Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-09-28
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FaE REpOkUYlOa
How the Spirit Of Liberty Was Kept Alive By al
UncOnquerable People
By REV. ROBERT LATHAM. ID. ID.

royal army, camped in Salisbury. The
headquarters of the British earl was in
the house of DR.. Anthony Newman,
This gentleman although a genuine
Whig, dispensed generous hospitality
to the invading foe. Here an incident
occurred which will serve to illustrate
the spirit of the times.
The two little sons Of DR.. Newman
were engaged in playing war;" Their
forces were represented by grains OF
corn. Part Of these corns were red
these represented the British; another
part was white-these represented the
Americans. The boys had their men
and their officers. Prominent among
the commanders were Colonel Wash
ington and Colonel Tarleton. The bat
tie in which the boys were at this time
engaged In planning was that Of the
Cowpens. Having imbibed the spirit
of their native land, they so marshalled
their forces that the white grains of
corn chased the red. Then the little
fellows with joyful shouts, would
scream at the top of their voices:
"Tarleton runs-hurrah for Washing
ton" Tarleton who was SO unfortu-
nate as to be present, bore this inno-
cent, but cutting language for a time
with becoming dignity. 1t is the truth
however, that hurts. The rash Eng
lishman, no longer able to bear the In
suit, turned to Cornwallis and said;
do you see those cursed little rebels?'
Cornwallis ordered General o'Hara
to take his guards, the regiment of
Bose and the cavalry and pursue has
tily after Morgan. He had been In
formed by his scouts that Morgan had
not yet crossed the Yadkin. The night
was dark. the roads bad and 1t was
raining. The result was that O'Hara
did not reach the Trading ford until
midnight and when he did arrive he
found that Morgan's men, except a
small detachment left to guard the
wagons OF the citizens who were fol-
lowing the army, were all over the riv-
er and the flats all on the east bank.
The American army moved ON with
all possible speed toward Guilford court
house. On the seventh of February,
the whole American army, including
Lees cavalry, arrived at the point
which had been designated for a juno
tion. On the. next day, the united
forces were mustered and found to be
two thousand and two hundred. OF
these, five hundred were militia and
Two hundfed and seventy were cava1-
ry. All were in sad condition. Nor
gan's men had been moving constantly
since the battle Of the Cowpens. They
to avoid CORVALLIS had marched one
hundred and fifty miles over bad
roads, crossed by swollen streams In
twenty days. The forces under Huger
had marched about one hundred miles.
The distance traversed gives us no
proper idea Of the labor these men en-
countered. II was the dead Of winter.
The army wagons and army teams
were wretched in the last degree. The
men were all nearly naked; there were
but few blankets In either Morgan's or
Huger's corps, and no small number
Of the men were absolutely barefooted,
The wonder is that these hungry and
naked and barefooted soldiers did not
sink beneath the tolls of the march
and breathe out their lives by the way.
The trials and difficulties of the Amer
lean soldiers, while in winter quarters
at Valley Forge, are constantly men,
toned as an example of patriotic en-
durance. Greene's army was in far
worse condition and yet the men were
forced to march night and day. The
road over which they passed was COW
cred with blood which ran from their
bare feet.
Baf1ed again by an interposition OF
Divine Providence, CORVALLIS called
O'Hara from Trading ford to Sails
bury. From documents found in pos
session Of some of the militia who had
fallen into his hands or been killed
since crossing the Catawba, Cornwall
lis had learned, with very great accu-
racy, the plans Of General Greene. But
for the rains which made the Yadkin
impossible, all Greene's plans would
have been blasted. Unable to cross the
YadkIn at Trading ford and unwilling
to remain inactive and let Greene es-
cape quietly beyond his grasp, Corn
wallis commenced his march on the
west side Of the river, determined to
continue 1t until he would reach a
noint where the river could be forded
Even in this direction the way was not
entirely open. The militia Of the coun-
try had rallied and destroyed the bridge
over Grants creek. This amounted to
only a temporary delay; for the bridge
was soon repaired and the militia dis
persed. The British army without
meeting any other important opposi-
tion, moved forward and crossed the
Yadkin at the Shallow fords, and pass
ed into the Moravian settlement on the
very day that the American forces
reached Guilford court house.
The two armies were now within
twenty-five miles of each other. In
respect to numbers, the British was
about three hundred the larger and in
every particular, except cavalry horses
better provided for. Cornwallis was
IN Greene's left, and equally as neal
the Shallow fords of the Dan. Having
failed to prevent the junction Of the
detachments, CORVALLIS now deter
mined on forcing the American gen.
eral to fight This he knew must be
done before Greene crossed the Dan
Greene on the other hand, determined
in view Of the circumstances by which
he was surrounded. to make desper-
ate effort to keep for the present, out
Of the reach Of CORVALLIS.
Never during the whole war had the
affairs of the south been in a more
critical condition. In fact the result
Of the war was placed in a critical
condition. II Greene was only across
the Dan, he would be safe; but how
was this to be accomplished? All the
streams were swollen and Cornwailis