ants to join him in vindicating the rights of America. He promised an entire amnesty, and remission of all penalty in favor of those from whom the victors should have extorted oaths, excepting only such individuals as should have exercised acts of barbarity or depredation against the persons and property of their fellow-citizens. This proclamation was not unfruitful; not only the people ran to arms in multitude to support the cause of Congress, but even the companies levied in the province for the service of the king either revolted or deserted. Strengthened by these accessions, colonel Sumpter became every day a more formidable enemy for the English. While Cornwallis was occupied at Charleston with the administration of Carolina, lord Rawdon had taken the command of the troops cantoned at Cambden and the adjacent country. He had directed upon Georgetown a convoy of sick soldiers, under the escort of a detachment of Carolinians, commanded by colonel Mills. About the middle of the route, these militia mutined, and having seized their officers, conducted them with the sick English to the camp of general Gates. Colonel Lisle, one of those who had taken oath to the king, gained over a battalion of militia that had been levied in the name of Cornwallis, and led it entire to colonel Sumpter. The latter who incessantly scoured the western bank of the Wateree, had captured considerable convoys of munitions of war, rum and provision that had been sent from Charleston upon Cambden. There had also fallen into his power at the same time, a great number of sick, with the soldiers that formed their escort. Already the route from Cambden to Ninety Six was invested by the republicans; and they began to show themselves in force upon that from Cambden to Charleston. Thus the affairs of the king in the Carolinas began to assume an unfavorable aspect. Lord Rawdon, seeing so lowering a tempest about to burst upon him, and destitute of sufficient means to avert its effects, concentred what troops he had in the vicinity of Cambden, and distributed his cantonments upon the right bank of Lynches Creek. He hastened to give notice of his critical position to lord Cornwallis. In the meantime, Gates appeared with all his forces upon the other bank, and encamped in the front of the enemy. There ensued very warm and frequent skirmishes, with balanced success. The American general would have desired a decisive action, and to profit of his superiority to attack Jord Rawdon even in his quarters. But on examination, finding the eneiny's position too strong, he dropped the design. His conduct appeared dictated by wisdom; but at the same time, he let slip an opportunity for gaining a signal advantage. If he had ascended by forced marches to the source of the Lynche, he turned without difficulty the left wing of lord Rawdon, and might even seize Cambden on the rear of the British army; this stroke would have decided the fate of the campaign; but either Gates did not see it,

or was afraid to undertake it. A short time after, the British general seeing his right menaced by a movement of the Americans, and fearing for his magazines and hospital, abandoned the banks of the Lynche, and fell back upon Cambden with all his troops. His retreat was in no shape molested by the enemy. very time lord Cornwallis arrived in camp. Having surveyed the state of things, and finding to what a degree the forces and audacity of the republicans were augmented, he detached numerous parties on discovery, filled up the companies with the more vigorous convalescents, ordered distributions of arms, and the remounting of Tarleton's legion, which needed horses. Notwithstanding all his efforts, he had not, however, been able to assemble above two thousand men, of whom about fifteen hundred were veteran troops, the rest loyalists and refugees. To attack with means so feeble an enemy so superior, appeared little less than temerity. Cornwallis might indeed have made his retreat to Charleston; but in that case he must have left about eight hundred sick, with a vast quantity of valuable stores, to fall into the hands of the enemy. He likewise foresaw, that excepting Charleston and Savannah, a retreat would be attended with the loss of the two whole provinces of South Carolina and Georgia: On the other hand, he observed, that the major part of his army was composed of soldiers as perfectly equipped as inured to war, and commanded by officers of approved valor and ability. He saw in victory the entire reduction of the two Carolinas, whereas even discomfiture could scarcely have worse consequences than retreat.

