Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-11-27
CHAPTER I.

"oh, grievous desolation! look, and
Their sad condition.! 'Tis a piercing
sight:
A country overthrown and crushed
the scythe
Gone over II in wrath-and sorrow
ing Grief
Dumb with her weight of woe"
Our narrative begins in South Car
olina, during the summer Of 1880. The
arms of the British were at that time
triumphant throughout the colony.
Their armies overran 1t. Charleston,
the chief city, had stood siege, and
had fallen, after protracted and hon
orable defence Of eight weeks; sue
cumbing finally to famine, rather than
the force Of arms. One-hah OF the
military strength Of the lower country,
then the most populous region had
become prisoners Of war by this dis
aster; and, for the present, were thus
incapacitated from giving any assist
ance to their brethren IN arms. Scat
tered, crushed, and disheartened by re-
peated failures. the Wings, in numer-
Gus instances, hopeless Of any better
fortune, had given in their adhesion
to the enemy, and had received pledge
of British protection. This protection
secured them, as 1t was thought, In
their property and persons, and its con-
dition simply called for their neutral
ity. Many Of the more firm and hon
orably tenacious, scorning all compro-
mise with invasion, fed for shelter to
the swamps and mountains; and.
through the former. all Europe could
not have tracked their footsteps. In
the whole state, at this period. the
cause Of American liberty had no head,
and almost as little hope; all was
gloomy and umpromising. Marion, af-
forwards styled the Swamp Fox" and
and Sumter the Game Cock" epithets
aptly descriptive of their several mill
tary attributes-had not yet properly
risen in arms, though both Of them had
been engaged already In active and
successful service. Their places OF re-
treat were at this time unknown; and,
certainly, they were not then looked
to, as at an after period, with that
anxious reliance which their valour
subsequently taught their countrymen
to entertain. Nothing, indeed. could
be more deplorably PROSTATE than
were the energies Of the colony. Here
and there only did some partisan squad
make a stand, or offer show OF re-
sistance to the incursive British or
the marauding and malignant Tory
disbanding. IL not defeated. most usu-
ally, after the temporary object had
been obtained. and retreating for Sc
curity into shelter and inaction. There
was no sort Of concert save in feeling,
among the many who were still not
unwilling for the fight; they doubted
or they dreaded one another; they
knew not whom to trust. The next door
neighbor Of the staunch Whig was not
unfrequently a furious loyalist-as de-
voted to George the Third as the other
could have been to the intrinsic beau
ty of human liberty. The contest of the
Revolution, so far as 1t had gone, had
confirmed and made tenacious this
spirit Of hostility and opposition, until.
in the end, patriot and loyalist had
drawn the sword against one anoth-
er, and rebel and Tory were the de-
grading epithets by which they sew
orally distinguished the individual
whose throat they strove to cut. When
the metropolis fell into the hands Of
the British, and their arms extended
through the state, the Tories alone
were active and formidable. These,
hitherto outlawed in all the provinces,
had most sought shelter in Florida;
whence they emerged as soon as the
British arms had established their as
tendency in Georgia and Carolina
They now took satisfaction for their
own precious trials, and crime was
never so dreadful a monster as when
they ministered to it's appetites. Min
gled in with the regular troops OF the
British, or forming separate bodies OF
their own, and officered from among
themselves, they penetrated the we'll
known recesses which gave shelter to
the fugitives. II the rebel resisted,
they slew him without quarter; If he
submitted, they hung him without
benefit of clergy; they spoiled his chill
dren of. their possessions, and not un-
frequently slew them also. But few
sections of the low and middle country
escaped their search. 1t was only In
the bald regions Of North Carolina that
the fugitives could find repose; only
where the most miserable poverty took
from crime all temptation, that the
beaten and maltreated patriots dared
to give themselves a breathing space
from flight In the same manner the
frontier colony Of Georgia had already
been overrun and ravaged by the con-
querors; and there. as 1t was less cap
able of resistance, almost all show OF
opposition had been long since at an
end.
The invader, deceived by these ap-
pearances, declared. in swelling Ian
guage, to his monarch, that the two
colonies were properly subjugated.
and would now return to their obedi-
ence. He knew not that,
"Freedom's battle once begun.
Bequeathed from bleeding sire to
son,
Though bafled oft, is ever won."
But, though satisfied Of the efficiency
of his achievements, and himself con-
vinced Of the truth of the assurances
which he had made to this effect, the
commander of the British forces did
not suffer the slightest relaxation OF
his vigilance. Earl CORVALLIS, one of
the best of the many leaders sent by
the mother country to the colonies In
that eventful contest had taken charge
of the southern marching army soon
after the fall Of Charleston. He was
too good a soldier to omit, or to sleep
in the performance Of any of his duties.
He proceeded with due diligence to con-
firm his conquests; and, aptly sus-