Page 77. M' Donald's trick on the old Tory. THE LIFE or GENERAL FRANCIS MARION, A CELEBRATED PARTISAN OFFICER. AGAINST THE BRITISH AND TORIES IH SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA BRIG. GEN. P. HORRY, OF MARION'S BRIGADE, AND M. L. WEEMS, FORMEBLY SECTOR OF MOUNT VERNOJf PARISH. On VIRNON'B CHIEF why layish all our lays; Oume, honest Muse, and sing great MAEION-S praise.* PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 1891. Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to wit BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty-fifth day ot September, in the forty-ninth year of the Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1824, H. C. Carey & I. Lea, of the said district, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof thev claim as proprietors, in the words following to wit : " The L,ife of Gen. Francis Marion, a celebrated Artisan " officer to the Revolutionary War, against the British and "Tories in South Carolina and Georgia, By Brigadier "General P. Horry, of Marion's Brigade, and M. L. "Weems. " On Vernon's Chief, why lavish all our lays ? "Come, honest Muse, and sing great Marion's praise." iu Conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, " An Act for the Encouragement of Learning by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Au- thors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the times therein mentioned. And also to t_ta Act, entitled, " An Act sup- plementary to an Act, entitled, "An Act for the Encourage- ment of learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits there- of to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." D. CALDWELL. Clerk of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania N. B. The above Copy-Right has been purchased by Jwiepb Allen, and is regularly transferred to him. PREFACE. " O THAT mine enemy would write a book" This, m former times, passed for as sore an evil as a good man could think of wishing to his worst enemy. Whether any of my enemies ever wished me so great an evil, I know not. But certain it is, 1 never dream- ed of such a thing as writing a book ; and least of all a war book. What, I ! a man here under the frozen zone and grand climacteric of my days, with one foot in the grave and the other hard by, to quit my prayer book and crutches, (an old man's best companion,} and drawing my sword, flourish and fight over again the battles of my youth. The Lord forbid me such madness ! But what can one do when one's friends are eternally teazing him, as they are me, and calling out at every whipstitch and corner of the streets, " Well, but, sir, where' s Marion ? where 1 's the history of Marian, that we have so long been looking for ?" 'Twas in vain that I told them I was no scholar ; no historian. " God,'' said I, " gentlemen, has made * many men of many minds ;' one for this thing and another for that. But I am morally certain he nevei made me for a writer. I did indeed once understand something about the use of a broad sword ; but as to a pen, gentlemen, that's quite another part of speech. The difference between a broad-sword and a pen, gentlemen, is prodigious ; and it is not every officer, let me tell you, gentlemen, who can, like Caesar, fight (Hi) 2031051 PREFACE. you a great battle with his sword to-day, and fight it over again with his pen to-morrow." " Burn CVeser/" replied they, " and his book too. If it were written in letters of gold, we would not read it. What have honest republicans like us to do with such an ambitious cut-throat and robber? Besides sir, your reasoning about scholarship, and fine style, and all that, does not, begging your pardon, apply at all to the case in hand. Small subjects indeed, re- quire great writers to set them off; but great sub- jects require no such artificial helps : like true beau lies, they shine most in the simplest dress. Marion is one of this sort : great in his simplicity. Then give us Marion plain, brave, honest Marion ; that's all we want, sir. And you can do this better than bear to let him die, and all his great actions, and be forgotten forever." This, I confess, went to the quick, and roused me completely. ''What I Marion forgotten ?" I exclaim- ed, " Marion forgotten ! and by me /" No, never ! never! while memory looks back on the dreadful days of the revolution ; when a British despot, not the NATION, (for I esteem them most generous,) but a proud, stupid, obstinate, despot, trampling the HOLY CHARTER and constitution of England's realm, issued against us, (sons of Britons,) that most unrighteous edict, taxation without representation ! and then, be- cause in the spirit of our gallant fathers, we bravely opposed him, he broke up the very fountains of his malice, and let loose upon us every indescribable, unimaginable curse of civil war ; when British ar- mies, with their Hessian, and Indian, and tory allies, everrun my afflicted country, swallowing up its fruits and filling every part with consternation ffhen no thing was to be seen but flying crowds, burning houses, and young men, (alas ! too often,) hanging upon the trees like dogs, and old men wringing their withered hands over their murdered boys, and wo- men and children weeping and flying from their ruined plantations into the starving woods ! When I think, I say, of these things, oh my God ! how can I ever forget Marion, that vigilant, undaunted soldier, whom thy own mercy raised up to scourge such monsters, and avenge his country's wrongs. The Washington of the south, he steadily pursued the warfare most safe for us, and most fatal to our enemies. He taught us to sleep in the swamps, to feed on roots, to drink the turbid waters of the ditch, to prowl night?)i round the encampments of the foe, like lions round the habitations of the shepherds who had slaughtered their cubs. Sometimes he taught us to fall upon the enemy by surprise, distracting the midnight hour with the horrors of our battle : at other times, when our forces were increased, he led us on boldly to the charge, hewing the enemy to pieces, under the approving light of day. Oh, Marion, my friend ! my friend ! never can I forget thee. Although thy wars are all ended, and thyself at rest in the grave, yet I see thee still. I see thee as thou wert wont to ride, most terrible in battle to the enemies of thy country. Thine eyes like balls of fire, flamed be- neath thy lowering brows. But lovely still wert thou in mercy, thou bravest among the sons of men ! For, soon as the enemy sinking under our swords, crijd for quarter, thy heart swelled with commiseration, and thy countenance was changed, even as the coun- tenance of a man who beheld the slaughter of his brothers. The basest tory who could but touch the bem of thy garment was safe. The avengers of blood stopped short in thy presence, and turned away from the lightning of thine eyes. 1* that my pen were of the quill of the swan that sings for future days ! then shouldst thou, ray friend, receive the fulness of thy fame. The fathers, of the years to come, should talk of thy noble deeds ; ant! the youth yet unborn should rise up and caK thee blessed. Fired at the charm of thy virtues, they should follow thee in the path of thy glory, and make themselves the future Marions of their country. PETER HORRY THE LIFE GEN FRANCIS MARION CHAPTER I. Short sketch of an extraordinary French couple, viz., the grand- father and mother of our hero their early and happy loves cruel persecution of the priests final expulsion from their native country providential settlement in South Carolina their prosperous and exemplary lives singular will of old Marion and birth of his grandson, Francis. Immortal may their memory be Who fought and bled for liberty. ONE thousand seven hundred and thirty two was a glorious year for America. It gave birth to two of the noblest thunderbolts of her wars, George Wash- ington and Francis Marion. The latter was born in St. John's parish, South Carolina. His father also was a Carolinian, but his grandfather was a Hugue- not or French Protestant, who lived near Rochelle, in the blind and bigoted days of Louis XIV. The priests, who are the persecutors in all countries except America, could not bear that he should wor- ship God in his own way, or dream of going to heaven but in their leading strings, and therefore soon gave g THE LIFE OF him .o understand, that he must either " recant 01 trot ;" that is, quit his heresy or his country. Too brave to play the hypocrite, and too wise to hope for happiness with a ** wounded spirit," ho quickly made up his mind, and, like faithful Abra- ham, forsook his country, to wander an exile in lands unknown. The angel who guides the footsteps of the virtuous, directed his course to South Carolina ; and as a reward for his piety, placed him in a land where mighty deeds and honors were ripening for his grandson. Nor did he wander alone. A cherub, in the form of a lovely wife, followed his fortunes, and gave hiai to know, from happy experience, that where love is, there is no exile. Previous to his expulsion, the priests had, for some time, suspected young Marion of what they called " heresy." But, learning that he was enamour- ed of the beautiful and accomplished Mademoiselle Louisa D'Aubrey, and like to win her affections, they withheld for a while, their sacred thunders, hoping, that through fear of them, and love of her, he might yet return to the bosom of the Catholic Church, to which she belonged. Young Marion's suit to his fair mistress, was for- tunate to the full extent of an ardent lover's wishes. The charming girl repaid his passion with such libe- ral interest, that, in a short time after the commence- ment of their delicious friendship, she received him for her husband, in spite of all that wealthier wooers could promise, or frowning friends could threaten. The neighboring clergy now marked the conduct of Marion with a keener eye ; and discovering in him no symptoms that pointed to recantation, they furiously pressed the bishop to enforce against him the edict of banishment. At this time, Marion with his lovely Louisa, were living on a small farm in the vicinity of Rochelle GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 9 As he walked one afternoon in the main street of that city, he was very rudely accosted by a couple of officers of the holy inquisition, whose looks and dress were as dark and diabolical as their employment. " Vous etes nommes Marion 9" said they ; that is "your name is Marion?" " Yes, gentlemen, that is my name." Upon this, they rudely thrust a letter into his hand, and turned away, but with such looks as tigers throw at a tender lampkin, whose well-guarded fold for- bids their access. On opening the letter he found as follows : " Your damnable heresy, well deserves, even in this life, that purgation by fire which awfully awaits it in the next. But, in consideration of your youth and worthy connexions, our mercy has condescended to commute your punishment to perpetual exile. You will, therefore, instantly prepare to quit your country for ever. For, if after ten days from the date hereof, you should be found in any part of the kingdom, your miserable body shall be consumed by fire, and your impious ashes scattered on the winds of heaven. " PERE ROCHELLE."* Had this dreadful letter been presented to Marion even while a bachelor, it would have filled him with I forewarn all my friends from thinking me capable of charging this vile persecuting spirit on the " Old W e of Rome" exclusively. No thank God, I have not so learned human nature. And they who are yet to learn, may, by reading the " Catholic Layman," soon get satisfied, that the priests are as apt to abuse power as the people, and that, when "clad with a little brief autftority," protestants as well as papists, have committed those cruelties which make milder devils blush. [By way of a note on a note, I would observe, that the Catholic Layman" is a very sensible and spirited pamphlet; the production, it is said, of Mathew Carey, Esq., of Philadelphia, who though a Roman Ca tholic, has printed more protestant Bibles and Testaments than half the preachers and printers in America put toether.] 10 THE LIFE OF horror; for the heart naturally cleaves to the spot where it awoke into being, and quits, with tearful eyes, the scenes among which were spent the first and happiest days of life. But ties stronger than thote of nature bound Marion to his country. His country was the country of his Louisa. How could he live without her? And how could he hope that she would ever consent to leave her parents and friends to wander and die with him in hopeless exile? But though greatly dejected, yet he did not de- spair. He still trusted in that parent-power who smiles even under frowns, and often pours his richest showers from the blackest clouds. Cheered with this hope, he put the letter into his pocket, and SP< out to seek his Louisa. With arms fondly interlocked, she had accompa- nied him that morning to the gate on the back of th,e garden, through which he generally passed when he went to Rochelle. Soon as his horse was led up, and he about to mount, she snatched the bridle, and laughing, vowed he should not go until he had pro- mised her one thing. " Well, charmer, what's that?" ' Why that you will return very soon." " Well, indeed I will ; so now let me go." " Oh no ! I am afraid that when you get out of sight you will play truant. You must give me secu- rity " " Well, Louisa, what security shall I give you ?" " Why you must give me that thing, whatever it be, that you hold most dear in all the world." " Well done ! and now, Louisa, I give you your- ' G d CVer S ave me in al l this At this her fine face was reddened all over with blushing joy, while her love-sparkling eyes, beaming on his awakened that transport which those who have felt it would not exchange for worlds. Ihen GEN. FRANCIS MARION 1J after the fond, lengthened kiss, and tender sigh of happy lovers parting, he rode off. Soon as he was out of her sight, she turned to go to the house. As she passed along the garden, the sud- den fancy struck her to adorn the summer house with evergreens and flowers of the liveliest tints, and there, amidst a wilderness of sweets, to receive her returning lover. Animated with this fond sugges- tion of conjugal affection, (woman's true life,) which at every quickened pulse diffused an answering rap- ture through the virtuous breast, she commenced her pleasing task ; and with her task she mingled the music of her voice, clear and strong as the morning lark, and sweet as from a heart full of innocence and love. The pleasant sounds reached the ear of Ma- rion, as he drew near the garden. Then, entering the gate without noise, he walked up, unperceived, close to her as she sat all alone in the arbour, binding her fragrant flowers and singing the happy hours away. She was singing her favorite hymn, by Madam Guion. " That love I sing, that wondrous love, Which wak'd my sleeping clay ; That spread the sky in azure bright. And pour'd the golden day," &c. &c. To see youth and beauty, though in a stranger, thus pointing to heaven, is delightful to a pious heart. Then what rapture to an enlightened soul to see a beloved wife thus communing with God, and becom- ing every day more and more angelic ! Soon as her song was finished, he called out, "Louisa!" Startled at the sudden call, she turned around to the well-known voice, presenting a face on which love and sweet surprise had spread those rosy charms, which in a moment banished all his sorrows. " My dearest Gabriel, ' she exclaimed, diopping he* 12 THE LIFE OF Sowers, and running and throwing herself into his arms, " here, take back your security ' take back your security ! and also my thanks for being such a man of honor. But what brought you back, love, so much earlier than you expected ?" Here the memory of that fatal letter went like a dagger to his heart, bleaching his manly cheeks. He would have evaded the question ; but in vain, for Louisa, startled at the sudden paleness of his looks, insisted the more earnestly to know the cause. He delayed a moment, but conscious that the se- cret must soon come out, he took the letter from his pocket, and with a reluctant hand put it into hers. Scarcely had she run through it, which she did with the most devouring haste, when she let it drop from her hands, and faintly articulating, " Ah, cruel priest!" she fell upor. his bosom, which she bathed with her tears. After some moments of distress too big for utterance, Marion, deeply sighing, at length broke silence. " Ah, Louisa! and must we part so soon!" At this, starting up with eyes suffused with tears but beaming immortal love, she hastily replied " Part !" " Yes !" continued he, " part ! for ever part !" "No, Marion, no ! never! never!" " Ah! can you, Louisa, leave father and mother, and follow a poor banished husband like me ?" " Yes yes father, mother, and all the world will I leave to follow thee, Marion !" " blessed priest, I thank you ! Good bishop Ro- chelle, holy father in God, I thank you your perse- cution has enriched me above princes. It has dis- covered to me a mine of lore iu Louisa's soui, iba> I never dreamed of before " " My dearest Gabriel, did you em doubt iny tore 3 " 41 Pardon me, my love, I never doubted your love, GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 13 Oh no ! I knew you loved me. The circumstances un- der which you married me gave me delicious proof of that. To have preferred me to so many wealthiei woers to have taken me as a husband to the para- dise of your arms, when so many others would have sent me as a heretic to the purgatory of the inquisi- tion, was evidence of love never to be forgotten ; but that in addition to all this you should now be so ready to leave father and mother, country and kin, to follow me, a poor wanderer in the earth, without even a place where to lay my head " " Yes, yes," replied she, eagerly interrupting him, " that's the very reason I would leave all to follow you. For, oh my love ! how could I enjoy father or mother, country or kin, and you a wanderer in the earth, without a place whereon to lay your head ! That single thought would cover my days with darkness, and drive me to distraction. But give me your com- pany, my Gabriel, and then welcome that foreign land with all its shady forests ! Welcome the thatched cottage and the little garden filled with the fruits of our own fondly mingled toils ! Methinks, my love, 1 already see that distant sun rising with gladsome beams on our dew-spangled flowers. I hear the wild wood-birds pouring their sprightly carols on the sweet-scented morning. My heart leaps with joy to their songs. Then, O my husband ! if we must go, let us go without a sigh. God can order it for our good. And, on my account, you shall cast no lin- gering look behind. I am ready to follow you wherever you go. Your God shall be my God. Where you live I will live, and where you die, there will I die, and will be buried by your side. Nothing my beloved, but death, shall ever part me from you." " Angelic Louisa !" cried Marion, snatching her to his bosom in transports "Wondrous woman! what do I not owe to God, ever blessed, for such a comforter ! I came just now from Rochelle with the 2 1 14 THE LIFE OF load of a mountain on ray heart. You have taken ofl that mountain, and substituted a joy most lightsome and heavenly. Like a ministering angel, you have confirmed me in duty ; you have ended my struggles and by so cheerfully offering to forsake all and fol- low me, you have displayed a love, dear Louisa, which will, I trust, render you next to my God, the eternal complacency and delight of my soul." In the midst of this tender scene, a servant came running to inform Louisa that her mother, Madame D'Aubrey, had just arrived, and was coming to her in the garden. This startled our lovers into a pain- ful expectation of another trial. For as Louisa was an only daughter, and her parents doatingly fond of her, it was not to be imagined that they would give her up without a hard struggle. Seeing the old lady coming down the walk towards them, they endea- vored to adjust their looks, and to meet her with the wonted smile. But in vain. The tumult in their bo- soms was still too visible in their looks to escape hei discernment. She eagerly asked the cause. Their changing countenances served but to increase her fears and the vehemence of her curiosity. The bi- shop's letter was put into her hands. Its effects on the good old lady were truly distressing. Not hav- ing, like her daughter, the vigor of youth, nor the fervors of love to support her, she was almost over- come. Soon as her spirits were a little recovered, she in- sisted that her daughter and son-in-law should in- stantly step into her coach and go home with her. " Your father, my dear," said she to Louisa, " your father, Monsieur D'Aubrey, will, I am certain, do something for us." _ But in this she was wofully mistaken, for Mon- sieur D'Aubrey was one of that blind sort who place all their religion in forms and notions. He could mile and look very fond upon a man, though not UKIX. rrtAiNolS MARION. 16 over moral, p-ovided that man went to his cnurch praised his preacher and opinions, and abused every body else ; but would look very sour on the best man on earth who differed from him in those things. In short, he was destitute of love, the sole life of reli- gion. And though on account of his wife's importu- nities and his daughter's repose, he had consented to her marriage with Marion, yet he never liked the young heretic, and therefore he read the order of his banishment without any burst of grief, and made no effort to revoke the decrees of the church against him, but abandoned him to his fate. Such insensibility to her husband's interest dis- tressed poor Louisa exceedingly. However, it had this good effect : it contributed greatly to lesson her regret at parting with her parents. " had they but loved me as you do, my Marion," said she, "could they have been so indifferent when my aJl WHS at stake ? No, indeed," continued she, " they could not," and burst into tears. " Dearest Louisa !" replied he, tenderly embracing her, " would not I leave father and mother and all for you ?" " Well," returned she, with eyes of love, out- shining all diamonds, " and am I not going to leave all for you ? Yet a few days and I shall have no fa- ther, no mother, no country ; cut off from all the world but you, Marion! alas! what will become of me if you should prove cruel to me ?' " Cruel ! cruel to you, Louisa ! O my God, can that ever be ?" " Ah Marion ! but some excellent women have left father and mother, and followed their husbands ; and yet, after all have been cruelly neglected by them !" " Yes, Louisa ; and God forgive them for that hor- rid crime ! But to me such a deed were utterly im- possible. I live for happiness, Louisa, I live for hap- piness, my angel. And I find so much happim ss in 16 THK bins OK loving, that I would as soon cease to live as cease to lo^e. Some indeed, sordid celebutes for example, seem to exist without love ; but it is only a seeming existence, most joyless and imperfect. And they bear the dulness of apathy the better, because they have never known the transports of affection. But with me, my charmer, the case is happily different ; for at the moment I first saw those angel eyes, they infused a sweetness into my heart unknown before. And those delicious sparks, fanned by your loves and graces, have now risen to such a flame of bliss, that methinks, were it to go out, my life would go ou< with it. Then, my first and last, and only sweetheart, I pray you, do not fear that I shall ever cease to love you : for indeed that can never be while you con- tinue even half as lovely as you are at present." " Well then, Marion," replied she, fondly pressing his ruddy cheeks to her heaving bosom, " if it de- pends on me, on my constant affection and studious- ness to please, you shall never love me less ; bu* more and more every day of your life." The next morning, accompanied by Madame D'Aubrey, Marion and Louisa returned home in or- der to make the best preparations, which the short- ness of the time would allow, to quit their country for ever. In choosing his place of exile, it has been said that Marion's thoughts were at first turned towards the West Indies. But it would appear that Heaven had decreed for him a different direction. For scarcely had he reached his home, much agitated about the means of getting off in time, before a letter was brought him from an intimate friend in Rochelle, in- forming him that a large ship, chartered for the Ca- rolinas, by several wealthy Huguenot families, was then lying at anchor under the Isle de Rhee. Great- tully regarding this as a beckoning from heaven, tf.ey at once commenced their work, and prosecuted GEN. FRANCIS MARJON. -17 i with such spirit, that on the evening of the ninth Jay they embraced their weeping friends and went on board the ship. It is said that many of the most respectable fami lies of Carolina the Gourdines, Hugers, Trapiers, Postells, Horrys, &c. came over in the same ship. The next day, the clouds began to bank the eastern sky, and the winds to whistle from the hills. Pleased with the darkly rippling waters, the ready ship got home her anchors and loosed her sails. Then wheel- ing before the freshening gale, she bid adieu to her native shores, and on wings of wide-spread canvas, commenced her foaming course for the western world. But though mutual love and confidence in heaven were strong in the bosoms of young Marion and his Louisa, yet could they not suppress the workings of nature, which would indulge her sorrows when look- ing back on the lessening shores ; they beheld dwin- dled to a point and trembling in the misty sky, that glorious land, at once their own cradle and the se- pulchre of their fathers. Some natural tears they shed, but wiped them soon, for the earth was all before them where to choose their place of rest ; and Providence their guide. But Marion and Louisa did not leave their coun- try empty handed. Her Parents, 'tis supposed, gave Louisa money, but what sum, after this long lapse of time, is uncertain. Nor does tradition say for how much Marion sold his little farm. But it is well known that on their arrival in Carolina, they went up into the country, and bought a plantation on Goose creek, near Charleston, where their dust now sleeps, after a long life endeared by mutual love, and surrounded by every comfort that industry and prudence can be- stow. We have said that Marion left his country for th* - lutions, they soon became the admiration and praise both of citizens and soldiers. And indeed I am not 4Q THE LIFE OF afraid to say that Marion was the architect of the second regiment, and laid the foundation of that ex- cellent discipline and confidence in themselves, which gained them such reputation whenever they were brought to face their enemies. In March, 1776, I was sent over with my com pany, to Sullivan's island, to prevent the landing of the British from the men-of-war, the Cherokee and Tamar, then lying in Rebellion road. I had not been long on that station, before Col. Moultrie came over with his whole regiment to erect a fort on the island. The truth is, the governor had of late become con- foundedly afraid of a visit from the British. The great wealth in Charleston must, he thought, by this time, have set their honest fingers to itching and we also suspected that they could hardly be ignorant what a number of poor deluded gentlemen, called lories, we had among us. The arrival of colonel Moultrie, with the second regiment, afforded me infinite satisfaction. It brought me once more to act in concert with Marion. 'Tis true, he had got one grade above me in the line of preferment ; but, thank God, I never minded that. I lored Marion, and " love" as every body knows " envieth not." We met like brothers. I read in his looks the smiling evidence of his love towards me : and I felt the strongest wish to perpetuate his par- tiality. Friendship was gay within my heart, and thenceforth all nature without put on her lovliest aspects. The island of sand no longei seemed a dreary waste. Brighter rolled the blue waves of ocean beneath the golden beam ; and sweeter mur- mured the billows on their sandy beach. My heart rejoiced with the playful fishes, as they leaped high wantoning in the air, or, with sudden flounce, return- ed again, wild darting through their lucid element. Our work went on in joy. The palmetto trees were Drought to us by the blacks, in large rafts, of which GEN. FRANCIS MARION. ,3^ we constructed, for our fort, an immense pen, two hundred feet long, and sixteen feet wide, filled with sand to stop the shot. For our platforms, we had two-inch oak planks, nailed down with iron spikes. With glad hearts we then got up our carriages and mounted our guns, of which twelve were 18 pound- ers twelve 24's, and twelve French 36's, equal to English 42'$. A general joy was spread over the faces of our regi- ment, as we looked along our battery of thunderers. But our glorifying, under God, was chiefly in our two and forty pounders. And indeed their appear- ance was terrible, where they lay with wide Cerbe- rean mouths, hideously gaping over the roaring waves, and threatening destruction to the foes of liberty. They were soon called to a trial of their metal. For on the 31st of May, while we were all busily driving on with our fort, suddenly a cry was heard, " a fled ! a fleet , ho /" Looking out to sea, we all at once beheld, as it were, a wilderness of ships, hang- ing, like snow-white clouds from the north-east sky. It was the sirs Parker and Clinton, hastening on with nine ships of rvar and thirty transports, bearing three thousand land forces, to attack Charleston. Such an armament was an awful novelty, that pro- duced on us all a momentary flutter ; but, thank God, no serious fear. On the contrary, it was very visi- ble in every glowing cheek and sparkling eye, as we looked, laughing^ on one another, that we considered the approaching conflict as a grand trial of courage, which we rather desired than dreaded. And to their equal praise, our gallant countrymen in Charleston, as we learned daily, by the boats, were all in fine spirits, and constantly making their best preparations to receive the enemy. And still my pen trembles in my hand ; even after this long lapse of time, it. trem- l- es with wonder and delight, to tell of that immor- 38* THE LIFE OF tal fire, whic'o in those perilous days, glowec in thf Dosoms of the Charleston FAIR. Instead of gloomy sadness and tears, for the dark cloud that threatened their city, they wore the most enlivening looks constantly talked the boldest language of patriotism animated their husbands, brothers, and lovers to fight bravely and, for themselves, they vowed they would " never live the slaves of Britain." Some peo- ple in our days, may not believe me, when I add of these noble ladies, that they actually begged leave of their commandant, to let them "fight by the sides of their relatives and friends." This, though a glorious request, was absolutely refused them. For who could bear to see the sweet face of beauty rough- ened over with the hard frowns of war ; or, the war- rior's musket, on those tender bosoms, formed of heaven only to pillow up the cheeks of happy hus oands, and of smiling babes ? But though the spirits of the ladies were willing, their nerves were weak ; for when the British ships of war hove in sight, opposite to the town, they all went down to the shore to view them. And then strong fear, like the cold wind of autumn, struck their tender frames with trembling, and bleached their rosy cheeks. Some, indeed, of the younger sort, af- fected to laugh and boast ; but the generality re- turned silent and pensive, as from a funeral, hanging their lovely heads, like rows of sickly jonquils, when the sun has forsaken the garden, and faded nature mourns his departed beams. Sisters were often seen to turn pale and sigh, when they looked on their youthful brothers, while tender mothers, looking down on their infant cherubs at the bieast, let drop their pearly sorrows, and exclaimed, " happy the wombs that bear not, and the paps that give no suck." In consequence of a most extraordinary continuation of calms, baffling winds, and neap tides, the enemy's hips never got within our bar till the 27th of June CJEN. FRANCIS MARION. 3ft und on the following morn, the memorable 28th, the) weighed anchor on the young flood, and before a fine breeze, with top gallant sails, royals, and sky scrapers all drawing, came bearing up for the fort like floating mountains. The anxious reader must not suppose that we were standing all this while, with finger in mouth, idly gaping like children on a raree show. No, by the Living! but, fast as they neared us, we still kept oui thunders close bearing upon them, like infernal point ers at a dead set ; and as soon as they were coma within point blank shot, we clapped our matches and gave them a tornado of round and double-headed bullets, which made many a poor Englishman's head ache. Nor were they long in our debt, but letting go their anchors and clewing up their sails, which they did in a trice, they opened all their batteries, and broke loose upon us with a roar as if heaven and earth had been coming together. Such a sudden burst of flame and thunder, could not but make us feel very queer at first, especially as we were young hands, and had never been engaged in such an awful scene before. But a few rounds presently brought us all to rights again, and then, with heads bound up, and stripped to the buff, we plied our bull-dogs like heroes. The British outnumbered us in men and guns, at least three to one, but then our guns, some of them at least, were much the heaviest, carrying balls of two and forty pounds weight ! and when the mon- sters, crammed 10 the throat with chained shot and infernal fire, let out, it was with such hideous peals as made both earth and ocean tremble. At one time it appeared as though, by a strange kind of accident, all their broad-sides had struck us at once, which made the fort tremble again. But our palmettoes stood the fire to a miracle, closed up without sign of splinter, on their shot, which was stopped by the in- 40 THE LIFE OF termed! ate sand ; while, on the other nancl, ever) oullet that we fired, went through and through then ships, smashing alike sailors, timber heads, and iron anchors, in their furious course. And thus was the order of our battle there, a line of seven tall ships ; and here, one little, solitary fort there, British dis- cipline ; and here, American enthusiasm there, brave men fighting for a tyrant; and here, heroes contending for liberty. I am old now, and have for- gotten many things, but never shall I forget the heart-burnings of that day, when I heard the blast of those rude cannon, that bade me be a slave ; and still my aged bosom swells with the big joy when I hear, which I often do in fancy's ear, the answer of our faithful bull-dogs, as with deafening roar, lurid flame and smoke, they hurled back their iron curses on the wicked claim. But alas! for lack of ammunition, our opening victory was soon nipped like a luckless flower, in the bud : for the contest had hardly lasted an hour, before our powder was so expended that we were obliged, in a great measure, to silence our guns, which was matter of infinite mortification to us, both because of the grief it gave our friends, and the high triumph it afforded our enemies. " Powder ! Powder ! millions for powder /" was our constant cry. Oh ! had we but had plenty of that noisy kill-seed, as the Scotchmen call it, not one of those tall ships would ever have revisited Neptune's green dominion. They must inevitably have struck, or laid their vast hulks along-side the fort, as hurdles for the snail-loving sheep's heads. Indeed, small as our stock of ammu- nition was,we made several of their ships look like selves, and smell like slaughter pens. The commo- dore's ship, the Bristol, had fifty men killed, and up- wards of one hundred wounded ! The laurels of the second regiment can never fade the destructive effect of their fire gave glorious proof, that they loaded and levelled their pieces like GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 4 men who wished every shot to tell. They all fought like veterans ; but the behavior of some was gal- lant beyond compare ; and the humble names of Jas- per and M'Donald shall be remembered, when those of proud kings shall be forgotten. A ball from the enemy's ships carried away our flag-staff. Scarcely had the stars of liberty touched the sand, before Jasper flew and snatched them up and kissed them with great enthusiasm. Then having fixed them to the point of his spontoon, he leaped up on the breast-work amidst the storm and fury of the battle, and restored them to their daring station waving his hat at the same time and huzza- ing, " God save liberty and my country for ever /" As to sergeant M'Donald, while fighting like a hero, at his gun, a cannon ball came in at the port hole, and mangled him miserably. As he was borne off, he lifted his dying eyes, and said to his comrades, " Huzza, my brave fellows, I die, but don't let the cause of liberty die with me." The effect of our last gun, and which happened to be fired by Marion, is too remarkable to be lost. It was his lot that day to command the left wing of the fort, where many of our heaviest cannon were plant- ed. As from lack of powder, we were obliged to fire very slow, Marion would often level the guns himself. And now comes ray story. Just after sun- set the enemy's ships ceased firing, and slipping their cables, began to move off". Pleased with the event, an officer on the quarter deck of the Bristol man-of- war, called out to his comrade, " Well, d nmyeyes, Frank, the play is over ! so let's go below and hob nob to a glass of wine, for I am devilish dry /" " With all my hearty Jackf replied the other; so down they whipped into the cabin, where the wine and glasses had been standing all day on the table At that moment, one of our two and forty poundeia ooing just loaded, Marion called to colonel Moultrie, 42 THE LIFE OF and askeil him if it would not be well enough to give them the last blow. " Fes," replied Moultrie, " give them the parting kick." Marion clapped the match, and away, in thunder and lightning went the ball, which, entering the cabin windows, shattered the two young friends : thence raging through the bulk-heads and steerage, it shiver- ed three sailors on the main deck, and, after all, bursting through the forecastle into the sea, sunk with sullen joy to the bottom. We got this story from five British seamen, who ran off with the Bristol's long boat, and came and joined us that very night. The next day, that noble whig, Mr. William Logan, sent us a couple of fat beeves and a hogshead of rum, " to refresh us," as he was pleased to say, " after our hard day's work." And on the second day after the action, the governor and council, with numbers of the great ladies and gentlemen of Charleston, came over to the forj to visit us. We all put on our " best bibs and tuckers," and paraded at the water's edge to re- ceive them, which we did with a spanking feu dejoi, and were not a little gratified with their attentions and handsome compliments paid us, for what they politely termed " our gallant defence of our country.'" And indeed to see the looks of our poor soldiers, when those great ladies, all glittering in silks and jewels, and powdered and perfumed so nice, would come up to them, with faces like angels, sparkling and smiling so sweet, as if they would kiss them ; I say, to see the looks of our poor fellows, their awkward bows and broad grins, and other droll capers they cut, no human being could have refrained from laughing. Presently that excellent lady, Mrs. Colonel Elliot (of the artillery,) came forward and presented us with a most superb pair of colors, embroidered with gold and silver by her own lily-white hands. They were delivered, If I mistake not, to the brave GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 43 sergeant Jasper, who smiled when he took them, and vowed he " would never give them up but with his life." Poor fellow ! he too soon made good his promise, near the fatal walls of Savannah. But it was not the ladies alone that were attentive to us, for that great man, governor Rutledge, in pre- sence of the regiment, took the sword from his side, and with his own noble hand presented it to sergeant Jasper. He also offered him a commission on the spot ; but this, Jasper absolutely refused. " I am greatly obliged to you, governor," said he, " but I had rather not have a commission. As I am, I pass very well with such company as a poor sergeant has any right to keep. If I were to get a commission, I should be forced to keep higher company : and then, as I don't know how to read, I should only be throw- ing myself in a way to be laughed at !" Parents, who can waste on grog and tobacco, that precious money you ought to educate your children with, think of this' 44 THE LIFE OF CHAPTER V. Governor Rutledge harrangues the Troops snws Br tain's in justice to have been the cause of the American war inde- pendence declared great joy on that account, ON the 20th of September, 1776, all the troops in Charleston were ordered to rendezvous without the gates of the city, to hear, as we were told, " Some great news." Soon as we were paraded, governor Rutledge ascended a stage, and in the forcible man- ner of a Demosthenes, informed, that Congress had dissolved all relation with England, by an open De- claration of Independence. " You are, no doubt, gentlemen," said he, " sur- prised, and perhaps shocked at this intelligence. But however painful this measure may be to our feelings, it is absolutely necessary to our safety. 11 Under the sacred name of ' mother country, England has long been working our ruin. I need not tell you that our fathers were Britons, who for liber- ty's sake, came and settled in this country, then a howling wilderness. For a long time they ate theH bread, not only embittered with sweat, but often stain- ed with blood their own and the blood of their chil- dren, fighting the savages for a dwelling place. At length they prevailed and found a rest. But still their hearts were towards the place of their nativity ; and often with tears, did they think and talk of the white- ciifted island where their fathers dwelt. Dying, they bequeathed to us the same tender sentiments, which we cherished with a pious care. The name of Eng- land was a pleasant sound in our ears the sight of their ships was always wont to fill our hearts with joy. We hasted to greet the beloved strangers ; and hur- rying them to our habitations, spread for them ou: GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 45 ~easj, and rejoiced as men do in the society of their dearest friends. " Oh ! had our mother country but treated us with equal affection as a tender parent, had she but smiled on our valor encouraged our industry and thus exalted the horn of our glory, our union and brotherly love would have been eternal ; and the impious name of independence had never been heard ! But, alas ! instead of treating us in this endearing spirit, she cruelly limited our commerce compelled us to buy and sell to her alone, and at her own prices and not content with the enormous profits of such a shameful traffic, she has come, at length, to claim a. right to tax us at pleasure. " But, my countrymen, will you suffer thus rudely to be wrested from you, that goodly inheritance of LIBERTY, which was bequeathed to you by your gal- lant fathers ? Will you thus tamely suffer to be frus- trated all the glorious designs of God towurds you and your children? For look but around on \hisgreat land, which he has given you, and yon bright heavens, which he has spread over your favored heads, and say whether he ever intended those mighty scenes to be the prison-house of slaves ? the trembling slaves of a small island beyond the sea ? hewers of wood and drawers of water, planters of rice and pickers of cotton, for a foreign tyrant and his minions ? No, my friends, God never intended you for such dishonor and can you be so wicked a? to bring it on your- selves? I trust you will noc. Nay, the voices of your brave countrymen in Congress, have said you will not, and anticipating your heroic sentiments, have already declared you a " FREE AND INDEPENDENT PEOPLE !" " And now my gallant friends, are you willing to confirm their glorious deed ? Are you willing this day, in the sight of heaven, to swear allegiance to the sovereignty of your country, and to place her in the jfi THE LIFE OF highest rank of nations, by proclaiming her INDE- PENDENT ?" In a moment the air resounded with " Yes ! yes! independence! independence for ever ! God save the independent states of America .'" The oath of allegiance was then tendered to the troops. The officers with great alacrity took \ijirst . wnich highly pleased the common soldiers, who rea- dily followed their patriotic example. Soon as the solemn rite was performed, the governor ordered a feu de joie. Instantly at the welcome word, " handle crrms," the eager warriors struck their fire-locks, loud ringing through all their ranks; and presenting their pieces, rent the air with fierce platoons ; while the deep-throated cannon like surly bull-dogs, rolled their louder thunders along the field ; then madly bounding back on their rattl ng wheels, they told to fancy's ear, " Freedom's sons are we, ami "d thi villians that would make us t laves .'" GEN FRANCIS MARION. CHAPTER VI. Times growing squally the author sets out a vagrant hunting gets into hot water narrowly escapes with his life catchei a host of vagabonds, but learns from experience, that, though a rascal may do to stop a bullet, 'tis only the man of honoi that can make a good soldier. " THE devil," said George Whitefield, " is Jonu of fishing in muddy waters" hence it is, I suppose that that grand demagogue has always been so fond of war that sunshine and bcs/cing time of rogues, which calls them out, thick as May-day sun calls out the rattle-snakes from their stony crannies. In times of peace, the waters are clear, so that if the smallest Jack (villain) but makes his appearance, eagle-eyed justice, with her iron talons, is down upon him in a moment. But let war but stir up the mud of confusion, and straightway the eyes of justice are blinded thieves turn out in shoals: and devils, like hungry fishing-hawks, are seen by the eye of faith, hovering over the wretched fry, screaming for their prey. This was exactly the case in South Carolina. The war had hardly raged there above a twelvemonth and a day, before the state of society seemed turned up- side down. The sacred plough was every where seen rusting in the weedy furrows Grog shops and Nanny houses were springing up as thick as hops at the house of God you saw nobody but if there was a devil's house (a dram shop) hard by, yon might be sure to see that crowded with poor Laza- rites, with red noses and black eyes, and the fences all strung along with starved tackies, in grape-vine oridles and sheep-skin saddles. In short, the whole country was fast overrunning with vagabonds, like 4 fc THiS LIFE OF ravening locusts, seeking where they might light, and whom they should devour. " Good heavens !" said Marion to me one day, and with great alarm in his looks, " what's to be done with these wretches, these vagrants ? I am actually afraid we shall be ruined by them presently. For you know, sir, that a vagrant is but the chrysalis or fly state of the gambler, the horse-thief, the money- coiner, and indeed of every other worthless creature that disturbs and endangers society." " Why colonel," replied I, " there's a conceit in my head, which, if it could but be brought to bear, would, I think, soon settle the hash with these ras- cals." " Aye," replied he, " well, pray give it to us, for 1 should be very fond to hear it.'