General Marion on the northeast, and General Sumpter on the southwest parts of South Carolina, each at the head of a small party of mounted followers, had maintained a bold but ineffectual warfare; and from their feeble and desultory efforts no serious apprehensions were entertained: but after the arrival of General Greene in South Carolina, they proved useful auxiliaries and troublesome enemies.

Lee joined Marion; and, on the 15th of April, they unexpectedly presented themselves before Fort Watson, a British post on the Santee. It was an Indian mound, rising 30 or 40 feet above the level of the plain. Neither the garrison nor the assailants had artillery; but in a few days the Americans constructed a work on an unusual plan, which overlooked the fort, and from the top of which the riflemen fired with such unerring aim that not a man of the garrison could show himself without certain destruction. On the 23d, the garrison, consisting of 114 men, capitulated.

General Greene hoped to arrive at Camden before Rawdon got notice of his march; but the inhabitants of the territories through which he passed were disaffected to the revolutionary cause; and he was obliged to forage with the same precautions as if he had been in an enemy's country; consequently his progress was slower than he had expected; Rawdon had received early information of his advance, and was ready to receive him when he appeared before Camden on the 20th of April.

Camden was a village situated on a plain, covered on the south by the Wateree, a river which higher up is called the Catawba; and below, after its confluence with the Congaree from the south, assumes the name of the Santee. On the east of it flowed a rivulet called Pinetree creek; on the north and west sides it was defended by a strong chain of redoubts, six in number, extending from the river to the creek. General Greene, whose force at that time amounted only to about 1,200 men, felt himself unable either to storm or completely to invest the place. He encamped before it to wait for the arrival of the militia whom he expected, and to be in readiness to improve any favorable opportunity that might occur; but he had not been long in that position when he was informed that Colonel Watson was marching up the Santee to join Rawdon. General Greene was sensible that, if that reinforcement arrived safely in Camden, he would be unable to maintain his ground before the place. He resolved to intercept Watson; which could be accomplished only by movements too rapid for the presence of baggage and artillery. In order to rid himself of these incumbrances, he sent them under the care of Colonel Carrington and some North Carolina militia to Lynch's creek, nearly 20 miles north from Camden, and moved his camp to the east of that place on the road to Charleston. Watson, having been interrupted by Marion and Lee, did not arrive so soon as was expected; and Greene found it difficult to procure provisions for his men in his new position. On the 24th he sent an order to Carrington to join him with the baggage and artillery at Hobkerk's hill, an eminence rather more than a mile north from Camden on the road to the Waxhaws. On the same day he marched his army to that place; where the left of his encampment was covered by a swamp, and the hill, as well as the ground between it and Camden, abounded with trees and underwood.

But

At that time a drummer deserted from General Greene, and informed Rawdon of the absence of his militia, artillery, and baggage. That officer immediately resolved to seize the favorable opportunity, and to attack the American general while destitute of artillery, and unsupported by the militia, or by Marion and Lee. Accordingly, on the morning of the 25th, at the head of about 900 men, he marched from Camden to attack General Greene's camp; and, by making a circuit, and keeping close to the edge of the swamp, under cover of the woods

he gained the left flank of the Americans, where the hill was most accessible, undiscovered. While the Americans were cooking their provisions, and General Greene at breakfast, the alarm was given by the outposts firing on the British van. At that critical moment the militia and the cannon arrived, and General Greene soon had his army in order of battle. The Virginia brigade, under General Huger, was on the right; the Maryland brigade, under Colonel Williams, was on the left; and the artillery in the centre. The North Carolina militia, under Colonel Reade, formed a second line; Captain Kirkwood, with the light infantry, was placed in front, to support the advanced parties, and to retard the progress of the British troops. So confident was General Greene of victory that he ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Washington, with his cavalry, to turn the right flank of the British, and to charge them in the rear.

