Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1857-07-08
stedman, the British historian of the campaign,

IeCSiFea Inc eneny'S FIRST nfe. w men arfIVeu At
nearer and more convenient distance they delivered
their own fire and rapidly charged Nth the bayonet.
And Tarleton, in his campaign, says
The order and GOODNESS Of that part of Webster's |
brigade which advanced across the open ground er.
posed to the enemys fire, be sufficiently
toled The militia allowed the front line to approach
within $50 yards before they gave their fire. The !
front line continued to move the Americans sent
back their cannon, and part of them repeated their
fire. The Kings troops threw in their fire and
charged rapidly with their bayonets The shock was
not waited for by the militia, who retreated behind
their second line /
Stetman ana Tarleton were eye-wtnesses of the
eventofwhich they write. They agree in admitting
first fire from the North Carolina militia, and that
part Of them repeated the fire and both say that the
British charged Uith the bayonet. Both admit re-
ceivng the fire in the open field. None but the
North Czrolina militia stationed as to gice
that ire,-the other troops being 800 and 600 yards
in the rear, in the thicket towards the old Court
House, in the second and third lines Behind the
second one OF which Tarleton says the North Caro-
lima militia retreatcd.
This view of the is strengthened by letter
from Capt. Dugald Stewart Of the list regiment,
1926, where he says,
In the advance received very deadly fire
from their marksnnen lying mn the ground behind A
RAIL FENCE! One hull Of the Highlande,s dropped
on that spot There ought to be pretty large tum.
illus where men (7lsD were buried"
Again, Brown, in his "History of the Highland
Clans" speaking in reference to the list regiment
at Guford says
1.-The Americans covered by the fence in their
front reserred their fire till the British cere acithn
thirty forty paces at aohich distance they opened
most destructive fire, sohich annihiIated nearly
ONE THIRD Of Co.. Websters brigade"
at is also known that great many of the British
were buried in that field, and the place where
their front line cohen the fret fire giUen OF
this there is doubt for it is well attested by peo-
| pie in the neighborhood, who were on the ground
the next day after the battle and them buying
their dead'-SEE CARUTHERs' LIFE OF CALDWELL
page 226.
From these various historical sources, the fact is
established beyond controversy, that the North Caro-
lima militia obeyed orders, stood, fired "a most de-
structive fre,-and then retreated strictly in
| formity to orders.
The traditional history of North Carolina is to the
same effect and the State owes debt of gratitude
to DIR. Caruthers for embodyng the evidence of the
fact in his interesting work, "The Old North State
| in 1875 second SERIES" That book must have been
| within the reach of Porte Crayon, while in Green's
! borough. Does he consult that among the au-
| thors who constitute the "best authoritiess" No.
Montgomery, of four of Capt. Forbis's Compa-
ny who stood by him on the battlefield to the last
had said, that after the North Carolina militia fred
'the part of the British lines at which they aimed
looked like the scattering stalks in teM achen
the harvest man has passed 1t aoith has cradle"
In the book too he could have read the tes:i-
| mony of two Guilford men, who on the day after
the battle passed the ground where the British
were fired on by the North Carolina militia, and
| who say, it appeared they could have walked fifty
yards on dead and wounded men without touching
! the ground.
There too he ght have read that Capt Forbis
! Colonel of the day in the front line) outfank
sd by the British, and that he and his company
fought like heroes until wounded and overpower-
| ed.
There too he might have read the testimony of
two others, who that the British buried their
dead west of Mr.. Hoskins house-the very spot at
which they were fired on by the North Carolina
militia, and where British historians say they sus-
tanned the grratest loss.
There too he would have read that Capt Forbs's
company fired twice, and did not give way until the
! British upon :hem. There also he would have
read that Nathaniel Slade fired once, and in atemp
| ting to reload broke his ram rod and borrowed an
other but before he was ready to fire he beheld the
| British bayOnets at hand.
In that same book Of Caruthers, he might have
found, that the is carried into African exam
| pie which Porte Crayon cannot induce me to imi-
tate, beyond saying that the fact is established that
Col. Forbs, commander of one of the North Carroll.
ma brlgades lay 4S hours upon the field of battle,
wounded consequently could make no return of his
men to Adjutant Williams: that this fact accounts
| for the Adjutant having reported them as missing
and gone home. And then, when this fact is borne
in mind, and the actual number of the North Caro-
|
Virgnians, the mortality greater in the troops
of the Old North State despite Porte Crayons shout
over the valor of the Vrgnians.
The mass of testimony we have adduced estab
lishes beyond question: that the North CaIolna mil
itia in the first fire killed and wounded more than
| one-haf Of the list, and more than onethrd of
| Webster's brigade.
did not commence this letter to assail Maryland
| Delaware, Virginia, Gen. Greene, but to defend
North Carolina from the unjust aspersions of Har.
| no al To nr tharc
to carry the into Africa but it is not congenial
to the feelings of the right thinking and proper min
ded. But we be INDUCED in asking Porte Cray
or tao questions: If the Virginians were as
valiant you represent them and stationed 800 yards
| in the rear of the North Carolinians and number.
ing as they did more than nehalf of the American
force and numbering as many men as the British,
why did not the Nrgnians whip the British?
why retreat and fall back on the third lines? and
why did the second and third lines retreat through
the thicket, down the hill some7 or 800 yards toe
wards Martinsvile? There were no North Carolin.
ans in the second and third lines, yet they both re-.
| merchandising over 5000 men. The first line
| did the same numbering 1000 men. Now if it was
criminal cowarce in the first lne it tre6ly cri.
minal cowardice in the second and third lines. This
is meeting Porte Crayon on his own ground-which
do merely for the purpose, of showing his injus-
tice.
The positions is hot ours-we disown it and as.
sert our opinion that the Battle of Guiford Court
House, was an American triumph,-a victory of
which North Carolina and the Union should be
proud victory achieved the best troops Eng
land ever planted on battlefield. The elite the
experienced, and the accomplished soldiers, to an
extraordinary degree, fought at Guford Court House
under the eye of CORVALLIS himself: The brother
of the distinguished statesman Charles James Fox,
inspired his to deeds of noble daring. Tarleton
and Webster from the onset to the close fought if
their waterford was do or die. While in the rem
nant of the list Regiment alone five of its officers