[1160] See also Seymour's "Journal" (Penna. Hist. Mag., vii.) for another contemporary account.
[1161] North Carolina University Magazine, vol. vii. 193. This was written in 1824 and cannot be regarded as authority of the first importance. The passage relating to this affair is quoted by Caruthers, Incidents, 76. That author's own account is derived to a great extent from tradition (Incidents, 71 et seq.). In the above letter Graham asserted that he saw Eggleston—the leader of Lee's rear troop—strike a Tory with the butt of his pistol, and that the blow brought about the conflict. The different narratives cannot be reconciled. Very likely Lee had forgotten the exact details. It is certain that Stedman (Amer. War, ii. 333), in his estimate of the Tory loss in killed alone at between two and three hundred, more than doubled the actual number; but it was a murderous business at best.
[1162] There are three letters from Greene to Washington in Sparks, Corr. Rev., iii. 224, 259, 266. The second of these (March 10) was also printed in Remembrancer, xii. 37; Pol. Mag., ii. 380; and Tarleton, 258. Greene's official report to the President of Congress may be found in Caldwell's Greene, p. 432; Ann. Reg. for 1781, Principal Occurrences, p. 148; Remembrancer, xii. 37; Tarleton, 313; Lee, Memoirs, i. 414, etc. Cf. also a letter to Morgan in Graham's Morgan, 372, and to Reed, in Reed's Reed, ii. 348. As to the proper dispositions to make in engagements where much reliance must be placed on militia, see Morgan to Greene, Feb. 20, in a note to Johnson's Greene, ii. 6. As to events subsequent to the battle, see Nash, governor of N. C., to Washington in Sparks, Corres. Rev., iii. 282; Greene to same in Ibid. 277; Johnson, Greene, ii. 37; and Remembrancer, xii. 116. Greene also wrote to Greene, governor of R. I., on the same subject. Cf. R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., vi. 284, and R. I. Col. Rec., ix. 380.
[1163] Cornwallis's report to Germain (London Gazette, June 2-5, 1781) was widely reprinted (Corn. Corr., i. 506; Cornwallis, Answer to Clinton's Narrative, App. p. 35; Remembrancer, xii. 21, etc., etc.). He also wrote a friendly note to Rawdon, in which he says that after a very sharp action he had routed Greene (Corn. Corr., i. 85; Remembrancer, xi. 332; Polit. Mag., ii. 329, etc.). Balfour communicated the news of the "victory at Guilford" to Germain in two letters, dated respectively March 24 and 27. These last three letters arrived in London in season to be published in the Gazette Extra for May 11, 1781,—nearly a month before the official report was given to the world. Cf. also Remembrancer, xi. 329. Cornwallis's Order-book is very valuable for this period, although it is often hard to reconcile the dates as there given with the accepted accounts,—in Caruthers, Incidents, 2d ser. pp. 391-442. See also St. George Tucker to Fanny (his wife) under date of March 18, 1781, in Mag. Amer. Hist., vii. 40; viii. 201; and Seymour's "Journal" in Penna. Mag. Hist., vii. 377. Major Weemys gives the supposed strength of Cornwallis's army before the action at Guilford, March 15, 1781, as, in the field with him, 2,700; in his department, 6,000 in all (Sparks MSS. xx.).—Ed.
[1164] Good descriptions are in the Memoirs of the British Graham (pp. 41-46), in Gordon (iv. 53), and in Stedman (ii. 337). Lamb in his so-called Journal (pp. 348-362) follows Stedman, but he added several interesting anecdotes, which it must be remembered are related by an actual actor in the battle.
[1165] Another apologetic description is that in McSherry's Maryland (p. 286). The plain fact is that the 2d Maryland broke and contributed materially to the defeat of the Americans. The Grenadier Guards (Hamilton, ii. 247) did excellent work on the British side, and the account in the history of that corps is good. The Hessians, too, once more appeared on the Southern fields (Eelking, Hülfstruppen, ii. 101, and Lowell, Hessians, 268). Other accounts may be found in Marshall's Washington, iv. 336; Greene's Greene, iii. 176; Johnson's Greene, ii. 4; Allen, Hist. Amer. Rev., ii. 393; Andrews, iv. 100; Botta (Otis's trans.), iii. 263; Lossing, Field-Book, ii. 599 and 608; Mag. Amer. Hist., vii. 38; Harper's Magazine, xv. 158; Dawson, Carrington, etc.
A narrative of subsequent events in North Carolina, with a loyalist's sympathies, is in The Narrative of Colonel David Fanning ... as written by himself, Richmond, 1861. "Printed for private distribution only." A small edition (50 copies) was brought out by Sabin in 1865.
[1166] Greene to Huntingdon (President of Congress) in Caldwell's Greene, p. 435; Remembrancer, xii. 126; Pol. Mag., ii. 547; Tarleton, 467, etc. See also letters to Lee and Marion in Gibbes, Doc. Hist., 1781-82, 60. Cf. also Sparks, Corres. Rev., iii. 299, and Reed's Reed, ii. 351, 361.
[1167] Rawdon's order which brought on the battle is in Pol. Mag., ii. 340. The British commander reported to Cornwallis (Corn. Corr., i. 97, and Remembrancer, xv. 1); Balfour to Germain (London Gazette, June 2-5, 1781; reprinted in Annual Register for the same year under Principal Occurrences, p. 71; Pol. Mag., ii. 380; Remembrancer, xii. 27; Tarleton, p. 465; etc.). On the 6th Balfour wrote to Clinton, giving a very gloomy account of affairs (Clinton, Observations on Cornwallis, etc., App. p. 97). Clinton enclosed several letters of about this time to Germain (Remembrancer, xii. 151). In a letter to Cornwallis, dated Monk's Corner, May 24, Rawdon describes his movements after the fight. It is a valuable letter (London Gazette, July 31-Aug. 4, 1781; Remembrancer, xv. 4, while extracts are in Ibid. xii. 151; Pol. Mag., ii. 482; Tarleton, 475; Clinton, Observations on Cornwallis, etc., App. p. 91; Gibbes, Doc. Hist. (1781-82), p. 77, etc.).
[1168] Cf. also Gordon, iv. 81; Ramsay, Rev. in S. C.; Stedman, ii. 324; Lee, Memoirs, ii. 57 (he always spells the name of the battle-ground Hobkick's Hill); Lee, Campaign of 1781, 264; Balch's Maryland Line, 143. As to numbers, Greene thought that the two armies were about equal,—one thousand on each side. This is probably nearly correct; for Rawdon gave his own number at 960, and Gordon, on the authority of returns not now accessible, rated Greene's force at 1,194 men of all arms. This included 254 North Carolina militia who had just arrived. They were not included in the battle line. Williams reported the American loss at 268; but 133 of these are given as missing, with the remark that they probably had mistaken the order as to a place of rendezvous. Rawdon reported his own loss at 220 men. But Tarleton, on the authority of a return in the Annual Register, gives it at 258. The discrepancy is not material.