Gates's Night-march toward Camden. and to fight, if necessary. On the evening of the fifteenth, he sent his sick, extra stores, and heavy baggage, under guard, to the Waxhaw, and at ten o'clock at night commenced his march. Colonel Armand's legion composed the van, flanked upon the right by Porterfield's infantry, in Indian file, two hundred yards from the road; and upon the left by Armstrong's infantry, in the same order. Next Mejist gage. Confident in his strength by such a dis- cavalry, whatever its profound silence was followed the first and second Maryland brigades, under Brigadiers Smallwood and Gist, and the Delaware Cornwallis, notwithtroops, all commanded standing his inferior by De Kalb: then the force, marched to attack North Carolina division, unGates at Rugeley's, being inder Caswell; the Virginia diformed that his position was vision, under Stevens; with a a weak one. At the same rear-guard of volunteer cavalhour when Gates marched tory upon the flanks of the bagward Camden, Cornwallis struck his tents at that place, and proceeded cautiously toward Rugeley's. His troops consisted of the 23d and 33d regiments, under Lieutenant-colonel Webster (who was afterward mortally wounded at Guilford); Tarleton's legion; Irish Volunteers; a part of Lieutenantcolonel Hamilton's North Carolina regiment; and Bryan's corps of Loyalists, under Lord Rawdon, with two six and two three pounders commanded by Lieutenant M'Leod; and the 71st regiment. Camden was left in the care of Major M'Arthur, with the sick and convalescents. Silently both armies marched in the gloom of night. The air was sultry; no moon was in the heavens, but the stars looked down in serene radiance upon the earth. Not a footfall was heard in the deep sand, and neither party was aware that the other had struck his tents, until the advanced guards of each met at about two o'clock in a August 16, the morning, a upon the gentle slope about half a mile north of Sander's Creek. 1780. 1 Mordecai Gist was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1743. His ancestors, early emigrants to Maryland, were English. He was educated for commercial pursuits, and was engaged in the vocation of a merchant when the storm of the Revolution began to lower. The young men of Baltimore associated under the title of the "Baltimore Independent Company," and elected Gist captain. This was the first company raised in Maryland for the defense of popular liberty. Gist was appointed major of a battalion of Maryland regulars in 1776, and was with them in the battle near Brooklyn, at the close of the summer of that year. He was promoted to colonel in 1777, and was in the battle at Germantown, in September of that year. In January, 1779, Congress appointed him a brigadier in the Continental army, and he was honored with the command of the 2d Maryland brigade. He fought bravely, and suffered defeat in the battle near Camden, in 1780. Gist was present at the surrender of Cornwallis, and afterward joined the Southern army, under Greene. When that commander remodeled the army, in 1782, while lying near Charleston, he gave General Gist the command of the “light corps." It was a part of his command, under Colonel Laurens, that dealt one of the last blows upon the enemy, in an engagement upon the banks of the Combahee. At the close of the war, he retired to a plantation which he bought near Charleston, where he resided until his death, which occurred in Charleston, in 1792. General Gist had but two children, sons; one he named Independent, and the other States. 2 When Deputy-adjutant-general Williams received these orders from Gates, with the estimates of the forces, he perceived that the commander was much deceived in his idea of the number of the troops. Instead of there being almost seven thousand men, he showed, by his returns, that there were only three thousand six hundred and sixty-three, exclusive of those detached in aid of Sumter. Gates did not alter his plan on account of this discovery. Meeting of the Armies. Skirmish. Council of War. Preparations for Battle. The Attack. Some of Ar Both parties were surprised, and each fired almost at the same moment. mand's troops were killed at the first fire, and so sudden and unexpected was the attack that the remainder fell back in disorder upon the first Maryland brigade. That column was broken by the shock, and the whole line was filled with consternation. Porterfield, with his usual gallantry, rushed forward and attacked the left of the enemy's van, while Armstrong, with equal gallantry and decision, attacked them on the right, and they were brought to a pause. Porterfield was severely wounded, carried to the rear of the army, and died a few days afterward. Both armies halted, and some prisoners having been taken by both parties, the position of the respective forces became known to each other. The situation of the British was far more advantageous than that of the Americans. They had crossed Sander's Creek, and they were completely guarded in the rear by an impenetrable swamp. The Americans were upon rising ground in an open wood, and were obliged to be watchful of their flanks. When the first excitement of the encounter had subsided, Gates called a council of officers. A retreat was practicable, and would doubtless have been prudent. No one seemed willing to propose it; and when, to Gates's remark, "Gentlemen, you know our situation, what are your opinions?" General Stevens