Although the British had defeated the Americans in the last engagement, this victory no more than the former produced any favourable results to the British cause. Already before this battle was fought, Fort Watson, on the Santee River, and one of the lines of communication between Camden and Charleston, had surrendered to Lee and Marion; the whole country was in arms, and Colonel Watson on his way to reinforce Lord Rawdon, was in consequence obliged to pass and repass the Santee, going down almost to the very mouth of the river for the first, and up to the confluence of that river with the Congaree for the second, before he was able to reach Camden, where he had long been anxiously expected. But with his arrival came the intelligence that Fort Motte, situated at the junction of the Congaree and Santee, was invested by Lee and Marion. This being the case, Lord Rawdon, now reinforced, withdrew to Nelson’s Ferry, sixty miles from Camden, having first made a vain attempt to draw General Greene into another engagement. On the 9th of May he abandoned Camden, having destroyed all the works, and leaving behind him such sick and wounded as were unable to bear the removal, and on the 13th arrived at Nelson’s Ferry, the unwelcome news having reached him by the way of the surrender of Fort Motte. This was a heavy loss, for at this place were deposited all the provisions that were intended for the supply of Camden. More bad news followed: Sumter took another strong post at Orangeburg, and Fort Granby surrendered to Lee, who was then sent against Augusta. Scarcely had these tidings been received than Colonel Balfour, the commandant of Charleston, made his appearance, full of apprehensions regarding the state of affairs there, and the alarming turn which they had taken in so short a time. So little, indeed, had this been expected, that the whole fortifications of the town had been removed, and the new were not yet completed; and so strong was his belief in the general disaffection of the people, that if any misfortune happened to Lord Rawdon’s forces, the loss of the province and capital might be anticipated. As a proof of the disaffection of the country, it is related by the English that for five days after Lord Rawdon had crossed the Santee, not a single person of any sort whatever came near his camp, nor could the spies and emissaries which he sent out in all directions procure for him any true intelligence as to the situation of the enemy. The enemy, however, was busy all this time, and as we have said, one strong post after another was taken. Alarmed at these ominous proceedings, Lord Rawdon, accompanied by a great number of Tory families, retreated from Nelson’s Ferry to Monk’s Corner, still nearer to Charleston, that he might protect the town and the fertile country which intervened.
The next tidings were that General Greene was investing Ninety-Six, the principal British stronghold in the upper country, which the garrison of American loyalists was very bravely defending. On this, being fortunately just then reinforced by three regiments from Ireland, Lord Rawdon hastened to its relief. It was then the middle of summer, and marching with as much speed as the excessive heat would allow, he had the mortification of learning by the way, that Augusta had surrendered, and that the forces employed in its reduction had now joined Greene.
The Americans were attempting an unsuccessful assault on Ninety-Six, when the unwelcome tidings reached them, that Lord Rawdon, strongly reinforced, was advancing to the relief of that fort. The utmost bravery had been displayed in the attack, the ditch was full of killed and wounded, when Greene determined to abandon the attempt, and not even to face the new foe. He had already, it appeared, anticipated such an event, by sending off all the heavy baggage across the Saluda, whither he now also followed. The British pursued for forty miles, as far as the fords of Ennoree, but finding then that the Americans had crossed safely two hours before, and the troops being spent with fatigue and the excessive heat, Lord Rawdon slowly returned to Ninety-Six, which was then abandoned, and the British army, again accompanied by great numbers of terrified loyalists, retired to Orangeburg, where leaving the greater part of his forces to aid the loyalists in embodying themselves, he marched with the remainder to Congaree, closely pursued by Greene, who hoped to be able to surround him while he waited for promised reinforcements. It happened, however, that Lord Rawdon arrived at Congaree two days sooner than was expected, and finding the enemy so near, and suspecting their intentions, he made a rapid move again towards Orangeburg, and Greene, now joined by Marion, having altered his intentions, retired as suddenly to the hills of the Santee, to refresh his troops and wait for reinforcements.
The summer in the South closed the campaign. The sufferings of the British in this climate were excessive. During renewed forced marches, under the rage of a burning sun, they were frequently, when sinking under the extremest fatigue, not only destitute of every comfort, but almost of every necessary. They were for the greater part destitute of bread, and the country afforded no vegetables as a substitute—salt too failed them, at length, and their only resource was water and the wild cattle found in the woods. About fifty men in this last expedition sunk under the rigour of their exertions and died of sheer fatigue. Nor did the Americans suffer less. Twice they had been defeated in two pitched battles; yet upon the whole the campaign terminated in their favour. The greater part of Georgia was recovered, as were also the two Carolinas; the British being now limited to the district between the Santee and the Lower Savannah.
