CHAPTER XXX.
STONY POINT AND CHARLESTON.
A. D. 1779 TO 1780.
The capture of Savannah caused uneasiness in all the Southern States. It was seen at once that Georgia was but a starting point in a general scheme of transferring hostilities from the north. Early in 1779, General John Ashe reached Charleston with two or more brigades of militia. These were hurried off, at the importunate demand of the Governor of South Carolina, to attack the British at Augusta.
2. General Ashe remonstrated, saying his men were not yet ready for active service in the field; he obeyed orders, however, and took the field as directed. On his approach the enemy retired down the Savannah River, and Ashe, dividing his force, was so unfortunate as to fall into an ambush on Brier Creek, where his men, who were raw, undisciplined troops, were taken by surprise and routed.
3. A little later, and elsewhere, there was better fortune. At Stony Point, on the Hudson River, a strong American fortification had been recently captured by the British. General Wayne found that it was garrisoned by six hundred Scotch Highlanders, constituting one of the regular Royal regiments. The work was nearly surrounded by the river and by morasses, and the single approach was so swept by the guns of the work, and also by those of several ships-of-war lying close by for the purpose of aiding in its defence, that it seemed wellnigh hopeless to attempt its capture.
4. But hopeless as it seemed, General Wayne determined to make the attempt. He drew near at midnight, and with unloaded muskets, and courage that has never been surpassed, captured the stronghold at the point of the bayonet.
5. Two columns of assault were sent in on the right and left; but to Major Hardy Murfree's two companies of the Second North Carolina Continental Regiment, as a forlorn hope, was the post of real honor and danger assigned. They charged full in front, up the steep hillside, through several lines of abattis, and in this way received the hottest of the enemy's fire. The capture of the fort was largely due to the gallantry of the North Carolina troops.
1780.
6. Governor Caswell being ineligible for the next term, was succeeded, at the beginning of the year, by Abner Nash as Chief Magistrate of North Carolina. The constitution provided that after three years' service the Executive became ineligible for the next term, and Caswell had served three terms. Governor Nash, like his predecessor, was a man of ability and patriotism, but did not equal him in the versatility of his powers or his consummate skill in the management of men.
7. In February, 1780, all of the North Carolina troops of the Continental Line had been ordered to the south. They were at Charleston with General Lincoln, being besieged there by an overwhelming force under Sir Henry Clinton. In addition to the army, the British commander had come down from New York with a great fleet.
8. The defence was a brave one, but unavailing, and on May 12th General Lincoln was forced to surrender. It was a direful day for North Carolina. All of her regular troops and a full thousand of her militia became prisoners of war. It was a fatal rashness in General Lincoln to allow himself to be cooped up in a city. Thus, while no real benefit resulted to the American cause, or to the State of South Carolina, North Carolina was, at one fell blow, stripped of all her defenders.
9. Sir Henry Clinton sailed back to New York after the capitulation, but he left a man of far superior ability with an army to continue the conquest of South Carolina. This was Lord Cornwallis, who was the bravest and most skillful British soldier then in the world. He was to remain this time long enough to be forever remembered and to take bloody vengeance for his inglorious experience with Sir Peter Parker four years before.
10. The first movement of Cornwallis, after capturing Charleston, was to send Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton, with his dragoons, to intercept a column of infantry which was approaching from Virginia, under the command of Colonel Buford. These were surprised and cut to pieces. Among others, the North Carolina company of Captain John Stokes lost heavily in the sudden and bloody attack.
11. This disaster occurred in the Waxhaw settlement, on the State line, not far from Charlotte, in North Carolina. Thus, at a time when everything indicated another invasion, not a single troop of disciplined soldiers was left for the defence of this State, except the two companies of mounted infantry which were commanded by the gallant Major William R. Davie. This little band hovered continually in the neighborhood of the scene of Colonel Buford's defeat.
12. Governor Rutledge, of South Carolina, upon the fall of Charleston, offered to cease fighting the British if they would allow his State to remain neutral for the remainder of the war; but a very different feeling actuated Governor Nash and his people when apprised of the great disaster. If her Continental veterans were all prisoners, there were still brave hearts and deadly rifles left with which to continue the struggle, and North Carolina had no thought of quailing.