BOOK Stedman), "that the British troops remained near XX. two days without subsistence; that they were desti 1782, tute of tents, and that the night succeeding the This was an affair very different from that of Camden; and, instead of pursuing the advantages thus dearly purchased on the part of the English by the loss of 600 veteran troops, the British gene. ral found himself under the necessity, in order to procure the requisite supplies for his army, to direct his march towards Wilmington, situated near the mouth of Cape-Fear river, a post already occupied by a detachment of British troops, where he arrived on the 7th of April. XX. 1782. masterly General Green, perceiving lord Cornwallis re- BOOK duced to a state of reluctant inaction, immediately, by a bold and decisive manoeuvre, directed his march General to the southward, and unexpectedly attacked the Green's important post of Camden. This was gallantly maintained by lord Rawdon; but the surrounding stations of Fort-Motte, Orangeburg, Congarees, and Augusta, being successively forced, his lordship was compelled to evacuate Camden, and retire to the south of the Santee. General Green then laid close siege to the town or township of Ninety-six, which was considered as commanding the whole of the back country; and on the approach of lord Rawdon, who had recently received great reinforcements from England, attempted to storm the garrison, but was repulsed with loss by colonel Cruger, the governor, and retired with his army behind the Sa luda. Being advised by divers of his officers, on this misfortune, to retreat back to Virginia, he replied with true military enthusiasm, "I will recover the country, or die in the attempt." Thus, in situations where feeble minds droop and languish, the ardor of genius burns with redoubled lustre. No sooner was the British army divided and weakened by the several detachments necessary to occupy their former posts, than general Green again crossed the *This singular name had its origin in the number of miles which denoted the distance of the settlement from the town of Kecowee in the Cherokee country. XX. 1782. BOOK Saluda in force. Lord Rawdon, surprised and unprepared for action, retired to Orangeburg; and the important post of Ninety-six, so gallantly defended, was now evacuated. The garrison joining lord Rawdon, with other troops drawn from the advanced posts, general Green took a strong position on the high hills of Santee, whence he detached different parties to intercept the convoys and beat up the quarters of the English between Orangeburg and Charlestown. The British, now under the command of colonel Stuart, having advanced to the point of junction between the Wateree and Congaree, in order to cover the country to the south and south-east of those rivers, general Green passed the Congaree with a view to inclose the British army in its present insulated situation, or compel them to retreat towards Charlestown. Colonel Stuart immediately fell back forty miles, to a place called Eutaw Springs, where he took an advantageous position, his right extending to the Eutaw, and his left to a rising ground which was occupied by a corps de reserve. General Green, with the American army, advanced, September 8, 1781, to the attack with the greatest resolution. The Virginian and Maryland continentals charged the left wing of the British with trailed arms through a heavy cannonade and shower of musquetry, and bore down all before them. The American cavalry, at the same time, turned the left XX. 1782. flank of the British, and attacked them in the rear. BOOK The whole army gave way in great confusion; but in their retreat, gaining an open field, they were, with much address, rallied by colonel Stuart, and formed again under protection of an effective and well-directed fire from a large and moated house, which served them in the stead of a redoubt; and from whence the Americans, after repeated efforts, were not able to dislodge them. And the right wing of the British pressing on the left flank of the Americans, general Green thought proper to order a retreat, leaving four pieces of artillery in the hands of the British, two of which had been taken by the Americans in the early part of the engagement. The English were in no condition to pursue, and general Green carried off with him all his wounded, and several hundred prisoners. Also about five hundred men were killed and wounded on the part of the British, by the account of colonel Stuart, in this well-contested battle, in which the officers on each side fought hand to hand, and sword to sword. The loss of the Americans in all these respects was much inferior; but as colonel Stuart was left in possession of the field and several pieces of cannon, he claimed, agreeably to military etiquette, the ho nor of the victory ;-but he might well exclaim with the monarch of Epirus, "Such another victory, and I am undone!" BOOK XX. 1782. Military character Green. In the evening of the next day he abandoned the Eutaw, and moved towards Charlestown, after de stroying a great part of his stores, leaving behind him many of his wounded, and about a thousand stand of arms. This engagement was decisive of the fate of the war in the southern colonies-the British not being able from this time to appear in the open field, and scarcely could they maintain their posts in the vicinity of Charlestown and Savannah; and in the course of the next year those towns were finally evacuated. The military talents of general Green appear in of general a most striking point of view, on the recollection that, notwithstanding a succession of what in military language must be styled defeats, he finally effected his object, by recovering both the Carolinas in the space of less than twelve months. At Guildford, at Camden, at Ninety-six, at the Eutaw Springs, the British commanders claimed the honors of the field, but the Americans reaped all the profit of these engagements. The plans of the American general were so happily concerted, his movements so judi. ciously timed, his vigilance so unwearied, his firmness and perseverance so heroic, that he might be regarded as the controller rather than the favorite of fortune;--and his measures were taken wit such superior sagacity, that they not only merited, but, in a certain sense, commanded success. |