Part 20 (1/2)

”You seem to think very highly of Colonel Was.h.i.+ngton; and yet I have been told that he is so ignorant a fellow that he can hardly write his name.”

”It may be so,” quickly replied the lady; ”but no man can testify better than yourself that he knows how to 'make his mark.'”

At another time the haughty Tarleton, boasting of his own deeds and speaking with disdain of the continental cavalry, said to a lady:--

”I have a very earnest desire to see your far-famed hero, Colonel Was.h.i.+ngton.”

”Your wish, colonel, might have been gratified,” she promptly replied, ”had you dared to look behind you at the battle of Cowpens!”

=230. Greene's Masterly Retreat.=--How angry Cornwallis was at the ruin of his best army at Cowpens! He started to pursue Morgan and punish him.

But the patriot general foresaw this, and not having soldiers enough, he got well ahead, and one day at dusk crossed the Catawba River. The advanced detachment of Cornwallis's army came up two hours later, and waited for morning. That night a heavy rain swelled the stream and checked the British advance. Morgan pushed on to the Yadkin and crossed, meeting Greene's army.

Determined that his little band should not be destroyed, since the fate of the war in the south depended upon it, and not being strong enough to meet Cornwallis with his well-equipped regiments in open battle, Greene now planned a retreat with as much method and care as he would have exercised in preparing for a battle.

The river Roanoke for a long distance runs near the boundary between Virginia and North Carolina. The upper portion of this stream is called the Dan. Greene now started for the fords of this river, seventy miles away, with Cornwallis close at his heels. The roads were deep with mud and almost impa.s.sable. The patriot soldiers, wretchedly clothed and nearly barefoot, struggled along, marking the road, as Greene wrote to Was.h.i.+ngton, with blood-stained tracks.

”How you must suffer from the cold!” said the general to a barefooted sentry.

”I do not complain,” replied the soldier; ”I know I should fare well if our general could procure supplies; and if, as you say, we fight in a few days, I shall take care to get some shoes.”

It was a most masterly and gallant retreat. The men were kept in hand, and a serious encounter with the enemy was avoided.

One morning during the retreat, when everything seemed dark, Greene rode up to the door of a tavern. The host, a true friend, met him.

”What! alive, my dear general?”

”Yes; tired, hungry, alone, and penniless.”

The hostess, Mrs. Elizabeth Steele, was of the stuff of which patriots are made. She gave the weary general a good breakfast, and while he was eating she put in his hands a bag filled with bright silver dollars, saying, ”You need them, and I can do without them.”

As the story goes, the gallant Greene, admiring the devotion of the n.o.ble woman, stepped to the mantel, over which hung a portrait of King George, turned it to the wall, and wrote upon the back, ”Hide thy face, King George, and blus.h.!.+”

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PATRIOTIC AND GENEROUS LANDLADY.]

Cornwallis pressed the patriots hard through forests and over streams, but he was baffled at every move. Reaching the river Dan, the American army was safely carried over by the boats which its sagacious commander had arranged for many days before.

Cornwallis came up in hot haste only to find that the deep and rapid river flowed between him and his foe. It would have been madness for him to cross the river. He sullenly withdrew his army to a point farther south.

=231. Greene now begins to fight and shows Rare Generals.h.i.+p.=--Having recruited and rested his men, Greene moved his army south of the Dan and began active operations. He followed sharply after Cornwallis, and in March brought him to battle at Guilford. The fight was severe, and the British general, though he gained the advantage, was so roughly handled that he retired towards Wilmington, the nearest point on the coast.

Greene now made a bold and hazardous move. Instead of preventing Cornwallis from advancing to the north, he left the British general to do as he pleased, faced about suddenly and boldly marched to South Carolina. His plan was to thrust himself between the main British army and its southern division and then attack the latter and their fortified posts.

Like a skillful general, having decided upon this daring change, Greene acted quickly. He marched with all speed for Camden, one hundred and sixty miles distant. His object was to break the British hold upon South Carolina.

A brighter day was now dawning, and the suns.h.i.+ne of hope was soon to appear. The adroit activities of Marion, Sumter, and Pickens, and the skill and vigor of Greene and Morgan were now bringing their harvest, and they gave the patriots new life and cheer.

At Hobkirks Hill, near Camden, Greene attacked the British. He was defeated, but it was a fruitless victory.