The Life of General Francis Marion

by M. L. Weems

Who, without tears, can think of the hard fate of poor colonel Haynes and his family?

Soon as the will of heaven had thrown Charleston into the hands of the British, lord Cornwallis, famed for pompous proclamations, began to publish. The tenor of his gasconade was, that Carolina was now, to all intents and purposes, subjugated; that the enemies of his lord the king were all at his mercy; and that though, by the war rubrick for conquered rebels, he had a right to send fire and sword before him, with blood and tears following in his course; though he had a right to feed the birds of heaven with rebel carcasses, and to fatten his soldiers with their confiscated goods, yet he meant not to use that dreadful right. No, indeed! Far from him were all such odious thoughts. On the contrary he wished to be merciful: and as proof of his sincerity, all that he asked of the poor deluded people of his majesty's colony of South Carolina was, that they should no longer take part nor lot in the contest, but continue peaceably at their homes. And that, in reward thereof, they should be most sacredly protected in property and person.

This proclamation was accompanied with an instrument of neutrality, as an "outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace," in my lord Cornwallis towards the Carolinians; and which instrument they were invited to sign, that they might have a covenant right to the aforesaid promised blessings of protection, both in property and person.

The heart of colonel Haynes was with his countrymen, and fervently did he pray that his hands could be with them too. But, these, alas! were bound up by his wife and children, whom, it is said, he loved passing well. Helpless and trembling as they were, how could they be deserted by him in this fearful season, and given up to a brutal soldiery? And why should he insure the destruction of a large estate, when all opposition seemed hopeless? In short, with thousands of others, he went and signed an instrument, which promised security to his family and fortune. But alas! from that fatal moment he never more enjoyed peace. To hate the ministerial measures as he did, and yet thus tamely to have submitted to them; to love his country as heartily as he did, and to know that she was now fighting, with her all at stake, and yet thus to have deserted her!

These keen self-condemning reflections harrowed every root of quiet from his soul. If he went to his couch, it was only to groan, sleepless and tossing, all the restless night. If he got up, it was but to sit, or walk to and fro in his family, with dark and woeful looks, like one whom trouble had overcome.

In the midst of these anguishing reflections, which appeared to be wearing him fast to the grave, a respite was afforded, and by a hand from which it was least expected. Lord Cornwallis, having by his first proclamation, obtained to the instrument of neutrality aforesaid, the signatures of many thousands of the citizens of South Carolina, then came out with a SECOND proclamation, in which he nominates the paper above not an instrument of neutrality, but a bond of allegiance to the king, and calls upon all who had signed it, to take up arms against the rebels! — threatening to treat as deserters those who refused!

This fraud of my lord Cornwallis, excited in all honest men the deepest indignation. It completely revived colonel Haynes. To his unspeakable joy, he now saw opened a door of honorable return to duty and happiness. And since, contrary to the most solemn compact, he was compelled to fight, he very naturally determined to fight the British, rather than his own countrymen. He fled to his countrymen, who received him with joy, and gave him a command of horse. He was surprised and carried to Charleston, where lord Rawdon, then commandant, ordered him, in his favorite phrase, to be `knocked into irons'. A mock trial, dignified with the name of `court martial', was held over him, and colonel Haynes was sentenced to be hung. Everybody in Charleston, Britons as well as Americans, all heard this sentence with horror, except colonel Haynes himself. On his cheek alone, all agree, it produced no change. It appeared that the deed which he had done, signing that accursed paper, had run him desperate. Though the larger part, even of his enemies, believing that it was done merely from sympathy with his wife and children, felt the generous disposition to forgive him, yet he could never forgive himself. It had inflicted on his mind a wound too ghastly to be healed.

To their own, and to the great honor of human nature, numbers of the British and loyalists, with governor Bull at their head, preferred a petition to lord Rawdon in his behalf. But the petition was not noticed. The ladies then came forward in his favor with a petition, couched in the most delicate and moving terms, and signed by all the principal females of Charleston, tories as well as whigs. But all to no purpose. It was then suggested by the friends of humanity, that if the colonel's little children, for they had no mother, she, poor woman! crushed under the double weight of grief and the small-pox, was just sunk at rest in the grave. It was suggested, I say, that if the colonel's little children, dressed in mourning, were to fall at the knees of lord Rawdon, he would pity their motherless condition, and give to their prayers their only surviving parent. They were accordingly dressed in black, and introduced into his presence: they fell down at his knees, and, with clasped hands and tear-streaming eyes, lisped their father's name, and begged his life: but in vain.

So many efforts to save him, both by friends and generous foes, could not be made, unknown to colonel Haynes. But he appeared perfectly indifferent about the result! and when told that they had all failed, he replied with the utmost unconcern — "Well, thank God, lord Rawdon cannot hurt me. He cannot be more anxious to take my life than I am to lay it down."

With his son, a youth of thirteen, who was permitted to stay with him in the prison, colonel Haynes used often to converse, in order to fortify him against the sad trial that was at hand. And indeed it was necessary, for seldom has a heavier load been laid on a tender-hearted youth. War, like a thick cloud, had darkened up the gay morning of his days: the grave had just closed her mouth on a mother who doted on him; and he now beheld his only parent, a beloved father, in the power of his enemies, loaded with irons, and condemned to die. With cheeks wet with tears, he sat continually by his father's side, and looked at him with eyes so piercing and sad, as often wrung tears of blood from his heart.