Meanwhile the American advanced parties and Kirkwood's infantry, after a brisk fire, were driven in; and Rawdon advanced steadily to attack the main body of the American army. The 63d regiment, supported by the volunteers of Ireland, formed his right; the king's American regiment, supported by Captain Robertson's corps, composed his left; the New York volunteers were in the centre. The North Carolina volunteers and cavalry were in the rear, and formed a reserve.

After viewing the British army, and observing the narrow front which it presented, General Greene, sanguine in his hopes of success, ordered the second Maryland regiment to attack its right flank, a part of the Virginia troops to assail its left, and the rest of the Virginia and Maryland continentals to march down the hill and oppose it in front. Thus the British army was to be assailed in front, on both flanks, and in the rear.

Rawdon, perceiving General Greene's intention, quickly extended his front, by bringing the Irish volunteers forward into the line. The firing became very close, and though the American column which descended the hill was supported by a destructive discharge of grape-shot from the artillery, yet that part of the continentals was soon broken by the British troops, and fell back in confusion. Their officers were unable to rally them. The British gained the summit of the hill; and General Greene, surprised and mortified at the sudden and unexpected reverse, and apprehensive of the utter discomfiture and ruin of his army, ordered such of his continentals as were still unbroken, and his militia, who had not been engaged, to retreat. Washington, who had gained the rear of the British army, and made a number of prisoners, seeing the infantry driven from the field, paroled some wounded officers and retired, carrying with him about fifty prisoners, among whom were the royal surgeons.

In the confusion the American cannon were run down the hill, and concealed from the British among some bushes; but, in his retreat, Washington observed and drew them off. The pursuit was continued nearly three miles, but was ultimately checked by a furious charge made by Washington, with a body of cavalry. The retreat from the field was conducted in good order; and the Americans carried off all their baggage, artillery, and some prisoners. They halted for the night at Saunder's creek, four miles from Hobkerk's hill; and next day proceeded to Rugely's mills, twelve miles from Camden. After the engagement the British returned to Camden.

Hobkerk's hill was a hard-fought battle; and, considering the numbers engaged, each party suffered considerable loss. The Americans had nearly 300 men killed, wounded, or missing; and among them were some valuable officers. In killed, wounded, and missing, the loss of the British amounted to 258, out of about 900 who were on the field.

The battle of Hobkerk's hill, like that of Guildford courthouse, was of no permanent advantage to the British. For Rawdon was in no condition to follow

up the advantage which he had gained: General Greene retreated no farther than Rugely's mills; and the presence of his army, together with the activity and courage of his followers, fomented the spirit of disaffection to the British authority which had manifested itself in many parts of the southern provinces, and kept Rawdon in a very uneasy and critical situation. Knowing that the British troops could not long remain in Camden without receiving fresh supplies from Charleston or the country, General Greene sent a reinforcement to Marion on the road to Nelson's ferry; and on the 3d of May he passed the Wateree with the remainder of his army, and from time to time took such positions as would most effectually prevent the garrison of Camden from receiving any supplies.

Colonel Watson, as has been already mentioned, was marching with upward of 400 men to reinforce Rawdon. Marion and Lee having obtained information of his route, resolved to obstruct his progress, and took post so judiciously at the fords, that Watson was obliged to alter his course. He marched down the north side of the Santee, crossed it near its mouth, with incredible labor advanced up its southern bank, recrossed it above the encampment of Marion and Lee, but a little below the confluence of its two great branches the Congaree and Wateree, and arrived safely at Camden with his detachment on the 7th of May.

This reinforcement gave Rawdon a decided superiority, and he resolved instantly to avail himself of it. Accordingly, next night he marched against General Greene, with the intention of attacking him in his camp; but that officer, apprized of the reinforcement, and aware that it would immediately be employed against him, left the ground which he had lately occupied, passed the Wateree, retired to a greater distance from Camden, and took a strong position behind Saunder's creek. Rawdon followed him, and drove in his outposts; but, after attentively viewing his camp at all points, he was convinced that it could not be forced without a loss which he was in no condition to sustain; therefore he returned to Camden.

