoga, though in truth little owing to Gates, had given him, up to this time, a high reputation for military skill; and his presence in the South, it was imagined, would go far to secure the public confidence. In the rapid warfare which ensued, both armies were exposed to great sufferings from toilsome marches, in a well-nigh tropic clime. The Americans, as Gates led them onwards, had to make their way through a country of sand-hills, swamps, and in their own expressive phrase, "pine"barrens." So scarce were provisions in their camp, that at one time there were strong appearances of mutiny. They complained that they had little to eat, beyond the lean cattle picked up in the woods. Their whole army

* See vol. v. p. 138., and the pointed observations of Wilkes, on referring, some years later, to that debate. (Parl. Hist. vol. xxi. p. 893.) Horace Walpole, writing from looser reminiscences, transfers the scene to the debate upon the Stamp Act, in 1765. (Letter to Mason, Nov. 28. 1781, ed. 1851.)

"Lord Rawdon behaved to a charm: his name is established "for life." General Burgoyne to Lord Stanley, June 25. 1775. (American Archives, vol. ii. p. 1095.)

was under the necessity of using green corn and peaches in the place of bread; and they subsisted, for some days, upon peaches alone.

*

The approach of this new army wrought a great change in the Carolinians. Many who had joined the Royal Standard now again forsook it; some under circumstances of especial treachery. One Lisle, for example, who had not only taken the oath of allegiance, but accepted military rank as a King's officer, waited just long enough to supply his battalion with clothes, arms, and ammunition from the Royal stores, and then quietly led them back to his old friends. On his defection, Lisle first joined Colonel Sumpter, an active and able partisan from South Carolina, who now began a Guerrilla warfare, but who was twice repulsed with loss; once at Rocky Mount, and once at Hanging Rock.

The English in South Carolina held, at this time, a line of posts extending from the Pedee river to the fortified village of Ninety Six.† Their principal force, however, lay towards the centre, at Camden; it was commanded by Lord Rawdon, who had hutted his men to protect them from the summer heats. Earl Cornwallis, upon the news of Gates's advance, hastened in person to the post of danger. At two o'clock in the morning of the 16th of August, the vanguards of the two armies met. A skirmish ensued, which, after daybreak, became a general engagement. Lord Cornwallis had only 2,000 men: the Americans, more than

66

*Ramsay's Hist. vol. ii. p. 164. So abundant are the peach tree woods in that country, that the fruit is used to fatten swine; "and "there can be do doubt," says Mr. Phillips, "that they are indigenous to Louisiana, as well as to Persia; although in many parts of "America the peach is regarded as a foreign fruit, having been "introduced from Europe before Louisiana had been explored." (Pomarium Britannicum, p. 285. ed. 1822.)

† One American author (of rather a lively imagination) tells us that the name of Ninety Six is derived "from the uniform excel"lence of the soil. The two numbers which compose its name, "viewed on any side, will express the same quantity!" On the other hand, Colonel Henry Lee far more drily says:-" Ninety Six "takes its name from the circumstance of its being ninety-six miles "distant from the principal village of the Cherokee Indians." (Campaign of 1781, in the Carolinas, p. 393. ed. 1824.)

1780.

BATTLE OF CAMDEN.

51

twice as many; these however were, in great part, raw and ill-disciplined Militia. The Virginians, on their left wing, fled almost at the first fire, throwing down their arms, bayonets and all; and the centre followed. On their right the Maryland and Delaware troops bravely maintained their position for some time, but at last were routed also. General Gates has been accused of leaving the field too soon, and before the day was irretrievably lost. Never was a battle more decisive. Besides several hundred slain and as many captured, the Americans lost all their artillery and stores; and being chased full twenty miles by the cavalry of Tarleton, they were so utterly scattered and dispersed, that not even the smallest of their battalions remained entire, and that nearly all their officers were parted from their respective troops. Their whole track was strewn with arms and baggage flung away. Among the prisoners was their second in command, Baron de Kalb, who died next day of his wounds.

In

The victory at Camden was not the only success of the English at this time. Active as was Colonel Sumpter, he was surprised and routed at the Catawba ford by the no less active Colonel Tarleton. Lord Cornwallis now advanced to the town of Charlotte, and formed a plan for the conquest of North Carolina. the first place, however, he deemed it requisite to take measures for securing the South province. Highly incensed at such signal acts of treachery as Lisle's, he had recourse to some most severe orders in return. The penalty of death was denounced against all Militiamen who, after serving with the English, went off to the insurgents. Several of the prisoners in the battle of Camden men taken with arms in their hands and with British protections in their pockets were hanged. Other such examples were made at Augusta and elsewhere. Some persons who had been living on their parole at Charleston, and who, in spite of their parole, carried on a secret correspondence with their insurgent countrymen, were shipped off to St. Augustine. A proclamation was issued, sequestering the estates of those who had been the most forward to oppose the establishment of the Royal authority within the province.