7 
 
Ei^dz 
 
 
 ^tiof^y 
 
 REMARKS 
 
 OF 
 
 WiLMOT G. DeSaussure, President, 
 
 THE STATE SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 
 
 20th OCTOBER, 1884. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Cincinnati Society : Permit me, in rising 
 to propose the regular toast at this meeting, to preface it 
 with some remarks which I hope may interest you : 
 
 Stedman, in his History of the American War, says, v. 2, 
 p. 187, " The Commander-in-Chief (Sir Henry Clinton) in 
 his public order issued after the surrender of the town, and' 
 in his dispatches to the Secretary of State, was lavish in his 
 encomiums upon the officers who served under him, and 
 the troops he commanded. The assistance he received 
 during the siege from his general officers. Earl Cornwallis, 
 Major-Generals Leslie, Huyne, and Kospolth, and Brigadier- 
 General Patterson, is not only honorably remembered but 
 thankfully acknowledged." Very little could Earl Corn- 
 wallis and his associates, when thus triumphing at the 
 capitulation of Charles Town, So. Ca., on 12th May, 1780, 
 have anticipated that the apparent success which had then 
 attended *their arms, was in fact but an initiative step to the 
 surrender at Yorktown, by the same Earl Cornwallis, on 
 19th October, 17S1. The capitulation of Charles Town had 
 seemed to the British Government, and its military com- 
 
manders in America, the blow which would at last reduce 
 the rebellious colonies to submission. The Southern Colo- 
 nies were now subdued, as they thought, and it only 
 remained for the British armies in the Southern Colonies, 
 and from New York, to envelop the army under General 
 Washington, crush his forces out, and then quietly reduce 
 the New England Colonies. British hopes and anticipa- 
 tions for such a result ran very high, and for a time seemed 
 about to be realized. Had any one had the temerity to 
 whisper that the fair promise was not only illusory, but 
 actually a step on the road to defeat, he would have been 
 regarded as a fanatic and madman. Yet such was in fact 
 the case, as we know by the light of after events. 
 
 When the war of the Revolution commenced at Lexing- 
 ton, on 19th April, 1775, the British army may be said to 
 have been massed in Boston, Massachusetts. Referring to 
 the troops then in Boston, Stedman says : "An addition to 
 the land and sea forces was voted by the House of Com- 
 mons, and a large reinforcement ordered to Boston, under 
 the command of the Generals Howe, Clinton and Burgoyne, 
 all of them officers of reputation " The battle of Bunker's 
 Hill, on 16th June, 1775, the action of the Continental 
 Congress in raising troops, and the siege of Boston, all gave 
 assurance to the British Government that a war had 
 actually been inaugurated. 
 
 The same author says : "All the colonies, now united, vied 
 with each other in professions of invincible attachment to 
 the common cause; and the Congress beheld their power 
 acknowledged, in a very great degree, from Nova Scotia to 
 Georgia. And it was now evident that the mother country 
 was as resolutely determined to maintain, as they were to 
 resist her authority. They began to concert measures for 
 supporting a war, and, in the first place, to consider where 
 that authority was most vulnerable. With these sentiments 
 they cast their eyes on the Province of Canada." 
 
 The expedition to that Province, though sanctified by 
 the patriotic bood of Montgomery, and the many gallant 
 men who, under his command, laid down their lives in the 
 
 
 
righteous cause in which they had taken up arms, proved 
 not only unsuccessful but disastrous. Had the British com- 
 manders in America, in their subsequent successes, pursued 
 the same humane, gallant, and wise course adopted by Sir 
 Guy Carleton towards the unfortunate prisoners taken 
 then, a different result may have fallen to the American 
 struggle. A Latin author said : " Qiios Dem vult perdere. 
 prius dementat." As we proceed we may see how signally 
 this was illustrated. 
 
 While the Canadian expedition was progressing, the siege 
 of Boston by the American troops was steadily continued, 
 and " the British troops blockaded in Boston suffered incredi- 
 ble hardships and fatigue." * * * it ^yas therefore 
 determined to evacuate the town. * * It was effected, 
 and the brave garrison, with those attached to the British 
 cause, in number about 2000, embarked for Halifax, in 
 Nova Scotia. * * Thus was the capital of Massachusetts 
 added to the iVmerican cause." (Stedman.) 
 
 The colonies were, by this evacuation, relieved of the 
 presence of the British. But in the mean time, the British 
 Government was endeavoring, among the Highlander set- 
 tlements of North Carolina, to embody troops with a view 
 to the preservation and restoration of Royal authority in 
 that Province. Governor Martin (the Royal Governor) 
 held out such representations that " in consequence of these 
 representations, the Fifteenth, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-third, 
 Thirty-seventh, Fifty-fourth, and Fifty-seventh Regiments, 
 with seven companies of the Forty-sixth Regiment, em- 
 barked from Cork, on 12th February, 1776, under the com- 
 mand of Lord Cornwallis, in several transports, under the 
 convoy of Sir Peter Parker." (Stedman.) On 3d May, 1776, 
 these arrived in the Cape Fear River, and General Clinton 
 took command. " General Clinton's orders were to try if 
 any of the Southern Provinces would take up arms in favor 
 of Britain ; in which case he was to have left a body of 
 troops to assist these loyalists ; but he was instructed to 
 repair with the remainder of the troops to New York 
 harbor by such time as it was possible that the commander- 
 
ill-chief would arrive from Halifax, to begin the great 
 operations for that campaign." (Stedman.) General Clinton, 
 pursuing the general purpose of his instructions, on 28th 
 June, 1776, engaged Fort Moultrie, and was driven out of 
 Charleston harbor, and from the Southern States. " On 
 21st (July) the army sailed for New York, under the 
 convoy of the Solebay frigate, the rest of the fleet being 
 under the necessity of remaining to refit. Thus ended an 
 expedition from which the friends of government had pre- 
 dicted the most beneficial consequences." (Stedman.) 
 
