CHAPTER XXXIII.
CORNWALLIS'S LAST INVASION.
A. D. 1781.
General Greene soon became aware that his great trouble would be in obtaining food in sufficient quantities to feed an army large enough to meet the British in open field. Generals Gregory and Jones were ordered back to their homes, and their brigades were disbanded because of this poverty of resources in that section of the country. General Morgan was sent west of the Catawba River; another camp was established at Cheraw, and the militia of Rowan and Mecklenburg, under General Davidson, were allowed to await at their homes for any call that might become necessary.
1781.
2. Such was the state of affairs in General Greene's command when Lord Cornwallis was reinforced by the arrival of another division of troops under the command of Major General Leslie. On January 17th, Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton, with his famous Legion and the first battalion of the Seventy-first Regiment, assailed General Morgan at Cowpens. These men had so often cut to pieces such American forces that they expected an easy victory on this occasion.
3. They were received by the Americans with the utmost coolness and self-possession. Their deadly fire emptied so many British saddles that the boldest riders were thrown into confusion. Like a thunderbolt, then came a charge of the American lighthorse, under Lieutenant-Colonel William Washington. They rode down and sabred the terrified Britons, chasing them many miles from the field.
4. In less than an hour the eleven hundred British were so thoroughly routed that they lost five hundred and two prisoners, three hundred killed and wounded, with all their artillery and stores. General Morgan had but eight hundred men, and though flushed with victory, he remembered that the main army of the enemy was at Turkey Creek, only twenty-five miles away. He therefore prudently burned his captured stores, and leaving his and the enemy's wounded under protection of a flag, at once began his retreat through North Carolina.
5. He well knew that Lord Cornwallis would be enraged at Tarleton's disaster and would seek the recapture of his prisoners. During twelve days the victors fled from the scene of their glory, while the British were pushing on close behind them. At the expiration of that time, as the day was closing in, and General Morgan had just safely crossed the Catawba River, at the Island Ford, he looked back and saw the British vanguard on the other bank of the stream.
6. The exultant pursuers had overcome the twenty-five miles of start, and feeling sure of their prey, they encamped that night with the utmost confidence that on the next day they could easily overtake the fugitives. But they were doomed to disappointment. Soon a heavy rain began falling, and when the night was past the river had become a great and impassable flood.
7. The baffled foe was compelled to halt, for the passage of the stream was impossible. The high water remained in the river for forty-eight hours, during which time the British were unable to effect a crossing. General Morgan sent his militia with the prisoners on to Virginia, and with his Continentals kept down the left bank of the river and joined General Greene at Sherrill's Ford. There they unhappily disagreed as to future operations, and General Morgan left the service.
8. During the two days that Lord Cornwallis was stopped by the rise in the Catawba River, General Greene made arrangements to dispute its passage. This was attempted at Cowan's Ford, and the British, after some loss, forced a passage. Unfortunately, brave General Davidson, who was in command of the militia, was killed, and upon his fall his men retreated, from the field. They were surprised by Tarleton at Torrence's Tavern, six miles away in the direction of Salisbury.
9. The chase was now renewed and General Greene was again in great danger. When he reached Salisbury he was so dejected at the condition of affairs that a good woman named Mrs. Elizabeth Steele sought to cheer him by words of hope. He explained to her his almost desperate condition, and that though in command of the Southern army, he was wholly without friends and without money. She generously pressed upon him a purse of gold, and, with hope revived by such an exhibition of womanly sympathy and generous patriotism, he resumed his retreat.
10. A rise in the waters of the Yadkin River, after the Americans had crossed, repeated the scenes witnessed on the Catawba; and thus, while General Greene was enabled to reach the forces from Cheraw that had been ordered to meet him at Guilford Court House, Lord Cornwallis was compelled to make a wide detour up the river to get across.
11. Again, in a few days, the Americans, still retreating, found their enemies once more close up in the rear. For several days on long stretches in the road, the two armies could see each other.
12. General Greene was so hotly pursued that he found it necessary to check the enemy in some way, and the gallant Colonel Otho H. Williams, of Maryland, with a corps of light troops numbering seven hundred men, was detailed to cover the retreat. This detachment most faithfully performed its duty. Taking but one meal each day, and six hours' sleep in forty-eight, they retarded the progress of the enemy so much; by frequent collisions, that Greene was enabled to considerably increase the distance between the two armies.
[NOTE—While General Greene was in the house of Mrs. Steele, at Salisbury, he caught sight of a picture of King George III. hanging upon the wall. The picture recalled many unpleasant memories and hardships to the General. He took it from the wall, and, with a piece of chalk, wrote upon the back: "O, George, Hide thy face and mourn." He then replaced the picture with its face to the wall and rode away. This picture, with the writing on the back still visible, is now thought to be in the possession of Mrs. Governor Swain. [Rumple's History of Rowan County. ]
13. At last, on February 13th, Dan River was reached; and Lord Cornwallis came up only in time to see the last boatloads of the Americans safely landing on the other side of the wide stream which was too deep for the British to ford. Thus ended this famous retreat, extending more than two hundred miles. It gave General Greene great reputation, and the struggling Americans took fresh heart, for they knew they had at last a general in command who could provide wisely and well amid all the dangers so thickly environing him.