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The British in Sonth Carolina.

Retreat of Americans.

Massacre of Buford's Regiment near the Waxhaw

twenty-three miles above Hanging Rock, upon the Waxhaw Creek,' the regiment of Colonel Abraham Buford was massacred by Tarleton on the twenty-ninth of May, 1780. Sir Henry Clinton took possession of Charleston on the twelfth, and immediately commenced measures for securing the homage of the whole state. He sent out three large detachments of his army. The first and largest, under Cornwallis, was ordered toward the frontiers of North Carolina; the second, under Lieutenant-colonel Cruger, was directed to pass the Saluda, to Ninety-Six; and the third, under Lieutenant-colonel Brown, was ordered up the Savannah, to Augusta. Soon after he had passed the Santee, Cornwallis was informed that parties of Americans who had come into South Carolina, and had hurried toward Charleston to assist Lincoln, were as hastily retreating. Among these was Colonel Buford. His force consisted of nearly four hundred Continental infantry, a small detachment of Washington's cavalry, and two field-pieces. He had evacuated Camden, and, in fancied security, was retreating leisurely toward Charlotte, in North Carolina. Cornwallis resolved to strike Buford, if possible, and, for that purpose, he dispatched Tarleton, with seven hundred men, consisting of his cavalry and mounted infantry. That officer marched one hundred and five miles in fifty-four hours, and came up with Buford upon the Waxhaw. Impatient of delay, he had left his mounted infantry behind, and with only his cavalry, he almost surrounded Buford before that officer was aware of danger. Tarleton demanded an immediate surrender upon the terms granted to the Americans at Charleston. Those terms were humiliating, and Buford refused compliance. While the flags for conference were passing and repassing, Tarleton, contrary to military rules, was making preparations for an assault, and the instant he received Buford's reply, his cavalry made a furious charge upon the American ranks. Having received no orders to defend themselves, and supposing the negotiations were yet pending, the Continentals were utterly dismayed by this charge. All was confusion, and while some fired upon their assailants, others threw down their arms and begged for quarter. None was given; and men without arms were hewn in pieces by Tarleton's cavalry. One hundred and thirteen were slain; one hundred and fifty were so maimed as to be unable to travel; and fifty-three were made prisoners, to grace the triumphal entry of the conqueror into Camden. Only five of the British were killed, and fifteen wounded. The whole of Buford's artillery, ammunition, and baggage, fell into the hands of the enemy. For this savage feat, Cornwallis eulogized Tarleton, and commended him to the ministry as worthy of special favor. It was nothing less than a cold-blooded massacre; and Tarleton's quarter became proverbial as a synonym to cruelty. The liberal press, and all right-minded men in England, cried shame!

After the battle, a large number of the wounded were taken to the log meeting-house of the Waxhaw Presbyterian congregation, where they were tenderly nursed by a few who had the boldness to remain. With the defeat of Buford, every semblance of a Continental army in South Carolina was effaced. This terrible blow spread consternation over that region, and women and children were seen flying from their homes to seek refuge from British cruelty in more distant settlements. Among the fugitives was the widowed mother of

1 This name is derived from the Waxhaw Indians, a tribe now extinct, who inhabited this region

2 Buford's answer, as given by Tarleton in his Memoirs, was

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3 Justice demands an audience for Tarleton. In his account of the affair, he alleges that a demand for a surrender was made before his main body had overtaken Buford, and that after that officer's defiant lette was received, both parties prepared for action. He excuses the refusal to grant quarter by the plea that some of the Continentals continued to fire. As Marshall suggests, the fact that Buford's field-pieces were not discharged and so few of the British were wounded, is evidence enough that the attack was unexpected. Tarleton was taunted with his cruelty on this occasion, on his return to England. Stedman, the British historian of the war says, "On this occasion, the virtue of humanity was totally forgot."-See Marshall, i., 338; Gordon, iii., 53; Lee, 78; Stedman, ii., 193.

Family of President Jackson.

Journey toward Camden.

Flat Rock.

Rugeley's Mill.

Andrew Jackson (the seventh President of the United States), who, with her two sons, Robert and Andrew, took refuge in the Sugar Creek congregation, at the house of the widow of the Reverend J. M. Wilson, near Charlotte. This was the first practical lesson of hatred to tyranny which young Jackson learned, and it doubtless had an abiding influence upon his future life.'