 On 29th June, 1776, the British army, which, with " the 
 reinforcements brought from England, amounted, with the 
 troops already in America, to near 30,000 men," began to 
 rendezvous at Sandy Hook. To oppose this force, which 
 was again reinforced shortly after, General Washington had 
 less than 9,000 troops of all descriptions, very many of 
 whom were unarmed : and at no time during the opera- 
 tions around New York did his army exceed 16,000. It is 
 not wonderful then, that, outnumbered by two to one, and 
 the outnumbering army supplied with the best arms and 
 appliances then known in warfare, and with the army aided 
 by a powerful fleet co-operating on a water field admirably 
 fitted for its use, that the Continental army was obliged to 
 evacuate New York, and place itself in position along the 
 Hudson river. The British plan of the campaign of the 
 years 1776 and 1777 seems to have been to operate by the 
 Hudson, so as to separate the New England Provinces from 
 the Middle and Southern, doubtless with the intent to turn 
 either to the right or left, as circumstances should develop, 
 and so destroy the American army in detail. It is accor- 
 dingly found that the rest of 1776 was given to such plan, 
 and to threats through New Jersey, upon Philadelphia, 
 where the Continental Congress held its sessions. The year 
 1777 found this plan being still carried out, while Burgoyne 
 was inarching from Canada towards New Yoik. Lord 
 Howe was endeavoring to penetrate up the Hudson, so as to 
 make a junction with him, the effect of which would have 
 been just wliat seems to have been the strategic design, 
 
when New York was selected as the salient point from 
 which to attack and destroy the American army. 
 
 The expeditions up the Hudson came to naught, and at 
 Saratoga, on 17tli October, 1777, the army under Burgoyne 
 was surrendered as prisoners of war. So that this plan of 
 campaign, through the vigilance and skill of the American 
 commander, and the devotion, gallantry, and courage of the 
 troops under his command, failed of its accomplishment. 
 But as an auxiliary to the plan of campaign, Sir William 
 Howe, in July, 1777, operated, with a large force, by the 
 way of the Chesapeake Bay, against Philadelphia, and on 
 27th September, 1777, occupied that city, the American 
 army being too weak and illy provided to prevent it. Had 
 the expedition up the Hudson and Burgoyne's march from 
 Canada been successful, the two combined with the capture 
 of Philadelphia, may have put an end to the war. But the 
 failures of the two first paralyzed the last, and Sir Wm. 
 Howe sat down in Philadelphia from September, 1777, to 
 June, 1778, having accomplished very comparatively little 
 towards the great operations of the campaign. So little, 
 that even when, at Valley Forge, in winter quarters, the 
 army of General Washington was reduced to about 3000 
 men, nearly naked, almost starved, and very illy armed, 
 the British army accomplished nothing against it. It is 
 true that in December, 1777, an expedition, which was 
 intended to surprise and capture or destroy the American 
 army, was organized, and may possibly have been successful 
 but for the heroic conduct of that noble Quakeress, Lydia 
 Darrell, whose name and whose act of devotion should be 
 embalmed in and dear to ever}' American heart. 
 
 In June, 1778, Philadelphia was evacuated, and the 
 plains of New Jersey became the battle fields of the war. 
 But it had by this time became apparent to the British 
 commander that a new plan of campaign must be organ- 
 ized. First, however, in a spirit of revenge for disappointed 
 expectations in the early autumn of 1778, Rhode Island was 
 ravaged with ruthless barbarity. 
 
 The new campaign turned to the Southern Provinces for 
 
6 
 
 its field. St. Augustine, Florida, was the gathering place 
 of the tories from the Southern Colonies, and the Indians 
 along the borders of the Southern Colonies had been in- 
 flamed by British emissaries and arts, until it was thought 
 the time waS ripe to inaugurate a campaign which should 
 subjugate the Southern Provinces, and take them from the 
 American Union. In December, 1778, this campaign was 
 inaugurated, and Savannah was captured. Apprehending 
 something of this, the commander of the Southern Depart- 
 ment, General Robert Howe, had planned, in the summer of 
 1778, an expedition against Florida, which had signally 
 failed, and proved disastrous in the extreme from the mor- 
 tality which ensued upon a summer campaign in the 
 swamps and morasses of lower Georgia and Florida. Of the 
 continental troops which took part in this campaign, nearly 
 two-thirds died, and like losses were sustained by the State 
 troops and militia. 
 
 In May, 1779, the British General, Prevost, seeing the 
 great part of the American army, which lay between 
 Savannah and Charleston, carried off on a bootless expedi- 
 tion to Augusta, Georgia, made a bold dash for Charles- 
 ton, and had nearly succeeded in capturing it. The rapid 
 concentration of the returning American troops, with the 
 reinforcement of militia, and the consciousness that he him- 
 self was scarcely prepared to stand a siege, even if he 
 captured Charleston, caused Prevost to decamp in hot haste, 
 and by the way of the Sea Islands route, return to Savan- 
 nah. His expedition, however, developed the fact that 
 Charleston could be assailed by land, and it left a garrison 
 at Beaufort, So. Ca., as a starting point. True this garrison 
 was withdrawn in October, 1779, to reinforce the garrison 
 at Savannah, when assaulted by the combined French and 
 American forces. But the skill displayed by the British 
 commander, Colonel Maitland, in carrying this garrison to 
 Savannah, disclosed the fact that a judicious use of these 
 internal water ways would be of immense advantage in 
 such subsequent operations as should be inaugurated. 
 
 During the year 1779, the operations of the British army 
 
in the Northern Colonies had been, generally, of a desultory 
 character. Apparently, judging by after events, the cam- 
 paign plans of 1780-1781 were being slowly organized, and 
 the means being gathered to ensure their success. While 
 these things had been going on, Sir William Howe had 
 retired from the command of the British army, and been 
 succeeded by Sir Henry Clinton. 
 