* " Why sir," said I, " give me but a lieutenant, ser- geant, and corporal, with a dozen privates, all of my own choosing, do you see, and if I don't soon give you a good account of those villians, you may, with all my heart, give me a good suit of tar and fea thers." My demand was instantly complied with. Then taking with me such men as I knew I could depend on, among whom was the brave lieutenant Jossilin, I set out from the Long Buff, towards Sandhills. The reader will please to take notice, that in our hurry we had not forgot to take with us a constable with a pro- per warrant. We had gone but a few miles, before we fell in with a squad of as choice game as heart could have wished, three proper tall young vagabonds ! profountl- y engaged at all fours, in a log tippling shop, with cards as black as their own dirty hands, and a tickler of brandy before them ! and so intent were the thieves on fleeching each other, that they took no manner of notice of us, but continued their scoun- drel work, eagerly stretched over the table, thwack- GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 49 ing down their cards with filthy knuckles, and at pvery stroke balling out, " there's a good trick!" " Thai's as good as he." l ' Jlnd there's the best of the three huzza, d n me . at him again my HEARTIES." " Lieutenant Jossilin," said I, "grab them fellows ." You never saw poor devils in such a fright. But soon as they had recovered the use of their tongues, they swore like troopers that they were the " most honestest gentlemen in all Carolina." " Aye ! well, I am very glad to hear that, gentle- men," said I," for I love honest men prodigiously, and hope the magistrate will confirm the handsome re- port you have made of yourselves." So off we set all together for the magistrate. About dinner time I ordered a halt at the house of one T ohnson, a militia captain, who appeared quite over- whelmed with joy to see me. " Heaven bless us !" said he, " and now who could have believed all this ? And have I, at last, to my heart's desire, the great honor of seeing under my humble roof the noble major Horry$" I told him I was much obliged to him, for his po- liteness but, for the present, was rather too hungry to relish compliments. " Like sweetmeats, captain," said I, " a little of them may do pretty well after a good dinner." " Oh, my dear major !" quoth he, " and how sorry I am now that I have nothing fit for dinner for you, my noble son of thunder a saddle of fat venison, major ; or a brace of young ducks ; or, a green goose with currant jelly, and a bottle of old Madeira to wash it down, do you see, major! something nice for jrou, do you see, major !'' " JVice," said I, " captain Johnson ! We soldiers of liberty don't stand upon the nice the substantial K that we care for a rasher of fat bacon from the 5 60 THE LIFE OF coals, with a good stout lump of an ash cake, is met, enough for us." " Oh, my dear sir !" replied he, " now don'/, don't be angry with me ; for I was only sorry that I have nothing half so good for you as I could wish, but such as it is, thank God, we have plenty ; and you shall have a bite in a trice." So off he went, as he pretended, to hurry dinner. Now can any honest man believe that this same man, captain Johnson, who had been, as Paddy says, "sticking the blarney into meat that rate" could have been such a scoundrel as to turn about the very next minute, and try all in his power to trick me out of my vagrants. It is, however, too true to be doubt- ed ; for having purposely delayed dinner till it was late, he then insisted that I must not deny him the " very great honor of my company \hat night.'" Soon as my consent was obtained, he despatched a parcel of riders, to order in, with their guns, as many of his gang as he thought would do. In the course of the night, snug as master Johnson thought himself, I got a hint of his capers, and told my men to see that their guns were in prime order. While breakfast was getting ready, (for Johnson swore I should not leave him " on an empty stomach,") lieutenant Jossilin came and told me he did not un- derstand the meaning of so many ill-looking fellows coming about the house with their guns in their hands. I replied that we should see presently. Breakfast then making its appearance, we sat down, and while we were eating, (our men all on parade at the door) Johnson's men kept dropping in one after another, till there were, I dare say, as many as thirty of them in the room, all armed. When breakfast was over, I turned to the consta- ble, and desired him to look to his charge, meaning the three vagrants, for that we would start as soon as GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 51 our men were all refreshed. Upon this captain John- son said he believed he should not let the prisoners go. " Not let them go, sir," said I, " what do you mean by that, sir?" " I mean, sir," replied he, " that the law is an op- pressive one." I asked him, still keeping myself perfectly cool, if he was not an American soldier ? " Yes, V," he answered, " lam an American sol- dier ; and as good a one, perhaps, as yourself, or any other man." " Well, sir, and is this the way you show your sol- diership, by insulting the law ?" " I am not bound," continued he, " to obey a bad law." " But, sir, who gave you a right to judge the law ?" 11 1 don't mind that," quoth he, " but d nme, sir, if I'll let the prisoners go." " Very well, captain Johnson," said I, " we shall soon try that ; and if you and your people here, choose to go to the devil for resisting the law, on your own heads be the bloody consequences." With this I gave the floor a thundering stamp, and in a moment, as by magic, in bursted my brave ser- geant and men, with fixed bayonets, ready for slaugh- ter, while Jossilin and mvself, whipping out oui swords, rushed on as to the charge. A troop of red foxes dashing into a poultry yard, never produced such squalling and flying as now took place among these poo 'guilty wretches " Lord have mercy upon us," they cried down fell their guns smack went the doors and windows and out of both, heels over head they tumbled, as expecting every mo- ment the points of our bayonets. The house was quickly cleared of every soul except Johnson and his lieutenant, one Lunda, who both trembled like aspen leaves, expecting a severe drubbing. "Captain Johnson," said I, "don't tremale ; you 52 THE LIFE OF nave nothing to fear from me. A man who can act as you have done, is not an object of anger, but con- tempt. Go ! and learn the spirit that becomes a gen tleman and an American soldier." I should have observed, that as we advanced to charge Johnson's poltroons, one of the party, a reso- lute fellow, presented his gun to my breast and drew the trigger. Happily, in the very instant of its firing, lieutenant Jossilin knocked it up with his sword ; and the ball grazing my shoulder, bursted through the side of the house. As we rode off, some of Johnson's fugitives had the audacity to bawl out, though from a very prudent dis- tance, threatening us that they would yet rescue the prisoners before we got to the bluff. But they wisely took care not to make good their word, for they were only a pack of poor ignorant tories, who did nothing on principle, and were therefore ready to quit their purpose the moment they saw danger in the way. Our success at vagrant hunting was marvellous. I hardly think we could, in the same time, have caught as many raccoons in any swamp on Pedee. On count- ing noses, we found, that in our three week's course, we had seized and sent off to Charleston, upwards of fifty. With the last haul, I returned myself to the city, where I received the thanks of general Howe, for "the handsome addition," as he was pleased to term it, " which I had made to the regiment." But on trial, it was found that such vermin were not worthy of thanks, nor were any addition to the -egiment, except as disgust to the men and vexation to the officers. Destitute of honor, they performed heir duty, not like soldiers, but slaves ; and, on every opportunity, would run off into the woods like wild beasts. GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 53 CHAPTER VII. The brave sergeant Jasper again on the carpet in disguise visits a British post at Ebenezer in company of sergeant Newton, makes a second trip thither affecting view of an American lady and her child, with other whig prisoners at Ebenezer desperate resolve of Jasper and Newton, to rescue them their bloody conflict and glorious triumph. IN the spring of 1779, Marion and myself were sent with our commands, to Purysburgh, to re-en- force general Lincoln, who was there on his way to attack the British in Savannah, which a few months before had fallen into their hands. As the count D'Estang, who was expected to co-operate in this af- fair, had not yet arrived, general Lincoln thought it advisable to entrench and wait for him. While we were lying at Purysburgh, a couple of young men of our regiment achieved an act of gene- rosity and courage, which, in former days, would have laid the ground-work of a heroic romance. One of the actors in this extraordinary play was the brave Serjeant Jasper, whose name will for ever be dear to the friends of American liberty. Jasper had a brother who had joined the British, and held the rank of sergeant in their garrison at Ebenezer. Never man was truer to his country than Jasper, yet was his heart so warm that he loved his brother, though a tory, and actually went over to see him. His brother was exceedingly alarmed at sight of him, lest he should be seized and hung up at once as a spy, for his name was well known to many of the British officers. But Jasper begged him not to give himself much trouble on that head, for, said he, " I am no longer an American soldier." " Well, thank God for that, William," replied his brother, giving him a hearty shake by the hand 54 THE LIFE OF " And now only say the word, my boy, and here is a commission for y 01*, with regimentals and gold to boot, to fight for his majesty." Jasper shook his head and observed, that though there was but little encouragement to fight for his country, yet he could not find in his heart to fight against her. And there the conversation ended. After staying with his brother some two or three days, inspecting and hearing all that he could, he took his leave, and by a round about, returned to camp, ano told general Lincoln all that he had seen. Having wasted several weeks longer of tiresome idleness, and no news of the French fleet, Jasper took it into his head to make another trip to Ebenezer. On this occasion he did not, as before, go alone, but took with him his particular friend, sergeant Newton, son of an old Baptist preacher, and a young fellow, for strength and courage, just about a good match for Jasper himself. He was received as usual, with great cordiality by his brother, to whom he introduced his friend New- ton, and spent several days in the British fort, with- out giving the least alarm. On the morning of the third day his brother had some bad news to tell him. " Aye! what.is t7?" he asked, " what is it 1 ?" " Why," replied his brother, " here are some ten or. a dozen American prisoners, brought in this morning, as deserters from Savannah, whither they are to be sent immediately. And from what I can learn, it will be apt to go hard with them, for it seems they have all taken the king's bounty." " LeV s see ''em" said Jasper, " lefs see 'em." So his brother took him and Newton to see them. And indeed it was a mournful sight to behold them, where they sat, poor fellows ! all hand-cuffed, on the ground. But all pity of them was forgot, soon as the eye was turned to a far more doleful sight hard by, which was a young woman, wife of one of the GEN FRANCIS MARION. 55 prisoners, with her child, a sweet little boy of about five years old. The name of this lady was Jones. Her humble garb showed her to be poor, but her deep distress, and sympathy with her unfortunate hus- band, showed that she was rich in that pure conjuge.1 love, that is more precious than all gold. She generally sat on the ground opposite to her husband, with her little boy leaning on her lap, and her coal black hair spreading in long neglected tresses on her neck and bosom. And thus in silence she sat, a statue of grief, sometimes with her eyes hard fixed upon the earth, like one lost in thought, sighing and groaning the while as if her heart would burst then starting, as from a reverie, she would dart her eager eyes, red with weeping, on her husband's face, and there would gaze, with looks so piercing sad, as though she saw him struggling in the halter, herself a widow, and her son an orphan. Straight her frame would begin to shake with the rising agony, and her face to change and swell ; then with eyes swimming in tears, she would look around upon us all, for pity and for help, with cries sufficient to melt the heart of a demon. While the child seeing his father's hands fast bound, and his mother weeping, added to the distressing scene, by his artless cries and tears. The brave are always tender-hearted. It was so with Jasper and Newton, two of the most undaunted spirits that ever lived. They walked out in the neigh- boring wood. The tear was in the eye of both Jasper first broke silence. " Newton," said he, " my days have been but few ; but I believe their course is nearly done." "Why so, Jasper?" " Why, I feel," said he, " that I must rescue these poor prisoners, or die with them ; otherwise that wo- man and her child will haunt me to my grave." " Well, that is exactly what I feel too," replied Newton " and here is my hand and heart to stand 56 THE LIFE OF by you, my brave friend, to the last drop. Think God, a man can die but once, and there is not so much in this life that a man need be afraid to leave it, especially when he is in the way of his duty." The two friends then embraced with great cor- diality, while each read in the other's countenance, that immortal fire which beams from the eyes of the brave, when resolved to die or conquer in some glo- rious cause. Immediately after breakfast, the prisoners were sent on for Savannah, under a guard of a sergeant ana corporal with eight men. They had not been gone long, before Jasper, accompanied by his friend New- ton, took leave of his brother, and set out on some errand to the upper country. They had scarcely, however, got out of sight of Ebenezer, before they struck into the piny woods, and pushed hard after the prisoners and their guard, whom they closely dogged for several miles, anxiously watching an op- portunity to make a blow. But alas ! ail hopes of that sort seemed utterly extravagant ; for what could give two men a chance to contend against ten, espe- cially when there was found no weapon in the hands of the two, while the ten, each man was armed with his loaded musket and bayonet. But unable to give up their countrymen, our heroes still followed on. About two miles from Savannah there is a famous spring, generally called the Spa, well known to tra- vellers, who often turn in hither to quench their thirst. " Perhaps," said Jasper, " the guard may stop there." Then hastening on by JL near cut through the woods, they gained the Spa, as their last hope, and there con- cealed themselves among the bushes that grew abur- dantly around the spring. Presently the mournful procession came in sight, headed by the sergeant, who, on coming opposite to the spring, ordered a halt. Hope sprung afresh in our heroes' bosoms, strong throbbing too, no doubt, with Page 57. Serjeant Jasper, rescuing the American prisoners. GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 57 great alarms, for " it was a fearful odds." -Thv, cor poral with his guard of four men, conducted the pri- soners to the spring, while the sergeant with the other four, having grounded their arms near the road, brought up the rear. The prisoners, wearied with their long walk, were permitted to rest themselves on the earth. Poor Mrs. Jones, as usual, took her seat opposite to her husband, and her little boy, overcome with fatigue, fell asleep in her lap. Two of the cor- poral's men were ordered to keep guard, and the other two to give the prisoners drink out of their canteens. These last approached the spring where our heroes lay concealed, and resting their muskets against a pine tree, dipped up water : and having drank themselves, turned away, with replenished canteens, to give the prisoners also. " Now! Newton, is our time!" said Jasper. Then bursting, like two lions, from their concealment, they snatched up the two muskets that were rested against the pine, and in an instant shot down the two soldiers that kept guard. And now the question was, who should first get the two loaded muskets that had just fallen from the hands of the slain. For by this time the sergeant and corporal, a couple of brave Englishmen, recovering from their momentary panic, had sprung and seized upon the muskets ; but before they could use them, the strong swift-handed Americans, with clubbed guns, levelled each at the head of his brave antagonist, the final blow. The tender bones of the skull gave way beneath the furious strokes, and with wide scattered blood and brains down they sunk, pale and quivering to the earth without a groan. Then snatching up the guns which had thus, a second time, fallen from the hands of the slain, they flew between the surviving enemy, and or- dered them to surrender, which they instarit.ly did. Having called the prisoners to them, they quick!* with the point of their bayonets, broke off their hand cuffs, and gave each of them a musket. fig THE LIFE OF At th<; commencement of the fray, poor Mrs. Jones, half frightened to death, had fallen to the ground in a swoon, with her little son piteously screaming over her. But when she came to herself, and saw her hus- band and friends around her, all freed from their fet- ters and well armed, she looked and behaved like one frantic with joy. She sprung to her husband's bosom, and with her arms around his neck, sobbed out, " Oh bless God ! bless God ! my husband is safe ; my husband is not hung yet ;" then snatching up her child, and straining him to her soul, as if she would have pressed him to death, she cried out " praise ! praise ! praise God for ever ! my son has a father yet /" Then wildly darting round her eyes in quest of her deliverers, she exclaimed, " Where ! where are those blessed angels that God sent to save my husband ?" Directing her eyes to Jasper and Newton, where they stood like two youthful Sampsons, in the fulJ flowing of their locks, she ran and fell on her knees before them, and seizing their hands, kissed and pressed them to her bosom, crying out vehemently, "Dear angels! dear angels' God bless you! God Almighty bless you for ever !" Then instantly, for fear of being overtaken by the enemy, our heroes snatched the arms and regimentals of the slain, and with their friends and captive foes, recrossed the Savannah, and in safety rejoined our army at Purysburgh, to the inexpressible astonish- ment and joy of us all. GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 59 CHAPTER VIII. ?Le count D'Estang, with the French fleet, arrives to attach Savannah our army marches and joins him fatal effects of D'Estang's politeness biographical dash of young colonel Laurens curious dialogue betwixt him and the French gene- ral unsuccessful attack on Savannah the brave Jasper mortally wounded is visited by the author in his last mo- ments interesting conversation dies like a Christian sol- dier. COULD the wishes of our army have availed, those gallant soldiers, (Jasper and Newton) would long have lived to enjoy their past, and to win fresh laurels. But alas ! the former of them, the heroic Jasper, was soon led, like a young lion, to an evil net. The mournful story of his death, with heavy heart I now relate. Scarcely had he returned from Georgia, laden, as aforesaid, with glory, when an express came into camp, and informed that the count D'Estang was arrived off Tybee. Instantly we struck our tents and marched for the siege of Savannah. On arriving near that fatal place, we found that the French troops, with their cannon and mortars, had just come up. Oh ! had we but advanced at once to the attack, as became skilful soldiers, we should have carried every thing before us. The frighted garrison would have hauled down their colors without firing a shot. This I ana warranted to say by the declaration of numbers of their officers, who afterwards fell into our hands. But in place of an immediate coup de main, the courtly D'Estang sent a flag, very politely inviting the town to do him the extreme honor of receiving their surrender. The B'itisb commander was not much behind- 60 THE LIFE OF hand with the count in the article of politeness, foi ne also returned a flag with his compliments, and requested to be permitted four and twenty hours to think of the matter. If the asking such a favor was extraordinary, what must the granting of it have been ? But the accom- plished D'Estang was fully equal to such douceurs for he actually allowed the enemy four and twenty hours to think of surrendering ! But instead of thinking, like simpletons, they fell to entrenching, like brave soldiers. And being joined that very day by colonel Maitland from Beaufort, with a regiment of Highlanders, and assisted by swarms of negroes, decoyed from their masters un- der promise of freedom, they pushed on their works with great rapidity. According to the report of our troops who were encamped nearest to them, nothing was heard all that night, but the huzzas of the sol- diers, the lashes of cow-hides, and the cries of ne- groes. I never beheld Marion in so great a passion. I was actually afraid he would have broke out on general Lincoln. " My God!" he exclaimed, " who ever heard of any thing like this before ! -first allow an enemy to entrench, and then fight him ! ! See the destruction brought upon the British at Bunker's Hill ! and yet out troops there were only militia! raw, half-armed clod- hoppers ! and not a mortar, nor carronade, nor even a swivel but only their ducking guns ! " What then are we to expect from regulars com- plctely armed with a choice train of artillery, and covered by a breast-work ! For my own part, when I look upon my brave fellows around me, it wrings me to the heart, to think how near most of them are to their bloody graves." In fact, Marion was so outrageous, as indeed were all of us, that we at length begged colonel Laurens to speak to the count D'Estang. GEN. FRANCIS MARION. (H And here I must beg the reader's pardon a mo- ment, while I inform him that this colonel Lauren* (son of President Laurens) was a very extraordinary young Carolinian. On atrip to London, he fell in love with, and mar- ried a celebrated belle of that city. It would seem hat he was very much taken with his English rela- ations, and they with him, for after his marriage, they would not suffer him to revisit his parents, who doated on him, being their only son, but detained him with them in London, as gay as a young man well could be, in the gayest city in the world, moving every day in the highest circles of society, and every night encircled in the fond arms of a beauteous wife. But soon as the war against America broke out, his gaiety all forsook him. The idea of a ruffian sol- diery overrunning his native land, preyed incessantly on his spirits, and threw him into those brown stu- dies which cost his lady full many a tear. Unable \o bear his disquietude, he fled at length from his wife and infant family, to fight for his country. He presented himself before the great Washington, who was so struck with the fire that beamed from his eyes, that he made him handsome offers of rank in the army. But his favorite service was to lead forlorn hopes, and the daring bands that are destined to carry the enemy's works by storm. Washington often gave him letters to this effect to his generals. And this was his object at Savannah, where a regi- ment of choice infantry was immediately put under his command. But instead of being permitted his favorite pleasure of seeing his ardent warriors mounting the enemy's works, and rushing down streams of fire, followed by the bayonet, he was doomed to fret and pine in the humble office of 'nterpreter between count D'Estang and general Lincoln. 52 THE LIFE OF " But. Monsieur le count," said Lk rens to D'Es- tang, " the American officers say they are afraid you have given the English too long time to think." At this, as Laurens toid as afterwards, the count put on a mjst comic stare, and breaking into a hearty laugh, replied, "DeEngleesh think! ha, ha, ha! By gar dat one ver good parole ! De Englesh tink, heh, Monsieur le colonel! By gar, de Engleesh never tink but for deir bellie. Give de Jack Engleshrnan plenty beef plenty pudding plenty porter, by gar he nevei tink any more, he lay down, he go a sleep like vun hog." " But, Monsieur le count," continued Laurens, " the English are doing worse for us than thinking. They are working away like horses, and will soon get their defences too high for us to scale." " Eh, heh, Monsieur le colonel ! you think-a so f Well den, by gar you no need for tink-a so by gar my French-a-inans run over de fence just like vun tief horse run over de cornfield fence mind now I tell-a you dat, Monsieur le colonel." " Well, but Monsieur le count, the British some- limes fight like the d 1." " Sacre Dieu !" replied the nettled count, starting and gaping as though he would have swallowed a young alligator " de Briteesh fight like de diable ! Jaun foutre de Briteesh ! when they been known for fight like de diable ? Ess, ess, dat true enough ; dey fight de Americans like de diable but by gar dey no fight de French-a-mans so no no, by gar dey no make one mouthful for my French-a-mans Morb'ieu ' my French-a-mans eat dem up like vun leetle ere- noulle." " Green Owl!" exclaimed one of general Lincoln's aids " Oh my God! who ever heard of a green owl oefore ?" Here Laurens, smiling at the officer's mistake, re- GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 63 plied, " not green owl, sir, but grenouille , grenouille, sir, is the French for frog." " Aye, sure enough, sure enoug? .* g, * continued the count, "frog ; grenouiKe is frog. By gar, Mon- sieur, le colonel, you be vun dam good interpret, I set dat well enough. Well den, now, Monsieur le colonel, you hear-a me speak my French-a-mans eat dem Jack Engleesh all same like vun leetle frog." " Oh to be sure ! no doubt of all that, Monsieur le count but before we eat them up, they may kill a great many of our soldiers." " Dey kill-a de soldier !" replied the passionate Count " well what den if dey do kill-a de soldier! Jaun foutre de soldier ! what dey good for but for be kill ? dat deir trade. You give-a vun poor dog sol- dier, two, three, four penny a day, he go fight he get kill. Well den, what dat ? By gar he only get what he hire for." " But pardon me, Monsieur le count, we ean't spare them." " Vat ! no spare de soldier ! de grand Monarque no spare de soldier ? mon Dieu ! Vy, Monsieur le colonel for why you talk-a so? Well den, hear-a me speak now, Monsieur le colonel you see de star in de sky ; de leaf on de tree ; de sand on de shore you no see all dat, heh ? Well den, by gar, Mon- sieur le colonel, de grand Manarque got soldier more an-a all dat ess, sacra Dieu! more an-a all dat, by gar" " Well but, Monsieur le count, is it not cruel to kill the poor fellows notwithstanding ?" "PooA/" replied the count, throwing back his head, and puffing out his cheeks as when A segar sucker explodes a cataract of smoke from the crater of his throat ; " cruel ! vat cruel for kill-a de sol- dier ! by gar, Monsieur le colonel, you make-a de king of France laugh he hear-a you talk after Jat /w"ong% Let-a me tell you, Monsier le colonel, de g4 THE LIFE OF Icing of France no like general Washington by gar general Washington talk wi' de soldier he shake hand wi' de soldier he give de soldier dram By gar, de grand Monarque no do so no, sacra Dieu he no look at de soldier. When de king of France ride out in de coach royale wid de supeerb horses, and harness shining so bright all vun like gold, if he run over one soldier, you tink he going stop for dat ? No, sacra foutre ! he ride on so, all one like if nothing at all been happen. Jaun foutre de soldier ! let him prenez garde for himself; by gar the grand Monarque no mind dat. De grand Monarque only tink of de soldier commes des chiens, like de poor dam dog for fight for him." Thus ended the dialogue between colonel Laurens and the count D'Estang. The next day, the memorable twenty-four hours being expired, a flag was sent into town to know the determination of the British officer, who very polite- ly replied, that having consulted his pillow, he had made up his mind to defend the place. A regular siege was then commenced, and continued for three weeks : at the end of which an attack was made, and with the success which Marion had all along pre- dicted. After a full hour's exposure to the destruc- tive rage of grape shot and musketry, we were obliged to make a precipitate retreat ; leaving the ground covered with the mingled carcasses of 400 Americans and 800 Frenchmen. Marion's corps fighting with their usual confidence, suffered great loss ; himself did not receive a scratch. Colonel Laurens raged like a wounded lion. Soon as the retreat was ordered he paused, and looking round on his fallen men, cried out, " Poor fellows, I envy yo\. then hurling his sword in wrath against the ground, he retired. Presently, after we had reached our er> campment, he came to mv marquee, and like on< greatly disordered, said, " Horry, my life is a bur- GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 65 deii to me ; I would to God I was lying on yonder held at rest with my poor men !" " No ! no ! none of that, colonel," said I, a none of that ; I trust we shall live to pay them yet for all this." And so it turned out. And though for humanity's sake, I ought not to boast of it, yet we did live to pay them for it, and often too : and in the same bloody coin which they gave us that day. And although in that fiery season of my days, and when my dear country was in danger, it was but natural for me to rejoice in the downfall of my enemies, yet I was often witness to scenes, which to this day I can never think of but with sorrow as when, for example, after dashing upon an enemy by surprise, and cutting one half of them to pieces and chasing the rest, we re- turned to collect the horses and arms of the slain. Who, I say, without grief could behold those sad sights which then offered themselves, of human be- ings lying mangled over the crimson ground some stone dead, some still alive and struggling, with brains oozing from their cloven skulls and others sitting up, or leaning on their elbows, but pale with loss of blood, running in streams from their mortal wounds, and they themselves looking down, the while, sadly thinking of home and of distant wives and children, whom they shall never see again. Such thoughts, if often cherished, would much abate the rancor of malice in the hearts of those whose sad destiny it is to kill one another ; especially if it were known how short sometimes are the tri- umphs of the victor. It was remarkably so in the pre sent case: for colonel Maitland, of the Highlanders, who had contributed a large part to this very unex- pected victory, was so elated by it, that he look tc hard drinking, and killed himself in a single week , and the sickly season coming on, the g >ater part gg THE I*FE OF :>f the garrisrn perished of the yellow or bilious fe-er ! ! Thus friends and foes ti-e same sad fortune snar'rt, And sickness swallowed whom the sword had spar'd. Many gallant men were the victims of count D'Es- tang's folly in this affair ; among the number was that impetuous Polander, the count Polaski. But none fell more universally lamented than the heroic Jasper. Every reader must wish to hear the last of this brave and generous soldier. And they shall have it faithfully, for I happened to be close by him when he received his death's wound ; and I was with him when he breathed his last. Early in the action, the elegant colors presented by Mrs. Elliot, had been planted on the enemy's works ; and the fury of the battle raged near the spot where they waved. During the whole of the bloody fray, Jasper had remained unhurt. But on heading the retreat sounded, he rushed up to bear oft his colors, and in that desperate act, was morully wounded. As he passed by me, with the colois in his hands, I observed he had a bad limp in his walk. " You are not much hurt, I hope, Jasper," said I " Yes, major," he replied, " I believe I have got my furlough." " Pshaw," quoth I, " furlough indeed, for what ?" " Why to go home," he answered, " to go to Hea- ven, I hope." " Pooh!" said I, and having, as the reader must suppose, a good deal to attend to, I turned off and left him. However, his words made such an impres- sion on me, that soon as duty permitted, I went to see him, and found too true what he had predicted : the ball had opened a blood vessel in the lungs which no art could stop, and he was bleeding to slow but certain death. As I entered the tert, he lifted his eyes to me, bul GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 67 their fire was almost quenched ; and stretching his feeble hand, he said, with perfect tranquillity, " Well, major, I told you I had got my furlough." "I hope not," I replied. " Oyes!" said he, "I am going and very fast too ; but, thank God, I am not afraid to go." I told him I knew he was too brave to fear death, and too honest to be alarmed about its consequences. " Why, as to that matter, sir," said he, " I won't brag : but I have my hopes, notwithstanding I may be wrong, for I know I am but a poor ignorant body, but somehow or other, I have always built my hopes of what God may do for me hereafter, on what he has done for me here !" I told him I thought he was very correct in that. " Do you, indeed ?" said he. " Well, I am mighty glad of that and now major, here's the way I always comfort myself: Fifty years ago, (I say to myself,) I was nothing, and had no thought that there was any such grand and beautiful world as this. But still there was such a world notwithstanding ; and here God has brought me into it. Now, can't he, in fifty years more, or indeed in fifty minutes more, bring me into another world, as much above this as this is above that state of nothing, wherein I was fifty years ago ?" I told him that this was, to my mind, a very happy way of reasoning ; and such, no doubt, as suited the greatness and goodness of God. " I think so, major," said he, " and I trust I shall find it so ; for though I've been a man of blood, yet, thank God, I've always lived with an eye to that great hope. My mother, major, was a good woman ; when I was but a child, and sat on her lap, she usod to talk to me of God, and tell how it was he who built this great world, with all its riches and good things : and not for himself, but for me ! and also, that if I would but do his will in that only acceptable way, a gy THE LIFE OF goud life, he would do still greater and better things for me hereafter. " Well, major, from the mouth of a dear mother, like her, these things went so deep into my heart, that they could never be taken away from me. I have hardly ever gone to bed, or got up again, with- out saying my prayers. I have honored my father and mother ; and, thank God, been strictly honest. And since you have known me, major, I believe you can bear witness, that though a strong man, I never was quarrelsome." I told him, nothing afforded me more satisfaction, thau to remember that, since he was now going to die, he had always led so good a life. He answered, with tears in his eyes, that he had a good hope he was going where he should not do what he had been obliged to do in this world. " I've killed men in my time, major, but not in malice, but in what I thought a just war in defence of my country. And as I bore no malice against those I killed, neither do I bear any against those who have Jcilled me. And I heartily trust in God for Christ's sake, that we shall yet, one day, meet together, where we shall forgive and love one another like brothers. I own, indeed, major, that had it so pleased God, I should have been glad to stay a little longer with you to fight for my country. But however, I humbly hope that my death is of God ; which makes it welcome to me, and so I bow me to his blessed will. And now, my good friend, as I feel I have but a little time to live, I beg you will do a few things for me when I am dead and gone." I could not speak : but gathering my answer from my tears, and the close press I gave his hand, he thus went on, but it was in a low voice and laborious. " You see that sword ? It is the one which go- vernor Ruthledge presented to me for my services at Fort Moultrie give that sword to my father, and GEN. FRANCIS MARION. ,9 tell him I never dishonored it. If he should weep for me, tell him his son died in hope of a better life. If you should see that great gentlewoman, Mrs. Elliot, tell her I lost my life in saving the colors she gave to our regiment. And if ever you should come across poor Jones and his wife, and little boy, tell them Jasper is gone ; but that the remembrance of the hard battle which he once fought for their sakes brought a secret joy to his heart just as it was about to stop its motion for ever." He spoke these last words in a livelier tone than usual, but it was like the last kindling of the taper in its oil-less socket for instantly the paleness of death overspread his face, and after a feeble effort to vomit, with convulsions, the natural effect of great loss of blood, he sunk back and expired. From this victim of D'Estang's madness, I went with a heavy heart on parade, to take a review of the sad remains of the battle. The call of the roll com- pleted the depression of my spirits. To every fourth or fifth name there was no answer the gloomy si- lence which ensued, told us where they were. About twelve o'clock we sent in a flag to the garrison for permission to bury our dead. Curiosity led me to accompany the party destined to this mournful duty. I had prepared myself for a sorrowful sight ; but ah ! what words can express what I then saw and suffered ! A scattered few lay here and there on the utmost verge of the field, killed by cannon shot, and so man- gled, that in some instances, it was hard to tell who they were. As we advanced, they lay thicker and thicker. Some, not quite dead, were constantly cry- ing, " Water ! water ! Oh ! for God's sake, a little water!" Others lay quite dead, but still their life- 'ess visages retained the dark frowns of war. There, on the side of the enemy's breast-work, lay the brave ensign Boushe, covering with his dead body, th 70 THE LIFE OF eery .spot where he had fixed the American standard His face was pale and cold as the earth he pressed, but still it spoke the fierce determined air of one whose last sentiment towards those degenerate Bri- tons was, " There d n you ! look at the stripes of liberty." Close by ensign Boushe, lay that elegant young man, Alexander Hume, Esq. with his sword still grasped in his stiffened fingers. My heart bled within me, when I looked on young Hume, where he lay in all the pale beauties of death. He was to have been married the week following, to a charming woman ; but such was his zeal to serve his country, that he came a volunteer to our camp, and met his death the next morning after he joined us. Gifted with a pretty taste for painting, he had tried his skill, and very successfully too, in sketching the likeness of his love- ly mistress. For on opening his bosom, was found, suspended by a blue ribband, (the happy lover's co- lor) a fine likeness of the beautiful Miss : the back of the portrait was stained with his blood ; but unconscious of her lover's fate, she still wore the en- chanting smile with which yielding beauty views the youth she loves. We then proceeded to bury our dead ; which was done by digging large pits, sufficient to contain about a hundred corpses. Then taking off their clothes, with heavy hearts, we threw them into the pits, with very little regard to order, and covered them over with earth. " Poor brothers, farewell ! the storm of your last battle has long ago ceased on the field, and no trace now remains on earth that you ever lived. The worms have devoured your flesh ; and the mounds raised over your dust, are sunk back to the common level with the plain. But ah ! could your mournfu. story be read, the youth of America would listen to the last words of Washington, and * study the art of GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 7J war,' that their countrymen might no more be mu" dered by military quacks. As a hint to American officers, I think it my duty to state the following fact : Our fatal attack on Sa- vannah was made very early in the morning. A few hours previous thereto, a council of war was held ; and while it was deliberating, a deserter and spy had the address to bear a musket, as sentinel at the door of the marquee! ! On hearing where the attack was to be made, he ran off in the dark, and gave such in- telligence to the enemy, as enabled them very com- pletely to defeat us. The fellow was afterwards taken at the battle of Hobkirk Hill, near Camden, and hung. Scarcely had we finished burying the dead, before the count D'Estang hurried on board his ships with his troops and artillery, while we, passing on in si lence by the way of Zubley's ferry, returned to Caro- lina, and pitched our tents at Sheldon, the country seat of general Bull. The theatre of war being, from this period, and for some time at least, removed to the northern states, the governor and council were pleased to re- duce the regiments, and dismiss the supernumerary officers. To some of my brethren in arms, this was matter of serious alarm. But for myself, possessing, thank God, a liberal fortune in the country, and feel ing no attraction to the camp, except when drawn thither by public danger, I was quite happy to hear of this new arrangement, and waited on his excel- lency to return my commission. Perhaps some may say it was pride in me, and that I did not like the idea of being unfrocked. Why, as to that matter, it is not for me to boast of my standing among my superiors in those days. But this I must needs say, that it is joy enough, and glory enough too, for me to know, that I was alwayi the tavorite of the great Marion ; and that he sel 72 THE LIFE Of dom ever asked the lightning of any other sword than mine, to lead his squadron to the charge. How- ever, the moment I heard, as above, that it was in agitation to reduce the regiments, I waited on the governor, and begged that, as there was nothing doing, he would allow me to return to my planta- tion. To my plantation / did return, and there con- tinued till spring, 1780, when Charleston was taken by the British ; at which time, and for some weeks before, I was grievously afflicted with the rheuma- tism. Thus by a providence, which, I confess, I did not at that time altogether like, I was kindly saved from being kidnapped by the enemy, and also intro- duced into afield of some little service, I hope, to my country, and of no great dishonor to myself. How- ever, be this as it may, the reader shall soon see, and then let him judge for himself. CHAPTER IX. Providential escape of Marion out of Charleston the Britisn fleet and army invest and take that place Tarleton and the British officers begin to let out young Scotch Macdonald comes upon the turf extraordinary anecdote of him plays a very curious trick on a rich old tory. How happy it is for man, that the author of his being loves him so much better than he loves him- self; and has established so close a connexion between his duty and his advantage. This delightful truth was remarkably exemplified in an event that befel Marion about this time, March, 1780. Dining with a squau ot choice whigs, in Charleston, in the house of Mr. Alexander M'Queen, Tradd street, he was sn GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 7| frequently pressed to bumpers of old wine, that ht found himself in a fair way" to get drunk. 