Rawdon informed of the Siege.—His march toward Ninety-Six.—Attempt to destroy the Stockade.—Beale and Cunningham.
the west. They immediately commenced regular approaches to the stockade to cut off the enemy's supply of water; and at a proper distance from it erected a battery to cover further approaches, and planted a six pounder upon it, under the direction of Lieutenant Finn. Cruger saw the inevitable destruction of the garrison when these parallels, made slowly, day by day, should be completed. He had found means to inform Lord Rawdon of his critical situation, and hourly he expected aid from him. To gain time for this succor to arrive, he made nightly sallies, and bloody encounters frequently occurred, while almost daily the American foraging parties were attacked by bands of Tories. * Yet slowly and surely the Americans approached; and when the second parallel was completed, Greene sent Colonel Williams to demand a surrender, with promises of kind treatment. Cruger promptly replied that he should defend the fort till the last extremity, and regarded neither the threats nor the promises of the American general. A battery, constructed in the second parallel, now opened upon the redoubt, and under its cover Kosciuszko pressed forward his approach with vigor. On the eleventhJune, 1781 Greene received a dispatch from Sumter, announcing the startling intelligence that on the third, a fleet arrived from Ireland with reenforcements for Rawdon, consisting of three regiments, a detachment from the Guards, and a considerable body of volunteers, under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Gould. Rawdon had been anxiously awaiting at Monk's Corner, near Charleston, this propitious event. He had heard of the fall of Fort Cornwallis at Augusta and the investment of Ninety-Six, but with his small force, and Marion and Sumter before him, he dared not march to the aid of Cruger. On the arrival of these troops, he repaired to Charleston, and on the seventhJune marched to the relief of Ninety-Six, with seventeen hundred foot and one hundred and fifty horse. A few other troops from his camp at Monk's Corner joined him, and with more than two thousand men he proceeded toward Orangeburg. Greene dispatched Pickens to the aid of Sumter, and ordered Marion from the lower country to join them in retarding the advance of the royal army. They could do little to oppose him, and Greene began to despair of reducing the garrison to submission before Rawdon's arrival.
The besiegers now deplored the fact that earlier attention had not been bestowed upon attempts on the western side to deprive the garrison of water, and thus force a capitulation. To this object the chief efforts were now directed, and the most effectual step to accomplish it was to destroy the stockade. The method of approaches was too slow, and it was resolved to endeavor to burn it. A dark storm was gathering, and toward evening, covered by its impending blackness, a sergeant and nine privates, with combustibles, cautiously approached, and four of them gained the ditch. While in the act of applying the fire, they were discovered. A volley of musketry was immediately opened upon them, and the sergeant and five of his party were killed; the other four escaped. The attempt was unsuccessful.
On the evening of the nineteenth, a countryman was seen riding along the American lines south of the town, talking familiarly with officers and soldiers. It was a circumstance too common to excite special notice. At length, reaching the great road leading directly into the town, he put spurs to his horse, and, amid a storm of bullets, rode safely to the gate, holding a letter in his raised hand. He was received with the greatest joy, for he was the
* Amoung the most active of these parties was the "Bloody Scout," under the notorious Bill Cunningham. They hovered around the American lamp like vultures, and picked off the patriots in detail. The most active, opponent of this scoundrel was William Beale, of Ninety-Six. He formed a scouting party of Whigs, and soon they became a terror to the Tories. On one occasion, Cunningham and his party plundered the house of Beale's mother, during his absence. On his return, Beale went in pursuit, and approaching Cunningham, that marauder wheeled and fled. The race continued for almost three miles, when Cunningham turned, and with a pistol, shot Beale's horse dead. Beale retreated backward, daring the Tory to follow. The latter fearing a Whig ambush, rode off. On another occasion, Cunningham and his party surrounded a house where Beale and a Whig were stopping. They heard the approach of the Tories, when, rushing to their horses and rattling their swords, Beale gave command as if to a troop. It was dark, and Cunningham, who had thirteen men with him, fled in great haste. Cunningham was so mortified, when he learned that they had been frightened away by a couple of Whigs, that he swore vengeance against Beale.—Letter of James M'Crarken, Esq
Cruger advised of Rawdon's approach.—Assault on the Star Redoubt.—Capture of the Stockade.—A bold Prisoner.