 This brief sketch has been given to show what had, 
 seemingly, been the British plans of campaign up to the 
 opening of 1780, and why those plans having proved unsuc- 
 cessful, a new plan, from which more could be hoped, was 
 to be substituted. 
 
 Stedman details the plan, and commences thus : " Sir 
 Henry Clinton having been cramped in his operations by 
 the proceedings of the French fleet under Count d'Estaing, 
 whose unsuccessful attack upon Savannah, together with 
 his final departure from the American coast, has already 
 been related, no sooner received certain information of the 
 departure of d'Estaing than he set on foot an expedition, 
 the object of which was the taking of Charleston, and the 
 reduction of the Province of South Carolina." Tarleton, in 
 in his Memoirs, reiterates this. 
 
 The result of this campaign was " the capitulation was 
 signed on the 12th Ma}'^ (1780), and on the same da}'^ the 
 garrison laid down their arms, and Major-General Leslie 
 took possession of the town. By the articles of capitulation 
 the garrison were allowed some of the honors of war, they 
 were to march out and deposit their arms between the 
 canal and the works of the place ; but the drums were not 
 to beat a British march, nor the colors to be uncased ; the 
 Continental troops and seamen, keeping their baggage, were 
 to remain prisoners of war until exchanged ; the militia 
 were to be permitted to return to their respective homes as 
 prisoners on parole, and while they kept their parole, were 
 not to be molested in their property by the British troops ; 
 the citizens of all descriptions were to be considered as pris- 
 oners on parole, and to hold their property in the town on 
 the same terms as the militia." 
 
" By the fall of Charleston, the capture of the Deputy 
 Governor, and the greatest part of the Council, and the 
 defeat and dispersion of the only regular force which Gen'l 
 Lincoln had left without the lines, the war in South Caro- 
 lina seemed entirely subdued : and these expeditions, set 
 on foot by the Commander in Chief, immediately after these 
 events, appeared well calculated to deepen the impression 
 that had been made, and to extinguish every idea of fur- 
 ther resistance amongst the people of the interior country, 
 if any such idea could at that time be supposed to exist." 
 
 These expeditions were designed to spread over the Prov- 
 ince, establish garrisoned posts in various different locali- 
 ties, and by force of arms subjugate the State. 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton also issued three proclamations : the 
 first called upon those who sympathised with the British 
 cause, to embody themselves into troops, the older men to 
 act as a home militia, and the younger men to enter into 
 active service : the second promised " protection and sup- 
 port to the King's ftxithful and peaceable subjects, and the 
 most exemplary severity, with confiscation of property, de- 
 nounced against those who should hereafter appear in arms 
 within the Province against his majesty's government, or 
 who should attempt to compel any others to do so. or who 
 should hinder or intimidate any of the King's faithful and 
 loving subjects from joining his forces, or performing those 
 duties which their allegiance required : the third, issued as 
 *' commissioner for restoring peace to the colonies," offered 
 full and free pardon to all who having been misled from 
 duty should immediately return to their allegiance, and a 
 due obedience to the laws." 
 
 Lord Cornwallis was in command of the main expedition, 
 that which marched upon Camden ; and Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Tarleton, detached from his command, was sent in pursuit 
 of Colonel l^uford. The butchery which ensued is too 
 well known to need repetition. Even Stedman says: "but 
 the virtue of humanity was totally forgot." And he also 
 says " upon the march to Camden the British troops were 
 supported from the country through which they passed. 
 
9 
 
 A number of negroes mounted on horses were employed, 
 under proper conductors, in driving in cattle for the sup- 
 port of the army, and though they were in general very 
 small, the army was plentifully supplied." From this it 
 will be seen that the policy adopted was ruthless, notwith- 
 standing the articles of capitulation so recently signed. No 
 quarter to men in arms, even although not prisoners on 
 })arole ; no protection to property although solemnly guar- 
 anteed. Stedman continues : " The last remains of the 
 Continental force in South Carolina being extirpated by the 
 defeat of Buford at Waxhaws, and the inhabitants in most 
 parts of the Province having either submitted to the British 
 Government, or taken paroles from the officers command- 
 ing the detachments sent among them, the commander-in- 
 chief, considering the Province as completely reduced, 
 thought fit, previous to his departure for New York, to alter 
 the condition of those who had submitted upon parole ; and 
 instead of considering them any longer as prisoners, to 
 require of them the duties, and entitle them to the rights 
 of active citizens and loyal subjects. For this purpo.se a 
 proclamation was issued, bearing date 3d June, declaring 
 that all the inhabitants of the Province who were prisoners 
 on parole, except those wdio were in the military line, and 
 those who were in Fort Moultrie, or in Charleston at the 
 time of the surrender of those places, or who were then in 
 actual confinement, sbould, from and after the •20th of that 
 month, be freed and exempted from all such paroles, and be 
 restored to the rights and duties of citizens and inhabitants. 
 But by the same proclamation it was also declared tliat all 
 persons under the above description, who should afterwards 
 neglect to return to their allegiance, and a due submission 
 to his majesty's government, should be considered as ene- 
 mies and rebels to the same, and be treated accordingl3^ 
 These general regulations having been established, the com- 
 mander-in-chief, on 5th June, embarked for New York, 
 carrying with him all the troops that could be spared, 
 leaving Lieutenant-General Earl Cornwallis in the command 
 of th(»se that reinaiited, with the charge of prosoc-uting the 
 
