第61章 Chapter (1)
Colonel Watson attempts to surprise Marion -- is out-generaled, and after much loss driven back to Georgetown.
In consequence of his incessant attacks on the British and tories, Marion was, I believe, heartily hated by them, as ever Samson was by the Philistines, or George Whitefield by the devil.
Numerous were the attempts made by their best officers to surprise him;but such was his own vigilance and the fidelity of his whig friends, that he seldom failed to get the first blow at them, and to take their unwary feet in the same evil net which they had spread for him.
His method to anticipate the meditated malice of his enemies, is well worthy of notice. He always had in his service a parcel of active young men, generally selected from the best whig families, and of tried courage and fidelity. These, mounted on the swiftest horses, he would station in the neighborhood of those places where the British and tories were embodied in force, as Camden, Georgetown, &c. with instructions to leave no stratagem untried to find out the intended movements of the enemy. Instantly as this information was obtained, (whether by climbing tall trees that overlooked the garrisons;or from friends acting as market people) they were to mount and push off at full speed to the nearest of a chain of posts established at short and convenient distances, with fleet horses ready saddled and bridled, to bear the intelligence with equal speed, the first to the second, the second to the third, and so on. In this expeditious method, as by a telegraph,* Marion was presently notified of the designs of the enemy.
Of the exceeding importance of such a plan, we had a very striking proof at this time. Exasperated against Marion, for the infinite harm he did the royal cause in Carolina, the British general, in Camden, determined to surprise him at his old place of retreat, SNOW'S ISLAND;and thus destroy or break him up completely. To this end he despatched a couple of favorite officers, colonels Watson and Doyle, with a heavy force, both cavalry and infantry, to seize the lower bridge on Black river and thereby effectually prevent our escape.
But the vigilance and activity of his scouts frustrated this well-concerted plan entirely. Getting early notice of this manoeuvre by captain, now general Canty, Marion instantly started his troops, composed chiefly of mounted riflemen and light dragoons and pushed hard for the same point. By taking a nearer cut, we had the good fortune to gain the bridge before the enemy, and having destroyed it as soon as we crossed, we concealed ourselves in the dark swamp, anxiously waiting their arrival. In a short time, they came in full view on the opposite hill, and there encamped. -- Presently, unapprehensive of danger, for they saw nothing of us, two of their men came down for water to the river. Unable to resist such a temptation, two of our noted marksmen instantly drew their sights and let fly.
The two Englishmen fell; one of them was killed dead; the other badly wounded, and so frightened, that he bellowed like a bull-calf for help.
Several of his gallant countrymen ran to his assistance, but they were shot down as fast as they got to him.
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* The old meaning of "telegraph" is used here, as any system of communication over distance, such as signal fires, semaphore, etc. -- A. L., 1997.
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The next morning colonel Watson sent a flag over to Marion, whom he charged with carrying on war in a manner entirely different from all civilized nations. "Why sir," said he to Marion, "you must certainly command a horde of savages, who delight in nothing but murder.
I can't cross a swamp or a bridge, but I am waylaid and shot at as if I were a mad dog. Even my sentries are fired at and killed on their posts. Why, my God, sir! this is not the way that Christians ought to fight!"To this Marion replied, that "he was sorry to be obliged to say, that from what he had known of them, the British officers were the last men on earth who had any right to preach about honor and humanity.
That for men to come three thousand miles to plunder and hang an innocent people, and then to tell that people how they ought to fight, betrayed an ignorance and impudence which he fain would hope had no parallel in the history of man. That for his part, he always believed, and still did believe that he should be doing God and his country good service to surprise and kill such men, while they continued this diabolical warfare, as he would the wolves and panthers of the forest."Thus ended the correspondence for that time.
While things remained in this state between the hostile parties, Macdonald, as usual, was employing himself in a close and bold reconnoitre of the enemy's camp. Having found out the situation of their sentries, and the times of relieving them, he climbed up into a bushy tree, and thence, with a musket loaded with pistol bullets, cracked away at their guard as they passed by; of whom he killed one man, and badly wounded the lieutenant, whose name was Torquano;then sliding down the tree, he mounted his swift-footed Selim, and made his escape.