'Twas in vain he attempted to beat a retreat. The company swore, that that would never do for general Marion. Finding, at last, that there was no other way of es- caping a debauch, but by leaping out of one of the windows of the dining-room, which was on the se- cond story, he bravely undertook it. It cost him, however, a broken ankle. When the story got about in Charleston, most people said he was a great fool for his pains ; but the event soon proved that Ma- rion was in the right, and that there is no policy like sticking to a man's duty. For, behold ! presently Charleston was invested by a large British army, and the American general (Lincoln) finding Marion was utterly unfit for duty, advised him to push off in a litter to his seat in St. John's parish. Thus providen- tially was Marion preserved to his country when Charleston fell, as it soon did, with all our troops. The spirits of the British were so raised by the capture of our metropolis with all the southern army, that they presently began to scour the neighboring country. And never victors, perhaps, had a country more completely in their power. Their troops were of the choicest kind ; excellently equipped, and com manded by active, ambitious young fellows, who looked on themselves as on the high road to fortune among the conquered rebels. They all carried with them pocket maps of South Carolina, on which they were constantly pouring like young spendthrifts on their fathers' last testaments. They would a' ,o ask: a world of questions, such as, " where lay the richest lands ? and the finest situations ? and who were the warmest old fellows, and had the finest girls ?' and when answered to their humor, they woulc. break out into hearty laughs ; and flourish theL words, and whoop and hole it away like young fox "winters, just striking on a fresh trail. 74 THE LIFE OF Some of them had Dr. Madan's famous book call ed " Thylipthora, or a Defence of Polygamy, 5 ' with which they were prodigiously taken, and talked very freely of reducing the system to practice. Cornwal Us, it seems, was to be a bashaw of three tails Raw- don and Tarleton, of two each and as a natural ap- pendage of such high rank, they were to have their seraglios and harams filled with the greatest beauties of the country. " Huzza, my brave fellows !" they would say to each other ; " one more campaign and the hash will be settled with the d d rebels, and then stand by the girls ! stand by the Miss Pinckneys ! and Elliots ! and Rutledges! and all your bright-eyed, soft bosom- ed, lovely dames, look sharp ! Egad ! your charms shall reward our valor ! like the grand Turk, we'll have regiments of our own raising! Charleston shall be our Constantinople ! and our Circassia, this sweet Carolina famed for beauties! Prepare the baths, the perfumes, and spices ! bring forth the violins and the rose buds ! and tap the old Madeira, that our souls may all be joy !" 'Twas in this way they would rant ; and then, brightened up to the pitch, they would look and grin on each other as sweetly as young foxes, who, prowl- ing round a farm yard, had suddenly heard the cack- ling of the rooster pullets. The reader shall present- ly see the violent and bloody course of these ruffians, who did such dishonor to the glorious island they came from. But before I begin my tragedy, I beg leave, Uj way of prologue, to entertain him a moment with a very cuiiousybrce that was acted on a wealthy old tory, near Monk's Corner, while colonel Tarleton with the British advance, lay there. The hero of the play was a remarkably stout, red- haired young Scotsman, named Macdonald, son of the Macdonald of famous defeat at Morris Creek Bridge North Carolina. Soon after the defeat of his father OEN. FRANCIS MARION 75 He came and joined our troops. Led by curiositv, 1 could not help, one day, asking him the reason : to which he made, in substance, the following reply. " Immediately on the misfortune of my father and his friends at the Great Bridge, I fell to thinking what could be the cause ; and then it struck me that it must have been owing to their own monstrous ingratitude. " Here now," said I to myself, " is a parcel of people, meaning ray poor father and his friends, who fled from the murderous swords of the English after the mas- sacre at Culloden. Well, they came to America, with hardly any thing but their poverty arid mournful looks. But among this friendly people that was enough. Every eye that saw us, had pity ; and every hand was reached out to assist. They received us in their houses as though we had been their own unfortunate brothers. They kindled high their hospitable fires for us, and spread their feasts, and bid us eat and drink and banish our sorrows, for that we were in a land of friends. And so indeed we found it ; for, whenever we told of the woeful battle of Culloden, and how the English gave no quarter to our unfortunate country- men, but butchered all they could overtake, these generous people often gave us their tears, and said, " ! that we had been there to aid with our rifles, then should many of these monsters have bit the ground." They received us into the bosoms of their peaceful forests, and gave us their lands and their beauteous daughters in marriage, and we became rich. And yet, after all, soon as the English came to America, to murder this innocent people, merely for refusing to be tlieir slaves, then my father and friends, forgetting all that the Americans had done for them, went and joined the British, to assist them to cut the throats of their best friends ! " Now" said I to myself, " if ever there was a time for God to stand up to punish ingratitude, this was the time." And God did stand up : for he enabled the 76 THE LJFE OF Americans to defeat ray fathr-r and his friends most completely. But, instead of murdering the prison- ers, as the English had done at Culloden, they treat- ed us with their usual generosity. And now these are, " the people I love and will fight for as long as I live," And so he did fight for us, and as undauntedly too as George Washington ever did. This was young Scotch Macdonald. Now the cu- rious trick which he played, is as follows. Soon as he heard that colonel Tarleton wa-s en- camped at Monk's Corner, he went the next morning to a wealthy old tory of that neighborhood, and passing himself for a sergeant of Colonel Tarleton's corps, presented that officer's compliments, adding that colonel Tarleton was just come to drive the re- bels out of the country, and knowing him to be a good friend of the king, begged he would send him one of his best horses for a charger, and that he should be no loser by it. " Send him one of my finest horses !" cried the old rraitor, with eyes sparkling with joy ; " Yes, Mr. Ser- geant, that I will, by gad ! and would send him one of my finest daughters too, had he but said the word. A good friend of the king, did he call me, Mr. Ser- geant? yes, God save his sacred majesty, a good friend I am indeed, and a true. And, faith! I am ghd too, Mr. Sergeant, that colonel knows it. Send '.iim a charger to drive the rebels, heh ? Yes, egad will I send him one, and as proper a one too, as ever a soldier straddled. Dick ! Dick ! I say you Dick !" " Here, massa, here! here Dick!" " Oh, you plaguy dog ! so I must always split my throat with bawling, before I can get you to answer heh ?" " High, massa ! snre Dick always answer when he hear massa hallo!" * v ^n do, you villain, do you ? Well then, run ! rt*, you rascal, fly to the stable, and bring me GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 77 out Selim, ray young Selim ! do you hear? you vil- lain, do you hear?" 11 Yes, massa, be sure!" Then turning to Macdonald, he went on : " Well, Mr. Sergeant, you have made me confounded glad this morning, you may depend. And now suppose you take a glass of peach ; of good old peach, Mr. Sergeant ? do you think it would do you any harm ?" " Why, they say it is good of a rainy morning, sir," replied Macdonald. " yes, famous of a rainy morning, Mr. Sergeant ! a mighty antifogmatic. It prevents you the ague, Mr. Sergeant ; and clears a man's throat of the cob- webs, sir." " God bless your honor!" said Macdonald, as he turned off a bumper of the high-beaded cordial. But scarcely had he smacked his lips, before Dick paraded Selim ; a proud, full-blooded, stately steed, that stepped as though he disdained the earth he walked upon. Here the old fellow brightening up, broke out again : " Aye ! there, Mr. Sergeant, there is a horse for you ! isn't he, my boy ?" " Faith, a noble animal, sir," replied Macdonald. " Yes, egad ! a noble animal indeed ! a charger for a king, Mr. Sergeant ! Well, my compliments to colonel Tarleton : tell him I've sent him a horse, my young Selim, my grand Turk, do yo i hear, my son of thunder ? And say to the colonel that I don't grudge him neither, for egad ! he's too noble for me, Mr. Sergeant. I've no work that's fit for him, sir ; no! damme, sir, if there's any work in all this coun- try that's good enough for him, but just that which he is now going on ; the driving the d d rebels out of tie land." And in order to send Selirn off in high style, he ordered Dick to bring down his elegant new saddle and holsters, with his silver-mounted pistols. Theu 78 THE LIFE OF giving Macdonald a hot breakfast, and lending him his great coat, as it was raining, he let him go, with a promise that he would come next morning an. I see how colonel Tarleton liked young Selim. Accordingly next morning he waited on colonel Tarleton, and told his name, with the smiling coun- tenance of one who expeeted to be eaten up with fondness. But alas! to his infinite mortification, Tarleton heard his name without the least change of feature. After recovering a little from his embarrassment, he asked colonel Tarleton how he liked his charger. " Charger, sir !" replied Tarleton. " Yes, sir, the elegant horse I sent you yesterday." " The elegant horse you sent me, sir !" " Yes, si: and by your sergeant, sir, as he called himself." " An elegant horse ! and by my sergeant! Why really, sir, I-I-I don't understand all this!" The looks and voice of colonel Tarleton too sadly convinced the old traitor that he had been bit ; and that young Selim was gone ! then trembling and pale, cried out, " Why, my dear good sir, did you not send a sergeant yesterday with your compliments to me, and a request that I would send you my very best horse for a charger, which I did ?" " No, sir, never !"*' replied Tarleton : " I never sent a sergeant on any such errand. Nor till this moment did I ever know that there existed on earth such a being as you." To have been outwitted in this manner by a rebel sergeant to have lost his peach brandy his hot breakfast his great coat his new saddle his silver mounted pistols and worse than all, his darling horse, his young, full-blooded, bounding Selim all these keen reflections, like so many forked lightnings, falling at once on the train and tinder of his passions, blew thera up to such a diabolical rage that the old sin GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 79 ner had like to have been suffocated on the spot. He turned black in the face ; he shook throughout ; and as soon as he could recover breath and power of speech, he broke out into a torrent of curses, enough to raise the hair on any Christian man's head. Nor was colonel Tarleton much behind him, when he came to learn what a noble horse had slipped through his hands. And a noble horse he was in- deed ! Full sixteen hands high; the eye of a hawk , the spirit of the king eagle ; a chest like a lion ; swifter thah a roebuck, and strong as a buffalo. I asked Macdonald, how he could reconcile it to himself to take the old poltroon's horse in that way ? " Why, sir,'' replied he, " as to that matter, people will think differently ; but for my part I hold that all is fair in war : and, besides, sir, if I had not taken him colonel Tarleton, no doubt, would have got him. And then, with such a swift strong charger as this, he might do us as much harm as I hope to do to them." And he did do them harm with a vengeance ; for he had no more sense of fear than a hungry tiger. And, as to his strength, it was such, that with one of Potter's blades he would make no more to drive through cap and skull of a British dragoon, than a boy would, with a case-knife, to chip off the head of a carrot. And then, he always kept Selim up so lust- ily to the top of his metal. He was so fond of him, that I verily believe he would at any time have sold the shirt off his back to get corn for him. And truly Selim was not much his debtor ; for, at the first flash find glimpse of a red coat, he would paw and champ his iron bit with rage ; and the moment he'heard the word ""0," off he was among them like a thunder- bolt. And to see how Macdonald would charge, you would swear the fear of death was never before his eyes. Whether it was one or ten against him, it made 80 THL UFE OF no odds to this gallant Scotsman. He never stopped to count noses, but would dash in upon the thickest of them, and fall to hewing and cutting down like a very fury incarnate. Poor Macdonald ! the arm of his strength is now in dust ; and his large red cheeks have, long ago been food for worms : but never shall I forget when first I saw him fight. 'Twas in the days when the British held Georgetown ; and Marion had said to me, " Go and reconnoitre." I took only Macdonald with me. Before day we reached our place of con- cealment, a thick clump of pines near the road, and in full view of the enemy's lines. Soon as the bonny grey-eyed morning began to peep, we heard the town all alive, as it were, with drums and fifes ; and about sunrise, beheld five dragoons turn out, and with prancing steeds dash up the road towards us. I turned my eye on Macdonald, and saw his face all kindled up with the joy of battle. It was like that terrible joy which flashes from the ves of an ambushed lion, when he beholds the coming forth of the buffaloes towards his gloomy cave. " Zounds, Macdonald," said I, " here's an odds against us, five to two." " By my soul now captain," he replied, " and let 'em come on. Three are welcome to the s\vord of Macdonald." Soon as they were come fairly opposite to us, we gave them a blast from our bugles, and with drawn sabres broke in upon them like a tornado. Their panic was complete ; two we stopped, over- thrown and weltering in the road. The remaining three wheeled about, and taking to their heels, went off as if old Nick had been bringing up the rear. Then you might have heard the roar, and seen the dust, which dragoons can raise, when, with whip and spur and wildly rolling eyes, they bend forward from the pursuit of death. My charger being but a heavy brute, was soon distanced. But they could not dis- tance the swift-footed Selim. Rapid as the deadly GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 81 blast of the desert, he pursued their dusty course, stil gathering upon them at every jump. And before they could reach the town, though so near, he brought his furious rider alongside of two of them, whom he cut down. One hundred yards further, and the third also would have been slain ; for Macdonald, with hia crimson claymore, was within a few steps of him, when the guns of the fort compelled him to retire. However, though quickly pursued by the enemy, he had the address to bring off an elegant horse of one of the dragoons whom he had killed. CHAPTER X. The abomination and desolation set up in South Carolina tne author, with sorrowful heart, quits his native land, and fliea to the north in quest of warlike friends fortunate rencontre with his gallant friend colonel Marion curious adventures. AFTER the capture of Charleston, with all our troops, the British, as aforesaid, began to spread them- selves over the country. Then was exhibited a spec tacle, which for sadness and alarm, ought never to be forgotten by the people of America. I mean how easy a thing it is for a small body of soldiers to overrun a populous and powerful country. The British did not, after Sir Henry Clinton's return to New York, exceed three thousand men ; and South Carolina alone, at the lowest computation, must have contained fifty thou- sand ! and yet this host of poor honest men were made to tremble before that handful of ruffians, as a flock of sheep before the wolf, or a household of little children before a dark frowning pedagogue. The reason ia immensely plain. The British were all embodied and firo. a? a rock of granite ; the Carolinians wer' scat- 8 g2 THE LIFE OF tered o\er the country loose as a rope of sand . the British all well armed and disciplined, moved in dreadful harmony, giving their fire li'ke a volcano : the Carolinians, with no other than birding pieces, and strangers to the art of war, were comparatively feeble, as a forest of glow-worms : the British, though but units in number, were so artfully arranged that they told for myriads ; while, for lack of unity, the Carolinians, though numerous as myriads, passed only for ciphers. In short, the British were a handful of hawks ; the poor Carolinians a swarm of rice-birds, and rather than be plucked to the pin feather, or pick- ed to the bone, they and their little ones, they were fain to flatter those furious falcons, and oft times to chirp and sing when they were much in the humor to hate and curse. Oh ! blind indeed, and doubly blind is that people, and well worthy of iron yokes, who, enjoying all the sweets of liberty, in a land of milk and honey, can expose to foreign Philistines, that blessed Canaan, un- guarded by Military science. Surely those who thus throw " their pearl before swine," richly deserve that the beast should turn again and trample them, and their treasures too, into the mire. Yes, and had it not been for a better watch than our own, at this day, like the wretched Irish, we should have been trampled into the mire of slavery ; groaning under heavy bur- dens to enrich our task-masters ; and doomed on every fruitless attempt at freedom, to fatten the buzzards with our gibbeted carcasses. For lack of this habitual military preparation on our part, in a few days after the fall of Charleston, Col. Tarleton, with only one hundred and fifty horse, galloped up to Georgetown, through the most popu- 'ous part of the state, with as much hauteur as an overseer and his boys would gallop through a negro plantation ! To me this was the signal for clearing out. Accordingly, though still in much pain from the rheu- GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 83 matisin, I mounted ray horse, and with sword ana pistol by my side, set out for the northward, in quest of friendly powers to aid our fallen cause. In passing through Georgetown, I saw a distant group of peo- ple, to whom I rode up, and with great civility, as 1 thought, asked the news. To which a young fellow very scornfully replied, that " Colonel Tarleton was coming, and that the country, thank God, would soon be cleared of the continental colonels." I was within an ace of drawing a pistol and shoot- ing the young slave dead upon the spot. But God was pleased to give me patience to bear up under that hea- vy cross ; for which I have since very heartily thank- ed him a thousand times and more. And indeed, on thinking over the matter, it has often struck me, that the man who could speak in that way to one who had on, as he saw, the American uniform, must be a sa- vage, and therefore not an object of anger, but of pity. But though my anger was soon over, nothing could cure the melancholy into which this affair threw me. To see my native country thus prostrate under fo- reign usurpers, the generality quite disheartened, and the few, who dared to take her part, thus publicly in- sulted, was a shock I was not prepared for, and which, therefore, sunk my spirits to the lowest ebb of despon- dence. Such was the frame of mind wherein I left my native stt ;, and set out, sick and alone, for the northward, with scarce a hope of every seeing better days. About the middle of the second day, as I beat my solitary road, slowly winding through the silent, gloomy woods of North Carolina, I discovered, just before me, a stranger and his servant. Instantly my fteart sprang afresh for the pleasures of society, and quickening my pace, I soon overtook the gentleman, when lo ! who should it be but the man first of all in my wishes, though the last in my expectations; who, [ say, should it be but Marion! Our mutual surprise vas great " Good heavens !" we both exclaimed in *J 4 THE LIFE OF the same moment, " Is that colonel Marion ?" " It that Horry ?" After the first transports of that joy, which those who have been long absent from dear friends, can better conceive than I describe, we be- gan to inquire into each other's destinations, which was found to be the same ; both flying to the north for troops to fight the British. We had not rode far when Marion, after looking up to the sun, who was now past his half-way house, came suddenly to a halt, and said, " Well, come Horry, I feel both peckish and weary, and here is a fine shade, so let us go down and rest, and refresh ourselves awhile." Whereupon I dismounted ; and with the help of his servant, for his ancle was yet very crazy, got him down too. Then, sitting side by side, on the trunk of a fallen pine, we talked over the mournful state of our country ; and came at last, as we had always done, to this solemn conclusion, that we would stand by her like true children, and either conquer or die with her. After this, a piece of dried beef was paraded, from Marion's saddle-bags, with a loaf of Indian bread and a bottle of brandy. The wealthy reader may smile at this bill of fare ; but to me it was a feast indeed. For joy, like a cordial, had so raised my spirits, and re- invigorated my system, that I fed like a thresher. I shall never forget an expression which Marion let fall during our repast, and which, as things have turned out, clearly shows what an intimate acquaint- ance he had with human nature. I happened .o say that I was afraid " our happy days were all gone." " Pshaw, Horry," he replied, " don't give way to such idle fears. Our happy days are not all gone. On the contrary, the victory is still sure. The nemy, it is true, have all the trumps in their hands, and if they had but spirit to play a generous game, would certainly ruin us. But they have no idea of that game ; b it will treat the people cruelly. And tha one thing will ruin them, and save America." GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 85 " I pray God," said I, " it may be so." " Well, don't be afraid," replied he, " you mil as- mredly see i7." Having despatched our simple dinner, we mounted again and pursued our journey, but with feelings so different from what I had before this meeting, as made me more sensible than ever what a divine thing friend- ship is. And well indeed it was for us that our hearts were so rich in friendship, for our pockets were as bare of gold and silver as if there were no such metals on earth. Arid but for carrying a knife, or a horse- fleam, or a gun-flint, we had no more use for a pocket than a Highlander has for a knee-buckle. As to hard money, we had not seen a dollar for years ; and of old continental, bad as it was, we had received but little, and that little was gone away like a flash ; as the rea- der may well suppose, when he comes to learn, that a bottle of rum would sweep fifty dollars. And so here were two continental colonels of us, just started on a journey of several hundred miles, without a cent in pocket ! But though poor in gold, we were rich in faith. Burning patriots ourselves, we had counted on it as a certainty, that every body we met, out of reach of the British, were as fiery as we, and that the first sight of our uniforms would com- mand smiling countenances, and hot suppers, and downy beds, and mint slings ; and in short, everything that our hearts could wish. But, alas and alack the mistake ! For instead of being smiled on every where along the road as the champions of liberty, we were often grinned at as if we had been horse thieves. In place of being hailed with benedictions, we were fre- quently in danger from the brick bats ; and in lieu of hot dinners and suppers, we were actually on the point of starving, both we and our horses ! For in conse- quence of candidly telling the publicans that, " we had nothing to pay," they as candidly declared, " they had nothing to give" and that "those that had 10 mone% 8* 8 86 THE LIFE OF had no business to travel." At length we came to the resolution to say nothing about our poverty, but, aftei getting such things as we wanted, to give our due bills. In this we felt ourselves perfectly warranted ; for we had, both of us, thank God, very sufficient estates ; and besides, turning out, as we did, to fight for our country, we thought we had, even by sacred precept, a very fair claim on that country for a little food. I remember, one evening, after dark, we reached a tavern, the owner of which at first seemed very fond of accommodating us. But as soon as a lighted wood torch had given him a glimpse of our regimentals, the rogue began to hem and ha, to tell us of a mighty Jine tavern about five miles further on. We begged him to recollect that it was night, and also very rainy, and as dark as pitch. " Oh!" quoth he, " the road is mighty plain ; you can't miss your way" " But consider, sir, we are strangers." " Oh ! I never liked strangers in all my life." " But, sir, we are your countrymen, American offi- cers, going to the north for men to fight your battles." "Oh! I wants nobody to fight my battles ; king George is good enough for me." " But, sir, we have travelled all day long without a mouthful for ourselves or horses." To this also the brute was preparing some fit an swer, when his wife, who appeared to be a very gen teel woman, with a couple of charming girls, hei daughters, ran out and declared that " take us in he could, and should, that he should ; and that he might as well consent at first, for they would not be said nay." Even against all this, he stood out for some time ; till at length his wife reminded him, that though the British were carrying every thing before them in South Carolina, yet that Washington was still in the field, and the issue of the war unknown ; and that at anv rate it was good to have a friend at court. Page 8fl. The Autho* and Marion expostulating with th* Innkeeper GEN. FRANCIS MARION. y- On this he came to a pause ; and at length reluc- tantly drawled out, " Well I suppose you must come in." I hive related this story, partly to show what a sa- vage man would be without that softening, polishing friend, a good wife. Observing that we were wet and cold, this amiable woman and her daughters soon had kindled up for us a fine sparkling fire, to which their own sweetly smiling looks gave tenfold cheerfulness and comfort. And while the husband went poking about the house, si- lent and surly as an ill-natured slave, the ladies dis- played towards us the most endearing attentions. The mother brought out from her closet a bottle of nice family cordial, to warm and cheer us ; while the girls presented basins of water and towels, that we might wash and refresh ourselves after our fatigue. And all these seasonable hospitalities they did, not with that ungracious silence and reserve, which so often depress the traveller's spirits, but with the charming alacrity of daughters or sisters, so sweetening every thing with smiles and sprightly chat as almost made us feel ourselves at home. As with deep struck thought, I compared our pre- sent happy condition with that a few minutes before, benighted, wet and weary, I could not help exclaim- ing, " my God ! what pity it is that among so many labors which poor mortals take under the sun, they do not labor more for that which alone deserves their care. I mean that love, which at once diffuses and enjoys all the happiness both of earth and heaven." At supper, the poor creature of a husband strove very hard to draw Marion into a dispute, about what ne was pleased to call our " REBELLION." I expect- ed to have heard him lashed very severely for such nrutality ; for few men ever excelled Marion in the f etort abrupt. But every time the subject was intro- duced, he contrived very handsomely to waive it, by 58 THE LIFE OF some prelty turn to the ladies, which happily relieved their terrors, and gave a fresh spring to general and sprightly conversation. As our excellent hostess and her fair daughters were about to retire, we bade them good night, and also adieu, telling them that we meant to ride very early in the morning. To this they stoutly objected . urging that, from our fatigue and fasting, we ought to pass a day or two with them, and refresh ourselves. But if we could not do this, we must at any rate stay and give them the pleasure of our company at break fast. When we retired to our chamber, I asked Marion why he had not given that brute, our landlord, a proper set down. " I am surprised at you, Horry," he replied ; " when you see that your fellow man is wretched, can't you give him quarter 1 You must have observed, ever since we darkened his door, that with spleen and tory- ism, this poor gentleman is in the condition of him in the parable, who was possessed of seven devils. Since we have not the power to cast them out, let us not torment him before his time. Besides, this excellent woman his wife ; these charming girls his daughters. They love him, no doubt, and therefore, to us, at least, he ought to be sacred, because surrounded by their affections." The next morning while breakfast was preparing, the churl renewed his hostilities, by telling us, with a malignant pleasure in his face, that he and his neighbors were making ready to go to South Caro- lina for negroes. " For negroes !" replied Marion ; " pray sir, what do you mean by that ?" " Why, sir," returned he, " South Carolina is now all one as conquered by the British, and why may we not go and pick up what negroes we can? They would help me in my corn-field yonder."" GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 89 Marion asked him whether, if he were to find hit negroes, he would think it right to take them ? "To be sure I would," answered he. " You greai men who choose to fight against your king, are ah now running away. And why may I not go and catch your negroes as well as any body else ?" " My God !" replied Marion, with a deep sigh, " what will this world come to ?" and turned the conversation. Soon as breakfast was over, we took leave of this most unequally yoked couple and their lovely daugh- ters, and continued our journey. We had not got far from the house when Marion's servant rode up, and, with a very smirking face, told his master that he be- lieved the gentlewoman where we stayed last night must be a monstrous fine lady ! Marion asked him why he thought so. " Why, sir," replied he, " she not only made me almost burst myself with eating and drinking, and all of the very best, but she has gone and filled my portmanteau too, filled it up chock full, sir ! A fine ham of bacon, sir, and a pair of toasted fowls, with two bottles of brandy, and a mat- ter of a peck of biscuit." " God bless the dear lady !" we both exclaimed at the same moment. And I trust God did bless her. For indeed to us she was a kind angel, who not only refreshed our bodies, but still more, feasted our souls. And though eight and twenty long years have rolled away since that time, I can still see that angel smile which brightened on her face towards us, and the memory of which springs a joy in my heart be- yond what the memory of his money bags ever gave to the miser. On the evening of the same day that we left this charming family, (I mean the fairer part of it) we reached the house of colonel Thatcher, one of the no- blest whig? in North Carolina. His eyes seemed as 4iough thev would never tire in gazing on our regi 90 THE LIFE OF mentals. We soon gave him the history of our tra vels through his native state, and of the very uncivil manner in which his countrymen had treated us. He smiled, and bid us be thankful, for that it was en- tirely of God's mercy that we had come off" so well. "Those people," continued he, "are mere Hotten- tots ; a set of unenlightened miserable tories, who know nothing of the grounds of the war ; nothing of the rights and blessings we are contending for ; nor of the corruptions and cruelties of the British minis- try ; and are therefore just as ready to fall into their destructive jaws, as young cat-birds are to run into the mouth of a rattle-snake." CHAPTER XI. Glorious news a brave army of continentals coming up Ma- rion and the author hasten to meet them at Roanoke fortu- nately get introduced to the baron de Kalb polite reception by that amiable officer curious and interesting conversation. AFTER spending two days of very welcome re- pose with the elegant colonel Thatcher, we took leave and set out for Hillsborough, where we met general Huger and colonel W. White, of the horse, who told us the glorious news, that " Washington had sent on a gallant detachment of continentals, who were now in full march to aid South Carolina." Our hearts leaped for joy at the news. So great was our impatience to see what our hearts had so long and so fondly dwelt on, an army of friends, that we could not wait until they came up, but hurried off in- stantly to meet them at Roanoke, where it was said they were crossing. On reaching the river, we found that they had all got over, and had just formed their line of march. Oh ! now lovely is the sight of friend* in the day of our danger! We have had many mih- GEN. BRANCIS MARION. 91 tary corps, but none had ever interested as like this, In shining regimentals and glittering arras, they moved before the eye of the glowing fancy like a host of heroes. Thrice happy for man, that a veil, dark as the grave, is thrown over future events ! For how could we, who had seen one fine army butchered at Savannah, and another captured at Charleston, have borne up under the dreadful prospect of having this gallant armament also destroyed in a few days! Soon as our first paroxysm of joy had a little sub sided, we moved toward head quarters, where we had the good fortune to fall in with our old friend Col. Semp, who appeared overjoyed to see us, and imme- diately offered to introduce us to the general. His ex- cellency Horatio Gates was the commander in chief, but as he had not yet arrived, the command rested on that brave old German general, the baron de Kalb. It was to this officer that colonel Semp introduced us, and, as was usual with him, in very flattering terms ; styling us " continental colonels, and two of the wealthiest and most distinguished patriots of South Carolina!" I shall never forget what I felt when introduced to this gentleman. He appeared to be rather elderly. But though the snow of winter was on his locks, his cheeks were still reddened over with the bloom of spring. His person was large and manly, above the common size, with great nerve and activity ; while his fine blue eyes expressed the mild radiance of in- telligence and goodness. He received us very politely, saying he was glad to see us, "especially as we were the first Carolinians that he had seen ; which had not a little surprised him." Observing, I suppose, that we labored under ra- ther too much of our national weakness, I mean mo- desty, he kindly redoubled his attentions to us, and oon succeeded in curing u<= of our reserve. 9 92 TFIE LIFE UK *' I thought," said he, " that British tyranny would have sent great numbers of the South Carolinians to join our arms. But, so far from it, they are all, as we have been told, running to take British protec- tions. Surely they are not tired already of fighting for liberty." We told him the reason was very plain to us, who were inhabitants of that country, and knew very well the state of things there. " Aye," replied he, " well, what can the reason be ?" "Why, sir," answered Marion, "the people of Carolina form but two classes, the rich and the poor. The poor are generally very poor, because, not being necessary to the rich, who have slaves to do all their work, they get no employment from them. Being thus unsupported by the rich, they continue poor and low spirited. They seldom get money ; and indeed, what little they do get, is laid out in brandy to raise their spirits, and not on books and newspapers to get information. Hence they know nothing of the com- parative blessings of their own country, nor of the great dangers which threaten it, and therefore care nothing about it. As to the other class, the rich, they are generally very rich, and consequently afraid to stir, unless a fair chance offer, lest the British should burn their houses and furniture, and carry off their negroes and stock. But permit me to assure you, sir, that though thus kept under by fear, they still mortally hate the British, and will, I am confi- dent, the moment they see an army of friends at their door, fly to their standard, like a generous pack to the sound of the horn that calls them to the chase of a hated wolf." The baron de Kalb smiled, and said he hoped it would be found so. " No doubt of it at all sir," replied Marion. The baron then invited us to dine with him, but OEN. FRANCIS MARION. 9? added, smiling, that he hoped we had good military stomachs that could relish and digest plain fare, which was all he could promise us, and perhaps hardly enough of that. On sitting down to table, we found that his predic- tion about the bill of fare, was most unwelcomelji true. Our dinner was just half a side of a miserably poor hog, as miserably cooked ; and in such small quantity, that before we were done there was nothing of it left but a rasher, for good manners' 1 sake. And as to bread) there was not even a hoe-cake ! It is true, that, by way of substitute, we had a trencher or two of sweet potatoes paraded. Our drink was admirably suited to the dinner ; apple brandy with river water. God forbid that I should be unmindful of his fa- vors ! For well do I know that the least of them is much better than the best of us deserve. On the con- trary, I mention it rather as a compliment to his heavenly bounty, which is wont to spread our tables with so many dainties, as to cause even roast pigs and sweet potatoes to pass for a sorry meal. Soon as dinner was over, all of us who could pa- rade a segar or a pipe, began to comfort our olfacto- ries with a puff, not forgetting our brandy the while, so that by the time we had got well entrenched in clouds of fragrant kite-foot, we were in admirable cue for a dish of chat. De Kalb led the vay ; and, as nearly as I can recollect, in the following words. " Colonel Marion," said he, pressing the tobacco m his pipe at the same time, " can you answer me one question ?" ' Most gladly, general, and a thousand if I can !" ' Thank you, colonel, but one will do." ' Be pleased then, sir, to say on." * Well, colonel, can you tell me how old I am t" * That's a tough question, general." * Tough, co'onel ! pray how do you make that out ?" " Why, sir, there is a strange January and May sort 94 THE LIFE OF of contrast between your locks and your looks that quite confuses me. By your locks you seem to be in the winter, by your looks in the summer of your days." " Well but, colonel, striking the balance between the two, whereabouts do you take me to be ?" " Why, sir, in the spring and prime of life ; about forty." " Good heavens,/orfy/" ' Yes, sir, that's the mark ; there or thereabouts." "What! no more?" " No, sir, not a day more ; not an hour." "Upon honor?" " Yes, sir, upon honor ; upon a soldier's honor." " Ha !ha ! ha ! Well, colonel, I would not for a thousand guineas that your riflemen shot as wide off the mark as you guess. The British would not dread them as they do. Forty years old, indeed ! why what will you say, colonel, when I tell you that I have been two and forty years a soldier." Here we all exclaimed, " Impossible, general ! im- possible." " I ask your pardon, gentlemen," replied he, " it is not at all impossible, but very certain. Very cer- tain that I have been two and forty years a soldier in the service of the king of France !" "O wonderful! two and forty years! Well then, at that rate, and pray how old, general, may you take yourself to be ?" " Why, gentlemen," replied he, " man and boy, I am now about sixty-three." " Good heaven ! sixty-three! and yet such bloom, such flesh and blood !' J " If you are so surprised, gentlemen, at my looks at sixty-three, what would you have thought had you seen ay father at eighty-seven." " Your father, general ! he cannot be alive yet, Bure." "Alive ! yes, thank Jod, and alive like to be. J GEN. FRANCIS MARION fcfi hope, for many a good year to come yet. Now, gen- tlemen, let me tell you a little story of my father. The very Christmas before I sailed for America, I went to see him. It was three hundred miles, at least, from Paris. On arriving at the house I found my dear old mother at her wheel, in her eighty-third year, mind gentlemen ! ! spinning very gaily, while one of her great granddaughters carded the wool and sung a hymn for her. Soon as the first transport of meeting was over, I eagerly asked for my father. ' Do not be uneasy, my son,' said she, ' your father is only gone to the woods with his three little great grand- children, to cut some fuel for the fire, and they will all be here presently, I'll be bound !' And so it proved ; for in a very short time I heard them coming along. My father was the foremost, with his axe under his arm, and a stout billet on his shoulder ; and the children, each with his little load, staggering along, and prattling to my father with all their might. Be assured, gentlemen, that this was a most delicious moment to me. Thus after a long absence, to meet a beloved father, not only alive, but in health and dear domestic happiness above the lot of kings : also to see the two extremes of human life, youth and age, thus sweetly meeting and mingling in that cordial love, which turns the cottage into a paradise." In telling this little story of his aged father and his young relatives, the general's fine countenance caught an animation which perfectly charmed us all. The eyes of Marion sparkled with pleasure. " Ge- neral," said he, " the picture which you have given us of your father, and his little great grandchildren, though short, is extremely interesting and delightful. It confirms me in an opinion which I have long en- tertained, which is, that there is more happiness in low life than in high life ; in a cottage than in a castle Pray give us, general, your opinion of that matter." " Why," replied De Kalb, 4 this opinion of yours, gg THE LIFE OF colonel, is not a novel one by any means. It was the opinion of Rousseau, Fenelon, and of many other great men, and elegant writers. But notwithstanding such high authority, I must still beg leave to be a dissenter. I have seen so many people happy and also unhappy, both in cottages and castles, that I cannot but con- clude, that happiness does not belong, peculiarly, to either condition, but depends on something very dif- ferent from, and infinitely superior to both." We eagerly asked what he alluded to. " Why, gentfemen," replied he, "since you have been so polfte as to ask my opinion, I will as frankly give it, though I am afraid it will seem very odd, es- pecially coming from a soldier. However, be that as it may, my opinion you have asked, and my opinion you shall have ; which is, that religion is the only thing to make a man happy in cottages or courts." The young officers began to stare. Gathering from their looks, that some of the com- pany did not relish this kind of philosophy, he quick ly thus resumed his speech. " Pardon ! gentlemen, I beg pardon ! I must not be misunderstood. By religion, I don't mean priest craft. I don't mean that superstitious grimace ; that rolling up of white eyes, and spreading of sanctified palms ; with ' disfigured faces and long prayers,' and all the rest of that holy trumpery, which, so far from making people cheerful, tends but to throw them into the dLmps. But I mean, by religion, that divine ef- fort of the soul, which rises and embraces the great author of its being with filial ardor, and walks and converses with him, as a dutiful child with his revered father. Now gentlemen, I would ask, all prejudice apart, what is there can so exalt the mind and gladden the heart, as this high friendship with heavsn, and those immortal hopes that spring from religion ?" Here one of the compauy, half blushing, as palpa- bly couvicted by the truth of the general's argument GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 97 smartly cabled out " Well but, general, don't you think we can do pretty well here in camp, without religion ?" " What !" replied De Kalb, " would you give it all up to the priests?" "Yes, to be sure I would," said the young officer, " for I am for every man's following his own trade, general. They are priests, and we are soldiers. So let them do all the praying, and we will do all the fighting" " Why, as to the fighting part," rejoined De Kalb, " I have no objection to doing all that for the priests, especially as their profession does not allow them to fight for themselves. But as to giving them up all the devotion, I confess I am not so liberal. No ! no ! gentlemen, charity begins at home : and I am not for parting with pleasure so easily." " PLEASURE !" replied the young officer with a sneer. " Yes, sir, pleasure" returned De Kalb. "Accord- ing to my creed, sir, piety and pleasure are synony- mous terms ; and I should just as sood think of living physically, without bread, as of living pleasantly, without religion. For what is religion, as I said be- fore, but HABITUAL FRIENDSHIP WITH GoD ? And what can the heart conceive so delightful ? Or what can so gratify it in all its best and strongest desires. For example, gentlemen, we are all fond of honor. I, for my part, am fond of the friendship of the king of France. You glory in the friendship of the great Washington. Then what must be the glory of him who is in friendship with God ? Again, gentlemen, we are all born to love, to admire, to adore. If a man have no love, he is gloomy. If he love a worth- less object, he is mortified. But if he love a truly worthy object, his face shines, his eyes sparkle, his voice becomes sweet, and his whole air expressive of cheerfulness. And as this happy feeling must, in thl 98 THE LIFE OF nature of things, keep pace with the excellence of the object that is beloved, then what must be the cheerful- ness of him who loves the greatest, best, and loveliest of all beings, whose eternal perfections and goodness can for ever make him happier than heart can ask or think ? " In a word, gentlemen, though I am a toldier, and soldiers you know are seldom enthusiasts in this way, yet I verily believe, as I said before, that a man of enlightened and fervent piety must be infinitely hap- pier in a cottage, than an irreligious emperor in his palace." In the height of this extraordinary conversati >n, an officer stepped in and announced the arrival of general Gates. And here, as I have in this chapter given the reader what the jockies call a pretty long heat^ I beg leave to order a halt and allow him a little time to breathe. CHAPTER XII. Gen. Gates bon mot of British general Lee how an armj ought not to march De Kalb prophecies chickens counted before they are hatched, alias, Marion and the author sent by Gen. Gates to prevent the escape of Cornwallis, before he had run the British and American armies meet Gates and his militia-men leave De Kalb in the lurch his gallant be- havior, and glorious death. WHEN a poor fellow is going down hill, it is but too common, they say, for every body to give him a Kick. " Let dogs delight to bark and bite, ' For heaven hath made them so." But, if 1 know myself aright, I can truly say, that nothing of this vile spirit suggests a syllable of wha< GKN. FRANCIS MARION. 