10 
 
 war in South. Carolina as soon as the season of the year 
 and other circumstances would permit." Lossing says of 
 this, " this flagrant violation of the terms of capitulation 
 aroused a spirit of indignant defiance which proved a pow- 
 erful lever in overturning the royal power in the South." 
 Speaking of this course as one of the causes which subse- 
 quently led to the general uprising against the British 
 authority, Stedman says : " These classes of men were very . y' 
 early disgusted by the proclamation of Sir Henry Clinton, 
 which, without their consent, abrogated the paroles that 
 had been granted, and in one instant converted them either 
 into loyal subjects or rebels. If it was proper policy at first 
 to hold a middle course between these opposite extremes, the 
 same policy required that it should have been continued 
 some time longer; and that the conditions of the inhabitants 
 should have been altered rather at their own application, 
 either individually or collectively, than by the arbitrary 
 fiat of the commander-in-chief" 
 
 Two steps in the mad career had been taken ; this was the 
 third ; a fourth, more exasperating, was to follow. "Corn- 
 wallis, in further violation of the conditions of capitulation, 
 sent many leading men of Charleston as close prisoners to 
 St. Augustine;" while many others were confined in the 
 prison ships Torbay and Packhorse in Charleston Harbor. 
 
 And, the crowning act of all this madness, was the em- 
 bodiment all through the State, of bands of Tories under 
 the authority of the above proclamations, by which the 
 Whig inhabitants were worried, plundered and murdered 
 in open violation of all the pledges given to the contrary. 
 Drunken with the lust of power, the British conqueror acted 
 as if the pledges given by him were of no force or obligation. 
 Truly, by such course, was confirmed the maxim, "whom 
 the gods wish to destroy, they first madden." For by the 
 policy pursued, the patriotic inhabitants were bitterly taught 
 to realize that no faith was to be placed in the assurances 
 given, and that their liberties, self-respect, and property 
 could be preserved only by the aid of the sword which they 
 had invoked in the inception of the Revolution. 
 
11 
 
 Very soon, little bands of patriots began to gather in 
 various sections of the State, and to stand to their arms in 
 defence of home, liberty, and their rights. Often defeated 
 and scattered, they rallied and re rallied, now striking here, 
 and now there, always gaining in confidence, and slowly but 
 surelj^ drawing more and more of strength from among the 
 harried citizens. 
 
 The affairs at Beckhamville, Mobley's Meeting House, 
 Musgrove's Mills, Rocky Mount, Hanging Rock, Black- 
 stocks, all showed that the proclamations, and the spread of 
 the British army throughout the State to enforce these, had 
 aroused a spirit of most determined resistance. "The British 
 officers were perplexed." General Gates, with a Continental 
 force, approached Camden, and Lord Cornwallis hastened 
 from Charleston to the threatened point. At Rugeley's 
 Mills, near Camden, General Gates suffered that disastrous 
 defeat which again annihilated the American army which 
 had been sent into South Carolina, and practically placed 
 him upon the retired list during the remainder of the war. 
 Pressing his victory, Earl Cornwallis "considered the subju- 
 gation of South Carolina complete, and confident of future 
 success," advanced to Charlotte, North Carolina. 
 
 Unmindful of the wanton violation of faith on the part 
 of the British, Lord Cornwallis saw fit to think the patriotic 
 uprising acts of perfidy to be restrained "by examples of 
 severity and the terrors of punishment. With this view, 
 the estates of all who had left the province to join the ene- 
 mies of Great Britain, or who were employed in the service, 
 or held commissions under the authority ot Congress, and 
 also of all those who continued to oppose the re-establish- 
 ment of his majesty's government within the province, were 
 ordered to be sequestered * * and to impress them with an 
 idea that this punishment (instant death to those who hav- 
 ing taken protection were afterwards found in arms) would 
 be hereafter rigorously inflicted. Some few of the most hard- 
 ened of the militia who had been taken in General Gates's 
 army with arms in their hands and protections in their 
 pockets were actually executed." (Stedman.) 
 
12 
 
 The prospects in South Carolina were gloomy in the ex- 
 treme, but the militia brigadiers Marion, Sumter, and Pick- 
 ens, of that State, with the gallant and hardy mountaineers 
 of South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, 
 under Williams, Shelby, Cleaveland, Sevier, McDowell, Lacy, 
 Hill, were rallying for the rescue. At King's Mountain, 8th 
 October, 1780, these brave mountaineers, struck the blow 
 which "completely crushed the spirit of the Loyalists and 
 weakened beyond recovery the royal power in the Caro- 
 linas." Intelligence of the defeat of Ferguson destroyed all 
 Cornwallis's hopes of Tory aid. He instantly left Charlotte, 
 retrograded, and established his camp at Winnsboro, in 
 Fairfield District." 
 
 Stedman, the British author, says : "The total loss, of so 
 considerable a detachment, from the operations of which so 
 much was expected, put a stop, for the present, to the fur- 
 ther progress of the commander-in-chief, and obliged him to 
 fall back into South Carolina for the protection of its west- 
 ern borders against the incursions of a horde of mountain- 
 eers, whose .appearance was as unexpected as their success 
 was fatal to the prosecution of the intended expedition." 
 And he also says: "But to whatever cause their disaffection 
 was owing, it gave much trouble to Earl Cornwallis and 
 greatly retarded his operations." 
 
