Enclosure: Major General Nathanael Greene to Samuel Huntington, 14 May 1781
ENCLOSURE
Major General Nathanael Greene to Samuel Huntington
Camp. at McCords ferry on the Congaree [S.C.]1
May 14th 1781
Sir
I wrote your Excellency on the 5th from near Camden by Capt. OHarro.2 on the 10th that place was evacuated by the enemy. They left it with great precipitation, after burning the greater part of their baggage and Stores,3 belonging to the inhabitants. They also burnt the Goal,4 Mill & several other houses, & left the Town little better than a heap of rubbish. They left all our men, wounded on the 25th amounting to thirty one and fifty eight of their own, & three Officers, who were all too badly wounded to be moved. It is confidently asserted by several people of the place, that the enemy suffered in the late action, not less in killed and wounded than three Hundred men.5
Upon the enemy’s evacuation we immediately took possession of the place, and the works are leveling, a plan of which is herewith inclosed6—had the Virginia Militia arrived in time the Garrison would have fallen into our hands, as they would have enabled us to have invested it on all sides,7 & the Garrison had neither Provision or Stores to hold out a Seige, the detachments below operating under General Marian and Lieutenant Colonel Lee having cut of[f] their Supplies, particularly the Article of salt, of which the Garrison were entirely destitute.8
On the 9th the Army marched for this place.9 On the 11th the post of Orangeburg commanded by a Colonel & consisting of upwards of Eighty men, & several Officers part brittish surrendered to General Sumter, who by his address so intimidated the Garrison in the disposition of his Artillery, & troops as to produce a surrender of a very strong Post, without loss of time or men. great q[u]antities of provision, & some other Stores, were found at this.10 on the 12th Fort Mott surrendered to General Marian. The Garrison consisted, of upwards of 140 men, 120 of which were brittish and Hessian; & seven or Eight Officers.
The place was invested on the eighth and the approaches carried to the foot of the Abattis, before it surrendered. The redoubt was exceeding Strong, & commanded by Lieut. McPherson a very gallant officer. great credit is due to General Marian, & the few militia that continued with him in the reduction of this Post. Lieut. Colo. Lee’s Legion & the detachments serving with him under Major Eaton, Capts. Finley of the Artillery, & Oldham & Smith of the infantry, were indefatigable in prosecuting the seige. There was taken at the Fort One Caronade about 140 stand of Arms, a quantity of Salt, provisions, and other Stores; returns of which shall be forwarded hereafter.11
When we began our March towards Camden from Deep River, I wrote to General Pickens to endeavour to collect a body of the militia, to lay seige to Augusta & Ninety-six; and both places are now invested.12 as soon as the Virginia militia join us I am in hopes to be able to make such detachments from this Army as will effect their reduction.
The Fort at fridays ferry will be invested by tomorrow morning.13 Lt Colo. Lee, with his legion, & some of the detachments serving under him, marched for this purpose last evening. The Army marches for that place this morning.14
The last intelligence I had from Lord Rawdon, he was near Nelsons ferry where the enemy have a Post; the Stores at which were moving for Charles Town which indicates an evacuation. Generals Sumter & Marian are watching their motions.15 If proper exertions were made to support the southern War, the enemy will soon be convinced, that if they divide their force they will fall by detachments, and if they operate collectively they cannot command the Country.
Captain Pierce, one of my Aids, who is out watching the motions of Lord Cornwallis, informs me that he is on his March towards Hallifax from Duplin courthouse.16 should he push his operations in that quarter, I shall leave the Army here, under the command of General Huger, to effect the reduction of the remaining Posts; & join the Troops collecting to the northward.17
Inclosed I send your Excellency copies of several Letters found among the papers of Lieut. McPherson.18 I have the honour to be, with great respect. Your Excellency’s most Obedient and most humble servant.
Copy, DLC:GW. GW acknowledged receipt of this letter when he wrote Greene on 30 July (NN: George Washington Papers).
1. McCord’s Ferry, about thirty-five miles south of Camden, crossed the Congaree River several miles above its junction with the Wateree River.
John McCord (d. 1768), a planter who owned about 2,500 acres at the time of his death, operated the ferry under an act of the South Carolina general assembly. His widow, Sophianisba McCord, ran the ferry until her death in 1784 (see Susan Smythe Bennett, comp., “The McCords of McCords’ Ferry, South Carolina,” in The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, 34 [October 1933] 177–93).
