KINGS MOUNTAIN.—But the tide quickly turned. After his victory at Camden, Cornwallis began to invade North Carolina, and sent Colonel Ferguson into the South Carolina highlands to enlist all the Tories he could find. As Ferguson advanced into the hill country, the backwoodsmen and mountaineers rallied from all sides, and led by Sevier, Shelby, and Williams, surrounded him and forced him to make a stand on the summit of Kings Mountain, October 7, 1780. Fighting in true Indian fashion from behind every tree and rock, they shot Ferguson's army to pieces, killed him, and forced the few survivors to surrender. This victory forced Cornwallis to put off his conquest of North Carolina.
COWPENS.—General Greene was now sent to replace Gates in command of the patriot army in the South. He was too weak to attack Cornwallis, but by dividing his army and securing the aid of the partisan bands he hoped to annoy the British with raids. Morgan, who commanded one of these divisions, was so successful that Cornwallis sent Tarleton with a thousand men against him. Morgan offered battle on the grounds known as the Cowpens, and there Tarleton was routed and three fourths of his men were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF THE COWPENS.]
THE GREAT RETREAT.—This victory won, Morgan set off to join Greene, with Cornwallis himself in hot pursuit. When Greene heard the news, he determined to draw the British general far northward and then fight him wherever he would be at most disadvantage. [10] The retreat of the American army was therefore continued to the border of Virginia.
GUILFORD COURT HOUSE.—Having received reinforcements, Greene turned southward and offered battle at Guilford Court House (March 15, 1781). A desperate fight ensued, and when night came, Greene retired, leaving the British unable to follow him. Cornwallis had lost one quarter of his army in killed and wounded. He was in the midst of a hostile country, too weak to stay, and unwilling to confess defeat by retreating to South Carolina. Thus outgeneraled he hurried to Wilmington, where he could be aided by the British fleet.
[Illustration: LAFAYETTE MONUMENT. Washington, D.C.]
Greene followed for a time, and then turned into South Carolina, drove the
British out of Camden, and by the 4th of July had reconquered half of
South Carolina. Late in August, he forced the British back to Eutaw
Springs, where (September 8, 1781) a desperate battle was fought. [11] The
British troops held their ground, but on the following night they set off
for. Charleston, where they remained until the end of the war. [12]
YORKTOWN.—From Wilmington Cornwallis marched to southeastern Virginia, where a British force under Benedict Arnold joined him. He then set off to capture Lafayette, who had been sent to defend Virginia from Arnold. But Lafayette retreated to the back country, till reinforcements came. When Cornwallis could drive him no farther, the British army retreated to the coast, and fortified itself at Yorktown.
In August Washington received word that a large French fleet under De Grasse was about to sail from the West Indies to Chesapeake Bay. He saw that the supreme moment had come. Laying aside his plan for an attack on New York, he hurried southward, marched his army to the head of Chesapeake Bay, and then took it by ships to Yorktown. [13] The French fleet was already in the bay. Some French troops had joined Lafayette, and Cornwallis was already surrounded when Washington arrived. The siege was now pressed with overwhelming force, and Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781.
END OF THE WAR.—Swift couriers carried the news to Philadelphia, where, at the dead of night, the people were roused from sleep by the watchman crying in the street, "Past two o'clock and Cornwallis is taken." In the morning Congress received the dispatches and went in solemn procession to a church to give thanks to God.