The Life of George Washington, Vol. 4 (of 5)

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The American van continuing to move forward, encountered the British
advanced party; upon which Captain Lieutenant Gaines came up with his
field pieces, which opened on the enemy with considerable effect.
General Greene also ordered up his first line with directions to move
on briskly, and to advance as they fired. As this line came into
action, the legion formed on its right flank, and the state troops of
South Carolina on its left.

The British advanced party was soon driven in; and the Americans,
continuing to press forward, were engaged with the main body.
Lieutenant Colonel Stuart, perceiving the materials of which this line
was composed, and probably anticipating its speedy discomfiture, to
avoid exposing his flanks to the American cavalry, had directed his
troops not to change their position. His design was to meet the
American regulars without any alteration of the arrangement originally
made. But the militia, many of whom had frequently faced an enemy,
being commanded by generals of experience and courage, exhibited a
degree of firmness not common to that species of force, and maintained
their ground with unexpected obstinacy. In the ardour of action, the
order not to advance was disregarded, and the British pressed forward
as the militia retired. The artillery which was placed in the road was
well served on both sides, and did great execution till both the
three-pounders commanded by Captain Lieutenant Gaines were dismounted.
About the same time, one of the British shared the same fate.

When the militia gave way, Lee and Henderson still maintained the
engagement on the flanks, General Sumner was ordered up to fill the
place from which Marion and Pickens were receding; and his brigade,
ranging itself with the legion infantry, and the state regiment of
South Carolina, came into action with great intrepidity. The British,
who had advanced upon the militia, fell back to their first ground,
upon which Stuart ordered the corps of infantry posted in the rear of
his left wing into the line, and directed Major Coffin with his
cavalry to guard that flank. About this time Henderson received a
wound which disabled him from keeping the field, and the command of
his corps devolved on Lieutenant Colonel Hampton.

After sustaining the fire of the enemy with considerable resolution,
Sumner's brigade began to give way, and the British rushed forward in
some disorder. Greene then directed Williams and Campbell to charge
with the bayonet, and at the same time ordered Washington to bring up
the reserve, and to act on his left. Williams charged without firing a
musket; but the soldiers of Campbell's regiment, being chiefly new
levies, returned the fire of the enemy as they advanced. In this
critical moment, Lee, perceiving that the American right extended
beyond the British left, ordered Captain Rudolph, of the legion
infantry, to turn their flank and give them a raking fire. This order
was instantly executed with precision and effect. Charged thus both in
front and flank, 'the British broke successively on the left, till the
example was followed by all that part of the line. The Marylanders
under Williams, had already used the bayonet, and before the troops
opposed to them gave way, several had fallen on both sides, transfixed
with that weapon.

The British left, when driven off the field, retreated through their
encampment towards Eutaw creek, near which stood a three story brick
house, surrounded with offices, and connected with a strongly enclosed
garden, into which Major Sheridan, in pursuance of orders previously
given by Lieutenant Colonel Stuart, threw himself with the New York
volunteers. The Americans pursued them closely, and took three hundred
prisoners and two pieces of cannon. Unfortunately for their hopes of
victory, the refreshments found in camp furnished a temptation too
strong to be resisted; and many of the soldiers left their ranks, and,
under cover of the tents, seized the spirits and food within their
view. The legion infantry, however, pressed the rear so closely as to
make a serious struggle to enter the house with the British. The door
was forcibly shut in their faces, and several British officers and men
were excluded. These were made prisoners, and mixed with the
Americans, so as to save them from the fire of the house while
retiring from it.

As the British left gave way, Washington was directed to charge their
right. He advanced with his accustomed impetuosity, but found it
impossible, with cavalry, to penetrate the thicket occupied by
Majoribanks. Perceiving an interval between the British right and the
creek, he determined to pass through it round their flank and to
charge them in the rear. In making the attempt, he received a fire
which did immense execution. The British occupied a thicket almost
impervious to horse. In attempting to force it, Lieutenant Stuart who
commanded the leading section was badly wounded, his horse killed
under him, and every man in his section killed or wounded. Captain
Watts, the second in command, fell pierced with two balls. Colonel
Washington was wounded, and his horse was killed. They fell together;
and, before he could extricate himself, he was made a prisoner.

