passage and before the arrival of the British. The two divisions of the American army united at Guilford Court-house; but too feeble for combat, the commander resolved to continue his retreat across the Dan to Virginia. The pursuit was so hotly followed, that as his rear crossed that river, the British van was in sight.* Thus baffled, Cornwallis retired to Hillsborough, with the view of rousing the tories; whilst Greene immediately recrossed the river to mar his labours,† in which he was eminently successful. General Pickens and Colonel Lee fell in with three hundred and fifty tories, under Colonel Pyle, on their way to the British army, whom they cut to pieces amid their shouts of "God save the King," and protestations of loyalty, which they uttered in the belief, that the assailants were royalists.

Cornwallis now retired, yet seeking a proper occasion for battle; sometimes turning upon the pursuer, and compelling him to retread his steps. At length, Greene having received all the reinforcements he had reason to expect, resolved to give battle, and marched, for that purpose, to Guilford Court-house. Cornwallis promptly accepted the offer. The American troops amounted to four thousand two hundred and sixty-two, of whom one thousand four hundred and ninety were regulars; the British did not exceed two thousand four hundred veterans. Greene selected his ground, and the issue was joined on the 15th of March. After a fierce combat, in which his troops, generally, behaved well, Greene was compelled to retreat; but the victory was dearly purchased, by the loss of five hundred and thirty-two killed and wounded, being much greater than that sustained by the Americans. Greene retired but a few miles, and awaited another attack; but Cornwallis, much enfeebled, left his wounded to the care of the loyalists in the neighbourhood, and pushed rapidly for Wilmington, where stores had been lodged and supplies might be obtained. Greene, also, leaving his hospital to the Quakers of the vicinage, whom he reminded of his former fraternization, as rapidly followed to Ramsay's Mills, on Deep River; where excessive fatigue, the want of food, and the release of his militia, compelled him to stop.

XI. After resting his troops, for about three weeks, at Wilmington, Cornwallis crossed the country to Petersburg. He pondered long before he adopted this northern course, when informed that Greene had taken the bold resolution to attempt the recovery of the southern country. He concluded, at length, that if Lord Rawdon, who commanded there, should have been defeated, he might dread his own safety; but if he had sustained himself, a return would be an useless abandonment of the ground he had gained. On the departure of Leslie from Virginia, the traitor, Arnold, entered that State, (on the 30th of December) and after committing many depredations, established himself at Portsmouth, on the 20th of January. Against him, Washington proposed to send, under La Fayette, twelve hundred men, of the New England and New Jersey lines, and, also, to employ the whole French fleet from Newport. Two frigates, however, only, sailed, which though inoperative in the original design, captured the Romulus, of fifty guns, passing from Charleston to the Chesapeake. Flattered by this success, the French admiral despatched a larger expedition to the same point; which encountering a British fleet, under Arbuthnot, near the Capes of Virginia, was so much endamaged as to return to Newport, leaving La Fayette at Annapolis, where he had repaired for convoy. That general returned to the head of Elk, whence he was directed to join the southern army. In the interim, General Phillips had embarked for the Chesapeake, with two thousand men, and arrived at Portsmouth on the 26th of March, 1781. This reinforcement, giving the British a decisive superiority in Virginia, changed the des

*

February 14th, 1781.

+ February 21st.

tination of La Fayette, to whom the defence of that State was now committed. For near two months, Phillips and Arnold prosecuted a predatory war, destroying immense quantities of tobacco and stores, and marking their course by terrible devastations; La Fayette and Steuben, endeavouring in vain to stay them, except in the protection of the magazines at Richmond. On the 20th May, Lord Cornwallis joined Arnold at Petersburg, a few days after the death of Phillips, and assumed the command of the whole British force in the State.

Against him, General La Fayette, aided by General Wayne, maintained a war of posts for the space of three months; until Cornwallis, impressed with the necessity of providing a strong place of arms in the Chesapeake, selected Yorktown, as a station for his army, and Gloucester Point, for his fleet, to which he retired with his whole force, increased to seven thousand men. From the Virginians, he had derived little aid. They either united with the continental army, or, more commonly, kept out of the way of the British. Few purchased safety by submission.

