CORNWALLIS DESTROYING HIS ARMY. 415 end in blood. Regardless of the bayonets that were clashing around them, they rushed at each other with a fury that admitted but of one result. The quick pass of Steuart's small sword was skilfully put by with the left hand, whilst the heavy sabre of his antag onist cleft the Briton to the spine. In one moment the American was prostrate on the lifeless body of his enemy; and in the next, was pressed beneath the weight of the soldier who had brought him to the ground. These are not imaginary incidents, they are related on the best authority. A ball discharged at Smith's head as his sword descended on that of Steuart, had grazed it and brought him to the ground, at the instant that the bayonet of a favorite soldier, who always sought the side of his captain in the hour of danger, pierced the heart of one who appears to have been equally watchful over the safety of the British colonel." 1 To stop the fierce pursuit of Washington and Howard, Cornwallis ordered his artillery to fire upon friends as well as foes. "It is destroying our own men," exclaimed O'Hara, who was bleeding fast from a dangerous wound. "I see it," replied Cornwallis; "but it is a necessary evil which we must endure to avert impending destruction." O'Hara turned away with a groan, as the fire from his artillery ploughed through the ranks of his fleeing guards. It checked the pursuit; but half the gallant battalion was destroyed. Arrested by this terrible fire, and discovering one regiment passing from the woods on the enemy's right across the road, and another advancing in front, Howard believing himself to be out of support, collected his battalion amid the dead and dying, and retired in good order followed by Washington. The battle which had raged for two hours now terminated. Greene could still have ordered into the fight two Virginia regiments, of which one had hardly been engaged, the other had been kept back as a reserve; but he hesitated, and leaving his cannon on the field, used this reserve to cover the retreat of the army. About three miles from the field of action he made a halt to collect stragglers, and then continued to the place of rendezvous at Speedwell's iron works, on Troublesome Creek. The enemy's loss in killed and wounded and missing, amounted to over six hundred. Of these, one colonel and four commissioned officers were killed on the field; and Colonel Webster, Captains Schultz, Maynard, Goodrick and others, died of their wounds. General O'Hara was severely wounded, and General Leslie, from exposure, was obliged to leave the service. Colonel Tarleton was slightly wounded, and many others. The American killed and wounded could never be accurately ascertained, as one-half of the North Carolina militia and a large number of the Virginians never halted after separating from their officers, but pushed on to their own homes. Greene states that three hundred of his continentals were killed and wounded; of his militia, nine North Carolinians, one hundred Virginians. Of the Virginians, two hundred and ninety-four were missing, "gone home," he writes, "to kiss their wives and sweethearts;" of the North Carolinians, five hundred and fifty-two. The chief loss was sustained by the first Maryland continental battalion, which bore the brunt of the action. Speaking of this Johnson's Life of Greene, ii., p. 12. gallant corps, Mr. Johnson writes, "Excepting the infantry of the legion, and Kirkwood's little corps of Delawares, the first regiment of the Marylanders was the only body of men in the American army who could be compared to the enemy in discipline and experience; and it is with confidence that we challenge the modern world to produce an instance of better service performed by the same number of men in the same time. They did not exceed two hundred and eighty-five in number. Yet, unassisted, they drove from the field in the first instance, the thirty-third regiment, three hundred and twenty-two strong, supported by the Jägers and light infantry of the Guards. Before they had yet breathed from the performance of this service, they pierced the flank of the first battalion of the Guards, and aided by the cavalry of Washington, dissipated a corps far exceeding their own in number, and the very boast of the British nation. Volleys of grape-shot poured through their own ranks by the enemy, and the near approach of two British regiments on their left flank, arrested them in the pursuit; but they calmly, and in perfect order, returned to their position and exhibited a spirit that seemed only to covet more arduous service." General Greene, in a letter to the president of congress, dated March 16th, says: "The first regiment of Marylanders, commanded by Colonel Gunby and seconded by Lieutenant Colonel Howard, followed Washington's cavalry with their bayonets; near the whole of this party fell a sacrifice." Extract from a letter dated "Camp Speedwell Furnace," March 17th, 1781: "The first Maryland regiment being ordered to charge the enemy, most cheerfully embraced the opportunity, and being seconded by Washington's cavalry, they bayoneted and cut to pieces a great number of the British Guards who had taken our field pieces. Major Anderson and Ensign Nelson are amongst the slain; both were brave and both are justly lamented. Anderson was an excellent officer, but I regret his loss equally as a friend, for he was possessed of the most endearing social virtues." 