The Slow Push of British Forces
One might figure that with Eutaw Springs done, there is little to do at this point of the Revolutionary War or for what was actually the civil war in SC between whigs and tories and those who switched sides back and forth. There is also the transition from a British military presence for 12-18 months that displaced civil government as so we see at this time Gov. Rutledge attempting to piece back together something.
1) Post-Eutaw Springs Greene dispatched Lee and Marion to attempt to get in front of Stewart's forces as they withdrew towards Charleston but 400 fresh Brits arrived in Monck's Corners from Charleston to cover the retreat. On September 12th, Stewart, who was wounded was temporarily replaced by Col. Paston Gould who had been Balfour's position until he was promoted to commandant of the Charleston district for the British. Gould had stayed put in Charleston until know and was unfamiliar with the territory. He briefly took an expedition out towards Greene but then came back to a point 50 miles outside Charleston while half his men came down with seasonal fever. He returned to Charleston and was replaced by Gen. Alexander Leslie and Steward, having recovered from his wounds took command of 1200 troops 7 miles north of Monck's Corners where he proceeded to raid plantations for food (harvest time was getting near), slaves including women and children to return to Charleston where they were put to work strengthening Brith fortifications there.
2) Greene felt confident with the British south of the Santee to take his own sickly army to the High Hills of the Santee to recover. Marion camped 50 miles away on the Santee ready to deploy but he himself was hit with the seasonal fever in spite of his vinegar and water concoction. Between daily correspondence with Greene on intelligence reports and sometimes two letters a day from Gov. Rutledge in getting the right people in the right positions in the new civil government especially justices/judges, it was a different kind of busy for Marion. Rutledge offered a Clinton-like proclamation that now allowed Tories to be pardoned and reunite with their families if they serve 6 months in the patriot militia. Those who declined faced banishment and property loss similar to the Clinton order a few years prior. September 27th was the day the amnesty proclamation was made official and gave 30 days for men to meet with a brigadier general of SC. By October, Marion was able to attend to family matters as he continued to assist his nephews in collages in the north with a shipment of indigo to Philadelphia to supply them with winter clothes, etc.
3) The increasing insubordination of Horry and Maham came to a head at this time as well as Marion took the time to dialog in letters with these officers as well as Rutledge and Greene in the murky chain of command that had yet to be settled. In the end, Horry and Marion patched things up and even met in person while the relationship with Maham deteriorated even more. By early November with all these distractions it was learned that on October 19th Cornwallis surrendered ALL his troops at Yorktown. Marion actually arranged for a celebration at a local plantation, a ball for his officers and area ladies yet Marion remained subdued during the festivities. He still had on his mind two patriots that were still in prison, one would die there and the other would remain there until the official end of the war. [unlike what history books claim today, Yorktown was NOT the end of the Revolutionary War]
4) Greene had hoped with Cornwallis gone and the British evacuation of Wilmington, NC on November 14th that the French navy might be asked to come to Charleston and/or Continentals would be deployed to SC to push the Brits out to sea. But the French navy in alliance with Spain went to Jamaica and lost to the British in the attempt to capture that island. Greene did receive about 300 mountain men from TN but they stayed only for for one engagement but left after they experienced the boredom and heat of the lowcountry. The final liberation of SC were in the hands of Greene and Marion as Pickens was deployed to the western regions to deal with indians and loyalists in that area and Sumter was directed to lead a post on Orangeburg. Sumter came up with a secret plan to expedite the liberation of SC but was ignored by Marion. Marion was then given total autonomy by Greene in future operations so on November 15th two forces were dispatched to the area below Eutaw Springs to stop British plundering. The circumstances of a November 17th raid on the Fairlawn Plantation where the Brits has munitions and provisions that doubled as a hospital. By the end of the month the Brits retreated even closer to Charleston.
5) Greene saw this opportunity to capitalize on this momentum and on December 1st arrived in Dorchester and with only Greene's advance units observed the Brits panicked, burned supplies and dumped cannons in the river. The Brit force retreated to Quarter House only six miles above Charleston. At this same time, only Savannah remained in Brit control in GA. Adding to the Brit's frustrations was the influx of refugees that they absorbed as loyalists who could not consider living in the SC colony in a post British era. The patriots were not exempt from suffering as malaria and lack of clothes plagued many as not one shilling had been paid to any patriot Continental soldier who had come south. The Brits had thousands of troops in Charleston and several naval ships in the harbor with cannon and therefore was a force that could routinely exit the city to forage for food without being bothered much. Marion at this point was used by a paranoid Greene to go here, there and everywhere when even a rumor of British movements were communicated. They both admitted that it could take a year to finally be able to capture and liberate Charleston itself. Rumors of a peace process rising in Parliament had yet to change the mind of King George or Lord Germain. The hope for a better future was still something that seemed just out of reach.
Snippet 23 is next .. it is neither the last chapter NOR the next to last chapter. This war is NOT over
No comments:
Post a Comment