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It is a remarkable
circumstance that the battle of Guilford Courthouse, March 15th, 1781,
which drove the invading army of Cornwallis from North Carolina, was
fought within about a day's march of the scene of the first bloodshed
for American Independence, made on the Alamance, some ten years before,
May 1771, the one in the bounds of Buffalo congregation, and the other
on the skirts of Alamance, the two congregations forming the pastoral
charge of Dr. David Caldwell.
The pursuit of Greene by
Cornwallis across the State, from the time the Catawba was crossed in
January, 1781, and Davidson slain, was as rapid as the well disciplined
army of English, having destroyed their baggage, could make it, under
the direction of brave and skilful officers, through a country for the
most part hostile to his majesty's forces, with no magazines, or
provisions collected for their supply, and the sources of refreshment
along the track of pursuit mostly consumed by the retreating American
army. Perhaps in the whole course of the war, generalship and bravery,
in pursuit and retreat, were never better exhibited, than in the efforts
of his lordship to bring Greene to rattle before he could cross the Dan,
and the success of Greene to elude all his lordship's efforts. It is
said that the advance guards of one and the rear guard of the other were
often within musket-shot without discharging a gun. The great object, a
general battle, could not be gained by the death or wounds of a few of
Greene's rear, and the officers of Cornwallis refrained from firing on
those whom they could not intercept.
At nine o'clock at night,
on the 14th of February, the main army having crossed the day before,
Lee's legion took the boats that had carried over the forces under
Colonel Otho Williams, at Boyd's Ferry; Lieutenant Colonel Carrington,
the quartermaster-general, entering the last boat. Had it been daylight,
the British forces might have seen the departure, so close was the
advance guard. Here the pursuit ended.
Cornwallis chose
Hillsborough for his Death-quarters. While a detachment of his army lay
at the Red house, they occupied the church of Hugh McAden, the first
located missionary in North Carolina, and remembering that those who
sang "David's Psalms in Metre," in South Carolina, were rebels against
the king, and their ministers fomenters of rebellion, they complimented
McAden, a short time in his grave, and his congregation also, by burning
his library and papers. Fortunately his early journal escaped the
flames.
His lordship tarried
about ten days in Hillsborough. In that time Greene, reinforced by
militia and volunteers from Virginia, had recrossed the Dan, and
commenced that harassing warfare that drew Cornwallis from his
head-quarters, and brought on the decisive battle. Between the 18th and
23d those marches and counter-marches took place by forces under command
of Greene's officers, that led to the destruction of the regiment of
tories under Colonel Pyles, marching to join the invaders, about midway
between Hillsborough and Greensborough, and to the entanglement of
Tarleton, from which he was rescued only by the watchfulness of his
general, who sent three messengers in haste after him, in one night, to
speed his return, and just saved him from the forces that were preparing
to cut him off before daylight.
On the 26th of February
Cornwallis left Hillsborough, and moving south encamped on the fertile
Alamance, and moved on, quartering upon the "rebels." On the 6th of
March he made a move to entrap that remarkable officer, Colonel Otho
Williams of Maryland; and in the manoeuvres that followed, a
circumstance occurred that gave a British officer great eclat in the
American camp. Above thirty rifle shots, deliberately aimed, were made
by King's mountain riflemen, at Wetzell's Mills on Reedy Fork, upon a
British officer that was seen slowly approaching the bank of the stream,
and carefully fording the current on a beautiful black horse, at the
time apparently busied with the movements of a detachment of soldiers,
all within view, and in fair rifle shot. To the amazement of all,
without harm, or discovering the least sensation of alarm, he crossed
the stream and disappeared. Upon inquiring of some prisoners what
officer in the manoeuvres and skirmishes rode a black horse, the name of
the gallant, gentlemanly and skilful Colonel Webster was given in reply.
Cornwallis removed his
army into the bounds of Buffalo congregation, and encamped on the
plantation of William Rankin. Remaining there till all the provisions on
the plantation and in the neighborhood were consumed, and the plunder
secured, the army was marched into the Alamance congregation, and
encamped on the plantation of Ralph Gorrel, Esq., who, like `Ir. Rankin,
was a man of influence and wealth, and a true Whig. Turning the family
out of doors, consuming, plundering, and destroying, with the
thoughtless recklessness of invading soldiers, leaving the neighborhood
a scene of desolation, after an abode of two days, the army was marched
on Sabbath, March 11th, to the premises of Dr. Caldwell. Mrs. Caldwell
and the children retired to the smoke-house, and there passed a day
without provision and without a bed. The officers that occupied the
house insulted her distress with profane language and cruel treatment,
until the principal physician, understanding her condition, interposed,
and procured for her a bed and a few cooking utensils, and some
provisions. The head-quarters of his lordship was at Mr. McCuistin's on
the great road from the court-house to Fayetteville; but the army was
encamped mainly on Dr. Caldwell's plantation, the line extending
entirely across it, and the wings occupying part of two of his
neighbor's, one on each side; and the marks of it are still visible."