Returning to the Lancaster road at two o'clock, I rode on toward Camden, about thirtyfive miles distant, passing on the way the celebrated Flat Rock, a mass of concrete, like that of Anvil Rock, five hundred yards across. It lies even with the surface of the ground, and presents numerous pits or cisterns, supposed to have been hollowed out by the Indians for the purpose of holding water. The road passed over this mass with a gentle descent. Near its southern side, the place was pointed out to me where a severe skirmish occurred in August, 1788, between some militia and Tories, but the result was not very sanguinary. At sunset I arrived at the house of Mrs. Fletcher, within nine miles of Rugeley's Mill, where I was well entertained for the night. I departed at sunrise the following morning. Being now fairly within the sandy region upon the slopes between the upper and the lower country, the traveling was very heavy. At the first house after leaving Mrs. Fletcher's, I saw Mr. Paine, the brother of Mrs. Lee, an intelligent old man of eighty-four years. During half an hour's conversation with him, I obtained some valuable information respecting the various historical localities between there and Camden. The first of these is Clermont, sometimes called Rugeley's, about thirteen miles north of Camden, where I arrived at an early hour in the forenoon. This is the place where General Gates concentrated his army for an attack upon the British at Camden. The place is also memorable on account of a military event which occurred near Rugeley's Mill, on the fourth of December, 1780. This mill was about one hundred yards east of the road where it crosses Rugeley's Creek. No traces of the mill remain; but an embankment, several rods in extent, partly demolished, and overgrown with pines and shrubbery interlaced with the vines of the muscadine, mark the place of the dam, a part of which, where the creek passes through, is seen in the engraving. Let us consider the event which immortalizes this spot.

When Cornwallis retreated from Charlotte (see page

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VIEW AT THE SITE OF RUGELEY'S MILL.

I am informed by the Honorable David L. Swain, that the birth-place of General Jackson is in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, just above the state line. It is about half a mile west of the Waxhaw Creek, upon the estate of W. J. Cureton, Esq., twenty-eight miles south of Charlotte. A month or two after his birth, his mother removed to the southward of the state line, to a plantation about twelve miles north of Lancaster Court House. That plantation is also the property of Mr. Cureton. The house in which she resided when Tarleton penetrated the settlement is now demolished. So the honor of possessing the birthplace of that illustrious man belongs to North, and not to South Carolina, as has been supposed.

The massacre of Buford's regiment fired the patriotism of young Andrew Jackson; and at the age of thirteen he entered the army, with his brother Robert, under Sumter. They were both made prisoners; but even while in the power of the British, the indomitable courage of the after man appeared in the boy. When ordered to clean the muddy boots of a British officer, he proudly refused, and for his temerity received a sword-cut. After their release, Andrew and his brother returned to the Waxhaw settlement with their mother. That patriotic mother and two sons perished during the war. Her son Hugh was slain in battle, and Robert died of a wound which he received from a British officer while he was prisoner, because, like Andrew, he refused to do menial service. The heroic mother, while on her way home from Charleston, whither she went to carry some necessaries to her friends and relations on board a prison-ship, was seized with prison-fever, and died. Her unknown grave is somewhere between what was then called the Quarter House and Charleston. Andrew was left the sole survivor of the family.-See Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, p. 199.

There I saw Mrs. Lee, the step-mother of Mrs. Fletcher, who was then ninety-two years of age. She lived near Camden during the war, but was so afflicted with palsy when I saw her, that she could talk only with great difficulty, and I could not procure from her any tradition of interest. Mrs. Lee had buried five husbands.

Tories at Rugeley's.

Stratagem of Colonel Washington in capturing the Tories.

Gum Swamp.

Sander's Creek

420), Gates advanced to that place, and General Smallwood was directed to encamp lower down the Catawba, on the road to Camden. Morgan, with his light corps, composed partly of Lieutenant-colonel Washington's cavalry, was ordered to push further in advance, for the purpose of foraging, and to watch the movements of Cornwallis. Smallwood having received information that a body of Tories, under Colonel Rugeley, were on the alert to intercept his wagons, ordered Morgan and Washington to march against them. They retreated, and took post at Rugeley's house, on the Camden road,

which he had stockaded, together with his log

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VIEW AT RUGELEY'S.1

ing a pine-log so as to resemble a cannon, he placed it in such a position near the bridge as, apparently, to command both the house and barn of Colonel Rugeley. He then made a formal demand for a surrender, menacing the garrison with the instant demolition of their fortress. Alarmed at the apparition of a cannon, Rugeley sent out a flag, and, with his whole force of one hundred and twelve men, immediately surrendered. Poor Rugeley never appeared in arms afterward. Cornwallis, in a letter to Tarleton,b said, "Rugeley will not be made a brigadier."