99 1 now write of the unfortunate general Gates. On the contrary, I feel an ardent wish to speak hand somely of him ; and in one view of him I can so speaK. As a gentleman, few camps or courts ever produced his superior. But though a perfect Chesterfield at court, in camp he was certainly but a Paris. 'Tis true, at Saratoga he got his temples stuck round with laurels as thick as a May-day queen with gaudy flow- ers. And though the greater part of this was certain- ly the gallant workmanship of Arnold and Morgan, yet did it so hoist general Gates in the opinion of the nation, that many of his dear friends, with a prudent regard, no doubt, to their own dearer selves, had the courage to bring him forward on the military turf and run him for the generalissimoship against the great Washington. But though they were not able to prospei him in this mad attempt, yet they so far suc- ceeded as to get him the command of the army of Carolina, where his short and calamitous career soon caused every good patriot to thank God for continu- ing to his servant Washington, the command of the American armies. On his way from the northern states, general Gates passed through Fredericksburg, where he feh in with general Charles Lee, who, in his frank man- ner, asked him where he was going. " Why, to take Cornwallis." "I am afraid," quc*h Lee, '"you will find him a tough piece of English beef." " Tough, sir," replied Gates ; " tough ! then begad I'll tender him. I'll make piloo of him, sir, in three hours after I set eyes upon him." " Aye! will you indeed ?" returned Lee. " Well then send for me, and I will go and help you to eat him." Gates smiled; and bidding rum adieu, rode off. Lee bawled after him, " Take care, Gatt s ! take caie ' 100 THE LIFE OF or your nortnern laurels will degenerate into south ern willows." The truth is, though general Lee was extremeh splenetic, other than which, such a miserable olo bachelor and infidel could hardly be, yet he certainly had a knack of telling people's fortunes. By virtue of thia faculty he presently discovered that general Gates was no Fabius ; but on the contrary, too much inclin- ed to the fatal rashness of his unfortunate colleague. And so it turned out. For, from the moment J he joined the army, he appeared to act like one who thought of nothing but to have it proclaimed of him in all the newspapers on the continent, that in so many days, hours, minutes, and seconds, he flew from Phi- ladelphia to South Carolina, saw, fought and con- quered Cornwallis ; and flew back again with the tro- phies of a second British army vanquished. Instead of moving on as old De Kalb had done, with a pru- dent regard to the health and refreshment of the troops, he, Jehu like, drove them on without regard to either. He would not take the lower road, as De Kalb earnestly advised, through a rich and plentiful country. Oh no ; that was too round about ; would too long have delayed his promised glory. Like an eagle shaking his bold pinions in the clouds of his pride, he must dash down at once upon his prey : and so, for a near cut, take us through a pine barren, sufficient to have starved a forlorn hope of caterpillars. I shall make no attempt to describe the sufferings of the army. For, admitting that I should not lack words, my reader would, I am sure, lack faith. Indeed, at this season, when the old crop was gone and the new not quite come in, what had we to expect, especially in such a miserable country, where many a family goes without dinner, unless the father can knock down a squirrel in the woods, or his pale sickly boy pick up a terrapin in the swamps? We did, indeed, sometimes fall in with a little corn ; but then, the poor^ skmnv, GEN FRANCIS MARION 101 sun-burnt women, with long uncombed tresses, ana shrivelled breasts hanging down, would run scream- ing to us, with tears in their eyes, declaring that if we took away their corn, they and their children must perish. Such times I never saw, and I pray God, I may never see nor hear of again ; for, to this day, the bare thought of it depresses ray spirits. But perhaps I ought to think of it, and often too, that J may be the more thankful to him who never, but in that one in- stance, permitted me to suffer, except in thinking of it. There was one case in particular which I shall never forget. Almost spent with fatigue and fasting, we halted one evening near the house of a man, whose plantation bespoke him a tolerably good liver. He met us with a countenance strongly marked with terror, and begged for God's sake we would not ruin him, for that he had a large family of children to maintain. We told him that we were soldiers fighting for the country, and that it would never do for us to starve. Understanding from this that we meant to forage upon him that night, he heaved a deep sigh, and turning about, went off without saying another word. I must confess I could not help feeling very sensibly for him, especially when we saw his little white-headed chil- dren, in melancholy groups, peeping at us around the corners of the house. His young corn, which seemed'to cover about fifty acres, was just in the prime, roasting ear state, and he had also a couple of beautiful orchards of peach and apple trees, loaded with young fruit. Scarcely were our tents pitched, before the whole army, foot and horse, turned in to destroy. The trees were all hreshed in a trice : after which the soldiers fell, like a herd of wild boars, upon the roasting ears, and the horses upon the blades and stalks, so that by morn- ing light there was no sign or symptom left that corn had ever grown there since the creation of the world. What became of the poor man and his children God 9* 102 THE LIFE OF only kiiow^, for by sunrise we were all under march- ing orders again, bending for the south. I said ALL, but I only meant all that were ABLE. For numbers were knocked up every night by agues, fluxes, and other maladies, brought on by excessive fatigue and lack of food. I once before observed how highly the baron de Kalb had been pleased to think of Marion and myself travelling so far to meet him. His liking for us grew so fast, that we had not been with him more than two days, before he appointed us his supernumerary aids. We were, of course, much in his company, and en- trusted, I believe, with every thought of his bosom that related to the good of the army. He made no scruple to tell us how utterly unmilitary those pro- ceedings were ; and frequently foretold the ruin that would ensue. " Here," said he, " we are hurrying to attack at enemy, who, if they but knew our condition, would long for nothing so much as our arrival. We, two- thirds at least, raw militia ; they, all regulars. We, fatigued ; they, fresh. We, feeble and faint through long fasting ; they, from high keeping, as strong and fierce as game cocks or butchers' bull dogs. It does not signify, gentlemen ; it is all over with us ; our army is lost as sure as ever it comes into contact with the British. I have hinted these things more than once to general Gates, but he is an officer who will take no counsel but his own." The truth is, general Gates was one of that crazy- brained quality, to whom it is a misfortune to be fortunate. The least dram of success would intoxi- cate and make him fool hardy. He could never bring himself to believe, &s he used to say, that " lord Cornwallis would dare to look him in the face." So confident, indeed, was he of victory, that on the morning before the fatal action, he ordered Marion and myself to hasten on to Santee river, and destroy GEN. FRANCIS MARION. !() every scow, boat or canoe, that could assist an F.ng lishraan in his flight to Charleston ! Immediately on receiving orders, we waited on the good old De Kalb to take leave ; and also to as- sure him of our deep regret at parting with him. " It is with equal regret, my dear sirs," said he, " that I part with you, because I feel a presentiment that we part to meet no more." We told him we hoped better things. " Oh no !" replied he, " it is impossible. War is a kind of game, and has its Jixed rules , whereby, when we are well acquainted with them, we can pretty cor- rectly tell how the trial will go. To-morrow, it seems, the die is to be cast, and in my judgment, without the least chance on our side. The militia will, I sup- pose, as usual, play the back-game, that is, get out of the scrape as fast as their legs can carry them. But that, you know, won't do for me. I am an old soldier, and cannot run : and I believe I have with me some brave fellows that will stand by me to the last. So that, when you hear of our battle, you will probably hear that your old friend De Kalb is at rest." I do not know that I was ever more affected in my life. I looked at Marion and saw that his eyes were watery. De Kalb saw it too, and taking us by the hand, with a firm tone, and animated look, said, " No ! no ! gentlemen ; no emotions for me but those of con- gratulation. I am happy. To die is the irreversible decree of him who made us. Then what joy to be able to meet his decree without dismay ! This, thank God, is my case. The happiness of man is my wish, that happiness I deem inconsistent with slavery. And to avert so great an evil from an innocent peo- ple, I will gladly meet the British to-morrow, at any odds whatever." As he spoke this, I saw a something in his eyes which at once demonstrated the divinity of virtu* and the immortality of the soul. J04 THE LIKE OF- With iorrowful hearts we then left him, and with reelings which I shall never forget, while memory maintains her place in this my aged brain. " Oh my God !" said Marion, as we rode off, "what a difference does education make between man and man ! Enlightened by her sacred ray, see here is the native of a distant country, come to fight for our liberty and happiness, while many of our own people, for lack of education, are actually aiding the British to heap chains and curses upon themselves and chil- dren." It was on the morning of August the 15th, 1780, that we left the army in a good position near Ruge- ley's mills, twelve miles from Camden, where the enemy lay. About ten o'clock that night orders were given to march to surprise the enemy, who had at the same time commenced their march, to surprise the Americans. To their mutual astonishment, the advance of the two armies met about two o'clock, and began to fire on each other. The fifing, however, was soon discontinued by both parties, who appeared very ivillingto leave the matter to be decided by daylight. A council of war was called : in which De Kalb ad- vised that the army should fall back to Rugeley's mills, and there, in a good position, wait to be attacked. But Gates not only rejected this excellent counsel, but threw out suspicions that it originated from fear. Upon this, the brave old De Kalb called to his ser- vant to take his horse, and leaping on the ground, placed himself at the head of his command, on foot. To this indecent expression of general Gates, he also retorted with considerable warmth, " Well, sir, a few hours perhaps will let us see who are the brave." It should be recorded for the benefit of our officers, many of whose laurels have been blasted by the fumes of brandy, that general Gates was rather too fond of his nocturnal glass. " I won-der where we shall dine to-morrow ?" said GEN. FRANCIS MARION. iQj one of his officers, as, in the dark, they sat on then sleepy horses waiting for the day. "Dine, sir!" replied the confident Gates, "why at Camden, sir, to be sure. Begad ! I would not give a pinch of snuff, sir, to be insured a beef-steak to-mor- row in Carnden, and lord Cornwallis at ray table." Presently day appeared ; and, as the dawning light increased, the frighted militia began to discover the woods reddening over like crimson with the long ex- tended lines of the British army, which soon, with rattling drums and thundering cannon, came rushing on to the charge. The militia, scarcely waiting to give them a distant fire, broke and fled in the utmost precipitation. Whereupon Gates clapped spurs to his horse, and pushed hard after them, as he said, " to bring the rascals back." But he took care never to bring himself back, nor indeed to stop until he had fairly reached Charlotte, eighty miles from the field of battle. I remember it was common to talk in those days, that he killed three horses in his flight. Gates and the militia, composing two-thirds of the army, having thus shamefully taken themselves off, the brave old De Kalb, and his handful of continen- tals were left alone to try the fortune of the day. And never did men display a more determined valor! For though outnumbered more than two to one, they sustained the shock of the enemy's whole force, for upwards of an hour. With equal fury the ranks-sweep- ing cannon and muskets were employed by both sides, until the contending legions were nearly mixed. Then quitting this slower mode of slaughter, with rage- blackened faces and fiery eyeballs, they plunge for- ward on each other, to the swifter vengeance of the bayonet. Far and wide the woods resound with the clang of steel, while the red reeking weapons, like stings of infernal serpents, are seen piercing the bo- dies of the combatants. Some, on receiving the fata stab, let drop their useless arms, and with dying- I'm 106 THE LIFE OF gers clasped the hostile steel that's cold in their how- els. Others, faintly crying out, " God I am slain '" sank pale, quivering to the ground, while the vital current gushed in hissing streams from their bursted bosoms. Officers, as well as men, now mingle in the uproaring strife, and snatching the weapons of the slain, swell the horrid carnage. Glorying in his con- tinentals, the brave De Kalb towers before them, like a pillar of fire. His burning face is like a red star, guiding their destructive course ; his voice, as the horn that kindles the young pack in the chase of blood . A British grenadier, of giant size, rushes on him with a fixed bayonet. De Kalb parries the furious blow, and plunges his sword in the Briton's breast ; then, seizing his falling arms, he deals death around him on the crowding foe. Loud rise the shouts of the Americans ; but louder still the shouts of the more numerous enemy. The battle burns anew along all the fierce conflicting line. There, the distant Corn- wallis pushes on his fresh regiments, like red clouds, bursting in thunder on the Americans ; and here, con- densing his diminished legions, the brave De Kalb still maintains the unequal contest. But, alas! what can valor do against equal valor, aided by such fear- ful odds ? The sons of freedom bleed on every side. With grief their gallant leader marks the fall of his heroes ; soon himself to fall. For, as with a face all inflamed in the fight, he bends forward animating his men, he receives eleven wounds ! Fainting with loss of blood, ne falls to the ground. Several brave men, Britons and Americans, were killed over him, as they furiously strove to destroy or to defend. In the midst of the clashing bayonets, his only surviving aid, Mon- sieur du Buyson, ran to him, and stretching his arms over the fallen hero, called out, " Save the baron de Kalb! Save the baron de Kalb!" The British officers nterposed, and prevented his immediate destruction. It has been said that .ord Cornwallis was so struck GEN. FRANCIS MARION. K)7 with the bravery of De Kalb, that he generously su- perintended while his wounds were dressed, by his own surgeons. It has also been said, that he appoint- ed him to be buried with the honors of war. British officers have been often known to do such noble deeds, but tl^at lord Cornwallis was capable of acting so honorably, is doubtful. De Kalb died as he had lived, the unconquered friend of liberty. For, being kindly condoled with by a British officer for his misfortune, he replied, " 1 thank you, sir, for your generous sympathy ; but I die the death I always prayed for ; the death of a soldier fighting for the rights of man." His last moments were spent in dictating a .etler to a friend concerning his continentals, of whom he said, he " had no words that could sufficiently express his love, and his admiration of their valor." He sur- vived the action but a few hours, and was buried in the plains of Camden, near which his last battle was fought. When the great Washington, many years after- wards, came on a visit to Camden he eagerly in- quired for the grave of De Kalb. It was shown to him. After looking on it a while, with a countenance marked with thought, he breathed a deep sigh, and exclaimed " So, there lies the brave De Kalb ; the generous stranger, who came from a distant land, tc fight our battles, and to water, with his blood, the tree of our liberty. Would to God he had lived to share with us its fruits!" Congress ordered him a monument. But the friend of St. Tammany still sleeps " without his fame." I have seen the place of his rest. It was the lowest spot of the plain. No sculptured warrior mourned at his low-laid head ; no cypress decked his heel. But the tall corn stood in darkening ranks around him, and seemed to shake their green leaves with joy over his narrow dwelling. j08 THE LIFE OF But the roar of his battle is not yet quite passeu away, nor his ghastly wounds forgotten. The citizens of Camden have lately enclosed his grave, and placed on it handsome marble, with an epitaph gratefully descriptive of his VIRTUES and SERVICES, that the people of future days may, like Washington, heave the sigh when they read of " the generous stranger who came from a distant land to fight their battles, and to water, with his blood, the tree of their liber- ties." Fai? Camden's plains his glorious dust inhume, WJ ere annual Ceres shades her hero's tomb. CHAPTER XIII. idarion and the author very busy in destroying the rice-maker^ beats on Santee first got the news of the defeat of our army, and death of the brave De Kalb Marion addresses his fol- lowers their gallant reply. MARIO;* and myself, as yet ignorant of the fate of the arnuy, were on the waters of the Santee, very busily executing our boat-burning orders. Not con- tent with destroying the common scows and flats of the ferries, we went on to sweep the river of every skiff and canoe that we could lay hands on ; nay, had the harmless wonkopkins been able to ferry an Eng- lishman over the river, we should certainly have de- clared war and hurled our firebrands among them. The reader may be sure we gained no good will by our zeal in this affair ; for it was a serious thing to the planters: and their wrath waxed exceedingly hot against us. Among that fleet of boats and flats that perished by our firebrands or hatchets, there were two that belonged to my excellent old uncle, colonel E. Horry. The old gentleman could hardly believe his GEN. FRANCIS MARION. IQ9 negroes, when they told him that we were destroying his boats. However, to be satisfied of the matter, he mounted his horse, and galloped down to the river to see. We had completely done for his scow, and were just giving the finishing blows to his boat as he hove in sight ; whereupon, clapping whip and spur to his horse, he came on as hard as he could drive. Soon as he was within hailing distance of an ordinary speak- ing trumpet, he began to bawl "Hold! hold! for God's sake hold !" Then dashing up, with cheeks red as fire coals, and his mouth all in a lather, he roared out, " Why, what ? what ? what are you about here ?" " We are only trying to kidnap the British, uncle," said I. " Kidnap the d 1," he replied. Then looking around, and seeing how completely we had shivered his fine new boat and scow, he ripped out again " Well ! here is a pretty spot of work ! a pretty spot of work ! A branding new scow and boat, that cost me, only last spring, three hundred dollars ! every farthing of it! and here now all cut to smash ! ruined ! not worth a chew of tobacco ! why ! did mor- tal flesh ever see the like of this ? Breaking up our ooats ! why, how are we to harvest our rice ?" " Uncle," said I, " you had better think less of har- vesting your rice, and more of catching the musk- rats," meaning the British. Here, darting at me an eye of inexpressible aston- ishment and rage, he exclaimed " Why, certainly the d 1 is in the young man ! catch the British ? Why, have you not heard that the British are carrying every thing before them ; have broke up our army ; cut the regulars to pieces ; scattered the militia ; and chased general Gates to Jericho, and to the d 1 for what I care ?" " God forbid !" said Marion. l< Nay, that is past praying for," replied my uncle , 10 HO THE LIFE OF " and if yo j had any interest in heaven, you ougtr to have made it sooner. It is toe late now." " Great God !" returned Marion ; " and so oui array is lost!" " Yes," continued my uncle ; " lost, as sure as a gun : and that is not all ; for De Kalb is killed ; Sump- ter surprised and cut to pieces ; and Charleston illu- minated every night for joy." We could neither of us utter a word. Presently my uncle, casting a searching eye around on our men, about thirty in number, asked where our troops were. I told him those were all the troops we had. I thought the good old gentleman would have gone into fits. He rolled up his eyes to heaven ; smacked his hands together, and bringing them by a sudden jerk to his breast, with a shrill whistle exclaimed, "Mad! mad! the young fellow is as mad as a March hare Well, I'll tell you what, nephew of mine, you may go about on the river, chopping the planters' boats at this rate, but I would not be in your coat, my lad, for your jacket, though it was stiff with gold." I asked him what he meant by that ? " Why, I mean," replied he, u that if you are not, all of you, knocked on the head in three hours, it will be a wonder." " Aye ! what makes you think so, uncle," said I. He answered : " You know my old waiting man, Tom, don't you ?" " To be sure I do," said I ; " I have known Tom ever since I was a boy, and should be confounded sor- ry to hear Tom prophesy any harm of me ; for I have always taken him to be a very true man of his word." " Yes, I'll warrant him," said my uncle ; " for though Tom is a negro, and as black as old Nick, yet I would as soon take Tom's word as that of any white man in Carolina. Well, Tom, you know, has a wife at Mr. 's, as rank a tory as we have hereabouts. On coming home this morning, he shook his head and GEN. FRANCIS MARION. m said he was mighty 'fraid you and Col. Marion were in a bad box ; for, that he got it from one of the olack waiters in the house, who overheard the talk, that there are three companies of tories now mou-lding their bullets, and making ready to cut you off." I looked at Marion and saw battle in his face. My uncle was about to invite us to the house ; but Marion interrupted him by saying, u This is no time to think of visiting ;" and turning to his trumpeter, ordered him to wind his horn, which was instantly done. Then placing himself at our head, he dashed off at a charging lope ; with equal speed we followed and soon lost sight of my uncle Horry. On reaching the woods, Marion ordered the trcop to halt and form ; when, with his usual modesty, he thus addressed us: " Well, gentlemen, you see our situation ! widely different from what it once was. Yes, once we were a happy people ! Liberty shone upon our land, bright as the sun that gilds yon fields ; while we and our fathers rejoiced in its lovely beams, gay as the birds . that enliven our forests. But, alas ! those golden days are gone, and the cloud of war now hangs dark and lowering over our heads. Our once peaceful land is now filled with uproar and death. Foreign ruffians, braving us up to our very firesides and altars, leave us no alternative but slavery or death. Two gallant armies have been marched to our assistance ; but, for lack of competent commanders, both have been lost. That under general Lincoln, after having been duped and butchered at Savannah, was at last completely trapped at Charleston. And that under general Gates, after having been imprudently overraarched, is now cut up at Camden. Thus are all our hopes from the north entirely at an end ; and poor Carolina is left to shift for herself. A sad shift indeed, when not one in a thousand of her own children will rise to take her part ; but, on the contrary, are madly taking part with Ji ppemy against her. And now, my countrymen, I !12 THE LIFE OF want to know your minds. As to ray own, thai has ong been made up. I consider my life as but a mo- ment. But I also consider, that to fill that moment with duty, is my all. To guard my innocent country against the evils of slavery, seems now my greatest duty ; and, therefore, I am determined, that while I live, she shall never be enslaved. She may come to that wretched state for what I know, but my eyes shall never behold it. Never shall she clank her chains in my ears, and pointing to the ignominious badge, exclaim, "IT WAS YOUR COWARDICE THAT BROUGHT ME TO THIS." In answer to this, we unanimously assured him, tha* ihose sentiments and resolutions were exactly our own : and that we were steadfastly determined to die with him, or conquer for our country. " Well then, my brave friends," said he, " draw your swords! Now fora circle, emblematical of our eternal union ! and pointing your blades to heaven, the bright throne of Him who made us free, swear you will never be slaves of Britain." Which was all most devoutly done. Soon as this patriotic rite was performed, we all dis- mounted , and taking our seats on the trunks of two fallen pines that lay conveniently parallel, we made our simple dinner of cold roots ; and for our beverage drank of thr ^-cid stream that softly murmured by. The reat. .vill please to keep in mind, that our troops consisted of but thirty mounted militia ; chief- ly gentlemen volunteers, armed with muskets and words, but almost without powder and ball. How Marion came to be at the head of this little party, it may be amusing to the reader to hear. Some short time before this date, 1779 80, when the war began to rage in South Carolina, a British captain by the name of Ardeisoffcame up to George- town in an armed vessel, and filled the country with printed proclamations from lord Cornwallis, calling on the GOOD PEOPLE of South Carolina to submit and GEN. FRANCIS MARION. H3 take royal protections ! ! Numbers of the .*noran/ and pusillanimous sort closed with the offer. But the nobler ones of the district, (Williamsburgh,) having no notion of selling their liberties for a pig in a poke, called a caucus of their own, from whom they select- ed captain John James, and sent him down to master captain Ardeisoff, to know what he would be at. This captain James, by birth an Irishman, had ren- dered himself so popular in the district, that he was made a militia captain under the royal government. But in '75, soon as he found that the ministry were determined to tax the Americans, without allowing them the common British right of representation, he bravely threw up his commission, declaring that he would never serve a TYRANT. Such was the gentle- man chosen by the aforesaid liberty caucus, to go on the embassy before mentioned. In the garb of a plain planter, James presented himself before the haughty captain Ardeisoff, and politely asked " on what terms himself and friends must submit ?" " What terms, sir !" replied the angry Briton, " what terms ! why, no other terms, you may be sure, than unconditional submission." " Well but sir," answered James, very calmly, " are we not to be allowed to stay at home in peace *nd quiet ?" " In peace and quiet, indeed !" replied Ardeisoff, with a sascastic grin ; " a pretty story, truly ! Stay at home in peace and quiet, heh ? No, no, sir, you have all rebelled against your king ; and if treated as you deserve, would now be dancing like dogs at the arms of the gallows. But his majesty is merciful, sir ; and now that he has graciously pardoned you, he expects you will immediately take up arms and turn out in support of his cause." " You are very candid, sir," said James; " and now I hope you will not be displeased with me for being equally plain. Permit me, then, sir, to tell you that 10* U4 THE LIFE OF such terms will never go down with the gentlemen whom I Lave the honor to represent." " The gentlemen you have the honor to represent, you d n d rebel !" Vesuvius ! ./Etna ! and Strumbolo ! what are your fires and flames, compared with those that raged in the bosom of James, when he heard himself called a d n d rebel! Instantly springing up, with eyes of lightning, he snatched up his chair, and, regardless of consequences, laid the audacious Ardeisoff sprawling on the floor ; then flying to his horse, he mounted and made his escape. Learning from him, at his return, what they had to understand by British protections, his gallant constituents came at once to the resolution to arm and fight till death, rather than hold life on such ignominious terms. Immediately the whole force of the district, about two hundred, able to bear arms, were mustered and placed under captains William M'CoItery, John M'Cawley, Henry Mowizon, and our brave captain James, who was appointed major and captain general of the whole. Feeling that dis- trust in themselves which is common with raw troops, and learning that the northern army was just entering South Carolina, they despatched a messengor to gene- ral Gates, to request that he would send them an officei who had seen service. Governor Rutledge, who hap- pened at that time to be in camp, advised general Gates by all means to send Marion. Marion was accord- ingly sent ; but with orders, as we have seen, to destroy, on his route, all the boats on the Santee river, lest lord Cornwallis should make his escape. At the time of leaving general Gates, Marion had but ten ir*n with him ; but on reaching Santee, we were joined by major John James, with about twenty gallant gentle- men volunteers, making his whole force about thirty. A slender force, to be sure, to oppose to the tremen- dous powers which Marion had to encounter! But, "the Lord is king, the victory is his !" and when hp the sword. Here it is-" " No, sir, I will not accept it at your hands. Give it to the sergeant." To this humiliating order, with much shame and blushing, the poor major was constrained to comply. Thus, happily, were extinguished the first sparks of a mutiny, which, it was once thought, would have broken out into a dangerous riame. The cool, dis- passionate address which effected this, did not fail to produce a proper impression on us all. This thn general easily perceived in our looks ; and thereupon, as was common with him, when any such occasion ^erved, he arose and addressed us, in, as nearly as I ran lecollect, the following words: " When, gentlemen, shall we catsh the spirit ot ou. 152 THE LIFE OF profession ; the spirit of men fighting for a republic , i commonwealth of brothers ! that government most glorious, where God alone is king! that government most pleasant, where men make and obey their own laws ! and that government most prosperous, where men, reaping as they sow, feel the utmost stimulus to every virtue that can exalt the human character and condition! This government, the glory of the earth, has ever been the desire of the wise and good of all nations. For this, the Platos of Greece, the Catos of Rome, the Tells of Switzerland, the Sidneys of England, and the Washingtons of America, have sighed and reasoned, have fought and died. In this grand army, gentlemen, we are now enlisted ; and are combatting under the same banners with those excellent men of the earth. Then let self-gratulation gladden our every heart, and swell each high-toned nerve. With such worthies by our sides, with such a CAUSE j fore our eyes, let us move on with joy to the battle and charge like the honored champions of God ai of human rights. But, in the moment of victory, let the supplicating enemy find us as lovely in mercy, as w-e are terrible in valor. Our enemies are blind. They neither understand nor de- sire the happiness of mankind. Ignorant, therefore, as children, they claim our pity for themselves. And as to their widows and little ones, the very thought of them should fill our souls with tenderness. The crib that contains their corn, the cow that gives them milk, the cabin that shelters their feeble heads from the storm, should be sacred in our eyes. Weak and helpless, as they are, still they are the nurslings of heaven our best intercessors with the Almighty. Let them but give us their blessings, and I care not how much the British curse. Let their prayers as- cend up before God in our behalf, and Cormvallis and Tarleton shall yet flee before us, like frightened wolves before the well armed shepherds!" Such were the words of Marion, in the day when Page 153. <*en ral Marion feasting the British Offitf, on sweet potatoes. GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 153 ne saw in our looks, that our hearts were prepared toi instruction. And such was the epilogue to the mutiny. The satisfaction which it gave to the officers was so general and sincere, that I often heard them say after- wards, that since the mutiny was suppressed, they were glad it happened ; for it had given them an op- portunity to hear a lecture, which they hoped would make them better men and braver soldiers too, as long as they lived. About this time we received a flag from the enemy in Georgetown ; the object of which was, to make some arrangements about the exchange of prisoners. The flag, after the usual ceremony of blindfolding, was conducted into Marion's encampment. Having heard great talk about general Marion, his fancy had, naturally enough, sketched out for him some stout figure of a warrior, such as O'Hara or Cornwallis himself, of martial aspect and flaming regimentals. But what was his surprise, when, led into Marion's presence, and the bandage taken from his eyes, he beheld in our hero, a swarthy, smoke-dried little man, with scarce enough of threadbare homespun to cover his nakedness ! and in place of tall ranks, of gaily dressed soldiers, a handful of sunburnt yellow- legged militia-men ; some roasting potatoes and some asleep, with their black firelocks and powder-horns lying by them on the logs! Having recovered a little from his surprise, he presented his letter to general Marion ; who perused it, and soon settled every thing to his satisfaction. The officer took up his hat to retire. " Oh no!" said Marion ; " it is now about our time of dining ; and I hope, sir, you will give us the pleasure of your company to dinner." At mention of the word dinner, the British office, looked around him ; but to his great mortification, could see no sign of a pot, pan, Dutch-oven, or any other cooking utensil that could raise the spirits of a hungry man. |54 THE LIFE OF "Well, Tom, M said the general lo one of his men, t{ ^.ome, give us our dinner." The dinner to which he alluded, was no other than a heap of sweet potatoes, that were very snugly roast- ing under the embers, and which Tom, with his pine stick poker, soon liberated from their ashy confine- ment ; pinching them, every now and then, with his fingers, especially the big ones, to see whether they were well done or not. Then having cleansed their of the ashes, partly by blowing them with his breath, and partly by brushing them with the sleeve of his old cotton shirt, he piled some of the best on a large piece of bark, and placed them between the British officer and Marion, on the trunk of the fallen pine on which they sat. " I fear, sir," said the general, " our dinner will not prove so palatable to you as I could wish ; but it is the best we have." The officer, who was a well bred man, took up one of the potatoes and affected to feed, as if he had found a great dainty ; but it was very plain, that he ate more from good manners than good appetite. Presently he broke out into a hearty laugh. Ma- rion looked surprised. " I beg pardon, general," said he : " but one cannot, you know, always com- mand his conceits. I was thinking how drolly some of my brother officers would look, if our government were to give them such a bill of fare as this." " I suppose," replied Marion, " it is not equal to their style of dining." " No, indeed," quoth the officer ; " and this, 1 imagine, is one of your accidental lent dinners ; a sort of a ban yan. In general, no doubt, you live a great deal better." " Rather worse," answered the general : " toi often we don't get enough of this." " Heavens!" rejoined the officer. " But probably, what you lose in meal you make up in malt ; though atioted in provisions , you draw noble jawy?" GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 15 u Not a cent, sir," said Marion, " not a cent." " Heavens and earth ! then you must be in a bad oox. I don't see, general, how you can stand it." " Why, sir," replied Marion, with a smile of self- approbation, " these things depend on feeling." The Englishman said, he " did not believe that i* would be an easy matter to reconcile Ids feelings to a soldier's life on general Marion's terms; all fighting and no pay! and no provisions but potatoes /" " Why, sir," answered the general, " the heart is> all; and, when that is much interested, a man can do any thing. Many a youth would think it hard to indent himself a slave for fourteen years. But let him be over head and ears in love, and with such & beauteous sweetheart as Rachael, and he will think no more of fourteen years' servitude than young Jacob did. Well, now, this is exactly my case. I am in love ; and my sweetheart is LIBERTY. Be that hea- venly nymph my companion, and these wilds and woods shall have charms beyond London and Paris in slavery. To have no proud monarch driving over me with his gilt coaches ; nor his host of ex- cise-men and tax-gatherers insulting and robbing me ; but to be my own master, my own prince and sove- reign, gloriously preserving my national dignity, and pursuing my true happiness ; planting my vineyards, and eating their lucious fruits ; and sowing my fields, and reaping the golden grain : and seeing millions of brothers all around me, equally free and happy as my- self. This, sir, is what I long for." The officer replied, that both as a man and a Bri- ton, he must certainly subscribe to this as a happy state of things. " Happy!'' quoth Marion; " yes, happy indeed! and I had rather fight for such blessings for my coun- try, and feed on roots, than keep aloof, though wal- lowing in all the luxuries of Solomon. For now, sir, I walk the soil that gave me birth, and exult in the tho'ight that I am not unworthy of it. I look upon ^5b THE LIFE Of these venerable trees around me, and feel that I do not dishonor them. I think of my own sacred rights, and rejoice that I have not basely deserted them. And when I look forward to the long ages of posterity, I glory in the thought that I am fighting their battles. The children of distant generations may never hear my name ; but still it gladdens my heart to think that I am now contending for their freedom, and all its countless blessings." I looked at Marion as he uttered these sentiments, and fancied I felt as when I heard the last words of the brave De Kalb. The Englishman hung his ho- nest head, and looked, I thought, as if he had seen the upbraiding ghosts of his illustrious countrymen, Sidney and Hampden. On his return to Georgetown, he was asked by colonel Watson, why he looked so serious? " I have cause, sir," said he, " to look serious." " What ! has general Marion refused to treat ?" " No, sir." "Well, then, has old Washington defeated sir Henery Clinton, and broke up our army ?" " No, sir, not that neither ; but worse." " Ah ! what can be worse ?" " Why, sir, I have seen an American general and his officers, without pay, and almost without clothes, living on roots and drinking water ; and all for LI- BERTY! What chance have we against such men!" It is said colonel Watson was not much obliged to him for this speech. But the young officer was so struck with Marion's sentiments, that he never rested until he threw up his commission, and retired from the service. OEN. I- RAN CIS MARION. 