Mr. Caruthers says—"every panel of fence on the premises was burned;
every particle of provisions consumed or carried away ; every living
thing was destroyed except one old goose; and nearly every square rod of
ground was penetrated with their iron ramrods, in search of hidden
treasure."
Before leaving the place,
the library and papers of Dr. Caldwell were destroyed by fire. This was
done by the command of the officers. The large oven in the yard was used
for the purpose. A fire being kindled, armful after armful of the books
and papers was, by the servants, committed to the flames, till the
destruction was complete. The Dr. was at this time in the camp of
Greene, which, on Monday, the 12th, was about five miles from High Rock;
on Tuesday, eight miles farther, on Ready Fort, and on Wednesday at the
Court House. A price had been set by his lordship on the Dr.'s head:
£200 to any one who should bring him in prisoner. As if to revenge his
absence from home on his library and papers, the order was given for
their destruction. Not even the family Bible was spared. The fatal
Psalms in metre probably ensured its destruction. The loss of the
manuscripts was irreparable; the library in the course of time was
partially replaced.
After remaining two days,
the army left the neighborhood a scene of desolation and distress, and
removed to the Quaker settlement on Deep River. About this time occurred
the massacre of the bugler of Lee's legion, while crying for quarter,
but a little more atrocious than the slaughters and plunderings which
were enacted throughout Dr Caldwell's congregations.
By Greene's near approach
on Wednesday, the 14th of March, it was understood throughout the
country, and in the British camp, that the American general, who had so
long shunned an engagement, would no longer decline a battle. Lee's
legion led on the attack. The king's forces approached the chosen
battle-ground in beautiful military order and in high spirits. By the
court-house lay Greene with his regulars; in front, to the south, were
open fields of a rolling surface with some ravines, through which passed
the great Salisbury road, on the right and left of which were woods;
about a rifle shot in front, beyond these fields, were woods of about
the same depth; in these, on the right and left of the road, were
stationed the Virginia volunteers and militia, some of them excellent
marksmen with the rifle, in a hollow that ran nearly at right angles to
the road, so low that the militia would be unseen by the enemy's line
till within gun-shot; in front of the woods on the south, behind a
rail-fence enclosing extended open fields, lay the North Carolina
forces, militia and volunteers, some excellent riflemen. Across these
open fields, the army of Cornwallis, in battle array, advanced on each
side of the road in front of the Carolina forces concealed by the fence
and flanked on their left by Campbell's riflemen and Lee's legion, and
their right by Lynch's rifle corps and Washington's cavalry.
The orders to the first
line were, to fire twice, from behind the fence, upon the enemy on their
near approach, and then to retire; to the second line, to give the
advancing enemy such reception as circumstances required; and in case of
a retreat, all were to rally in the rear of the regulars.
The British forces could
be seen for a mile or more, as they defiled into the open fields. The
field-pieces of Greene stationed in the road under Captain Singleton,
just in front of the front line, played upon the advancing enemy, and
were briskly answered by that of the enemy under Lieut. McLeod. As the
British forces advanced, Singleton retreated according to orders to the
court-house. The first fire, from the first line, behind the fence, was
unexpected and very destructive. The following extract of a letter from
Dugald Stewart, a captain in the army of Cornwallis, to his relative
Donald Stewart of Guilford county, North Carolina, dated Ballachelish,
Argyleshire, Scotland, Oct. 25, 1525, is taken from Mr. Caruthers.
The regiment to which I
belonged, the 71st or Frazier's highlanders, was drawn up on the left of
the British line along with the 23d, or Welsh Fusileers, with some other
regiments. In the advance we received a very deadly fire from the Irish
line of the American army, composed of their marksmen lying on the
around behind a rail-fence. One half of the Highlanders dropt on that
spot. There ought to be a pretty large tumulus where our men were
buried." This "Irish line" and these "marksmen" in the front line were
probably the company of volunteers under Captain John Forbes from the
Alamance, made up of his friends and neighbors, the Allisons, the Kerrs,
the `Vileys, the Paisleys and others, who had come to take part in the
battle. Captain Forbes fired the first gun; his men saw a British
officer fall; they gave their "deadly fire," and repeated it, and then
retreated. Forbes in the retreat received a mortal wound. William
Paisley, the father of the Rev. Samuel Paisley, was also wounded, but
not mortally. Had the whole front line behaved as gallantly, the fortune
of the day would have been still more disastrous to the invaders. But
there were some who thought "discretion the better part of valor"—"that
he that fights and runs away, may live to fight another day." The
British line resumed its march, inclining to the left in front of the
regulars under Greene, with whom the sharpest contest was anticipated.
