Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1876-11-30
Aistprn " s. GaraIliiua.
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
St59ssszS OF THE 90 *t{s - ss8@tt
Early Settlement Of South Carolina.
BIZ REV. ROBERT LATHAH.
THE;BATTLE OF. cOwPENs.

S8lA were JuOAauC. - 1hey ttuVuSus tne oio"
had been struck which would reduce. the
$ American colonies into subjection to the Brit
ish crown. The British, officers in South
Carolina thought they had nothing to do now
but, hy easy marches, advance as far as Ches-
apeake. This done, Georgia, South Carolina,
North Carolina and Virginia, would be re-
daced to hopeless servitude to the majesty Of
Great Britain. The plan adopted by the
British commander was to advance through
= the country, establish garrisons at convenient
places, and thus keep in subjection the terri
}taEy overrun. The military posts we're de-
sighed to be 90 many places Of rendezvous
for3the tories and loyalists. His Majesty 5
troops were expected to live on plumber.
.Ehis was not the dream Of mere novices in
ths$hrt Of: war. It was the device Of officers
of Ehom England is to-day justly proud.
Amsricsn liberty is enhanced in value, when
we reject that it was won BY raw militia
againa officers trained in the best schools of
EnropsA Those who talk about CORVALLIS,
TarletonAand Rawdon as fools and towards,
suffer theis Judgments to be perverted by blind
prejudice No braver man ever drew sword
orcommanf Jed . military organization than
he who fell in Kings Mountain. No man
better nndersAo how to make victory com
iplste than Tasgston. To out general Corn
wallis, or out feht. Tarleton, is she highest
encomium that dkn be passed upon any off,
Ger. To thwart the purposes and disconcert
the plans Of these hen, as our fathers did, is
sufficient to write their names on the highest
niche Of military fame Those who say that
the British oficersfwere destitute of military
skill, and that thss British soldiers they led
were towards. eis&es have never studied the
history:of the revolutionary war; Or have
studied to 40 lhrpose. s,. ~ '..i.g..,'..:
That Cornvaies might be enabled to exc.
cute, with ease and promptness, bis plans~fer
subjugating ths}whole of the Southern colo.
nies, and, con lequently, all the American col
enies, Generd Leslie was sent, by General
Clinton, fros New York, with q corps Of three
thousand cfoice troops, to the Chesapeake.
Leslie set put from New York about the 10th
Of octobs, and landed at Portsmouth, Va,
about the middle of the, same month. The
objecttor which General Leslie was sent to
VirgiSia, was to destroy all the public prop
.erty slonging to the Americans and prevent
GsnerSl Washington from sending forces
tothegassistauce to of the partisan leaders in the
SontS.
IRese plans of the British officers we're
copEocted Immediately after the fall of
Charleston, and matured and attempted to be
.SPut in execution on the defeat of Gates at
Camden. Conwallis expected to advance to
Charlotte, where he would meet the brave
Patrick Ferguson, and having established
and fortified Charlotte in way similar to
Camden, he would then advance on to Ports
mouth. es Tt,iB + ssG ~ t:a
In the meantime, the Wings of Georgia
and the two Carolinas were not idly pining
over past misfortunes Their defeats had
only stimulated them to invincible energy.
On the seventh of October--a few days after
Cornwaliis reached Charlotte-Patrick Fer
guson and his whole army we're surrounded
on Kings Mountain and literally annihila.
ted. a chasm was made in the plans of the
British chieftain which no strategy could
span. The advance in the direction of Vir.
ginia was impossible, under the existing cir
cumstances. The region around charlotte
suarmed with Scotch-Irish Whigs.n To re-
main in that locality was to jeopardize his
whole command. Following the dictates of
wise policy, he retreated to Winnsboro and
ordered General Leslie to leave Portsmouth
and Join him in South Carolina. This must
have been sad news to Leslie. He had ex-
pected to hear of CORVALLIS far on his way
toward Virginia, when he landed at Ports
mouth. Heretofore, victory had crowned ev-
cry effort of the British, and nothing but ap-
parent defeat attended the undertaking of the
Americans. .s -.'.
The country was not, as We have already
seen, subdued. Partisan leaders had sprung
up in all sections of the State. These we're
followed BY men who were ready to suffer aud
die for their bleeding country. Marion and
his men were lurking in the swamps of the
santee and Black river, ready, whenever an
opportunity presented itself. to emerge from
their watery hiding places and pour destruc-
tion and death into the ranks Of the invading
foe Sumter and his illqstrious eoadjutors
Werb in upper and western South Carolina,
breaking up military posts and slaughtering
thekroops Of the active and valiant Tarleton.
Immediately before the battle Of Kings
Mountain, it seemed as if the sun of Ameri-
can liberty had gone down to rise no more.
TWAS only the darkness. which precedes a
rising sun. - ;la1 eag
On the Sabbath morning after Patrick Fer
guson slept his last sleep on the rocky summit
Of Kings Mountain, the sun rose .as it had
never been seen to rise before by the Ameri.
cans. The tide of victory had turned. From
sthief pFard, it continued to flow in favor
m sss, until it terminated in the i'm.
"a 4 ef General O'Hara surrendering
tHof Earl CsnWsllis to General, Lin
Sfal Leslie would arrive, Corn.
wIIg led to remain at Wipnsboro
Hsdiiid not. Stwever. abandon his original
plan to advance naEthward through North
Carolina aud Virginia. Soon after Leslie was
called South from Virginia the traitor, Ar
mold, was sent thither with q considerable
force. sEe-laid the country waste with Gre