2 There were but two prominent officers of the American regulars who fell at the battle of Guilford; one of whom was Major Archibald Anderson of the first Maryland regiment, the same who so eminently distinguished himself at Gates' defeat. In him his State and the service lost a gallant and faithful officer. General Stevens, of the Virginia militia, and General Huger, were severely wounded. The British having lost one-fourth of their army, and exhausted by fatigue and hunger, and their camp encumbered by the wounded, were unable to follow up their victory. Leaving a large number of the latter in the neighborhood of the field of action, on the third day, Cornwallis set out, by easy marches, for Cross Creek, now Lafayette, an eastern branch of Cape Fear River, where they crossed and moved on towards Wilmington, arriving there on the 7th of April. Later in the month, he left Wilmington, and formed a junction with the British army under Philips and Arnold, at Petersburg, Va. 1 Life of Greene, ii., p. 15. 2 Maryland Journal, April 3, 1781. BATTLE OF HOBKIRK'S HILL. 417 Immediately after Cornwallis left the neighborhood of Guilford, Greene started in pursuit, eager for battle. On the 28th, he arrived at Ramsay's Mills, on Deep River, which the enemy had crossed a few hours before. Finding that he could not overtake them, Greene, "determined to carry the war immediately into South Carolina." Dismissing the militia, whose term of service was about to expire, with his remaining force, consisting of about eighteen hundred men, set out for the enemy's outposts, in South Carolina. The strongest of these was Camden, held by Lord Rawdon, with a garrison of about nine hundred men. Greene determined to take this, as it would break the enemy's line in the centre, and the others would fall in detail. On the 6th of April he took up his line of march, and on the 17th, arrived at Lynch's Creek, near Gates' camping-ground of the summer before. On the 20th of April, he took post at Hobkirk's Hill, on the north of Camden, about a mile and a-half in advance of the British redoubts. In the meanwhile, on April 6, 1781, Greene had detached Lee's legion, with Captains Oldham's and Handy's companies of Maryland riflemen, to form a junction with Marion and capture Fort Watson, at Wright's Bluff, on the left bank of the Santee, one of the strongest of those small fortified posts the enemy had constructed in that section of the country. Fort Watson was built on an Indian mound, which rose abruptly from a broad piece of table land, to the height of thirty-five or forty feet, and commanded all the ground around it. It was surmounted by a stockade and three rows of abatis, and its garrison consisted of one hundred and twenty men, under Captain McKay, a brave and spirited officer. Lee and his force surrounded the garrison before his presence was known and immediately carried the outworks. Neither party having cannon, the besiegers found it would be slow work for regular approaches. On the 18th, Lee wrote urgently for a cannon, and, while waiting, it was suggested to erect a tower to overlook the garrison. The idea was immediately adopted, and on the morning of the 23d, the garrison saw a huge tower overlooking them, its summit crowned with a platform on which a body of picked riflemen were ready to shoot them down as soon as they made their appearance. A breastwork of logs had also been raised to protect it from assault, behind which Captain Oldham's company of veteran riflemen was stationed. Everything being ready, an assault was made and a passage opened in the "side of the mount near the stockade." The enemy finding further resistance useless, hoisted the white flag and surrendered. This was the first fruit of Greene's descent into South Carolina. While Greene was waiting for reinforcements at Hobkirk's Hill, on the morning of the 25th of April, Lord Rawdon, who was aware of the condition of his army, marched out of Camden at the head of nine hundred men to surprise him. By keeping close to the swamp, the enemy took the American camp, "in some measure, by surprise," and opened fire upon their pickets. Captain Kirkwood and the Delaware company warmly engaged the British 27-v. ii |