Under these considerations, he determined not only to face the enemy, but even to hazard a general action. Cambden, the centre of the British line, not being a fortified place, and the boldest resolutions being often also the most fortunate, Cornwallis would not await the Americans in his cantonments. He formed a design to attack the position of Rugeleys Mills, which the enemy occupied, with a view of forcing him to an engagement. On the fifteenth of August, all the royal troops were ordered to hold themselves in readiness to march. About ten o'clock in the evening, the columns put themselves in motion for Rugeleys. The first commanded by colonel Webster, consisted in light infantry and dragoons. The second, under the conduct of lord Rawdon, was composed of Irish volunteers and loyalists. Two English battalions formed the reserve. In the rear was the baggage and a detachment of grenadiers. The English marched amid the obscurity of the night, in the most profound silence. The columns passed the little stream of Saunder, and had already left Cambden ten miles behind them. But while the English were advancing upon Rugeleys Mills, the Americans themselves had quitted that place, at ten o'clock, with intent to surprise them. Gates and Cornwallis had both at once formed the

Bet same design, the one against the other. The American van consisted in the legion of cavalry of colonel Armand, flanked on the right by the light infantry of colonel Porterfield, and on the left by the light infantry of major Armstrong. Next, marched the brigades of Maryland regulars, with the militia of North Carolina and Virginia. The baggage followed the rear guard, formed of a numerous corps of volunteers, with light horse at the two flanks. General Gates had commanded his troops to march compact and in silence, and not to fire without order. He had sent to Wacsaw, on his rear, the sick, the unnecessary baggage, in a word, whatever might tend to impede his march. So many precautions on both sides, indicated that the two generals had mutually penetrated one the other. It was yet only two in the morning, when the advanced guard of the British army encountered the head of the first American column. It was briskly repulsed by colonel Porterfield; but that officer received a serious wound. The English, supported by two regiments of infantry, charged the Americans in their turn. The action was engaged with spirit, and the loss considerable on both sides; but, all of a sudden, equally fearing the hazard of a nocturnal conflict, the two generals suspended the fire, and again the most profound silence reigned in the midst of darkness; the day was impatiently awaited.

Meanwhile, Cornwallis ascertained by the people of the country, that the ground was as propitious to him as it was unfavorable to the enemy. Gates, in effect, could not advance to the attack but through a narrow way, bordered on either side by deep swamps. This circumstance, by depriving the Americans of the advantage of superior number, reestablished an equality of forces. The British general formed his plan of battle accordingly. By daylight he disposed the front of his army in two divisions; that of the right, commanded by colonel Webster, had its right flank covered by a morass, and its left supported upon the great road; the other division under the conduct of lord Rawdon had in like manner a morass on its left, while its right was reunited by the highway to the corps of Webster. The artillery was placed between the two divisions. A battalion drawn up behind each, served them as a sort of rear guard. Tarleton's legion was posted upon the right of the road, in readiness to attack the enemy or receive him according to the occasion. The Americans, on their part, made all the dispositions that appeared to them the most suitable. Gates divided his vanguard in three columns. That of the right, commanded by general Gist, having the morass on its right, connected by its left upon the great road with the column of the centre, composed of the North Carolina militia, led by general Caswell. The column of the left comprised the militia of Virginia, at the orders of general Stevens. Behind the Virginians were posted the light infantry of Porterfield and Armstrong. Colonel Armand had placed his cavalry behind the left, to face the legion of Tarleton.

The continental troops of Maryland and Delaware formed the reserve. They were inured to war, and upon their valor rested the chief hope of success. They were commanded by general Smallwood. The artillery was placed in part upon the right of the continental troops, and in part upon the highway.

