Only the Continental troops, with Dixon's regiment, were now left to oppose the enemy. Upon the Maryland and Delaware troops fell the weight of battle, and for a while they nobly sustained it. On the right, De Kalb and Gist maintained their ground, though sorely pressed by Rawdon and his regulars.
Lieutenant-colonel Howard (the subsequent "hero of the Cowpens"), with Williams's regiment, charged the enemy with great vigor, and disconcerted them. Inch by inch the Marylanders gained ground, and, had the militia stood firm, and kept Webster employed, the British must have been routed and driven in confusion across Sander's Creek. That skillful officer had detached Tarleton in pursuit of the fugitives, and when Smallwood * came forward with his reserve to fill the place of the scattered militia, Webster brought his regiments to bear upon him.
Finally, the battle raged along the whole line, and victory was uncertain. Firm as a rock the phalanx of De Kalb and Gist remained At length, perceiving an advantage, De Kalb ordered a bayonet charge. The slaughter was great; the enemy recoiled, and fifty men became the prisoners of the Americans.
Smallwood, in the mean time, sustained himself gallantly; but at length Webster gained his flank, and his brigade receded. It soon regained its position; was again driven back, and speedily it rallied to the combat. Cornwallis perceived the point of strength to be with De Kalb and Gist, and, concentrating his whole force, he made a terrible charge there. It was the decisive stroke which smote down the American strength and won the victory. Another charge was made; the brave Marylanders gave way, and, with the Delaware regiment, broken and maimed, fled to the swamps. They were hotly pursued, and many were killed in the flight. The militia fell in great numbers under the sabers of Tarleton's cavalry, and for more than two miles the open wood was strewn with the dead and dying. Arms, artillery, horses, and baggage were scattered in every direction. More than a third of the Continental troops were killed; and of the wounded, one hundred and seventy men were made prisoners. The Delaware regiment was nearly annihilated, and Colonel Vaughn and Major Patten being taken prisoners, the remanent, less than two companies, were placed under the command of the brave Kirkwood, the senior captain, who had been with Washington at Trenton and Princeton. De Kalb, while trying to keep his troops firm when the
* William Smallwood was a native of Maryland, and was among the patriots of that colony who earliest expressed their attachment to Republican principles. He was appointed a brigadier by the Continental Congress, in October, 1776, and major general in September, 1780. He was in the battle near Brooklyn, in August 1776, where his command suffered severely. It was chiefly composed of young men from Maryland, many of them members of the most respectable families of that state. He was in the Brandywine and Germantown battles in 1777. He accompanied Gates to the South, and shared in the mortifications of defeat near Camden. It was a month after that event that Congress promoted him to major general. He was elected a delegate in Congress, for Maryland, in 1785, and the same year was chosen to succeed William Penn as governor of the state. He was succeeded in office by John Eager Howard, in 1788. General Smallwood died in February, 1792.
Death of the Baron de Kalb.—Flight of the Americans.—British Victorious.—The Armed Neutrality.
last charge was made, fell, pierced with eleven wounds. His lieutenant, Du Buysson, threw his arms around him, gave his name and rank, and while saving him from instant death, was terribly wounded himself by British bayonets. In the mean while Gates had fled, "borne off the field by a current of dismayed militia," who "constituted so great a part of his army, that when he saw them break and flee, he lost all hope of victory." * With Caswell, he hastened to Clermont, hoping to cheek and rally the militia at their old encampment, near Rugeley's Mill. This hope was vain, for the further the dismayed troops fled, the more they became dispersed, and the generals giving up all as lost, proceeded, with a few attendants, to Charlotte, where they arrived in the evening of the same day, though about eighty miles distant. On his way, Gates heard of the success of Sumter at the Wateree Ford, but that triumph came too late to afford him aid, and, as we have seen (page 660), two days afterward,Aug 18, 1780 Sumter and his band were surprised and dispersed at Fishing Creek. General Rutherford surrendered to a party of the British legion. The other generals escaped, but were separated from their respective commands. The rout was complete, and only Major Andrus, of the third Maryland regiment, succeeded in rallying any part of the fugitives. Most of the Virginia militia retired to Hillsborough by the road they came to camp, and there General Stevens gathered many of them together. Their time of service soon expiring, they were discharged. **
The victory of Cornwallis was complete, and for a moment the hopes of the patriots, particularly at the South, were crushed; their only chance of success seemed to be the intervention of European nations. *** Within the space of three months, two armies had been almost annihilated by capture and dispersion, and the most active partisan corps scattered to the winds. **** Cornwallis considered the subjugation of South Carolina accomplished, and,