Captain Kirkwood, with the Delaware troops, formed a corps of reserve. As the Americans advanced to the attack, they fell in with two advanced parties of the British, three or four miles ahead of their main army. These being briskly charged by the legion and State troops, soon retired. The front line continued to fire and advance on the British till the action became general, and till they, in their turn, were obliged to give way. They were well supported by General Sumner's North Carolina brigade of Continentals, though they had been under discipline only for a few weeks, and were chiefly composed of militia-men who had been transferred to the continental service to make reparation for their precipitate flight in former actions. In the hottest of the engagement, when great execution was doing on both sides, Colonel Williams and Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, with the Maryland and Virginia Continentals, were ordered by General Greene to charge with trailed arms. Nothing could surpass the intrepidity of both officers and men on this occasion; they rushed on, in good order, through a heavy cannonade and a shower of musketry, with such unshaken resolution that they bore.down all before them. The State troops of South Carolina were deprived of their gallant leader, Lieutenant-Colonel Henderson, who was wounded very early in the action; but they were nevertheless boldly led on by the second in command, Lieutenant-Colonel Hampton, to a very spirited and successful charge, in which they took upwards of a hundred prisoners. Lieutenant-Colonel Washington brought up the corps-de-reserve on the left, and charged so briskly with his cavalry and Captain Kirkwood's light infantry, as gave them no time to rally or form. The British were closely pursued, and upwards of five hundred prisoners were taken. On their retreat they took their posts in a strong brick house, and in impenetrable shrubs and a picquetted garden. From these advantageous positions they renewed the action; Lieutenant-Colonel Washington made every possible exertion to dislodge them from the thickets, but failed in the attempt-had his horse shot under him, was wounded and taken prisoner. Four six-pounders were ordered up before the house from which the British were firing under cover. These pieces finally fell into their hands, and the Americans retired out of the reach of their fire. They left a strong picquet on the field of battle, and retreated to the nearest water in their rear. In the evening of the next day, Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart destroyed a great quantity of his stores, abandoned the Eutaw, and moved towards Charlestown, leaving upwards of seventy of his wounded, and a thousand stand of arms. He was pursued for several miles, but without effect. The loss of the British amounted to up

wards of eleven hundred men. That of the Americans was about five hundred, in which number were sixty officers. Among the killed of Greene's army, the brave LieutenantColonel Campbell, of the Virginia line, was the theme of universal lamentation. While with great firmness he was leading on his brigade to that charge which determined the fate of the day, he received a mortal wound. After his fall he inquired who gave way, and being informed the British were fleeing in all quarters, he added, "I die contented," and immediately expired.

Congress honored General Greene, for his decisive conduct in this action, with a British standard and a gold medal; and they also voted their thanks to the different corps and their Commanders.

After the action at the Eutaws, the Americans retired to their former position on the high hills of Santee, and the British took post in the vicinity of Monk's Corner. While they lay there, a small party of American cavalry, commanded by Colonel Maham, took upwards of eighty prisoners, within sight of their main army. The British no more acted with their usual vigor. On the slightest appearance of danger, they discovered a disposition to flee scarcely inferior to what was exhibited the year before by the American militia.

SECTION XI.

Campaign of 1782.

Though the army under Greene was too weak to risk another general action, yet it became necessary, in the close of the year 1781, to move into the lower country to cover the collection of provisions for subsistence through the winter. In about two months after the action at Eutaw, the main body of the American army was put in motion under Colonel Williams. Greene, with two hundred horse and two hundred infantry, advanced by private roads and appeared near Dorchester so unexpectedly and with such confidence, as induced the British to believe that the whole army was in his rear. This manœuvre had the intended effect. They abandoned their outposts, and retired with their whole force to the quarterhouse on Charlestown Neck. By this means all the rice between Edisto and Ashley rivers was saved to the Americans.

The defence of the country was given up, and the conquerors, who had lately carried their arms to the extremities of the State, seldom aimed at anything more than to secure themselves in Charlestown Neck, and to keep a communication with the sea islands, on which they had collected great numbers of cattle. Yet they made some excursions with cavalry.

One of the most important was in February, 1782. While General Marion was attending his duty as a member of the Legislature, at Jacksonborough, his brigade was surprised near the Santee by a party of British horse commanded by that spirited and judicious officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Thomson, (now Count Rumford.) Major Benson, an American officer highly esteemed by his countrymen, Mr. Thomas Broughton, a young gentleman of an ancient family in South Carolina, and some others, were killed. The remainder of the brigade then in camp was for some time dispersed. In a few days the British retired within their lines, and the militia re-assembled.

