Franklin Township (part 6 of 19)

The successes of the British army had stimulated into life the hitherto dormant disaffection of some of the inhabitants of North-Carolina. That army was now approaching, in its career of conquest and victory, the southern boundary of that state. Some who had hitherto worn the mask of friendship, became now the avowed enemies of the American cause. In the settlements beyond the mountain a few tories had taken refuge. To watch their motions as well as those of the Indians, it was found necessary to embody scouting parties of armed men. One of these killed Bradley, a disaffected citizen from Halifax county, and notorious for his crimes and his frequent and artful escapes from justice. With him was also taken another confederate in guilt, Halley. They were both taken and shot by Robert Sevier's company of horsemen. Another tory named Dykes, was also captured. He and others had concerted a plan to come to the house of Col. Sevier and murder him. The wife of Dykes, who had in time of distress been treated by Sevier with great kindness and humanity, disclosed to him the meditated mischief Dykes himself was inmiediately hung. This was done by Jesse Green and John Gibson, two of the Regulators. An act of oblivion was passed for their relief.

Thus the vigilance and efforts of the Western settlers were not confined to the protection and defence of their own secluded homes. They had left parents and kindred and countrymen east of the AUeghanies, and their hearts yet yearned for their safety and welfare. The homes of their youth were pillaged by a foreign soldiery, and the friends they loved were slain or driven into exile. Above all, the great cause of American freedom and independence was in danger, the country was invaded by a powerful foe, and the exigencies of Carolina called aloud for every absent son to return to her rescue and defence. The call was promptly obeyed. And the mountain men - the pioneers of Tennessee - were the first to resist the invaders, and restrained not from the pursuit of the vanquished enemy till they reached the coast of the Atlantic.

After the destination of the large armament under Sir ( Henry Clinton was ascertained to be Charleston, Gen. ( Rutherford, of North-Carolina, issued a requisition for the militia of that state to embody for the defence of their sister state. That order reached Watauga, and the following proceedings were immediately had in that small but patriotic and gallant community. They are copied from the original manuscript in the possession of this writer. They are almost illegible from the ravages of time and exposure, but even now plainly shew the bold and characteristic chirography of Col. Sevier and the commissioned officers under him. There is

''At a meetiiig of sundry of the Militia Officers of Washingtoii Comity, ibm loth day of March, 1780 : Preeent, John Sevier, Colone], Jonathan Tipton, Major, Joseph Willson, John McNabb, Godfrey Isbell, Wm. Trimble, James Stinson, Robert Sevier, Captains, and Landon Carter, Lieutenant, in the absence of Valentine Sevier, Captain.

"It is the opinion of the officers, that each company in this county do furnish eight effective men, well equipt for war, except Samuel Williams's company, which is to furnish four men well equipt as aforesaid.

On the same page is a list of captains. They are " Captains McKnabb, Sevier, Hoskins, Been, Brown, Isbell, Trimble, Willson, Gist, Stinson, Davis, Patterson, Williams.'' - A similar requisition was made upon Isaac Shelby, the dolonel of Sullivan county. He was then absent in Kentucky. Fortunately General Rutherford was hurried off with such reinforcements as were near at hand, and the militia of these remote counties were not, with him, placed under the command of General Gates in the ill-advised and badly arranged engagement near Camden. Well was it for the future fame of Sevier and Shelby; well was it for the cause in which, soon afterwards, they acquired distinction for themselves and led their comrades in arms to victory and glory, that they were still left in their mountain recesses to quicken the patriotic impulses, and arouse the martial spirit of their countrymen, and lead them forth against the enemies of their country and of freedom. This duty they were soon called to perform. Col. Charles McDowell, in the absence of General Rutherford, succeeded in command, and immediately forwarded a despatch to Sevier and Shelby, informing these officers of the surrender of Charleston and the main southern army, and that the enemy had overrun South-Carolina and Georgia, and were rapidly approaching the limits of North-Carolina ; and requesting them to bring to his aid all the riflemen that could be raised, and in as short time as possible. Sevier had already enrolled, under the requisition of General Rutherford, one hundred of the militia of Washington county. At his call, another hundred immediately volunteered, and, with these two hundred mounted riflemen, he started, at once, across the mountain for the camp of Mc- Do well. The despatch to Shelby reached him the 16th of June, in Kentucky, where he was locating and surveying lands. He immediately returned home, determined to go to the aid of his bleeding country and sustain the struggle in which she was engaged, till her independence should be secured. His appeal to the chivalry of Sullivan county was met by a hearty response, and early in July he found himself at the head of two hundred mounted riflemen, whom he rapidly led to the camp of McDowell, near the Cherokee ford of Broad River, in South-Carolina. Sevier, with his regiment, had arrived there a few days before.

In the meantime, the British army had advanced to Ninety- Six, Camden and Cheraw, in South-Carolina. At the for- 1780 i ^^^ place Nesbitt Balfour commanded, and, on the ( 15th July, issued the following proclamation:

" Notwithstanding the extraordinary lenity shown the misled inhabitants of this province, that they may now plainly see their true interest 18 to unite sincerely with his Majesty's forces to suppress every invader of the public tranquillity, I have certain information that some persona who have been received into his Majesty's protection, forgetting every tie of honour and gratitude, and led by the hope of enriching themselves by plundering the peaceable inhabitants, and are engaged in the woik of subverting his Majesty's mild and just government, have f * * * and are now actually in arms, with a body of rebels, assembled against the peace of this province.

"This is, therefore, to give notice that every inhabitant of this province who is not at his own home by the 24th instant, or cannot make it appear that he is absent on lawful business, is hereby declared an outlaw and is to be treated accordingly, and his property, of whatsoever lund, confiscated, and liable to military execution."

Lord Cornwallis meeting with little obstruction in his victorious march, contemplated an extension of his conquest throu'^h North-Carolina. He had instructed the loyalists of that state not to rise until his approach to its southern bound* ary would favour their concentration with his forces, and at the same time intimidate the whigs. As he approached Camden. Col. Patrick Moore appeared at the head of a large band of disaffected Americans from Tryon (since Lincoln) county, and erecting the royal standard, invited to it all the loyalists in Uiat section of North and South-Carolina lying between Uie Catawba River and the mountains. The rapid successes of the enemy and his near approach, encouraged the rising of the tories, and Colonel Moore, after an uninterrupted march, took post in a strong fort built by General Williamson, about four years before, during the Cherokee war. It was surrounded by a strong abbatis and was otherwise well provided with defences. It stood upon the waters of Pacolet River.

Soon after the arrival of Sevier and Shelby at the Cherokee ford. Col. McDowell detached them, and Col. Clarke, of Georgia, with about six hundred men, against Moore. His post was more than twenty miles distant. The riflemen took up the line of march at sunset, and at the dawn of day next morning surrounded the fort. Shelby sent in one of his men (William Cocke, Esq.) and made a peremptory demand of the surrender of the fort Moore replied that he would defend it to the last extremity. The lines of the assailants nvere immediately drawn in, within musket-shot of the enemy all round, with a determination to make an assault upon the fort. But before proceeding to extremities a second message was sent in. To this Moore replied, that he would surrender on condition that the garrison be paroled not to serve again during the war. The assailants were as humane as they were brave ; and to save the effusion of the blood of their deluded countrymen, the terms were agreed to. The fort was surrendered. Ninety-three loyalists and one British sergeantmajor were in the garrison, with two hjmdred and flfty stand of arms, all loaded with ball and buckshot, and so disposed of at the port-holes that double the number of the whigs might have been easily repulsed.

As confirming the accuracy of the account as here given of the surrender of Colonel Moore, the subjoined letter is^ here for the first time published. It was taken amongst the spoils at King's Mountain, and is now so worn as to be nearljr illegible : the writer's name is no longer upon it. It may be the despatch of Major Ferguson himself to Lord Cornwallis, apologizing for the conduct of some loyalist then under censure. Speaking of the fort and garrison commanded by Col. Moore, the writer says :

''It had an upper line of loop-holes and was surrounded by a very strong abbatis, with only a small wicket to enter by. It had been put in thorough repair at the request of the garrison, which consisted of the

. . . . The officer next in command and all the others, gave their opinion for defending it, and agree in their account that Patrick Moore, alter proposing a surrender, acquiesced in their opinion and offered to go and sigDjfy as much to the rebels, but returned, with some rebel offipers, whom he put in possession of the gate and place, who were instantly followed by their men, and the fort full of rebels to the surprise of the garrison. He plead cowardice, I understand

King's service is undoubted. I have only laid the above circumstances before your Lordship, as a proof of the very bad consequences to the public service . . ... . . . . . . Lordship, measures that may

This bold incursion of the mountain men, together with the capture of the garrison under Moore, induced Lord Cornwallis to detach from his main army some enterprising officers, with a small command, to penetrate through the country, embody the loyalists and take possession of the strongest posts in the interior. This had become the more necessary as the advance of the American army under De Kalb, and afterwards under Gates, began to inspirit the desponding whigs and at the same time restrained the vigorous co-operation of the tories with the British troops. Measures were, therefore, adopted to embody and discipline the zealous loyalists, and for this purpose Col. Ferguson, an active and intelligent officer, and possessing peculiar qualifications for attaching to him the marksmen of Ninety-Six, was despatched into that district.

ihe rendeKYOos of the desperate, the idle and vindictive, as well as of the youth of the loyalist^ whose zeal ir ambition prompted them to military aervioe. There was a part of South-Carolina which had not yet been trodden by a hostile foot, and the projected march through this unex-

Slored and as yet undevastated region, drew many to the standard of 'erguson. This was the country which stretches along the foot of the mountain towards the borders of North-Carolina. The progress of the British commander and his unnatural confederates, was marked with blood and lighted up with conflagrations.''*

Astonished by the ' bold and unexpected incursion of the western volunteer riflemen, under Shelby and Sevier, and apprehending that the contagion of their example and their presence might encourage the whigs of Carolina to resume their arms, Ferguson and the loyalists took measures to secure the allegiance of the inhabitants by the following written agreement, entered into and signed by disaffected American militia officers. The original is now before the writer. It was found in the possession of a tory colonel, by Sevier, at King's Mountain.

