Book: The Life of General Francis Marion

M >> Mason Locke Weems >> The Life of General Francis Marion




Then diving her withered hand in her pocket, she scooped up
a shining parcel of English guineas, and exultingly cried out,
"See there, general! see there's a sight for you? and every penny of it
given me by that dear good gentleman, major Muckleworth;
every penny of it, sir. Yes, and if you will but believe me, general,
when I and my daughters were getting breakfast for him and his people,
if he didn't come here himself with his sergeants, and had this place
swept out all so sweet and clean for them poor sick people;
and, with his own dear hands too, helped that gentleman there
to dress and doctor the poor things, that he did.

"And then besides all that, general, he was such a sweet spoken gentleman!
for when I asked him how his men came to be hurt so, he did not,
like that beast Tarleton, turn black and blue in the face,
and fall to cursing the d----d rebels. Oh no! not he indeed.
But he said with a smile, We got them wounded last night, madam,
in a little brush with your brave countryman, general Marion.

"Now only think of that, general! And besides, when he was going away,
what do you think he did? Why, sir, he sent for me and said, -- Well,
my good madam, and what shall I pay you for all the trouble we have given you,
and also for taking care of the doctor I am going to leave with you,
and the sick people, who may be on your hands for a fortnight yet?

"I told him it was no business of mine to fix a price.

"He seemed surprised, and asked me what I meant by that.

"I answered that I was now all one as his prisoner, and prisoners had nothing
they could call their own.

"My king, madam, said he, does not make war against widows.

"I told him I wished to God all his countrymen had remembered that!
it would have saved the hunger and nakedness, and cries and tears
of many a poor widow and orphan. At this he seemed mightily hurt.

"I then told him that many of the British officers, after eating and drinking
all that they wanted, for themselves and people, and horses,
instead of turning round to pay, as he had done, had turned in to plunder,
and then set fire to the houses, not leaving the widows and children
a cover over their heads, nor a bit of bread for their mouths,
nor a stitch of clothes for their backs.

"My God! said he, and is this the way that my countrymen have come here
to carry on war! Well madam, (so he went on) my king does not know
any thing of this, nor does the English nation, I am sure.
If they did, they would certainly call those officers to account.
Such men will ruin our cause. For the word of God assures us,
that his ear is always open to the cry of the widow and orphan;
and believe me, madam, I dread their cry more than I do
the shouts of an enemy's army. However, madam, (continued he,)
I have not a moment to lose, for I am sure general Marion is pursuing me
as hard as he can, so let me know what I owe you.

"I told him again, I made no charge; but since he was so good as to insist
on giving me something, I begged to leave the matter entirely to himself.
Upon which, after a moment's study, he looked at me and said, Well, madam,
suppose we say sixpence sterling a-piece man and horse, all around,
will that do? I replied that was too much, a great deal too much,
for such a poor breakfast as I had given him and his men.
Not a penny too much, madam, said he, live and let live is the royal law,
madam, and here's your money. With that he put all these guineas here,
into my hand! and said moreover, that if the doctor and sick people
should be longer with me, and give me more trouble and cost
than we had counted on, then I must send a note to him,
at such a house in Charleston, and he would send me the money.
And now, general, would it not be a burning shame to go kill
such a dear good gentleman as that?"

Marion listened with delight to the old lady's history
of this amiable officer; but on her leaving him to hasten our breakfast,
he looked very pensive, and at a loss what to do. However,
as soon as the troops were refreshed, he ordered my brother, colonel H. Horry,
who led the advance, to remount, and push after the enemy with all speed.
We followed close in the rear. For an hour the general
did not open his mouth, but rode on like one absorbed in thought.
At length heaving a deep sigh, he said, "Well, I suppose I feel now
very much as I should feel, were I in pursuit of a brother to kill him."

About three o'clock our advance came up with the enemy,
near the wealthy and hospitable captain John Singleton's mills,
where the firing instantly commenced, and was as spiritedly returned
by the British, still retreating. Our marksmen presently stopped
one of Muckleworth's captains, and several of his men, who lay dead
on the ground at the very spot where we happened to join the advance.
The sight of these poor fellows lying in their blood,
gave the general's wavering mind the casting vote in favor of generosity;
for he immediately cried out, "Call off the troops! call off the troops!"
Then turning to his aid he said, "I cannot stand it any longer; we owe
yon Englishmen to our injured country; but there is an angel that guards them.
Ten righteous Lots would have saved Sodom. One generous Muckleworth
shall save this handful. Let us turn and fight other enemies."

