* Mr. Friday, the father-in-law of Mr. Cacey, and his brother, were the only Whigs of that name in the state, and often suffered insults from their Tory kinsman. Mr. Friday owned mills at Granby, and also a ferry called by his name: and when the British fortified that post, the garrison supplied themselves with flour from his establishment. He gave the British the credit of dealing honorably, paying him liberally for every thing they took from him—flour, poultry, cattle, &e. On one occasion, when ealled to the fort to receive his pay, Major Maxwell, the commandant of the garrison, said to him, "Mr. Friday, I hope you are as clever a fellow as those of your name who are with us." "No!" shouted his Tory uncle, who was standing near, "he's a damned rebel, and I'll split him down!" at the same time rushing forward to execute his brutal purpose. Colonel Maxwell protected the patriot, but dared not rebuke the savage, for fear of offending his Tory comrades. After the battle at Eutaw, Colonel Maxwell, and two or three other officers, passing through Granby, stopped one night at Mr. Friday's. Early in the morning, Maxwell said to Mr. Friday, "You Dutchmen are celebrated for fine gardens; let us go and look at yours." When a little distance from the other officers, the colonel remarked, "Mr. Friday, you are a friend to your country. Remain so. We have not conquered it yet, and never will, and your name will yet be honored, while those of your countrymen who are with us will be despised." I gladly record the patriotism of Mr. Friday, in fulfillment of this prediction.
** Lee says, in his Memoirs (page 234), that. Maxwell, "zealous to fill his purse, rather than to gather military laurels, had, during his command, pursued his favorite object with considerable success, and held with him in the fort his gathered spoil." This fact accounts for the major's desire to have all private properly confirmed to its possessors "without investigation of title."
Terms of Surrender.—Greene's Army at Fort Granby.—The Locality.—Ninety-Six.
mitted to retire to Charleston as prisoners of war, until exchanged; that the militia should be held in the same manner as the regulars; and that an escort, charged with the protection of persons and property, should attend the prisoners to Rawdon's camp. Lieutenant-colonel Lee's practice was always to restore plundered property, when captured, to the rightful owners; yet, knowing the danger of delay, with Rawdon so near, he acquiesced, on the condition that all the horses fit for public service should be left. To this the mounted Hessians objected, and the negotiations were suspended. During this suspense, Captain Armstrong arrived with the intelligence that Rawdon had crossed the Santee, and was moving upon Fort Motte. Lee waved the exception; the capitulation was signed, and before noon Captain Rudulph raised the American flag on one of the bastions, and the captive garrison marched, with its escort, for Rawdon's camp. * Among the spoils of victory were two pieces of cannon, and a considerable quantity of ammunition, salt, and liquor. It was a glorious, because almost a bloodless victory, for no life was lost.
On the surrender of the fort, Lee dispatched a messenger to Greene, who with great expedition had pressed forward, and was within a few miles of Friday's Ferry. He crossed that ferry, and on the evening of the fifteenthMay 1781 encamped upon Ancram's plantation, near the river, where the victors and the main army had a joyous meeting.
During the night a courier from Fort Motte announced the fact that Rawdon had retreated, after a day's march, toward that post, destroyed the works at Nelson's Ferry, and was pushing on toward Charleston. Early in the morning another courier came with the cheering intelligence of Sumter's success at Orangeburg,May 14 and the seventeenth of May was a day of rejoicing by the little American army at Fort Granby.
Resting one day, General Greene moved toward Ninety-Six, which place he reached on the twenty-second of May. In the mean while, he strengthened Lee's legion by the addition of some North Carolina levies under Major Eaton, and then directed him to hasten toward Augusta, on the Savannah River, to join Pickens, who, with a body of militia, was in the vicinity of that post. We will follow them presently.
The house of Mr. Cacey yet bears many "honorable scars" made by the bullets of Lee's infantry; and in the gable toward the river, between the chimney and a window (indicated by a black spot in the engraving), is an orifice, formed by the passage of a six-pound ball from Finley's field-piece. In one of the rooms are numerous marks made by an ax when cutting up meat for the use of the garrison; and an old log barn near, which stood within the intrenchments, has also many bullet scars.
I returned to Columbia at four o'clock, where I remained until Monday morning.
While at Columbia, I met a gentleman from Abbeville District, in the vicinity of old Fort Ninety-Six. He informed me that the traveling was wretched, and quite dangerous in that direction, and that nothing of Revolutionary interest worth visiting yet remained at that military post, now the pleasant village of Cambridge, seventy-nine miles westward of Columbia. He also informed me that a gentleman of Cambridge, who was familiar with every historical event in his neighborhood, would cheerfully communicate all I could possibly learn by a personal visit. Willing to avoid a long and tedious journey unless it was necessary, I wrote to that gentleman, and by his kind and prompt compliance I am furnished with all necessary details respecting the locality, together with the plan of the fortification, printed on page 691. We will here consider the events which render Ninety-Six historically famous.