^ As the public safety and the preservation of our freedom and property depends upon our acting together in support of the royal cause, and in defence of our country against any enemy who may attack us ; it is the unanimious opinion of the officers and men of Gibbs', Plummer's, Cunningham's, dairy's, King's and Eirkland's battalions of militia, and also of all the officers and men of Colonel Mills's battalion of North-Caronians, assembled under the command of Major Ferguson at Brannon's Settlement, August 13, 1780: That every man who does not assemble when required, in defence of his country, in order to act with the other flood subjects serving in the militia, exposes his comrades to unnecessary danger, abandons the royal cause and acts a treacherous part to the country in which he lives ; and it is the UDanimous opinion that whoever quits his battalion, or disobeys the order of the officers commanding, is a worse traitor and enemy to his king and country, than those rebels who are aflain in arms after having taken protection, and deserves to be treated accordiogly ; and we do, therefore, empower the officers commanding in camp as well as the officers commanding our several battalions of militia, from time to time, to cause the cattle and grain of all such officers and men, as basely &il to assemble and muster as required in times of public danger, or who quit their battalions without leave, to be brought to camp for the use of those who pay their debt to the country by their personal services ; and we do also empower the said commanding officers, and do require of them, that they will secure the arms and horses of such delinquents, and put them into the possession of men who are better disposed to use them in defence of their country, and that they will bring such traitors to trial, in order that they may be punished as they deserve and turned out of the militia with disgrace. The above resolutions agreed to by every man of the above mentioned who were at camp at Edward Moverley's, this 16th day of August, 1780. Zach. Gibbs, Major, John EEamilton, Major, Thos. D. Hill, jun., Adjty John Philips, L. 0., W. T. Turner, L. Colonel, Daniel Plummer, Major.

** It was also this day unanimously. Resolved, by every officer and man now in camp, of all the above mentioned regiments, that whatever man should neglect to assemble and do his duty in the militia, when sum* moned for public service, shall be made to serve in the regular troops ; it bein^ the unanimous opinion of every man present, that it is the duty of all who call themselves subjects, to assist in defence of the country one way or the other."

As be advanced, Ferguson increased his command till it iTso i amounted to above two thousand men, ir) addition to ( a small squadron of horse. To watch their movements, and, if possible, to cut off their foraging parties. Col. McDowell, not long after the surprise and capture of Moore, detached Cols. Shelby and Clarke, tv^ith six hundred mounted riflemen. Several attempts were made by Ferguson to surprise this party, but, in every instance, his designs were baffled. However, on the first of August, his advance of six or seven hundred men came up with the party of Shelby and Clarke, at a place called Cedar Spring, where they had chosen to fight him. A sharp conflict of half an hour ensued, when Ferguson came up with his whole force, and the Americans withdrew, carrying ofi* the field of battle twenty prisoners, with two British officers. The killed of the enemy was not ascertained. The American loss was ten or twelve killed and wounded. Among the latter was Col. Clarke, on the neck, slightly, with a sabre.

McDowell's policy was to change his camp frequently. He now lay at Smith's ford of Broad River. Here he received information that a party of four or five hundred tories were encamped at Musgrove's mill, on the south side of Enoree River, about forty miles distant. He again detached Shelby and Clarke, together with Col. Williams, of South- Carcdina, who had joined his command, to surprise and dis- perse them. Ferguson lay, with his whole force, at that time, exactly between. The detachment amounted to six hundred horsemen. These took up their line of march, just before sundown, on the evening of the eighteenth of August. They went through the woods until dark, and then took a road leaving Ferguson's camp some three or four miles to the left. They rode very hard all night, and at the dawn of day, about half a mile from the enemy's camp, were met by a strong patrol party. A short skirmish followed, when the enemy retreated. At that moment a countryman, living just at hand, came up and informed the party that the enemy httd been reinforced the evening before with six hundred regular troops, under Col. Ennes, which were destined to join Fergusoif s army. The circumstances of this information were so minute that no doubt could be entertained of its truth. For six hundred men, fatigued by a night ride of forty miles, to march on and attack the enemy, thus reinforced, seemed rash and improper. To attempt an escape by a rapid retreat, broken down as were both men and horses, was equally hopeless, if not impossible. The heroic determination was, therefore, instantly formed to make the best defence they could under the existing ' circumstances. A rude and hasty breast-work of brush and old logs was immediately constructed. Captain Inman was sent forward with about twenty-five men to meet the enemy and skirmish with them as soon as they crossed the Enoree. The sound of their drums and bugles soon announced their movements, and induced the belief that they had cavalry. Inman was ordered to fire on them, and retreat according to his own discretion. This stratagem, which was the suggestion of the captain himself, drew the enemy forward in disorder, as they believed they had driven the whole party. When they came up within seventy yards, a most destructive fire from the riflemen, who lay concealed behind their breast-work of logs, commenced. It was one whole hour before the enemy could force the Americans from their slender defences, and just as they began to give way in some points, the British commander. Col. Ennes, was wounded. All his subalterns, except one, being previously killed or wounded, and Captain

Hawsey, the leader of the loyalists on the left, being shot down, the whole of the enemy's line began to yield. The riflemen porsoed them close, and drove them across the river. In this pursuit the gallant Inman was killed, bravely fighting the enemy hand to hand. Tn this action Col. Shelby commanded the right, Col. Clarke, the left, and Col. Williams, the centre.

The battle lasted one hour and a half. The Americans lay 8o closely behind their little breast-work that the enemy entirely over-shot them, killing only six or seven, amongst whom the loss of the brave Captain Inman was particularly regretted. Hii^ stratagem of engaging and skirmishing with the enemy until the riflemen had time to throw up a hasty breast-work - ^his gallant conduct during the action, and his desperate charge upon their retreat - contributed much to the victory. He died at the moment it was won. The number of the enemy killed and wounded was considerable. The tones were the first to escape. Of the British regulars under Col. Ennes, who fought bravely to the last and prolonged the conflict even against hope, above two hundred were taken prisoners.

The Americans returned immediately to their horses, and mounted with a determination to be in Ninety-Six before night. This was a British post less than thirty miles distant, and not far from the residence of Col. Williams, one of the commanders. It was considered best to push their successes into the disafiected regions before time would allow reinforcements to reach them. Besides, by making their next expedition in the direction of Ninety-Six, they would avoid Ferguson's army, near whose encampment they would have necessarily to pass on theic return to McDowell's head-quarters, at Smith's Ford. At the moment of starting, an express firom McDowell rode up in great haste, with a short letter in his hand from Governor Caswell, dated on the battle ground, apprising McDowell of the defeat of the American grand army under General Gates, on the sixteenth, near Camden, advising him to get out of the way, as the enemy would, no no doubt, endeavour to improve their victory to the greatest advantage, by cutting up all the small corps of the Ameri- can armies. Fortanately» Col. Shelby was well acquainted with the hand- writing of Governor Caswell, and knew what reliance to place upon the intelligence brought by the express. The men and horses were fatigued by the rapid march of the night, as well as the severe conflict of the morning. They were now encumbered with more than two htmdred British prisoners and the spoils of victory. Besides these difficulties that surrounded the American party, Uiere was another that made extrication from them, dangerous if not impossible. A numerous army under an enterprising leader lay in their rear, and there was every reason to believe that Ferguson would have received intelligence of the daring incursion of the riflemen, and of the defeat of his friends at the Enoree. The delay of an hour might have proved disastrous to the victors. The prisoners were immediately distributed among the companies, so as to leave one to every three men, who carried Uiem alternately on horseback. They rode directly towards the mountains, and continued the march all that day and night, and the succeeding day, until late in the evening, without ever stopping to refresh. This long and rapid march - ^retreat it can scarcely be called, as the retiring troops bore with them the fruits of a well earned victory - saved the Americans. For, as was afterwards ascertained, they were pursued closely until late in the evening of the second day after the action, by Major Dupoister, and a strong body of mounted men from Ferguson's army. These became so broken down by excessive fatigue, in hot weather, that they despaired of overtaking the Americans and abandoned the pursuit.

Shelby having seen the party and its prisoners beyond the reach of danger, retired across the mountains. He left the prisoners with Clarke and Williams, to be carried to some place of safety to the North, for it was not known then that there was even the appearance of a corps of Americans any where south of the Potomac. So great was the panic aflier the defeat of Gates, and the disaster of Sumpter, that McDowell's whole army broke up. He, with several hundred of his followers, yielding to the cruel necessity of the unfortunate circumstances which involved the country, retired across the

Deprbs8Bd Condition Of The American Cause

At this period a deep gloom hung over the cause of ( American Independence, and the confidence of its c most steadfast friends was shaken. The reduction of Savannah, the capitulation of Charleston and the loss of the entire army under General Lincoln, had depressed the hopes of the patriot whigs, and the subsequent career of British conquest and subjugation of Georgia and South-Carolina, excited serious apprehehsion and alarm for the eventual success of the American cause. At the urgent appeal of the patriotic Governor Rutledge, Virginia had sent forward reinforcements under Col. Buford. His command was defeated and his men butchered by the sabres of Tarleton. At Camden a second southern army, and commanded hy General Oates, was dispersed, captured and signally defeated by Corn wal lis.