 In October, 1780, General Nathaniel Greene, succeeded 
 General Gates in the command of the Southern department, 
 and began actively to reorganize the army so nearly annihi- 
 lated at Rugeley's Mills. "His first arrangement was to 
 divide his army into two detachments, the largest of which 
 under himself, he stationed opposite Cheraw Hill, on the 
 east side of the Pee Dee River, in Chesterfield District * * 
 about 70 miles to the right of Cornwallis, who was then at 
 Winnsboro. The other, composed of about 1,000 troops, 
 under General Morgan, was placed some 50 miles to the left, 
 near the junction of the Broad and Pacolet Rivers, in Union 
 District. Cornwallis sent Colonel Tarleton, with a ct>nsider- 
 able force, to disperse the little army of Morgan, and soon 
 the memorable battle of the Cowpens occurred, in which 
 
lo 
 
 the Americans were victorious. Tarleton, with the remnant 
 of his troops, retreated precipitately to the main army of 
 Cornwallis * * and Morgan, in the evening of the same 
 day, crossed the Broad River and moved by forced marches 
 towards the Catawba, to form a junction with the division 
 of General Greene. When Cornwallis heard of the defeat 
 of Tarleton and the direction that Morgan had taken, he 
 resolved on pursuit, with the hopes of regaining the prison- 
 ers taken at the Cowpens, and demolishing the American 
 army before they could reach the Catawba. He was joined 
 on the 18th (January, 1781,) by General Leslie and his 
 troops from Camden. To facilitate his march, he ordered 
 all the superfluous baggage and wagons to be destroyed at 
 Ramsour's Mills." Meanwhile, General Greene, who had 
 joined Morgan, and saw the pursuit, sent orders to General 
 Huger to march with the division at Cheraw Hill and form 
 a junction with General Morgan's division at Salisbury or 
 Charlotte, North Carolina. Now commenced that memora- 
 ble strategic retreat which lured Lord Cornwallis from his 
 base of operations and finally resulted, in connection with 
 operations hereafter to be mentioned, in the capitulation at 
 Yorktown. 
 
 Of the battle of Cowpens, Stedman says : "The defeat of 
 his majesty's troops at the Cowpens formed a very principal 
 link in the chain of circumstances which led to the inde- 
 pendence of America." And speaking of Cornwallis's pur- 
 suit of Greene, he says : "Yet the operations of Lord Corn- 
 wallis, during the pursuit, would probably have been more 
 efficacious had not the unfortunate affair at the Cowpens 
 deprived him of almost the whole of his light troops." 
 
 In February, 1781, General Greene had crossed the Dan 
 River and was in Virginia, and, according to Stedman, 
 "Lord Cornwallis, having thus driven General Greene out 
 of the province of North Carolina, returned by easy marches 
 from the banks of the Dan to Hillsboro, where he erected 
 the king's standard, and invited by proclamation all loyal 
 subjects to repair to it and take an active part in assisting 
 him to restore order and constitutional government. * * 
 
14 
 
 Considerable numbers were preparing to assemble, when 
 General Greene, alarmed with the intelligence of their mo- 
 tions, and the presumed effect of Lord Cornwallis's procla- 
 mation, and being about the same time reinforced with 600 
 Virginia militia, under General Stevens, took the resolution 
 of again crossing the Dan, and re-entering North Carolina." 
 Lossing says : "Although driven across the Dan, Greene had 
 no idea of abandoning North Carolina to the quiet possession 
 of the enemy." 
 
 This recrossing of the Dan by General Greene was fol- 
 lowed by the battle of Guilford Court House, on the 15th of 
 March, 1781, and the retreat of the American army. Of 
 this battle, Stedman says: "In this battle the British troops 
 obtained a victory most honorable and glorious to them- 
 selves, but in its consequences of no real advantage to the 
 cause in which the}^ were engaged. * * * Had Lord 
 Cornwallis had with him at the action at Guilford Court 
 House those troops that were lost by Colonel Tarleton at the 
 Cowpens, on 15th March, 1781, it is not extravagant to sup- 
 pose that the American colonies might have been reunited 
 to the empire of Great Britain." 
 
 The consequence of the action at Guilford was the retreat 
 of Cornwallis to Wilmington, North Carolina, to which 
 place "previously to the departure of the army from Winns- 
 boro. Lieutenant Colonel Balfour, who commanded at 
 Charleston, had been directed to send round by water a 
 competent force to take possession * * and occupy it as 
 a post with which Lord Cornwallis, in his progress to the 
 northward, might open a communication for the purpose of 
 obtaining supplies." During this retreat General Greene 
 hung upon and harrassed the rear of the retreating British 
 army. 
 
 "Lord Cornwallis being under the necessity of repairing 
 to a seaport town to obtain necessary supplies, particularly 
 shoes and clothing for the army, was apprehensive lest Gen- 
 eral Greene should return to South Carolina. Accordingly 
 several messengers were dispatched to Lord Rawdon at Cam- 
 den to prepare him for such an event. * * * ]S[ot long 
 
15 
 
 after the arrival of Lord Cornwallis at Wilmington he re- 
 ceived information that what he apprehended as probable 
 had actually taken place; and that General Greene, upon 
 his return to the upper countr}^ had taken the direct road 
 to Camden, and was marching with the utmost expedition 
 to attack Lord Rawdon. This intelligence rendered the 
 situation of the British commander more embarrassing than 
 ever and left him only a choice of difficulties, none of which 
 were unaccompanied with hazard nor easy to be surmounted. 
 It was undoubtedly his wish to afford succor to Lord Raw- 
 don, but he knew that it was impossible for him, after the 
 progress already made by General Greene, to arrive in time. 
 The fate of Lord Rawdon and his garrison must be deter 
 mined long before the British army could reach Camden; 
 and, should General Greene be successful, there was danger 
 that he might have it in his power to hem up his Lordship 
 while on his march between the great rivers, and, by cutting 
 off his subsistence, render his army useless. On the other 
 hand, if General Greene should be defeated, the return of 
 the British army would be less necessary. A measure preg- 
 nant with so much danger in the execution and promising 
 so little advantage in the result was not to be hastily adopted. 
 Yet something was necessary to be done. Tlie effective force 
 of his Lordship, from sickness, desertion, and the loss sus- 
 tained at Guilford Court House, was now reduced to 1.435 
 men. * * To remain where he was would be not only 
 useless, but * * endanger the health of the troops. To 
 return to South Carolina by land would be accompanied 
 with tlic hazards already mentioned ; and to return by water 
 would be not only disgraceful, but take up much time in 
 waiting for transports; * * his Lordship determined to 
 take advantage of General Greene's absence from North 
 Carolina, to march through that province into Virginia, and 
 join his force to a strong corps that had been acting there 
 from the beginning of the year, first under Brigadier Gene- 
 ral Arnold, and afterwards under Major General Philips, in 
 order to make a diversion in favor of the British operations 
 in North Carolina. This movement, it was thought, might 
 