XII. Having thus followed Lord Cornwallis to an hour big with his own fate, and that of the war, we return to General Greene, who, with equal courage and ability, had turned his arms to the south. A line of posts had been constructed by the British from Charleston, by the way of Camden and Ninety-Six, to Augusta, in Georgia, the most important point of which was Camden. The forts, generally garrisoned by a few regular troops, united with the tory militia, were only slightly fortified to resist the sudden attack of the militia of the neighbouring country, no apprehensions being entertained of a more formidable enemy. Greene was fully aware of these unfavourable circumstances. "I shall take," said he, in a letter to General Washington, "every measure to avoid misfortune. But necessity obliges me to commit myself to chance, and if any accident should attend me, I trust my friends will do justice to my reputation." He detached Lee to unite with Marion, and Pickens, to assemble the western militia, and lay siege to NinetySix; and, marching himself on Camden, encamped before it on the 19th April. He manœuvred several days around the place, and, on the 25th, fought a severe battle with Lord Rawdon, at Hobkirk's Hill, with loss to either party, of about two hundred and fifty men. Although Greene retreated from the field, he did not abandon his views on Camden, until Rawdon was reinforced in the close of the month, by the corps of Colonel Watson, amounting to five hundred men. He then withdrew behind Sawney's Creek, and declined the battle, which Rawdon again offered. In the mean time, Forts Watson and Mottehouse, had surrendered to Marion and Lee, and Fort Orange, to Sumpter. Rawdon, abandoning the upper country, retired to Monk's Corner, to protect the district around Charleston. Compelled thus to comparative inactivity, he beheld the smaller posts reduced, and Seventy-Six in imminent danger from the attack of General Greene. From this mortifying state, he was relieved by the arrival of three regiments from Ireland, which again enabled him to overrun the state, and forced Greene to retreat before him, by the road to Charlotte. An eager race ensued, in which both parties divested themselves of whatever could stay their speed. But at the Ennoree, Lord Rawdon gave it over as hopeless. The retreat ceased with the pursuit, Greene halting on the north side of the Broad river; and, on the 18th July, he took post on the high hills of Santee.

Lord Rawdon, still holding his purpose of concentrating his forces in the lower country, withdrew his garrison; but soon after availed himself of permission to return to Europe. The command devolved on Colonel Stuart, who advanced to the post near the junction of the Congaree, and Wateree, where he was greatly annoyed by the corps of Marion and Washington. After

a period of comparative repose, Greene recommenced active operations on the 22d of August, and, being strengthened by the militia and state troops of South Carolina, followed the British army to Eutaw, where it was reinforced by a detachment from Charleston. Greene was here joined by Marion, on the 7th September, and resolved to attack the British camp next day.

The battle of Eutaw Springs, was one of the most obstinate of the war. It was fought with about equal numbers, (2000) and ended in equal loss. The American killed, wounded, and missing, were estimated at five hundred and fifty-five; the British, at six hundred and ninety-three. But the Ame rican dead, owing to an obstinate contest on unfavourable ground, was most numerous. Among them, was Lieutenant-colonel Campbell, who fell whilst leading the Virginia brigade with trailed arms to a bold and decisive charge, which broke the British line. Colonel Washington was taken prisoner, having been unable to extricate himself from his horse, which, being killed, had fallen upon him. Both parties claimed the victory, but Stuart was compelled to withdraw to Monk's Corner, whilst Greene returned to the high hills of Santee, where his troops became too much enfeebled by disease, for active enterprise. The battle of Eutaw may be considered as closing the national war in South Carolina. A few excursions were afterwards made by the British, but with no more consequence than the loss of property and individual lives. On the 18th November, Greene moved down into the lower country, and the British retired with their whole force to the quarterhouse within Charleston Neck, and the conquerors, who had carried their arms to the extent of the State, aimed at nothing more, than to secure themselves. After the capitulation at Yorktown, the British post at Wilmington, in North Carolina, was evacuated, and the troops in Georgia, were concentrated in Savannah.

The labours and exertions of the southern army were highly meritorious, but the successful activity of the legion under Lee, claims particular attention. It was, from its structure, peculiarly adapted to partisan war; and, being detached against the weaker posts of the enemy, had opportunities for displaying all its energies. In the extensive sweep from the Santee to Augusta, which employed, from the 15th April, to the 5th June, 1781, acting in junction, first with Marion, afterwards with Pickens, and sometimes alone, it constituted the principal force which carried five British posts, and made eleven hundred prisoners. At the commencement of the campaign of 1781, the British were in force all over the state; at its close, they durst scarce venture twenty miles from Charleston. At its commencement, the country had been completely conquered, and was defended by a regular army, estimated at four thousand men. The inhabitants were so divided, as to render it doubtful, to which side the majority was attached. At no time did the effectual continental force, which General Greene could bring into the field, amount to two thousand men; of whom a considerable portion were raw troops. Yet, by a course of judicious movement, bold action, and hardy enterprise, in which he displayed invincible constancy and courage, happily, tempered with prudence, he recovered the southern States; and, at the close of the year, civil government was fully established therein. A full portion of praise due to these achievements, belong to his troops. They bore every hardship and privation with patience and constancy. In his officers, the general was peculiarly happy. Unshackled by those, who, without military talent, had, through political influence, obtained high rank, his orders were executed by young men of equal spirit and intelligence, formed in the severe service of the north.