Bat besides these disasters, there were other circumstances that aggravated the discouraging condition of American affairs. The finances of Congress were low ; the paper currency had failed ; its depreciation was every where sinking with a rapid proclivity still lower ; the treasuries of the states were exhausted and their credit lost ; a general distress pervaded the country ; subsistence and clothing for the famishing and ill-clad troops, were to be procured only by impressment ; and the inability of the government, from the want of means, to carry on the war, was openly admitted. British posts were established, and garrisons kept up at numerous points in the very heart of the country, and detachments from the main army were with profane impudence rioting through the land in an uninterrupted career of outrage, aggression and conquest. Under the protection of these, the loyalists were encouraged to rise against their whig countrymen, to depredate upon their property, insult their families, seek their lives and drive them into exile upon the Western waters. This was the general condition of American affairs in the South, immediately after the defeat near Camden. General Gates endeavouring to collect together the shattered fragments of his routed army, made a short

After the discomfiture of the American army at Camden, and the defeat and dispersion of Sumpter's corps, Lord Comwallis waited only for supplies from Charleston, before he proceeded to North^Carolina, which he now scarcely considered in any other light than as the road to Virginia. A junction with the royal forces in that state, was expected at so early a day as to give time for prosecuting further operations against Maryland and Penns/ylvania. The expectation of some went so far as to count upon a junction with the royal army in New- York, and the subjugation of every state south of the Hudson, before the close of the campaign."*^ Elated with such delusive prospects of conquest and renown, from achievements so magnificent and romantic. Lord Comwallis, until provisions for his army arrived, resumed at Camden the consideration of civil affairs, hoping to give quiet and stability to the province he had subdued. Finding that many Americans, after swearing allegiance to the British government, had, on the approach of Gates, revolted, he thought it necessary to prevent further defection by severity towu^s the most active and forward in violation of their oaths. The estates of such were sequestered. Instant death was denounced against those, who after taking protection, should be found in arms against the king. Other measures were at the same time adopted, to secure the submission of the whigs. Some of the most influential of these, in defiance of the terms of surrender and the faith of treaty, were torn from their families, hurried into transports and conveyed to the fortress of St. Augustine. Among these was General Rutherford, whose offence was that while a prisoner at Camden, he manifested no signs of penitence for his rebellion, nor of submission to his captors. The lives and property of the whigs were subjected to a military despotism.

Having completed these arrangements in South-Carolina, his lordship, on the eighth of September, marched towards North-Carolina ; and as he passed through the most hostile and populous districts, he sent Col. Tarleton and M igor Fer- guson to scour the country to his right and left. Arrived at Charlotte, and conceiving it to be a favourable situation for further advances, he made preparations for establishing a post at that place. While he was thus engaged, the commanders of his detachments were proceeding in their respective expeditions. The detachment under Ferguson, as has been already seen, had been for several weeks on the left of the main army, watching the movements of McDowell, Sevier, Shelby, Sumpter and Williams, and Clarke and Twiggs. His second in command, Dupoister, had followed in close pursuit the mountain men as they retired, after their victory at Enoree, to their mountain fastnesses. Ferguson himself, with the main body of his army, followed close upon the heels of Dupoister, determined to retake the prisoners or support his second in command, if he should overtake and engage the escaping enemy. Finding that his efforts were fmitless, Ferguson took post at a place then called Gilbert Town, near the present Rutherfordton, in North-Carolina. From this place he sent a most threatening message by Samuel Philips, a paroled prisoner, that if the ofEcers wes£ of the mountains did not lay down their opposition to the British arms, he would march his army over, burn ,and lay -waste their country and hang their leaders.

Patrick Ferguson, who had sent this insolent message, was at the head of a large army. Of the loyalists composing a part of his command, some had previously been across the mountain, and were familiar with the passes by which these heights were penetrated. One of them had been subjected to the indignity of a coat of tar and feathers, inflicted during the past summer, by the light horsemen of Captain Robert Sevier, on Nollichucky. He proposed to act as pilot to the command, which now stood at the foot of the Blue Ridge, ready to carry into execution the threat made by Ferguson. This gentleman had already displayed that oombination of intrepid heroism, inventive genius and sound judgment, which constitute the valiant soldier and the able commander. In early youth he entered the British army, and in the German war was distinguished by a courage as cool as it was determined. The boasted skill of the Ameri-

British troops^ and the ramors of their fatal aim opermMd open and stimulated the genius of Ferguson. His inventkiB pmduced a new species of that instrument of warfiunf^ wliMk he could load at the breech, without using the ramoier er turning the muzzle away from the enemy, and with MMh quickness of repetition as to fire seven times in m linirtfii^ After the reduction Charleston, Lord ComwaUis oftUad fa the assistance of Ferguson in procuring the snbmiiim flf South-Carolina. Among the propositions of that comiBuuMisr to secure this object, one scheme was to arm those of the inhabitants who were well-afiected to the British eame mai embody them for their own defence. Fergusout now a liMtenant-colonely was entrusted with the charge of m^iwhfrfV ting the militia throughout the upper districts. Uadv his direction and conduct, a military force, at <MieeBttmerous and select, was enrolled and disciplined. T^mmm he divided into two classes ; one, of the young men, should be ready to join the king's troops to repel any *that infested the country ; another, of the aged and headu of families, who should unite in the defence of their hnnSM, farms and neighbourhoods.t

" In completing this organization, Ferguson had adraneed to Ninslf- Six, and, with a large body of troops, was, with hia usual T^oor and success, acting against small detachments of Americans, who, undsr sU the discouragements that surrounded them, still remained true to the cause of independence, and determined to maintain possession of the country against the overwhelming force of the British and the royal militia. At J^inety Six Ferguson received intelligence that a eorps of Americans, under Col. Clarke, had made an attempt upon the British post at Augusta, and, being repulsed, was retreating by the back setUements to North-Carolina. To this information, the messenger further added that the commandant at Augusta, Col. Brown, intended to lunig upon the rear of Clarke, and urged Ferguson to cut across his nmls and co-operate inr intercepting and dispersing his party. This serrioe seemed to be perfectly consistent with the {Purposes of Ferguson's expedition, as it would give employment to ms loyalists, prevent the coneentration of whig forces, and prevent their junc^on with Gen. Ghttes. Clarke was able, however, to elude his vigilance, and was present^ ss has been seen, at the battle of Enoree, and assisted in that mastuNrly oigagement, and the remarkable retreat by which he and his comrades escaped from Ferguson. The pursuit of tlie letiripg Americans brought Ferguson so far to the left as to seem to threaten the habitations of the hardy race that occupied and lived beyond the mountains. He was approaching the lair of the lion, for many of the fiimilies of the persecuted whigs had been deposited in this asylum."*

The refugee whigs received a hearty welcome from their hospitable but plain countrymen on Watauga and Nollichucky. The door of every cabin "wbls thrown open, and the strangers felt at once assured of kindness, of sympathy and assistance. Among the neighbours of Sevier and Shelby the exiles from the JCaroIinas and Georgia were at home.

Among the refugees, soon after, came Samuel Philips, the paroled prisoner, by whom Ferguson sent his threatening mes* sage as already mentioned. It reached Shelby about the last of August. He immediately rode fifty or sixty miles to see Sevier, for the purpose of concerting with him measures suited to the approaching crisis. He remained with him two days. They came to the determination to raise all the riflemen they could, march hastily through the mountains and endeavour to surprise Ferguson in his camp. They hoped to be able, at least, to cripple him so as to prevent his crossing the mountain in the execlition of his threat. The day and the place were appointed for the rendezvous of the men. The time was the twenty-fifth day of September, and the Sycamore Shoals, on Watauga, selected as being the most central point and abounding most in the necessary supplies.

Col. Sevier, with that intense earnestness and persuasive address for which he was so remarkable, began at once to arouse the border-men for the projected enterprise. In this he encountered no difficulty. A spirit of congenial heroism brought to his standard, in a few days, more men than it was thought either prudent or safe to withdraw from the settlements: the whole military force of which was estimated at considerably less than a thousand men. Fully one half of that number was necessary to man the forts and stations, and keep up scouting parties on the extreme frontier. The remainder were immediately enrolled for the distant service. A difficulty arose from another source. Many of the volunteers

** Here," said Mrs. S., pointing to her son, not yet sixteen years old ; ^ Here, Mr. Sevier, is another of our boys that wants to go with his father and brother to the> war - ^but we have no horse for him, and, poor fellow, it is a great distance to walk.** Colonel Sevier tried to borrow money on his own responsibility, to fit out and furnish the expedition. But every inhabitant had expended the last dollar in taking up his land, and all the money of the country was thus in the hands of the Entry-taker. Sevier waited upon that officer and represented to him that the want of means was likely to retard, and in some measure to frustrate, his exertions, to carry out the expe*- dition, and suggested to him the use of the public money in his hands. John Adair* Esq., late of Knox county, was the Entry-taker, and his reply wa3 worthy of the times and wor^ thy of the man. ** Col. Sevier, I have no authority by law to make that disposition, of this money. It belongs to the impoverished treasury of North-Carolina, and I dare not appropriate a cent of it to any purpose. But, if the country is overrun by the British, liberty is gone. Let the money go too. Take it. If the enemy, by its use, is driven from the country, I can trust that country to justify and vindicate my conduct. Take it."

