In the fertile and friendly county of Halifax, in Virginia, his troops reposed for a few days, and then they were called again to the field of active exertion. He resolved to recruit his thinned battalions, and as soon as possible recross the Dan and confront Cornwallis.
Among the most active and efficient officers engaged in the Southern campaigns was Henry Lee, ** at this time lieutenant colonel, in command of a corps of choice cavalry. He was in Greene's camp when that general issued his orders to prepare for recrossing the Dan into the Carolinas. His patriot heart leaped for joy when the order was given, and he was much gratified when himself and General Pickens, who commanded a body of South Carolina militia, with Captain Oldham and two companies of Maryland veteran militia, were directedFeb 18, 1781 to repass the Dan and reconnoitre the front of Cornwallis, for he burned to measure strength with the fiery Tarleton. They were sent by Greene to interrupt the intercourse of Cornwallis with the country surrounding his army at Hillsborough, and to suppress every attempt of the Loyalists to join him in force. This proved necessary, for the British commander issued a proclamation on the twentieth of February,1781 inviting the Loyalists to join his standard at Hillsborough.
Lieutenant-colonel Lee crossed the Dan on the eighteenth, and was followed
* Cornwallis remained in Hillsborough about ten days. While a detachment of his army lay at the Red House, a short distance from the town, they occupied the Church of Hugh M'Aden, the first located missionary in North Carolina. Supposing M'Aden (then a short time in his grave) to have been a rebel, be-cause he was a Presbyterian, the British burned his library and papers. His early journal escaped the flames.—Fuote, 273.
** Henry Lee. was born at the family seat, in Stratford (see page 423), on the twenty-ninth of January, 1756. He was educated at Princeton College, where he graduated in 1773. Fond of active life, and imbued with a military spirit, he sought and obtained the command of a company, in Colonel Bland's regiment of Virginia volunteers, in 1776. He joined the Continental army in September, 1777. where he soon attracted the favorable notice of Washington. He was promoted to the rank of major, in command of a separate corps of cavalry. On the sixth of November, 1780, Congress promoted him to lieutenant eolonel, and ordered him to join the Southern army under General Greene, where his career was marked by great skill and bravery. His military exploits and the honors conferred upon him by Congress, are noticed in various places in this volume. In 1786, he was appointed a delegate to Congress, which position he held until the adoption of the Constitution. In 1791, he succeeded Beverly Randolph as governor of Virginia, and remained in office three years. He commanded the forces, by appointment of Washington, which were sent to quell the whisky insurrection in Pennsylvania. He was a member of Congress in 1799, and was chosen to pronounce a funeral oration at Washington, on the occasion of the death of the first president. He wrote his Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States, in 1808. He was active in quelling a mob in Baltimore in 1814, and from wounds received at that time he never fairly recovered. Toward the close of 1817, he repaired to the West Indies for the benefit of his health, but without success. Returning, he stopped at Cumberland Island, near St. Mary's, in Georgia, to visit Mrs. Shaw, the daughter of General Greene, where he died on the twenty-fifth of March, 1818, at the age of sixty-two years. The names of Lee, Marion, Morgan, Sumter, and Pickens form a brilliant galaxy in the Southern firmament of our Revolutionary history.
Pursuit of Tarleton.—Approach of Tories under Colonel Pyle.—Conception of a Plan to Ensnare them.
by Pickens and Oldham. He sent out his scouts, and early on the morning of the nineteenth he was informed by them that Tarleton and his legion were out toward the Haw reconnoitering, and offering protection to the Loyalists who were desirous of marching to Cornwallis's camp. Lee and Pickens pushed on to gain the great road leading from Hillsborough to the Haw. They ascertained that Tarleton had passed there the day before, and was probably then on the western side of the Haw. The next dayFeb 21 the Americans crossed the Haw, and were informed that the Loyalists between that and the Deep River were certainly assembling to join the earl. They also learned from a countryman (a sort of passive Tory named Ephraim Cooke) that Tarleton's force consisted of most of his cavalry, four hundred infantry, and two light field pieces; and that he was encamped about four miles distant with all the carelessness of confident security. Lee determined to surprise him, and placed his little army in battle order for a quick march. They reached the designated spot too late, for Tarleton had left and proceeded a few miles further, to the plantation of Colonel William O'Neil, whose memory, if common report speaks true, deserves a greater share of the odium of his countrymen than the most bitter Tory, for by his avaricious acts while claiming to be a Whig, he drove many of his neighbors to join the ranks of the Loyalists. * Two of Tarleton's officers, who were left behind, were captured.