XIII. The sufferings occasioned by the ardent struggle for the southern States, were not confined to the armies. The inhabitants underwent the se

verest inflictions. Reciprocal injuries sharpened the resentment of contending parties, and armed neighbour against neighbour, in a war of extermination. As the parties, alternately, triumphed, opportunity was given to either for the exercise of vindictive passions, which derived new virulence from the example of the British commanders. When they had overrun Georgia, and South Carolina, they considered these States as reannexed to the British empire, and manifested a disposition to treat as rebels, all who, having submitted, resumed arms. One of their executions, that of Colonel Hayne, took place on the 3d of August, whilst Lord Rawdon was in Charleston, preparing to sail for Europe. The disposition to retaliate, to the full extent of their power, was equally strong in the opposite party. When Fort Granby surrendered, the militia attached to the legion, manifested so strong a desire to break the capitulation, and to kill the most obnoxious of the prisoners, who were tories, as to produce a solemn declaration from Greene, that he would put any man to death, who should commit an act so atrocious. Lieutenant-colonel Grierson, of the loyal militia, was shot by unknown marksmen; and, though a reward of one hundred guineas was offered for the perpetrator, he was never discovered. "The whole country," said the general, " is a continued scene of blood and carnage.'

CHAPTER XVII.

I. Condition of the Armies in the North.-II. British Expedition against the Forts on the North River.-III. Expedition under Tryon, against Connecticut.-IV. Capture of Stony Point, by Wayne.-V. Attack of the British Post, on Penobscot river. VI. Major Lee assaults Paules Hook.-VII. Effects of the System of Paper Currency.-VIII. Spain declares War against England.-IX Prospects of the Campaign of 1780.-X. The American Army retires into winter quarters. XI. Marauding Parties of the Enemy in New Jersey.-XII. The Army at Morristown supplied by forced levies of Provisions.-XIII. Washington attempts the British Post at Staten Island-XIV. Difficulties arising from the want of political power in Congress.-XV. Discontents of the Army-Mutiny of the Connecticut troops.-XVI. Knyphausen invades New Jersey-Murder of Mrs. Caldwell, and of her Husband.-XVII. Battle of Springfield-XVIII. La Fayette returns to the United States.-XIX. Renewed efforts for the Defence of the Country.-XX. Arrival of the French Fleet and Army-Plans consequent thereon.-XXI. Treason of Arnold -XXII American Army retires into winter quarters-XXIII. European combinations against Great Britain.-XXIV. Revolt of the Pennsylvania line-of the Jersey line-Discontent of the Inhabitants of New Jersey.-XXV. Gloomy Prospect for the year 1781.-XXVI. Combined Operations of the French Fleet and Allied Armies, against Cornwallis-His Capture-XXVII. New London taken and burned by Arnold.-XXVIII. Condition of the Country for the Campaign of 1782-Resolutions of the British Parliament in favour of Peace.-XXIX. Malignity of the Tories-Murder of Captain Huddy.-XXX. Cessation of Hostilities-Treaty of Peace.-XXXI. Disbanding of the Army.-XXXII. Public Entry of Washington to New York-takes leave of his Officers-Surrenders his Commission to Congress.

I. The apathy which we have noticed, as paralyzing the efforts of the people of the United States, at the commencement of the year 1779, was also visible in the operations of the British government. The ministry had lost the hope of reducing all the revolted colonies to obedience, and the desire of vengeance alone seems to have inspired the plan of the ensuing campaign, which was publicly announced to be that of rendering the colonies of as little avail as possible to their new connexions. With this view the operations in the northern States were conducted.

The force under Sir Henry Clinton, at New York, Rhode Island, and Virginia, was estimated at more than sixteen thousand men, whose efficiency was greatly increased by the co-operation of a powerful fleet, enabling the general to concentrate and direct it, at pleasure. The grand total of the American army, exclusive of the troops in the south and west, was also about sixteen thousand; of whom three thousand were with Gates, in New England-seven thousand with Washington, at Middlebrook, and the residue in the Highlands, under M'Dougals, and on the east side of the Hudson, under Putnam.

II. After the destruction of Forts Clinton and Montgomery, in 1777, the fortifications for defending the Hudson, were established at West Point, and at Stony and Verplank's Points, at King's Ferry, over which the great road between the middle and eastern States passed. Against these posts Sir Henry Clinton proposed to open the campaign by a brilliant coup de main. Washington, notwithstanding the financial embarrassments of the country, having always specie to reward spies, soon learned this intention, and made his dispositions to repel the attack. On the 30th of May, the forces selected for the expedition united with that from Virginia under Matthews, which arrived on that day, at New York, were conveyed to their