The money was taken and expended in the purchase of ammunition and the necessary equipments. Shelby and Sevier pledged themselves to see it refunded, or the act of the Entrytaker legalized by the North-Carolina legislature. That was scrupulously attended to at the earliest practicable moment. The evidence of it is before this writer, in the original receipt now in his possession :

''RecMn Jan'j. Slat, 1782, of Mr. John Adair, Entiy-taker in the county of Sulliyao, twelve thousand seven hundred and thirty-five dollan, which is placed to his credit on the Treasury Books.

Co-Operation Of Oolonbl Campbell

Sevier also undertook to bring Col. McDowell and other field officers who with their followers were then in a state of expatriation amongst the western settlers, into the measure. In this he succeeded at once. All of them had been driven from their homes, which were now deserted and exposed to the depredations of the disorderly and licentious loyalists who had joined the foreign enemy. Most of them had friends and kindred, on whom Ferguson and his tories were even then wreaking their vengeance. These homes and these friends, they longed to rescue and protect from further violence and desecration.

To Shelby was assigned the duty of securing the co-operation of the riflemen of Western Virginia. These had, ia many a pcust campaign, with the pioneers of Tennessee, bivooaced and fought and triumphed together over a savage foe, and it was now deemed essential to the preservation of liberty and independence to obtain the aid of these gallant men in resisting the invasion of the common country. Shelby accordingly hastened home, wrote a letter to William Campbell, eolonel commandant of Washington county, Virginia, and sent it by his brother, Moses Shelby, to the house of Campbell, a distance of forty miles. In this letter Col. Shelby stated what had been determined on by Sevier and liimself, and urged Campbell to join them with his regiment. That gallant officer, true to the general cause, but most loyal to Virginia, replied, by the same messenger, that he did not approve of the measures that had been adopted, and that he shoald pursue his original intention and march his men down by way of the Flower Gap, and get on the southern borders of Virginia, ready to meet and oppose Lord Cornwallis when he approached that state. With this answer Shelby was much disappointed. He was unwilling that the whole military force of Sullivan and Washington counties should be taken upon the contemplated expedition, and thus leave the frontier exposed to attacks from the Cherokees, from whom they were threatened with, and had good reason to expect, an immediate invasion. He, therefore, wrote a second letter and sent it by the same messenger, immediately back to Col. Campbell, giving additional reasons in favour of the prqjected

. Col. Campbell commanded four hundred men from Yirgioia, Col. Sevier two hundred and forty from Washington, and Col. ^helby two hundred and forty from Sullivan county, in North-Carolina. The refugee whigs mustered under Col. M<eDowelI. All were well mounted, and nearly aH armed with a l5eokhard * rij9e.

The camp on Watauga, on the twenty-fifth of September, presented an animated spectacle. With the exception of the few colonists on the distant Cumberland, the entire military fbree of what is now Tennessee was assembled at the Sycamore Shoals. Scarce a single gunman remained, that day, «t his own house. The young, ardent and energetic had generally enrolled themselves for the campaign against Per* gnson. The less vigorous and more aged, were left, with the inferior guns, in the settlements for their protection against the Indians ; but all had attended 'the rendezvous. The old men were there to counsel, encourage and stimulate the youthful soldier, and to receive, fW>m the colonels, instructions for the defence of the stations during their absence* Others were there to bring, in rich profusion, the products of their farms, which were cheerfully furnished gratuitously and vrithout stint, to complete the outfit of the expedition. Gold and silver they had not, but subsistence and clothing, and equipment and the fiery charger - anything the frontierman owned, in the cabin, the field or the range, was offered, unostentatiously, upon the altar of his country. The wife and the sister were there, and, with a suppressed sigh, witnessed the departure of the husband and the brother. And there, too, were the heroic mothers, with a mournful but noble pride, to take a fond farewell of their gallant sons.

The sparse settlements of this frontier had never before seen assembled together a concourse of people so immense and so evidently agitated by great excitement. The large

* Thii rifle wm remflrlrtble ibr tlie preoiiioo and distance of its shot. It waa geoerally three feet six inches long, weighed about seven pounds, and ran about bullets to the pound of lead. It was so called iroinJ)eckhard, the maker* tf Laneaater, Pa. One of tiiem k now in the poweision of the writer.

mass of the assembly were volunteer riflemen, clad in the home-span of their wives and sisters, and wearing the hunting shirt so characteristic of the back-woods soldiery^ and not a few of them the moccasins of their own manufacture. A few of the officers were better dressed, but all in citizens' clothing. The mien of Campbell was stern* authoritative and dignified. Shelby was grave, taciturn and determined. Sevier, vivacious, ardent, [impulsive and energetic. McDowell, moving about with the ease and dignity of a colonial magistrate, inspiring veneration for his virtues and an indignant sympathy for the wrongs of himself and his co-exiles. All were completely wrapt in the absorbing subject of the revolutionary struggle, then approaching its acme, and threatening the homes and families of the mountaineers themselves. Never did mountain recess contain within it, a loftier or a more enlarged patriotism - never a cooler or more determined courage.

In the seclusion of their homes in the West, many of the volunteers had only heard of war at a distance, and had been in undisputed possession of that independence for which their Atlantic countrymen were now struggling. The near approach of Ferguson had awakened them from their security, and indignant at the violence and depredations of his followers, they were now embodied to chastise and avenge them. This they had done at the suggestion and upon the motion of their own leaders, without any requisition from the governments of America or the officers of the continental army. Indeed, at this moment, the American army in the South was almost annihilated, and the friends of the Ameri-^ can cause were discouraged and despondent. The British "Were everywhere triumphant, and the loyalists, under the pretence of promoting the service of his Britannic Majesty, "were in many sections perpetrating the greatest outrage and cruelty upon the whigs. The attitude of these volunteer detachments was as forlorn as it was gallant. At the time of their embodiment, and for several days after they had marched against the enemy, flushed with recent victories and confident of further conquest, it was not known to them that a single armed corps of Americans was marshalled for their assistance or relief. The crisis was; indeed, dark and ffloomy. Bat indomitable patriots were present, prepared and willing to meet it. The personnel of no army could have bten better. There was strength, enterprise^ courage and enthusiasm. The ardour and impetuosity and rashness of yooth were there, to project and execute, with the wisdom of mature age, to temper and direct them ; the caution of the fkther and the irrepressible daring of the son. *

"Without delay, early on the morning of the next day after its rendezvous at Watauga, the little army was on the march. Before the troops left the camp, the officers requested that ihey should assemble for the purpose of commending the army to Divine protection and guidance. They promptly complied with the request. Prayer, solemn and appropriate, was ojBTered by a clergyman present, and the riflemen mounted tbeir horses and started on the distant campaign.

After leaving the rendezvous at the Sycamore Shoals, the troops took up the line of march ; passing along the valley i^RA i ^^ ^^P Creek, they encamped the first night at the I mill of Mr. Matthew Tolbot. They pursued Bright's trace across the Yellow Mountain. The staff* was incomplete; rather, there was no staff*; no quarter-master, no commissary, no surgeon, no chaplain. As in all their Indian campaigns, being mounted and unencumbered with baggage, their motions were rapid. Each man, each officer, set out with his trusty Deckhard on his shoulder. " A shot pouch, a tomahawk, a knife, a knapsack and a blanket, completed the outfit. At night, the earth aff*orded him a bed and the heavens a covering ; the mountain stream quenched his thirst ; while his provision was procured from supplies acquired on the march by his gun." Some beeves were driven in the rear, to furnish subsistence while in the settlements, but they impeded the rapidity of the march, and, after the first day, were abandoned. After passing the mountain, the troops, sparing the property of the whigs, quartered and subsisted upon the tories.

On the second day, two of the men were missed. They bad deserted, and would doubtless escape to the enemy, and apprise them of the approach of the mountain men, and the route by which the march would be conducted. Owing to this apprehension, which was subsequently ascertained to be well fbooded, the troops, after passing the top of the Alleghany, left the frequented trace, and turned to the left, descending by a worse path than was ever before travelled by an array of horsemen. Reaching the foot of the mountain, they fell in with Colonel Cleveland, of Wilkes county, and CSolonel Winston, of Surry county, North-Carolina, with three or four hundred men, who were creeping along through the woods, desiring to fall in with and join any party that might be going to oppose the enemy.

After reaching the settled country east of the mountain, additions were constantly made to. their numbers - of officers with men, and of officers without men, and of men without officers ; some few on horses - most of them on foot - ^but all eager to find and fight the enemy.

The junction of the party from Wilkes and Surry took place about the first of October. The second day following was so wet that the army could not move. The delay was improved by the commanding officers, meeting, as if by instinct, in the evening and holding a council. At this meeting it was determined to send to head-quarters, wherever it might be, for a general officer to take the command of the several corps ; and that in the meantime they would meet in council every day to determine oh the measures to be pursued. Col. Shelby was not well satisfied with these regulations ; and in support of his objections, observed to the council that they were then in striking distance of the enemy, who lay at that time at Gilbert Town, sixteen or eighteen miles distant - that Ferguson 'Would either attack or avoid them until he gathered together :sach a force that they dared not approach. He therefore advised that they should act with promptness and decision, and proposed that they would appoint one of their own number to command and march the next day and attack the enemy at Gilbert Town. He further proposed that Colonel CSampbell was known to him as a gentleman of good sense and warmly attached to the cause of the country - was the only officer from . Virginia and commanded the largest ngimentin the army, - and that he would accordingly nomi-

Bate him as their chief. Shelby made this proposition for the purpose of quieting the expectations of some that Colonel McDowell should assume the command. He was the senior officer present, the army was then in his military district, and he had commanded during the past summer against the same enemy - ^was, moreover, a brave man and a decided friend to the American cause. But he was considered too far advanced in life and too inactive a man to take charge of such an enterprise, against such an antagonist as was immediately before them. McDowell proposed that he would be the messenger to go for a general officer. He started immediately, and his brother, Joseph McDowell, took command of his men. On his way, about eight miles from camp, he fell in with Colonel . ^ames Williams, of South-Carolina, and a number of other field officers from that state, with near four hundred men. The intelligence of this opportune reinforcement McDowell oonununicated by express.

