quences. Captain Smith, of the Maryland line, was appointed to this service by Lieutenant-Colonel Carrington, and performed the duty with much intelligence.

So engaged was Carrington in accomplishing the orders of the general, that he only joined the army two days before its concentration at Guilford Court-House, where he assumed the direction of the trust assigned to him. We have before mentioned the judicious plan which he submitted to Greene for the passage of the river Dan, founded on the report made by Captain Smith of his examination.*

In this most difficult crisis Carrington commenced his official duties; his subordinate officers habituated to expedients and strangers to system, his implements of every sort in a wretched condition, and without a single dollar in the military chest. Nevertheless, he contrived, by his method, his zeal, and his indefatigable industry, to give promptitude to our movements, as well as accuracy and punctuality to the supplies of subsistence, and to collect in due time all the boats upon the Dan, above Boyd's Ferry, at the two points designated for the passage of that river.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Cornwallis's head-quarters at Hillsborough.-Issues a proclamation.-Greene's army reposes in Halifax.-Volunteers tender their services.-Pickens and Lee recross the Dan and move toward Haw River.-Find they have been preceded by Tarleton; go in pursuit of him.-Tarleton retreats in the night.-Greene recrosses the Dan and moves to the head-waters of Haw River.-Cornwallis advances in the same direction.-Affair at Wetzell's Mill.-Cornwallis moves suddenly to New Garden. Attempt of Lee to intercept his baggage and stores.-Battle of Guilford Court-House.-Greene retreats to his old position on Troublesome Creek.-Cornwallis retires to New Garden.-Lee and Campbell detached to follow him.-Greene pursues. A cartel established.-Death and character of Colonel Webster.-Cornwallis arrives at Wilmington.--Endeavors to rouse the loyalists.—Examination (per note) of charge of cruelty toward them.

CORNWALLIS, baffled in every expectation, much as he deserved success (for certainly no man could have done more than he did), now turned his attention to produce solid advantage out of the éclat he had acquired in forcing Greene to abandon the State. Selecting Hillsborough as head-quarters, one of the principal towns of North

* As soon as Greene adopted the plan prepared by the quartermaster-general for crossing the Dan, Carrington detached the same Captain Smith, of the Maryland line, heretofore employed by him in the examination of the Roanoke River. The service was performed highly to the satisfaction of the general, and much to Captain Smith's credit.

Carolina,* he, after one day's repose of his army, proceeded thither by easy marches. Here he erected the king's standard, and invited by his proclamation, judiciously prepared and opportunely promulgated, all liege subjects to prove their fidelity by contributing their aid in restoring the blessings of peace and order in their convulsed country. He reiterated his orders prohibiting the disorderly of his army from indulging their licentious passions, commanding the protection of the persons and property of the inhabitants, with threats of severe and prompt punishment upon all and every

offender.

In the camp of Greene, joy beamed in every face; and as if every man was conscious of having done his duty, the subsequent days to the reunion of the army on the north of the Dan were spent in mutual gratulations; with the rehearsal of the hopes and fears which agitated every breast during the retreat; interspersed with the many simple but interesting anecdotes with which every tongue was strung.

Meanwhile, the indefatigable Greene gave his mind and time to the hastening of his long pressed, and much wanted re-enforcements :. devising within himself, in the same moment, plans to augment his force through his personal weight, and the influence of those ready to co-operate with him. Brigadier Stevens, whom we have seen overwhelmed with distress and mortification, in consequence of the shameful conduct of his brigade at the battle of Camden, as soon as he had conducted his militia to Pittsylvania Court-House, for the purpose of laying up their arms, returned to the army, in the expectation of such accession of force as would enable the general to replace him in the line of service. He had shared with the army in all the toils and perils of the retreat until he was ordered to Pittsylvania Court-House; and he was now anxious to participate with it in the honors and dangers of advance.

The people of Halifax County received us with the affection of brethren, mingled with admiration of the brave devotion to coun

* Newbern and Hillsborough were the alternate seats of royal government in North Carolina; as were Burlington and Perth Amboy in the province of New Jersey. To the west of Newbern lies Wilmington, on the Cape Fear River, convenient to the Scotch emigrants' settlement on the waters of that river, whose inhabitants had for some years past, in the character of regulators, resisted the royal authority, but were now firm abettors of kingly government. It is one of the few towns convenient to ship navigation: consequently necessarily occupied by the British general. Here all his supplies of every sort were brought from New York and Charleston, and deposited till further orders, in care of the garrison.

try just exhibited. Volunteers began to tender their services, of which laudable enthusiasm Greene availed himself; and naming Stevens as their leader, referred them to him for organization. Encouraging the spread of this honorable spirit, which Stevens took care to cherish with incessant diligence, very soon the foundation of a partial force was laid, which, gradually increasing, constituted that brigade which covered itself and general with glory in the sequel.

Grateful as was this display of zeal in the people of Halifax, and anxious as was the general to give to the efforts of Stevens full effect, he could not long enjoy the agreeable scene, nor indulge his faithful army in its novel state of ease and abundance. On North Carolina his mind was fixed. Its subjugation was inadmissible; and ill-brooking his forced abandonment of it, he was restless in safety; because that safety, in his estimation, was inglorious and injurious. Urging the governor of Virginia to press forward the long-expected aid, patronizing the exertions of Stevens to bring to him succor, derived from community of feelings and of interest, he now turned himself to the recovery of North Carolina, determined to contend upon its own soil for its independence.