After nearly all the officers, and a large portion of the men were
killed or wounded, the residue of the corps was drawn off by Captain
Parsons, assisted by Lieutenant Gordon. Soon after the repulse of
Washington, Lieutenant Colonel Hampton and Captain Kirkwood with his
infantry, came up and renewed the attack on Majoribanks. Great efforts
were made to dislodge him, but they were ineffectual. Finding it
impracticable to employ horse to advantage on that ground, Hampton
drew off his troops and retired to the road.

The corps commanded by Sheridan kept up a continual and destructive
fire from the house in which they had taken shelter; and Greene
ordered up the artillery to batter it. The guns were too light to make
a breach in the walls, and, having been brought within the range of
the fire from the house, almost every artillerist was killed, and the
pieces were abandoned.

The firm stand made by Majoribanks, and the disorder which had taken
place among a part of the Americans, gave Stuart an opportunity of
rallying his broken regiments, and bringing them again into action.
They were formed between the thicket occupied by Majoribanks, and the
house in possession of Sheridan.

Major Coffin, who had repulsed the legion cavalry about the time the
British infantry was driven off the field, still maintained a
formidable position on their left; and no exertions could dislodge
Majoribanks or Sheridan from the cover under which they fought.
Perceiving that the contest was maintained on ground, and under
circumstances extremely disadvantageous to the Americans, Greene
withdrew them a small distance, and formed them again in the wood in
which the battle had been fought. Thinking it unadviseable to renew
the desperate attempt which had just failed, he collected his wounded,
and retired with his prisoners to the ground from which he had marched
in the morning, determined again to fight the British army when it
should retreat from the Eutaws.

Every corps engaged in this hard fought battle received the applause
of the general. Almost every officer whose situation enabled him to
attract notice was named with distinction. "Never," he said, "was
artillery better served;" but, "he thought himself principally
indebted for the victory he had gained, to the free use made of the
bayonet by the Virginians and Marylanders, and by the infantry of the
legion and of Kirkwood." To Colonel Williams he acknowledged himself
to be particularly indebted. He gave that praise too to the valour of
his enemy which it merited. "They really fought," he said, "with
courage worthy a better cause."

The loss on both sides bore a great proportion to the numbers engaged.
That of the Americans was five hundred and fifty-five, including sixty
officers. One hundred and thirty were killed on the spot. Seventeen
commissioned officers were killed, and four mortally wounded. "This
loss of officers," said their general, "is still more heavy on account
of their value than their numbers."

Among the slain was Lieutenant Colonel Campbell, who received a mortal
wound while leading the Virginia brigade to that bold and decisive
charge which broke the adverse line.

The loss of the British army was stated by themselves at six hundred
and ninety-three men, of whom only eighty-five were killed in the
field. If this statement be correct,[6] the American dead greatly
exceeded that of the adversary, which was probably the fact, as the
carnage of the former, during their unavailing efforts to dislodge the
latter from the house and strong adjoining ground, was immense.

[Footnote 6: The British accounts acknowledge only two
hundred and fifty-seven missing; but General Greene, in his
letter of the ninth of September, says, that including
seventy wounded who were left at Eutaw, he made five hundred
prisoners.]

Each party had pretensions to the victory, and each claimed the merit
of having gained it with inferior numbers. The truth probably is that
their numbers were nearly equal.

Nor can the claim of either to the victory be pronounced unequivocal.
Unconnected with its consequences, the fortune of the day was nearly
balanced. But if the consequences be taken into the account, the
victory unquestionably belonged to Greene. The result of this, as of
the two preceding battles fought by him in the Carolinas, was the
expulsion of the hostile army from the territory which was the
immediate object of contest.