replied, "It is now too late to retreat;" the silence that ensued was interpreted as favorable to an attack, and the commander-in-chief remarked, “Then we must fight; gentlemen, please take your posts. The British army formed in line for battle, the right under the command of Webster, and the left under Rawdon, and anxiously awaited the dawn. The Americans, also, soon recovered from the panic produced by the attack, and formed in battle order. The second Maryland brigade, and the Delaware troops, under General Gist, took the right; the North Carolina militia, under Caswell, the center; and the Virginians, under Stevens, the left. The first Maryland brigade, under Smallwood, was formed in reserve. De Kalb, charged with the line of battle, took post on the right. The artillery of both armies was planted directly in front of the center. All these preparations were made in darkness, and the belligerents were ignorant of each others' movements. In the plan here given, copied from Stedman, the black parallelograms denote the British troops, and the open ones the Americans. The first beam of morning was the signal for attack. While the British were maneuvering to gain a better position, the American artillery opened its volleys upon them. At the same moment, Colonel Williams, with a band of volunteers, pressed forward upon the enemy's right, followed by Stevens, with his Virginians, who were urged to rely upon the bayonets with which they had been furnished the day before. Webster immediately brought the British right to bear upon Williams and Stevens, with such Battle at Sander's Creek. General William Smallwood. force, as to break the Virginia column and scatter it to the winds. They delivered only a single fire, and then, panic-stricken, threw away their arms, and fled in great confusion. The North Carolina militia (except Dixon's regiment, which was next to the Continentals) followed the shameful example, and the exertions of Stevens, Caswell, and even of Gates himself, to stop or rally the fugitives, were unavailing. Only the Continental troops, with Dixon's regiment, were now left to oppose the enemy. Upon the Maryland and Delaware troops fell the weight of battle, and for a while they nobly sustained it. On the right, De Kalb and Gist maintained their ground, though sorely pressed by Rawdon and his regulars. Lieutenant-colonel Howard (the subsequent "hero of the Cowpens"), with Williams's regiment, charged the enemy with great vigor, and disconcerted them. Inch by inch the Marylanders gained ground, and, had the militia stood firm, and kept Webster employed, the British must have been routed and driven in confusion across Sander's Creek. That skillful officer had detached Tarleton in pursuit of the fugitives, and when Smallwood1 came forward with his reserve to fill the place of the scattered militia, Webster brought his regiments to bear upon him. Finally, the battle raged along the whole line, and victory was uncertain. Firm as a rock the phalanx of De Kalb and Gist remained. At length, perceiving an advantage, De Kalb ordered a bayonet charge. The slaughter was great; the enemy recoiled, and fifty men became the prisoners of the Americans. Smallwood, in the mean time, sustained himself gallantly; but at length Webster gained WSmallwood his flank, and his brigade receded. It soon regained its position; was again driven back, and speedily it rallied to the combat. Cornwallis perceived the point of strength to be with De Kalb and Gist, and, concentrating his whole force, he made a terrible charge there. It was the decisive stroke which smote down the American strength and won the victory. Another charge was made; the brave Marylanders gave way, and, with the Delaware regiment, broken and maimed, fled to the swamps. They were hotly pursued, and many were killed in the flight. The militia fell in great numbers under the sabers of Tarleton's cavalry, and for more than two miles the open wood was strewn with the dead and dying. Arms, artillery, horses, and baggage were scattered in every direction. More than a third of the Continental troops were killed; and of the wounded, one hundred and seventy men were made prisoners. The Delaware regiment was nearly annihilated, and Colonel Vaughn and Major Patten being taken prisoners, the remnant, less than two companies, were placed under the command of the brave Kirkwood, the senior captain, who had been with Washington at Trenton and Princeton. De Kalb, while trying to keep his troops firm when the 1 William Smallwood was a native of Maryland, and was among the patriots of that colony who earliest expressed their attachment to Republican principles. He was appointed a brigadier by the Continental Congress, in October, 1776, and major general in September, 1780. He was in the battle near Brooklyn, in August, 1776, where his command suffered severely. It was chiefly composed of young men from Maryland, many of them members of the most respectable families of that state. He was in the Brandywine and Germantown battles in 1777. He accompanied Gates to the South, and shared in the mortifications of defeat near Camden. It was a month after that event that Congress promoted him to major general. He was elected a delegate in Congress, for Maryland, in 1785, and the same year was chosen to succeed William Paca as governor of the state. He was succeeded in office by John Eager Howard, in 1788. General Smallwood died in February, 1792. Death of the Baron de Kalb. Flight of the Americans. British Victorious. The Armed Neutrality. 