Charge of Colonel Washington's Dragoons.

Tarleton's defeat was a blow entirely unexpected by Cornwallis, and induced him to march from Wynesborough to the Yadkin, in pursuit of Morgan, with the hope of overtaking him and recovering the prisoners. The British troops endured this long and fatiguing march, under every species of difficulty; crossing rivers, swamps, marshes and creeks with uncommon resolution and patience. Greene, on hearing that Cornwallis was in pursuit of Morgan, left his post near the Pedee under the command of General Huger, pushed rapidly forward with a small party, one hundred and fifty miles, and joined Morgan before Cornwallis arrived at the Catawba. In this pursuit Cornwallis cut off some of the small detachments, not in sufficient force for effectual opposition. General Davison made a successful stand on the banks of the Catawba, with three or four hundred men; but, the British fording the river unexpectedly, he was himself killed and his troops dispersed. The passage of the river by the British army was no further impeded.

Greene had ordered Colonels Huger and Williams, whom he had left some days before at the Pedee, to join him with their troops; however, it was but a short time after this junction before Greene had the strongest reason to conclude that the safety of his troops lay only in retreat; nor was this accomplished without the utmost difficulty. His march was frequently interrupted by steep ascents and unfordable rivers. But he adroitly escaped a pursuing and powerful army, whose progress was, fortunately for the Americans, checked by the same impediments, and at much less favorable moments of arrival.

The freshets swelled, and retarded the passage of the British army, while they seemed at times to suspend their rapidity in favor of the Americans. After a flight and pursuit of fifteen or twenty days, supported by the most determined spirit and perseverance on both sides, Greene reached Guilford, about the middle of February, where he ordered all the troops he had left near the Pedee, under officers on whom he could depend, to repair immediately to him.

Greene and Cornwallis lay at no great distance from each other; but Greene kept his position, as much as possible, concealed, as he was not yet in a situation to venture upon a decisive action; and though he was obliged to move earlier toward the British encampment, no engagement took place until the middle of March. In the meantime, by his ability and address, he eluded the vigilance of his enemies, and kept himself secure by a continual change of posts, until strengthened by fresh reinforcements of the North Carolina and Virginia militia. The few continental troops he had with him, joined by these and a number of volunteers from the interior of the mountainous tracts of the wilderness, induced him to risk a battle.

On the 15th of March, 1781, the two armies met at Guilford, and seemed at first to engage with equal ardor; but, as usual, the raw militia were intimidated by the valor and discipline of the British veterans. Almost the whole corps of Carolinians threw down their arms and fled, many of them without even discharging their firelocks. This deranged the order of the American army; yet, they supported the action with great spirit and bravery for an hour and a half, when they were entirely broken, and obliged to retreat with the utmost precipitation. Both armies suffered much by the loss of many gallant officers and a considerable number of men. Cornwallis kept the field, and claimed the victory; but, the subsequent transactions discovered that the balance of real advantage lay on the other side. Cornwallis soon decamped from the neighborhood, and marched with all possible expedition toward the eastern parts of North Carolina. He found many difficulties in his way, but pursued his route with great perseverance. His army cheerfully sustained the severest fatigue; but, as they had frequently done before, they marked their way with the slaughter of the inhabitants, through a territory of many hundred miles in extent, from Charleston to Yorktown. It was afterward computed that fourteen hundred widows were made, during this year's campaign, only in the district Ninety-Six.

A detail of all the small rencounters that took place this year in both the Carolinas would only fatigue the reader. It is enough to observe that the Americans, under various leaders, were continually attacking, with alternate success and defeat, the chain of British posts

planted from Camden to Ninety-Six; and, as Greene himself expressed his sentiments in this embarrassed situation, "We fight, get beaten; rise and fight again: the whole country is one continued scene of slaughter and blood." Fierce encounters were still kept up between the British detachments, posted on advantageous heights, and on the banks of deep and unfordable rivers which intersected each other, and the hardy chieftain who led the Carolinian bands over mountains, declivities, swamps and rivers to the vicinity of Charleston. Thence they were often obliged to retreat back from the borders of civilization, again to seek safety in the dreary wilderness; until the British, wearied by a perpetual course of hostilities without decision, drew in their cantonments, and took post, about the beginning of September, at the Eutaw Springs, nearly fifty miles from Charleston.

