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A more gallant exploit has seldom been performed; and the humanity of the victors was equal to their valour. Notwithstanding the devastations in Connecticut, and the butchery of Baylor's troop, the scene of which was near, not an individual suffered after resistance had ceased. Of the enemy, sixty were killed, and upwards of five hundred made prisoners. The loss of the Americans was comparatively small. A gold medal, presented by congress, rewarded the heroism of the victor.

At the close of the season, the northern army retired into winter-quarters, one division near Morristown, in New Jersey, and the other in the vicinity of Westpoint, an important post in the highlands. Here they endured severe and constant suffering from cold, and nakedness, and hunger. Sometimes half the usual allowance, often less, was distributed to the troops; and more than once the provisions were wholly exhausted.

Application for relief was made to the magistrates of the neighbourhood, and intimations were given that provisions, so pressing were the wants of the army, would be seized by force, if not furnished voluntarily. The magistrates promptly attended to the call. They levied contributions arbitrarily from the people, who submitted to these exactions with a degree of patriotism equalled only by that displayed by the soldiers in the patient endurance of distress.

Derangement in the finances produced these sufferings. Large sums had been annually raised and expended; and the ability of the people to pay

taxes had progressively decreased. To supply deficiencies, paper money, to the amount of about one hundred and fifty millions of dollars, had been issued. This gradually depreciated, and at the close of 1779, thirty dollars in paper were of no more value than one in specie. To purchase provisions with this money was at first difficult, and then impossible; and congress now found their funds and their credit exhausted.

A change of system was necessary. For the supply of the army, each state was directed to furnish a certain quantity of provisions and forage. Loans were solicited from the people, and nearly a million of dollars was raised by bills drawn upon the American agents in Europe, in anticipation of loans which they had been authorized to procure. These expedients afforded but temporary and partial relief.

No class of persons suffered more from the depreciation of paper money than the army, and especially the officers. The pay, even those of the highest grade, was rendered insufficient to provide them with necessary clothing. Discontent began to pervade the whole army. It required all the enthusiastic patriotism which distinguishes the soldier of principle; all that ardent attachment to freedom which brought them into the field; all the influence of the commander-in-chief, whom they almost adored, to retain in the service men who felt themselves cruelly neglected by the country whose battles they fought.

CHAPTER XXII.

CAMPAIGN OF 1780.

THE first military operations of the enemy, in the year 1780, were directed against Charleston, the capital of South Carolina. In the beginning of February, Sir Henry Clinton appeared before that place, at the head of a part of his army. The assembly, which was then sitting, delegated to Governor Rutledge, a patriot of splendid talents, and to his council, "the power to do every thing necessary for the public good, except taking away the life of a citizen," and adjourned. Armed with this extraordinary power, he made great exertions to call into action the strength of the state, and to place its capital in a posture of defence.

The people of the country disregarded his repeated calls. Not more than two hundred repaired to Charleston. The garrison, commanded by General Lincoln, consisted of a body of militia from the country, of the citizens, of one thousand North Carolina militia, and of two thousand regulars. The number of the enemy, when all their reinforcements had arrived, amounted to nine thousand.

On the first of April, the siege was begun in form by the erection of works at the distance of eleven hundred yards from the city. On the 9th, the fleet, propelled by a strong wind, passed the forts on Sullivan's Island, without stopping to

return their fire, and gained entire command of the harbour. On the 14th, Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton surprised a body of cavalry, which, to preserve a communication with the country, had been stationed at Monk's corner. Soon after, batteries were erected nearer the city, from which the fire was incessant and destructive.

An offer to capitulate was then made; but the British commander refused to accept the terms proposed. On his part terms were offered, which were rejected by General Lincoln. The siege was then pressed with increased vigour, and approaches made to within musket-shot of the American lines. The soldiers within were often killed at their guns by the enemy's marksmen.

The citizens, whose intercession had induced General Lincoln to determine to defend the place, perceiving that preparations for an assault were in forwardness, and seeing no hope of relief or escape, now requested him to accept the terms which Sir Henry Clinton had proposed. A negociation between the two commanders was in consequence opened, and on the 12th of May the capitulation was signed.

The capital having surrendered, measures were adopted to overawe the inhabitants of the country, and induce them to return to their allegiance to the king. Garrisons were placed in different parts of the state, and 2000 men were dispatched towards North Carolina, to repel several parties of militia, who were hastening to the relief of Charleston. Colonel Tarleton, making a rapid march of one hundred and five miles in fifty-four

X

hours, met, at the Waxhaws, and attacked one of these parties, commanded by Colonel Buford. His force being superior was soon victorious. The vanquished, ceasing to resist, implored for quarter. Their cries were disregarded. Upwards of two hundred were killed, or too badly wounded to be removed from the field. This barbarous massacre spread dismay throughout the country, and gave a sanguinary character to future conflicts.

To avoid being treated as enemies, the greater part of the inhabitants either gave their parole as prisoners, or submitted to become subjects of the king. Sir Henry Clinton afterwards, by proclamation, discharged the former from their parole, and called upon all to embody as militia in the service of Great Britain. Indignant at this dishonourable conduct, which left them only the alternative of fighting for or against their country, multitudes, seizing their arms, resolved on a vindictive war with their invaders.

A party who had taken refuge in North Carolina, chose Colonel Sumpter their leader. At the head of these, he returned to his own state, attacked and defeated several scattered detachments from the British army. In one engagement, so decisive was his victory, that nine only out of nearly three hundred escaped. By a succession of gallant enterprises, he re-animated the friends of freedom, and a spirit of determined hostility to Great Britain was again manifested in every part of the

state.

This spirit was cherished by the approach, from the north, of 4000 men, principally continentals,

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