1 last charge was made, fell, pierced with eleven wounds. His lieutenant, Du Buysson, threw his arms around him, gave his name and rank, and while saving him from instant death, was terribly wounded himself by British bayonets. In the mean while Gates had fled, "borne off the field by a current of dismayed militia," who who "constituted so great a part of his army, that when he saw them break and flee, he lost all hope of victory." With Caswell, he hastened to Clermont, hoping to check and rally the militia at their old encampment, near Rugeley's Mill. This hope was vain, for the further the dismayed troops fled, the more they became dispersed, and the generals giving up all as lost, proceeded, with a few attendants, to Charlotte, where they arrived in the evening of the same day, though about eighty miles distant. On his way, Gates heard of the success of Sumter at the Wateree Ford, but that triumph came too late to afford him aid, and, as we have seen (page 660), two days afterward, a Sumter and his band were surprised and dispersed at Fishing Creek. General Rutherford surrendered to a party of the British legion. The other generals escaped, but were separated from their respective commands. The rout was complete, and only Major Andrus, of the third Maryland regiment, succeeded in rallying any part of the fugitives. Most of the Virginia militia retired to Hillsborough by the road they came to camp, and there General Stevens gathered many of them together. Their time of service soon expiring, they were discharged.2 a Aug. 18, 1780. The victory of Cornwallis was complete, and for a moment the hopes of the patriots, particularly at the South, were crushed; their only chance of success seemed to be the intervention of European nations.3 Within the space of three months, two armies had been almost annihilated by capture and dispersion, and the most active partisan corps scattered to the winds.* Cornwallis considered the subjugation of South Carolina accomplished, and, 1 Gordon, iii., 104. Ramsay, ii., 145-152. Gordon, iii., 98-107. Marshall, i., 344-348. Lee, 92-100. 3 It was during the summer of 1780, that Rochambeau and his army arrived at Newport; an auspicious event for the Americans. A movement in Europe, known in history as the Armed Neutrality, at about the same time threatened to cripple the power of England, and promised indirect aid to the Americans. The Empress Catharine, of Russia, with the duplicity which has ever marked the diplomacy of that government, professed great friendship toward England, and abhorrence of the rebellion in America. She even entered into negotiations for sending Russian troops to America to assist the British. All this while she was building a navy, and the English were made to believe it was to aid them. As soon as she felt strong enough to set England at defiance, her tone and policy were changed, and on the twenty-sixth of February, 1780, she issued a manifesto, in which she declared the international doctrine (with a qualification) so eloquently promulged and advocated by Kossuth in America, in 1851-2, namely, that neutral states have a right to carry on their commerce with belligerent powers unmolested, and even to convey from one port to another of a belligerent power, all goods whatsoever, except what could be deemed contraband in consequence of previous treaties.* Hitherto ports were blockaded, not always by squadrons of ships, but by a simple proclamation. Catharine declared that no port should be considered blockaded, unless there was a sufficient force present to maintain a blockade, and this was the qualification of the doctrine concerning the rights of neutral nations; a qualification which contains the essential maxim of despotism, "Might makes right." This doctrine was contrary to the maritime policy of England, and inimical to her interests. In the course of the summer, Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden became parties to the policy declared by the Czarina, and entered into a league with her; and in November the States General of Holland acceded to the measure. Spain and France acquiesced in the new maritime code, and at one time a general Continental war against England appeared inevitable. But the personal caprices of Catharine, and her known faithlessness, made the other powers hesitate, and the next year the alliance resulted in inaction. 4 The exact loss sustained by the Americans in the engagement on the sixteenth, and Sumter's surprise on the eighteenth, was never ascertained. The estimated loss was as follows: exclusive of De Kalb and General Rutherford, four lieutenant colonels, three majors, fourteen captains, four captain lieutenants, sixteen lieutenants, three ensigns, four staff, seventy-eight subalterns, and six hundred and four rank and file. They also lost eight field-pieces, and other artillery, more than two hundred baggage wagons, and the greater part of their baggage. That of Gates and De Kalb, with all their papers, was saved. The loss of the British was severe. Gates estimated that more than five hundred of the enemy were killed and wounded; Stedman (ii., 210) says the British loss was three hundred less than the Americans. many of the fugitive militia were murdered in their flight. Armed parties of Tories, alarmed at the pres A great * See Florida Blanca's Representation, as