Well acquainted with the high character of his able adversary, he knew that every hour of submission, growing out of our acknowledged inferiority of force, proved by long evasion of battle, would be turned by him to solid advantage in support of the royal cause. Also knowing the divided condition of the inhabitants of the State, he dreaded the effects of victory, when used by a sagacious soldier, and applied to a people almost equally balanced in their political feelings. Under the influence of such calculations, on the 17th he issued preparatory orders for movement.

The American general was not mistaken in his deductions. Availing himself of Greene's abandonment of North Carolina, of his undisturbed occupation of Hillsborough, and of his quiet possession of Wilmington upon the Cape Fear River by a detachment

*This officer, as has been mentioned, had proceeded with his militia to Pittsylvania Court-House to discharge his men, whose time of service had expired, and for the purpose of placing the public arms in the magazines allotted for their reception. He was well apprised of Greene's difficulties; and hearing, on his way home, by some reports that had overtaken him, that these difficulties were increased, and that it was very likely that his army might be crippled before he crossed the Dan, Stevens, instead of going home, returned to camp, taking with him some of the militia of Pittsylvania, collected by the exertions of the county lieutenant, determined to share the fate of Greene and of his army.

from Charleston under the orders of Major Craig, Lord Cornwallis began to realize the expectations he had so long and so sanguinely indulged. The royalists everywhere were preparing to rise, while the well affected to the cause of America, despairing of protection, began to look for safety in submission.

Greene persevering in his determination to risk his army again in North Carolina-to rouse the drooping spirits of his friends, and to check the audacity of his foes-the Legion of Lee, strengthened by two companies of the veterans of Maryland, under Captain Oldham, with the corps of South Carolina militia, under Brigadier Pickens, was ordered, in the morning of the 18th, to pass the Dan. This was readily performed; all the boats heretofore collected being still held together by Carrington for the use of the army.

Pickens and Lee were commanded to gain the front of Cornwallis, to place themselves as close to him as safety would permit, in order to interrupt his communication with the country, to repress the meditated rising of the loyalists, and, at all events, to intercept any party of them which might attempt to join the enemy.

These officers lost no time in advancing to the theatre of operations; and having in the course of the march provided capable guides, sat down that evening in a covert position, short of the great road leading from the Haw River to Hillsborough, and detached exploring parties of cavalry on the roads toward Hillsborough and toward the Haw. In the course of the evening, Greene, never avoiding toil or danger, with a small escort of Washington's cavalry, left his army, and overtook the advanced corps in its secret position. He continued with it during the night, and renewed to the two commandants explanations of his plan and object. He communicated his intention of repassing the Dan with the army in a few days, directing his route toward the upper country; too remote, as he remarked, from the advanced corps to afford the smallest protection; urged cordial concert, pressed in fervid terms the necessity of unceasing vigilance, and the most cautious circumspection. Before dawn, the officer who had been dispatched toward the Haw returned with intelligence that on the preceding day Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton had passed up that route from Hillsborough with horse, foot, and artillery; their number unascertained; destined, as was presumed, to pass the Haw River, with the view of hastening the embodying of the loyalists, and of protecting them on their march to Hillsborough. The wisdom of the measure adopted by Greene was now shown, as already an important object pre

sented itself to the detached corps. Greene having set out on his return to camp, Pickens and Lee advanced; first sending reconnoitring parties in their front, with orders to conceal themselves in sight of the road to watch passing occurrences, and to report from time to time the result of their observations. The main body moving obliquely to their right through an unsettled region, they encamped within three miles of the great road, with the Haw on their right, about seven miles distant. Here they were joined by the light parties sent out in the morning, and by the officer who had the day before been detached toward Hillsborough. The first reported that every thing was still on the road, and that they had not seen a single person, except a well-grown boy, during the day, whom they had brought along with them agreeable to orders. From this lad we discovered that Tarleton had not passed the river yesterday, but would do it on the next morning.

The officer who had approached Hillsborough found all quiet in that quarter, and neither saw nor heard any thing indicating a movement on the part of the enemy. Resting for the night, the corps proceeded after breakfast the next day, waiting until then to give time for the exploring parties to renew their efforts in obtaining more precise intelligence.

Approaching the road, it was met by a dragoon bringing information that the British detachment had passed the Haw. This being ascertained, Pickens and Lee gained the great road, and followed on the enemy's route. Guides became unnecessary now; for the British detachment had plundered all the houses on the road, known, as they were, to be the property of patriots, and symbols of devastation marked their steps. The men having all fled, none but women could be seen. From them the American commandants learned that the loyalists between the Haw and Deep rivers were certainly embodying, and that the British detachment would not advance far on the other side of the river, it being commonly said among the soldiers, that they should return in a few days. By what could be gathered from report, and judging by the time of passing any one house, it appeared that most of the cavalry, two light brass pieces, and four hundred infantry, composed the detachment. Sending again a small party of dragoons down the road, to discover whether any second body of troops were moving from Hillsborough, Pickens and Lee continued on to the Haw, which they passed without delay, hearing that Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton was encamped four miles in front. At this moment the officer sent down the road rejoined,