Watson, Fort Motte, Fort Granby, and several others on the frontier, fell into their hands. Greene himself was, indeed, repulsed by Colonel Cruger, in the attack upon the larger post of Ninety Six, even before the arrival of Lord Rawdon, who had received some Irish reinforcements, and was on his march to raise the siege. Yet, here again, after this success, Lord Rawdon had no better choice than to draw off the garrison, and to give up the post, which, at such a distance, he was no longer able to maintain.

The midsummer heats, so scorching and so sickly in that climate, led, at this time, to a few weeks' suspension of the war. During the interval, Lord Rawdon, whose health had been greatly impaired by his exertions, availed himself of a permission, previously obtained, to embark for Europe. Just before he sailed, Charleston became the scene of a military execution, deemed requisite as a political example. Colonel Isaac Hayne, an American who had acceded to the English, and taken their oath of allegiance, was afterwards captured when in arms against them; and, being brought before a Court of Inquiry, was sentenced to be hanged, and was hanged accordingly. This act drew from General Greene the most vehement denunciations, as though it had been a wanton murder, or, in his own words, an "in"human insult," as though it might have justified the severest vengeance upon the unoffending British prisoners in his hands. Some months later, the Duke of Richmond also made the case of Hayne the subject of an accusatory motion, in the House of Lords. On both sides of the Atlantic was the character of Lord Rawdon unsparingly assailed. Greene, indeed, thought fit to charge him with being pusillanimous, as well as cruel; "perpetrating this atrocity at a time when "his immediate embarkation for England was to preserve "him from the danger of its consequences!" Nevertheless, it is clear, from Lord Rawdon's subsequent explanations, that Lieutenant-Colonel Balfour, being his senior on the Army List, and, in point of fact, holding the command at Charleston, was alone responsible. Lord Rawdon had, in

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CASE OF COLONEL HAYNE.

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deed, taken no part in the affair, except on the impulse of compassion. "Immediately on my arrival in Charleston," he says, "application was made to me by a number of ladies, "principally of your party, to save Hayne from the impend"ing infliction. Ignorant of the complicated nature and ex"tent of the crime, I incautiously promised to use my en"deavours towards inducing Colonel Balfour to lenity." Lord Rawdon did so, as his promise bound him; yet, he adds, that on a fuller knowledge of the case, "for the guilt "of Hayne not a shadow of palliation could be found. By "all the recognised laws of war, nothing was requisite in the case of Hayne, but to identify his person, previous to "hanging him on the next tree."*

66

It is true that in the details of this transaction, as it took place at Charleston, there appear some circumstances of irregularity, and some of harshness, both of which may be condemned. But as to the substantial merits of the sentence, they depend solely on the question whether or not it be rightful to deal "in the most summary way" with any man, sworn to one party in a war, and yet found serving on the other. If in this question the American writers desire to maintain the affirmative, according to the established military rules, then they must acquit the British officers for having executed Hayne. If the negative, then they must condemn General Washington for the written instructions which in the very same year, and in the very same contingency- that is, with the hopes of seizing Arnold - he had given to La Fayette.

On the departure of Lord Rawdon, the chief command of the troops in the field devolved upon Colonel Stewart. Greene had encamped upon Santee Hills, but, as the summer heats abated, he descended from the heights and marched

* See the excellent letter which Lord Rawdon, then Earl of Moira, addressed many years afterwards to the American General H. Lee; it is dated June 29. 1813, and printed in the Appendix (pp. xxxii-xliii.) to Lee's "Campaign of 1781 in the Carolinas." For the statements in Greene's public and private correspondence consult 440. of that volume, and the biography by Greene's grandson, p. 311. Mahon, History. VII.

p.

8

against the British. The two armies met about sixty miles from Charleston, at the Eutaw Springs. There, on the 8th of September, was fought an action, the last and one of the sharpest in this American War. The number of slain on both sides amounted to some hundreds, and the artillery was several times taken and retaken. At the outset the English were repulsed on their whole line, but recovered themselves, and in their turn drove back the Americans, remaining that night and next day in full possession of the ground. Hence, according to the rules of war, they might be regarded as the victors, although the Americans also claimed to be so; and it was, perhaps, more truly a pitched battle. As to its result, the English reaped the customary fruits of their victories during this campaign. Ere long they found it necessary to fall back to Charleston Neck; while the greater part, not merely of the open country, not merely in South Carolina, but in Georgia, was over-run by Greene, and restored to its American allegiance. Before the close of the year the King's troops held little or nothing in either of these provinces, beyond the districts immediately adjoining their two strongholds of Charleston and Savannah.

