When the advance was ordered we rode forward eagerly, for inaction had whetted our desire, and once more we gave the renegade sons of the colony a much needed lesson.
To me the engagement was not as desperate as either of the others in which Percy and I had taken part, for at no time did we of the cavalry come to a hand-to-hand encounter with those who chose to serve a king whose only delight was in oppression; but that it was a real and a bloody battle was known full well after we had gained possession of the field, for then our officers learned from such prisoners as had been taken, that the enemy outnumbered us two to one, and of all those engaged, true colonists as well as false, a full third were killed or disabled.
Our loss was great, when one takes into consideration the fact that we made the attack, and that it was in a certain sense surprising.
Captain Logan was killed; Captain Mouzon and Lieutenant Scott so severely wounded that even though their lives were saved it would be impossible for them to do active service again, and more than an hundred people were dead or disabled.
Among the Tories the execution had been great; Captain Ball was dead, and a full two hundred lay on the ground lifeless, or wounded to such an extent that retreat was impossible.
In addition to that, we had among us one hundred and two as prisoners, and they who had a few hours previous believed the Cause of freedom in the Carolinas was dead, now pleaded eagerly to be allowed to enlist.
They had no love for country; but were ready as ever to join such force as appeared to be gaining ascendancy, and this one victory had put the Cause on a different footing from what it had been since the day we made the attack upon the Prince of Wales' regiment at Nelson's Ferry.
In discussing this engagement afterward, Gavin, Percy and I have decided, to our own satisfaction at least, that not one among our leaders had any idea of the good which might result from what was little less than a chance encounter when the king's officers believed we had been whipped into submission.
We ourselves almost became weary of it as the days passed and this man or that, who had previously declared his allegiance to the king, came into camp, begging the privilege to enlist under the banner of General Marion.
But I am getting ahead of my story, and it is little wonder, for on the night before the battle at the Black Mingo we had considered ourselves outlaws, whose only hope lay in striking one or more severe blows before death should befall us. Then to find that the Cause had suddenly received a new lease of life was so unexpected and happily surprising, that even at this late day I cannot forbear a sense of triumph such as I did not know even on the day peace was declared, when these colonies had become a free nation—a nation such as I doubt not will one day be a power in the world.