Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-10-14

chief, seemed to follow the eagle OF victory and
now PREPARED to sWoop down and conquer the
Southern land On December 26th, 1779, he
set sail from New York with $500 men, in
the fleet Of Admiral Arbuthnot, and on May
II, 1880, he estai .ished his troops on Johns
Island, within thre miles Of Charleston.
General Lincoln, who had been second to
Gates at Saratoga, then commanded the Amer
lean garrison, but it was unequal to withstand
the veteran army launched against it, The
story is soon told On the 10Th of May, be-
leaguered and helpless, he capitulated, surren-
dering the city with all it's Notifications, ship
ping, artillery and public stores, and five thou
sand men stacked arms before the conqueror.
Saratoga, where are all thy glories now
"Gone glimmering through the dreams
Of things that were.",
Brave as English blood has ever been in bat
tie, bravely as it has borne the Lion flag, keep
ing even pace with the drum beat of the sun
rise earound the world, the de ,cendants of those
Ravagers of the Sea, who carried the Raven
banner of the Norsemen to the conquest of
their Island home, have too often displayed
their barbaric lineage in ferocity to the con-
Quered, and here in the Carolinas they visited
upon their appealing victims those unutterable
calamities of cruelty, which make human ma
ture blush, weep and shudder for its kind.
full puniShments were announced against all
who should oppose the King in arms, or hinder
any from joining his standard. The men of
Camden, Beaufort and Ninety-Six surrendered
under promise of "security" from Clinton.
But he was ''his own interpreter" and soon
made plain what security" he intended. He
required all theinhabitants, even those outside
of Charleston, who were prisoners on parole,
to take an active part in the Kings cause.
"Should they neglect to return to their alle-
giance,' so ran the infamous proclamation,
''they will be treated as rebels to the govern
ment of the King"
AS Tarleton swept over the land with his
vengeful blade, sometimes rode with him Maj.
Patrick Ferguson, his fit associate, a character
of whom you will hear again, ere this tale is
ended-a hardy partisan of Vigorous and daunt-
less courage-himself the inventor of a rifle,
and eXtolled as the best marksman living.
The son of an eminent Scotch Judge, he had
entered the army at an early age, and had
served in the German wars and in the army in
the Northern States. Experience had ripened
in him the qualities of brave soldier, and he
was we'll fitted for leadership in irregular and
predatory war. Before the fall of Charleston,
Tarleton and he together had surprised the
camp of Gen. Huger and Col. Washington, at
Monks Corner, capturing one hundred of their
men, and soon afterward had captured Colonel
Buford' s command of Virginians, at the Wax
haws, leaving one hundred and fifty mangled
on the field, and Staying one hundred and thir-
teen in cold blood. despite the fact that they
threw down their arms and cried for quarter.
This deed of bloody savagery had been follow
ed by others not less revolving. Patriots were
surrounded in their homes, at dead of night,
and put to the sword, whilst widowed wives
ol,s 4ol
to the woods and the canebrake. The dumb
beasts of the farm yard were either driven
away or left dead by their ruthless hands; the
garden roots were torn up and scattered the
grapevine made quick work of the hesitant
rebel who would not swear allegiance to the
King, and the midnight torch made funeral
piles of the affairs of homes.
An universal panic seized upon the people.
Bowed to the dust in humiliation, they were
now driven to dishonor and despair. A pail
as of death was upon the land. All opposition
in South Carolina ceased. Stripped and desc
late, scattered and broken, ravaged and dis
mayed, they crouched under power that
brooked no resistance and ground out all re-
sentiment Sir Henry Clinton looked upon his
work and thought that it was good. Leaving
Lord CORVALLIS in charge of the conquered
provinces, he set sail for New York, on the
18th of June, carrying with him four thousand
of his victorious men.
Northward, toward North Carolina, now
marched the conquering CORVALLIS, while
Tarleton and Ferguson, with their partisan
rangers, ,ravaged the land, attracting or join
ing to their standards the most prohigate and
abandoned outlaws and dssperadoes, who,
hopeless of liberty, reveled in opportunities to
hang, scourge, burn, plunder and prey. Alone
in the field remained Sumter, ssthe game cock" -"
and Marion, stthe swamp fox las the British
called him. With their little bands of hardy
CarolinianS, who scattered to-day into the for
ests and swamps, reappearing on the morrow
vexing and hindering, if they could not stay,
the onward progress of their oppressors.
A mighty effort was now put forth to re-
trieve the disasters that had befallen us. AS
early as May, Washington had detached from
his Northern army Of fifteen thousand men,
the Maryland Division and the Delaware Reg
iment, under Major-General Baron DeKalb,
and with them marched sOuthward with the
corps of Light Horse Henry Lee. This col
umn was yet out when Charleston fell, and
there received intelligence of a misfortune in
the Carolinas The piteous cry for help that
reached Virginia and the Continental Con-
gress, was speedily responded to. Arms were
hurried on from the Old Dominion to North
Carolina upon her requisition, and though
threatened by savageS on the western borders
and exposed to invasion all along her seaboard,
the valiant State stripped herself to help her
struggling sisters, "with magnanimity which
knew nothing of fear" Says Bancroft, "Vir-
ginia laid herself bare for the protection of
the Carolinas." Nelson, Armand, White and
VIM. Washington, came with their corps to
reinforce the column for the relief of the Car
olinas, and Gen. Horatio Gates, the victor of
Saratoga, was appointed by the Continental
Congress to command the Southern army.
When Gates was summoned from his Vir-
ginia plantation. to this arduous service, he
assumed it with the most sanguine confidence
of victory, laughing at the warning of his
friend, Gen. Charles Lee, who said, ''Take
care, Gates, lest Your Northern laurels be turn
How speedily was it fulfilled? On the 10Th
of August, with a superior force, Gen. Gates
marched upon Corn wallis, who was posted at
Camden. Singular enWgh, his advanced guard
pushing forward, ere Yet day was breaking,
met the advance of Cornwallis, who was like
wise moving in battle array against him, and
swiftly the two armies. joined battle. The
British Regulars are too strong for their
combatants. The Virginia militia, under
Stevenson, broke ana fled the North Carolina
militia, under Casw II, speedily followed their
example. DeKalb, ntrepidly leading the men
of Delaware and MAJ yland, fell mortally strick-
Ell with eleven wounds, and when the day
closed, the whole American army, saving only
one hundred men, who escaped with Gist, of
Maryland, through the Carolinas, was defeat
ed, losing all of its artillery, and utterly beat
en-. The victor of Saratoga sped away to
Hilsborough, where the North Carolina Leg
isature was in session, riding two hundred
miles in three days, and officers and men We'd
with their leader in the rapidity of their flight
from the ill-starred field of Camden. Verify,
the Northern laurels were faded into Southern
willows And the Southern willows seemed