In the darkness we four comrades were sent forward to reconnoitre.—[Page 205].
However, just now must be told what we of the Williamsburg district did with the overly confident Colonel Tynes, and yet the story must be brief, because the adventure was no more than an ordinary occurrence, where neither glory nor honor is to be won, nor great deeds accomplished.
At midnight, eight and forty hours after the news had been brought, General Marion's brigade descended upon Colonel Tynes' camp, and simply overran it.
It seems strange even now that we should have seized upon all that store, throwing so many well-armed men into a panic by simply riding among them, yet such is the fact.
When, in the darkness of the night, the brigade came upon the encampment, we four comrades were sent forward to reconnoiter, and true it is that we failed to find a single sentinel on guard. In some of the camps men were playing cards, in others they slept, and yet more sat around the camp-fires, drinking and smoking.
The officers were making merry in a building hard by, and there were none to oppose our progress.
The reconnaissance was attended with as little danger as if we four had gone out sight-seeing among friends, and when we returned to where General Marion and my uncle the major, awaited our coming, it was with a story so incredible that for an instant they could hardly believe our statements.
Then the word "Forward" was given, and we, as I have said, overran that camp without hindrance.
Neither Britisher nor Tory so much as discharged a gun; the redcoat and renegade Carolinian alike sought refuge in flight, hoping to gain the fastness of Tarcote Swamp, and to have cut them down in their panic would have been like murdering men in cold blood, for how can you take the life of him who offers no resistance?