Cambden, and endangered the communication between them. Frequently crossing the Santee, he interrupted the intercourse between Charleston and Cambden; to secure which, an intermediate post had been established at Matte's hill, on the south side of the Congaree.

Thus, in this gloomy period, was resistance in the South continued; as embarrassing to the enemy, as exhilarating to the scattered refugees from South Carolina and Georgia. It produced in congress and the nation a solacing conviction, that the spirit of the people was not subdued; and promised, if seconded with vigor, and directed with wisdom, to restore the two lost states to the Union.

CHAPTER XX.

CORNWALLIS still held his position at Winnsborough, waiting for the expected reinforcement under Leslie, and devoting his attention to the repression of the daring enterprises, devised and executed by Marion, Sumpter, and their gallant associates.

In the meanwhile Gates was laboring with unceasing zeal and diligence to prepare a force, capable of meeting his successful adversary. Having collected the shattered remains of his army at Hillsborough, in pursuance of a regulation established by the commander in chief, the broken lines of Maryland and Delaware were compressed into one regiment, and placed under colonel Williams, of Maryland. The officers of cavalry had not been very successful in their efforts; for, but four complete troops could be formed from the relics of Bland, Moylan, and Baylor's regiments, when united with the new recruits. These were embodied, and placed under the command of lieutenant colonel Washington, of Virginia.* The

* Lieutenant colonel Washington found among his difficulties that of acquiring proper swords not the least considerable; and hearing that the arsenal of his native state in Richmond abounded with dragoon swords, he despatched an officer to governor Jefferson, stating his wants, and soliciting relief.

supernumerary officers of Maryland and Delaware and of the cavalry were despatched to their respective states, for the purpose of recruiting. Brigadier Gest, who had so nobly seconded de Kalb on the fatal 16th of August, was charged with the direction of this service; there being no command for him with the army, in consequence of its reduced state. General Smallwood was retained as second to Gates. Morgan, the distinguished leader of the rifle corps, was promoted to the rank of brigadier by brevet, and repaired to the southern army. About the same time, the recruits of the Virginia line reached Hillsborough; and the remaining companies of Harrison's artillery also joined

our army.

The union of these several corps gave to general Gates about one thousand and four hundred continentals. The deliverance of North Carolina from the late invasion, by the fortunate victory of King's Mountain, afforded time for the government of the state to understand its real condition, and to prepare for the impending danger. A division of its militia had been called into the field under the command of the generals Sumner and Davidson, to which was united a volunteer corps under colonel Davie.

While Gates remained at Hillsborough, Sumner had taken post, with the militia, in the country washed by the Yadkin, the main branch of the Pedee. Smallwood was despatched to take charge of the troops in that quarter, while general Gates moved, with the continentals, to Charlotte. As soon as the headquar

ters of the American army were transferred to this place, Smallwood was advanced from the Yadkin to the Catawba; having brigadier Morgan, at the head of a corps of light troops, in his front.

The Pedee is the northern boundary of South Carolina; the Savannah is its limit on the southwest; and the Santee, whose main branch is the Catawba, is the intermediate of the three large rivers of that state. Just below Matte's, where the British had erected a small fortification, the Santee is formed by the confluence of the Wateree and the Congaree. The former of these rivers, descending from the north, runs through the hilly country, where it is called Catawba; and, passing Cambden, rolls on to its junction with the Congaree. The Congaree, after the union of its head branches, the Broad River and the Saluda, takes a southern direction.

The position now taken by Gates, and the arrangement of his force, presented a strong contrast of his former conduct; and afforded a consoling presumption, that he had discovered his past error, and had profited by the correction of adversity.* Neither congress nor the nation were reconciled, however, to the severe blow, which our arms had sustained under his guidance. The annihilation, in a few hours, of an army,

* When general Gates was about to set out from Virginia for the South, his old acquaintance and fellow soldier, general Charles Lee, waited on him to take leave; and pressing him by the hand, bade him to bear in mind, that the laurels of the North must not be exchanged for the willow of the South.

from which much had been expected, was a sufficient cause of investigation and inquietude: and when that misfortune, in the exhausted and worried condition of the people, was followed by a necessity of replacing the lost force, or of submitting to the subjugation of an important portion of the Union, the most awful and afflicting sensations were unavoidably excited. Congress entertained, indeed, a high respect for the unfortunate general, and a grateful recollection of his past services; but that homage, however merited, could not, and ought not, to suppress those inquiries, which always follow miscarriage or misfortune, where the sovereign power is careful of the public good. It was, moreover, necessary to check the conqueror; and two lost states were to be recovered. To effect such important objects, a general, obscured by adversity, was, though of respectable talents, inadequate; it required the fire of superior genius, aided by an untarnished reputation, to reanimate despondency, restore confidence, and turn the current of adversity.

Such reflections daily gained strength; and congress, at length, resolved, that a court of inquiry should examine into the conduct of major general Gates, commanding in the southern department, and that the commander in chief should, in the interim, appoint a successor. This unpleasant resolution was immediately transmitted to general Gates at Charlotte; and he prepared to obey the summons of the court, as soon as his successor should arrive and assume the duties of command. In the meanwhile, he continued, with unVOL. I. 2 F