16 
 
 have a tendency to draw General Greene back to the north- 
 ward, and seems to have been more readily adopted, as it was 
 the opinion of Earl Cornwallis that vigorous measures pur- 
 sued in Virginia and the reduction of that province, if 
 practicable, would be the most effectual means of securing 
 those possessions that had been already recovered in the 
 Southern provinces, and of subjecting such as remained to 
 be subjected. Earl Cornwallis began his march from Wil- 
 mington on 25th April. * * Thus we find that the victory 
 at Guilford drew after it some, and it will afterwards appear 
 that it was followed by all the consequences of something 
 nearly allied to a decisive defeat." 
 
 It is not necessary, in this connection, to follow General 
 Greene and his army on the march to South Carolina. The 
 results are well known : the State was freed from the tread 
 of the enemy by the evacuation of (Charleston on 14th De- 
 cember, 1782. Of the toils by which this was brought about, 
 let General Greene tell in the few following words: 
 
 "For upwards of two months, more than one-third of our 
 army was naked, with nothing but abreech cloth about them, 
 and never came out of their tents, and the rest were ragged 
 as wolves. Our condition was little better in the article of 
 provisions; our beef was perfect carrion, and even bad as it 
 was, we were frequently without any. An army thus clothed 
 and thus fed may be considered in a desperate situation." 
 
 It is not wonderful, when learning these conditions, that 
 Stedman should close his History of the American War with 
 eulogiums on the American soldier}^, and, among other 
 things say: "The Americans had neither money nor credit ; 
 but they learned to stand in need only of a few things ; to be 
 contented with the small allowance that nature requires ; to 
 suffer as well as to act. Their councils, animated by libert}^, 
 under the most distressing circumstances, took a grand and 
 high spirited course, and they were finally triumphant." 
 
 It has previously been sketched how the plan of campaign 
 for the reduction of the rebellious colonies had been trans- 
 ferred from the Northern to the Southern States; it has been 
 told that when Sir Henry Clinton, believing that he had 
 
17 
 
 subjugated South Carolina, returned to New York, leaving 
 Lieutenant General Cornwallis in command, "with the charge 
 of prosecuting the war in North Carolina as soon as the sea- 
 son of the year and other circumstances would permit." In 
 pursuance of the general plan of the campaign, Stedman tells 
 that — "After it had been determined to carry the war into 
 the Southern colonies, first a detachment, as has been already 
 mentioned, under General Leslie, and another afterwards 
 under General Arnold, amounting to about 1.600, were sent 
 by the commander-in-chief from New York into Virginia, 
 for the double purpose of destroying the enemy's stores, and 
 of assisting, by means of a diversion, the operations of Lord 
 Cornwallis in the two Carolinas." 
 
 Of the detachment under General Leslie, Lossing says : 
 "Brigadier General Leslie, with about 3,000 troops from 
 New York, landed at Portsmouth (October, 1780,) and took 
 possession of every kind of public property there and in the 
 vicinity. Leslie was to co-operate with Cornwallis, who 
 proposed to enter Virginia from the south. He did not re- 
 main long, for Cornwallis, hearing of the defeat of Ferguson 
 at King's Mountain, hastily retreated ; and Leslie, on being 
 advised of this, left for Charleston, for the purpose of joining 
 the Earl in the Carolinas." 
 
 The armies under Cornwallis and Arnold made a junction 
 at Petersburg, Virginia, on 20th May, 1781, and Cornwallis 
 assumed the general command. He propo«ed first to strike a 
 blow at the American army under LaFayette ; next, upon his 
 defeat, to destroy such stores as could be reached, and "lastly, 
 after proceeding to the execution of these objects, which prob- 
 ably might be accomplished by the time he could hear from 
 New York, to keep himself disengaged from any operation 
 thatcouldinterfere with the plan that might be devised by 
 the commander-in chief for the furtlier prosecution of the 
 campaign." The destruction of stores was accomplished, 
 but from intercepted letters. Sir Henry Clinton feared tliatan 
 attack was about to be made on New York by a combined 
 American and French force. "In consequence of the informa- 
 tion gathered from these letters, the commander-in-chief 
 
18 
 
 made a requisition of part of the troops under Lord Cornwallis 
 command in Virginia, and directed that they should be sent 
 to New York without delay, unless his Lordship should at the 
 time be engaged in some important movement that might 
 render it necessary to detain them some time longer ; or un- 
 less he should be disposed to execute the plan which the 
 commander-in-chief seems to have had much at heart, of 
 carrying the war to the upper part of the Chesapeake, and 
 upon the Susquehannah, where a number of loyalists had as- 
 sociated for their mutual defence, and were said to be ready 
 to act whenever the king's troops should appear among them. 
 
 It is not necessary to go into details here: suffice it to 
 say, that Cornwallis prepared to send the troops, and believ- 
 ing that his weakened army made it necessary to find a 
 stronger defensive position, he crossed into the Peninsula 
 between the York and James rivers. Before the detached 
 troops could sail, a countermanding order reached him, 
 with instructions to select some defensive position on the 
 waters of the Chesapeake, and the Commander-in-Chief 
 " delared that, as soon as the season for acting in that -coun- 
 tr}'^ returned, he would probably send there all the troops 
 he could spare from the different posts under his command." 
 Acting under these orders, Cornwallis, after examining dif- 
 ferent positions, selected Yorktown, and on 22d August, 
 1781, concentrated his whole force there. On 28th Septem- 
 ber, 1781. the combined American and French armies sat 
 down before Yorktown, and commenced that siege, which 
 terminated on 19th October, by the capitulation of Lord 
 Cornwallis, with the army, ships, stores, &c.. under his com- 
 mand. This virtually terminated the war of the Revolution. 
 