Four six-pounders, two of which had been taken in the early part of
the day, were brought to play upon the house, and, being pushed so
near as to be within the command of its fire, were unavoidably
abandoned; but a three-pounder which had been also taken, was brought
off by Captain Lieutenant Gaines, whose conduct was mentioned with
distinction by General Greene. Thus the trophies of victory were
divided.

The thanks of congress were voted to every corps in the army; and a
resolution was passed for "presenting to Major General Greene, as an
honourable testimony of his merit, a British standard, and a golden
medal, emblematic of the battle and of his victory."

{September 9.}

On the day succeeding the action, Lieutenant Colonel Stuart marched
from Eutaw to meet Major M'Arthur, who was conducting a body of troops
from Charleston. The junction was effected about fourteen miles from
Eutaw; and this movement saved M'Arthur from Marion and Lee, who had
been detached on the morning of the same day to intercept any
reinforcement which might be coming from below. Stuart continued his
retreat to Monk's corner, to which place he was followed by Greene,
who, on finding that the numbers and position of the British army were
such as to render an attack unadviseable, returned to the high hills
of Santee.

The ravages of disease were added to the loss sustained in battle, and
the army remained for some time in too feeble a condition for active
enterprise.

{Nov. 18.}

{Nov. 28.}

The capitulation at Yorktown was soon followed by the evacuation of
Wilmington, in North Carolina, and the British seemed to limit their
views in the south to the country adjacent to the sea coast. As the
cool season approached, the diseases of the American army abated; and
Greene, desirous of partaking in the abundance of the lower country,
marched from the high hills of Santee towards the Four Holes, a branch
of the Edisto. Leaving the army to be conducted by Colonel Williams,
he proceeded in person at the head of his cavalry, supported by about
two hundred infantry, towards the British posts at Dorchester, where
six hundred and fifty regular troops and two hundred royal militia
were understood to be stationed.

[Sidenote: The British army retires towards Charleston.]

Though his march was conducted with the utmost secrecy, the country
through which he passed contained so many disaffected, that it was
impossible to conceal this movement; and intelligence of his approach
was communicated to the officer commanding in Dorchester, the night
before he reached that place. The advance, commanded by Lieutenant
Colonel Hampton, met a small party, which he instantly charged, and,
after killing and taking several, drove the residue over the bridge
under cover of their works. In the course of the following night, the
stores at Dorchester were burnt, and the garrison retired to the
Quarter House, where their principal force was encamped. Greene
returned to the army at the Round O, at which place he purposed to
await the arrival of the reinforcements marching from the north under
the command of General St. Clair. In the mean time, General Marion and
Lieutenant Colonel Lee were stationed on each side of Ashley, so as to
cover the country between the Cooper and the Edisto; thus confining
the influence of the British arms to Charleston neck, and the adjacent
islands.[7]

[Footnote 7: During this campaign a very effective
expedition against the Cherokees was conducted by General
Pickens. When the struggle for South Carolina recommenced,
those savages were stimulated to renew their incursions into
the settlements of the whites. At the head of about four
hundred mounted militia, Pickens penetrated into their
country, burned thirteen of their villages, killed upwards
of forty Indians, and took a number of prisoners, without
the loss of a single man. On this occasion a new and
formidable mode of attack was introduced. The militia horse
rushed upon the Indians, and charged them sword in hand.
Terrified at the rapidity of the pursuit, the Cherokees
humbly sued for peace, which was granted on terms calculated
to restrain depredations in future.]

While in his camp at the Round O, General Greene was informed that
large reinforcements from Ireland and from New York were expected by
the army in Charleston. This intelligence excited the more alarm,
because the term of service for which the levies from Virginia were
engaged was about expiring, and no adequate measures had been taken
for supplying their places. It proved untrue; but such was its
impression, that the general addressed a letter to the governors of
South Carolina, in which, after taking a serious view of the state of
his army, he recommended that it should be recruited from the slaves.
The governor thought the proposition of sufficient importance to be
laid before the legislature, which was soon afterwards convened; but
the measure was not adopted.

