"Come listen a while, and the truth I'll relate,
How brave General Morgan did Tarleton defeat;
For all his proud boasting, he forced was to fly,
When brave General Morgan his courage did try."
Revolutionary Song.
We have noted on page 596 the disposition which General Greene made of the "shadow of an army" (less than two thousand men) which he received from Gates. Brigadier-general Daniel Morgan, * an exceedingly active officer, who was placed in command of the Western division, was stationed, toward the close of 1780, in the country between the Broad and Pacolet Rivers, in Spartanburg District. His division consisted of four hundred Continental infantry, under Lieutenant-colonel Howard of the Maryland line; two companies of the Virginia militia, under Captains Triplet and Tate; and the remnants of the first and third regiments of dragoons, one hundred in number, under Lieutenant-colonel William A. Washington. This force, at the time in question, was considerably augmented by North Carolina militia, under Major M'Dowell, and some Georgia militia, under Major Cunningham. At the close of December,1780 Morgan and his troops were encamped near the northern bank of the Pacolet, in the vicinity of Pacolet Springs. From this camp Lieutenant-colonel Washington frequently sallied out to smite and disperse bodies of Tories, who assembled at different points and plundered the Whig inhabitants. He at-
* Daniel Morgan was a native of New Jersey, where he was born in 1737, and at an early age went to Virginia. He was a private soldier under Braddock, in 1755, and after the defeat of that officer, returned to his occupation of a farmer and wagoner. When the war of the Revolution broke out, he joined the army under Washington, at Cambridge, and commanded a corps of riflemen. He accompanied Arnold across the wilderness to Quebec, and distinguished himself at the siege of that city.