 One of the articles inserted by the British commander at 
 the capitulation of Charleston, required the drums not to 
 beat a British march, or the colors to be uncased ; this dis- 
 position of colors was considered degrading, and had been 
 purposely inserted as an humiliation and insult. At the 
 capitulation at Yorktown, as a reprisal, a like article was 
 inserted, the drums not to beat an American or French 
 march, or the colors to be uncased. Upon the marching 
 
 \y 
 
19 
 
 out of the British army, Cornwallis, feigning iUness, sent 
 the troops under tlie command of Gen. O'Hara, to whom he 
 also gave his sword to be surrendered. Advancing to Gen. 
 Washington to surrender the sword of Cornwallis, and apol- 
 ogize for his absence. Gen. O'Hara was directed to Gen. 
 Lincoln, and to him the sword was surrendered, and by him 
 immediately returned. The mortifications and humilia- \ / 
 tions of the surrender of Charleston were obliterated in the 
 triumph of the surrender at Yorktown. The event, which, 
 in the haughty pride of apparent success, the British com- 
 mander, troops,- people, and government, had hailed as the 
 beginning of the end of the rebellion ; which led the con- 
 queror to violate every pledged faith to the conquered, 
 under the conviction that the fire of revolution had been 
 effectually stamped out, and the conquered could be dealt 
 with at his conqueror's sole will and pleasure : that event 
 was but the first step to the ultimate humiliation of the 
 British comjnanders, troops, people, and government. Earl 
 Cornwallis was a conspicuous figure on the first, and doubt- 
 less revelled high with triumph. In the causes which 
 brought about the general uprising of the people of South 
 Carolina, and through such uprising brought about results 
 which carried him beyond its borders, and to his surrender. 
 Earl Cornwallis was the chief actor. Irt this last scene of 
 the dram.a, he again appears a prominent figure, but '" feign- 
 ing illness " to avoid the personal mortification which, if a 
 truly courageous man, he should have felt it a duty and pride 
 to share in common with the brave men who had done all 
 in their ability to avert. Of Earl Cornwallis, Lossing says -. 
 " He was the most competent and energetic of all the British 
 Generals sent here during the war, but the cruelties exer- 
 cised by his orders at times, during the Southern campaigns, 
 have left an indelible stain upon his character." And again : 
 " The conduct of Lord Cornwallis during his march of over 
 fifteen hundred miles through the Southern States was often 
 disgraceful to the British name. He suffered dwelling houses 
 to be plundered of every thing that could be carried off"; 
 and it was well known that his Lordship's table was fur- 
 
20 
 
 nislied with plate thus obtained from private families. * * 
 It was also estimated at the time, from the best information 
 that could be obtained, that, during the six months previous 
 to the surrender at Yorktown, the whole devastations of his 
 army amounted to about $15,000,000." After the butchery 
 of Buford's connnand by Tarleton, Lord Cornwallis writes 
 to Sir Henry Clinton : " I can only add the highest enco- 
 miums on the conduct of Lieut.-Col. Tarleton. It will give 
 me the most sensible satisfaction to hear that your Excel- 
 lency has been able to obtain for him some distinguished 
 mark of his Majesty's favor." After the surprise of Sumter, 
 at Fishing Creek, and the massacre of so large a part of his 
 command, Lord Cornwallis writes to Sir Henry Clinton : 
 " This action was too brilliant to need any comment of mine, 
 and will, I have no doubt, highly recommend Lieut.-Col. 
 Tarleton to his Majesty's favor." At the capitulation of 
 Charleston, Gen. Richard Richardson was taken a prisoner 
 and paroled. After the proclamations. Lord Cornwallis 
 " proposed to him, in the presence of his family, either to 
 unite himself to the royal standard, with a carte blanche as 
 to offices, titles and other gifts of the Crown, or that he must 
 submit to the alternative of close confinement." The offer 
 of office was promptly rejected. " The alternative threat- 
 ened was promptly and rigidly enforced; his health declined 
 under the joint influence of a sickly climate and a loath- 
 some prison house ; the infirmities of old age (then in his 
 76th year) increased rapidly upon him, and death was so 
 evidently approaching, that he was again sent home in Sep- 
 tember, to linger out the last remaining hours of his life at 
 his family residence. His remains had been interred but a 
 short time before Tarleton occupied the establisliment. He 
 ordered the body of Gen. Richardson to be taken up, and 
 left it exposed, until, by the entreaties of his family, they 
 were permitted to re-inter it." And, later on, Tarleton again 
 visited this establishment, and " after having feasted all his 
 command, he ordered the destruction of all the buildings, 
 and other property on the place, reluctantly permitting the 
 widow and orphans to save their clothing and a very few 
 
21 
 
 necessaries." Tarleton's quarters had become a synonym 
 for all that was cruel. These doings were deliberate parts 
 of the campaign, and but repetitions of what was done during 
 Prevost's invasion. Botta says of Prevost's invasion : " The 
 royal froops were not satisfied with pillaging ; they spared 
 neither women, nor children, nor sick. * * Such was 
 the rapacity of these robbers, that, not content with strip- 
 ping houses of their richest furniture and individuals of 
 their most precious ornaments, they violated even the sanc- 
 tuary of the dead, and, grasping for gold, went rummaging 
 among the tombs. * * Vain would be the attempts to 
 paint the brutal fury of this lawless soldiery. * * A cry 
 of horror arose throughout the civilized world against the 
 ferocity of the British armies." It is not then surprising to 
 learn from Col. Lee's Memoirs, that " previous to the sur- 
 render, Tarleton waited upon General Choise and commu- 
 nicated to that officer his apprehensions for his personal 
 safety, if put at the disposal of the American militia. This 
 conference was sought for the purpose of inducing an ar- 
 rangement which should shield him from the vengeance of 
 the inhabitants. General Choise did not hesitate a moment 
 in gratifying the wishes of Tarleton. * * * It would have 
 been very satisfactory to have been enabled to give the rea- 
 sons which induced this communication from Lieut.-Col. 
 Tarleton. but Choise did not go into the inquiry, and they 
 remain unascertained." 
 