Dec. 4.

112

Soon after leaving Rugeley's, I came to a shallow stream which flows out of Gum Swamp, and known in the Revolution as Graney's Quarter Creek. It was thickly studded with gum shrubs and canes, the latter appearing as green and fresh as in summer. It was now about noon, and while I made the accompanying sketch, Charley dined upon corn, which the generous driver of a team hauling cotton," gave me from his store. Between this stream and Sander's Creek, within seven miles of Camden, is the place of Gates's defeat.c The c Aug. 16, hottest of the engagement occurred 1780. upon the hill, just before descending to Sander's Creek from the north, now, as then, covered with an open forest of pine-trees. When I passed through it, the undergrowth had just been burned, and the blackened trunks of the venerable pines, standing like the columns of a vast temple, gave the whole scene a dreary, yet grand appearance. Many of the old trees yet bear marks of the battle, the scars of the bullets being made very distinct by large protuberances. I was informed that many musket-balls have been cut out of the trees; and I saw quite a number of trunks which had been recently hewn with axes for the purpose. Some pines had been thus cut by searchers for bullets which must have been in the seed when the battle occurred. Within half a mile of Sander's Creek, on the north side, are some old fields, dotted with shrub pines, where the hottest of the battle was fought. A large concavity near the road, filled with hawthorns, was pointed out to me as the spot where many of the dead were buried.

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VIEW AT GUM SWAMP.3

Sander's Creck is a considerable stream, about two hundred feet wide, and quite shallow at the ford. Though flowing through a swamp like Graney's Quarter, its waters were very

This view is from the south side of the bridge. The counterfeit cannon was placed in the road where the first wagon is seen. The house and barn of Rugeley were in the cleared field seen beyond the wagons. Tarleton's Memoirs, &c., 205. 3 This view is from the south side of the stream

OF THE REVOLUTION.

Lincoln Calumniated.

De Kalb sent to the South.

His March.

Sketch of his Public Life.

limpid. Numerous teams drawing heavy loads of cotton, on their way to Camden, were

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passing at the time, and the songs

and loud laughter of the happy teamsters enlivened the dreary aspect of nature.'

Let us consider the important events which occurred here.

Misfortune is too often mistaken for a fault, and censoriousness seldom makes candid distinctions. When General Lincoln was finally obliged to surrender Charleston and his army to Sir Henry Clinton, a

a May 12,

1780.

VIEW AT SANDER'S CREEK.2

calumny, with its busy tongue, decried his fair fame, and whispered doubts respectThat blow, struck by a skillful hand, almost demolished the ing his skill and courage.

Southern army, and for a moment the patriots were dismayed.

was found in the national

councils, and preparations were soon made to concentrate the various detachments of the regular army then in the South, and the volunteers whom Sumter and others were collecting, to turn back toward the sea-board the flood of invasion. A month before the fall of Charleston, when it was perceived that the chief theater of the campaign of 1780 was to be in the Southern States, Mary

land and Delaware troops
But the elasticity of hope
were sent thither, under the
Baron De Kalb,' a German
officer, who had distinguish-
ed himself in the French
He left Morris-
service.
townb with four-
teen hundred ef-

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b April 14,
1780.

fective men; reached the head of Elk in May; left Petersburg early in June, passed through Hillsborough, and halted on Deep River, in North Carolina, on the sixth of July. In the mean while,

The Baron ve Kull

They carry corn and All the way from Yorkville I passed caravans of wagons with cotton, on their way to Camden or Columbia. The teams are driven by negroes, sometimes accompanied by an overseer. fodder (corn-stalks) with them, and camp out at night, in the woods, where they build fires, cook their bacon, bake their hoe-cake, and sleep under the canvas covering of their wagons. It is a season of great delight to those who are privileged to "haul cotton" to market.

This view is from the north side of the Creek. Like the other stream, it is filled with canes, shrubs, and many blasted pines.