Such was the order of battle of the two armies; when just as the action was about to commence, Gates, not satisfied with the position of the divisions of Caswell and Stevens, very imprudently ordered then to change it for another which appeared to him better. Cornwallis at sight of this movement, resolved to profit of it instantly. Accordingly, he ordered colonel Webster to advance and make a vigorous attack upon Stevens, whose troops were still undulating, from their not having yet been able to reform their ranks. Colonel Webster obeyed with celerity. The battle thus commenced between the right of the English and the left of the Americans; it soon became general. The morning being still and hazy, the smoke hung over and involved both armies in such a cloud that it was difficult to see the state of destruction on either side. The British troops, however, intermingling a quick and heavy fire with sharp charges at the point of the bayonet, evidently gained ground upon the Americans. At length the Virginians, pressed by colonel Webster, and already half broken by the unadvised movement directed by Gates, after a feeble resistance, shamefully betook themselves to flight. The Carolinian militia, finding themselves uncovered, soon began to give way, and at last turned the back with a similar baseness. officers attempted in vain to rally them; they were themselves involved in the rout. The left wing of the Americans was totally broken; Gates and Caswell made some efforts to reform it; but Tarleton adroitly seized the decisive moment, and with a furious charge, carried to its height the confusion and consternation of that wing; all the troops that composed it threw themselves into the neighboring woods. Their flight exposed the left flank of a Carolinian regiment, and of the regulars of Maryland and Delaware, who were already attacked in front. The right wing of the English, now completely victorious, turned furiously upon the American centre. This division defended themselves with the utmost gallantry; if it was not in their power to restore the fortune of the day, they saved at least the honor of the republican standard.

Their

Opposing the enemy with a terrible fire, or the push of their bayonets, they withstood all his efforts. The baron de Kalb led them several times to the charge; and they even recovered lost ground. But at length, surrounded on all sides, overwhelmed by number, and penetrated by cavalry, they were constrained to abandon the field of battle, but without having left a bloodless victory to their foes. Pierced with eleven wounds, the baron de Kalb fell dying into the power of the victors. The rout was general; each provided for his

E own safety. General Gist could rally no more than an hundred infautry, and the dragoons of Armand. The British cavalry pursued the vanquished with vehemence for the space of twenty-three miles, and without halting, till exhaustion imposed the necessity of repose. The loss of the Americans in this action was very considerable. The number of the dead, wounded and prisoners, was estimated at upwards of two thousand. Among the first was general Gregory, and among the prisoners, the baron de Kalb, and general Rutherford, of Carolina. Eight pieces of brass cannon, two thousand stand of arms, several colors, with all the baggage and stores, fell into the hands of the conqueror. The loss of the British in killed and wounded amounted, including officers, only to three hundred and twenty-four.

Three days after the battle, the baron de Kalb, perceiving the approach of death, requested his aid-de-camp, the chevalier Dubuisson, to express in his name to generals Gist and Smallwood, his high sense of the valor displayed in the battle of Cambden by the regular troops of Maryland and Delaware. He spent his last breath in declaring the satisfaction which he then felt in having fallen in the defence of a cause so noble, and, to him, so dear. The Congress ordered that a monument should be erected him at the city of Annapolis, the capital of Maryland.

General Gates was reproached with several grave errors. The least excusable was doubtless that of having undertaken to change his order of battle in presence of the enemy. Perhaps he was also in fault to march in the night unwarlike militia, who knew not even how to keep their ranks. He retreated to Hillsborough, in North Carolina. Generals Gist and Smallwood fell back upon Charlottetown, and afterwards upon Salisbury, where they endeavored to rally the fugitives and to reorganise their divisions; but the cause of England triumphed throughout the province of South Carolina; the banners of the republic no longer waved in any part of it. Colonel Sumpter alone continued to show himself upon the banks of the Wateree, with a corps of about a thousand men, and two field pieces. But on the news of the late discomfiture of Gates, he retired promptly towards the fords of Catawba, in the upper parts of North Carolina. Lord Cornwallis, a man of great activity, reflecting that his advantages were insecure till he should have destroyed this last body of republicans, detached colonel Tarleton in pursuit of it. The latter, moving with his accustomed celerity, fell unexpectedly upon the position of Sumpter, who had thought he might take some repose on the banks of Fishing Creek. Tarleton surprised him so completely, that his men, lying totally careless and at ease, were mostly cut off from their arms. Their only resource was in a prompt flight; but a great number fell into the hands of the enemy, who slaughtered them after they had surrendered. Tarleton alleged