 As Earl Cornwallis and his trusted Lieut.-Col. Tarleton 
 remained in their quarters on that memorable 19th October, 
 1781, the one "feigning illness," to avoid personal mortifi- 
 cation, the other quailing under " his apprehensions for his 
 personal safety." * * and praying for " an arrangement 
 which should shield him from the vengeance of its inhab- 
 itants," and their eyes saw the British colors uncased, being 
 marched out for surrender ; and their ears were saluted with 
 the British march, " The world turned upside down," doubt- 
 less their thoughts reverted to that other surrender, when 
 the American colors, uncased, were being marched to sur- 
 render, and the American drums beat the Turk's march. 
 
^2 
 
 Doubtless they contrasted the high anticipations of a speedy 
 suppression of the rebellion, with which the capitulation at 
 Charleston had filled their hearts, with the certainty that 
 in this their humiliation and defeat, American independ- 
 ence was achieved ; and realized that what in their pride 
 and haughtiness they called rebellion, was become a suc- 
 cessful revolution, the birth of a new government and peo- 
 ple, the equals and peer among the; nations of the earth, of 
 their own government and people. It does not require any 
 effort of the imagination to suppose that gory images arose 
 before each of them, in which, among others, the face of the 
 murdered and disinterred aged patriot, Gen. Richard Rich- 
 ardson stood, reproaching the commander with his violated 
 pledges of faith, and the Lieutenant with his fiendish bru- 
 tality : the pale faces of helpless women and innocent chil- 
 dren, robbed of even the necessaries of life, and rendered 
 homeless by their residences burned over their heads, may 
 have stood before them, crying shame upon their manhood, 
 and inhumanity. In the battle-scarred faces which were 
 then surrounding them, and receiving their submission, 
 they must bitterly have realized that they had sown the 
 wind and were reaping the whirlwind. 
 
 On those plains before Yorktown I do not know of a single 
 soldier from South Carolina, except Lieutenant ColonelJohn 
 Laurens, who, with Colonel Alexander Hamilton, on the 
 night of 11th October, 1781, led the American detachment 
 wliich stormed redoubt K. The capitulation at Charleston 
 had annihilated the Continental line of that State, and such 
 State enlisted troops and militia as she then had in the field 
 were daily engaged in driving the British from their garri- 
 soned posts throughout the State into the shelter of their 
 lines at Charleston. There would, therefore, seem nothing 
 especially to connect South Carolina with the surrender at 
 Yorktown. But the campaign of 1780 and the early part of 
 1781 had much, very much to do with it. The British plan 
 of campaign had contemplated the reduction of Charleston ; 
 the overrunning and subjugation of the State ; an advance 
 into North Carolina, and the union with Loyalist forces to 
 
23 
 
 be raised in the old Highlander settlement ; a march with 
 the reinforced army into Virginia and an union there with 
 the army sent from New York to make a diversion in favor 
 of Earl Cornwallis's operations in North Carolina and South 
 Carolina; the overriding of Virginia with this united army, 
 and then the hemming in of General Washington and the 
 American army between the army of Cornwallis on the one 
 side and the army of Sir Henry Clinton on the other. 
 
 But the unexpected, stubborn resistance in South Carolina 
 had defeated and set at naught the first march in the pro- 
 posed campaign. During the whole of 1780 Cornwallis was 
 kept too busy in South Carolina to carry on the advance into 
 North Carolina, and when, in the early part of 1781, he did 
 so advance, it was by his being lured on by Greene, drawing 
 him away from his base, and finally leaving him so sore 
 perplexed whither to turn, that in his perplexity he took 
 the road to his destruction. The increasing pressure upon 
 the British troops remaining in South Carolina forbade any 
 help to the perplexed Earl from that source, and he was un- 
 able to return by the way he had gone. 
 
 The South Carolina State troops and militia bore very 
 important parts in the recovery of that State, so that while 
 not a soldier of hers was in the trenches at Yorktown. yet 
 looking upon the campaign in the Southern States as a 
 whole plan, looking at the causes which deranged that cam- 
 paign and which forced the British commander of that 
 campaign from an aggressive to a defensive position, it is 
 not improper to say that indirectly, but very importantly, 
 South Carolina contributed largely to the surrender at 
 Yorktown. 
 
 To us as Americans, and particularly as descendants from 
 officers of the American army, tlie surrender at Yorktown 
 IS memorable ; a day to be commemorated as one of the 
 most eventful in the war of the Revolution ; and as such, 
 we of the State Society of the Cincinnati of South Carolina 
 make it one of the days for our stated meetings ; this we do 
 as Americans and as descendants from Revolutionary officers 
 of the American army. But. bv the remarks which I have 
 
24 .m>.ii«miii™iiiiiniuin 
 
 iiiade to you, I wish you, my fellow-meml: 
 Society, to appreciate that the events in So i g^ 699 ^S® "' 
 the stubborn resistance of her people, wit.x tue persistent 
 skill evinced by General Greene in conducting the campaign 
 in her borders, did materially contribute to the surrender at 
 Yorktown, and identifies the South Carolinians in the tri- 
 umphs and advantages which flowed from it. 
 
 I propose to you the regular standing toast : "The 19th 
 October, 1780 — the surrender at Yorktown."