Encountering the second line of militia and volunteers, the enemy met
another unexpected reception from the Virginia marksmen. The right of
that line under General Lawson wheeled round upon their left, and then
retreated in confusion. Col. Webster, who led the British left, then
advanced upon the regulars under Col. Gunby. The left of the second line
of militia and volunteers was encountered by the British right under
General Leslie, and maintained their ground, alternately advancing upon
the enemy and then retreating to their original position, till the
retreat of the regulars under Greene. In a short diary kept by a
Virginia rifleman who stood on the left of the second line, who said he
discharged his rifle fourteen times that afternoon, Samuel Houston,
afterwards so long the pastor of the Highbridge congregation, Rockbridge
county, Virginia, he says that, before the battle, he retired and
committed himself to the merciful providence of God; and then, "standing
in readiness, we heard the pickets fire. Shortly, the English fired a
cannon, which was answered, and so on alternately till the small-armed
troops came nigh, and then close firing began near the centre but rather
towards the right, and soon spread along the line. Our Brigade-Major,
Mr. Williams, fled. Presently came two men to us and informed us the
British fled. Soon the enemy appeared to us. We fired on their flank,
and shot clown many of them. At which time Captain Telford was killed.
We pursued them about forty poles, to the top of a hill, when they
stood, and we retreated from them back to where we formed ;—then we
repulsed them again; and they a second time made us retreat back to our
first ground, when we were deceived by a regiment of Hessians, whom we
took for our own, and cried out to them to see if they were our friends,
and shouted aloud Liberty, Liberty, and advanced up, till they let off
some guns; then we fired sharply on them and made them retreat a little,
but presently their light-horse came on us, and not being defended by
our light-horse, nor reinforced, though firing had long ceased in all
other parts, we were obliged to run, and many were sore chased and some
cut down. We lost our Major and Captain then. We all scattered; and some
of our party, and Campbell's, and Moffitt's, collected together, and
with Campbell and Moffitt and Major Pooge, we marched to head-quarters."
It is stated by Johnson,
that General Stevens placed in the rear of the left of this second line
some good marksmen, with orders to shoot down any of his men that
deserted the ranks. It is also well known that this part of the line
kept its position till Greene ordered a general retreat.
Let us go to the fiercest
part of the battle. The court-house is gone; the village is wasted to a
house; the actors in that eventful strife are all passed away;—but the
face of the country is unchanged; the open fields and the woods retain
the relative position of sixty years since. Taking your stand on this
highest ground, where the court-house stood, you may look over the whole
battlefield of the sharpest contest. Directly in front, to the south, is
the open rolling field across which the gallant Webster led his
regiment, as boldly as if his life was charmed against powder and leaf,
on to attack the first Maryland regiment, renowned for their conduct at
the Cowpens. The gallant colonel's regiment recoiled at the first deadly
fire, and gave way before the advance of the Marylanders. Grievously
wounded, Webster rallied his men on the skirts of the wood in front of
you, and in a little time was ready to re-enter the battle. From the
Salisbury road, Leslie sends clown two regiments to advance upon the
second Maryland regiment, which behaved in an unsoldierlike manner, and
did nothing worthy of their name. O'Harra hastened on with two regiments
to the flank of Howard regaining his line, and made an attack on the
second Maryland regiment, which gave way and fled. Just then, Colonel
Washington rapidly passed by the head of Leslie's regiment, leaped a
ravine with his corps unseen, and made a terrible onset upon the Queen's
Guards, exulting in their victory over the second regiment.
The carnage was dreadful.