On the fourth of January, General St. Clair, who conducted the
reinforcement from the north, arrived in camp, and, five days
afterward, General Wayne,[8] with his brigade, and the remnant of the
third regiment of dragoons, commanded by Colonel White, was detached
over the Savannah for the recovery of Georgia.

[Footnote 8: In the judicious orders given to Wayne, Greene
endeavoured to impress on that officer the importance of a
course of conduct, always observed by himself, which might
tend to conciliate parties. "Try," says he, "by every means
in your power, to soften the malignity and dreadful
resentments subsisting between the Whig and Tory; and put a
stop as much as possible to that cruel custom of putting men
to death after they surrender themselves prisoners. The
practice of plundering you will endeavour to check as much
as possible; and point out to the militia the ruinous
consequences of the policy. Let your discipline be as
regular and as rigid as the nature and constitution of your
troops will admit."--2 _Johnson_, 277.]

General Greene crossed the Edisto and took post six miles in advance
of Jacksonborough, on the road leading to Charleston, for the purpose
of covering the state legislature, which assembled at that place on
the eighteenth. Thus was civil government re-established in South
Carolina, and that state restored to the union.

It is impossible to review this active and interesting campaign
without feeling that much is due to General Greene; and that he amply
justified the favourable opinion of the Commander-in-chief. He found
the country completely conquered, and defended by a regular army
estimated at four thousand men. The inhabitants were so divided, as to
leave it doubtful to which side the majority was attached. At no time
did the effective continental force which he could bring into the
field, amount to two thousand men; and of these a considerable part
were raw troops. Yet he could keep the field without being forced into
action; and by a course of judicious movement, and of hardy
enterprise, in which invincible constancy was displayed, and in which
courage was happily tempered with prudence, he recovered the southern
states. It is a singular fact, well worthy of notice, which marks
impressively the soundness of his judgment, that although he never
gained a decisive victory, he obtained, to a considerable extent, even
when defeated, the object for which he fought.

A just portion of the praise deserved by these achievements, is
unquestionably due to the troops he commanded. These real patriots
bore every hardship and privation[9] with a degree of patience and
constancy which can not be sufficiently admired. And never was a
general better supported by his inferior officers. Not shackled by men
who, without merit, held stations of high rank obtained by political
influence, he commanded young men of equal spirit and intelligence,
formed under the eye of Washington, and trained in the school
furnished in the severe service of the north, to all the hardships and
dangers of war.

[Footnote 9: The distresses of the southern army were such
that, if plainly described, truth would wear the appearance
of fiction. They were almost naked and barefooted,
frequently without food, and always without pay. That he
might relieve them when in the last extremity, without
diminishing the exertions of their general to derive support
from other sources, by creating an opinion that supplies
could be drawn from him, Mr. Morris, as was stated by
himself in conversation with the author, employed an agent
to attend the southern army as a volunteer, whose powers
were unknown to General Greene. This agent was instructed to
watch its situation; and, whenever it appeared impossible
for the general to extricate himself from his
embarrassments, to furnish him, on his pledging the public
faith for repayment, with a draught on the financier for
such a sum as would relieve the urgency of the moment. Thus
was Greene occasionally rescued from impending ruin by aids
which appeared providential, and for which he could not
account.]

A peculiar importance was given to these successes in the south by the
opinion that a pacific temper was finding its way into the cabinets of
the belligerent powers of Europe. The communications from the court of
Versailles rendered it probable that negotiations for peace would take
place in the course of the ensuing winter; and dark hints had been
given on the part of Great Britain to the minister of his most
Christian Majesty, that all the American states could not reasonably
expect to become independent, as several of them were subdued.
Referring to the precedent of the low countries, it was observed that
of the seventeen provinces originally united against the Spanish
crown, only seven obtained their independence.

