“Now, Greene’s army had been moving and fighting for seven months. Of course, they must have been tired; so he gave them a rest of about six weeks in a secure position on the high hills of Santee.
“After that he met the British army, now under the command of Stuart, in a decisive action at Eutaw Springs.
“In the morning the British were driven off the field by a superb charge on their left flank; but after retreating some distance in disorder, they rallied in a strong position, protected by a brick house and palisaded garden, and succeeded in remaining there during the afternoon, but only because Greene desisted from further attack until the cool of the evening. For thus holding their position merely on sufferance the British army absurdly claimed a victory, and some careless American writers—who ought to know better—have repeated the error. Greene foresaw that the British must retreat at night; they did so, and he then renewed his attack. They were chased nearly thirty miles by Marion and Lee, and very many of them taken prisoners. Of the two thousand and three hundred men with whom Stuart had gone into battle, scarcely more than one thousand reached Charleston. There they remained for the next fourteen months, shut up under the shelter of their fleet.”
“The battle of Eutaw Springs was a great victory for the Americans, wasn’t it, father?” asked Grace.
“It was, indeed, a decisive and final one,” he replied; “at least, so far as the Americans in South Carolina were concerned. Congress testified its appreciation of it by a vote of thanks and a gold medal.”
“What was the date of that battle, father?” asked Lucilla.
“Battle of Eutaw Springs? Eighth of September, 1781. On the 14th of December, 1782, Greene marched into Charleston at the head of his army, and the next summer, when the army was disbanded, he went home. On his way there he stopped in Philadelphia and was greeted there by enthusiastic crowds and treated with great consideration by Congress—the men who had come so near depriving the country of his services.”
“Was the war over then, papa?” asked Elsie.
“England had not yet acknowledged our independence,” replied her father, “but did so on November 30, 1782, when preliminaries of peace were signed; those were changed into a definite peace on September 3, 1783.”
“But is that all the story about General Greene, papa?” asked Ned.