Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-11-13

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YORKV
undisciplined militia from post to post
and forced to confine himself within
narrow bounds, left the army in com
mand OF Lieutenant Colonel Stewar
and sailed for Europe. To the camp o
Stewart flocked the loyalists and Tories
from every quarter of the state
Whilst these swelled his numbers, the.
added very little to his effective force
A little more than month hat
passed since General Greene had ar.
rived at the High Hills Of the Santee
but during the short period Of repose
the sick and wounded in the American
iarmy had been greatly benefited by the
. pure water and pleasant climate Of the
hills. On the 21st Of August, General
Greene broke up his camp on the San
tee and set out in search Of his enc
my. He led his forces across the Wa
!, teree river at Camden. From this
, point he. advanced to the Congaree
which he> crossed short distance be-
low the present city of Columbia. AT
this point General Greene was rein
forced by!a body Of militia under Pick
ems and small body of infantry under
Colonel Henderson. This last was a
corps Of state troops recently raised.
The Congaree crossed, General Greene
determined to advance upon his enemy.
Lee with his legion and Henderson
with his new body Of state troops
were detached to form the van: whilst
the whole force followed within sup
porting distance.
When Stewart learned that Greene
was advancing. apparently to attack
him he retired from Orangeburg to the
Eutaw Spring, on the Santee. Here he
was Joined by a convoy, with supplies
from Charleston. Stewart was aware
that the cause of the British in South
Carolina was in a critical condition,
but the nearer he approached Charles
ton the less were his apprehensions Of
danger.
Eutaw Spring is in Charleston county
in st. Johns Berkeley parish. From
the foot of slight elevation the
water gushes out In bold stream and
after flowing near one hundred yards,
1t descends into a subterraneous pas
Nge, and again at distance Of about
two hundred yards 1t rushes out and
forms Eutaw creek; and at distance
of about two miles empties into the
Santee at Nelson's ferry. The stream
Notwithstanding its extreme shortness,
Is Of sufficient volume to drive large
Touring MILL but 1t has no fall. So
nearly is the spring on a level with the
Santee that during a freshet the wa
ters Of the river flow back as far as the
spring.
General Greene on crossing the Con-
garee proceeded by slow marches in
pursuit of Stewart. At Orangeburg
Marion, who was In the region Of coun-
try watered by the Edisto, rendering
assistance to Colonel Hardin, who was
about to be entrapped by Major Fraser.
was ordered TO join General Greene in
the neighborhood of Eutawj Spring. On
the 5th Of September, Marion having
made forced night march reached the
plantation Of Henry Laurens a few
miles from the enemy's camp. On the
evening OF the eth, GreeneN and the
main force reached Burdell's planta-
ton sever miles from Eutaw Spring.
Here he encamped for the night.
Colonel Stewart seems to have been
totally ignorant of the proximity Of
the American army. During the night
Of the 7th, two North Carolina con-
scripts belonging to Summers COM
mand deserted and gave Colonel Stew
art the first intimation that General
Greene was advancing to give him
battle. During the day Stewards
scouts had been up the Congaree road
but for some reason had failed to dis
cover the American army. This led
the British colonel to conclude that
the North Carolina deserters were
Ispies. Giving little credence to the
Information received from the DESERT
lers, Stewart as usual sent out, on the
morning Of the Sth an unarmed force
Ito dig potatoes. Captain Coffin by
whom Stewart had lately been rein
forced was sent out with a small body
lof cavalry to make observation and If
necessary to recall the potato diggers.
Just as day began to break on the
morning of the Sth, the American army
under General Greene was put in mo-
: ton. The whole force amounted to
two thousand and thr,e hundred men.
OF this number. about sixteen hundred
including the cavalry, artillery and
J foot were regulars; the remainder were
militia, a few Of whom had some ex-
perience. The rest had never been in
a battle. The whole force moved for
ward in two columns. Each Of these
columns was composed Of the troops
designed to form the lines Of battle.
!, The front line was composed Of four
battalions of militia. Two Of these
battalions consisted Of North Carroll
mans and the other two Of South Car
olinians. The North Carolina battal-
ions were commanded by Colonel NAL
medy. One Of the South Carolina bat
talions was commanded by Pickens-
the other by Marion. The whole front
, lline was commanded by Marion. Three
greatly reduced brigades Of Continen-
, tai troops constituted the second line
One Of the brigades was from North
, Carolina, another from Virginia and
/ the remaining one from Maryland. The
North Carolina brigade was divided
into three battalions and placed on the
| right. Majors Blount and Armstrong
/ and Lieutenant Colonel Ashe, each
, commanded a battalion-the whole
, commanded by Gen. Sumner. The Vir-
ginia brigade commanded by Lieuten-
ant Colonel Richard Campbell was
t posted In the centre. This was divided
into two battalions the commanders Of
: (which were respectively Major SneaG