Gilbert Town is distinguished as the extreme point of British invasion in the direction of the home of the mountain men. To that place Ferguson, in the execution of his vain threat to invade and burn up their villages, had advanced and there erected his majesty's standard, with the double purpose of . securing the co-operation of the loyalists and of preventing the rising and concentratioa of the whigs. At that place he received intelligence of the avalanche of indignant patriotism accumulating along the mountain, and ready to precipitate itself upon and overwhelm his army. From that place, enterprising as he was, he found it necessary to fall back and seek safety by a junction with the main army of Cornwallis, at Charlotte. Every movement of Ferguson, from the time he left his camp at Gilbert Town, indicated his apprehension of the impending danger. He commanded the loyalist militia, he importuned them, he held out the language of promise and of threatening, to stimulate their allegiance and their courage. He called in vain. A cloud was gathering upon the mountain, and his loyal militia knew that it portended a storm and a disastrous overthrow. Ferguson changed his langaage and appealed to them in the words of bitter reproach and contemptuous ridicule. On his retreat he issued a circu« lar letter to the tory leaders, informing them of an '' inundation of barbarians" - calls the patriotic riflemen *' the dregs of mankind/* and importunes his loyalists thus : ^ If you wish to live and bear the name of men, gfesp your arms in a moment and run into camp. The backwater men have crossed the mountain, McDowell, Hampton, Shelby and Cleveland are at their head - so that you know what you will have to depend upon. If you choose to be degraded for ever and ever by a set of mongrels, say so at once, and let your women turn their backs upon you and look out for real men to protect them."

despatched Abram Collins and Quinn, to Lord Comwallis, informing him of his critical situation and begging a reinforcement. After despatching his letter, Ferguson marched, on the fourth, over Main Broad River to the Cow Pens. On the fifth he continued his march to Tate's, since Dear's Ferry, where he agaih crossed and encamped about a mile above. On the sixth, he marched about fourteen miles and formed his camp on an eminei.oe, where he waited for the expected reinforcements, of loyalists in the neighbourhood, and of regulars from the royal army. The loyalty of the former quailed at the approach of the riflemen, and in this hour of need their assistance was withheld ; they remained out of Ferguson^s camp.

On Wednesday, the fourth of October, the riflemen advanced to Gilbert Town. But Ferguson had decamped, having permitted many of the loyalists to visit their families, under engagement to join him on the shortest notice. In the meantime, he took a circuitous march through the neighbourhoods, in which the tories principally resided, to gain time and avoid the riflemen until his forces could be collected and had joined him. This retrograde movement betrayed his apprehensions, and pointed out the necessity of a vigorous eflfor^to overtake him. Having gained a knowledge of his designs, the principal officers determined, in eooncil, to pursue him with all possible despatch. Accord- ingly, two nights before the action, the officers were engaged aU night in selecting the best men, the best horses and the best rifles, and at the dawn of day took Ferguson^s trail, and pursued him with niae hundred andten^ expert marksmen, while those on foot and with weak horses were ordered to. follow on more leisulely.

On the pursuit, the Americans passed near where several large parties of tories were collecting. At the Cow Pens sixty men under CoL Hambright and M^or Chronicle, of Tryon county^ and Col, Williams, with the South-Carolina troops, joined them. Here they were informed that a body of six hundred tories were assembled at Migor Gibbs^s, four miles to their right, and would join Ferguson the next day. These they did not take time to molest The riflemen from the mountains had turned out to catch Ferguson. He was their object ; and for the last thirty-six hours of the pursuit, they never alighted from their horses but once to refresh iat an hour at the Cow Pens, although, the day of the battle was so extremely wet that the men could only keep their guns dry, by wrapping their, sacks, blankets and hunting shirts around the locks, thus exposing their bodies to a heavy and incessant rain. The trail every hour became more fresh, and the Americans hurried with eagerness after the prey, which they determined should not escape their grasp. The advance met some unarmed men, who were fresh from Ferguson's camp, a short halt was made, and these men were closely examined. From them it was ascertained that the enemy was encamped three miles before them, and were to march next morning to Lord Cornwallis's head-quarters ; bis position was accura^ly described, and the route to the camp minutely given. Col. Williams and soma of his men were well acquainted with the shape of the ground and the approaches to it.

It was now after twelve o'clock ; the rain had ceased, the clouds were passing ofi*, the sun shone brightly, and nature seemed to smile upon the enterprise at hand. It was deter-

* I quote ^m the Shelby papers in my possession, and from vhich many of te details of this ezpeditioa have been derived. Haywood has extracted from ifaflBi alio.

roiqed to inarch at once upon the camp, and decide the conflict without further rest or refreshment. Each man was ordered to ** tie up his over-coat and blanket, throw the priming out of his pan, pick his touch-hole, prime anew, examine his bullets, and see that every thing was in readiness for battle." While this was being done the officers agreed upon the general plan of attack, which was to surround the eminence and make a simultaneous assault upon every part of the camp. The men were soon in their saddles and upon their march. When within a mile of the battle ground an express from Ferguson was arrested, on whom was found a despatch to Lord Gornwallis, urging him to send immediate reinforcements and stating the number under his command ; and that he was securely encamped upon a hill, which, in in honour of his majesty, he had named King's Mountain, and that if all the rebels out of h - 11 should attack him, they would not drive him from it. The contents of the despatch were, with the exception of the number of the enemy, communicated to the riflemen, the march wad resumed, their pace quickened and they rode in a gallop within view of the camp of Ferguson.

A closer examination of the ground and the position of the enemy, demonstrated the feasibility of the plan of attack already concerted by the officers. More minute arrangements were immediately made and carried into execution. It was decided that the troops commanded by Winston, McDowell, Sevier, Shelby and Campbell, being something more than half of the whole number of the assailants, after tying their horses should file to the right, and pass the mountain nearly out oPreach of the enemy's guns, and continue around it till they should meet the rest of the troops enciroling the mountain on its other side, and led by Hambright and Chronicle, and followed by Cleveland and Williams; after which each command was to face to the front, raise the Indian war whoop, and advance upon the enemy. Accordingly the troops moved forward, and passing up a ravine between two rocky knolls, came in full view of the enemy's camp above them, and about one hundred poles in front Here they dismounted, and having tied their horses, left a

-mall guard with thenL The right wing or eiriaiiut was U by V/inuUm and Sevier, the left by CleTelaad and WUliaaH; the centre was composed of Campbeirs men on the wi^bi, and Shelby's on the left. In this order each oflicer haTiag formed bis ranks, led off at the same time to the position signed him, under pilots selected from CoL WilUam^a who were familiar with the ground. On its march th^ mountain, the right column discovered that there two gaps in the ridge at the enemy's left flank - one about twenty poles from it» the other fifty. It was decided to pas through the latter. About the time they entered it, the eDemf began to fire upon them. The fire at first did not sUtraot attention, until some of Shelby's men being woondedf that officer and McDowell determined to return the fire, and before they had crossed the ridge, broke off towards the enemy, through the gap nearest to his camp, and discharged their rifles with great effect. The rest of the column under Campbell ascended the mountain, and poured in a deadly flre upon the enemy posted upon its summit. The firing became so heavy as to attract the attention of Ferguson, who immediately brought up a part of his regulars from the other end of his line, and a brisk charge was made upon the American right by the British regulars and some of the torias. This charge pushed McDowell, Shelby and CampbelU down the mountain. At this moment, the left column under Hambright, Chronicle, Cleveland and Williams, had driven in the enemy's picquets at the other extremity of the encampment^ and advancing up the mountain, poured in a well directed fire on the enemy protected here by their wagons and some slight defences, and commanded by Fergnon himself. Dnpoister, his second in command, was immediately recalled, ordered into line on the top of the ridge, and directed to make a charge with all the regulars upon the Americans at that end of the encampment. On his passage to the relief of Ferguson, Dupoister received a galling fire from the South-Carolinians under Williams. The regulars were soon rallied, made a desperate charge, and drove the riflemen to the foot of the hill. Here Mi\jor Chronicle fell. In the meantime, the recall of Dupoister from the charge at the other extremity of the mountain, gave the appearance there of a retreat on the part of the enemy, and the men nnder Shelby, McDowell and Cam^)bell, having recovered from the slight disorganization produced by the first charge, rallied to the pursuit. The cry was raised - " huzza, boys, they are retreating ; come on !** They advanced with great firmness up the hill, almost to the lines of the encampment, and for some time maintained a deadly conflict with the tory riflemen. Ferguson, as before, decided to resort again to the bayonet. But the marksmen had so thinned the ranks of the regulars, that the expedient was adopted of trimming the handles of the butcher knives, and adapting them to the muzzles of the tory rifles, and of thus using them in the charge. With the number of his bayonets thus enlarged, Dupoister returned to his first position, and made another charge. It was short and feebly executed, and the regulars returned within their lines.

About this time the front of the two American columns had met, and the army of Ferguson was surrounded by the riflemen. Their firing became incessant and general in all quarters, but especially at the two ends of the enemy's line. Sevier pressed against its centre, and was charged upon by the regulars. The conflict here became stubborn, and drew to it much of the enemy's force. This enabled Shelby and Campbell to reach and hold the crest of the mountain.