Although operations between the main armies were suspended during the hot and unhealthy season, the partisan corps on both sides were actively employed. This it was which added such additional horrors to the war in the South. Houses were plundered and burned and their inhabitants murdered, women and children seldom being spared. One great object of plunder was slaves. Sumter paid his men in this manner. The number of slaves carried off during the war is estimated at 30,000. Lord Dunmore, at the commencement of the struggle, armed the slaves against their masters; and had the British persevered in this plan, and, treating the slaves as men and king’s subjects, converted them into soldiers, the conquest of the Southern States would have been almost inevitable.[[41]]
Lord Rawdon soon after returned to England, in consequence of ill health, and the command devolved upon Colonel Stuart. Before his departure from Charleston, however, a tragical circumstance occurred there which greatly irritated the Carolinians and threw great odium upon the British. This was the execution of Colonel Isaac Hayne, a firm patriot, who, at the commencement of the war, had entered with ardour into the republican struggle and assisted in person at the defence of Charleston. On the surrender of the city, having been offered British protection or rigorous confinement, he was weak enough to choose the former, it being urged in his excuse, that his wife and children were ill of the small-pox, and this was his only alternative to avoid being separated from them. When the British were driven from his neighbourhood, he took up arms against them, and in this condition was taken prisoner and brought before Colonel Balfour, the commandant of the place, who condemned him to death. Every effort was used to save his life; General Greene avowed his determination to retaliate; the loyalists, with the governor at their head, and the most distinguished women of Charleston, begged for his life, as did his little children, dressed in deep mourning. But in vain; Lord Rawdon reluctantly gave his consent to the execution, which accordingly took place, causing a universal execration.
While these events had been occurring in the Carolinas, General Phillips and the traitor Arnold were carrying everything before them in Virginia, and successively defeated such bodies of militia as could be suddenly brought into the field, while their best troops were fighting the battles of others in the Carolinas[[42]]. After having fortified Portsmouth at the mouth of the James River, and thus secured a place of retreat, Phillips advanced up that river, which, with its numerous dependent branches and creeks, laid the whole central country on either hand open to him. On the Appomatox, a confluent of James River, he took Petersburg, where he destroyed 4,000 hogsheads of tobacco, collected there for shipment to France. Besides this, shipping and vessels of all kinds, on the stocks and in the river, public buildings and warehouses, with their contents of timber, provisions and all other stores, were destroyed; after which, Arnold advancing up the river where a considerable fleet of vessels had taken refuge, the greater number were burned or scuttled to prevent their falling into his hands. From Petersburg the enemy proceeded to Manchester, just opposite Richmond, where they destroyed nearly 2,000 hogsheads of tobacco; La Fayette, who had just arrived there with a detachment of New England troops, and to whose presence Richmond owed its temporary safety, having the mortification of witnessing the conflagration from the opposite shore. Havoc and devastation marked the career of these ruthless invaders, who, after collecting an immense booty in tobacco and slaves, and having destroyed ships, warehouses and mills, everything, in short, which came in their way and was of value to the inhabitants, returned to their shipping and fell down the river towards its mouth.
As regarded the force collected for the defence of Virginia, it was totally inadequate to the necessities of the province. The entire force of the Virginia line now under arms did not exceed 1,000 men, and were at this time absent serving under Greene; about 500 recruits, unarmed and unclothed, whom Steuben was vainly endeavouring to equip, were at Richmond. The only effective force were drafts of the New England regiments, under La Fayette, who, little inclined to serve in this unhealthy climate, were only kept together by his threats to shoot deserters, and by winning their fidelity through their gratitude, inasmuch as, on his own credit, he supplied them with hats, shoes and blankets, of which they were in grievous need.
We have already said that Lord Cornwallis, informed of the unfortunate turn which the British affairs had taken in South Carolina, resolved, although his own force was reduced, to hardly more than 1,000 effective men, to march to Virginia and effect a junction with General Phillips. Again the British commander complained bitterly of the sufferings and destitute condition of his troops. Neither cavalry nor infantry, he said, were fit to move, yet they must commence on the morrow a march of several hundred miles, through a country chiefly hostile, frequently desert, which did not afford one active or useful friend, where no intelligence was to be obtained, and where no communication could be established.[[43]]
The march, however, was made through all these difficulties and impediments; and on the 25th of April, about a month after he had set out, he reached Petersburg, where he found the troops of General Phillips, who himself had died only a few days previously, and shortly after was reinforced also by four regiments sent from New York. On the approach of Cornwallis, La Fayette, having removed the most valuable stores from Richmond, abandoned that town and retired towards the north-west, to form a junction with General Wayne, who was now on his march with 1,000 of the Pennsylvanian levies to join the southern army. The assembly of Virginia, on the abandonment of Richmond, adjourned to Charlottesville, and increased powers, suitable to the emergency, were conferred upon Governor Jefferson. The prisoners under Burgoyne’s capitulation, who had been living for the last two years in this neighbourhood in great comfort, in their huts amid their gardens, were now also suddenly removed across the mountains to Winchester.