Rawdon's situation had now become extremely critical. Marion and Lee were exerting themselves with much activity and success against the chain of British posts, and the communications were every day becoming more difficult. It was necessary to diminish the number of posts, and to confine them within a narrower range. Accordingly, on the 10th of May, the British general burned the jail, mills, some private houses, part of his own stores, evacuated Camden, and retired, by Nelson's ferry, to the south of Santee, leaving behind him about thirty of his own sick and wounded, and as many Americans who had fallen into his hands in the battle of Hobkerk's hill.

After the evacuation of Camden, several of the British posts fell in rapid succession. On the 11th the garrison of Orangeburgh, consisting of seventy militia and twelve regulars, yielded to Sumpter. Marion and Lee, after taking Fort Watson, crossed the Santee and marched against Fort Motte, situated on the south side of the Congaree, a little above its confluence with the Wateree; they invested it on the 8th of May, and carried on their approaches so vigorously, that, after a brave defence, the garrison, consisting of sixty-five men, capitulated on the 12th. Georgetown, a post on the Black river, was reduced by a detachment of Marion's corps; and, on the 15th, Fort Grandby, a post at Friday's ferry, on the south side of the Congaree, thirty miles above Fort Motte, garrisoned by 350 men, chiefly militia, surrendered to Lee.

The presence of General Greene's army, the activity and success of his adherents, and the retreat of Rawdon, made the smothered disaffection of the inhabitants burst into a flame; and the greater part of the province openly revolted from the British authority. In that critical emergency, Rawdon retreated to Monk's corner, a position which enabled him to cover those districts from which

Charleston drew its more immediate supplies. General Greene, having succeeded in reducing so many of the British posts, and in forcing Rawdon to retire to Monk's corner, instead of following his lordship, turned his attention toward the western parts of the province, and to the upper posts in Georgia. He ordered Colonel Pickens to assemble the militia of Ninety-Six; and, on the day after the surrender of Fort Grandby, sent Lee to join him.

On the reduction of Georgia and South Carolina by the British in 1780, many of the most determined friends of congress in the upper parts of those states retreated across the mountains or fled into North Carolina; but the greater number, despairing of the popular cause, submitted to the conquerors, flattering themselves with the hope of being allowed to live in peace and in the secure enjoyment of their property. But when these men, accustomed to live on their lands in a state of rude independence, found themselves treated with overbearing insolence, plundered with unsparing rapacity, and compelled to take up arms against their countrymen, all their former predilections returned, and a spirit of bitter hostility to the royal authority was engendered.

When the British army, leaving only feeble garrisons behind, marched to the northward in the career of victory and conquest, this spirit soon manifested itself. Colonel Clarke with some adherents marched against the British garrison at Augusta. But Lieutenant-Colonel Cruger, who commanded at Ninety-Six, proceeded to the relief of Colonel Brown, the commandant of Augusta. Clarke was obliged to flee, and that premature insurrection was suppressed. Such of Clarke's adherents as fell into the hands of Colonel Brown were treated with the utmost rigor. But the spirit of opposition to the royal authority, though damped, was not extinguished: armed parties, commonly acting without any concert, daily multiplied, and disturbed the peace of the British garrisons. Captain M'Koy, with a few daring adventurers, infested the banks of the Savannah, and took some boats going up the river with supplies to Augusta he defeated a party sent against him by Colonel Brown; but, though joined by Colonel Harden and his band, he was afterward defeated by Brown, and his followers for a while dispersed.

These desultory encounters were now succeeded by more regular and steady operations. Colonel Clarke, with indefatigable zeal, had again returned to his native province; and a number of militia, under General Pickens, assembled in the vicinity of Augusta. On the fall of Fort Granby, Colonel Lee without delay marched toward Pickens's camp, and in four days effected a junction with him. Their first attempt was against Fort Golphin or Dreadnought, at Silver bluff, on the Carolina side of the river Savannah, which was garrisoned by seventy men : on the 1st of May it surrendered to a detachment of Lee's legion under Captain Rudolph.