On all sides, now, the fire was brisk and deadly, and the charges with the bayonet, though less vigorous, were frequent. In all cases where the enemy charged the Amerir cans on one side c^ the hill, those on the other thought he was retreating, ana advanced near to the summit. But in all these movements, the left of Ferguson's line was gradually receding, and the Americans were plying their rifles with terrible effect. Ferguson was still in the heat of battle ; with characteristic coolness and daring, he ordered Captain Dupoister to reinforce a position about one hundred yards distant, with his regulars ; but before they reached it, they were thinned too much by the American rifles, to render any effectual support. He then ordered his cavalry to moonty with a view of making a desperate onset at their head. Bat these oaly presented a better mark for the rifl^ and fell as fast as they could monnt their horses. He rode from «ne end of his line to the other, enconraging his men to pr^ong the conflict. With desperate coarage, he passed from one exposed point to another of equal danger. Ha carried in his wounded hand, a shrill sounding silver whistlj^ whose signal was univertelly known through the ranks, wasof inunense service throughout the battle, and gave a kind of ubiquity to his movements.*

But the Americans having reached the top of the moontain, were gradually compressing the enemy, and the line of Ferguson's encampment was sensibly contracted. A flag was raised by the tories in token of surrender. Ferguaoi^ rode up to it, and pulled it down. A second flag was ndsfd at the other ^end of the line. He rode there too, and oat it down with his sword. He was frequently admonishad bj Dupoister to surrender ; but his proud spirit could not deiga to give up to raw and undisciplined militia. When .the se-' cond flag was cut down, Dupoister renewed his admonitioB. To this he replied by declaring, he would never surrender to such a damned set of banditti as the mountain men. These men, while they admired the unyielding spirit of Ferguson, had noticed, that whenever his voice or whistle wasiieard, the enemy were inspirited to another rally. They believed that while he survived, his desperate courage would not permit a surrender. He fell soon after, and immediately expired.

The forward movement of. all the American columns brought them to a level with the enemy's guns, which heretofore, in most instances, h^ overshot their heads. . Tha horizontal fire of the regulars was now Ibnsiderably fatal ; but the rapid advance of the riflemen soon surrounded both them and the tories, who b^ing crowded close together, and cooped up into a narrow space by the .surrounding pressure of the American troops, and fatally galled by their incessant fire, lost all hope from further resistance. Dupoister, who succeeded Ferguson in command, perceiving that jGa.rther struggle was in . vain, raised the white flag, and exclaimed for quarters. A general cessation of the American fire followed ; but this cessation was not comidete. Some of the

^onng* men did not understand the meaning of a white flag ; )ther8 who did, knew that other flags had been raised before, uid were qaickly taken down. Shelby halloed out to them ;o throw down their guns, as all would understand that as a larrender. This was immediately done. The arms were low lying in front of the prisoners, without any orders how o dispose of them. Col. Shelby, seeing the facility with ¥bich the enemy could resume their guns, exclaimed : ** Good Sod I what can we do in this confusion ?" " We can order he prisoners from 'their arms,** said Sawyers. '' Y^s," said Shelby, *- that can be done." The prisoners were aceordy marched to another place, and there surrounded by a looble guard.

The battle of King's Mountain lasted about an hour. The 088 of the enemy was two hundred and twenty-five killed, me hundred and eighty wounded, seven hundred prisoners, ifteen hundred stand of arms, and a great many horses and wagons loaded with supplies, and booty of every kind, taken >y the plundering tories from the wealthy whigs.

General Bernard, an officer under Napoleon, and afterjrards in the United States Engineer Service, on examining he battle ground of King^s Mountain, said : " The Ameri- )an8f by their victory in that engagement, erected a monucent to perpetuate the memory of the brave men who had alien there ; and the shape of the hill itself, would be an )temal monument of the military genius and skill of Col. ?*erguson, in selecting a position so well adapted for deence ; and that no other plan of assault but that pursued by he mountain men, could have succeeded against him."*

The loss of the Americans was thirty killed, and about wice that number wounded. Of the former, was Col. Wiliams of South-Carolina. He fell a victim to the true Palaetto spirit, and intemperate eagerness for battle. Towards he close of the engagement, he espied Ferguson riding

*11ie aooomt of the battle at King's Moantain, as giveii, has been taken from ba Shelby papers, the written statements of Qenerals Graham and Lenoir, Mr. ^oalo^a EsMty, and manuscript narratiyes of several of the riflemen, who partici- in il The official report has been seen for the first time, bj this writer, in ' WImmVii V Noffth'Carolina," jnst cot of prew. It is girtn at page S43.

near the line, and dashed towards him with the gallant determination of a personal encounter. ** I will kill Pergason, or die in the attempt P* exclaimed Williams, and sparring hia horse in the direction of the enemy, received a ballet as he crossed their line. He survived till he heard that his antagonist was killed, and his camp surrendered ; and amidst the shouts of victory by his triumphant countrymen, said : ^ I die contented,** and with a smile upon his countenance^ expired.

Major Chronicle, who, with CoL Hambright, led the left wing, was, in passing round the end of the mountain, much exposed to the fire of the enemy above them, and little more than one hundred yards distant He fell early in the engagement, at the foot of the hill, near the junction of the two streams, while gallantly repulsing' the British charge. A plain monument attests the grateful remembrance of his countrymen It bears this inscription :

Of Col. CampbelPs regiment. Lieutenant Edmondson, two others of the same name and family, and ten of their associates in arms, were killed. The names of the Virginia officers are Captains Dysart, Colville, Edmonston, Beattie and Craig; Lieutenants/ Edmonston, Bo wen ; Ensign Robert Campbell, who killed the British Adjutant McGinnis at the head of a charging party. Captain Robert Edmonston said to one of his men, John McCrosky, that he did not like his place, and broke forward to the hottest part of the«battle, and there received the charge of Dupoister's regulars, discharged his rifle, clubbed his gun, knocked the musket oat of the hands of one of the soldiers, and seizing him by the neck, made him his prisoner, and brought him to the foot of the hill. Returning again to the British line, he received a mortal wound in the breast. After the surrender, McCrosky went in search of his captain, and told him the battle was oyer, and the tories were defeated. Edmonston nodded satisfaction, and died.

Of the wounded in Col. Shelby's regiment, was his brother, Moses Shelby, who, in a bold attempt to storm the enemy*! camp, leaped upon one of the wagons out of which the breast-work was formed, and was wounded. Fagan and some others, sufi*ered in the same way. Col. Snodgrass, late of Sallivan county, belonged to Col. Shelby's regiment. His captains were Elliot, Maxwell and Webb ; Lieutenant Sawy

Of the regiment from Washington county, and commanded by Col. Sevier, the captains were his two brothers, Valentine Sevier, Robert Sevier, Joel Callahan, George Doherty and George Russell ; Lieutenant Isaac Lane. Capt. Robert Sevier was wounded in the abdomen, and died the second or third day after, and was buried at Bright's.

Among the privates, were four others of the Sevier family, "viz : Abraham Sevier, Joseph Sevier, and two of Col, Seirier's sons, Joseph and James ; the latter in his sixteenth year.

William Lenoir (since General Lenoir) was a captain under Winston. He was encouraging the men who had received Dupoister^s second isharge, to load well, and make a l>old push against their assailants, when he received a slight 'wound in his left arm, and another in his side, while a bullet passed through his hair, just below the tie, without touching the skin.

In Ferguson^s' possession was found, after his defeat, the following letter to him from Lieut. Col. Cruger, commanding at Kinety-Six. The original is mutilated, and a few words or eyphers are illegible.

^ Sir - ^The night before last I retorned from the Ceded Landa, having done that busineaa pretty effectually. Your several letters I am now in possession of. This instant I receiv^ what you wrote the 30th September. I shall repeat for the militia to turn out their as you understand is coming from the mountains, is as many, in my opinion, as in reason we have a right to expect, Qr. will join yon. Onr force of soldiers here does not exceed in number what in your last letter

YOU can possibly the country and its n^hbourhood that you . . : now in. The game from the mountains is just what I expected. Am glad to find you so capitally supported by the friends to government in North-Carolina. I flattered myself theT woaKd have been equal to the mountain lads, and that no further call for the drfemive would have been on this part of the Province. I b^n te think our views for the present rather larfe. We have been led to thia, pjobably, in expecting too much from ue militia - as, for instance, you call for '. . . . . r^;iment8. They are but just ^ that number ; -

The victory at King's Mountain was complete. Not one of the enemy escaped during the battle : from its commencement they were surrounded and could not escape. The army encamped upon the battle ground the night of the seventb. They had more prisoners than whigs with whom to guard them. They were in the neighbourhood of several parties of tories, and had reason to expect that Tarleton or some reinforcements from Lord Cornwallis, would attempt either to pursue or intercept them. The next day was the Sabbath. Its dawn was solemnized by the burial of the dead. This mournful duty performed, the enemy's wagons were drawn by the men across their camp fires, and after they were consumed the return march was commenced.

As there was no other method of transporting the arms that had been captured, the strong and healthy prisoners were required to carry them. The flints were taken from the locks, and the most vigilant espionage kept over the prisoners by the troops, who marched the whole day at a present. No escape or rescue was attempted. At sundown they met the men they had leilt on foot on their hurried march to the battle* The march wa^ continued pretty close to the mountain till the fourteenth, when a court-martial was held at Bickerstaff's Old Field, in Rutherford county, over some of the prisoners. A few for desertion, others for greater crimes and enormities, were convicted and sentenced to be hung. The number brought under the gallows was thirty. Nine of these only were executed. Among these were Col. Mills, a tory leader, and Captain Grimes, a refugee tory from Watauga. The rest were respited.