Spain also had sent a small expedition into West Florida, and completed her re-conquest of that province by the capture of Pensacola, in May.

Meanwhile, in Virginia, Lord Cornwallis, like Lord Rawdon, had been compelled by the summer heats to slacken in his military enterprises. The force in his front was gradually augmenting. General Wayne, with the Pennsylvanians, had succeeded in joining La Fayette; and other bodies of Militia had come in. It seemed, besides, by no means beyond the bounds of probability that, early in the autumn, Washington and Rochambeau might combine and move upon the Chesapeak. Under such circumstances Sir Henry Clinton felt the importance of effecting a diversion, and turning some of the enemy's troops to another quarter. Towards the middle of August he had received a reinforcement of great value to him, a body of 2,400 German recruits;

1781.

EXPEDITION TO CONNECTICUT.

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and at the beginning of September he despatched General Arnold with an expedition to Connecticut. This expedition, after carrying Forts Trumbull and Griswold, reduced to ashes the flourishing town of New London, with many of the vessels in the harbour; Arnold, apparently, being but little moved by the remembrance that the district thus wasted was his birth-place.* Sir Henry had in view another enterprise against Rhode Island; and a blow still far bolder upon Philadelphia, where, as in a place of full security, the Americans had collected all their principal stores and magazines. Both these projects, however, though brought to the very verge of execution, were nipped .in the bud by wholly insuperable difficulties.

Sir Henry all this while, by means of an intercepted mail, had accurate intelligence of the enemy's most secret designs. Thus it was that he had learnt their first scheme of an attack upon New York. Thus, also, had he become apprised that in their own opinion "a visible languor to their cause began "universally to prevail." But as he declares it, "the most "interesting piece of intelligence which this capture pro"cured us was an intimation from the Court of France that "this was the last campaign in which the Americans were to "expect assistance of either troops or ships from that nation, as she began to be apprehensive that her own exigencies "would put it out of her power to continue her support, if "the war should be protracted much longer, thereby "strongly pointing out to us the policy of avoiding all risks "as much as possible, because it was now manifest that if "we could only persevere in escaping affront, Time alone "would soon bring about every success we could wish." **

Hence it will be seen that even at that late period the British cause in North America was, to say the very least

*Arnold states, however, in his official report: "The explosion of "the powder and change of wind soon after the stores were fired com"municated the flames to part of the town, which was, notwithstanding every effort to prevent it, unfortunately destroyed." (MS. despatch, Sept. 8. 1781, appended to Sir Henry Clinton's Memoirs.)

** Sir Henry Clinton's Memoirs, vol. ii. MS.

of it, not lost. But the current of affairs and the nature of the country were now rapidly leading to a great disaster, such as afterwards no successes could outweigh, and no skill retrieve. Among the lesser causes of that disaster must be reckoned the personal estrangement of Clinton and Cornwallis. Differences between them had for some time past been smouldering; and on their return to England at the peace, they eagerly assailed each other in a paper-war. Yet, without following the complaints of both into minute detail, it may be asserted that they give no just ground for the serious arraignment of either. Of the two, Clinton was probably the abler, Cornwallis the more enterprising chief; but both alike were men of the highest honour and courage, full of zeal for their country's service, and when it came to action, ever desirous to postpone - if not, in fact, postponing their personal differences to the public cause. Both Cornwallis more especially may have erred in judgment; yet it seems only equitable to remember how thorny and bewildering were at this time the paths before them.

Another, and the most efficient, cause of the disaster that ensued, lay in the superiority of naval force which the French suddenly acquired in these seas. In the month of May a new chief, the Comte de Barras, had arrived from Europe, and taken the command of the French squadron, still lying at Rhode Island, and hitherto in some degree neglected.* Towards the same period, Sir Henry Clinton, at his own earnest and repeated request, had been freed from the counter-action of a most untoward colleague; Admiral Arbuthnot being recalled, and Admiral Graves appointed in his place. Thus far the chiefs only were changed, and the balance of force was, as before, in favour of the English. But the balance was wholly turned against them when, in the latter part of August, the Comte de Grasse arrived from

* "Il y avait dix mois que nous étions partis de France; nous n'avions σε pas encore reçu une lettre ni un écu," says the Duke de Lauzun. (Memoirs, p. 353. ed. 1822.)