bearer of a dispatch from Lord Rawdon, announcing his approach with a large force. The beleaguered garrison, almost on the point of surrendering (for this was the first intelligence Cruger had received from Rawdon since his evacuation of Camden), were animated with fresh hope, while the besiegers, aware of the approach of succor for the besieged, were nerved to greater exertions. They completed their parallels, and commenced the erection of a Mayham Tower, * from which to fire into the star redoubt. To guard against this advantage of height, Major Greene, the commander of the redoubt, piled bags of sand upon the parapets. On the morning of the seventeenth, a general fire was opened upon the works, and so effectual was it upon the stockade and its vicinity, that the garrison was deprived of water from the rivulet. Had this advantage been maintained, and Rawdon been delayed thirty hours longer, Cruger must have surrendered.
Rawdon managed to elude the vigilance of Sumter, after passing Orangeburg, and now approached Ninety-Six. Greene perceived that he must either storm the works at once, fight Rawdon, or retire. He determined upon the former; and at noon on the eighteenth,June 1781 the Mayham Tower being completed, and two trenches and a mine nearly let into the enemy's ditch, the center battery opened upon the star, as a signal for a general attack. Lieutenant-colonel Campbell, of the first Virginia regiment, with a detachment from the Maryland and Virginia brigades, led the attack on the left; Lieutenant-colonel Lee, with Kirkwood's Delawares, advanced on the right; Lieutenants Duval, of Maryland, and Selden, of Virginia, commanded the forlorn hope of Campbell; and Captain Rudolph that of Lee. Riflemen were stationed in the tower, fascines were constructed to fill the ditch, and long poles, with iron hooks, were prepared to pull down the sand-bags from the parapets. Campbell and Lee rushed to the assault simultaneously. Cruger received the attack with firmness, and, from apertures between the sand-bags, Colonel Greene's riflemen did great execution. Duval and Selden boldly entered the ditch, and commenced pulling down the sand-bags. The parapet bristled with pikes and bayonets, yet they could not reach the assailants. Rapidly the bags were disappearing in the ditch below, and Campbell was pressing to ascend the parapet and fight hand to hand with the garrison, when Captain French, of Delancey's corps, and Captain Campbell, of New Jersey, issued from a sally-port of the star redoubt with a few men, and taking opposite directions in the ditch, fiercely assailed Duval and Selden, at the same time, with bayonets. Terrible was the conflict which followed. The brave patriots were assailed both in front and overhead, yet they maintained their ground for some minutes. At length both leaders of the forlorn hope were wounded, and the whole party retreated to the trenches.
While this bloody scene was transpiring at the star redoubt, one more successful effort for the besiegers occurred at the stockade. Rudulph made his way into the fort, and the enemy, with some prisoners, ** hastily retreated to the main works. This advantage Lee intended to follow up, by entering the town, assailing the fortified jail, and then to assist in reducing the star redoubt; but General Greene, perceiving the slaughter in the ditch, and desirous of saving his troops, ordered Lee to do nothing more than to hold the stockade he had gained. Greene then sent a flag to Cruger, proposing a cessation of hostilities for the purpose of burying the dead. Cruger refused, claiming that service for the victor, whoever he might be. Believing the reduction of the post to be doubtful before the arrival of Rawdon, and unwilling to encounter that general's superior force, Greene withdrew the detachment from the stockade, and prepared for a general retreat. Thus ended the siege of
* For description of the Mayham Tower, and the origin of its name, see an account of the attack upon Fort Watson, page 707.