2. See Greene to Huntington, 5 May, in , 8:206–7.
3. The words “and even the private property” appear at this point on the LS sent to Huntington (DNA:PCC, item 155).
4. Greene refers to the gaol, or jail.
5. For the Battle of Hobkirk’s Hill, fought on 25 April, see Greene to Huntington, 27 April, printed as an enclosure with Greene to GW, that date.
Lt. Col. Francis Rawdon, who commanded the British army in South Carolina, wrote Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis from Monck’s Corner on 24 May: “On the 9th I published to the troops and to the militia my design of evacuating Camden, offering to such of the latter as chose to accompany me every assistance that we could afford them. During the ensuing night I sent off all our baggage etc under a strong escort, and destroyed the works, remaining at Camden with the rest of the troops till ten o’clock the next day in order to cover the march. … We brought off all the sick and wounded excepting about thirty who were too ill to be moved, and for them I left an equal number of Continental prisoners in exchange. We brought off all the stores of any kind of value, destroying the rest, and we brought off not only the militia who had been with us in Camden but also all the well affected neighbors on our route, together with the wives, children, Negroes and baggage of almost all of them” (, 5:288–90, quotes on 289).
6. The enclosed document, docketed 12 May and evidently not included with the copy of this letter sent to GW, is in DNA:PCC, item 155.
7. Greene had requested a reinforcement of 1,500 Virginia militia (see Greene to Thomas Jefferson, 23 March, and Jefferson to Greene, 30 March, in , 7:466 and 8:13–14).
8. Brig. Gen. Francis Marion and Lt. Col. Henry Lee, Jr., had taken Fort Watson, a key link on the British line of communication from Charleston to Camden (see Greene to Huntington, 27 April, n.8, printed as an enclosure with Greene to GW, that date).
9. The southern army marched from the vicinity of Camden on 12 May (see , 27).
10. The word “place” appears at this point on the LS sent to Huntington (see n.3 above). For the capture of the British post at Orangeburg, S.C., see Thomas Sumter to Greene, 11 May, in , 8:244–45.
11. Fort Motte, located near the present-day town of Fort Motte, S.C., was situated near the juncture of the Congaree and Wateree rivers. It originated as Rebecca Motte’s two-story mansion. British forces seized the house and erected earthworks, a palisade, abatis, and a surrounding ditch. The fort became an important British depot for military stores (see , 716). For a sketch, see , 8:252.
Robert Smith, a former Continental dragoon, commanded a militia company attached to Maj. Pinketham Eaton’s detachment of North Carolina militia draftees (see Edward Carrington to Greene, 24 April, in , 8:145–46; see also , 329). Eaton had joined Lee and Marion on 2 May (see Lee to Greene, that date, in , 8:192).
Donald McPherson (c.1755–1825) joined the New Jersey Volunteers as a lieutenant in January 1777. He transferred to the British Legion in 1778 as a second lieutenant of infantry and rose to first lieutenant in May 1779. McPherson later became a captain of infantry in the legion with his rank backdated to December 1780.
12. The southern army had marched from Deep River in North Carolina on 7 April (see Greene to GW, 22 April, n.1). Greene’s letter to Brig. Gen. Andrew Pickens has not been identified, but see Pickens to Greene, 8 and 12 May, in , 8:223–24, 246–48.
13. Friday’s Ferry crossed the Congaree River just north of William Ancrum’s plantation. Fort Granby guarded the ferry.
Martin Friday (Fridig; 1689–1758), a native of Switzerland, became a prominent landowner and miller along the upper Congaree River. In 1754, the state legislature authorized him to operate a ferry.
14. For Greene’s marching orders, see his letter to Lee, 13 May, in , 8:249. For the capture of Fort Granby, see Greene to GW, 16 May, n.3.
15. Rawdon evacuated the post at Nelson’s Ferry, S.C., on the night of 14–15 May (see Rawdon to Charles Cornwallis, 24 May, in , 5:288–90; see also Marion to Greene, 16 May, in , 8:274).
16. Capt. William Pierce reported Cornwallis and the main British army at Duplin County in southeastern North Carolina. He expected a movement north to Halifax (see Pierce to Greene, 7 May, in , 8:220–21).
17. Greene did not leave the army in South Carolina.
18. The captured letters were addressed to Rawdon. For a description, see Greene to Huntington, 14 May, n.14, in , 8:254.