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made prisoners of forty-eight British dragoons within
Chap. XXIV.} 1781. June 18. |
one mile of their encampment.
Avoiding an encounter, Lord Rawdon retired to
Orangeburgh, where he was re-enforced.
On the other side,
Greene, after forming a junction with the men of
Sumpter and
Marion, pursued him, and on the twelfth of July offered him battle.
The offer
was refused.
On the thirteenth,
Greene detached the
cavalry of the legion, the state troops, and militia of
South Carolina to compel the evacuation of
Orangeburgh by striking at the posts around
Charleston; the rest of the army was ordered to the high hills of the
Santee, famed for pure air and pure water.
On the same day,
Cruger, who had evacuated Ninety-Six, joined
Rawdon with his troops.
He had called around him the royalists in the district of Ninety-Six, avowed to them that the post from its insulation could no longer be maintained, and set before them the option of making their peace with the
Americans or fleeing under his escort to
Charleston.
Those who had signalized themselves by devoted service to the king now learned from his officer that he could no longer protect them in their own homes; and, forced to elect the lot of refugees, they brought into the
camp of Cruger their wives, children, and slaves, wagons laden with the little of their property that they could carry away, sure to be thrust aside by the
English at
Charleston as troublesome guests, and left to wretchedness and despair.
The
British when united were superior in number; but their detachments were attacked with success.
They could not give the protection which they had promised, and the people saw no hope of peace