15? CHAPTER XIX. " Ah brandy ! brandy ! bano of life, Spring of tumult source of strife : Could I but half thy curses tell, The wise would wish thee safe at hell." Curious and Instructive Anecdotes. THAT great poet, John Milton, who seems to have known him well, assures us that the devil was the inventor of gunpowder. But, for my own part, were I in the humor to ascribe any particular inven- tion to the author of all evil, it should be that of dis tilling apple-brandy. We have scripture for it, that he began his capers with the apple ; then, why not go on with the brandy, which is but the fiery juice of the apple ? At any rate, I am pretty sure I shall hardly ever be able to think of it again with tolerable patience, as long as I live. For, it was that vile filthy poison that cut me out of one of the finest plumes that I ever ex- pected to feather my cap with. The case stands briefly thus. I have told the reader, that Marion surprised and captured the cele- brated tory partisan, colonel Tynes, after killing the major part of his men. For safe keeping, he was sent into North Carolina ; whence he made his es- cape got back into the forests of Black river, and collected a stout force to try his fortune a second time with Marion. But, getting knowledge of the thing, Marion made one of his forced marches, fell upon him, unawares, and broke him up -worse than before ; killing and taking his whole party. Tynes was sent again to North Carolina ; whence he contrived again to make his escape ; and, returning to his old haunts, soon rallied a formidable force, for a third trial. This news was soon brought to general Marion, who there- upon, desired me to take forty of our best cavaliers. 158 THE LIFE OF and see if we could not scourge colonel Tynes once more. About sunset we mounted, and travelled hard al that night and until the middle of next day, when we halted, for refreshment, at the house of one who was truly a " publican and sinner," for he was a great tory. Not knowing what secret intelligence the man might convey to the enemy, who were but fifteen miles off, I had him taken up and put under guard. We then got dinner, for which we honorably paid the poor woman his wife. And now comes my woeful story. While, after dinner, I was busily employed in chatechising my prisoner, how should the devil be employed, but in tempting my men with the distilled juice of the apple ? Having, by some ill luck, found out that there was a barrel of it in the house, they hastened to the poor landlady, who not only gave them a full dose for the present, hut filled their bot- tles and canteens. As we pushed on, after dinner, in high spirits, for the enemy, I could not but remark how constantly the men were turning up their canteens. " What the plague have you got there, boys," said I, " that you are so eternally drinking." "Water! sir, water! nothing but water!" The rogues were drinking brandy all the time ; but, by way of whipping the devil round the stump, they called it water ! that is, apple water. Presently, finding, from their gaiety and Irohck- .jomeness, what they had been after, I ordered a halt, and set myself to harangue them for such unsoldierly conduct. But I might as well of talked to a troop of drunken Yahoos. For, some of them grinned in my face like monkeys ; others looked as stupid as asses ; while the greater part chattered like magpies ; ach boasted what a clever fellow he was, and what mighty things he could do, yet reeling all the time, and scarcely able to sit his horse. Indeed our guide GEN. FRANCIS MARION. ]59 A fat jolter-headed fellow, fetching one of his heavy lee lurches, got so far beyond his perpendicular, thai he could not right again ; but fell off, and came to the ground as helpless as a miller's bag. In short, among my whole corps there was but one sober man, and that was captain Neilson. It is not for language to express one thousandth part of my mortification and rage. To have made such an extraordinary march, and at the head of such choice fellows too ; to have come almost within sight of the enemy; an enemy that I was eager to humble, and which wo aid have yielded me so complete and glorious a victory ; and yet to have lost all so shame- fully : and thus like a fool to be sent back to my general, with my finger in my mouth, was, indeed, almost beyond endurance. But I was obliged to en- dure it. For, to have led my men into action, in that condition, would have heen no better than murdering them. And to have kept them there until they could have cooled off, was utterly out of the question. For there was not a family in that whole district that would, with their good will, have given us an hour's repose, or a morsel of bread. I therefore instantly ordered a retreat, which was made with all the noise and irregularity that might have been expected from a troop of drunkards, each of whom mistaking him- self for commander in chief, gave orders according to his own mad humor ; and whooped and halloed at such a rate, that I verily believed, no bull-drivers ever made half the racket. That we should have obtained a most complete victory, is very certain. For in a few days after this, we laid hands upon some of those very same tories, who stated, that in consequence of the noise which we made that night, colonel Tynes despatched some of his cavalry up the road next morning, to see what vas the matter. On coming to the. spot, where I had * unly endeavored to form rny drunken dogs, the> 160 THE LIFE OF founa on the ground some of our pluin 1 1 which colonel Tynes no sooner saw than he bawled out, "Marion! Marion!" then, leaping on their horses, off they went, whip and spur. " Well, where is colonel Tynes ?" said the general, as I entered his presence. This was the question which I had expected, and, indeed, blushed for the answer. But after hearing my doleful story, he re- plied with his usual philosophy : " Well, you did right to retreat ; but pray keep a careful eye on the apple water next time." But to give the devil his due, I must confess there was one instance, in which I thought some good was done by brandy. This was in the case of captain Snipes and his command, which by way of farce to my own tragedy, I beg leave to relate. Hearing of a tory camp-meeting not far distant, Marion despatched the brave captain Snipes with a party to chastise them. They had scarcely got upon the tory cruising-ground, before, at a short turn in the road, they came full butt upon a large body of horse- men. Supposing them to be tories, Snipes instantly gave the word to charge ; himself leading the way with his usual impetuosity. The supposed tories, wheeling about, took to the sands, and went off, as hard as their horses could stave ; and thus, crack and crack, they had it for about two miles. Finding that Snipes was gaining upon them, the runagates began to lighten themselves of every thing they could spare, and the road was pesently strewed with blankets and knapsacks. One of them, it seems, carried a five gallon keg of brandy, which he could not think of parting with ; and being well mounted, he stood a good pull for the two first miles. But, finding he was dropping astern very fast, he slyly cut the straps of his mail pillion, and so let his keg, brandy and all go by the run, over his horse's rump. Captain Snipes, who led the chase, found no difficulty in passing the GEN FRANCIS MARION. 16) keg: but his men coming up instantly, broached to, all standing ; for they could no more pass by a keg of brandy, than young monkeys could pass a basket of apples. Snipes cursed and raved like a madman, but all in vain: for they swore they must have a dram. While *hey were devising ways and means how to get into the keg, the supposed tories, now a good distance ahead, came to a halt, and their captain fortunately re- flecting that their pursuers might not be enemies, sent back a flag. The result was, the very joyful discovery, that the owners of the keg were good whigs coming to join general Marion. Thus, to a moral certainty, this keg of brandy was made, of kind heaven, the happy means of preventing much bloodshed that day. Having given two cases of brandy, the one good, the other bad, I will now give a third, which the reader, if he pleases, may call indifferent, and which runs as follows. General Marion, still encamped in the neighbor- hood of Georgetown, ordered captain Withers to take sergeant Macdonald, with four volunteers, and go on the enemy's lines to see what they were doing. On approaching the town, they met an old tory ; one of your half-witted fellows, whom neither side re- garded any more than a Jew does a pig, and there- fore suffered him to stroll when and where he pleased. The old man knew captain Withers very well ; and as soon as he had got near enough to recollect him, he bawled out, "God's mercy, master Withers ! why, vhere are you going this course?'' " Going, old daddy ! why to the devil, perhaps," replied Withers. "Well faith! that's like enough, captain," said the rid man, " especially if you keep on this tack much longer. But before you go any further, suppose you take a pull with me of this," holding up a stout 14* 162 THE LIFE OF tickler of brandy, " mayhap you may not get sucl good liquor where you are going." " With all my heart, daddy," answered Withers, and twigg'd the tickler to the tune of a deep dram : and passed it on to Macdonald, who also twigg'd it, " and Tom twigg'd it, and Dick twigg'd it, and Har- ry twigg'd it, and so they all twigg'd it." In the mean time the chat went round very briskly, and dram after dram, the brandy, until the tickler was drained to the bottom. And then the subtle spirit of the brandy, ascending into their noddles, worked such wonders, that they all began to feel themselves as big as field officers. Macdonald, for his part, with a face as red as a comet, reined up Selim, and draw- ing his claymore, began to pitch and prance about, cutting and slashing the empty air, as if he had a score of enemies before him, a.nd ever and anon, roaring out "Huzza, boys! damme, let's charge!" " Charge, boys ! charge !" cried all the rest, rein- ing up their horses, and flourishing their swords. " Where the plague are you going to charge ?" asked the old tory. " Why, into Georgetown, right off," replied they. " Well, you had better have a care boys, how you charge there, for I'll be blamed if you do not get yourselves into business pretty quick : for the town is chock full of red coats." " Red coats !" one and all they roared out, " red coats! egad, that's just what we want. Charge, boys ! charge ! huzza for the red coats, damme !" Then, clapping spurs to their steeds, off went these six young mad-caps, huzzaing and flourishing theii swords, and charging at full tilt, into a British gar- rison town of three hundred men ! ! The enemy supposing that this was only our arf- vance, and that general Marion, with his whole force, would presently be upon them, flew with all speed to heir redoubt, and there lay, as snug a? 6es ic 8 GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 15 J sheep-skin. But all of them were not quite so lucky, for several were overtaken and cut down in the streets, among whom was a sergeant major, a stout greasy fellow, who strove hard to waddle away with his bacon ; but Selim was too quick for him : and Mac- donald, with a back-handed stroke of his claymore, sent his frightened ghost to join the MAJORITY. Having thus cleared the streets, our young troop- ers then called at the houses of their friends ; asked the news ; and drank their grog with great unconcern. The British, after having for some time vainly looked for Marion, began to smell the trick, and in great wrath sallied forth for vengeance. Our adven- turers then, in turn, were fain to scamper off as fast as they had made the others before, but with better success ; for though hundreds of muskets were fired after them, they got clear without receiving a scratch. But nothing ever so mortified the British, as did this mad frolic. " That half a dozen d-n-d young rebels," they said, " should thus dash in among us in open daylight, and fall to cutting and slashing the king's troops at this rate. And after all, to gallop away without the least harm in hair or hide. 'Tis high time to turn our bayonets into pitch forks, and go to foddering the cows." CHAPTER XX. History of captain Snipes wanton destruction of his property by the tories his own miraculous escape admirable fidelity of his negro driver Cudjo. CAPTAIN SNIPES, who made such a figure in the wars of Marion, was a Carolinian, of uncommon strength and courage ; both of which he exerted with great good will, against the British and tories ; from principle partly, and partly from revenge. But though a choice soldier, he was no philosopher. He did nol consider that to fight for duty, people must love it; 154 TIIE LIFE OF that to love it, they must understand it ; that to un- derstand it, they must possess letters and religion : that the British and tories, poor fellows ! possessing neither of these, were not to have been expected to act any other than the savage and thievish part they did act ; and therefore, no more to be hated for it than the cats are for teaming the canary birds. But captain Snipes had no turn for investigations of this sort. Knowledge, by intuition, was all that he cared for ; and having it, by instinct, that an " Englishman ought never to fight against liberty," nor an " American against his own country," he looked on them, to use his own phrase, as a " pack of d-n-d rascals, whom it was doing God service to kill wherever he could find them." But Snipes was not the aggressor. He kept in, very decently, till the enemy began to let out, as they did, in plundering, burning, and hanging the poor whigs ; and then, indeed, like a consuming fire, his smothered hate broke forth : " That hate which hurled to Pluto's gloomy reign The souls of royal slaves untimely slain." Afraid, in fair fight, to meet that sword which had so often shivered their friends, they determined to take him as the Philistines did Sampson, by surprise ; and having learned from their spies, that he was at home, they came upon him in force about midnight. His complete destruction, both of life and property, was their horrid aim. Happily, his driver, or black overseer, overheard their approach ; and flying to his master with terror-struck looks, cries out " Run ! run ! massa, run ! de enemy 'pon you." Snipes, stark naked, save his shirt, darted out as swift as his legs could carry him. " But where shall I run, Cudjo ? into the barn ?" " Oh no, massa ! dey bum de barn, dat sure ting p ' " Well, where shall I run then ?" " Take de bush massa! take de briar bush," GEN. FRANCIS MARION ^,4 Within fifty yards of the house was a clump of briers, so thick set, that one would have thought a frightened cat would scarcely have squeezed herself into it from the hot pursuing dogs. But what will not fear enable a man to do ? Captain Snipes, big aa he was, slipped into it with the facility of a weasel through the chinks of a chicken-coop ; but lost every thread and thrumb of his shirt ; and moreover, got his hide so scratched and torn by the briers, that the blood trickled from him fast as gravy from a fat green goose. Scarcely had he gained his hiding-place, before the tories, with horrid oaths, burst into his house, with their guns cocked, ready to shoot him. But oh 1 death to their hopes ! he was gone : the nest was there and warm, but the bird was frown ! Then seizing poor Cudjo by the throat, they bawl ed out : " You d d rascal, where's your master ?" He told them he did not know. " You lie ! you black son of a b-t-h ! you lie." But he still asserted he knew nothing of his master. Suspecting that he must be in some one or other of his buildings, they set fire to them all ; to his dwelling house, his kitchen, his stables, and even his negro cabins, watching a 11 the while, with their muskets ready to shoot him as he ran out. From their nearness to his lurking place, the heat of his burning houses was so intense as to parch his skin into blisters. But it was death to stir, for he would certainly have been seen. Not having made the discovery they so much wish- ed, they again seized Cudjo ; and, with their cocked pieces at his breast, swore if he did not instantly tell them where his master was, they would put him to Jeath. He stll declared he did not know where he was. Then they clapped a halter round his neck, and told ^6 THE I IFE OF him to u down on his knees, and say his prayers at once, for he had but two minutes to live '" He replied, that he " did not want to say his prayers now, for that he was no thief, and had always been a true slave to his master.'' This fine sentiment of the poor black was entirely lost on our malignant whites ; who, throwing the end of the halter over the limb of an oak, tucked him up as though he had been a mad dog. He hung till he was nearly dead ; when one of them called out, " D n him, cut him down, I'll be bound he'll tell us now.'' Cudjo was accordingly cut down ; and, as soon as a little recovered, questioned again about his master. But he still declared he knew nothing of him. He was then hoisted a second time ; and a second time, wben nearly dead, cut down and questioned as before : but still asserted his ignorance. The same inhuman part was acted on him a third time, but with no better success; for the brave fellow still continued faithful to his master, who squatted and trembled in his place of torment, his brier bush, a-nd saw and heard all that was passing. Persuaded now that Cudjo really knew nothing of his master, they gave up the shameful contest, and went off, leaving him half dead on the ground, but covered with glory. It is not easy to conceive a situation more severely torturing than this of captain Snipes. His house, with all his furniture, his kitchen, his barn and rice-stacks, his stables, with several fine horses, and his negro houses, all wrapped in flames ; himself scorched and blistered with the furious heat, yet not daring to stir ; his retreat well known to a poor slave ; and that slave alone, in the hands of an enraged banditti, with their muskets at his breast, imprecating the most hor- rid curses on themselves, if they did not instantly murder him unless he disclosed the secret! What nad he to expect of this poor slave, but that he would GEN. FRANCIS MARION. |ffj sink under the dreadful trial, and to save himself would sacrifice his master. But Snipes was safe. To discover his hiding-place, death stared his slave in the face, but, happily, his slave possessed for him that " love which is stronger than death." Captain Snipes and his man Cudjohad been brought up from childhood together ; and the father of our hero being a professor of Christianity, a Baptist preacher, whose main excellence is " to teach little children to love one another," had taken great pains to inspire his son with love towards his little slave. Nor did that love pass unrequited. For Cudjo used every day to follow his young master to school, car- rying his basket for him, prattling as he went ; and smiling, would remind him of the coming Saturday, and what fine fishing and hunting they would have that day. Many a time had they wrestled, and slept side by side on the green ; and thence springing up again with renovated strength, set out in full march for some favorite fruit tree, or some cooling pond, there to swim and gambol in the refreshing flood. And when the time of dinner came, Cudjo was not scornfully left to sigh and to gnaw his nails alone, but would play and sing about the door till his young master was done, and then he was sure to receive a good plate full for himself. LOVE, thus early ingrafted on his heart, grew up with daily increasing strength to manhood ; when Snipes, by the death of his father, became master of the estate, made Cudjo his driver or overseer, and thus rivetted on his honest bosom that sacred friendship which, as we have seen, enabled him to triumph in one of the severest trials thai h iman nature was ever put to. The above is a solemn fact, and the wise will lat it to heart. I6fc THE LIFE OF CHAPTER XXI. Marion pureuis major Muckleworth fine anecdote of the major Marion's generosity to him. LEARNING that a detatchment of the British were marching up Black river towards Statesburgh and Camden, general Marion gave orders to chase ; which was conducted, as usual, with such rapidity, that about sunset of the second day we came up with them. Our advance, composed of choice fellows, instantly began to skirmish with the enemy, of whom they killed eight or nine. A few on both sides, rather badly wounded, were made prisoners. Marion, coming up, gave orders to call off the troops, meaning to give the enemy a serious brush in the morning. But of this gratificaiion they entirely disappointed us, by striking their tents and pushing off in silence before day. Soon as light returned, and the retreat of the British was announced, we renewed the pursuit ; and by late breakfast-time, reached the house at which the enemy had refreshed themselves. This house belonged to a poor, but excellent old lady, well known to Marion. The general was hardly alighted from his horse, before the old lady had him by the hand, declaring how happy she had always been to see him, " but now," continued she, " if I an't right down sorry to see you, then I'll be hanged." Marion, with a look of surprise, asked her why she was sorry to see him now. " Oh ! don't I know you too well, general ? don't I know that old Scratch himself can't keep you from fighting ? And now you are hurrying along here, with all your men, only to fight the British. An't it BO now, general ?" Marion told her, that that was indeed his business. " Well, dear me now ! and did I not tell you so ? But pray now, my dear general Marion, let me beg GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 169 el you, don't you do any harm to that dear good man, that major Muckleworth, who went from here a little while ago: for O! he's the sweetest-spoken, mildest- looking, noblest-spirited Englishman I ever saw in all my born days. As to that Rawdon and Tarleton, God's curse upon the thieves and blackguards! 1 would not care if you could kill a thousand of them. But that good major Muckleworth ! indeed, indeed now general, you must not hurt a hair of his head, for it would be such a crying sin." Marion asked her in what respects was he better than other British officers. " Better than other British officers !" replied the old lady. " Lord bless your dear soul, general Marion ! Well, come along, come along with me, and I'll let you see." We followed the old lady, who, tripping along nimble as a girl, conducted us into a clean looking cabin, wherein sat a middle-aged man very genteelly dressed, and several wounded persons lying before him, on pallets on the floor. Marion saluted the stranger, who informed us that he was " a surgeon in the service of his Britannic majesty, and left by majoi Muckleworth to take care of the wounded ; of whom, sir, I believe that nearly one half are your own men." Here the old lady's face brightened up towards Marion ; and giving him a very significant look, she said, "Ah ha, general! didn't I tell you so?" Then diving her withered hand in her pocket, she scooped up a shining parcel of English guineas, and exultingly cried out, " See there, general ! see there's a sight for you ? and every penny of it given me by that dear good gentleman, major Muckleworth ; every penny of it, sir. Yes, and if you will but believe me, general, when I and my daughters were getting breakfast for him and his people, if he didn't come here himself with his sergeants, and had this place swept out all so sweet and clean for them poor sick people ; and, with his own dear hands too, helped that 15 J70 THE LIFE OF gentleman there to dress and doctor the poor things, that he did. " And then besides all that, general, he was such a sweet spoken gentleman ! for when I asked him how his men came to be hurt so, he did not, like that beast Tarleton, turn black and blue in the face, and fall tc cursing the d d rebels. Oh no ! not he indeed. But be said with a smile, We got them wounded last night, madam, in a little brush with your brave coun- tryman, general Marion. " Now only think of that, general ! And besides, when he was going away, what do you think he did ? Why, sir, he sent for me and said, Well, my good madam, and what shall I pay you for all the trouble we have given you, and also for taking care of the doctor I am going to leave with you, and the sick peo- ple, who may be on your hands for a fortnight yet ? " I told him it was no business of mine to fix a price. " He seemed surprised, and asked me what I meant by that. " I answered that I was now all one as his prisoner, and prisoners had nothing they could call their own. " My king, madam, said he, does not make war against widows. " I told him I wished to God all his countrymen had emembered that ! it would have saved the hunger and nakedness, and cries and tears of many a poor widow and orphan At this he seemed mightily hurt. " I then told him that many of the British officers, -iter eating and drinking all that they wanted, for themselves and people, and horses, instead of turn- ing round to pay, as he had done, had turned in to plunder, and then set fire to the houses, not leaving the widows and children a cover over their heads, nor a bit of bread for their mouths, nor a stitch of clothes for their backs " My God ! said he, and is this the way that mv countrymen have come here to carry on war! WeU madam, (so he went on) my king does not know anj (JEN. FRANCIS MARION. ni thing of this, nor does the English nation, I am sure. If they did, they would certainly call those officers to account. Such men will ruin our cause. For the word of God assures us, that his ear is always open to the cry of the widow and orphan ; and believe me, madam, I dread their cry more than I do the shouts of an enemy's army. However, madam, (continued he,) I have not a moment to lose, for I am sure general Marion is pursuing me as hard as he can, so let me know what I owe you. " I told him again, I made no charge ; but since he was so good as to insist on giving me something, I begged to leave the matter entirely to himself. Upon which, after a moment's study, he looked at me and said, Well, madam, suppose we say sixpence sterling a-piece man and horse, all around, will that do? I replied that was too much, a great deal too much, for such a poor breakfast as I had given him and his men. Not a penny too much, madam, said he, live and let live is the royal law, madam, and here's your mo- ney. With that he put all these guineas here, into my hand ! and said moreover, that if the doctor and sick people should be longer with me, and give me more trouble and cost than we had counted on, then I must send a note to him, at such a house in Charles- ton, and he would send me the money. And now, general, would it not be a burning shame to go kill such a dear good gentleman as that?" Marion listened with delight to the old lady's his- tory of this amiable officer; but on her leaving him to hasten our breakfast, he looked very pensive, and at a loss what to do. However, as soon as the troops were refreshed, he ordered my brother, colonel H. Horry, who led the advance, to remount, and push after the enemy with all speed. We followed close in the rear For an hour the general did not open his n>outh, but rode on like one absorbed in thought. \t length heaving a deep sigh, lie said, v4 Well, I 172 rHE LIFE OF suppose f fee) now very much as I should feel, were I in pursuit of a brother to kill him." About three o'clock our advance came up with the enemy, nearthe wealthy and hospitable captain John Singleton's mills, where the firing instantly com- menced, and was as spiritedly returned by the British, still retreating. Our marksmen presently stopped one of Muckle worth's captains, and several of his men, who lay dead on the ground at the very spot where we happened to join the advance. The sight of these poor fellows lying in their blood, gave the general's wavering mind the casting vote in favor of generosi- ty ; for he immediately cried out, " Call off the troops ! call off the troops /" Then turning to his aid he said, " I cannot stand it any longer ; we owe yon English- men to our injured country ; but there is an angel that guards them. Ten righteous Lots would have saved Sodom. One generous Muckleworth shall save this handful. Let us turn and fight other enemies." The general's orders were quickly passed on to the troops to cease firing. And to their credit be it spoken, they never, I believe, obeyed his orders with more alacrity than on this occasion. Indeed I heard many of them say, afterwards, that major Muckle- worth's generosity to their wounded comrades and to the poor widow, had so won their hearts to him, that they had none left wherewith to fight against him ; and they said also, that, for their parts, they had rather kill a thousand such savages as Rawdon and TarMon, than hurt a hair of major Muckle- worth's nead. From the effect produced on our troops, by this amiable officer's conduct, I have often been led to think favorably of a saying common with Marion, viz., had the British officers but acted as became u wise and magnanimous enemy, they might easily have recovered the revolted colonies. Never did the pulse of love towards a parent state beat stronger in human bosoms, than in those of th GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 173 Carolinians towards Britain. We looked on her as " indeed our mother, and on her children as our bro thers. And ah ! had their government but treated us with correspondent kindness, Carolina would have been with them to a man. Had they said to the peo- ple, as they might easily have done (for there was a time, and a long time too, when the whole state was entirely at their feet,) had they then said to us, " We are far richer, far stronger, than you ; we can easily burn your houses, take your provisions, carry off your cattle, and sweep your country with the besom of destruction ; but we abhor the idea. Your houses, your women, your children, are all sacred in our eyes ; andeven of your goods we will touch nothing with- out giving you a reasonable price." Had they but said this, Carolina would, to a certainty, have been divorced from Congress, and re-wedded to Britain. We may lay what emphasis we please on tne term countrymen, countrymeit ! but after all, as Christ says, " he is our countryman who showeth mercy unto us.'* A British officer, a major Muckle worth, for exem- ple, calls at my plantation, and takes my fine horses and fat beeves, my pigs, my poultry and grain ; but at parting, launches out for me a fist full of yellow boys ! On the other hand, an American officer calls and sweeps me of everything, and then lugs out a bundle of continental prod such trash, that hardly a cow would give a corn shock for a horse load of it. The Englishman leaves me richer than he found me, and abler to educate and provide for my chil- dren: the American leaves me and my i'amily half uined. Now I wish to know where, in such a self- ish world as this, where is there a man in a million, but would take part with the generous Englishman, and fight for him 3 This was the theory of Marion ; and it was the practice of Muckleworth, whom it certainly saved to the British ; and would, if universal, have saved Carolina and Georgia to them too ; and perhaps, all 15* 174 TI1E L1FE OF America. But so little idea had they of this mode of conciliating to conquer, that when the good majo Muckleworth returned to Charleston, he was hooted at by the British officers, who said he might do well enough for a chaplain, or a methodist preacher, for what they knew, but they'd be d n d if he were fit to be a British major. The truth is, such divine philosophy was too refined for such coarse and vulgar characters, as Cornwallis, Rawdon, Tarleton, Balfour, and Weymies ; monsters who disgraced the brave and generous nation they represented, and completely damned the cause they were sent to save. But what better was to have been expected of those, who, from early life, if tradition say true, discovered a total dislike to the ennobling pleasures of literature and devotion, but a boundless passion for the brutalizing sports of the bear-garden and cock-pit? Bull-baiters, cock-fighters, and dog worriers, turned officers, had no idea of conquering the Americans, but by "cutting their throats or knocking out their brains ;" or as the tender hearted Cornwallis commanded, by " hanging them, and taking away, or destroying their goods." Now Satan himself could have counselled my lord better than that ; as any man may see, who will but open his bible and turn to the book of Job, chap, the 1st, verse 6th, and so on. There Moses informs, that when Satan, whose effrontery is up to anything, pre- sented himself at the grand levee, the Almighty very civilly asked him, (now mind that, saints, in your speech to poor sinners) the Almighty, I say, very civilly asked him " where he had been of late." To this, his royal highness, the brimstone king, replied, that he had been only taking a turn or two " up and down the earth." The divine voice again interrogated : " Hast thou considered my servant Job ? an excellent man, is he not; one who feareth God and escheweth evil?'' "Job's well enough," replied Satan, rather pertly GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 175 but where's the wonder of all that ? You have done great things for the fellow ; you have planted a hedge around him, and around all that he hath on every side. You have blessed the works of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land ; and if, after all this, he cannot afford you a little gratitude, he must be a poor devil indeed. But put forth thy hand now and touch all that he hath, and he'll curse thee to th$ face." This was the devil's logic as to Job : but the British general had not the wit to reason in that style towards the Americans. For my Lord Cornwallis said unto my lord Rawdon ; and my lord Rawdon said unto my would-be lord, colonel Tarleton ; and colone) Tarleton said unto major Weymies ; and major Weymies said unto Will Cunningham, and unto .tie British soldiers with their tory negro allies; "Put forth your hands, boys, and burn, and plunder the d-n-d rebels ; and instead of cursing you to your face, they will fall down and kiss your feet." " Experience," says Doctor Franklin, " is a dear school ; but fools will learn in no other, and hardly in that." And what right had lord North to expect success in America, when for officers he sent such fools as would take no lesson either from God or devil. CHAPTER XXII. Colonel Watson attempts to surprise Marion is out-genera led, and after much loss driven back to Georgetown. IN consequence of his incessant attacks on the British and ti/ries, Marion was, I believe, heartily hated by them, as ever Sampson was by the Philis- tines, or George Whitefield by the devil. Numerous were the attempts made by their best officers to sur- prise him ; but such was his own vigilance and the fldelity of his whig friends, that he seldom failed to 176 T"E LIFE OF get the first blow at them, and to take their unwary feet in the same evil net which they had spread for hiir His method to anticipate the meditated malice of his enemies, is well worthy of notice. He always had in his service a parcel of active young men, generally selected from the best whig families, and of tried courage and fidelity. These, mounted on the swiftest horses, he would station in the neighborhood of those places where the British and tories were embodied in force, as Camden, Georgetown, &c. with instructions to leave no stratagem untried to find out the intended movements of the enemy. Instantly as this informa- tion was obtained, (whether by climbing tall trees that overlooked the garrisons ; or from friends acting as market people) they were to mount and push off' at full speed to the nearest of a chain of posts estab- lished at short and convenient distances, with fleet horses ready saddled and bridled, to bear the intelli- gence with equal speed, the first to the second, the second to the third, and so on. In this expeditious method, as by a telegraph, Marion was presently no- tified of the designs of the enemy. Of the exceeding importance of such a plan, we had a very striking proof at this time. Exasperated against Marion, for the infinite harm he did the royal cause in Carolina, the British general, in Camden, determined to surprise him at his old place of retreat, SNOW'S ISLAND ; and thus destroy or break him up completely. To this end he despatched ? couple of favorite officers, colonels Watson and Doyle, with a heavy force, both cavalry and infantry, to sieze the lower bridge on Black river and thereby effectually prevent our escape. But the vigilance and activity of his scouts frustrated (his well-concerted plan entirely. Getting early notice of this manffiuvre by captain, now general Canty, Ma- rion instantly started his troops, composed chiefly of mounted riflemen and light dragoons and pushed hard tor the same point. By taking a nearer cut, we had the good fortune to g;iin the bridge before 1he enemy UEN. FRANCIS MARION. 17-7 and having destroyed it as soon as we crossed, we concealed ourselves in the dark swamp, anxiously waiting their arrival. In a short time, they came in full view on the opposite hill, and there encamped. Presently, unapprehensive of danger, for they savj nothing of us, two of their men came down for water to the river. Unable to resist such a temptation, two of our noted marksmen instantly drew their sights and let fly. The two Englishmen fell ; one of them was killed dead ; the other badly wounded, and so fright-, ened, that he bellowed like a bull-calf for help. Several of his gallant countrymen ran to his assistance, but they were shot down as fast as they got to him. The next morning colonel Watson sent a flag over to Marion, whom he charged with carrying on war in a manner entirely different from all civilized nations. " Why sir," said he to Marion, "you must certainly command a horde of savages, who delight in nothing but murder. I can't cross a swamp or a bridge, but I am waylaid and shot at as if I were a mad dog. Even my sentries are fired at and killed on their posts. Why, my God, sir! this is not the way that Christians ought to fight!" To this Marion replied, that " he was sorry to be obliged to say, that from what he had known of them, the British officers were the last men on earth who had any right to preach about honor and humanity. That for men to come three thousand miles to plun- der and hang an innocent people, and then to tell that people how they ought to fight, betrayed an ignorance and impudence which he fain would hope had no par- allel in the history of man. That for his part, he al- ways beliered, and still did believe that he should be doing God and his country good service to surprise and kill such men, while they continued this diaboli cal warfare, as he would the wolves and panthers of the forest." Thus ended the correspondence for that time. Awhile things remained in this state bc'.we en the 178 THE LIFE OF hostile parties, Macdonald, as usual, was employing himself in a close and bold reconnoitre of the enemy's camp. Having found out the situation of their sen- tries, and the times of relieving them, he climbed up nto a bushy tree, and thencei with a musket loaded with pistol bullets, cracked away at their guard as they passed by ; of whom he killed one man, and badly wounded the lieutenant, whose name was Tor- quano ; then sliding down the tree, he mounted his swift-footed Selim, and made his escape. The next morning colonel Watson sent another flag to Marion, requesting that he would grant a passport to his lieutenant Torquano, who was badly wounded, and wished to be carried to Charleston. On receiving the flag, which happened while I was by him, Marion turned to me, and with a smile said, " Well, this note of colonel Watson looks a little as if he were coming to his senses. But who is lieutenant Torquano ?" I replied that he w T asa young Englishman, who had been quartered in Charleston, at the house of that good whig lady, Mrs. Brai.iford and her daughters, whom he had treated very politely, and often pro- tected from insults. " Well," said he, " if that be lieutenant Torquano, he must be a very clever fellow ; and shall certainly have a passport to Charleston, o r even to Paradise, if I had the keys of St. Peter." On repassing Black river in haste, Macdonald had left his clothes behind him at a poor woman's house, where the enemy seized them. By the return of the flag jast mentioned, he sent word to colonel Watson, that if he did not immediately send back his clothes, he would kill eight of his men tt> pay for them. Several of Watson's officers who were present when the message was delivered, adrised him by all means to return his clothes, for that they knew him to be a most desperate fellow, one who would stop at nothing oc set his head upon ; witness his late daring acl of GEN FRANCIS MARION. 179 climbing like a cougar, into a tree, to kill his passing enemies. Watson sent him back his wallet of clothos. Soon after this, the enemy decamped silently in the night, and took the road towards Santee. On th-j return of day announcing their flight, Marion order ed me to take the mounted riflemen, thirty in number, with fifty horse, and pursue and harass the enemy as much as possible, till he could come up with the infantry. About night I approached their encampment, and halted in a neighboring swamp ; whence I continued to send out small parties, frequently relieved, with orders to pop away at their sentinels, and keep them alarmed and under arms all night. At daybreak they pushed hard for the sandpit bridge. We follow- ed close in the rear, constantly firing on them from every thicket and swamp ; and often, in spite of their field pieces, making false charges. Never did I see a body of infantry ply their legs so briskly. The rogues were constantly in a dog trot, except when they occasionally halted to give us a blast, which they did from their whole line. But though their bullets made a confounded whizzing and clatter among the branches over our heads, yet thank God they did no harm, save that of scratching some three or four of us. On coming within a few miles of it, we made a rapid push for the bridge, which we quickly rendered impassable, bv throwing off the plank and sleepers. Then having posted my riflemen in the thick woods, within fifty yards of the ford, under command of lieutenant Scott, I drew up my cavalry close in the rear, and waited impatiently for the enemy, hoping to give a handsome Bunker's Hill account of them. The enemy were presently in sight, and formed in ciose column, began to push through the fording place, though full waist deep. My heart now throb- oed with anxiety ; looking every moment for a stream of fire to burst upon the British, spreading destruction through their ranks. g() THE L,irE OF But, to my infinite mortification, no lightnings jursted forth ; no thunders roared ; no enemy fell. As, half choked with grief and rage, I looked around tor the cause, behold ! my brave lieutenant. Scott, a; the head of the riiiemen, came stooping along with his gun in his hand, and the black marks of shame ind cowardice on his sheepish face. " Infamous poltroon," said I, shaking my sword over his head, " where is that hetacomb of robbers and murderers due to the vengeance of your injured country ?" He began to stammer out some apology, which I quickly suppressed, by ordering him out of my sight. It is worthy of remark, that his men, instead of apolo- gising for him, called him a coward to his face, and declared that it was he who had restrained them by telling them they were flanked by the enemy, who would assuredly cut them to pieces if they fired a shot. As the advance of the British were thus undisturb- edly passing on, a heavy firing was suddenly heard in the rear. It was Marion ; who, having come up with the enemy, had attacked him with great fury. The British did not halt, but continued a running fight through the woods till they gained the open fields ; where, by means of their artillery, they kept us at a distance. In this rencontre, Watson had his horse kill- ed under him, and left about twenty of his men dead on the ground. His wounded filled several wagons. He did not halt a moment, but pushed hard for Georgetown ; and late at night encamped on the plantation of Mr. Trapier, to whom he told a dread- ful story about Marion and his damned rebels, who would not, as he said, sleep and fight like gentlemen, but, like savages, were eternally firing and whooping around him by night ; and by day, waylaying and popping at him from behind every tree he went by. As it was too late to pursue the enemy, Marion encamped for the night near the field of battle, and next morning marched for his old post, Snow's Island where he allowed us a few days of we' foiie repose GEN. FRANCIS MARION. CHAPTER XXIII. Patriotism of Mrs. Jenkins colonel Watson, colonel Doyle, and the tories, make alarming advances upon general Ma- rion his men begin to desert him Horry turns orator, and harangues the troops they repeat their assurances of pu- triotism and attachment to Marion he dashes out again upon the enemy prospects brighten and the good old cause begins to look up again. IT was not for the British and Marion to lie long at rest in the same neighborhood. After a short repose, colonel Watson, with a stout force of regulars and tories, made an inroad upon Pedee ; which was no sooner known in our camp, than Marion pushed after him. We presently struck their trail ; and after a handsome day's run, pitched our tents near the house of the excellent widow Jenkins, and on the very spot which the British had left in the morning. Col- onel Watson, it seems, had taken his quarters that night in her house ; and learning that she had three sons with Marion, all active young men, he sent fat- her after supper, and desired her to sit down and take a glass of wine with him. To this request, a good old lady of taste and manners could have no objec- tion : so waiting upon the colonel, and taking a chair which he handed her, she sat down and emptied her glass to his health. He then commenced the follow- ing conversation with her : " So, madam, they tell me you have several sons in general Marion's camp ; I hope it is not true." She said it was very true, and was only sorry that it was not a thousand times truer. " A thousand times truer , madam .'" replied he with great surprise, "pray what can be your meaning in that?" " Why, sir, I am only sorry that in place of three, I have not three thousand sons with general Marion." " Ayv indeed! well then, madam, begging you; 10 182 THE LIFE OF pardon, you had better send for them immediately to come in and join his majesty's troops under my command : for as they are rebels now in arms against their king, should they be taken they will be hung as sure as ever they were born." " Why, sir," said the old lady, " you are very con- siderate of my sons ; for which at any rate I thank you. But, as you have begged my pardon for giving me this advice, I must beg yours for not taking it. My sons, sir, are of age, and must and will act for themselves. And as to their being in a state of re- bellion against their king, I must take the liberty, sir, to deny that." " What, madam /" replied he, " not in rebellion against their king? shooting at and killing his majes- ty's subjects like wolves ! don't you call that rebellion against their king, madam ?" " No, sir," answered she : " they are only doing their duty, as God and nature commanded them, sir." " The d I they are, madam /" " Yes, sir," continued she, " and what you and every man in England would glory to do against the king, were he to dare to tax you contrary to your own consent and the constitution of the realm. 