Apprehending pursuit by Lord Comwallis, whose headqnarters were close at hand across the Catawba, in Mecklenburg county, and determined to escape with the eight hundred prisoners and fifteen hundred stand of arms taken at King's Mountain, the colonels led off their victorious troops, with their valuable spoils, to some place of safety in the direction of Virginia. Sevier and his comrades from the West recrossed the mountain, and remained in arms upon their own frontier. Campbell, Shelby and Cleveland, continned the march, with the prisoners, in search of some position of greater security. Passing through Hillsboro', where General Gates then had his head-quarters, these officers made out to that unfortunate commander -

''A STATXMKKT of the proceedings of the Western Army, from the 25th of September, 1780, to the reduction of Major Ferguson, and the army under his command.

'K>n receiving intelligence that Major Ferguson had advanced as hieh up as Gilbert lown, in Rutherford county, and threatened to cross the mountaiiis to the Western waters, Col. William Campbell, with four hnndred men from Washington county, of Virginia ; Col. Isaac Shelby, with two hundred and forty men from Sullivan county, North-Carolina, and Lieutenant-CoL John Sevier, with two hundred and forty men from Washington county, Korth-Carolina, assembled at Watauga on the 25th of September, where they were joined by Col. Charles McDowell, with one hundred and sixty men from the counties of Burke and RutherfcHrd, who had fled before the enemy to the Western waters.

^We began our march on the 26th, and on the 30th, we were joined by CoL Cleveland, on the Catawba River, with three hundred and Gttj men bom the counties of Wilkes and Surry. No one ofib^ having

Sroperly a right to the oommand-in-chief, ou the Ist of October we eepatched an express to Major General Gates, iDforming him of our situation, and requested him to send a general officer to take command of the whole. In the meantime Col. Campbell was chosen to act as commandant till such general officer should arrive.

^We reached the Cow Pens, on the Broad River, in South-Carolinay where we were joined by CoL James Williams, on the^ evening of the 6th October, who informed us that the enemy lay encamped somewhere near the Cherokee Ford of Broad River, about thirty miles distant from us. By a council of the principal officers, it was then thought advisable to pursue the enemy that night with nine hundred of the b^t horsemeD, and leave the weak horses and footmen to follow as fast as possible. We began our march with nine hundred of the best men about eight o'clock the same evening, marched all night, and came up with the enemy about three o'clock, P. M. of the 7th, who lay encamped on the top it King's Mountain, twelve miles north of the Cherokee Ford, in the oon- ^dence they could not be forced from so advantageous a post Previous to the attack, in our march the following disposition was made :

'^Col. Shelby's regiment formed a column in the centre on the left ; CoL Campbell's another on the right ; part of Col. Cleveland's lament, headed by Major Winston and Col. Sevier's, formed a lar^ column on the right wing ; the other part of Col. Cleveland's regiment composed the left wing. In this order we advanced, and got within a quarter of a mile of £e enemy before we were discovered. CoL Shelby's and Col. Campbell's regiments b^;an the attack, and kept up a fire on the enemy while the right and left wings were advancing forward to surround them. The engagement lasted an hour and ^y^ minutes, the greatest part of which time a heavy and incessant fire was kept up on both sides. Our men in some parts where the regulars fought^ were obliged to give way a small distance two or three times, but rallied and returned with additional ardour to the attack. The troops upon the right having gained the summit of the eminence, obliged the enemy to retreat along the top of the ridge where Col. Cleveland commanded, and were there stopped by his brave men. A flag was immediately hoisted by Captain Dupoister, the commanding officer, (Major Ferffuson having been killed a little before,) for a surrender. Our fire immediately ceased, and the enemy laid down their arms - the greater part of them loadedr - and surrendered themselves to us prisoners at discretion. It appears from their own provision returns for that day, found in their camp, that their whole force consisted of eleven hundred and twentyfive men, out of which they sustained the following loss : - Of the regu- * lars, one major, one captain, two lieutenants and fifteen privates killed, thirty-five privates wounded. Left on the ground, not able to march, two capt^ns, four lieutenants, three ensigns, one surgeon, ^\q sergeants ; three corporals, one drummer and fifty-nine privates taken prisoners.

^Loss of the tories, two colonels, three capt^ns, and two hundred and one privates killed ; one major and one hundred and twenty-seven privates wounded and left on the ground not able to march ; one colonel, twelve captains, eleven lieutenants, two ensigns, one quarter-roaster, one adjutant, two coipmissaries, eighteen sergeants and six hundred pri-

Tbb Expedition Wab Patriotic And 0Ucce8Sful

On the 10th, Cornwallis ordered Tarleton to march with the light infantry, the British Legion and a three-pounder to assist Ferguson, no certain intelligence having arrived of his defeat Tarleton's instructions directed him to reinforce Ferguson wherever he could find him, and to draw his corps to the Catawba, if after the junction advantage could not be obtained over the mountaineers ; or upon the certainty of his defeat, at all events, to oppose the entrance of the victorious Americans into South-Caroliita. Intelligence of Ferguson's defeat reached Cornwallis, and he formed a sudden determination to retreat from Charlotte. Tarleton was recalled, and North-Carolina was for the present evacuated.

The expedition against Ferguson was chivalric in the extreme. It was undertaken against a distinguished and skilful leader, at the head of a large force which could easily have been doubled. It was composed of raw and undisciplined troops, hastily drawn together, against fearful odds .and under the most appalling discouragements.

The expedition was also eminently patriotic. When i^ was projected, disaster and defeat had shrouded the South with an impenetrable cloud of despondence and gloom. Ruined expectations and blasted hopes, hung like a pall over the paralyzed energies of the friends of America.

The expedition was, moreover, entirely successful. The first object of it, Ferguson, was killed and his whole army either captured or destroyed. This gave new spirit to the desponding Americans, and frustrated the well concerted

The whole enterprise reflects the highest honour upon the patriotism that conceived and the courage that executed it. Nothing can surpass the skill and gallantry of the officers, nothing the valour of the men who achieved the victory. The whole history of the campaign demonstrates that the men who undertook it, were not actuated by any apprehension that Ferguson would attempt the execution of his idle threat against themselves. For, to these mountaineers, nothing than such a scheme would make prettier game for their rifles ; nothing more desirable than to entice such an enemy from his pleasant roads, rich plantations, and gentle climate, with his ponderous baggage, valuable armory, and the booty and spoils of his loyalists, into the very centre of their own fastnesses, to hang upon his flank, to pick up his stragglers^ to cut ofi* his foragers, to make short and desperate sallies upon his camp, and finally, to make him a certain prey without a struggle and without a loss.

Nor was it the authority or influence of the state, that led to this hazardous service. Many of them knew not whether to any or to what state they belonged. Insulated by mountain barriers, and in consequent seclusion from their Eastern friends, they were living in the enjoyment of primitive independence, where British taxation and aggression had not reached. It was a gratuitous patriotism that incited the back-woodsmen. In those days, to know that American liberty was invaded, and that the only apparent alternative in the case was American independence or subjugation, was enough to nerve their hearts to the boldest pulsations of free- 'dom, and ripen their purposes to the fullest determination of putting down the aggressor.*

^ The hunting shirt, the emblem of the Revolution, is now banished from the national military, hut still liogere among the hunters and pioneers of the Far West This national coetume was adopted in the out- set of the Revolution, and was recommended, bj Washington, to the army in the most eventful period of the war of IndependeDce. It was a favourite garb with many of the officers of the line. The British beheld these sons of the mountain and the forest, thus attired, with wonder and admiration. Their hardy looks, their tall athletic forms, their marehing in Indian file with the light and noiseless step peculiar to their pursuit of woodland game, but above all, to European eyes, their singular and picturesque costume, the hunting shirt, with its fringes, wampum belts, leggins and moccasins, the tomahawk and knife ; these, with the well known death-dealing aim of. these matchless marksmen, created, in the European military, a degree of awe and respect for the hunting shirt "which lasted with the war of the Revolution. And should not Americans feel proud of the garb, and hail it as national, in which theit fathers endured such toil and privation in the mighty struggle for independence - the march across the wilderness - the triumphs of Saratoga jtnd King's Mountain ? But a little while, and, of a truth, the hunting shirt, the venerable emblem of the Revolution, will have disappeared from among the Americans, and will be found only in museums, like anoient armour, exposed to the gaze of the curious."

In Tennessee, the hunting shirt is still worn by the volunteer, and occasionally forms the costume of the elite corps of a battalion or regiment. It once constituted, very commonly, a part of the citizen's dress. It is now seldom seen in private life, though admirably adapted to the comeliness, convenience and comfort of the farmer, hunter and pedestrian. In all the early campaigns in the West, and in the -war of 1812, the soldiery uniformly w^ore it. Many of them did so in the war with Mexico, but the volunteer's hunting shirt is evidently going out of use.