The general's orders were quickly passed on to the troops to cease firing.
And to their credit be it spoken, they never, I believe, obeyed his orders
with more alacrity than on this occasion. Indeed I heard many of them say,
afterwards, that major Muckleworth's generosity to their wounded comrades
and to the poor widow, had so won their hearts to him, that they had none left
wherewith to fight against him; and they said also, that, for their parts,
they had rather kill a thousand such savages as Rawdon and Tarleton,
than hurt a hair of major Muckleworth's head.

From the effect produced on our troops, by this amiable officer's conduct,
I have often been led to think favorably of a saying common with Marion, viz.,
had the British officers but acted as became a wise and magnanimous enemy,
they might easily have recovered the revolted colonies.

Never did the pulse of love towards a parent state beat stronger
in human bosoms, than in those of the Carolinians towards Britain.
We looked on her as indeed our mother, and on her children as our brothers.
And ah! had their government but treated us with correspondent kindness,
Carolina would have been with them to a man. Had they said to the people,
as they might easily have done (for there was a time, and a long time too,
when the whole state was entirely at their feet,) had they then said to us,
"We are far richer, far stronger, than you; we can easily burn your houses,
take your provisions, carry off your cattle, and sweep your country
with the besom of destruction; but we abhor the idea. Your houses,
your women, your children, are all sacred in our eyes; and even of your goods
we will touch nothing without giving you a reasonable price."
Had they but said this, Carolina would, to a certainty,
have been divorced from Congress, and re-wedded to Britain.

We may lay what emphasis we please on the term COUNTRYMEN, COUNTRYMEN!
but after all, as Christ says, "he is our countryman who showeth mercy
unto us."

A British officer, a major Muckleworth, for example, calls at my plantation,
and takes my fine horses and fat beeves, my pigs, my poultry and grain;
but at parting, launches out for me a fist full of yellow boys!
On the other hand, an American officer calls and sweeps me of everything,
and then lugs out a bundle of continental proc! such trash,
that hardly a cow would give a corn shock for a horse load of it.

The Englishman leaves me richer than he found me, and abler
to educate and provide for my children: the American leaves me and my family
half ruined. Now I wish to know where, in such a selfish world as this,
where is there a man in a million, but would take part
with the generous Englishman, and fight for him?

This was the theory of Marion; and it was the practice of Muckleworth,
whom it certainly saved to the British; and would, if universal,
have saved Carolina and Georgia to them too; and perhaps, all America.
But so little idea had they of this mode of conciliating to conquer,
that when the good major Muckleworth returned to Charleston,
he was hooted at by the British officers, who said he might do well enough
for a chaplain, or a methodist preacher, for what they knew,
but they'd be d--n-d if he were fit to be a British major.

The truth is, such divine philosophy was too refined for such coarse
and vulgar characters, as Cornwallis, Rawdon, Tarleton, Balfour, and Weymies;
monsters who disgraced the brave and generous nation they represented,
and completely damned the cause they were sent to save.
But what better was to have been expected of those, who,
from early life, if tradition say true, discovered a total dislike
to the ennobling pleasures of literature and devotion, but a boundless passion
for the brutalizing sports of the bear-garden and cock-pit?
Bull-baiters, cock-fighters, and dog worriers, turned officers,
had no idea of conquering the Americans, but by "cutting their throats
or knocking out their brains;" or as the tender-hearted Cornwallis commanded,
by "hanging them, and taking away, or destroying their goods."

Now Satan himself could have counselled my lord better than that;
as any man may see, who will but open his bible and turn to the book of Job,
chap. the 1st, verse 6th, and so on. There Moses informs, that when Satan,
whose effrontery is up to any thing, presented himself at the grand levee,
the Almighty very civilly asked him, (now mind that, `saints',
in your speech to poor sinners) -- the Almighty, I say,
very CIVILLY asked him "where he had been of late."

To this, his royal highness, the brimstone king, replied,
that he had been only taking a turn or two "up and down the earth."

The divine voice again interrogated: "Hast thou considered my servant Job?
an excellent man, is he not; one who feareth God and escheweth evil?"