'Tis the king, sir, who is in rebellion against my sons, and not they against him. And could right prevail against might, he would as certainly lose his head, as ever king Charles the First did." Colonel Watson could hardly keep his chair under the smart of this speech : but thinking it would never do for a British colonel to be rude to a lady, he tilled her glass, and saying, " he'd be d n d if she were not a very plain-spoken woman at any rate," insisteu she would drink a toast with him for all. She replied she had no objection. Then filling the glasses round, he looked at her with a constrained smile, and said, " Well, m-idam. here's George the Third." GEN. FRANCIS MARION. jyj "With all ray heart, sir'" and turned off her bumper with a good grace. After a decent interval of sprightly conversation, he called on the widow for a toast ; wto very smartly retorted, " Well, sir, here's George Washington /" At which he darkened a little, but drank it off with an officer-like politeness. The next morning early, we left the good Mrs. Jenkins ; and burning with impatience to give Wat- son another race, we drove on Jehu-like. We encamped that night almost within sight of the enemy's fires : but found them too much on the alerl for surprise. We kept, however, a good look out, and learning next morning, that a roosting party were out, Marion detached my brother colonel Horry, with some choice cavaliers, to attack them ; which he did with such spirit, that at the first onset he killed nine, and made the balance, sixteen, all prisoners. The rogues were so overloaded with plunder, that for their lives they could not regain their camp, though in full view of it when they were charged. This brilliant stroke of my brother, threw the enemy's camp into the utmost hurry and uproar; and their dragoons were quickly mounted, dashing out to res- cue their comrades ; but in vain, for n.y brother brought them all off in safety to our camp. Our strength at this time was far inferior to that of the enemy. But it soon became alarmingly reduced. For learning that, besides this heavy force under Watson, there was another from Cainden under colo- nel Doyle, and also of mounted tories from Pedee, all in full march against us, our men took a panic and began to desert, and those who staid behind looked very serious, and talked as if certain ruin both to themselves and families would follow from their continuing to fight in so hopeless a cause. In answer to these desponding gentlemen, 1 re- plied, that I was ashamed and grieved too, to hear them talk at that rate. 184 THE LIFE OF " Our prnspects," said I, " gentlemen, are to be sure dark, very dark ; yet thank God, they are not despe- rate. We have often before now seen as heavy clouds hanging over us ; and yet with heaven's bless- ing on our arms, those clouds have been dispersed, and golden days restored. And who knows but we may shortly see it so again ? I am sure we have good reason to expect it ; and also to hope that God will assist us^ who are only fighting to make ourselves :>y, according to his own most blessed will. And will it not be a most sweet cordial to your free and happy, according spirits as long as you live, to think that, in such try- ing times as these, you stood up for your country, and fought and won for yourselves and children all the blessings of liberty. "And, besides," said I, " do not the tories, who are more than half the authors of your misfortunes, possess large estates ? And have you not arms in your hands, wherewith to pay yourselves out of their ill- saved treasures?" This speech seemed to raise their spirits a good deal. I then went to see the generel, who with his hands behind him, was walking backwards and forwards in front of his tent, meditating, no doubt, on the deser- tion of his men ; whose numbers, from more than two hundred, were now reduced to less than seventy. " Genera] Marion," said I, " I am sorry to tell you that our men are now so few ; especially since, ac- cord-ing to report, we shall soon want so many." " Why," replied he, " that is the very thing I have been grieving at ; but it will signify nothing for us to stand here sighing and croaking ; so pray go and or- der a muster of the men, that 1 may say a few words to them before they all run off and leave me." Soon as the troops were all paraded around the door of his tent, he stepped upon the trunk of a fallen pine, and in his plain but impressive manner, addressed us nearly as follows: GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 135 * Gentlemen and fellow-soldiers. " It is not for words to express what I feel when J look around upon your diminished numbers. Yester- day I commanded 200 men ; men whom I gloried in, and who 1 fondly thought, would have followed me through my dangers for their country. And, now, when their country most needs their services, they are nearly all gone ! And even those of you who re- main, are, if report be true, quite out of heart ; and talk, that you and your families must be ruined if you resist any longer ! But, my friends, if we shall be ruined for bravely resisting our tyrants, what will be done to us if we tamely lie down and submit to them ? In that event, what can we expect but to see our own eternal disgrace, and the wide-spread ruin of our country ; when our bravest and best citizens shall be hung up like dogs, and their property confiscated to enrich those villains who deserted their country, and joined her enemies ; when Cornwallis, Rawdon arid Tarleton, after so long plundering and murdering your friends, shall, in reward of such services, be set over you as your governors and lord lieutenants, with princely salaries out of your labors ; when foreign bishops and their hireling clergy shall be poured upon you like hosts of consecrated locusts, consuming f he tithes and fat of the land ; when British princes, and nobles, and judges, shall swarm over your devo- ted country, thick as eagles over a new-fallen carcass ; when an insatiate king, looking on your country as his plantation, and on your children as his slaves, shall take away your substance, every year, for his pomps and pleasures ; and to keep you under for ever, shall fill your land with armies ; and when those armies, viewing you with malignant eyes, shall con- stantly be insulting you as conquered rebels ; arid undtr pretence of discovering among you the seeds of another rebellion, shall be perpetually harassing and giving up to military execution the best and worthiest of your fellow-citizens ? 16* 186 THE LI1-F, OF " Now ra) brave brethren in arras, is there a man among you, who can bear the thought of living to see his dear country and friends in so degraded and wretched a state as this? If there be, then let that man leave me and retire to his home. I ask not his aid. But, thanks to God, I have now no fears about you: judging by your looks, I feel that there is no such man among us. For my own part I look upon such a state of things as a thousand times worse than death. And God is my judge this day, that if I could die a thousand deaths, most gladly would I die them all, rather than live to see my dear country in such a state of degradation and wretchedness." In reply to this speech of our honored general, we told him, in brief, it was on account of his noble sen- timents we had always so highly esteemed him ; that it was on account of these we had already suffered so much, and were ready to suffer more ; and that rather than see our country in that wretched state which he had so feelingly described, and which, with him, we firmly believed would be the case if the British were to get the upper hand, we had made up our minds to fight by his side to a glorious death. I never saw such a change on the face of a human being, as then took place on that of Marion. His eyes sparkled with pleasure, while in transport he exclaimed " Well, now colonel Doyle, look sharp, for you shall presently feel the edge of our swords." Soon as night came on we mounted, and took the swamps of Lynche's creek, though swimming deep, and after a long time spent in plunging and splashing through the dark floods, we got over, at least about two-thirds of us. The rest, driven down by the force of the current, were cast ashore on hills and high banks, which by the freshet were converted into islands ; and there they continued whooping and hal- looing to each other all night. When the welcome light returned, they plunged again into the furious stream, and though swept down a good way by tht GEN. FRANCIS MARION. igj force of the current, arrived safely on our side -here we had prepared some large fires to dry their ,othes and muskets, and plenty of roasted roots and itidian cakes for breakfast. As God was pleased to have it, none of us lost our lives, though many did their great coats, blankets, and saddles, and some few their pieces. As to myself, 1 must needs say, I was never so near the other world in my life, For, as we were borne along down the stream in the dark, my horse and I were carried un- der the limb of a tree hung thick with wild vines, which soon caught me by the head like Absalom, and there held me fast, dangling in the furious flood, while my horse was swept from under me. I hallooed for some time like a lusty fellow, without getting any an- swer, which made me begin to think my chance was bad. And, God forgive me for it! I could not help thinking it a sad thing, that after so many fierce frays and hard knocks with the British and tories, I should come at last to be choked like a blind puppy, in this dirty swamp : but God be praised for his good angel, who had brought me through six dangers, and now took me out of the seventh. For, as I was near giv ing out, a bold young fellow of the company over- heard me bawling, and having the advantage of a stout horse, dashed in and took me safely off. I was afraid at first that my horse was drowned but sagaciously following the rest of the horses, he made his way good, but lost my saddle, great coat, and clothes. But what grieved me most of all was the loss of my holsters, with a pair of elegant silver mounted pistols, a present from Macdonald, and which he had taken from a British officer whom he killed near Georgetown. Soon as our firearms were dried, and ourselves and horses were refreshed, we mounted and rode hard all that day, to surprise colonel Doyle. About midnight we had approached the house of a good whig, who told us that Doyle had been there, but that whrne-l bj [88 THE LIFE OF an express from Ca-mden, he had started in great haste, and was certainly by that time far beyond our reach. We were much puzzled in our minds for the mean- ,ng of this precipitate retreat of colonel Doyle ; how- ever, after one day of welcome rest and high cheer, we faced about, fully determined, notwithstanding our inferiority of force, once more to try our fortune with colonel Watson. But in reaching the ground where we had left him encamped, we got advice that he too, with all his troops, were gone off, at a tangent, as hard as he could drive. While we were wondering what could have possessed the British to scamper thus in every direction, captain Conyers, of Lee's le- gion, hove in sight, with the welcome news that the brave colonel Lee was at hand, coming up full tilt to join us ; and also that general Green, with a choice detachment from the great Washington, was bending towards Camden, to recover the laurels which the incautious Gates had lost. These glorious tidings at once explained the cause of the enemy's flight, and inspired us with a joy which the reader can better conceive than I express. CHAPTER XXIV. Marion's method of managing the militia sends the author on another expedition against the tories anecdote of Mr. F. Kinloch curious dream of black Jonathan, and fortunate es- cape of Mr. Kinloch the author's party surprised by the British, but come off with flying colors. THE world, perhaps, never contained a partisan officer who better understood the management of militia than did general Marion. He was never for dragooning a man into the service. " God loves a cheerful giver, and so do /," said he, " a willing sol- dier. To have him such you must convince him thai it is his interest, for interest is every man's oole star GEN. FRANCIS MARION. jgq Every man wishes to be happy, and thereto wishes a happy wife and children, a happy country and friends. Convince him that all these invaluable blessings cannot be had without sweet liberty, and you shall have a soldier as brave as Washington. For no man, worthy of the name, could ever yet bear to see his wife, children and friends, enslaved and miserable." Such was Marion's method of making soldiers. And what with this, and the cruelty of ihe British and tories, he had with him, perhaps, some of as brave and desperate men as ever fought. " Never ride a free horse to death," he used to say to his officers; "push, while he is fresh, but soon as he begins to lag, then lie by and feed high is your play." For this purpose he always kept a snug hiding- place in reserve for us ; which was Snow's Island, a most romantic spot, and admirably fitted to our use. Nature had guarded it, nearly all around, with deep waters and inaccessible marshes ; and the neighbor- ing gentlemen were all rich, and hearty whigs, who acted by us the double part of generous stewards and faithful spies, so that, while there, we lived at once In safety and plenty. We had reposed ourselves but two days in the pleasant wilds of Snow's Island, before Marion, learn- ing that a part of the enemy were in the neighbor- hood, desired me to take captain Clarke and Irwin, with fifty men, and try if I could not bring him a good account of them. We encamped the first night on the plantation of Mr. John Withers, where hearing that Mr. F. Kin loch, our member of Congress, was at a neighboring house, I sent him the following note. Honorable Sir. If in these dangerous times you can think yourselt safe among a handful of militia-men, I shall be verj glad to see you at our camp. As to supper, thank God we can give you a trencher of fat pork and po 190 THE LIFE OF tatoes, but for bed and furniture, we can promise you nothing better than earth and sky. I shall place a sentinel on the road to conduct you to, Honorable Sir, your friend, PETER HORKY. Mr. Kinloch, who was one of the cleverest men in the world, instantly set out to come to us, but unluck- ily missed our sentinel, and went several miles below us to Mr. Alexander Rose's plantation, managed by a mulatto driver named Jonathan. The day being nearly spent, Jonathan very politely urged Mr. Kin- loch to alight and spend the night there, promising him a warm supper and a good bed. Mr. Kinloch accept- ed Jonathan's offer very cheerfully, and after taking part of a nice fowl and a cup of coffee, went to bed. tie had not slept long before Jonathan waked him up, and, with great terror in his looks, told him, " he was mighty 'fraid there was harm a brewing." "Aye, Jonathan ! why so, my good lad." " Oh, sir," replied Jonathan, " such a dream as I have had, sir! a marvellous bad dream about the enemy's coming upon you to-night, sir!" " Poh !" quoth Mr. Kinloch, turning himself over for another nap : " I have dreamed nothing about it, Jonathan. And I'm sure such a dream ought to have come to me, and not to you : so we'll even go to sleep again, and trust to heaven." Accordingly he fell asleep a second time ; but had not long enjoyed that sweetest of opiates, before Jonathan comes again, and awakes him with the old story of his dream. " Well, Jonathan," said Mr. Kinloeh, very good- naturedly, " if you are determined to turn me out of doors, I suppose I must go. But where can I get to this time of night?" " Why, sir," quoth Jonathan, " I'll get your horse nci go with yo'i to the main road, sir, ami from there. GEN. FRANCIS MARION. jyj you can't miss your way back to the house you came trom this afternoon." On Jonathan's return from the short distance he had conducted Mr. Kinlock, he found the yard filled with the British light horse ! These dreams are droll things ; but they some- times come so well attested, that there is no doubting them. He who made our frame, can certainly speak to us as well asleep as awake ; and the wise will feel the importance of making a friend of Him, who can cause an airy dream to defend us as effectually as a legion of angels. The next night, just as we were about to encamp, ure lighted on a negro fellow, belonging to Mr. Joseph Alston, whom I quickly had by the heels, lest he should give intelligence to the enemy. But, as the devil would have it, just before day, the sergeant of the guard, overcome by the negro's importunities, loosened him and let him go. And, mark now, young officers, what comes from disobeying orders. This villain of a blackamoor had not gone above three miles before he fell in with the British, to whom, Judas-like, he betrayed us off hand ! and they as quickly took horse, and pushed on to surprise us. By sunrise I had all my men mounted ; captain Clarke leading the advance, myself and captain Irvin bringing up the rest of the corps. The British first discovered captain Clarke, which they did in the way of a glimpse, through an opening in the woods; then sounding their bugles, they rush- ed on to the charge. Unfortunately, Clarke had not yet seen the enemy, and mistaking their bugles for the huntsmen's horns, ordered a halt to see the deer go by But instead of a herd of flying deer, behold ! a column of British cavalry all at once bursting into the road, and shouting and rushing on with drawn swords to the charge. In a moment, as if themselves metamorphosed into deer, Clarke and his advaricc 192 THE LIFE Oi- wheeled about, and giving their horses " the tim- ber,"* flew back upon our main body, roaring out as they came in sight " The British! the British !" Quick as thought my men caught the panic, and facing about, took to their heels, and went off as if the d 1 had been behind them. I bawled after them as loud as I could roar, " Halt! Halt!" but I might as well have bawled to the whirlwinds, for it appeared to me the louder I bawled, the swifter the rascals flew. Whereupon I clapped spurs to my young Janus, and went off after them at full stretch, hoping to gain their front and so bring them to. Being mounted on a young full-blooded charger, fresh and strong from the stable, I bid fair to gain my point too, for I was coming up with them hand over hand. But, in that very juncture of time, as the Lord was pleased to order it, my girth gave way, my saddle turned, and my charger fetching a ground start, threw me, saddle, holsters, and all, full ten feet over his head, and then ran off. I received no harm, God be praised for it, but recovering my legs in an instant, bawled out again to my men to halt and form. Happily for me, at the veiy moment of my dis- aster, the enemy, suspecting our flight to be only a finesse, had halted, while only sixteen dragoons un- der colonel Camp, continued the chase. Scorning to fly from such a handful, some of my more resolute fellows, thirteen in number, faced about, and very deliberately taking their aim at the enemy as they came up, gave them a spanker, which killed upwards of half their number. The rest took to flight, leaving their colonel, whose horse was slain, to shift for himself, which he quickly did by running into the woods. * This is a Carolina phrase for slashing. If a husband should o iar forget himself as to beat his wife ! which, thank God, is very rare, hif neighbors, with great scorn, say of him as he pokes hif hated far* along Aye, that's the jockey that gives his wife the timber. GEN. FRANCIS MARION. [93 The British were so near us when they received the fire of my men, that one of them, a stout fellow, as he wheeled to go off, came so close to me, where T stood en the ground, that he was lifting his broad- sword for a back-handed stroke, which would proba- bly have saved me the trouble of writing this history, had I not, with one of my pistols, which I took from the saddle when ray horse left me, anticipated his kindness, by driving a bullet through his shoulder, wnich brought him to the ground. Then mounting his horse, while my men caught the horses of those that were killed, we galloped off, very well satisfied that the affair had turned out no worse. On returning to Marion, I could not help com- plaining to him of my men, whose behavior, I said, in this last affair, had been so very dastardly, that I was much afraid, I should never again put confidence \n them, nor gain any credit by commanding them. " Pshaw !" said he, with a smile, " it is because you do not understand the management of them : you command militia ; it will not do to expect too much from that sort of soldiers. If on turning out against che enemy, you find your men in high spirits, with burning eyes all kindling around you, that's your time, ihen in close columns, with sounding bugles ami shining swords, dash on, and I'll warrant your men will follow you, eager as the lion's whelps bounding with their sire to the chase of the buffaloes. But on the other hand, if by any un-looked-for providence they get dismayed, and begin to run, you are no. 1 to fly in a passion with them, and show yourself as mad as they are cowardly. No ! you must learn to run too : and as fast as they ; nay faster, that you may get into the front and encourage them to rally. u And as to the credit that you are to get by com manding them, I find, my dear fellow, that you are entirely in the wrong there also. Our country can- not expect us to cope with British regulars. War is an art, the deepest of all arts, because the greatest of 194 THE LIFE OF all earthly consequences depend on it. And none can expect to be masters of that terrible art, but such as serve a long apprenticeship to it. But as we have served no apprenticeship, we can know but little about it in comparison with our enemies, who in dis- cipline and experience have greatly the advantage of us. But, thank God, we have our advantages too. We are far better riders, better woodsmen, and bet- ter marksmen than they. These are noble advan- tages. Let us but improve them oy redoubled acti- vity and vigilance, and kindness to our men, and especially by often conversing with them on the grounds of the war, the merits of our cause, and the vast consequences depending. Let us, I say, in this way, make them soldiers in principle, and fond of their officers, an 1 all will be well yet. By cutting off the enemy's foraging parties, drawing them into am- buscades and falling upon them by surprise, we shall, I hope, so harass and consume them, as to make them glad to get out of our country. And then, the per- formance of such a noble act will bring us credit, and credit enough too, in the eyes of good men ; while as to ourselves, the remembrance of having done so much to vindicate the rights of man, and make pos- terity the happier for us, will afford us a pleasure tha 1 may outlive this momentary being." SEN FRANCIS MARION. {95 CHAPTER XXV. Co'ouoJ Harry Lee joins general Mi i ion Georgetown surpris- ed colonel Campbell made prisoner major Irwin killed- adjutant Crookshanks miraculously saved by his sweetheart force of female affection American generosity contrasted with British barbarism interesting anecdotes of Mr. Cusac, young Gales and Dinkins, colonel Lee's little bugler, John Wiley, Peter Yarnal, young M'Coy, major Brown, colonel Haynes, and lord Rawdon. THE next day, colonel Lee with his legion came up, to the inexpressible joy of us all ; partly on ac- count of his cavalry, which to be sure, was the hand- somest we had ever seen ; but much more on account of himself, of whom we had heard that, in deep art and undaunted courage, he was a second Marion. This, our high opinion of him, was greatly exalted by his own gallant conduct, for he had been with us but a few days before he proposed the surprise of George- town, which was very cordially concurred with by general Marion. The infantry and cavalry employed on the occa- sion, were to approach the town at different points, after midnight, and at a signal from the latter, to commence the attack. Unfortunately, the cavalry did not get up in time, owing to some fault of their guide. The infantry arrived at the appointed mo- ment, and dreading the dangers of delay, charged at once into the town, which they four.d utterly unpre- pared for an attack. Colonel Campbell, the com- mander, was made prisoner in his bed ; adjutant Crookshanks, major Irwin, and other officers were sound asleep at a tavern belonging to a genteel fami- ly. with whom they had spent the evening wilh great hilarity. A detachment of our men approached the house and surrounded it. Soon as the alarm was given, the officers leaped out ot bed, and not waiting co dress, flew into the piazza, flourishing their pistola :9fi THE LIFE OF and shouting to the charge. Major Irwin, \uth more courage than discretion, fired a pistol, and would have tried another, but just as he had cocked it, he was stopped short by the stroke of a bayonet, which end ed him and his courage together. Adjutant Crook- shanks, acting in the same heroic style, would have shared the same fate, had it not been for an angel of a young woman, daughter of the gentleman of the house. This charming girl was engaged to be mar- ried to Crookshanks. Waked by the firing and hor- rid din of battle in the piazza, she was at first almost 'reft of her senses by the fright. But the moment she heard her lover's voice, all her terrors vanished, and instead of hiding herself under the bedclothes, she rushed into the piazza amidst the mortal fray, with no armor but her love, no covering but her flowing tresses. Happily for her lover, she got to him just in time to throw her arms around his neck and scream out, " Oh save ! save major Crookshanks !" Thus, with her own sweet body shielding him against the uplifted swords of her enraged countrymen! Crookshanks yielded himself our prisoner ; but we paroled him on the spot, and left him to those deli- cious sentiments which he must have fell in the arms of an elegant young woman, who had saved his life by an effort of love sufficient to endear her to him to all eternity. It was told us afterwards of this charming girl, that as soon as we were gone, and, of course, the danger past and the tumult of her bosom subsided, she fell into a swoon, from which it was with diffi- culty that she was recovered. Her extreme fright, on being waked by the firing and horrid uproar of battle in the house, and her strong sympathy in her lover's danger, together with the alarm occasioned by find- ing herself in his arms, were too much for her deli- cate frame. There is a beauty in generous actions which charma the souls of men ! and a sweetness, which like that GEN. FRANCIS MARION. J97 tmmortal l->ve whence it flows, can never die. The eyes of all, even the poorest soldiers in our camp, sparkled with pleasure whenever they lalked, as they often did, of this charming woman, and of our gene- rosity to major Crookshanks; and to this day, even after a lapse of thirty years, I never think of it but with pleasure ; a pleasure as exquisite, perhaps, as what I felt at the first moment of that transaction. And it is a matter of great satisfaction to me, to think how nobly different in this respect was our con- duct from that of the British. I speak not of the British nation, which I hold most magnanimous ; but of their officers in Carolina, such as Cornwallis, Raw- don, Tarleton, Weymies, Brown, and Balfour, who instead of treating their prisoners as we did Crook- shanks, have of; en been known to butcher them in cold blood ; though their fathers, mothers and children, on bended knees, with wringing hands and streaming eyes, have been imploring pity for them. There was Mr. Adam Cusac, of Williamsburg dis- trirt; this brave man, 14 This buckskin Hampden ; that, with dauntless breast, " The base invaders of his rights withstood," was surprised in his own house by major Weymies, who tore him away from his shrieking wife and chil- dren, marched him up to Cheraw court-house, and after exposing him to the insults of a sham trial, had him condemned and hung! The only charge ever exhibited against him was, that he had shot across Black river at one of Weymies' tory captains. There was that gallant lad of liberty, Kit Gales, with his brave companion, Sam Dinkins: these two heroic youths were dogged to the house of a whig friend, near the hills of Santee, where they were sur- prised in their beds by a party of tories, who hurried them away to lord Rawdon, then on his march from Charleston to Camden. Rawdorj quickly had them, according to his favorite phrase, " knocked into irons," and marched on under guard with his troops, 17* 198 T H E LIFE OF On halting for breakfast, young Gales was tucked V; to a tree, and choked with as little ceremony as if h had been a mad dog. He and young Dinkins had, it seems, the day before, with their horses and riiles, ventured alone, so near the British army, as to fire several shots at them ! For such heroic daring in de- fence of their country, in place of receiving applause from lord Rawdon, Gales, as we have seen, received his bloody death. His gallant young friend, Dinkins, was very near drawing his rations of a like doleful dish, for lord Rawdon had him mounted upon the same cart with the halter round his neck, ready for a launch into eternity, when the tories suggested to his lordship their serious apprehensions that a terrible vengeance might follow : this saved his life. Every body has heard the mournful story of colo- nel Lee's little bugler, and how he was murdered by colonel Tarleton. This " poor beardless boy," as Lee, in his pathetic account of that horrid transaction, calls him, had been mounted on a very fleet horse ; but to gratify a countryman who had brought some news of the British, and was afraid of falling into their hands, Lee ordered the boy to exchange his horse, a moment, for that of the countryman, which happened to be a miserable brute. This Lee did in his simplicity, not even dreaming that any thing in the shape of civilized man could think of harming such a child. Scarcely had Lee left him, when he was overtaken by Tarleton 's troopers, who dashed up to him with looks of death, brandishing their swords over his head. In vain his tender cheeks, reminding them of their own youthful brothers, sought to touch their pity ; in vain, with feeble voice 4 and as long as he was able, he continued to cry for quarter. They struck their cruel swords into his face and arms, which they gashed with so many mortal wounds that he died the next day. - " Is your name Wiley?" said one of Tarleton's cap- >ans, whose name was TUCK, to Mr. John W.'l*y, GEx\. FRANCIS MARION. 199 sheriff of Camden, who had lately whipped and ped a noted horse thief, named Smart. " Is youi name Wiley?" said captain Tuck to the young man, at whose door he rode up and asked the question. "Yes, sir," replied Mr. Wiley. "Well, then, sir. you are a d n d rascal," rejoined captain Tuck, giving him at the same time a cruel blow over the forehead with his broadsword. Young Wiley, though doomed to die, being not yet slain, raised his naked arm to screen the blow. This, though no more than a common instinct in poor human nature in the mo- ment of terror, served but to redouble the fury of captain Tuck, who continued his blows at the bleed- ing, staggering youth, until death kindly placed him beyond the reach of human malice. All this was done within a few hundred paces ol lord Cornwallis, who never punished captain Tuck. But poor Peter Yarnall's case seems still more de- plorable. This hard fated man, a simple, inoffensive quaker, lived near Camden. Having urgent business with a man, who, as he understood, was with general Sumpter, on the opposite side of the Catawba, he went over to him. The man happened, at that mo- ment, to be keeping guard over some tory prisoners. A paper which Yarnall wanted to see was, it seems, in a jacket pocket in the man's tent hard by. " Hold my piece a moment, sir," said he to Yarnall, " and I'll bring the paper." Yarnall, though averse, as a quaker, from all killing of enemies with a gun, yet saw no objection to holding one a moment. The next day, a day for ever black in the American calen- dar, witnessed the surprisal of general Sumpter and the release of the tory prisoners, one of whom imme- diately went his way and told colonel Tarleton that he had seen Peter 'Yarnall, the day before, keeping guard over the long'* friends, prisoners to the rebels. The poor man's house was quickly surrounded by the British cavalry. Vain were all his own explanations his wife's enreaties, or his children's cries. He ww 200 THE LIFE OF dragged to Cumden, and thurst into prison. Every aaorning, his wife and daughter, a girl of about fifteen, lode into town in an old chair, to see him and to bring mm milk and fruits, which must have been highly acceptable to one crammed, in the dogdays, ?to a small prison, with one hundred and sixty-three half-stitied wretches. On the fourth day, an amia- ble young lady, Miss Charlton, living near the prison, had heard of poor Yarnall's fate that morning. Soon therefore as she saw Mrs. Yarnall and her daughter coming along as usual, with their little present to t.heir husband and father, she bursted into tears. Mrs. Yarnall alighted at the door of the jail, and beg- ged to see her husband. " Follow me," said on of the guard, '* and I'll show you your husband." As she turned the corner, " There he is, madam," said the soldier, pointing lo her husband as he hung dead on a beam from the window. The daughter sunk to the ground ; but her mother, as if petrified at the sight, stood silent and motionless, gazing on her dead husband with that wild keen eye of unutterable woe, which pierces all hearts. Presently, as if braced up with despair, she seemed quite recovered, and calmly begged one of the soldiers to assist her to take down the corpse and lay it in the bottom of the chair. Then taking her seat, with her daughter sob- bing by her side, and her husband dead at her feet, she drove home apparently quite unmoved ; and dur- ing the whole time she was preparing his coffin a&_ oerforming the funeral duties, she preserved i same firm unaltered looks. But soon as the grave had shut its mouth on her husbahJ, and divorced him for ever from her sight, the remembrance of the past rushed upon her thoughts with a weight to" heavy for her feeble nature to bear. Then clasping her hands in agony, she shrieked out, " Poor me ' poor me ! I have no husband, no friend now !" and uumedii.tely ran raving mad, and died in that state. There was vouri M'C'y: the eye of humanity GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 201 must weep often, as she turns the page that tells how this amiable youth was murdered. His father was one of the most active of our militia captains. As none better understood American rights, so none more deeply resented British aggressions, than did captain M'Coy. His just views and strong feel- ings, were carefully instilled into his boy, who, though but fifteen, shouldered his musket, and, in spite of his mother's tears, followed his father to war. Many a gallant Englishman received his death at their hands. For, being well acquainted with the river, and bravely supported by their friends, they often fired upon the enemy's boats, killing their crews and intercepting their provisions. This so enraged col- onel Brown, the British commander at Augusta, that he made several attempts to destroy captain M'Coy. Once, in particular, he despatched a captain and fifty men to surprise him. But M'Coy kept so good a look out, that he surprised and killed the captain and twenty of his men. The rest, by giving good leg hail, made their escape. Young M'Coy fought by the side of his father in this and many other rencon- tres, in one of which he had the great good fortune to save his father's life. At the head of some gallant friends, they fell in with a strong party of tories, near Brier creek, com- manded by a British officer. As usual, an obstinate and bloody contest ensued. The combatants quickly coming to close quarters, M'Coy grappled with the officer ; but not possessing strength equal to his courage, he was overpowered and thrown on the ground. The youth, who had just fired his piece ; nto the bosom of a tory, seeing his father's danger, flew to his aid, and with the butt of his gun knocked out the brains of the officer, at the very instant he was lifting his dirk for the destruction of his father. In a skirmish, in which his party were victorious, raptain M'Coy was mortally wounded, and died ex hortii.ghis son still to fight undauntedly for the liber 20'2 THE LIFE OF ties of his country. After the death of his father young M'Coy joined the brave captain Clarke. In an expedition against colonel Brown, Clarke was de- feated, and young M'Coy made prisoner. Hearing of his misfortune, his mother hastened to Augusta, but arrived only in time to meet him with colonel Brown and a guard carrying him out to the gallows. With gushing tears, she fell upon his neck, and bit- terly mourned her lot, as wretched above all women, in thus losing her husband and only son. The behavior of young M'Coy, it is said, was heroic beyond his years. Instead of melting with his disconsolate mother, he exhorted her like one who had acted on principle, and now felt its divine consolations stronger than death. He entreated his mother not to weep for him, nor for his father. " In the course of nature, mother," said he, " we were to part. Our parting indeed, is early ; but it is glorious. My father was like a lion in battle for his country. As a young lion, I fought by his side. And often, when the battle was over, did he embrace and call me his boy ! his own brave boy ! and said I was worthy of you both. He has just gone before, and I now follow him, leaving you the joy to remember, that your son and husband have attained the highest honor on earth ; the honor of fighting and dying for the rights of man." Anxious to save the life of so dear a son, poor Mrs. M'Cov fell on her knees to colonel Brown, and with all the widowed mother agonizing in her looks, plead for his life. But in vain. With the dark features of a soul horribly triumphant over the cries of mercy, he repulsed ner suit, and ordered the executioner to do ftis office! He hung up the young man before the eyes ot his mother! and then, with savage joy, suf- fered his Indians, in her presence, to strike their tomahawks into his forehead ; that forehead which she had so oiten pressed to her bosom, and k'ssed with an tae transports of a doating mothe- GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 203 Who, without tears, can think of thj hard fate of poor colonel Haynes and his family ? Soon as the will of heaven had thrown Cha-leston into the hands of the British, lord Cornwallis, famed for pompous proclamations, began to publish. The tenor of his gasconade was, that Carolina was now, to all intents and purposes, subjugated ; that the ene- mies of his lord the king were all at his mercy ; and that though, by the war rubrick for conquered rebels, he had a right to send fire and sword before him, with blood and tears following in his course ; though he had a right to feed the birds of heaven with rebeJ carcasses, and to fatten his soldiers with their confis- cated goods, yet he meant not to use that dreadful right. No, indeed ! Far from h ; m were all such odiou? thoughts. On the contrary he wished to be merciful : and as proof of his sincerity, all that he asked of the poor deludeu people of his majesty's colony of South Carolina was, that they should no longer take part nor lot in the contest, but continue peaceably at their homes. And that, in reward thereof, they should be most sacredly protected in property and person. This proclamation was accompanied with an in- strument of neutrality, as an " outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace," in my lord Cornwallis towards the Carolinians; and which in- strument they were invited to sign, that they might have a covenant right to the aforesaid promised blessings of protection, both in property and person. The heart of colonel Haynes was with his country- men, and fervently did he pray that his hands could- be with them too. But, these, alas! were bound up by his wife and children, whom, it is said, he loved passing well. Helpless and trembling as they were, how could they be deserted by him in this fearful season, and given up to a brutal soldiery? And why should he insure the destruction of a large estate. when all opposition seemed hopeless? In short, with thousands of others, he went and signed an in- 204 'illU LIFE OF instrument, which promised security to his family and fortune. But alas ! from that fatal moment he never more enjoyed peace. To hate the ministerial mea- sures as he did, and yet thus tamely to have submit- ted to them ; to love his country as heartily as he did, and to know that she was now fighting, with her all at stake, and yet thus to have deserted her! These keen self-condemning reflections harrowed every root of quiet from his soul. If he went to his couch, it was only to groan, sleepless and tossing, all the restless night. If he got up, it was but to sit, or walk to and fro in his family, with dark and woful looks, like one whom trouble had overcome. In the midst of these anguishing reflections, which appeared to be wearing him fast to the grave, a res- pite was afforded, and by a hand from which it was least expected. Lord Cornwallis, having by his first proclamation, obtained to the instrument of neutrality aforesaid, the signatures of many thousands of the citizens of South Carolina, then came out with a se- cond proclamation, in which he nominates the paper above not an instrument of neutrality, but a bond of allegiance to the king, and calls upon all who had signed it, to take up arms against the rebels ! threat ening to treat as deserters those who refused ! This fraud of my lord Cornwallis, excited in all honest men the deepest indignation. It completely revived colonel Haynes. To his unspeakable joy, he now saw opened a door of honorable return to duty and happiness. And since, contrary to the most SOT lemn compact, he was compelled to fight, he very na- turally determined to fight the British, rather than his own countrymen. He fled to his countrymen, who received him with joy, and gave him a command of horse. He was surprised and carried to Charleston, where lord Rawdon, then commandant, ordered him, in his favorite phrase, to be knocked into irons. A mock trial, dignified with the name of court martial, was held over him, and colonel Haynes was sentenced viEN. FKANCIS MARION. 20f to >*. ku>.