General Greene, when near the waters of the Congaree, where the two armies were separated at the distance of only fifteen miles, had attempted to bring the enemy to a close engagement; but, there appeared at that time no inclination in the British commander to meet him. Greene now found the enemy were about to take a new position. This induced him to follow them by a circuitous march of seventy or eighty miles. Desultory skirmishes continued through the month of August; and, in the next month, Greene again renewed his challenge, and advanced to the Springs, where the main body of the British troops were collected. He had with him only about two thousand men; but, these were commanded by some of the best of his officers. They attacked the British encampment on the 8th of September. The battle was severe, but the Americans obtained the advantage. The loss of the British amounted to eleven hundred men; that of the Americans to five hundred. Colonel Stewart, the British commander, claimed the victory, though it was a drawn battle. Greene suffered the loss of many brave soldiers, and some very valuable officers. Colonel Campbell, of Virginia, fell toward the termination of the action, and had time, after the mortal wound, only to observe that, "as the British fled, he died contented."

Stewart wrote to Sir Henry Clinton a detail of the affair, in the pompous style of a victor; but, notwithstanding he arrogated so much on the occasion, the action at Eutaw Springs put a period to all further offensive operations in that quarter; and the British troops after this seldom ventured beyond the boundaries of Charleston. Besides the numbers slain in this action, four or five hundred of the British troops were taken prisoners. The Americans suffered equally, and perhaps in greater proportion to their numbers than the British. After this action, Greene retired again for a time to the heights bordering on the Santee. He had accomplished much during the

year. He opened the campaign with the most gloomy prospects; he closed it with honor to himself and great advantage to the country.

Cornwallis, soon after the battle of Guilford, marched to Wilming ton, in North Carolina. In the expectation that the force left in South Carolina, under Lord Rawdon, would be able to hold the Americans in check in that quarter, he turned his attention to Virginia. The conquest of that state by the British appeared to be the most efficacious method of striking a blow which should overwhelm all the southern colonies. Their force was strong. The Americans had no considerable army in Virginia. in Virginia. Washington lay in his cantonments about New York, where the hostile attitude of Clinton demanded his constant vigilance. With these inviting prospects, Cornwallis marched from Wilmington, in April, 1781, and, with some occasional resistance from small parties of the Americans, reached Petersburg, in Virginia, on the 20th of May. Here he was joined by the British forces under General Philips, and shortly after by a reinforcement of fifteen hundred men from New York.

Cornwallis now found himself at the head of an army amounting nearly to ten thousand men, a force sufficiently formidable to bear down all opposition. The troops of the Americans did not exceed three thousand men, two-thirds of whom were militia. These were commanded by La Fayette, who retired as Cornwallis advanced. After crossing James river, the British marched and counter-marched for some weeks. They took Charlotteville, and destroyed a great quantity of stores. Cornwallis then fell back upon Richmond, and on the 26th of June, retreated to Williamsburg. La Fayette had the address to make his force appear much greater than it really was; and by keeping in an imposing attitude, he compelled his adversary to act with caution. Many skirmishes took place, but no decisive action ensued. About the first of July, Cornwallis received letters from Clinton, stating his fears of being attacked in New York, and requesting a reinforcement from the army of Cornwallis. He recommended that the troops remaining in Virginia should take post in some strong situation, till the danger at New York had passed. To comply with these suggestions, Cornwallis resolved to retreat toward the shores of the Chesapeake. Portsmouth, near Norfolk, where the British had a strong garrison, was first fixed upon as the station for the army; but, on account of the fleet, Yorktown was afterward found a preferable spot. The troops were therefore removed from Portsmouth to Yorktown, and here the whole British army fortified themselves in July, 1781. The detachment, however, to reinforce Clinton was not sent away. Cornwallis expected to be further

strengthened by the speedy arrival of a British squadron from the West Indies.

Washington, in the meantime, had been eyeing the movements of Cornwallis in the south, with great anxiety. During the early part of the season, he had hopes of striking an important blow, by attacking New York, in conjunction with the French land and sea forces, and a strong body of militia, to be suddenly raised for that