"Job's well enough," replied Satan, rather pertly, but where's
the wonder of all that? You have done great things for the fellow;
you have planted a hedge around him, and around all that he hath
on every side. You have blessed the works of his hands,
and his substance is increased in the land; and if, after all this,
he cannot afford you a little gratitude, he must be a poor devil indeed.
But put forth thy hand now, and touch all that he hath,
and he'll curse thee to thy face."

This was the devil's logic as to Job: but the British general had not the wit
to reason in that style towards the Americans. For my Lord Cornwallis
said unto my lord Rawdon; and my lord Rawdon said unto my would-be lord,
colonel Tarleton; and colonel Tarleton said unto major Weymies;
and major Weymies said unto Will Cunningham, and unto the British soldiers
with their tory negro allies; "Put forth your hands, boys, and burn,
and plunder the d--n-d rebels; and instead of cursing you to your face,
they will fall down and kiss your feet."

"Experience," says Doctor Franklin, "is a dear school;
but fools will learn in no other, and hardly in that."
And what right had lord North to expect success in America,
when for officers he sent such fools as would take no lesson
either from God or devil.




Chapter 22.

Colonel Watson attempts to surprise Marion -- is out-generaled,
and after much loss driven back to Georgetown.



In consequence of his incessant attacks on the British and tories,
Marion was, I believe, heartily hated by them, as ever Samson was
by the Philistines, or George Whitefield by the devil.
Numerous were the attempts made by their best officers to surprise him;
but such was his own vigilance and the fidelity of his whig friends,
that he seldom failed to get the first blow at them, and to take
their unwary feet in the same evil net which they had spread for him.

His method to anticipate the meditated malice of his enemies,
is well worthy of notice. He always had in his service
a parcel of active young men, generally selected from the best whig families,
and of tried courage and fidelity. These, mounted on the swiftest horses,
he would station in the neighborhood of those places where
the British and tories were embodied in force, as Camden, Georgetown, &c.
with instructions to leave no stratagem untried to find out
the intended movements of the enemy. Instantly as this information
was obtained, (whether by climbing tall trees that overlooked the garrisons;
or from friends acting as market people) they were to mount and push off
at full speed to the nearest of a chain of posts established at
short and convenient distances, with fleet horses ready saddled and bridled,
to bear the intelligence with equal speed, the first to the second,
the second to the third, and so on. In this expeditious method,
as by a telegraph,* Marion was presently notified of the designs of the enemy.
Of the exceeding importance of such a plan, we had a very striking proof
at this time. Exasperated against Marion, for the infinite harm
he did the royal cause in Carolina, the British general, in Camden,
determined to surprise him at his old place of retreat, SNOW'S ISLAND;
and thus destroy or break him up completely. To this end
he despatched a couple of favorite officers, colonels Watson and Doyle,
with a heavy force, both cavalry and infantry, to seize the lower bridge
on Black river and thereby effectually prevent our escape.
But the vigilance and activity of his scouts frustrated
this well-concerted plan entirely. Getting early notice of this manoeuvre
by captain, now general Canty, Marion instantly started his troops,
composed chiefly of mounted riflemen and light dragoons and pushed hard
for the same point. By taking a nearer cut, we had the good fortune
to gain the bridge before the enemy, and having destroyed it
as soon as we crossed, we concealed ourselves in the dark swamp,
anxiously waiting their arrival. In a short time, they came in full view
on the opposite hill, and there encamped. -- Presently,
unapprehensive of danger, for they saw nothing of us, two of their men
came down for water to the river. Unable to resist such a temptation,
two of our noted marksmen instantly drew their sights and let fly.
The two Englishmen fell; one of them was killed dead; the other badly wounded,
and so frightened, that he bellowed like a bull-calf for help.
Several of his gallant countrymen ran to his assistance,
but they were shot down as fast as they got to him.

--
* The old meaning of "telegraph" is used here, as any system of communication
over distance, such as signal fires, semaphore, etc. -- A. L., 1997.
--

The next morning colonel Watson sent a flag over to Marion,
whom he charged with carrying on war in a manner entirely different
from all civilized nations. "Why sir," said he to Marion, "you must certainly
command a horde of savages, who delight in nothing but murder.
I can't cross a swamp or a bridge, but I am waylaid and shot at
as if I were a mad dog. Even my sentries are fired at and killed
on their posts. Why, my God, sir! this is not the way
that Christians ought to fight!"