Additional motives for exertion were furnished by other communications
from the French monarch. These were that, after the present campaign,
no farther pecuniary or military aids were to be expected from France.
The situation of affairs in Europe would, it was said, demand all the
exertions which that nation was capable of making; and the forces of
his most Christian Majesty might render as much real service to the
common cause elsewhere as in America.[10]

[Footnote 10: Secret Journals of Congress, vol. 2, pp. 305,
399, 400, 452.]

CHAPTER II.

Preparations for another campaign.... Proceedings in the
Parliament of Great Britain.... Conciliatory conduct of
General Carleton.... Transactions in the south....
Negotiations for peace.... Preliminary and eventual articles
agreed upon between the United States and Great Britain....
Discontents of the American army.... Peace.... Mutiny of a
part of the Pennsylvania line.... Evacuation of New York....
General Washington resigns his commission and retires to
Mount Vernon.

{1782}

[Sidenote: Preparations for another campaign.]

The splendid success of the allied arms in Virginia, and the great
advantages obtained still farther south, produced no disposition in
General Washington to relax those exertions which might be necessary
to secure the great object of the contest. "I shall attempt to
stimulate congress," said he, in a letter to General Greene written at
Mount Vernon, "to the best improvement of our late success, by taking
the most vigorous and effectual measures to be ready for an early and
decisive campaign the next year. My greatest fear is, that viewing
this stroke in a point of light which may too much magnify its
importance, they may think our work too nearly closed, and fall into a
state of languor and relaxation. To prevent this error, I shall employ
every means in my power, and, if unhappily we sink into this fatal
mistake, no part of the blame shall be mine."

On the 27th of November he reached Philadelphia, and congress passed a
resolution granting him an audience on the succeeding day. On his
appearance the President addressed him in a short speech, informing
him that a committee was appointed to state the requisitions to be
made for the proper establishment of the army, and expressing the
expectation that he would remain in Philadelphia, in order to aid the
consultations on that important subject.

The secretary of war, the financier, and the secretary of foreign
affairs, assisted at these deliberations; and the business was
concluded with unusual celerity.

A revenue was scarcely less necessary than an army; and it was obvious
that the means for carrying on the war must be obtained, either by
impressment, or by a vigorous course of taxation. But both these
alternatives depended on the states; and the government of the union
resorted to the influence of the Commander-in-chief in aid of its
requisitions.

But no exertions on the part of America alone could expel the invading
army. A superiority at sea was indispensable to the success of
offensive operations against the posts which the British still held
within the United States. To obtain this superiority, General
Washington pressed its importance on the minister of France and
commanding officers of the French troops, as well as on the Marquis de
Lafayette, who was about to return to his native country.

[Sidenote: Proceedings in the British parliament.]

The first intelligence from Europe was far from being calculated to
diminish the anxieties still felt in America by the enlightened
friends of the revolution. The parliament of Great Britain reassembled
in November. The speech from the throne breathed a settled purpose to
continue the war; and the addresses from both houses, which were
carried by large majorities, echoed the sentiment.

In the course of the animated debates which these addresses
occasioned, an intention was indeed avowed by some members of the
administration to change their system. The plan indicated for the
future was to direct the whole force of the nation against France and
Spain; and to suspend offensive operations in the interior of the
United States, until the strength of those powers should be broken. In
the mean time, the posts then occupied by their troops were to be
maintained.

This development of the views of administration furnished additional
motives to the American government for exerting all the faculties of
the nation, to expel the British garrisons from New York and
Charleston. The efforts of the Commander-in-chief to produce these
exertions were earnest and unremitting, but not successful. The state
legislatures declared the inability of their constituents to pay
taxes. Instead of filling the continental treasury, some were devising
means to draw money from it; and some of those who passed bills
imposing heavy taxes, directed that the demands of the state should be
first satisfied, and that the residue only should be paid to the
continental receiver. By the unwearied attention and judicious
arrangements of the minister of finance, the expenses of the nation
had been greatly reduced. The bank established in Philadelphia, and
his own high character, had enabled him to support in some degree a
system of credit, the advantages of which were incalculably great.

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