In the spring of 1781, Colonel Watson was sent with a select corps of five hundred men to attempt the destruction of Marion's brigade. He moved with caution, evidently afraid of the partisan, for he was then striking successful blows at different points, in rapid succession, and appeared to be possessed of ubiquitous powers. * Marion observed him, and concentrated his force on Snow's Island, whence he sallied forth as occasion required. He sped with rapid foot to the path of Watson's approach, and at Wiboo Swamp, nearly opposite the present Santee Canal, he confronted him. The advanced guards of Marion and Watson (the former under Horry, the latter under Riehboo, a Tory colonel) met unexpectedly, and a severe skirmish ensued. Other portions of the two armies engaged in the fight. The field-pieces of Watson gave him great advantage, and Marion was obliged to fall back in the direction of Williamsburg. At a bridge over the Black River, below Kingstree, he checked his pursuers by well-aimed rifle-balls and the destruction of the bridge by fire. Down the stream, upon opposite sides, the belligerents marched nearly ten miles, skirmishing all the way. Darkness terminated the conflict, and both parties arranged their flying camps for rest, near eaeh other. For ten days Watson remained stationary, continually annoyed by Marion, until he was obliged to choose between certain destruction in detail there, or attempt boldly to fight his way to Georgetown. He decided upon the latter course, and at midnight he fled. Marion pursued, fell upon him at Sampit Bridge, near Georgetown, and smote down many of his wearied soldiers. Watson escaped to Georgetown with the remnant of his army, complaining that Marion would not "fight like a gentleman or a Christian!"
Sad intelligence now reached Marion. The Tory colonel, Doyle, had penetrated to his camp on Snow's Island, dispersed the little garrison, destroyed his provisions and stores, and then marched up Lynch's Creek. He pursued the marauder until he was informed that Doyle had destroyed all his heavy baggage, and had the advantage of a day's march on the road to Camden. Marion wheeled, and hastened, through the overflowed swamps, to confront Watson, who was again in motion with fresh troops, and had encamped upon Catfish Creek, near the present Marion Court House. Our partisan encamped within five miles of him, and there he was joined by Lee on the fourteenth of April.1781 This junction alarmed Watson. He destroyed his heavy baggage, wheeled his field-pieces into Cat-fish Creek, and fled precipitately by a circuitous route back to Georgetown. Soon after this, we find MarionMay 1781 hanging upon the rear of Lord Rawdon on his
* At this time, Major M'Hraith, with a force about equal to that of Marion's, was met by the latter in swamp near Nelson's Ferry. They prepared for battle, when M'Hraith, who was a humane man, made the chivalric proposition that twenty picked men of each army should meet and fight for victory. It was agreed to; the forty men were drawn up in line and approached each other, when those of M'Hraiths party fell back. The sun went down, and yet they lingered; and at midnight, M'Hraith doubtless considering prudence the better part of valor, decamped, leaving his heavy baggage behind. He was pursued by Colonel Horry early in the morning, but without effect.
Capture of Georgetown.—Attack on British Posts near Charleston.—Battle at Quimby's Creek Bridge
retreat from Nelson's Ferry toward Charleston; and from that time until the siege of Ninety-Six, he was often with Sumter and Colonel Washington, watching the enemy's movements near the Santee and Edisto, and cutting off intelligence and supplies from Cruger.
In June1781 Marion took possession of Georgetown, the garrison fleeing down Winyaw Bay after a slight resistance. He could not garrison it, so he moved the stores up the Pedee to his old encampment on Snow's Island, and demolished the military works. Informed that the Loyalists of Charleston had organized, and under Colonel Ball were about to ravage the country south of the Santee, he anticipated them. He drove off the cattle, removed the provisions to a place of safety, laid waste the country, and left nothing but barrenness and desolation in the district menaced by the enemy.