To this Marion replied, that "he was sorry to be obliged to say,
that from what he had known of them, the British officers were
the last men on earth who had any right to preach about honor and humanity.
That for men to come three thousand miles to plunder and hang
an innocent people, and then to tell that people how they ought to fight,
betrayed an ignorance and impudence which he fain would hope had no parallel
in the history of man. That for his part, he always believed,
and still did believe that he should be doing God and his country good service
to surprise and kill such men, while they continued this diabolical warfare,
as he would the wolves and panthers of the forest."

Thus ended the correspondence for that time.

While things remained in this state between the hostile parties,
Macdonald, as usual, was employing himself in a close and bold reconnoitre
of the enemy's camp. Having found out the situation of their sentries,
and the times of relieving them, he climbed up into a bushy tree,
and thence, with a musket loaded with pistol bullets,
cracked away at their guard as they passed by; of whom he killed one man,
and badly wounded the lieutenant, whose name was Torquano;
then sliding down the tree, he mounted his swift-footed Selim,
and made his escape.

The next morning colonel Watson sent another flag to Marion,
requesting that he would grant a passport to his lieutenant Torquano,
who was badly wounded, and wished to be carried to Charleston.
On receiving the flag, which happened while I was by him, Marion turned to me,
and with a smile said, "Well, this note of colonel Watson looks a little
as if he were coming to his senses. But who is lieutenant Torquano?"

I replied that he was a young Englishman, who had been
quartered in Charleston, at the house of that good whig lady,
Mrs. Brainford and her daughters, whom he had treated very politely,
and often protected from insults.

"Well," said he, "if that be lieutenant Torquano, he must be
a very clever fellow; and shall certainly have a passport to Charleston,
or even to Paradise, if I had the keys of St. Peter."

On repassing Black river in haste, Macdonald had left his clothes behind him
at a poor woman's house, where the enemy seized them.
By the return of the flag just mentioned, he sent word to colonel Watson,
that if he did not immediately send back his clothes,
he would kill eight of his men to pay for them.

Several of Watson's officers who were present when the message was delivered,
advised him by all means to return his clothes, for that they knew him to be
a most desperate fellow, one who would stop at nothing he set his head upon;
witness his late daring act of climbing like a cougar, into a tree,
to kill his passing enemies. Watson sent him back his wallet of clothes.

Soon after this, the enemy decamped silently in the night, and took the road
towards Santee. On the return of day announcing their flight,
Marion ordered me to take the mounted riflemen, thirty in number,
with fifty horse, and pursue and harass the enemy as much as possible,
till he could come up with the infantry.

About night I approached their encampment, and halted in a neighboring swamp;
whence I continued to send out small parties, frequently relieved, with orders
to pop away at their sentinels, and keep them alarmed and under arms
all night. At daybreak they pushed hard for the sandpit bridge.
We followed close in the rear, constantly firing on them
from every thicket and swamp; and often, in spite of their field pieces,
making false charges. Never did I see a body of infantry
ply their legs so briskly. The rogues were constantly in a dog trot,
except when they occasionally halted to give us a blast,
which they did from their whole line. But though their bullets
made a confounded whizzing and clatter among the branches over our heads,
yet thank God they did no harm, save that of scratching
some three or four of us.

On coming within a few miles of it, we made a rapid push for the bridge,
which we quickly rendered impassable, by throwing off the plank and sleepers.
Then having posted my riflemen in the thick woods, within fifty yards
of the ford, under command of lieutenant Scott, I drew up my cavalry
close in the rear, and waited impatiently for the enemy,
hoping to give a handsome Bunker's Hill account of them.

The enemy were presently in sight, and formed in close column,
began to push through the fording place, though full waist deep.
My heart now throbbed with anxiety; looking every moment for a stream of fire
to burst upon the British, spreading destruction through their ranks.

But, to my infinite mortification, no lightnings bursted forth;
no thunders roared; no enemy fell. As, half choked with grief and rage,
I looked around for the cause, behold! my brave lieutenant Scott,
at the head of his riflemen, came stooping along with his gun in his hand,
and the black marks of shame and cowardice on his sheepish face.
"Infamous poltroon," said I, shaking my sword over his head,
"where is that hetacomb of robbers and murderers due
to the vengeance of your injured country?"

