George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 10

[485]

In his march from Wilmington, Cornwallis met

Chap. XXIV.} 1781. April.

little resistance. At Halifax, his troops were let loose to commit enormities that were a disgrace to the name of man.¹ For the place of junction with the British army in Virginia, he fixed upon Petersburg on the Appomatox.

So soon as Cornwallis had escaped beyond pursuit,

March 29.

Greene ‘determined to carry the war immediately into South Carolina.’ Dismissing those of the militia whose time was about to expire, he retained nearly eighteen hundred men, with small chances of re-enforcements or of sufficient subsistence. He knew the hazards which he was incurring; but, in case of untoward accidents, he believed that Washington and his other friends would do justice to his name.

The possession of the interior of South Carolina depended on the posts at Camden and Ninety-Six in that state, and at Augusta in Georgia. On the sixth

April 6.

of April, Greene detached a force under Lee, which joined Marion, and threatened the connections between Camden and Charleston; Sumpter, with three small regiments of regular troops of the state, had in charge to hold the country between Camden and Ninety-Six, and Pickens with the western militia to intercept supplies on their way to Ninety-Six and Augusta.²

After these preparations, Greene on the seventh

7.

began his march from Deep river, and on the twen-

20.

tieth encamped, his army a half mile from the strong and well-garrisoned works of Camden. In the hope