CHAP.

XV.

Aug.

Gates took his place in the rear of the second line. He gave no order till Otho Williams proposed to him 1780. to begin the attack with the brigade of Stevens, his 16. worst troops, who had been with the army only one day. Stevens gave the word, and, as they prepared to move forward, Cornwallis ordered Webster, whose division contained his best troops, to assail them, while Rawdon was to engage the American right. As the British with Webster rushed on, firing and shouting huzza, Stevens reminded his militia that they had bayonets; but they had received them only the day before and knew not how to use them; so, dropping their muskets, they escaped to the woods with such speed that not more than three of them were killed or wounded.

Caswell and the militia of North Carolina, except the few who had Gregory for their brigadier, followed the example; so that nearly two-thirds of the army fled without firing a shot. Gates writes of them, as an eye-witness: "The British cavalry continuing to harass their rear, they ran like a torrent and bore all before them;" that is to say, the general himself was borne with them. They took to the woods and dispersed in every direction, while Gates disappeared entirely from the scene, taking no thought for the continental troops whom he left at their posts in the field, and flying, or, as he called it, retiring as fast as possible to Charlotte.

The militia having been routed, Webster came round the flank of the first Maryland brigade, and attacked them in front and on their side. Though Smallwood was nowhere to be found, they were sus tained by the reserve, till the brigade was outflanked

XV.

Aug.

16.

by greatly superior numbers, and obliged to give CHAP. ground. After being twice rallied, they finally retreated. The division which Kalb commanded con- 1780. tinued long in action, and never did troops show greater courage than these men of Maryland and Delaware. The horse of Kalb had been killed under him, and he had been badly wounded; yet he continued the fight on foot. At last, in the hope that victory was on his side, he led a charge, drove the division under Rawdon, took fifty prisoners, and would not believe that he was not about to gain the day, when Cornwallis poured against him a party of dragoons and infantry. Even then he did not yield, until disabled by many wounds.

The victory cost the British about five hundred of their best troops; "their great loss," wrote Marion, "is equal to a defeat." How many Americans perished on the field or surrendered is not accurately known. They saved none of their artillery, and little of their baggage. Except one hundred continental soldiers whom Gist conducted across the swamps, through which the cavalry could not follow, every corps was dispersed. The canes and underwood that hid them from their pursuers separated them from one another.

Kalb lingered for three days; but before he closed his eyes he bore an affectionate testimony to the exemplary conduct of the division which he had commanded, and of which two-fifths had fallen in battle. Opulent and happy in his wife and children, he gave to the United States his life and his example. Congress voted him a monument. The British parliament voted thanks to Cornwallis.

CHAP.

Aug.

Gates and Caswell, who took to flight with the XV. militia, gave up all for lost; and, leaving the army 1780. without orders, rode in all haste to Clermont, which they reached ahead of all the fugitives, and then pressed on and still on, until, late in the night, the two generals escorted each other into Charlotte. The next morning Gates, who was a petty intriguer, not a soldier, left Caswell to rally such troops as might come in; and himself sped to Hillsborough, where the North Carolina legislature was soon to meet, riding altogether more than two hundred miles in three days and a half, and running away from his army so fast and so far that he knew nothing about its condition. Caswell, after spending one day at Charlotte, disobeyed the order, and followed the example of his chief.

19.

15.

16.

17.

18.

On the nineteenth, American officers, coming into Charlotte, placed their hopes of a happier turn of events on Sumpter, who commanded the largest American force that now remained in the Carolinas.

That detachment had on the fifteenth captured more than forty British wagons laden with stores, and secured more than a hundred prisoners. On hearing of the misfortunes of the army of Gates, Sumpter retreated slowly and carelessly up the Wateree. On the seventeenth, he remained through the whole night at Rocky Mount, though he knew that the British were on the opposite side of the river, and in possession of boats and the ford. On the eighteenth, he advanced only eight miles; and on the north bank of Fishing creek, at bright midday, his troops stacked their arms; some took repose; some went to the river to bathe; some strolled

XV.

Aug

in search of supplies; and Sumpter himself fell fast CHAP. asleep in the shade of a wagon. In this state, a party under Tarleton cut them off from their arms and put 1780. them to rout, taking two or three hundred of them captive, and recovering the British prisoners and wagons. On the twentieth, Sumpter rode into Charlotte alone, without hat or saddle.

Jine 19

20.

CHAP.
XVI.

1780.

CHAPTER XVI.

CORNWALLIS AND THE MEN OF THE SOUTH AND WEST.

1780.

FROM the moment of his victory near Camden, Cornwallis became the principal figure in the British service in America, the pride and delight of Germain, the desired commander-in-chief, the one man on whom rested the hopes of the ministry for the successful termination of the war. His friends disparaged the ability of Sir Henry Clinton, accused him of hating his younger and more enterprising compeer, and censured him for leaving at the south forces disproportioned to the service for which they were required.

We are come to the series of events which closed the American contest and restored peace to the world. In Europe the sovereigns of Prussia, of Austria, of Russia, were offering their mediation; the united Netherlands were struggling to preserve their neutrality; France was straining every nerve to cope with her rival in the four quarters of the globe;