3 The Baron De Kalb, knight of the royal military order of merit, was a native of Alsace (a German province ceded to France), and was educated in the art of war in the French army. He was connected with the quarter-master general's department, and his experience in the duties of that station rendered his services very valuable to the American army. Toward the close of the Seven Years' War, he was dispatched to the British colonies in America, as a secret agent of the French government. He traveled in disguise; yet on one occasion, he was so strongly suspected, that he was arrested as a suspicious person. Nothing being found to confirm the suspicion, he was released, and soon afterward returned to Europe. De Kalb came to America again, in the spring of 1777, with La Fayette and other foreign officers, and was one of the party who accompanied the marquis in his overland journey, from South Carolina to Philadelphia. Holding the office of brigadier in the French service, and coming highly recommended, Congress commissioned him a major general on the fifteenth of September, 1777. He immediately joined the main army under Washington, and was active in the events which preceded the encampment of the troops at Valley Forge. He was afterward in command at Elizabethtown and Amboy, in New Jersey; and while at Morristown in the spring of 1780, was placed at the head of the Maryland division. With these, and the Continental troops of Delaware, he marched southward in April, to re-enforce General Lincoln, but was Gates succeeded Lincoln in the command of the Southern army, too late to afford him aid at Charleston. and reached De Kalb's camp, on the Deep River, on the twenty-eighth of July, 1780. In the battle near

Gates in chief Command.

De Kalb's Monument and Inscription.

Tardiness of Justice.

Charleston had been captured, General Lincoln was a prisoner on parole, and De Kalb became the commander-in-chief at the South. Although Congress reposed confidence in the skill of De Kalb, it was thought proper to send an officer better known to the people for past services, and on the thirteenth of June, a General Gates was appointed to the command. He was then at his estate in Virginia, a few miles from Shepherdstown,

1 1780.

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An army without strength; a military chest without money; but little public spirit in the

Camden, which soon followed, De Kalb, while trying to rally the scattered Americans, fell, pierced with eleven wounds. He died at Camden three days afterward, and was buried there. An ornamental tree was placed at the head of his grave, and that was the only token of its place until a few years since, when the citizens of Camden erected over it the elegant marble monument depicted in the engraving. The corner stone was laid by La Fayette in 1825. It is upon the green, in front of the Presbyterian church, on De Kalb Street. The large base, forming two steps, is of granite; the whole monument is about fifteen feet in height. Upon the four sides of the monument are the following inscriptions:

South side, fronting the street. "Here lie the remains of BARON DE KALB, a German by birth, but in principle a citizen of the world." North side.-"In gratitude for his zeal and services, the citizens of Camden have erected this monument." East side.-"His love of Liberty induced him to leave the Old World to aid the citizens of the New in their struggle for INDEPENDENCE. His distinguished talents and many virtues weighed with Congress to appoint him MAJOR GENERAL, in their Revolutionary army." West side." He was second in command in the battle fought near CAMDEN, on the sixteenth of August, 1780, between the British and Americans; and there nobly fell, covered with wounds, while gallantly performing deeds of valor in rallying the friends and opposing the enemies of his adopted country."

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DE KALB'S MONUMENT.

The death of De Kalb was a great public loss. Congress, on the fourteenth of October, 1780, ordered a monument to be erected to his memory in the city of Annapolis, in Maryland, † with an appropriate inscription, but, like kindred resolves, the order was never obeyed.

This appointment was made without consulting the commander-in-chief. He intended to recommend General Greene.

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In the inscription ordered by Congress (Journal, vi., 147) to be placed upon De Kalb's monument, it is said that he was "in the forty-eighth year of his age." General Henry Lee, who knew him well, says in his Memoirs, page 425, "Although nearer seventy than sixty years of age, such had been the temperance of his life, that he not only enjoyed to the last day the finest health, but his countenance still retained the bloom of youth; which circumstance very probably led to the error committed by those who drew up the inscription on the monument to be erected by Congress." Lee speaks of him as "possessing a stout frame, moderate mental powers;" "sober, drinking water only; abstemious to excess, and exceedingly industrious." The pay of De Kalb was considerably in arrears at the time of his death. Within a few years, some of his immediate descendants have petitioned the American Congress for the payment of these arrearages, principal and interest. Reports upon the subject were made, but the matter was not definitely settled until January, 1855, when both Houses of Congress agreed to give the surviving heirs the sum of $66,000. Among the petitioners are five of De Kalb's great grandchildren, who, by the loss of both parents, are cast upon the support and protection of an aunt, a grand-daughter of the baron. They were residing in 1854 about thirty miles from Paris.

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