It was a captain, one who should have been the first to urge his men to enlist, who said in reply to my questions:
"Surely the Cause has none in the Carolinas, save this beggarly force to which you are attached, while the British have overrun this section of the country. The Continentals are dispersed or captured; the Virginia and North Carolina militia are scattered to the four winds; Sumter's Legion has been whipped by Tarleton, and their leader is fleeing for his life. In addition to all that, here is a copy of the letter which Lord Clinton has sent to the commandants of the different posts throughout the colonies."
Then the officer handed me a slip of paper on which was written the following:
"I have given orders that all of the inhabitants of this province who have subscribed, and have taken part in this revolt, should be punished with the greatest rigor; and also those who will not turn out, that they may be imprisoned and their whole property taken from them or destroyed.... I have ordered in the most positive manner that every militiaman, who has borne arms with us, and afterwards joined the enemy, shall be immediately hanged!"
CHAPTER VII.
THE RETREAT.
We of Williamsburg were most certainly in a peculiar position, after having released one hundred and fifty prisoners and discovered that only three had sufficient faith in the Cause, or were sufficiently eager for death, to join us.
Now right here let me set down that the men under General Marion were true patriots, gentlemen of the Williamsburg district, and in every sense of the word, worthy citizens. This I say because the British people even at this late day, five years since peace was declared and we have become a free and independent people, say that "that officer who caused Tarleton so much annoyance had as a following only the dissolute and depraved."
I repeat, the force under General Marion was made up of gentlemen, the greater number of whom owned plantations in or near the Williamsburg district, and the fact that they had for a leader such a man as my uncle, Major James, is sufficient proof as to their character.
Although these men were by this time come to believe that the Cause for which they had struggled so long was much the same as lost, so far as we in the southern colonies were concerned, yet they were not of the class that acknowledges itself beaten while life remains.
Therefore it was, that instead of being yet further disheartened by this failure which followed a brilliant victory, they were the more determined to strike every possible blow before the end should come.