^. Every body in Charleston, Britons as wt)i ari Americans, all heard this sentence with horror, except colonel Haynes himself. On his cheek alone, all agree, it produced AO change. It appeared that the deed which he had done, signing that accursed paper, had run him despeiate. Though the larger part, even of his enemies, believing that it was done merely from sympathy with hio wife and children, felt the generous disposition to forgive him, yet he could never forgive himself. It hart inflicted on his mind a wound too ghastly to be healod. To their own, and to the gx^at honor of human nature, numbers of the British and loyalists, with governor Bull at their head, prr-iorred a petition to lord Rawdon in his behalf. But th. petition was not noticed. The ladies then came forward in his favor with a petition, couched in the most delicate and moving terms, and signed by all the principal females of Charleston, tories as well as whigs. But all to no purpose. It was then suggested by the friends of humanity, that if the colonel's little children, for they had no mother, she, poor woman ! crushed under the double weight of grief and the small-pox, was just sunk at rest in the grave. It was suggested, I say, that if the colonel's little children, dressed in mourn- ing, were to fall at the knees of lord Rawdon, he would pity their motherless condition, and give to their prayers their only surviving parent. They were accordingly dressed in black, and introduced into his presence : they fell down at his knees, and, with clasped hands and tear-streaming eyes, lisped their father's name, and begged his life : but in vain So many efforts to save him, both by friends anc generous foes, could not be made, unknown to colo- nel Haynes. But he appeared perfectly indifferent about the result! and when told that they had all failed, he replied with the utmost unconcern " Well, thank God, lord Rawdon cannot hurt me. He can 18 206 THE LIFE OF not be more anxious to take my life than I am to laj it down." With his son, a youth of thirteen, who was per- mitted to stay with him in the prison, colonel Haynes used often to converse, in order to fortify him against the sad trial that was at hand. And indeed it was necessary, for seldom has a heavier load been laid on a tender-hearted youth. War, like a thick cloud, had darkened up the gay morning of his days : the grave had just closed her mouth on a mother who doated on him ; and he now beheld his only parent, a be- loved father, in the power of his enemies, loaded with irons, and condemned to die. With cheeks wet with tears, he sat continually by his father's side, and looked at him with eyes so piercing and sad, as often wrung tears of blood from his heart. " Why," said he, " my son, will you thus break your father's heart with unavailing sorrow ? Have I not often told you, that we came into this world but to prepare for a better ? For that better life, my dear boy, your father is prepared. Instead then of weep- ing, rejoice with me, my son, that my troubles are so near an end. To-morrow, I set out for immortality. You will accompany me to the place of my execution ; and when I am dead, take and bury me by the side of your mother." The youth here fell on his father's neck, crying, ''Oh my father! my father! I will die with you! J will die with you !" Colonel Haynes would have returned the strong embrace of his son ; but, alas ! his hands were loaded with irons. " Live," said he, " my son, live to honor God by a good life ; live to serve your country ; and live to take care of your brother and little sisters!" The next morning colonel Haynes was conducted to the place of execution. His son accompanied him. Soon as they came in sight of the gallows, the father strengthened himself and said " Now, my son, show yourself a man. That tree is the boundary of my life 206 Ok my father t my father! I will die with you. I;EM. FRANCIS MARION 201 ind of all my lifers sorrows. Beyond that, the wicktd ".ease from tro".bling and the weary are at rest. Don't \ay too much f o heart our separation from you ; it will he but sho^t. ' Twas but lately your dear mother died. To-day I die. Jlnd you, my son, though but young, must, shortly follow us." " Yes, my father," replied the broken-hearted youth, " I shall shortly follow you : for indeed I feel that I cannot livf long." And so it happened unto him. For on sering his father in the hands of the execu- tioner, and then struggling in the halter, he stood like one transfixed and motionless with horror. Till then he had wept incessantly ; but soon as he saw that sight. 'he fountain of his tears were staunched, and he never wept more. It was thought that grief, like a fever, burnt inwardly, and scorched his brain, for he became indifferent to every thing around him, and often wandered as one disordered in his mind. At times, he took lessons from a fencing master, and talked of going to England to fight the murderer of his father. But he who made him had pity on him, and sent death to his relief. He died insane, and in his last moments often called on the name of his father, in terms that brought tears from the hardest hearts. I hope my reader will not suppose, from these odi- ous truths which I have been telling him about the British and tories, that I look on them as worse than other men ; or that I would have him bear an eternal hatred against them. No, God forbid. On the con- trary, I have no doubt on my mind, that the British and tories are men of the same passions with our- selves. And I also as firmly believe, that, if placed In their circumstances, we should have acted just as they did. Upon honor this is my conviction now ; but it was not always so : for I confess there was a time, when I had my prejudices against them, and prejudices, too, as strong as those of any other man, let him be who he would. But thank God those pre- judices, so dishonorable to the head, and so uneasy 208 THE LIFE OF to the heart, are done away from me now. And from this most happy deliverance, I am, through the divine goodness, principally indebted to my honored friend, general Marion, of whose noble sentiments, on these subjects, I beg leave to give the reader some little specimen in the next chapter. CHAPTER XXVI. Short and sweet or, a curious dialogue between general Ma rion and captain Snipes, on retaliation. * No radiant pearls that crested fortune wears, No gem that sparkling hangs in beauty's ears ; Not the bright stars that night's blue arch adorn. Nor opening suns that gild the vernal morn, Shine with such lustre as the tear that flows Down virtue's manly cheeks, for others' woes." WHAT gigantic form is that which stalks thus awfully before the eyes of my memory ; his face, rough and dark as the cloud of winter, and his eye- balls burning like coals of fire ? 'Tis the impetuous captain Snipes. He is just returned from the quarter house near Charleston, where he and captain M'Cau- ley, with Macdonald and forty men, have recently surprised and cut to pieces a large party of the ene- my. He looks as if the fury of the battle had not yel subsided in his wrathful countenance. His steps are towards Marion, and as he presents a packet, he ex- claims in an angry tone, " There, sir, is a Charleston paper. You'll see there how those villains are going on yet. Not satisfied with all the murders they had committed before, they have gone now and murder- ed colonel Haynes." Here he gave the heads of that disgraceful act, seasoning his speech every now and then, as he went along, with sundry very bitter im- precations on lord Rawdon. " Ah shame ! shame upon him !" replied the gene- ral with a sigh, and shaking his head ; " shame upon lord Rawdon !" GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 209 u Shame !" answered captain Snipes, Ins eyes flash- ng fire; "shame! I hope something heavier than shame will light upon him for it soon. The Ameri- can officers have sworn never again to give quarter to the British or tories." Marion. God forbid that my countrymen should have taken such an oath as that! Snipes. Why, general Marion, would you have the enemy go on at this rate, and we take no revenge ? M. Revenge ? yes, to be sure, sir ; revenge is sweet, and by all means let us have it ; but ?et it be of the right kind. S. Of the right kind, sir ! what do you call revenge of the right kind ? M. Why, sir, I am for taking that kind of revenge which will make our enemies ashamed of their con duct, and abandon it for ever. S. Ashamed of their conduct ! Monsters ! they ar not capable of shame. M. Pshaw ! don't talk so, captain Snipes! our ene- mies, sir, are men, and just such men as we are; and as capable of generous actions, if we will but show them the way. S. Well then, general Marion, how do you account for that great difference between us and them in point of spirits ? We have never yet killed any of their men, except in fair fight, that I have heard of; but they have often murdered ours. Yes, the cow- ardly rascals! they have often done it, and that in cold blood too. M. Granted. And I am very glad that when we have had them in our power, we have always treated them so much more generously. But, I suppose the reason of such barbarity on iheir part, is, they have had, or which is the same thing, have thought they had greater provocations. 5. They be d n d, they and their provocations too' Are riot u?e the persons who have been invaded, 18* 210 THE LIFE OF and plundered and murdered by them, and not they bj us? How then can they have greater provocations' M. Why, sir, sprung originally from them, and al- ways looked on by them as their children, our turning now and fighting against them, must appear, in their sight, a very great provocation ; as great perhaps as that of children fighting against their parents. And again, our shaking off what they glory in, as the uisest, and freest, and happiest government on earth, must make us seem to them as no better than the vilest traitors and rebels; which cannot otherwise than prove another very great provocation. And again, after having been first settled in this country by them, an they will have it, and afterwards, so long and liberally assisted with their best blood and treasure, in hope that some day or other we should be of service to them ; that now, at the very time when, by our im- mense population, we were just arrived to the so long desired point, to swell their wealth and spread their commerce and arms over the world, we should sepa- rate from them, blast all their fond hopes, and throw them back to the former level ; this, I say, you will certainly allow, must be a very severe provocation. Now, sir, putting all these provocations together, and also taking poor human nature into the account, is it to be wondered at, that the British should be so much more angry, and consequently more violent than we ? & Why, certainly, general Marion, you have al- ways a very fine knack of setting off your arguments. But still, sir, I can't see things in that light. For a man, sir, to go and trump up a pack of claims against me, and all of them because I can't credit him in the abominable extent he wishes, to fall upon me and kill and murder me, as the British and tories have done with us, and we not stop them by revenge ! why, my God ! sir, it will never do. For, at this rate, whom shall we have living in all this country, in a little time, but the P-itish, and their friends the tories and Degrees GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 211 M. My brave captain let me tell you again 1 am as anxious to stop them as you can possibly wish me to be ; but I am for doing it in what I think the right way. I mean the way of policy and humanity. S. Policy, sir ! can there be policy in letting oui best men be murdered by these savages ! I'm sure general Washington did not think so. For, though I am no man of learning myself, yet I have been told by those that are, that, on its being threatened by general Gage to hang an American soldier, he instant- ly wrote him word, that if he dared to do such a thing, the life of a British soldier should pay for it. And, it is well known, that he kept the British army and nation too, in a fright for three months together, with the halter constantly around the neck of captain As- gil, expecting every day to be hung for the murder of captain Huddy. M. True ; general Washington did act so. And it was policy to act against a foreign enemy. But our itanding with the tories is quite a different case, and requires a very different course. The tories are our countrymen, a part of our own population and strength, so that every man of them that is killed, is a man forever lost to ourselves. Now, since the British have put them up to murder us, if we go, out of revenge, to murder them again, why, in the courst of a little time our population will be so cut up, as tc allow the British ministry, with ease, to take ou; country, and make slaves of us all ; which is just what lord North desires. S. Yes, I dare say it is. But I hope he'll be dis- appointed yet. M. No doubt of it, sir ; if we shall be wise and magnanimous enough to follow the true policy, which is no other than HUMANITY to these deluded people, the tories ; and to this we have every inducement that generous spirits could desire. The tones and ourselves are brothers ; many of is went to the same ichool together ; and a thousand times have ate am* 212 THE LIFE OF urank in each other's houses. And as to the quarrel in which we are now unfortunately engaged, though not the most, stili we are much in fault. We made no allowances for those follies of theirs which led to it. They thought First, That we were too nearly allied to England to go to war with her ; this was a weak ness, but there was something amiable in it. Se- condly, They thought the British were much too war- like and powerful to be resisted by us : this was an error, but it was learned in the nursery. Thirdly , They wished to keep in with the British, merely that they might save their property ; this was altogether from fear, and therefore claimed some commiseration. But no ! we could not grant one grain of indulgence to any of their mistakes. We would have it, they all proceeded from the vilest of motives. We called them traitors, and cowards, and scoundrels ; and load- ed them with a thousand indignities besides. Well, the consequences were, as might have been expected from human weakness and passion. Wrought to des- peration, and caring not what they did, they have gone and joined our enemies, and many valuable lives have been lost on both sides. Surely 'tis high time now that we should set about doing something to end it. S. Well ! let them set about ending it themselves. They were the first to begin it. M. But would you have the tories to lead to glory ? S. GLORY ! I should think it meanness to be the first to make overtures to such rascals ! M. Well, but, captain Snipes, when brethren, as we are, fall out, is it policy to go on to exasperate and cut each other's throats, until our enemy comes and takes away a fine country, of which, by such madness, we had rendered ourselves unworthy? Would it not be much better policy to trace back all our wrong steps of passion and revenge, and making hearty friends again, and joining our forces against the common ene- my, drive him out of our country ; and then by est?h- GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 213 hshing a free government, and encouraging agricul- ture and commerce, and learning, and religion, make ourselves a great and happy people again ; would not this, I say, be the true policy ? S. Why yes, I confess, general Marion, it would be a noble thing, and very desirable, if it could be done. But I cannot bear to think of being the first to make terms with the tories, after they have been burning, and plundering, and murdering our best friends. It is too hard, sir, for mortal flesh and blood. M. It is a great trial, I confess ; but "the heavier the cross the brighter the crown," you know, sir. And as to the difficulty of the undertaking, that's the very thing that should make us jump at it; the glory of showing ourselves wiser and better men than our enemy. And besides, let us recollect that the glory of this exploit all now lies with us : for if we do not pluck up courage and do it, it will never be done. The tories are, generally, an ignorant people ; and therefore not much of wise or good is to be expected from that quarter. They -ave also, in many instances, acted a very savage par by us : their consciousness of this can have no tenu ncyto make them court re- conciliation with us. S:nee, then, but little is to be expected from them, it seems incumbent on us to do the more. We have better information, and we have also a much better cause. These are great advantages which God has given us ; and now it becomes us to improve them, to his glory and to our own honor, by showing a conciliatory and magnanimous spirit to- wards or enemies. And though it should cost us labor to win such a victory, yet, I am confident, that when won, it will appear to us the most glorious that we ever achieved. To conquer an enemy by the sword, is, no doubt, honorable ; but still it is nothing in comparison of conquering him by generosity. As arguing both superior virtue and courage, it com- mands higher admiration from the world, and is re- flected on by ourselves with far mo-e self-esteem and 214 THE LIFE OF applause. And men, sir, only consider how such conduct will gild the future scenes of life. This un- fortunate quarrel betwixt us and our countrymen, the lories, is not to last forever. It was only the act of a wicked ministry, attempting, by an unconstitutional tax to enslave an affectionate part of the nation. God can never suffer such an attempt to prosper. It must be but a momentary quarrel ; and we ought to ac- custom ourselves to think of it as such, and to look beyond it to the happy days that are to succeed. And since the storm of war is soon to subside into the calm of peace, let us do nothing now, that may throw a cloud over the coming sunshine. Let us not even talk of exterminating war ! that unnatural crime which would harrow up oursouls with the pangs of remorse, and haunt our repose with the dread of retaliation which would draw down upon our cause the curse of heaven, and make our very name the odium of all generations. But, far differently, let us act the gene- rous part of those who, though now at variance, are yet brothers, and soon to be good friends again. And then, when peace returns, we shall be in proper frame to enjoy it. No poor woman that we meet will seem to upbraid us for the slaughter of her husband ; no naked child, for robbing him of his father ; no field will cry against us for a brother's blood. On the contrary whenever the battles which we are now fight- ing, sh i\ recur to our thoughts, with the frightened enemy grounding their arms and crying for quarter, we sholl remember how we heard their cries and stop- ped the uplifted sword. Joy will spring in our bo- soms, and all around will smile with approbation. The faces of the aged will shine upon us, because we spared their sons ; bright-eyed females will bless us for their surviving husbands : and even the lips of the children will lisp our praises. Thus with a heaven of delighted feeling in our hearts, and the smiles both of God and man on our heads, we shall pass the even- ng of our davs in glorious peace. An.i when dea'b GEN. FRANCIS MAllluN 2J shall call us to that better world, we shall obey with- out reluctance. Conscious of neither dread nor hate towards any of the blessed people that dwell there, we shall go in strong hope of witnessing the bright realities of that state, where all is immortality arid love. Perhaps we shall there meet many of those whom it has been our sad destiny to fight with here ; not in their present imperfect state, but in their state of exaltation, clad in robes brighter than the stars, and their faces outshining the sun in his noonday splendors. Perhaps at sight of us, these glorious spirits may rush with new-flushed beauties, to embrace us, and in the presence of crowding an-gels, recount our kindness to them in the days of their mortality ; while all the dazzling throngs, listening delighted, shall fix on us their eyes of love, inspiring those joys which none but strong immortals could sustain. Are not these, my friends, hopes worth contending for ? Is revenge to be cherished that would rob us of such honors ? Can generosity be dear that would ensure to us such so great rewards ? Then let us not think benevolence was enjoined in vain, which is to con- duct us to such immortal felicities." As Marion spoke these words, his countenance, which in general was melancholy, caught an anima- tion beyond the reader's fancy to conceive. The charms of goodness, and the bright rewards which await it, were painted in such living colors on his face, that not even the stranger could have beaeld it unmoved. On me, who almost adored Marion for his godlike virtues, its effects were past describing. My bosom heaved with emotions unutterable, while the tear of delicious admiration swelled in my eyes. As to captain Snipes, he appeared equally affected. His eyes were riveted on the general, and towards the close of the speech his breath seemed suspended ; his color went and came ; and his face reddened and swelled ; as un Jer the powerful eloquence of the puipit. 216 THE LIFE OF CHAPTER XXVII. Marion and Lee attack and take fort Watson and fort Lee- interesting anecdotes. FROM Georgetown, Marion proceeded with colo- nel Lee to attack the British post on Scott's lake, generally called fort Watson. The situation of this fort was romantic and beautiful in the extreme. Overlooking the glassy level of the lake, it stood on a mighty barrow or tomb like a mount, formed of the bones of Indian nations, there heaped up from time immemorial, and covered with earth and herbage. Finding that the fort mounted no artillery, Marion resolved to make his approaches in a way that should give his riflemen a fair chance against their musqueteers. For this purpose, large quantities of pine logs were cut, and as soon as dark came on, were carried in perfect silence, within point blank shot of the fort, and run up in the shape of large pens or chimney-stacks, considerably higher than the enemy's parapets. Great, no doubt, was the consternation of the garrison next morning, to see themselves thus suddenly overlooked by this strange kind of steeple, pouring down upon them from its blazing top inces- sant showers of rifle bullets. Nor were they idle the while, but returned the blaze with equal fury, pre- senting to us, who lay at a distance, a very interesting scene as of two volcanoes that had suddenly broke out into fiery strife, singeing the neighGoring pines. Though their enemy, yet I could not but pity the British, when I saw the great disadvantage under which they fought. For our riflemen, lying above them and firing through loopholes, were seldom hurt; while the British, obliged, every time they fired, to show their heads, were frequently killed. Increasing still the awkwardness of their situation, their well, which was on the outside of the fort, was so entirely in the reach of our rifles, that they couid GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 211 nat el a pail of water for coft'ee or grog, without th< ctmcst hazard. After a gallant resistance, they sur- rendered themselves prisoners of war ; one hundred and twenty in number. This fort had been very judiciously fixed in a coun- try exceedingly fertile, and on a lake abounding with fine fish, and from its contiguity to the river Santee, forming an admirable deposite for their upland posts. From their military storehouse, which was on the outside of the fort, the British attempted, at the com- mencement of our attack, to get out their goods, and to roll them up into the fort. But in this exposed state, their men were picked off so fast by our sharp- shooters, that they were soon obliged to quit such not work. The sight of their casks and bales, rolled out and shining so richly on the side of the hill, set the fingers of our ragged militia-men on such an itch, that there was no resisting it. And presently a squad of three of them were seen pushing out, without leave or li- cense, to attack a large hogshead, that lay very invit- ingly on the outside of the rest. The enemy seeing the approach of our buccaneers, reserved their fire until they had got pretty near up to the intended prize ; then all at once cut loose upon them with a thundering clap, which killed one, crippled a second, and so frightened the third, that he forgot the cask, and turning tail, thought of nothing but to save his bacon ! which he did by such extraordinary running and jumping, as threw us all into a most immoderate laugh. Presently up comes my black waiter, Billy, with a broad grin on his face, and says, " Why, master, them militia men there, sir, are tarnal fools : they do not know nothing at all about stealing. But if you will please, sir, to let me try my hand, I can fetch off that Hogshead there, mighty easy, sir." "No, no, Billy!" said I, shaking my head, "that 213 THE LIFE OF will never do, my Jad. I value you much too highly, Billy, to let you be knocked on the head so foolish- ly as all that comes to." " Lord bless you, sir," replied he, smiling, " there is no more danger in it, than in eating when a body is hungry. And if you will only please let me try my hand, sir, if you see any danger, why then, master, you may call me back, you know, sir." Upon this he started. Fortunately for him, our riflemen, seeing what he was after, made a noble di- version in his favor, by throwing a galling fire into the fort. On getting within thirty yards of the hogs- head, he- fell flat on his face, and dragged himself along on his belly until he reached it. Then seizing the hogshead with a hand on each chine he worked it back- wards and backwards, like an alligator pulling a dog into the river, until he had fairly rolled his prize to the brink of the hill, where, giving it a sudden jerk by way of a start, and at the same time jumping up, he ran with all his might down the precepicr, the hogs- nead hard after him, and was soon out of all danger. Numbers of shot were fired at him, but not one touched him, which gave great joy to our encamp- ment, who were all anxious spectators of the trans- action, and seemed to take a deep interest in Billy's success. And no wonder ; for he was a most noble- hearted fellow, and exceedingly useful in camp. Offi- cers or soldiers, cadets or colonels, no matter whc they were, that asked Billy a favor, they were sure to have it done for them ; and with such a cheerful air, as did them more good than the service itself So that I much question, whether there was & man iu all our camp, whose good luck would have given more general satisfaction than his. On opening Bill's hogshead, which indeed was no hogshead, but rather a puncheon, as big as two hogs- heads, there was a prodigious stare among our me.v at the sight of so much wealth. GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 219 100 strong white shirts for soldiers, 50 fine do. do. for officers, 50 camp blankets, 100 black stocks, 100 knapsacks, and 6 dragoons cloaks, were the valuable contents of Billy's cask. The na- tive genius of the poor fellow instantly broke out in a stream of generous actions, which never stopped, until the hogshead was completely emptied. First of all, he began with me, to whom he presented half a dozen of the fine shirts and black stocks, with a dra- goon's cloak. Then to the general he made a present, also to the officers of his family. To his fellow-ser. vants, who messed with him, he -gave two shirts a-piece. t it what pleased me most in Billy's dona- tions, was I. s generosity to the two men who had miscarried in their attempt on the same cask. Seeing that they were much mortified at their own failure, and a little perhaps at his success, he desired them to come and help themselves to what they liked. Hear- ing him then express a wish that he knew what to do with the balance, I told him that many of our dragoons were poor men, and much in want of shirts, "-'/ye, sure enough," said he, and immediately hand A them out a shirt a-piece, until all were gone. For this generosity of Billy's, general Marion dub- bed him ''captain Billy," a name which he went by *;ver afterwards. Nothing was ever more seasonable than this supply, purchased by Billy's valor ; for be- fore that, we were all as ragged as young rooks. There was not an officer in camp, except colonel Lee and his staff, who was so rich as to own two shirts. I am very sure that Marion's aids had but one a-piece. And yet so independent of wealth is cheer- fulness, that I have often seen our officers in their naked buffs, near a branch, singing and dancing around their shirts, which they had just washed, an J hung on the bushes to dry. 220 THL LIKE Ot From the reduction of fort Watson, we set out im mediately in high spirits, for the still nobler attack on fort Motte. For the sake of fine air, and water, and handsome accommodations, the British had erect- ed this fort in the yard of Mrs. Motte's elegant new house, which was nearly enclosed in their works. But alas! so little do poor mortals know what they are about! the fine house, which they had rudely taken from poor Mrs. Motte, proved to the British, what his gay shirt did to hercules. It wrought their down- fall. For, after a fierce contest, in which many valu- able lives were lost on both sides, through the sharp shooting of the yaugers, and the still closer cutting of our riflemen, it struck Marion that he could quickly drive the enemy out of the fort, by setting the house on fire. But poor Mrs. Motte ! a lone w dow, whose plantation had been so long ravaged by the war, her- self turned into a log cabin, her negroes dispersed, and her stock, grain, &c. nearly all ruined ! must she now loose her elegant buildings too ? Such scruples were honorable to the general ; but they showed his total unacquaintedness with the excellent widow. For at the first glimpse of the proposition, she exclaimed, " O ! burn it ! burn it, general Marion ! God forbid I should bestow a single thought on my little concerns, when the independence of my country is at stake. No sir, if it were a palace it should go." She then stepped to her closet and brought out a curious bow with a quiver of arrows, which a poor African boy purchased from on board a Guineaman, had formerly presented her, and said, " Here, general, here is what will serve your purpose to a hair." The arrows, pointed with iron, and charged with lighted corabus. tibles, were shot on top of the house, to which they stuck, and quickly communicated the flames. The British, two hundred in number, besides a good many tories, instantly hung out a white flag in sign of sub- mission. The excellent Mrs. Motte was present when hei GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 221 fine new house, supposed to be worth six thousand dollars, took fire ; and without a sigh, beheld the red spiry billows prevailing over all its grandeur. The day after the destruction of her house, she invited genera! Marion with all the officers, British as well as American, to dine with her. Having now no better place of accommodation, she entertained us under a larger arbor built in front of her log cabin, where, with gient pleasure, I observed that the same lady could one day act the Spartan, and the next the Parisian : thus uniting in herself, the rare qualities of the heroine and the Christian. For my life I could not keep my eyes from her. To think what an irre- parable injury these orficers had done her! and yet to see her, regardless 01 her own appetite, selecting the choicest pieces of the dish, and helping them with the endearing air of a sister, appeared to me one of the loveliest spectacles I had ever beheld. It produced the happiest effect on us ali. Catching her amiable spirit, we seemed to have entirely forgotten our past animosities ; and Britons and Americans mingled to- gether, in smiles and cheerful chat, like brothers. I do not recollect a transaction in the whole war, in which lean think that God lookeu down with higher complacency than on this. And to the day of my death, I shall believe, that God enabled us to beat the British in arms, because we had so far beaten them in generosity. Men, who under such cruel provoca- tions, could display such moderation as we did, must certainly have given our Maker good hope, that we were equal to the glorious business of self-govern' >nent ; or in other words, of living under a republic, which must certainly be his delight, because both implying and producing more wisdom and virtue, ;han any other government among men. Th' 1 name of the British commandant, our prisoner, was Furguson ; and a very pleasant gentleman he was X)o, as I found on getting acquainted with him, which f sr>on did After talking over our various adventures 19* 222 THE LIFE OF in the wa r , lie -isked me if I did not command the cavalry, in the late skirmishing between Watson and Marion. I told him I did. " Well," replied he, " you made a very lucky escape that day : for do you know that we were twelve hundred strong, owing to colonei Small's joining us in the march ?" " Then truly," said I, " if that were the case, I made a lucky escape, sure enough." "And where were you," he asked again, " when general Marion so completely surprised our guard at Nelson's old fields : were you there ?'' I told him I was not, but that my brother, Hugh Horry, was. "Well," continued he, laughing heartily, "that was my lucky day. I had a command there that morning of about thirty men, as an advance. We had not left the guard more than five minutes before the Ameri- cans charged and swept all. The moment we heard the firing and the cries of our people, we squatted in the high grass like so many rabbits, then running on the stoop, till we gained the woods, we cleared our- selves." I laughed, and asked how many men he supposed Marion had that morning." He replied, he really did not know, but supposed he must have had three or four hundred. " Well, sir," said I, " he had exactly thirty." The reader may perhaps conceive Ferguson*! astonishment : I cannot describe it. Soon as the dishes were removed, \ve were present- ed with a spectacle to which our eyes had long beeu strangers, a brave parade of excellent wine: several hampers of which bad been received at the fort the very day before we commenced the attack. To pooi soldiers like us, who, for years, had hardly quenched our thirst on any thing better than water or apple brandy grog, this was a sight immensely refreshing. Whether it was owing to the virtues of this noble cor- dial, with the recollection of our late glorious victo- ries; or whether it was the happy result of our gene GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 223 rosity to the enemy, and of their correspondent politeness to us, I do not know ; out certain it is, M* were all very gay. But in the midst of our enjoy- ments, which none seemed to relish with a higher glee than general Marion, a British soldier came up and whispered to one of their officers, who instantly coming round to the general, told him in a low voice, that the Americans were hanging the tories who had been taken in the fort I In a moment he sprang up, in a violent passion, and snatching his sword, ran down towards our encamp- ment. We all followed him, though without knowing the cause. On turning the corner of the garden which had concealed their cruel deeds, we discovered a sight most shocking to humanity, a poor man hanging in the air to the beam of a gate, and struggling hard in the agonies of death. " Cut him down ! cut him down !" cried the general, as soon as he had got near enough to be heard, which was instantly done. Then running up, with cheeks as red as fire coals, and half choked with rage, he bawled out, k ' In the name of God ! what are you about, what are you about here !" " Only hanging a few tories, sir," replied captain Harrison of Lee's legion. " Who gave you a right, sir, to touch the tories?" To this, young M'Corde, of the same corps, replied, that it was only three, or four rascals of them that they meant to hang ; and that they had not supposed the general would mind that. " What ! not mind murdering the prisoners. Why, my God ! what do you take me to be ? do you take me for a devil ?" Then, after placing a guard over the tories, and vowing to make an example of the first man who should dare to offer them violence, he returned with the company to Mrs. Motte's table. Of the three unfortunate tories that were hung dead, one was named Hugh Mizcally. The name of the per or so timely cut down was Levi Smith, a most furi 224 THE LIFE OF oustorj. This title produced him such respect among those degenerate Britons, that they appointed him gatekeepei of Charleston, a circumstance that ope- rated much against the poor whigs in the country, For Smith soon broke up a pious kind of fraud, which the wives and daughters of the tories had for some time carried on at a bold rate. To the immortal honor of the ladies of South Ca- rolina, they were much more whiggishly given than the men ; insomuch that though married to tories, they would be whigs still. These fair ladies, in consequence of their relation to the tories, could, at pleasure, pass into Charleston ; which they never left without bringing off quantities of broad cloth cut and jumped into petticoots, and art- fully hid under their gowns. The broad cloth, thus brought off, was for regimentals for our officers. Things went on swimmingly in this way for a long time, till Smith, getting one day more groggy and impudent than usual, swore that some young women who were going out at the gate, looked much bigger over the hips than they had need, and insisted on a search. The truth is, these fair patriots, preparing for a great wedding in the country, had thus spoiled their shape, and brought themselves to all this dis- grace by their over greediness for finery. But Mr t.ory Smith affected to be so enraged by this trick, which the girls had attempted to play on him, that he would never afterwards suffer a woman to pass with- out first pulling up her clothes. He carried his zeal to such length, as one day very grossly to insult a genteel old lady, a Mrs. M'Corde. Her son, who was a dragoon in Lee's legion, swore vengeance against Smith, and would, as we have seen have taken his life, had not Gen. Marion interposed. Jn ihe Charleston papers of that day, 1781, Smith gives the history of his escape from Marion, wherein he relates an anecdote, which, if it be true, and I ,ee GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 226 no reason to doubt it, shows clear enough that his toryistn cost him dear. In his confinement at Motte's house, he was exces- sively uneasy. Well knowing that the whigs owed him no good will, and fearing that the next time they got a haltar round his neck, he might find no Marion to take his part, he determined if possible to run off. The tories were all handcuffed two and two, and con- fined together under a sentinel, in what was called a bull-pen, made of pine trees, cut down so judgmati cally as to form, by their fall, a pen or enclosure. It was Smith's fortune to have for his yoke-fellow a poor sickly creature of a tory, who, though hardly able to go high-low, was prevailed on to desert with him. They had not travelled far into the woods, before hig sick companion, quite overcome with fatigue, declared he could go no farther, and presently fell down in a swoon. Confined by the handcuffs, Smith was obliged to lie by him in the woods, two days and nights, without meat or drink ! and his comrade frequently in convulsions! On the third day he died. Unable 10 bear it any longer, Smith drew his knife and se- parated himself from the dead man, by cutting off his arm at the elbow, which he bore with him to Charleston. The British heartily congratulated his return, and restored him to his ancient honor of sitting, Morde- cai-like, at the king's gate, where, it is said, he be- haved very decently ever afterwards. Smith's friends say of him, that in his own country (South Carolina) he hardly possessed money enough to buy a pig, but when he got to England, after the war, he made out as if the rebels had robbed him of as many flocks and herds as the wtld Arabs did Job The British government, remarkable for generosity to their friends in distress, g ive him money enough to return to South Carolina with a pretty assortment of merchandise. And he is now, I am told, as weul 226 THE LIFE OF thy as a Jew, and, which is still more to his credit as courteous as a Christian. CHAPTER XXVIII. The author congratulates his dear country on her late glorious victories recapitulates British cruelties, drawing after them, judicially, a succession of terrible overthrows. HAPPY Carolina ! I exclaimed, as our late victo- ries passed over my delighted thoughts ; happy Caro- lina! dear native country, hail ! long and dismal has been the night of thy affliction : but now rise and sing, for thy " light is breaking forth, and the dawn of thy redemption is brightening around." For opposing the curses of slavery, thy noblest citi- zens have been branded as rebels, and treated with a barbarity unknown amongst civilized nations. They have been taken from their beds and weeping fami- lies, and transported, to pine and die in a land of strangers. They have been crowded into midsummer jails and dungeons,* there, unpitied, to perish amidst suf- focation and stench ; while their wives and children, in mournful groups around the walls, were asking with tears for their husbands and fathers! They have been wantonly murdered with swords and bayonets,! or hung up like dogs to ignominious gibbets. * All Europe was filled with horror at the history of the one hundred and twenty unfortunate Englishmen that were suffocated in the black hole of Calcutta. Little was it thought that an English nobleman (lord Rawdon) would so soon have repeated that crime, by crowding one hun- dred and sixty-four unfortunate A mericans into a small prison in Camden, in the dogdays. * A Brother of that excellent man, major Linn ing, of Charles- ion. was taken from his plantation on Ashley river, bv out- ai GEN. FRANCIS MARiuN. 227 They have been stirred up and exasperated against each other, to the most unnatural and bloody strifes. " Fathers to /cill their sons, and brothers to put bro- thers to death /" Such were the deeds of Cornwallis and h\.$ officers in Carolina ! And while the churches in England were, every where, resounding with prayers to Almighty God, " to spare the effusion of human blood," thost. monsters were shedding it with the most savage wan- tonness ! While all the good people in Britain were praying, day and night, for a speedy restoration of the former happy friendship between England and America, those wretches were taking the surest steps to drive all friendship from the American bosom, and to kindle the flames of everlasting hatred ! But, blessed be God, the tears of the widows and orphans have prevailed against them, and the righte- ous Judge of all the earth is rising up to make inqui- sition for the innocent blood which they have shed. And never was his hand more visibly displayed in the casting down of the wicked, than in humbling Cornwallis and his bloody crew. At this period, 1780, the western extremities were the only parts of the state that remained free. To swallow these up, Cornwallis sent Col. Ferguson, a favorite officer, with fourteen hundred men. Hearing of the approach of the enemy, and of their horrible cruelties, the hardy mountaineers rose up as one man from Dan to Beersheba. They took their faithful rifles. They mounted their horses, and with each his bag of oats, arid a scrap of victuals, they set forth to find the enemy. They had no plan, no general leader. The A3 enemy's galleys, and thrust down into the hold. At night the officers began to drink and sing, and kept it up till twelve o'clock, when, by way of Irolit, they had him brought, though sick, into theii rabin, held a court martial over him, sentenced him to death, very iia imerately executed 'he sentence by stabbing him with bayoneU, and then threw his mangled body into the river for the sharks ;md craw devour. 