Greene was now truly critical. He turned rapidly towards a lower ford, called Boyds Ferry, uncertain of the safety or destruction of his army, since he was ignorant if that ford was practicable. The royal troops pursued him with vehemence; they looked upon their approaching victory as a positive certainty. Greene, in so pressing an emergency, summoned all the faculties of his soul, and did all that could have been expected of a consummate general.

He formed a strong corps of his best light troops, consisting in the regiments of cavalry of Lee, of Bland, and of Washington, in companies of light infantry, drawn from regiments of the line, and in some riflemen. He charged the commander of this corps to sustain the efforts of the enemy, and to bear in mind that the salvation of the army was in his hands. As to himself, with the rest of his troops and the heavy baggage, he proceeded with all expedition towards Boyds Ferry. The royalists pushed forward with eagerness from Salem to the sources of the Haw, from that point to Reedy Fork, from there to Troublesome Creek, and thence towards the Dan. But the detached corps which has just been mentioned, by continual skirmishes, and the breaking up of roads and bridges, materially retarded their march. Greene had already reached the margin of the river; he found it fordable; some boats at hand accelerated the passage, he gained the Virginian shore; all the baggage was passed over with equal success. Even the gallant rear guard, which had preserved the army, arrived a little after, and crossed with the same happy auspices, to the safe side of the river.

It was not long before the English, full of earnestness, made their appearance upon the right of the Dan; they perceived upon the opposite bank the American army formed in menacing array. All their hopes were vanished; the fruit of all their efforts, of all their sufferings, was lost irrecoverably. The retreat of general Greene and the pursuit of lord Cornwallis, are worthy to be placed among the most remarkable events of the American war; they would have done honor to the most celebrated captains of that, or any former epoch.

Compelled so unexpectedly to relinquish the object of his sanguine hope, lord Cornwallis meditated upon the course he had now to pursue. The attack of Virginia, with forces so enfeebled as were his own, appeared to him the more perilous, as the American army preserved the most imposing attitude. Under this consideration, he determined to remain in North Carolina, of which he was master, and set himself to levy troops in the name of the king. With this intent he quitted the banks of the Dan, and repaired by easy marches to Hillsborough; where having erected the royal standard, he invited the inhabitants, by an energetic proclamation, to form themselves into regular companies. But these efforts were not attended with the success he had hoped; a great number of the country people came

to his head quarters, but the greater part to satisfy their curiosity, to gain intelligence, and to make their profit of it. All manifested an extreme repugnance to arming against the Congress. Lord Cornwallis complained publicly of their coldness. He saw that he could place no dependence upon the assistance of the people of this province, formerly so celebrated for their attachment to the name of the king. The long domination of the republicans, and the horrible enormities committed by the royal troops in different parts of the American continent, had given birth to sentiments of quite another cast. Insensibly detached from the cause of the king, the inhabitants, besides, could not forget the vicinity of the republican army, which at any moment might again penetrate into their province. About this time, a British squadron, and a body of troops detached from Charleston, took possession of Wilmington, a city of North Carolina, situated not far from the mouth of Cape Fear river. They fortified themselves there, seized munitions of war, and even some vessels, both French and American. This expedition had been ordered by Cornwallis prior to his departure from Winnsborough, in pursuit of Morgan. Its principal object was that of opening a communication between the country about Hillsborough and the sea, by the way of Cape Fear river; an object of the utmost importance, as it afforded a sure mode of passing supplies to the army.

