Col. O. H. Williams also wrote an interesting account of the fight in a letter to "Elie" (his wife), dated Camp before Camden, April 27, 1781 (Potter's American Monthly, iv. 101, and Tiffany's Williams, p. 19). Still another of Greene's officers—Major William Pierce—in a letter (August 20) devoted considerable space to this indecisive engagement (Mag. Amer. Hist., vii. 431-435). A somewhat different description by a looker-on was written many years afterwards by Samuel Matthis, an inhabitant of the district. It is entitled: Account of the battle of Hobkirk's Hill as some call it, or Battle of Camden as called by others, tho' the ground on which it was fought is now (1810) called the Big Sand Hill above Camden (American Historical Record, ii. 103).
From the Political Magazine (vol. ii p. 117).
There is a chart of Cape Fear River, 1776, in the No. Amer. Pilot, no. 28.—Ed.
Whether Greene was or was not surprised is the only point about which there has been much dispute in recent years. Johnson (Greene, ii. 72) has effectually disposed of this question in Greene's favor; but it must be admitted that he was "very suddenly attacked", to use the words of Lee, who was not present at the battle, and who seems to have forgotten the exact relation of events of this campaign. The account of this affair in the lives of Greene by Johnson and Greene (iii. 241), as well as that in Marshall's Washington (iv. 510), is based upon an unpublished narrative by Colonel Davie, which is among the "Greene MSS."[1168]
HOBKIRK'S HILL.
(Sometimes called the Second Battle of Camden.)
Sketch of the battle of Hobkirk's Hill, near Camden, on the 25th April, 1781, drawn by C. Vallancey, Capt. of the Vols. of Ireland. [The cross-swords show] where the enemy's piquets were attacked. Faden, Aug. 1, 1783. It is the same plate, with slight changes, used in Stedman (ii. 358), where it is dated Feb. 6, 1794. It is reëngraved in R. E. Lee's ed. of Henry Lee's Memoirs of the War, p. 336. Johnson's plan (Greene, ii. 76) is reproduced in G. W. Greene's Greene, iii. 241. Carrington (p. 576) gives an eclectic plan, and there is a small plan in Lossing's Field-Book, ii. 679.—Ed.