At this time it was, as Lieutenant Holcomb related to Dr. Jones of
Nottaway, that the noted Francisco performed a deed of blood without a
parallel. In that short rencounter, he cut clown eleven men with his
brawny arm and terrible broadsword. One of the guards thrust his
bayonet, and in spite of the parrying of Francisco's sword, pinned his
leg to the horse. Francisco forbore to strike, but assisted him to
extricate his bayonet. As the soldier turned and fled, he made a furious
blow with his sword, and cleft the poor fellow's head down to his
shoulders. The force of the blow, added to the soldier's speed, sent him
on a number of steps, with his cleft head hanging upon each shoulder,
before he fell. The astonished beholders shouted, "Did you ever see the
like?" Howard, with the 1st, came rushing on them, and the contest was
renewed in a most desperate manner about midway between the court-house
and the woods in front. This was the crisis of the battle. Cornwallis
came down from his post, where the Salisbury road enters the wood, to
the hollow, to see the condition of the battle, and under the cover of
the smoke, rode up to that old oak just in the skirts of the fiery
contest. Washington, who had drawn off his troops, was hovering round to
watch his opportunity for another onset, and approached that same oak
unperceived by his lordship; stopping to beckon on his men to move and
intercept the officer, then unknown to him, he happened to strike his
unlaced helmet from his head. On recovering it, he perceived the white
horse that carried the officer on the full gallop towards the artillery
posted on the rising ground, where the road emerges from the woods. His
lordship gave orders to Lieutenant McLeod to charge with grape-shot, and
fire in upon the contending mass of men. O'Harra, who had been carried
wounded to that position, heard the fatal orders, and begged the
commander to spare his fine troops. His lordship repeated the order
sternly, and stood by the devouring cannon till the regiments who were
yielding ground to the Maryland forces rallied, and bravely, or rather
desperately, renewed the contest. This rally decided the fate of the
day. Greene drew off his forces.
At the time Cornwallis
was in danger of being taken by Washington, Greene, also, going down to
survey the battle and learn the condition of his forces, under cover of
the smoke, approached within a few steps of a large force of the enemy;
discovering his perilous condition, he slowly retreated and escaped
without observation. In a letter to his lady, the clay after the battle,
he says—"I had not the honor of being wounded, but was very near being
taken, having rode in the heat of the action, full tilt, directly into
the midst of the enemy; but by Col. Harris calling to me and advertising
me of my situation I had just time to escape."
The consequences of this
battle are well known—the retreat of Cornwallis, and the delivery of
Carolina.
During this eventful Thursday, all the active men in Dr. Caldwell's
congregation were in some way engaged with the army; and we are told by
Mr. Caruthers that there were two collections of females, one in
Buffalo, and the other in Alamance, engaged in most earnest prayer for
their families and their country; many others sought the divine aid in
solitary places. One pious lady sent her son, often, during the
afternoon, to the summit of a little hill near which she spent much time
in prayer, to listen and bring her word which way the firing came, from
the southward or the northward. When he returned and said it was going
northward—"Then," exclaimed she, "all is lost, Greene is defeated." But
all was not lost; the God that hears prayer remembered his people.
The invaders left the
ground the next day, and all the country around were busy in burying the
dead and carrying off their wounded, many of whom lay the cold wet night
after the battle exposed upon the ground. Capt. Forbis lay about thirty
hours before he was discovered by his friends. He was then found by an
old lady, who was searching the woods for a relative He survived a short
time after being carried to his house. He declared before his death,
that on the day after the battle a tory of his acquaintance passed by
him and recognized him, and instead of giving him a little water, for
which he craved, to quench his raging thirst, kicked him and cursed him
as a rebel. After the death of Forbis, that man was found suspended on a
tree before his own door.
The strength of the
tories had been greatly increased by the presence of the British forces,
and the policy of Cornwallis. The feuds and bloodshed in the
neighborhood were indescribable for their vexations, and often for their
atrocities. For a short time after the battle these were more bitter.
The entire departure of the invaders permitted the country to resume its
quiet, and pursue their occupations in comparative peacefulness.
The battle at the
court-house abounded in acts of heroism and also of cowardice. In that
contest, when the grape shot poured upon the contending forces, it is
said some of the British officers fell as if dead, and were plundered,
but after the battle were not reported either among the wounded or
missing.
The gallant Webster, that
escaped so remarkably at Wetzell's Mills, and rallied his broken forces
so nobly and came back into the action, died of the wounds received in
his charge upon the Maryland regiment. He accompanied the retreating
army as far as Bladen county, and with the sympathy of his enemies, as
well as the king's forces, was consigned to his grave, near Elizabeth,
the county seat. There was no fear his grave would be profaned. When
General Philips died at Petersbury, Virginia, some time after, his grave
was secreted through fear of the irritated country, lest his cruelties
should be visited on his ashes.
The Virginia militia and
volunteers, that maintained their ground so bravely and received so much
applause for their soldierlike conduct, were from Augusta and Rockbridge
counties, and almost to a mail the descendants of Scotch-Irish. Some of
the congregation of the noted Graham were there; and a company from the
congregation of the silver-tongued Waddel, the Blind Preacher of Mr.
Wirt, heard a farewell address from him, while under arms ready to
march. Many that marched returned no more; and others bore the marks of
deep gashes from the light-horse broadswords the remainder of their
days. The last of these men were lately carried to their graves. |
