* On reaching North Carolina with De Kalb, Colonel Harrison, commander of the Virginia artillery, unexpectedly arrived and assumed the command. On account of a misunderstanding with Harrison, Carrington retired, and was afterward dispatched by Gates to superintend the examination of the Roanoke, to ascertain the readiest points of communication across it, to be used either in receiving supplies from Virginia or in retreating from North Carolina. Greene found him engaged in this service. Aided by Captain Smith of the Maryland line, he explored the Dan, and made every preparation for Greene to cross it with his army. Having completed his arrangements, he joined the army near the Yadkin, and was one of the most active of Lee's officers in the retreat to the Dan. At this time he held the office of quarter-master general of the Southern army, which office he filled with honor to himself and the service. He was afterward engaged in the siege of Yorktown, where he commanded the artillery on alternate days with Lamb and Stevens of New York. After the war, he was a representative in Congress from his native state (Virginia). When Aaron Burr was tried for treason, Colonel Carrington was the foreman of the jury. He died on the twenty-eighth of October, 1810, at the age of sixty-one years.—See Lee's Memoirs.
** Gordon, Ramsey, Lee, Tarleton, Stedman, &c. The distance traversed by the retreating army was more than two hundred miles. It was in February, when the roads are worse than at any other season of the year, sometimes very muddy, at others frozen hard. On the day after his passage, Greene sent the following dispatch to Governor Jefferson: "On the Dan River, almost fatigued to death, having had a retreat to conduct for upward of two hundred miles, maneuvering constantly in the face of the enemy, to give time for the militia to turn out and get off our stores." Nothing of importance was lost on the way, and baggage and stores were safely crossed to the Virginia side. The condition of the army was wretched respecting clothing. The shoes were generally worn out, the body-clothes much tattered, and no more than a blanket for four men. The light corps were a little better off, yet there was only one blanket for three men. During the retreat from Guilford, the tents were never used; and Greene, in his note to Williams announcing his passage of the Dan, declared that he had not slept more than four hours sinee he left Guilford. The troops were allowed only one meal a day during the retreat. Before crossing, many of the North Carolina militia deserted; only about eighty remained. General Lillington (who was a colonel at the battle on Moore's Creek), was sent with his corps to Cross Creek, to awe the Tories in that quarter.
Preparations to Recross the Dan.—March of the Army toward Guilford.—Maneuvers of the Belligerents.
movement all eyes were turned, and when the result was known the friends of liberty every where chanted a loud alleluiah.
As we have observed (page 591), Greene soon prepared to recross the Dan, and attempt to retrieve his losses in Carolina. We have considered the first movements toward the accomplishment of this object—the expedition of Lee and Pickens beyond the Haw, the defeat of Pyle, and the retreat of Tarleton to Hillsborough. The success of this enterprise, the arrival in camp of General Stevens, with six hundred Virginia militia, and the necessity of making a demonstration before the Tories should rise, caused Greene to break up his camp after a few days of repose. He recrossed the Dan on the twenty-third,Feb 1781 and this event being made known, completely dispirited the Loyalists who were disposed to join the royal army. The recruiting service stopped, and the friends of government, awed by the fate of Pyle's corps, stood still. The situation of Cornwallis was full of peril. The country around Hillsborough was speedily stripped of provision by his army, * and he found it expedient to fall back and take a new position upon the south side of the Allamance, west of the Haw.Feb 27 On the same day, Lee and Pickens, with their respective forces, joined the main body of the American light infantry, and the whole corps crossed the Haw, a little below the mouth of Buffalo Creek. Greene, with the main army augmented by the
North Carolina militia, crossed above Buffalo Creek the next morning, Feb 28and encamped between Troublesome Creek and Reedy Fork. It was an ineligible place; and, hoping to gain time for all his expected re-enforcements to come in, Greene constantly changed his position, and placed Colonel Williams and his light corps between the two armies, now within a score of miles of each other. Tarleton occupied the same relative position to the British army, and he and Williams frequently menaced each other. Finally, the latter having approached to within a mile of the British camp, Tarleton attacked him,March 2, 1781 and a brief but warm skirmish ensued. This encounter was sustained, on the part of the Americans, chiefly by Lee's legion and Preston's riflemen. About thirty of the enemy were killed and wounded. The Americans sustained no loss. In the mean while, Greene's constant change of position, sometimes seen on the Troublesome Creek, and sometimes appearing near Guilford, gave the impression that his force was larger than it really was, and Cornwallis was much perplexed. Well knowing that the American army was augmenting by the arrival of militia, he resolved to bring Greene to action at once. Under cover of a thick fog, he crossed the Allamance,March 6 hoping to beat up Williams's quarters, then between that stream and Reedy Fork, and surprise Greene. Williams's vigilant patrols discovered the approach of the enemy at about eight o'clock in the morning, on the road to Wetzell's Mill, an important pass on the Reedy Fork. Lee's legion immediately maneuvered in front of the enemy, while Williams withdrew his light troops and other corps of regulars and militia across the stream.** A covering party, composed of one hundred and fifty Virginia militia, were attacked by Lieutenant-colonel Webster, with one thousand British infantry and a portion of Tarleton's cavalry. The militia boldly returned the fire, and then fled across the creek. The British Infantry followed, *** and met
** Stedman says (ii., 335),: "Such was the situation of the British army [at Hillsborough], that the author, with a file of men, was obliged to go from house to house throughout the town, to take provisions from the inhabitants, many of whom were greatly distressed by this measure, which could only be justified by extreme necessity."
** These consisted of quite a large body of militia, under Pickens; a corps of cavalry, under Lieutenant-colonel William A. Washington; some militia and riflemen, under Colonel Campbell, the hero of King's Mountain; and regular infantry, under Colonel John Eager Howard, who distinguished himself at the Cowpens.
*** Lee says, that in the woods, near the mill, where some riflemen were stationed, was an old log school-house. In this building, twenty-five of the most expert marksmen, who were at King's Mountain, were stationed by Lee, with orders not to engage in the general conflict, but to pick off officers at a distance When Webster entered the stream, and was slowly fording its rocky bed, the marksmen all discharged their rifles at him in consecutive order, each certain of hitting him, yet not a ball touched him or his horse. Thirty-two discharges were made without effect! The hand of Providence shielded him on that day, but soon he received a fatal wound, in a battle far more fierce and bloody.—Lee's Memoirs, 164.
Skirmish on Reedy Fork.—Augmentation of the American Army.—Disposition of the two Armies.