He began to stammer out some apology, which I quickly suppressed,
by ordering him out of my sight. It is worthy of remark, that his men,
instead of apologising for him, called him a coward to his face,
and declared that it was he who had restrained them by telling them
they were flanked by the enemy, who would assuredly cut them to pieces
if they fired a shot.

As the advance of the British were thus undisturbedly passing on,
a heavy firing was suddenly heard in the rear. It was Marion;
who, having come up with the enemy, had attacked him with great fury.
The British did not halt, but continued a running fight through the woods
till they gained the open fields; where, by means of their artillery,
they kept us at a distance. In this rencontre, Watson had his horse
killed under him, and left about twenty of his men dead on the ground.
His wounded filled several wagons.

He did not halt a moment, but pushed hard for Georgetown;
and late at night encamped on the plantation of Mr. Trapier,
to whom he told a dreadful story about Marion and his damned rebels,
who would not, as he said, sleep and fight like gentlemen,
but, like savages, were eternally firing and whooping around him by night;
and by day, waylaying and popping at him from behind every tree he went by.

As it was too late to pursue the enemy, Marion encamped for the night
near the field of battle, and next morning marched for his old post,
Snow's Island, where he allowed us a few days of welcome repose.




Chapter 23.

Patriotism of Mrs. Jenkins -- colonel Watson, colonel Doyle, and the tories,
make alarming advances upon general Marion -- his men begin to desert him --
Horry turns orator, and harangues the troops -- they repeat
their assurances of patriotism and attachment to Marion --
he dashes out again upon the enemy -- prospects brighten --
and the good old cause begins to look up again.



It was not for the British and Marion to lie long at rest
in the same neighborhood. After a short repose, Colonel Watson,
with a stout force of regulars and tories, made an inroad upon Pedee;
which was no sooner known in our camp, than Marion pushed after him.
We presently struck their trail; and after a handsome day's run,
pitched our tents near the house of the excellent widow Jenkins,
and on the very spot which the British had left in the morning.
Colonel Watson, it seems, had taken his quarters that night in her house;
and learning that she had three sons with Marion, all active young men,
he sent for her after supper, and desired her to sit down
and take a glass of wine with him. To this request,
a good old lady of taste and manners could have no objection:
so waiting upon the colonel, and taking a chair which he handed her,
she sat down and emptied her glass to his health. He then commenced
the following conversation with her:

"So, madam, they tell me you have several sons in general Marion's camp;
I hope it is not true."

She said it was very true, and was only sorry that it was not
a thousand times truer.

"A thousand times truer, madam!" replied he with great surprise,
"pray what can be your meaning in that?"

"Why, sir, I am only sorry that in place of three, I have not
three thousand sons with general Marion."

"Aye indeed! well then, madam, begging your pardon, you had better
send for them immediately to come in and join his majesty's troops
under my command: for as they are rebels now in arms against their king,
should they be taken they will be hung as sure as ever they were born."

"Why, sir," said the old lady, "you are very considerate of my sons;
for which at any rate I thank you. But, as you have begged my pardon
for giving me this advice, I must beg yours for not taking it.
My sons, sir, are of age, and must and will act for themselves.
And as to their being in a state of rebellion against their king,
I must take the liberty, sir, to deny that."

"What, madam!" replied he, "not in rebellion against their king?
shooting at and killing his majesty's subjects like wolves!
don't you call that rebellion against their king, madam?"

"No, sir," answered she: "they are only doing their duty,
as God and nature commanded them, sir."

"The d---l they are, madam!"

"Yes, sir," continued she, "and what you and every man in England
would glory to do against the king, were he to dare to tax you
contrary to your own consent and the constitution of the realm.
'Tis the king, sir, who is in rebellion against my sons,
and not they against him. And could right prevail against might,
he would as certainly lose his head, as ever king Charles the First did."

Colonel Watson could hardly keep his chair under the smart of this speech:
but thinking it would never do for a British colonel to be rude to a lady,
he filled her glass, and saying, "he'd be d--n-d if she were not
a very plain-spoken woman at any rate," insisted she would drink
a toast with him for all.

Copyright (c) 2007. knowncrafts.net. All rights reserved.