We have observed (page 695) that soon after Greene abandoned his design of attacking Rawdon at Orangeburg, and retired to the High Hills of Santee, he detached Sumter, with Marion, Lee, and other active partisans, to beat up the British posts in the direction of Charleston, drive these hostile detachments to the gates of the city, and cut off all convoys of supplies for the British troops on the Edisto. The chief object to be gained was to cause Rawdon to abandon Orangeburg and hasten to the relief of Charleston. Sumter was the commander-in-chief of this expedition. As he approached Monk's Corner, he divided his little army into separate detachments. Among the subordinate commanders of these were Horry, Mayham, Taylor, the Hamptons, and James. The garrison at Dorchester, first attacked, made no resistance to Colonel Lee, who also captured, at about the same time, all the wagons and wagon horses belonging to a convoy of provisions; while Colonel Wade Hampton pressed forward to the very lines at Charleston, captured the patrol and guard at the Quarter-house, five miles from the city, and spread terror through the town. He also took fifty prisoners (mounted refugees) at Strawberry Ferry, and burned four vessels laden with valuable stores for the British army.
At Biggin, near Monk's Corner, where Huger's cavalry were surprised more than a year before, was a strong force of about five hundred infantry, one hundred and fifty horse, and a piece of artillery, under Colonel Coates of the British army. Biggin Church, and a redoubt at Monk's Corner, about a quarter of a mile distant, composed the defenses of the garrison. Against these Sumter, Marion, and Lee proceeded. They halted at sunset within a short distance of Coates's camp, with the intention of attacking him early In the morning. Coates, alarmed by the intelligence brought by his patrols, that one half of Greene's army, with all the partisan officers of the South, were upon him, decamped during the night, set fire to Biggin Church, so as to destroy stores which he could not carry away, and crossing the head waters of the Cooper River on the eastern side, retreated rapidly toward Charleston. When the blaze of the church was perceived in the American camp, Sumter called his troops to arms and hotly pursued the fugitives. Within a short distance of Quimby's Creek Bridge, eighteen miles from Monk's Corner, the cavalry of Lee and Marion overtook the rear-guard of the flying troops. Dismayed at the near approach of horsemen, they east down their arms without firing a gun, and begged for quarter. Coates had crossed the bridge with his main body, and was waiting for the passage of his rearguard, with the baggage, to destroy the bridge. The planks were already loosened, and every thing was in readiness for its demolition when the American cavalry approached. The brave Armstrong, with a section of Lee's horsemen, dashed across the bridge and fell upon the British guard with a howitzer stationed there for its defense, and drove the artillerists from the gun. The place of contest was a narrow causeway and lane leading to the bridge, and for a short time a close and deadly conflict ensued. Many of the British fled, and Coates and some of his officers were left to fight alone, defended only by a wagon. Another section of the eavalry, under Carrington, followed close upon Armstrong, and leaping the chasm formed by the casting down of some loose planks by the hoofs of Armstrong's horses, joined in the close combat with the enemy. Lee had now gained the bridge, where Captain O'Neil, with the third section, had halted. Captain Mayham, of Marion's cavalry, dashed by them, when his horse was shot under him. The chasm had been widened by
Severe Battle above Quimby's Creek Bridge.—Public Services and Execution of Colonel Hayne
the passage of Carrington's troops, and all Lee's efforts to repair the breach were ineffectual. The stream was too deep to ford, and the shores too muddy to land if the horses had swam it, and, consequently, a victory so nearly secured had to be abandoned. Coates, with his recaptured howitzer, retreated to a strong two-story house and other buildings a little further up the stream, into which many of his soldiers had fled at the first attack. There he was assailed by Sumter and Marion, between three and four o'clock in the afternoon, and a severe battle was waged for three hours. Darkness, and the failure of the powder of the patriots, terminated the contest. Fifty of Marion's brigade were killed or wounded, and seventy of the British fell. Coates held his position, and Sumter, informed of the approach of Rawdon, collected his own immediate forces, crossed the Santee, and joined Greene upon the High Hills, while Marion remained lower down upon the river to watch the movements of the enemy.