In the summer of 1782, the British announced their intention of evacuating Charlestown. They offered to pay for rice and other provisions that should be delivered to them before their departure, and at the same threatened that if it was withheld it should be taken by force without compensation. The British offers to purchase being refused, they sent out parties to seize provisions near the different landings, and to bring them by water to Charlestown. One of the most considerable parties on this service was sent to Combakee ferry, where they arrived on the 25th of August, 1782. BrigadierGeneral Gist, with about three hundred cavalry and infantry of the continental army, was detached to oppose them. He succeeded so far as to capture one of their schooners, and in a great degree to frustrate their designs. Lieutenant-Colonel John Laurens, though he had been confined for several days, on hearing of the expedition, rose from his bed and followed General Gist. When the British and American detachments approached within a few miles of each other, LieutenantColonel Laurens, being in advance with a small party of regulars and militia, engaged with a much superior force, in expectation of support from the main body in his rear. In the midst of his gallant exertions, this all-accomplished youth received a mortal wound. Nature had adorned him with a profusion of her choicest gifts, to which a well conducted education had added its most useful as well as its most elegant improvements. Though his fortune and family entitled him to pre-eminence, yet he was the warm friend of republican equality. Generous and liberal, his heart expanded with genuine philanthropy. Zealous for the rights of humanity, he contended that personal liberty was the birthright of every human being, however diversified by country, color or capacity. His insinuating address won the hearts of all his acquaintances; his sincerity and virtue secured their lasting esteem. Acting from the most honorable principles— uniting the bravery and other talents of a great officer with

the knowledge of a complete scholar, and the engaging manners of a well bred gentleman, he was the idol of his country, the glory of the army, and an ornament of human nature. His abilities shone in the legislature and in the cabinet as well as in the field, and were equal to the highest stations. His admiring country, sensible of his rising merit, stood prepared to confer on him her most distinguished honors. Cut down in the midst of all these prospects, he has left mankind to deplore the calamities of war, which, in the twenty-seventh year of his life, deprived society of so invaluable a citizen.

Throughout the year 1782, the American army acted chiefly on the defensive. A short time before the evacuation, an attempt was made against a British detachment on James' Island. In this unsuccessful enterprise, Captain Wilmot, a brave and worthy officer of the Maryland line, lost his life. This was the last drop of blood shed in the American war.

After General Greene moved from the high hills of Santee into the low country, near Charlestown, a scene of inactivity succeeded different from the busy operations of the late campaign. He was unable to attempt anything against the British within their lines, and they declined risking any general action without them.

While the American soldiers lay encamped in this inactive situation, their tattered rags were so completely worn out that seven hundred of them were as naked as they were born, excepting a small slip of cloth about their waists, and they were nearly as destitute of meat as of clothing. In this condition they lay for three months within four hours march of the British garrison in Charlestown, which contained in it more regular troops than there were continentals in the American army. Though they had abundant reason to complain, yet, while they were every day marching and almost every week fighting, they were in good health, good spirits and good humor; but when their enemy was confined within their fortifications, and they were inactive, they became sickly and discontented, and a few began to be mutinous. Their long arrears of pay, the deficiency of their clothing, and their want of many comforts, were forgotten whilst constant action employed their minds and bodies, but when an interruption of hostilities gave them leisure to brood over their calamities, these evils were presented to their imaginations in aggravated colors. A plan was seriously laid to deliver their gallant and victorious leader into the hands of the British, but the whole design was happily discovered and prevented from being carried into execution. To the honor of the continental army, it may with justice be added, that notwithstanding the pressure of their many sufferings, the whole number concerned in this plot did not exceed twelve.

In the course of the year 1782, John Mathews, Esquire, Governor of South Carolina, concerted measures with some of the citizens in Charlestown, who wished to make their peace with their countrymen, for sending out of the British lines necessary clothing for the almost naked continentals. When their distresses had nearly arrived to that point beyond which human nature can bear no more, Mr. Joshua Lockwood, under the direction of Governor Mathews, brought out of Charlestown a large quantity of the articles which were most needed in the American camp. This seasonable supply, though much short of their due, quieted the minds of the suffering soldiers. Tranquility and good order were restored in the camp, and duty was cheerfully performed. It is impossible to do justice to that invincible fortitude which was displayed by both officers and men in the campaigns of 1780 and 1781. They encountered fatigues which, if particularly related, would appear almost incredible. They had scenes of suffering to bear up under, of which citizens in the peaceable walks of private life can form no adequate idea. Without pay, almost without clothing, and often with but a scanty portion of the plainest provisions, they were exposed to the scorching heat of the day, and the baleful vapors of the night. When sinking under the fatigues of repeated successions of forced marches, they were destitute of every comfort suitable to their situation. But to all these accumulated hardships the greatest part of them submitted with patience and magnanimity, which reflected honor on human nature, and which was never exceeded by any army in the world.

SECTION XII.

Revolutionary Miscellaneous History.

The reduction of Charlestown in May 1780, was followed by the establishment of a military government. A Commandant was appointed to superintend the affairs of the province. His powers were as undefined as those of the American committees which took place in the early stages of the dispute between Great Britain and America, while the royal governments were suspended and before the popular establishments were reduced to system. To soften the rigid and forbidding aspect of this new mode of administration, and as far as possible to temper it with the resemblance of civil authority, a board of police for the summary determination of disputes was instituted. Under the direction of James Simpson, intendant of the board, a table was drawn up, ascertaining the depreciation of the paper currency at different periods; from which the friends of royal government, who had sustained losses by paper payments, were induced to hope for reimburse