The Life of George Washington, Vol. 4 | Page 9

chasm, over
which the following section, led by Lieutenant Carrington, leaped with
difficulty. In doing this some other planks were thrown off, and the
horses of the third section refused to take the leap. At this time Lee
came up, and every effort was made to replace the planks, but without
success. The creek was too deep and miry to afford foot hold to those
who attempted to raise them from the water.
This halt revived the courage of the British soldiers, who returned to
the support of their commander, then engaged in an equal conflict with
the cavalry who had passed the bridge. These gallant men[4] finding
themselves overpowered by numbers, and that their comrades could not
support them, pressed over the causeway, and wheeling into the woods,
made their escape.
[Footnote 4: Mr. Johnson states that Captain M'Cauley, of South
Carolina, had joined Armstrong and Carrington. Some of the troopers
were killed on the bridge.]
After finding the impracticability of replacing the planks on the bridge,
in attempting which, Doctor Irvin, surgeon of the legion cavalry, and
several of the troopers were wounded, Lee withdrew from the contest,
and moved some distance up the creek, to a ford where he was soon
joined by the infantry of the legion.
Coates then completed the demolition of the bridge, and retired to an
adjoining plantation, where he took possession of the dwelling house
and out buildings that surrounded it.
As the Americans were obliged to make a considerable circuit, Sumpter,
who unfortunately left his artillery behind, did not arrive on the ground
till three in the afternoon, and at four the house was attacked. The fire
was kept up chiefly by Marion's division, from a fence near the house,
till evening, when the ammunition was exhausted, and the troops were

called off. In the course of the night, it was perceived that the loss had
fallen almost entirely on Marion. Great discontent prevailed, and many
of the men left him. The infection was communicated to Sumpter's
troops, and there being reason to fear the approach of Lord Rawdon,
the enterprise was abandoned. Sumpter crossed the Santee; and the
legion rejoined the army, then encamped at the high hills of that river.
The intense heat of this sultry season demanded some relaxation from
the unremitting toils which the southern army had encountered. From
the month of January, it had been engaged in one course of incessant
fatigue, and of hardy enterprise. All its powers had been strained, nor
had any interval been allowed to refresh and recruit the almost
exhausted strength and spirits of the troops.
The continued labours and exertions of all were highly meritorious; but
the successful activity of one corps will attract particular attention. The
legion, from its structure, was peculiarly adapted to the partisan war of
the southern states; and, by being detached against the weaker posts of
the enemy, had opportunities for displaying with advantage all the
energies it possessed. In that extensive sweep which it made from the
Santee to Augusta, which employed from the 15th of April to the 5th of
June, this corps, acting in conjunction, first with Marion, afterwards
with Pickens, and sometimes alone, had constituted an essential part of
the force which carried five British posts, and made upwards of eleven
hundred prisoners. Its leader, in the performance of these services,
displayed a mind of so much fertility of invention and military resource,
as to add greatly to his previous reputation as a partisan.
The whole army had exhibited a degree of activity, courage, and patient
suffering, surpassing any expectation that could have been formed of
troops composed chiefly of new levies; and its general had manifested
great firmness, enterprise, prudence, and skill.
The suffering sustained in this ardent struggle for the southern states
was not confined to the armies. The inhabitants of the country felt all
the miseries which are inflicted by war in its most savage form. Being
almost equally divided between the two contending parties, reciprocal
injuries had gradually sharpened their resentments against each other,

and had armed neighbour against neighbour, until it became a war of
extermination. As the parties alternately triumphed, opportunities were
alternately given for the exercise of their vindictive passions. They
derived additional virulence from the examples occasionally afforded
by the commanders of the British forces. After overrunning Georgia
and South Carolina, they seem to have considered those states as
completely reannexed to the British empire; and they manifested a
disposition to treat those as rebels, who had once submitted and again
taken up arms, although the temporary ascendency of the continental
troops should have induced the measure. One of these executions, that
of Colonel Hayne, took place on the third of August, while Lord
Rawdon[5] was in Charleston, preparing to sail for Europe. The
American