Pickens and Lee now turned their united arms against Fort Cornwallis at Augusta: they carried on their approaches against the place with skill and activity; but Colonel Brown made a most obstinate defence. In the course of the siege several batteries were raised which overlooked the fort, and two of them were within thirty yards of the parapet; from these the American riflemen fired with such deadly aim, that every man who showed himself was instantly shot. The garrison almost buried themselves under ground; but their valor was unavailing, and on the 5th of June they, to the number of 300 men, surrendered by capitulation. The Americans had about forty men killed or wounded in the course of the siege.

The British officers at Augusta, by their severities, had rendered themselves singularly obnoxious to the inhabitants of the surrounding country; and after the surrender, Lieutenant-Colonel Grierson was shot dead by an unknown marksman, who escaped detection, although 100 guineas of reward were offered for the

discovery of the murderer. It was with difficulty that Colonel Brown was saved from a similar fate: he had lately hanged thirteen American prisoners, and delivered up some to the Indians, who put them to death with all those tortures which Indian ingenuity has devised, and which savage ferocity only can inflict. To save him from the vengeance of the enraged colonists, his conquerors escorted him safely to Savannah. At Silver Bluff, Mrs. M'Koy obtained permission to speak with him, and addressed him in the following manner :"Colonel Brown, in the late day of your prosperity I visited your camp, and on my knees begged the life of my son; but you were deaf to my supplications. You hanged him, though only a beardless youth, before my face. These eyes have seen him scalped by the savages under your immediate command, and for no better reason than because his name was M'Koy. As you are now a prisoner to the leaders of my country, for the present I lay aside all thoughts of revenge; but when you resume your sword, I will go 500 miles to demand satisfaction at the point of it for the murder of my son." If Brown was a man of any sensibility, he must have felt acutely at this singular insult.

While those operations were going on in Georgia, General Greene with his main army marched against the British post at Ninety-Six, in South Carolina. Ninety-Six (so named because it is ninety-six miles from the town of Kecowee in the territory of the Cherokees), at the time when it came into the possession of the British troops in 1780, like other villages on the frontiers of the colonies, was surrounded by a palisade to defend it against any sudden irruption of the Indians. But the British garrison had added some new works, the most important of which was on the right of the village, and, from its form, was called The Star. It consisted of sixteen salient and re-entering angles, with a dry ditch and abatis. On the left of the place was a valley through which flowed a rivulet that supplied the village with water; on the one side the valley was commanded by the prison, which was converted into a blockhouse, and on the other by a stockade fort in which a blockhouse had been erected. The garrison consisted of 550 men, 350 of whom were regulars, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Cruger. There were only three pieces of artillery in the place.

When Lord Rawdon found himself under the necessity of evacuating Camden and of retiring to Monk's Corner, he was fully sensible of the danger to which the post of Ninety-Six was exposed. He sent several messengers with instructions to Colonel Cruger to abandon the post, retire to Augusta, unite his force to that of Colonel Brown, and afterward act according to his own discretion. Lest his messengers should be intercepted, he desired Colonel Balfour, commandant of Charleston, to transmit similar instructions. But the disaffection of the province to the British interest had now become so strong, and the roads leading to Ninety-Six were so effectually guarded, that not one of those messengers reached that place: hence Colonel Cruger remained without instructions, and in complete ignorance of the state of the British army in the province. His being left in ignorance he felt as an ominous circumstance: he was well aware of the hostility of the people, and not without apprehensions of a visit from the American army. In these circumstances he made every preparation for defending his post with vigor officers and men diligently labored on the works, and by their united exertions a bank of earth, parapet high, was thrown up round the town, and strengthened by an abatis; blockhouses were erected, traverses made covered, communications constructed, and the garrison prepared for a vigorous defence.

On the 22d of May, after the works were finished, the American army under General Greene, consisting of nearly 1,000 men, appeared, and encamped in a wood within cannon-shot of the place. In the course of the ensuing night, General Greene erected two works within seventy paces of the fortifications; but