Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1895-05-08

aI places without the precincts o.
Charleston. The scenes of action were
in South Carolina aud Virginia. Nortl
Carolina was left to fall or be sup
ported by the event of the transaction,
which were then going on. The tories
however, were very indefatigable il
their endeavors to enslave their coun
try, and every day some life was sac
riiiced to their implacable fury. A
considerable body of them, under the
command of Tanning, stole very un
expectedly into Hilsboro, on the 18th
OF September, AM made prisoner Gov.
Burke, with several other persons OF
note, and marched them towards Will.
mington. The American troops sue
ceeded in dislodging the British from
nearly all the stations they occupied
beyond the limits of Charleston; and
finally, so Strengthened them for want
of room and provisions, as to force
them to action at the Eutaw springs,
on the Sth of September, in which the
American army captured five hundred
OF them, and one thousand stand of
arms. About the same time French
fleet arrived in the bay of Chesapeake,
with considerable body of land forces
on board, with view to cooperate
in the reduction of Lord CORVALLIS
and his troops, to the surrender of
themselves as prisoners of war to the
armies of the United States. At this
crisis, and on the 10th of September
Gen. Greene wrote to Col. Sewer. He
gave information to the Colonel of
these several events, and of the sus-
picions which were entertained that
Lord CORVALLIS would endeavor to
escape by marching back through
North Carolina to Charleston; to pre-
vent which, Gen. Greene begged OF the
Colonel to bring as large body of
riflemen as he could and as soon as
possible, and to march them to Char
lotte. Col. Sewer Immediately raised
two hundred men in the county of
Washington and marched to the relief
of the well affected in South Carolina,
who were suffering extremely by the
cruelties which the tories were inhict-
ing upon them; he Joined his forces to
those of Gen. Marion, on the .Santee, at
Davis ferry, and contributed in no
small degree to keep up resistance to
tile enemy; to raise the spirits of those
who were friendly to the American
cause, and.to afford an asylum to those
who were in danger from the infuri-
ated tories. Lord CORVALLIS was now
besieged in Yorktown, and his retreat
through North Carolina being no longer
apprehended; and as the enemy in
South Carolina, ravaged the country
in the parish of st. Stephens, Gen.
Greene, with design of putting stop
to their depredations and Strengthening
them in the article of supplies, en-
deavored, on the 18th of October, to
collect force sufficient to drive them
into Charleston; but he awaited the
arrival of Sewer TO begin his operations.
On the 10Th, Lord Cornwallis and the
army under his command, surrendered
to the arms of the United States and
France. The war between the wings
and tories had grown to be war of
extermination, and quarters were
neither asked nor expected on either
side.
Col. Shelby likewise W rs called down
to the lower country about the last of
September, to aid in intercepting Lord
Corvallis, at that.time blockaded by
the French fleet in the Chesapeake and
who it was suspected would endeavor
to make good his.retreat through North
Carolina to Charleston, but when his
Lordship surrendered in Virginia, both
Shelby and Sewer were attached to
Marion's command below, on the
Santee. Shelbyland Sewer consented
TO this with some reluctance, as their
men were only called out for sixty
days, and Shelby was a member of the
North Carolina Assembly, which was
to meet at Salem in the beginning of
December following. They however
Joined Marion early in November with
five hundred riflemen. The enemy, at
that time under Gen. Stuart, lay at a
place called Ferguson's Swamp, on the
great road leading to Charleston. Gen.
Marion received Information some
weeks after their arrival at his camp,
that several hundred Hessians at a
British post, near Monks corner, eight
or ten miles below the enemy's main
army, were in a state of mutipy, and
would surrender the post to any con-
siderable American force that might
appear before it; and he soon deter
mined to send detachment to surprise
it. Sewer and Shelby solicited com
mand in the detachment. Marion ac-
cordingly moved down eight or ten
miles and crossed over TO the south
side of the Santee river, from whence
he made detachment of five or six
hundred men to surprise the post, the
command of which was given to Col.
Mayhem, of the South Carolina dia.
goons, The detachment consisted of
parts of Sewers and Shelbys regi.
ments, with May S dragons, about
a hundred and eighty, and twenty OF
thirty lowland militia. They took up
the line of march early in the morning
travelled fast through the woods, cross.