Chap. XXIV.} 1781. April 24. |
28. |
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of intercepting a party whom Rawdon had sent out,
Greene moved to the south of the town; but, finding that he had been misled, his army, on the twentyfourth, took a well-chosen position on Hobkirk's hill.
The eminence was covered with wood, and flanked on the left by an impassable swamp.
The ground towards Camden, which was a mile and a half distant, was protected by a forest and thick shrubbery.
On the twenty-eighth, the men, having been under
arms from daylight, were dismissed to receive provisions and prepare their morning repast.
The horses were unsaddled and feeding; Greene was at breakfast.
By keeping close to the swamp, Rawdon, with about nine hundred men, gained the left of the Americans, ‘in some measure by surprise,’1 and opened a fire upon their pickets.
The good discipline which Greene had introduced now stood him in stead.
About two hundred and fifty North Carolina militia, who had arrived that morning, did nothing during the day; but his cavalry was soon mounted, and his regular troops, about nine hundred and thirty in number, were formed in order of battle in one line without reserves.
Of the two Virginia regiments, that under Hawes formed the extreme right, that of Campbell the right centre; of the two Maryland regiments, that of Ford occupied the extreme left, that of Gunby the left centre.
The artillery
1 ‘After viewing the British works about Camden, I set out for Charlotte. On my way, two miles from town, I examined the ground on which General Greene and Lord Rawdon had their action. The ground had but just been taken by the former, was well chosen, but he not well established in it before he was attacked, which, by capturing a vedette, was in some measure by surprise.’—Washington's Diary, Thursday, 26 May, 1790.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1874.
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