228 THE LIFE OF youth of each district, gathering around their own brave colonel, rushed to battle. But though seemingly blind and headlong as their own mountain streams, yet there was a hand unseen that guided their course They all met, as by chance, near the King's moun tain, where the ill-fated Ferguson encamped. Their numbers counted, made three thousand. That the work and victory may be seen to be of God, they sent back all but one thousand chosen men. A thousand men on mountains bred, With rifles all so bright, Who knew full well, in time of need, To aim their guns aright At parting, the ruddy warriors shook hands with their returning friends, and sent their love. " Tell our fathers," said they, " that we shall think of them in the battle, and draw our sights the truer." Then led on by the brave colonels Campbell, Cleve- land, Shelby, Sevier, and Williams, they ascended the hill and commenced the attack. Like Sinai of old, the top of the mountain was soon wrapped in smoke and flames ; the leaden deaths came whizzing from all quarters ; and in forty minutes Ferguson was slain, and the whole of his party killed, wounded or taken. To avenge this mortifying blow, Cornwallis des- patched colonel Tarleton with thirteen hundred and fifty picked troops, against Morgan, who had but nine hundred men, and these more than half militia. At the first onset, the militia fled, leaving Morgan with only four hundred to contend against thirteen Hundred and fifty, rushing on furiously as to certain victory. What spectator of this scene must not have given up all for lost, and with tears resigned this lit- tle forlorn, to that unsparing slaughter which colonel Tarleton delighted in ? But, contrary to all human expectation, the devoted handful stood their ground and, in a short time, killed and captured nearly the whole of their proud assailants ' GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 229 Raging like a wounded tiger, Cornwallis destroys all his heavy baggage, arid pushes hard after Morgan. The pursuit is urged with unimaginable fury : and Cornwallis gains so fast upon the Americans, encum- bered with their prisoners, that on the evening of the ninth day he came up to the banks of the Catawba, just as Morgan's rear had crossed at a deep ford. Before the wished-for morning returned, the river was so swollen by a heavy rain, that Cornwallis could not pass. Adoring the hand of Heavon, the Ameri- cans continued their flight. On the morning of the third day, Cornwallis renewed the pursuit with redou- bled fury, and by the ninth evening, came up to the banks of the Yadkin, just as Morgan's last rifle corps was about to take the ford. Presently the rain came rushing down in torrents, and by the morning light the furious river was impassable ! Who so blind as not to acknowledge the hand of God in all this? Soon as he could get over, the wrathful Cornwailis renewed the pursuit ; but before he could overtake them at Guildford court-house^ the Americans, joined by their countrymen, gave him battle, and killed one third of his army. Cornwallis then, in turn, fled be- fore the Americans ; and as he had outmarched them before, he outran them now, and escaped safely to Wilmington. With largely recruited force he re- turned to Virginia, where four hundred deluded men, (tories) under colonel Pyles, came forward to join him. On their way they fell in with Col. Lee and his legion. Mistaking them for Tarleton and his cavalry, they wave their hats and cry out, " God save the king! God save the king!" Lee encourages the mis- take, until they are all intermixed with his dragoons, who at a signal given, draw their swords and hew the wretches to pieces. Only one hnndred make their escape. These fall in, the next day, with colonel Tarleton, who, mistaking them for what he called k< damned rebels," ordered his troops to charge, whi^h iiey did ; and regardless of their repeated cries, that ?30 THE LIFE OF u they were the king's best friends," put most of -.hem to death. Thus wonderfully did God baffle lord Cornwallis, and visit a sudden and bloody destruction upon thos* unnatural wretches, who were going forth to plunge their swords into the bowels of their own country. After this, being joined by all the British troops in that quarter, he rolled on like an angry flood to Wil- liamsburg and York, where God sent his servan* Washington, who presently captured him and hr fleet and army, near ten thousand strong. CHAPTER XXIX The British evacuate Charleston great joy of the citizens- patriot ism of the Charleston ladies. As when a lion that has long kept at bay the fierce assaulting shepherds, receives at last his mortal wound, suddenly the monster trembles under the deadly stroke ; and, sadly howling, looks around with wistful eye towards his native woods. Such was the shock given to the British, when the sword of heaven-aided justice struck down the bloody Cornwallis. With him fell the hopes of the enemy throughout our state. In Charleston, their officers were seen standing to- gether in groups, shaking their heads as they talked of the dreadful news. While those who had marched up so boldly into the country, now panic-struck, were every where busied in demolishing their works, blow- ing up their magazines, and hurrying back to town in the utmost dismay. Hard pressing upon the rear, we followed the steps of their flight, joyfully chasing them from a country which they had stained with blood, and pursuing them to the very gates of Charles- ton. As we approached the city, our eyes were pre- sented with scenes of desolation sufficient to damp all hearts, and to inspire the deepest sense of the honor* GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 231 ot war. Robbed of all animal and vegetable life, the neighboring plantations seemed but as dreary de- serts, compared with what they once were, when, co- vered with sportive flocks and herds, and rice and corn, they smiled with plenteousness and joy. In the fields, the eyes beheld no sign of cheerful crops, nor in the woods any shape of living beast or bird, except a few mournful buzzards, silently devouring the un- buried flesh of some poor wretched mortals, who had fallen in the late rencontres between the English and Americans. Indeed, had those days continued, no flesh could have been saved ; but blessed be God, who shortened them, by chastising the aggressors (the British) as we have seen. On the memorable 14th of December, 1782, we en- tered and took possession of our capital, after it had been two years seven months and two days in the hands of the enemy. The style of our entry was quite novel and romantic. On condition of not being molested while embarking, the British hrd offered to leave the town unhurt. Accordingly, at the firing of a signal gun in the morning, as agreed on, they quit- ted their advanced works, near the .own gate, while the Americans, moving on close in the rear, follow- ed them all along through the city down to the water's edge, where they embarked on board their three hundred ships, which, moored out in the bay in the shape of an immense half moon, presented a most magnificent appearance. The morning was as lovely as pure wintry air and cloudless sunbeams could render it ; but rendered far lovelier still by our procession, if I may so call it, which was well calculated to awaken the most plea- surable feelings. In front, were the humble remains of that proud army, which, one and thirty months ago, captured our city, and thence, in the drunkenness of victory had hurled menaces and cruelties disgraceful to the British name: And close in the rear, was ur band of patriots, bending forward with martial 232 THE LIFE OF music and flying colors, to play the last joyful act la the drama of their country's deliverance ; to proclaim liberty to the captive ; to recall the smile on the cheek of sorrow ; and to make the heart of the widow leap for joy. Numbers, who, for years, had been confined to a single room in their own elegant houses, could now throw open their long-locked doors, and breathe and walk at large in these beloved apartments, from which they had been so long excluded. Numbers, who, for years, had mourned their separation from children, wives, and sires, were now seen rushing, with trembling joy, to the long-coveted embrace. Oh ! it was a day of jubilee indeed ! a day of rejoicing never to be forgotten. Smiles and tears were on every face. For who could remain unmoved, when they saw the little children running with outstretched arms to embrace their long absent fathers ; when they saw the aged trembling with years and affection, clasping their warrior sons, glorious in arms, and those sons, with pleasure-sparkling eyes, returning the pious embrace, and congratulating the deliverance of their fathers ; while all along the streets, as we moved in clouds of joy-rolling dust, nothing was to be heard but shouts of, LIBERTY and AMERICA FOR EVER ; and nothing was to be seen but crowds of citizens shaking hands and thanking God for bringing them to see that hap- py day. And to crown all, on both sides of us, as we marched in shining rows, stood our beauteous coun- try women, mingling their congratulations. The day was precious to all, but none I believe enjoyed it so highly as did the ladies of Charleston. Being, great numbers of them at least, women of fortune and libe- ral education, they had early discovered the deformi- ty of lord North's enslaving principles, " unconditioned taxation," which they abhorred worse than the yaws . and hating the measure, they could not but dislike the men who were come to execute it. In common with their sex, they were sufficiently partial to soldiers of honor. But alas ' they were not permitted the plf a GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 233 ure to contemplate the British in that prepossessing light. On the contrary, compelled to view them as mere fighting machines, venal wretches, who for pay and plunder, had degraded the man into the brute, the Briton into the buccaneer, how could they otherwise than detest them ? Nor were the manners of the British officers at all calculated to remove those antipathies. Coming to America, under the impression that the past genera- tion were convicts, and the present rebels, they looked on and treated their daughters only as pretty Creoles^ whom it was doing great honor to smile on ! But this prejudice against the British officers, found- cd first on their sordidness, then, secondly, fed by their insolence, was, thirdly and lastly, matured by their cruelty. To see the heads of their first families, without even a charge of crime, dragged from their beds at midnight, and packed off like slaves to St. Augustine ; to see one of their most esteemed coun- trymen, the amiable colonel Haynes, hung up like a dog before their eyes; and to hear continually, from all parts, of the horrid house-burnings and murders committed by Rawdon, Tarleton, Weyiuies, and their tory and negro allies, filled up the measure of female detestation of the British officers. They scorned to be seen in the same public walks with them ; would not touch a glove or snuff-box from their hands ; and in short, turned away from them as from the com- monest felons or cut-throats. And on the other hand, to be treated thus by buckskin girls, the rebel daught- ers of convict parents, was more than the British offi- cers could put up with. The whig ladies, of course, were often insulted, and that very grossly too ; and not only often threatened, but actually thrown into the provost or bastile. No wonder then that they were highly delighted to see such rude enemies, after re- peated overthrows in the country, chased back to lown, and thence, covered with disgrace, embarking to leave the country for ever No wonder that, on 234 THE LIFK OK hearing of our line of march that morning, they had decked themselves in their richest habits, and at the fiist sound of our drums, flew to their doors, windows, and balconies, to welcome our return. Never before had they appeared half so charming. Sweet are the flowers of the field at every season of the year, but doubly sweet, when, after long icy win- ter, they spread all their blossoms to the spring-tide sun. Even so the daughters of Charleston, though always fair, yet never seemed so passing fair as now, when after sustaining the long wintry storms of Bri- tish oppression, they came forth in all their patriot charms to greet the welcome beams of returning li- berty. And never shall I forget the accents of those lovely lips, which, from behind their waving handker- chiefs, that but half concealed their angel blushes, exclaiming, " God bless you, gentlemen ! God bless you! welcome! welcome to your homes again'" CHAPTER XXX. Marion returns to his plantation is appointed a member of the legislature some valuable anecdotes of him his marriage -and retirement AFTER the retreat of the British from Carolina, Marion sheathed his swordybr lack of argument, and wentup to cultivate his little plantation in St. John'i parish, where he was born. But the gratitude of his countrymen did not long allow him to enjoy the sweets of that rural life, of which he was uncom- monly fond. At the next election, he was in some sort compelled to stand as a candidate for *he legisla- ture, to which, by an unanimous voice, ne was sent, to aid with his counsel, the operations of that govern ment, to whose freedom his swoid had so largely con- ^ibuted. The friends of humanity were all Hghty GLN. FRANCIS MARION. 23! pleased with his call to the legislature. From his well known generosity to his enemies, during the \var, they fondly hoped he would do every thing in his power to extinguish that horrid flame of revenge, which still glowed in the bosoms of many against the tories. Noi did Marion disappoint their hopes. His face was al- ways, and undauntedly, set against every proposition that savored of severity to the tories, whom he used to call his " poor deluded countrymen." The p eadei nay form some idea of general Marion from the fol- lowing anecdote, which was related to me by the honorable Benjamin Huger, Esq. During the furious contests in South Carolina, between the British and Americans, it was very com- mon for men of property to play jack of both sides , for the sake of saving their negroes and cattle. Among these, a pretty nemerous crew, was a wealthy old blade, who had the advantage of one of those very accommodating faces, that could shine with equal lustre on his victorious visitants, whether Britons or buckskins. Marion soon found him out ; and as soon gave him a broad hint how heartily he despised such trimming ; for at a great public meeting where the old gentleman, with a smirking face, came up and presented his hand, Marion turned from him without deigning to receive it. Every body was surprised at this conduct of the general, and some spoke of it in terms of high displeasure. However, it was not long before they caught the old weathercock at one of his tricks, and, soon as the confiscation act was passed, had him down on the black list> fondly hoping, no doubt, to divide a large spoil. Marion, who was then a member of the legislature, arose to speak. The aged culprit, who also was present, turned pale and trem- bled at the sight of Marion, giving up all for lost. But how great, how agreeable was his surprise, when instead of hearing the general thundering against Lira for judgment, he heard him imploring for mercy! His accusers were, if possible, still more astonished 236 THE LIFE OF Having coin ted on general Marion as his firmest foe, they were utterly mortified to find him his fastest friend, and, venting their passion with great freedom, taxed him with inconsistency and fickleness that but illy suited with general Marion's character. " It is scarcely eighteen months, sir," said they, " since you treated this old rascal with the most pointed and public contempt, on account of the very crime for which we wish to punish him. And here, now, instead of taking part against him, you have declared in his favor, and have become his warmest advocate with a legislature." " True, gentlemen," replied Marion, " but you should remember that it was war then ; and there- fore my duty to make a difference between the real and pretended friends of my country. But it is peace now, and we ought to remember the virtues of men, particularly of the old and timid, rather than their follies. And we ought to remember too, that God has given us the victory, for which we owe him eternal gratitude. But cruelty to man is not the way to show our gratitude to heaven." Of the same complexion was his behavior in a large party at governor Matthew's table, just after the passage of the famous act to confiscate the estates of the tories. " Come, general, give us a toast," said the governor. The glasses were all filled, and the eyes of the company fixed upon the general, who, waving his bumper in the air, thus nobly called out " Well, gentlemen, here's damnation to the confiscation ac." The following anecdote of Marion I have heard from a thousand lips, and every time with that joy on the countenance, which evinced the deep interest whicr the heart takes in talking of things that are honorable to our countrymen. While Marion was a member of the legislature, a petition was presented to the house for an act of am* ne.sty of all those arbitrary measures which the Ameri- can officers had been obliged to adopt du r ing the war. GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 231 in order to get horses, provisions, &c. for the army The petition was signed by the names of all the favo- rite officers of the state, and among the rest, by that of our hero. Some of his friends, it seemed, had done il for him, on the supposition that he needed such an act as well as the rest. But Marion, who had listened very attentively to the reading of the petition, on hear- ing his name mentioned as one of the subscribers, in- stantly arose, and insisted that his name should be struck off from that paper. He said " he had no manner of objection to the petition ; on the contrary, he most heartily approved of it, and meant to vote for it ; for well did he know, he said, that during the war, we had among us a world of ignoramuses, who, for lack of knowing their danger, did not care a fig how the war went, but were sauntering about in the woods, popping at the squirrels, when they ought to have been in the field fighting the British ; that such gen- tlemen, since they did not choose to do anything for their country themselves, might well afford to let their cattle do something ; and as they had not shed any of their blood for the public service, they might certainly spare a little corn to it ; at any rate he had no notion, he said, of turning over to the mercy of these pol- troons, some of the choicest spirits of the nation, to be prosecuted and torn to pieces by them ; but that, nevertheless, he did not like to have his name to the petition, for, thank God, he had no favors to ask of them. And if, during the war for his country, he had done any of them harm, there was he, and yonder his property, and let them come forward, if they dare, and demand satisfaction." And I never heard of any man who ever accused him of the least injury done him during all the war. Marion continued a member of the legislature, un til orders were issued to repair and put in commission Fort Johnson, to the command of which he was ap- pointed, with the pay of about twenty-two hundred dollars per annum. Though this salary had been 238 THE LIFE OF vote J him ch.efly because of his losses dui ing the war, yet it wa3 not continued to him longer than two or three years, when it was reddced to less than five hun- dred dollars annually. Numbers of people had their feelings greatly hurt on this occasion, and, I dare say, much worse than his own. For he was a man who cared very little for money ; and besides, about that time he entered into matrimony with that excellent and wealthy lady, Miss Mary Videau, who, with her affections, bestowed on him a fortune sufficient to satisfy his utmost wishes, even though they had been far less moderate than they were. Seeing now no par- ticular obligation on him to continue longer in the public service, he gladly yielded to his sense of what he owed to a generous and beloved companion, and with her, retired to his native parish of St. John's, where, amidst the benedictions of his countrymen, an'i the caresses of numerous friends, he spent the short remnant of his days, participating every rural sweet with the dear woman of his choice, feasting on the happy retrospect of a life passed in fighting for THE RIGHTS OF MAN, and fondly cherishing the hopes of a better CHAPTER XXXI. The author's last visit to Marion interesting conversation on the importance of public instruction free schools shown to be a great saving to a nation. I OFTEN went to see Marion. Our evenings were passed as might have been expected between two old friends, who had spent their better days together in scenes of honorable enterprise and danger. On the night of the last visit I ever made him, observing that the clock was going for ten, I asked him if it were Dot neai his hour of rest. GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 239 * Oh no, v said he, " we must not talk o/ bed yet. It is but seiGom, you know, that we meet. And as this may be our last, let us take all we can of it n chat. What do you think of the times'?" " glorious times," said I. " Yes, thank God !" replied he. " They are glorious times indeed ; and fully equal to all that we had in hope, when we drew our swords for independence But I am afraid they won't last long." I asked him why he thought so. "Oh ! knowledge, sir," said he, ^is wanting ! know- edge is wanting! Israel of old, you know, was de- stroyed for lack of knowledge ; and all nations, all in- dividuals, have come to naught from the same cause." I told him I thought we were too happy to change so soon. " Pshaw !" replied he, " that is nothing to the pur- pose. Happiness signifies nothing, if it be not known, and properly valued. Satan, we are told, was once an angel of light, but for want of duly considering his glorious state, he rebelled and lost all. And how many hundreds of young Carolinians have we not known, whose fathers left them all the means of hap- piness ; elegant estates, handsome wives, and, in short, every blessing that the most luxurious' could desire ? Yet they could not rest, until by drinking and gambling, they had fooled away their fortunes, parted from their wives, and rendered themselves the veriest beggars and blackguards on earth. " Now, why was all this, but for lac k of know ledge 1 For had those silly ones but known the evils of pover- ty, what a vile thing it was to wear a dirty shirt, a long beard, and ragged coat ; to go without a dinner, or to spunge for it among growling relations ; or to be bespattered, or run over in the streets, by the sons of those who were once their fathers' overseers ; I say, had those poor boobies, in the days of their prospe- rity, known these things as they now do, would thej have squandered away the precious means of inde 240 THE LIFE or pendence and pleasure, and ha\e brought themselves to all 'his shame and sorrow ? No, never, never, never " And so it is, most exactly, with nations. If those that are free and happy., did but know their blessings, do you think they would ever exchange them for slavery? If the Carthagenians, for example, in the days of their freedom and self-government, when they obeyed no laws but of their own making ; paid no taxes, but for their own benefit ; and, free as air, pur sued their own interest as they liked ; I say, If that once glorious and happy people had known their blessings, would they have sacrificed them all, by their accursed factions, to the Romans, to be ruled, they and their children, with a rod of iron ; to be bur- dened like beasts, and crucified like malefactors? " No, surely they would not." " Well, now to bring this home to ourselves. We fought for self-government ; and God hath pleased to give us one, better calculated perhaps to protect our tights, to foster our virtues, to call forth our energies, and to advance our condition nearer to perfection and happiness, than any government that was ever framed under the sun." "But what signifies even this government, divine as it is, if it be not known and prized as it deserves ?" I asked him how he thought this was best to be done " " Why, certainly," replied he, " by free schools. " I shook my head. He observed it, and asked me what I meant bv that ? I told him I was afraid the legislature would look to their popularity, and dread the expense. He exclaimed, " God preserve our legislature Irora such 'penny wit and pound foolishness /' What sir keep a nation in ignorance, rather than vote a little of their own money for education ! Only let such poli- ticians remember, what poor Carolina has already iost through her ignorance. What was it that brc ugh. GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 241 ihe British, last war, to Carolina, but her lack oj knowledge*! Had the people been enlightened, they would have been united ; and had they been united, they never would have been attacked a second time b) the British. For after that drubbing they got from us at fort Moultrie, in 1776, they would as soon have attacked the devil as have attacked Carolina again, had they not heard that they were ' a house divided against itself ;' or in other words, had amongst us a great number of TORIES ; men, who, through mere ignorance, were disaffected to the cause of liberty, and ready to join the British against their own country- men. Thus, ignorance begat toryism, and toryism begat losses in Carolina, of which few have any idea " According to the best accounts, America spent in the last war, seventy millions of dollars, which, divided among the states according to their popula- tion, gives to Carolina about eight millions ; making, as the war lasted eight years, a million a year. Now, it is generally believed, the British, after their loss of Burgoyne and their fine northern army, would soon have given up the contest, had it not been for the foot- hold they got in Carolina, which protracted the war at least two years longer. And as this two years' ruinous war in Carolina was owing to the encourage- ment the enemy got there, and that encouragement to toryism, and that toryism to ignorance, ignorance may fairly be debited to two millions of loss to Carolina. " WelK in these two extra years of tory-begotten war, Carolina lost, at least four thousand men ; and among them, a Laurens, a Williams, a Campbell, a HayneSj and many others, whose worth not the gold of Ophir could value. But rated at the price at which the prince of Hesse sold his people to George the Third, to shoot the Americans, say, thirty pounds sterling a head, or one hundred and fifty dollars, they make six hundred thousand dollars. Then count the twenty-five thousand slaves which Carolina certainly ogt. ; and each slave at the moderate price of thref 21 242 THE L IFE OF bundled dollars, and yet have seven millions five hundred thousand. To this add the houses, barns, and stables that were burnt ; the plate plundered ; the furniture lost ; the hogs sheep and horned cattle kill- ed ; the rice, corn and othei crops destroyed, and they amount, at the most moderate calculation, to five millions. " Now, to say nothing of those losses, which can- not be rated by doLars and cents, such as the destruc- tion of morals and the distraction of childless parents and widows, but counting those only that are of the plainest calculations, such as, 1st. Carolina's loss in the extra two ) * ^ QQQ QQQ year's war. $ 2d. For her four thousand citizens ) cr . n nnn slain in that time, $ ' 00 3d. For twenty-five thousand slaves ) - p.^ nn n lost, \ 7,500,00 4th. For buildings, furniture, cattle, ? .. nftn nnn grain, &c. &c. destroyed, $ $ 15,100,000 Making the enormous sum of fifteen millions and odd dollars capital ; and bearing an annual interest of nearly ten hundred thousand dollars besides! and all this for lack of a few free schools, which would have cost the state a mere nothing." I sighed, and told him I wished he had not broach- ed the subject, for it had made me very sad. " Yes," replied he, " it is enough to make any one sad. But it cannot be helped but by a wiser course of things ; for, if people will not do what will vrake them happy, God will surely chastise them ; and this dreadful loss of public property is one token of his displeasure at our neglect of public instruction.'' I asked him if this were really his belief. " Yes, sir," replied he, with great earnestness, " it is my be- lief, and I would not exchange it for worlds. It t* FRANCIS MARION. 243 my firm belief, that every evil under the sun is of the nature of chastisement, and appointed of the infi- nitely good Being for our benefit. When you see a youth, who, but lately, was the picture of bloom and manly beauty, now utterly withered and decayed ; his body bent ; his teeth dropping out ; his no-.s consum- ed ; with fetid breath, ichorous eyes, and his whole appearance most putrid, ghastly, and loathsome, you are filled with pity and with horror ; you can hardly believe there is a God, or hardly refrain from charg- ing him with cruelty. But, where folly raves, wisdom adores. In this awful scourge of lawless lust, wisdom discerns the infinite price which heaven sets on con- jugal purity and love. In like manner, the enormous sacrifice of public property, in the last war, being no more, as before observed, than the natural effect ot' public ignorance, ought to teach us that of all sins, there is none so hateful to God as national ignorance , that unfailing spring of NATIONAL INGRATITUDE, REBELLION, SLAVERY, and WRETCHEDNESS.' " But if it be melancholy to think of so many ele- gant houses, rich furniture, fat cattle, and precious crops, destroyed for want of that patriotism which ? true knowledge of our interests would have inspired then how much more melancholy to think of thos torrents of precious blood that were shed, those crue^ slaughters and massacres, that took place among th- citizens from the same cause ! As proof that such hel) ish tragedies would never have been acted, had ou state but been enlightened, only let us look at the peo pie of New England. From Britain, their fathers had fled to America for religion's sake. Religion had taught them that God created men to be happy ; that to be happy they must have virtue ; that virtue is not to be attained without /cnowledge, nor knowledge with- out instruction, nor public instruction without fret tchools, nor free schools without legislative order. " Among a people who fear God, the knowledge ot July is the same as doing it. Believing it to be toe 244 THE LIFE OF first command of God, "let there be lighl /' and bs- lieving it to be the will of God that " all should be instructed, from the least to the greatest," these wise legislators at once set about public instruction. They did not ask, how will my constituents like this ? won't they turn me out? shall I not lose my three dollars per day ? No ! but fully persuaded that public instruc- tion is God's will, because the people's good, they set about it like the true friends of the people. "Now mark the happy consequence. When the war broke out, you heard of no division in New Eng- land, no toryisra, nor any of its horrid effects ; no houses in flames, kindled by the hands of fellow-citi- zens, no neighbors waylaying and shooting their neighbors, plundering their property, carrying off their stock, and aiding the British in the cursed work of American murder and subjugation. But on the con- trary, with minds well informed of their rights, a.^d hearts glowing with love for themselves and posteri- ty, they rose up against the enemy, firm and united, as a band of shepherds against the ravening wolves. " And their valor in the field gave glorious proof how men will fight when they know that their all is at stake. See major Pitcairn, on the memorable 19th of April, 1775, marching from Boston, with one thousand British regulars, to burn the American stores at Con- cord. Though this heroic excursion was commenced under cover of the night, the farmers soon took the alarm, and gathering around them with their fowling pieces, presently knocked down one-fourth of their number, and caused the rest to run, as if, like the swine in the gospel, they had a legion of devils at their backs. " Now, with sorrowful eyes, let us turn to our own state, where no pains were ever taken to enlighten the minds of the poor. There we have seen a people na- turally is brave as the New Englanders, for mere lack of knowledge of their blessings possessed, of tht dangers threatened, suffer lord Cornwallis. with GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 24i only sixteen hundred men, to chase general Greene upwards of three hundred miles ! In fact, to scout him through the two great states of South and North Carolina as far as Guildford court-house ! and, when Greene, joined at that place by two thousand poor illiterate militia-men, determined at length to fight, what did he gain by them, with all their number, but disappointment and disgrace ? For, though posted very ad vantageonsly behind the corn-field fences, they could not stand a single fire from the British, but in spite of their officers, broke and fled like base-born slaves, leaving their loaded muskets sticking in the fence corners ! " But, from this shameful sight, turn again to the land of free schools; to Bunker's Hill. There, be- hind a poor ditch of half a night's raising, you be- hold fifteen hundred militia-men waiting the approach of three thousand British regulars with a heavy train of artillery ! With such odds against them, such fear- ful odds in numbers, discipline, arms, and martial fame, will they not shrink from the contest, and, like their southern friends, jump up and run ! Oh no ; to a man they have been taught to read ; to a man they have been instructed to know, and dearer than life to prize, the blessings of FREEDOM. Their bodies are lying behind ditches, but their thoughts are on the wing, darting through eternity. The warning voice of God still rings in their ears. The hated (orms of proud merciless kings pass before their eyes. They look back to the days of old, and strengthen themselves as they think what their gallant forefathers da-red for LIBERTY and for THEM. They looked forward to their own dear children, and yearn over the unoffending millions, now, in tearful eyes, looking up to them for protection. And shall this infinite host, of deathless beings, created in God's own image, and capable by VIRTUE and EQUAL LAWS, of endless progression in glory and happiness ; shall they be ar- rested in their high career, and from the freeboru 21* 246 TH E LIFE OK sons of God, be degraded into the slaves of man? Maddening at the accursed thought, they grasp their avenging firelocks, and drawing their sights along the death-charged tubes, they long for the coming up of the British thousands. Three times the British thousands came up ; and three times the dauntless yeomen, waiting their near approach, received them in storms of thunder and lightning that shivered their ranks, and heaped the field with their weltering car- casses. " In short, my dear sir, men will always fight for their government, according to their sense of its value. To value it aright, they must understand it. This they cannot do without education. And as a large portion of the citizens are poor, and can never attain that inestimable blessing, without the aid of government, it is plainly the first duty of government to bestow it freely upon them. And the more per- fect the government, the greater the duty to make il well known. Selfish and oppressive governments, in- deed, as Christ observes, must "hate the light, and fear to come to it, because their deeds are evil." But a fair and cheap government, like our republic, " longs for the light, and rejoices to come to the light, that it may be manifested to be from God," and well worth all the vigilance and valor that an enlightened nation can rally for its defence. And, God knows, a good government can hardly ever be half anxious enough to give its citizens a thorough knowledge of its own excellencies. For as some of the most valu- able truths, for lack of careful promulgation, have been lost ; so the best government on earth, if not duly known and prized, may be subverted. Ambi- tious demagogues will rise, and the people through ignorance, and love of change, will follow them Vast armies will be formed, and bloody battles fought. And after desolating th-eir country with all the hor' rors of civil war, the guilty survivors will have to bend their necks to the iron yokes of son?? f>*ern GEN. FRANCIS MARION. 241 usurper, and like beasts of burden, to drag, unpitied, those galling chains which they have riveted upot themselves for ever." This, as nearly as I can recollect, was the substance of the last dialogue I ever had with Marion. It waf spoken with an emphasis which I shall never forget. Indeed he described the glorious action at Bunker'- Hill, as though he had been one of the combatant. His agitation was great, his voice became altered an 1 broken ; and his face kindled over with that living fire with which it was wont to burn, when he entered the battles of his country. I arose from my seat as he spoke ; and on recovering from the magic of his tongue, found myself bending forward to the voice of my friend, and my right hand stretched by my side ; it was stretched to my side for the sword that was wont to burn in the presence of Marion when battle rose, and the crowding foe was darkening around us. But thanks to God, 'twas sweet delusion all. No sword hung burning by my side ; no crowd- ing foe darkened around us. In dust or in chains the)i had all vanished away, and bright in his scabbard rested the sword of peace in my owe pleasant hallj on Winyaw bay. 248 THE LIFE OF CHAPTEK XXXII. The death of Marion his character. Next to Washington, O glorious shade ! In page historic shall thy name have place. Deep on thy country's memory are portrayed Those gallant deeds which time shall ne'er erase AA .' futt of honors, and of years farewell ! Thus o'er thy tomb shall Carolina sigh : Each tongue thy valor and thy worth shall tell, Which taught the young to fight, the old to die." THE next morning, I set out for my plantation on A^inyaw bay. Marion, as usual, accompanied me to ny horse, and, at parting, begged I would come and ice him again soon, for that he felt he had not long to stay. As the reader may suppose, I paid but little heed to this expression, which I looked on as no more than the common cant of the aged. But I soon had cause to remember it with sorrow. For I had been but a few weeks at home, before, opening a Charles- ton paper, I found in a mourning column, " THE DEATH OF GENERAL MARION." Never shall 1 forget the heart-sickness of that moment ; never forget what I felt when first I learned that Marion was no more. Though the grave was between us, yet his be- loved image seemed to appear before me fresher than ever. All our former friendships, all our former wars returned. But alas! he who was to me the soul of all the rest ; the foremost in every battle ; the dearest at every feast ; he shall return no more ! " Oh Marion, my friend!" my bursting heart seemed to say, " and art thou gone ? Shall I no more hear that voice which was always so sweet ; no more see that smile which awakened up such joy in my soul ! Must that beloved form be lost forever among the clods in the valley. And those godlike virtues, shall they pass away like the empty visions of the night!" GEN FRANCIS M/vRION. 249 From this deep gloom which strong atheistic sor- row bad poured over my nerves, I was suddenly roused, as by an angel's touch, to the bright hopes of religion. The virtues of my departed friend all flash ed at once upon my kindling thoughts : his counte- nance so stern with honor ; his tongue so sacred to truth ; that heart always so ready to meet death in defence of the injured ; that eye ever beaming bene- volence to man, and that whole life so reverential of God. The remembrance, I say, of all these things, came in streams of joy to my heart. " O happy Marion !" I exclaimed, " thou art safe, my friend ; thou art safe. No tears of mine shall doubt thy blissful state. Surely if there be a God, and that there is, all nature cries ,aloud through all her works, he must delight in virtue, and what he delights in must be happy." Then it was, that I felt what a benefactor Marion had been to me. How dear his company while liv- ing ; how sweet his memory when dead. Like the sun travelling in brightness, his smiles had ever been my joy, his example my light. And though now set in the grave, yet has he not left me in darkness. His virtues, like stars, are lighted up after him. They point my hopes to the path of glory ; and proclaim, that, though fallen, he is not extinguished. From the physicians and many others who attend- ed him in his last illness, I learned that he had died as he had lived, a truly GREAT MAN. His chamber was not, as is usual with dying persons, a scene of gloom and silent distress, but rather like the cheerful parlor of one who was setting out on an agreeable journey. " Some," said he, " have spoken of death as a leap in the dark ; but for my part, I look on it as a welcome resting place, where virtuous old age may throw down his pains and aches, wipe off his old scores, and begin anew on an innocent and happy state that shall last for ever. What weakness to wish to .ve to such ghastly dotage, ai to frighten tb* chii 250 THE i^FE OF dren, and make even the dogs to bark at us as we totter along the streets. Most certainly then, there is a time when, to a good man, death is a great meny even to his body ; and as to his soul, why should he tremble about that ? Who can doubt that God created us to be happy ; and thereto made us to love one ano- ther? which is plainly written in our hearts; whose every thought and work of love is happiness, and as plainly written as the gospel ; whose every line breathes love, and every precept enjoins good works. Now, the man who has spent life in bravely denying himself every inclination that would make others miserable, and in courageously doing all in his power to make them happy, what has such a man to fear from death, or rather, what glorious things has he not to hope from it ?" Hearing one of his friends say that the methodists and baptists were progressing rapidly in some Darts of the state, he replied, " Well, thank God for that ; that is good news." The same gentleman then asked him which he thought was the best religion. " I know but one religion," he answered, " and that is hearty love of God and man. This is the only true religion ; and I would to God our country was full of it. For it is the only spice to embalm and to immortalize our republic. Any politician can sketch out a fine theory of government, but what is to bind the peo- ple to the practice ? Archimedes used to mourn that though his mechanic powers were irresistible, yet he could never raise the world ; because he had no place in the heavens, whereon to fix his pullies. Even so, our republic will never be raised above the shame- ful factions and miserable end of all other govern- ments, until our citizens come to have their hearts like Archimedes' pullies, fixed on heaven. The world sometimes make such bids to ambition, that nothing but heaven can outbid her. The heart is sometimes so embittered, that nothing but divine love can sweeten it ; so enraged, that devotion only can beoahn it ; and GEN, FRANJIS MARION. 261 so broke down, that it takes all the force of heavenly hope to raise it. In short, religion is the only sove- reign and controlling power over man. Bound bj that, the rulers will never usurp, nor the people rebel. The former will govern like fathers, and the latter obey like children. And thus moving on. firm and united as a host of brothers, they will continue iu- vincible as long as they continue virtuous." When he was near his end, seeing his lady weep- ing by his bedside, he gave her a look of great ten- derness, and said, " My dear, weep not for me, I am not afraid to die ; for, thank God, I can lay my hand on my heart and say, that since I came to man's es- tate, I have never intentionally done wrong to any." These were nearly his last words, for shortly after uttering them, he closed his eyes in the sleep )f death. Thus peaceful and happy was the end of general Francis Marion, of whom, a^ a partisan officer, gene- ral Greene has often been heard to say, that " the page of history never furnished his equal." And if any higher praise of Marion were necessary, it is to be found in the very remarkable resemblance between him and the great Washington. They both came forward, volunteers in the service of their country ; they both learned the military art in the hard and hazardous schools of Indian warfare ; they were both such true soldiers in vigilance, that no enemy could ever surprise them ; and so equal in undaunted valor, that nothing could ever dishearten them : while as to the still nobler virtues of patience, disinterest- edness, self-government, severity to themselves and generosity to their enemies, it is difficult to determine whether Marion or Washington most deserve our admiration. And even in the lesser incidents of their lives, the resemblance between these two great men is closer than common. They were both born in the tame year ; both lost their fathers in early Me ; both 252 GEN - FRANCIS MARION. married excellent and wealthy ladies ; both left widows ; and both died childless. The name of Marion continues dear to the people of the south ; and to this day, whenever his amiable widow rides through the country, she meets the most pleasing evidences, that her husband, though dead, is not forgotten. The wealthy, every where, treat her with the respect due to a mother ; while the poor, gathering around her carriage, often press to shake hands with her, then looking at each other with a sigh they exclaim " THAT'S THE WIDOW OF OUB GLORIOUS OLD MARION." University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. OCT181999