The retreat of Greene into Virginia, although it had not produced upon the minds of those Carolinians who remained faithful to the king, all that effect which Cornwallis had expected from it, had, nevertheless, excited in some, fresh hopes and desires of a new order of things. The British general redoubled his efforts and instances to induce them to take arms. The district situated between the Haw and the Deep river, was represented as particularly abounding in loyalists; Cornwallis sent them Tarleton to animate and imbody them. His exhortations were not in vain. The family of Pill, one of the most considerable of the country, was also the most ardent to set the example. Already a colonel of that family had assembled a considerable body of his most audacious partisans, and was on his way to join Tarleton. But general Greene, who was fully sensible how prejudicial it would prove to the arms of Congress if he suffered its cause to succumb entirely in North Carolina, and fearing lest the loyalists might operate a revolution in that province, had detached anew upon the right bank of the Dan, a body of cavalry under the conduct of colonel Lee, with a view of intimidating the partisans of England, reassuring those of the Congress, and disquieting the movements of the enemy in the interior of the country. He intended also himself, as soon as he should have received his reenforcements, which were already on the march, to repass the river, and show himself again upon the territory of the Carolinas. The recovery of those provinces was the fixed aim of all his thoughts.

Meanwhile, colonel Lee was by no means tardy in acting according to the instructions of his general. The troop assembled by colonel Pill was the first that fell in his way. These loyalists, totally unacquainted with the profession of arms, knew so little how to clear their march, that thinking they were going to meet Tarleton, they threw themselves headlong into the corps of Lee. The American enveloped and charged them with rapid vigor. The loyalists, still supposing their affair was with Tarleton, and that he mistook them. for republicans, were eager to make themselves known by reiterated cries of long live the king.' The fury of the assailants did but rage the fiercer, and in a few instants all that survived were obliged to surrender. Thus, this inexpert troop were led to slaughter by a presumptuous chief, who had imagined that the spirit of party could fill the place of knowledge and talents! At the news of this event, which was rather an execution than a combat, Tarleton, who was not far off, put himself in motion with intent to encounter Lee; but an order of Cornwallis checked him, and drew him back to Hillsborough. The cause of this sudden resolution of the British general, was, that Greene, though even yet he had received only a small part of his reenforcements, had boldly repassed the Dan, and menaced again to overrun Carolina. Not, however, that his real intention was to give his adversary battle before having assembled his whole force; but he wished to show Cornwallis and the patriots of the province that he was in being, and able to keep the field. He chose a position upon the left of the Dan, and very high up, towards the sources of the Haw, in order to avoid the necessity of fighting. Cornwallis, on hearing that the American banners had reappeared in Carolina, quitted Hillsborough forthwith, and, crossing the Haw at a lower ford, proceeded to encamp near Allemance Creek, detaching Tarleton with his cavalry to scour the country as far as Deep river. Thus the two armies found themselves so near each other, as to be separated only by the river Haw. Hence frequent skirmishes ensued. In one of these rencounters, Tarleton did great mischief to the corps of Lee, which was joined by the mountaineers and militia, under the command of captain Preston. The two generals manoeuvred a long time with uncommon ability; the American to avoid battle, the Englishman to force him to it. Greene had the good fortune, or the skill, to continue master of his movements. But towards the middle of March, he received reenforcements, which consisted principally of continental troops. He was joined, at the same time, by militia from Virginia, under the conduct of general Lawson, as also by some Carolinian militia, led by the generals Butler and Eaton. Having acquired more confidence in his strength, Greene took a resolution no longer to decline a decisive action, but, on the contrary, to march directly to the enemy. He accordingly pushed forward with all his troops, and took post at Guildford Court House. He had reflected

that being superior in number, and principally in cavalry, he could not experience a total and irreparable defeat. The worst consequence that could follow a loss of battle, was that of placing him under the necessity of retiring into Virginia, where he would have found the utmost facility in reestablishing his army. He had also to consider that the numerous militia assembled in his camp would soon disband, unless he availed himself immediately of their first ardor. On the other hand, if the English were beaten, far from their ships, entangled in a country where they were detested, and without means of retreat, how could their army escape a total destruction? They had therefore much more at risk than the Americans, in referring the decision of their fate to the chance of arms.