cited by Arch-deacon Coxe in his Memoirs of the Kings of Spain, of the Throne of Bourbon. Confidence of the British. Rendezvous at Hillsborough. Governor Nash. Colonel Buncombe. confident of future success, moved toward the North State to establish royal rule there. His march to, and retreat from Charlotte; the defeat of his detachments at King's Mountain and the Cowpens; the pursuit of Greene; the battle at Guilford; the retreat of the British to Wilmington; their march into Virginia; and the final capture of Cornwallis's army at Yorktown, have been considered in preceding chapters. General Gates was much censured on account of the defeat of the Americans on Sander's Creek, because he provided for no place of rendezvous in the event of being obliged to retreat; for not having his baggage and stores at a proper distance from the scene of action; and because of an improper arrangement of his army for attack, placing his unskilled militia on the right, opposite the British veterans of Webster. Armand spoke harshly of Gates, and even intimated that he was a coward or a traitor. Gates's great fault appears to have been a too sanguine belief that he could easily crush the inferior force of his enemy. His vanity was always the source of his greatest trouble. In this instance he was too confident of success, and made no provision for the contingencies of adversity; and hence his utter weakness when the victorious blow was struck by the British, and he was obliged to flee. On the seventeenth and eighteenth, a Smallwood and Gist arrived at Charlotte, with several other officers, and there they found more than one hundred regu- 1780. lar infantry, Armand's cavalry, Major Davie's partisan corps from the Waxhaw settlement, and a few militia. Gates began to hope that another army might be speedily reorganized, when intelligence of the disaster of Sumter at Fishing Creek reached him. He retreated to Hillsborough, where the Provincial Congress was in session, with Governor Abner Nash1 at its head. That officer exerted all the power and influence of his station to a August, ence of the Americans, were marching to join Gates. When they heard of his defeat, they inhumanly pursued the flying Americans, and butchered a large number in the swamps and pine barrens. 1 Abner Nash was a member of the Provincial Council of North Carolina, and an active politician. When the war of the Revolution broke out, he and his brother Francis* were found in the ranks of the patriots; Abner in the council, Francis in the field. Their father emigrated from Wales, and settled in Prince Edward county, Virginia, where Abner was born. At an early age he went to North Carolina, where he was educated for the bar. He was the first speaker of the North Carolina Legislature under its Republican Constitution; and in 1779, succeeded Caswell, the first governor, in the office of chief magistrate of the state. He represented a constituency in the Assembly, from 1782 to 1785, and was a member of the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1786. He resided for many years at Newbern, where he died, greatly respected for his public and private virtues. His memory is perpetuated in the state by a county called by his name. Governor Nash's first wife was the young widow of the venerable Governor Dobbs. * I have noticed the death of General Francis Nash at Germantown, on page 320. Since writing that account, I have been informed that his wound consisted of a laceration of the flesh and the fracture of the bone of his thigh by a cannon-ball, which killed his horse, and also his aid, Major Witherspoon, son of Dr. Witherspoon, of Princeton College. His remains lie in the Mennonist Burying-ground, at Kulpsville, twenty-six miles from Philadelphia. Through the patriotic endeavors of John F. Watson, Esq., the annalist, the citizens of Germantown and Norristown have erected a neat marble monument to the memory of General Nash, upon which is the following inscription: "VOTA VIA MEA JUS PATRIA. In memory of General Nash of North Carolina, mortally wounded at the battle of Germantown, here interred, October 17, 1777, in presence of the army here encamped. J. F. W." NASH'S MONUMENT. Among the gallant officers who accompanied General Nash to the North, and fought at Brandywine and Germantown, was Colonel Edward Buncombe. He was wounded and made a prisoner at Germantown, and died soon afterward at Philadelphia. His character for generous hospitality may be inferred from the following distich, which he affixed over the door of his mansion, in Washington county, North Carolina "Welcome, all, In 1791, his name was given to a county in North Carolina. From 1817 to 1823, the district which includes Buncombe was represented in Congress by one, not an orator. On one occasion, he attempted to address the House in favor of a bill providing pensions for militiamen; but a determination not to hear him was manifested. He appealed to the late Mr. Lowndes to interpose in his behalf, intimating that he would be satisfied with the allowance of five minutes for a speech that might be published in the newspapers, and assuring him that his remarks were not intended for the House, but for Buncombe Buncombe. He was gratified, and spoke under the five minutes' rule. To the astonisnment of the good people of Buncombe, the speech of their representative (a curious specimen of logic and oratory) appeared in the Washington City Gazette, covering |