Important results followed the defeat of Ferguson. Emissaries* had been despatched to the loyalists on Deep and Haw Rivers, in advance of Lord Cornwallis, with instructions to hold themselves in readiness to act in concert with the British army. His lordship had boasted that Georgia and South-Carolina were subdued, and that North-Carolina "was but the stepping block to the conquest of Virginia. There was no army south of the Delaware to oppose him. In the realization of this boast, he had passed Charlotte and was advancing to Salisbury, where he had directed Ferguson to join him with the three or four thousand loyalists in his train. On his route, Cornwallis received the intelligence of the catastrophe at King's Moantain. Romoar had magnified the namber of the riflemen, and converted their return with the prisoners, into a march upon himself with a force three dumsand strong. Abandoning, for the present, his progrew northward, he ordered an immediate retreat, marched all night in the utmost confusion, crossed the Catawba^ and retrograded as far as Winnsboro', eighty or one hundred miles in his rear.* There, for the present, he confined his operations to the protection of the country between Camden and Ninety-Six, nor did he attempt to advance until . reinforced by General Leslie, three months afterwards, with two thousand men from the Chesapeake. In the meantime^ the whigs of North-Carolina, under General W. L. Daiadeon and Captain .W. R. Davie, assembled in considerable force at New Providence and the Waxaw. General Smallwood» with Morgan's light corps, ^nd the Maryland line, advanced to the same point. General Gates, with the shattered remains of his army collected at Hillsboro', also came up, and one thousand new levies from Virginia, under General Stephens, also came forward. Of these, early in December, General Greene assumed the command. The cloud that had, till the fall of Ferguson, bung over the whole South and enveloped the country in gloom, was dispelled, and from that moment the American cause began to wear a more promising aspect.

Referring to the signal victory obtained at King's Mountain, Mr. Jefferson says : ** It was the joyful enunciation of that turn in the tide of success, that terminated the revolutionary war with the seal of our independeilte."

The General Assembly of North-Carolina, at its first session after the defeat of Ferguson, held at Halifax, January 18, 1781, passed a resolution that a sword and pistols should be presented to both Shelby and Sevier, as a testimony of the great services they had rendered to their country on the day of this memorable defeat The finely finished sword, thus presented by the State of North-Carolina to Colonel John Sevier, was inherited by his son, the late Colonel

* It was upon this retreat of the enemy that Andrew Jackson, then a boy of fifteen, received and repented so znaDfully, the insult of a British officer.

George Washington Sevier, of Davidson county, and by him given to the State of Tennessee. It is now in the office of Colonel Ramsey, Secretary of State. On one side of the handle is engraven -

Colonel John Sevier King'S Mountain

On the third of February, of the same year. Governor Nash signed a commission, appointing John Sevier colonel commaiidant of Washington county. Theretofore, he had acted as colonel at the spontaneous desire of the* troops he commanded.

Though adopted in 1781, the resolve of North-Carolina i^as not carried into execution till 1813, when Governor Hawkins wrote to General Sevier, under date,

Sir .^ - In compliance with a resolntion of the Oeneral Assembly of this state, passed at their last session, I have the hoDour of tendering you the sword, which this letter accompanies, as a testimonial of the distiDguished claim jou have upon the gratitude of the state for jour gallantry in achieving, with your brothers in arms, the glorious victory over the British forces, commanded by Colonel Ferguson, at the battle of King's Mountain,* on the memorable 7th of October, 1780. This tribute of respect, though bestowed at a protracted period, will not be considered the less honourable on that account, when you are informed that it is in unison with a resolution of the General Assembly, passed in the year 1781, which, from some cause not well ascertained, it is to be regretted, was not complied with.

Permit me, sir, to make you an expression of the high gratification felt by me, at being the favoured instrument to present to you, in the name of the Stnte of North-Carolina, this testimonial of gratitude, this meed of valour, and to remark, that contending as we are at the pre- MDt time, with the same foe for our just rights, the pleasing hope may be entertained, that tho valorous deeds of the heroes of our Revolution will animate the soldier of the existing war, aud nerve his arm, in laudable emulation, to like achievements.

William Hawkins

Gen. Sevier was at that time a member of Congress from the Knoxville district, and replied to Governor Hawkins from Washington, acknowledging the honour conferred on him and his brothers in arms, and specially the compliment to hfmseli^ implied by the presentation of the elegant sword that had been handed to him :

«* With that memorable day," alluding to the ^th Oct, 1780, ^ began to shine and beam forth the glorious prospects of our American stniggle.

for my common country, and particularly for the state I then had the honour of serving, and in whose welfare and prosperity I shall never cease to feel an interest I was then ready to hazard eveiything/dear to man to secure our Independence. I am now as willing to risk all to retain it . . . . It is to be lamented that the heroes and fiith^n of our Revolution have fallen into the arms of old age and death, and that so few of them remain to benefit the country by their advice or thdr ser- "rices in the field. . . . Our countrymen must become acquainted with the arts of active warfare, and then I am proud in thinking thej will become better soldiers than those of any other nation on the glojbe^ and we will soon be able to meet the enemy at every point"

We shall not stop to dwell upon Morgan's spirited affair ( at the Cow Pens, nor Greene's masterly retreat through ( North-Carolina to Virginia, nor the marches and counter-marches of that prudent commander and his skilful antagonist, Cornwallis. It is sufficient for the purposes of these annals to say, that the authorities of North-Carolina had placed a suitable estimate upon the services of the Western riflemen, and now, when ther own state was overrun, called for their aid to rescue it from foreign invasion and domestic outrage. The Assembly, while in session at Halifax, turned their eyes to Shelby and Sevier, and rested their hopes upon them. On the 13th of February, it was

^^Besolved, That Colonel Isaac Shelby, of Sullivan county, and John Sevier, Esq., of Washington county, be informed by this resolve, which shall be communicated to them, that the General Assembly of this State are feelingly impressed with the very generous and patriotic services rendered by the inhabitants of the said counties, to which their influence has in a great degree contributed. And it is earnestly urged that they would press a continuance of the same active exertion ; that the state of the country is such as to call forth its utmost powers immediately, in order to preserve its freedom and independence."

Upon Bhelbt And Sbviee

Governor Caswell, in communicating this resolution, took the opportunity of depicting to Shelby the melancholy circumstances in which North-Carolina was involved. The tories were in motion all over the state - their footsteps were marked with blood, and their path was indicated by devastation and outrage. The British army was advancing, under Cornwallis, through the most populous and fertile district of the state, and detachments from it, under difierent leaders, were committing ravages upon the lives and property of the inhabitants. Under this condition of things, the governor conjured Shelby to return to the relief of his distressed country. Gen. Greene also addressed to the Western leaders who had signalized their zeal at King's Mountain, the most earnest and flattering letters, reminding them of the glory already acquired and calling upon them to come forwiard once more to repulse the invaders.

Col. Sevier was at this time, with most of the militia of Watauga and Nollichucky, engaged in protecting their own frontier and chastising the Cherokees, as will be elsewhere narrated. Neither of the Western commanders could, therefore, go to the assistance of General Greene. A few of the pioneers of Tennessee, however, were under his command as volunteers at the hardly contested battle of the. fifteenth of March, at Guilford Court House, and are said to have behaved well.

Could the safety of the frontier allowed the entire commands of Shelby and Sevier to have joined the army of Greene, the catastrophe that afterwards overtook Lord Corn- "wallifl at Yorktown, might have overwhelmed him at Guilford Court House ; as it can scarcely be doubted that the battle of the fifteenth of March, with the joint assistance of the riflemen from Watauga and Nollichucky, would have resulted in the complete overthrow and capture of the British army. Their additional numbers would have made the affair hard by the field of Alamance - the first blood shed in defence of American rights - the last great scene in the drama of the Revolution ; and North-Carolina, so early in her

After the battle at Gnilford Court House, Lord Cornwallis, with his crippled army, retired to Wilmington, and after re* freshing his troops there, marched by way of Halifi^a^, into Virginia. His precipitate retreat from De^ Bivei^* ta which place General Greene bad followed . uid offered him battle, induced that commander to carry the war iounediately into South-Carolina.

By this movement he hoped the enemy would be obliged to follow him or give up the posts he held in that state, la the prosecution of this plan he broke up- his camp on the 7th of April, and on the nineteenth, made his appeanuiee before Camden. . Lord Cornwallis declined to follow him, and directing the march of his army towards the CheMr peake, little expectation could be entertained of a reinliNme' ment from that direction, to support Greene in his descent upon South-Carolina. He was, of course, compelled to d^* pend upon the militia of the three Southern States and the volunteers from the mountain. Active^ measures wecb promptly adopted to concentrate these forces for fhtiue operations. The expedition that had been carried on a short time previous by the frontier militia, having- liberated them from the danger that threatened their firesides with Cherokee invasion and massacre, Shelby and Sevier were enabled to promise the assistance of the riflemen. Greene appointed the latter end of August, and Fort Granby, as the time and place of rendezvous. The volunteers promptly obeyed the call of their leaders, and collected in a largq force for the purpose of rescuing South-Carolina from the enemy. They had actually advanced far on their way to Greene's camp, when intelligence reached them that Cornwallis had left North-Carolina, and that the American commander, by cutting off the supplies between Camden and Charleston, had compelled Lord Rawdon to evacuate the former place ; that the post at Orangeburg, Fort Motte, another post at Nelson's Ferry, Fort Granby and Georgetowji, had in like manner been captured or evacuated ii\ rapid ^ucceteion ; and that Col. Hampton had, with a party of dragoons, charged within five miles of- Gbarleston. They learned, furthermore, that Fort Comwallis at Augusta, had surrendered to Pickens and Lee, assisted by the brave riflemen of Georgia under Clarke, and that the British had retreated from their stronghold at ?finety-Six, and had contracted their operations almost entirely within that small extent of country which is enclosed by the Santee, the Gongaree and Edisto ; and to all this was added, that the enemy were driven into Charleston. This information so changed the complexion of affairs in South- Garolina, as to admit the return of the mountain men to their homes, and Sevier* accordingly wrote to General Greene, that as his recent successes had rendered the services of the VTestem riflemen unnecessary, they had returned and disbanded. It was on account of these considerations, that the troops from the mountains of Tennessee had not the good fortune to participate in the battle of Eutaw Springs, which oecnrred not long aflter they were disbanded.