Lord Cornwallis saw distinctly, on his part, that it would be an inexcusable imprudence to remain longer in the midst of a population, which every thing taught him to distrust, while a formidable enemy menaced him in front. But retreat, in all respects so prejudicial to the interests of the king, was accompanied with so many dangers, that it became next to impracticable. In turning his eyes upon his camp, the British general beheld all soldiers nurtured in the toils of war, and trained to victory in a host of combats. Banishing then all hesitation, he embraced if not the least perilous, assuredly the most honorable course, and gave orders to advance upon Guildford. This resolution was undertaken irrevocably to put an end to uncertainties by striking a decisive blow. To relieve his march, and facilitate his retreat in case of a check, lord Cornwallis sent his carriages and baggage under strong escort to Bells Mills, a place situated upon the Deep river. Greene in like manner passed his wagons to Iron Works, ten miles in the rear of his position. The reconnoitring parties of the two armies went out in all directions for intelligence. The legion of Lee and that of Tarleton fell in with each other in one of these excursions, and a fierce conflict ensued. Lee at first had the advantage; but he was obliged to give way in his turn, when Tarleton had been reenforced. These skirmishes were but the prelude of the battle for which both parties were preparing themselves.

ware.

The Americans, on their side, numbered about six thousand men, the greater part militia of Virginia and North Carolina; the remainder consisted in regular troops from Virginia, Maryland and DelaThe English, including the Hessians, amounted to upwards of twenty-four hundred soldiers. All the adjacent country was clothed with thick wood, interspersed, here and there, with spots of cultivation. A gentle and woody declivity traversed and extended far on both sides of the great road which leads from Salisbury to Guildford. This road itself runs through the centre of the forest. In front, and before coming to the foot of the hill, there was a field six hundred yards in breadth. Behind the forest, between its lower

edge and the houses of Guildford, lay another field still more open, and adapted to military evolutions. General Greene had thrown troops into the wood that covered the slope, and had likewise occupied the contiguous plain. In this position he purposed to receive the enemy. His order of battle consisted in three divisions; the first, composed of the militia of North Carolina, and commanded by the generals Butler and Eaton, was posted towards the foot of the hill, upon the fore edge of the forest, its front was covered by a thick hedge; two pieces of cannon defended the great road. The second division comprised the militia of Virginia, under the conduct of the generals Stevens and Lawson; it was formed in the wood parallel to the first, and about eight hundred yards behind it. The regular troops, under general Huger and colonel Williams, filled the plain which extends from the forest to Guildford, this ground permitted them to manœuvre, and to signalise their valor. Two other pieces of cannon, planted upon an eminence which covered their flank, commanded also the highway.

Colonel Washington, with his dragoons and Linch's riflemen, flanked the right wing, and colonel Lee, with a detachment of light infantry and the dragoons of Campbell, the left. The British general drew up on his part. General Leslie, with an English regiment and the Hessian regiment of Bose, occupied the right of the first line; and colonel Webster with two English regiments the left. A battalion of guards formed a sort of reserve to the first, and another under general O'Hara to the second. The artillery and grenadiers marched in close column upon the great road. Tarleton was posted there likewise with his legion; but his orders were not to move, except upon emergency, until the infantry, after having carried the forest, should have advanced into the plain behind it, where cavalry could operate with facility. The action was commenced on both sides by a brisk cannonade. The English, afterwards leaving their artil lery behind, rushed forward through the fire of the enemy into the intermediate plain. The Carolinian militia suffered them to approach without flinching, then began to fire. The English made but one discharge, and immediately ran forward to charge with bayonets. The Carolinians showed no firmness. Without awaiting the shock of the enemy, notwithstanding the strength of their position, they recoiled, and took shamefully to flight. Their officers vainly endea vored to dissipate their terror, and to rally them. Thus the first line of the American army was totally routed. General Stevens, seeing the panic of the Carolinian militia, hastened to reassure those he commanded, by giving out that the others had orders to fall back, after the first discharges. He opened his ranks to let the fugitives pass, and reclosed them immediately. The English still advancing, attacked the militia of Virginia. These bravely withstood their shock, and disputed the ground with them for some time. At length, obliged