The Mi sr. ! v. hr.t.-' jr tlio Mue inspire S
My soul tJj-' tuneful strain :id:nirc -....( ott.
I'llOM THE NEW tONT.lLY M lf..l.li:.
77: Jl.lLVliO
The evening was glorious, and "liht t'urouh tkc
trees
Play'd the sunshine, the rain-drops, the birds ar,d
the breeze ;
The landscape, outstretching in loveliness, lay
On the lap of the year in the beauty of May.
For the queen of the spring- as she passed down
the Alc,
Left her robe on the trees and her breath on the
gale :
And the smile of her promise gave joy to the
hours,
And flush in her footsteps sprang herbage and
flowers.
The skies like a banner in sunset unroll'd,
O'er the west threw their splendor cf azure and
gold ;
Bat one cloud at a distance rose dense, and in
creased Till its margin of black touched the zenith and
east.
Vc gazed on the scenes, while around us they
glow'd,
When a vision of beauty appear J on the cloud;
'Twas not like the sun, as at mid-day we view,
Nor the moon, tliat rolls nightly thro' starlight
and blue.
Like a spirit it came in the van of a storm !
And the eye and the heart hail'd its beautiful
form ;
For it look'd not severe, like an angel of wrath,
But its garment of brightness illumM its dark
path.
In the hues of its grandeur, sublimely it stood,
O'er the river, the village, the field, and the wood ;
And river, field, village, and woodlands grew
bright,
As conscious they gave and afforded delight.
'Twas the Bow of Omnipotence, bent in 1 1 IS
hand,
"Whose grasp at creation the universe spann'd ;
'Twas the presence of God, in a symbol sublime ;
His vow from the flood to the exit of time !
Not dreadful as when in the whirlwind he pleads,
"When storms are his chariot and lightning his
steeds ;
The black cloud hisbanncr of vengeance unfurl' J,
And thunder his voice to a guilt stricken world !
In the breath of his presence, when thousands
expire,
And seas boil with fury and rocks burn with fire ;
Aud the sw ord and the plague-spot with deuth
strew the plain,
Arid vultures and wolves arc the graves of the
slain !
Not such was that Rainbow, that beautiful one i
Whose arch was refraction, its key-stone the
sun ;
A pavilion it seem'd with a Deity graced,
And Justice and Mercy met there and embraced.
Awhile, and it sweetly bent over the gloom,
Like Love o'er a death cough, or Hope o'er the
tomb ;
Then left the dark scene, whence it slowly retired,
As Love had just vanish 'd, or Hope had expired.
I gazed not alone on that source of my sor.g ;
To all v, ho beheld it these verses belong ;
Its presence to all was the path of the Lord !
l.ich full heart expanded, grew warm, and
adored.
Like a visit the converse of friends or a days
That bow, from my sight, pass'd forever away ;
Like that isit, that converse, that day to my
heart,
That bow from remembrance can never depart.
' Tis a picture in memory distinctly defined,
With the strong and unperishing co!ors of mind
A part cf my being beyond my control,
Behe ld on that cloud, and transcribed on my soul.
ton the wr.sTr.nx caiioliniax.
Events of the Revolutionary War and Rattle
of King's Mountain.
Messrs. F.niTORS : I have thought
that the following letters, and statement
of enterprizes and actions of considera
ble importance, which took place during
the revolutionary war, would be interest
ing to your readers ; and also might sup
ply sonic valuable information to an his
torian of North-Carolina. It has been
often said, by those who were engaged in
thoe events, that the opposition which
was made in South-Carolina to the nritith
forces and bands of Tories by whic h that
state was overrun, never could have been
made, at least to the same extent ai;d with
such efTecf, but for the aid which was af
forded by the enterprize and patriotism of
the people of North-Carolina. It will ap
vciv from the enclosed statement, that a
scries of cnlerpiizcs, Ll.irmishcs and ac
tions, terminating in the battle of King's
Mountain, were engaged in and fcught, in
South-Carolina, almost exclusively by in
habitants of North-Carolina ; or rather by
the men of our mountainous counties, and
of that part of North-Carolina which has
since been made the state of Tennessee.
This account was written by an officer
of distinction in the Revolutionary War,
who was a party in every enterprize and
action which he describes ; and I am sor
ry that 1 do not feel myself at liberty to
give his name in this public manner. The
account was written (as will appear from
the letters) for a brother cfTicer who had
thought of writing some memoirs of the
war a design which he was prevented
from executing by the hand of death.
The papers were procured by me with
a view of sending them to a gentleman
for a particular purpose ; but nearly four
months have elapsed since I wrote to him
on the subject, and I have not yet receiv
ed an answer. The copy which I send
you is a faithful one, in every particular,
except in the omission and alteration of
such passages as might lead to a discove
ry of the writer.
There is one deficiency in the account
of the Buttle of King's Mountain, that is,
the positions of the contending troops
and the kind of ground on which they
fought are not represented. This I will
endeavor to have supplied at some future
day by some person who resides in the
neighborhood, and is well acquainted with
the place where the battle was fought.
The whigs of Lincoln county suffered
considerably in thnt engagement, and Ma
jor Cronicle, whose name is not mention
ed in this account, was killed. Some few
years since the people cf the lower part
of this county assembled on the spot where
the action was fought, on the 4lh of July,
to do honor to the memory of their former
friends and relatives, and their companions
in arms. A monument, such as could be
procured for the occasion, was erected
over their ashes, and an appropriate ora
tion was pronounced by Dr. William
M'Lean.
Respectfully,
Gentlemen,
Yours, Sc.
Lincchi ccun'y, tacitus.
March 2Jfr, 1822.
March A th, 1814.
DEAR SIR :
I have to acknowledge the receipt of
your favor of the 7th of January last,
which came to hand only four days ago,
and now haste to answer it by the first
southern mail.
You inform me that you are about to
write the history of the Battle of King's
Mountain, and of several others that
were fought in South-Carolina ; and
you request such information as I can :
give, Zic. j
INIj' ancient private papers are all at!
my farm, fifty miles from this place,
and I may not have it in my
power to go thither under two or three j
months : But I can inform vou that I
have documents and data in my pos
session, which will afford a more de
tailed account of the action on King's
Mountain, and the causes which led to
that event, than can be given by any
other man alive.
I will communicate .them to j'ou, so
soon as I can spend a few days at home ;
and also of the action fought at Cedar
Spring?;, near Warford's Iron Works,
in July, 1 T80 ; of the taking of the
British Fort on Ilicketty, in the same
month; and of the action at Musgrove's
Mill, on the Enorce river, in August
of the same year ; and of the reduc
tion of a British post at Colleton-Hall,
near Monk's Corner, in Nov. 1821 :
at all of which I was an eye witness.
You are very correct when you say,
that "-historians and those who have
written cf the Revolution, either thro'
want of information, or design, have
given a very erroneous account of those
events, :c." Of the action on King's
Mountain, I have seen no history any
thing like the truth.
The case which you state, of " Col.
Williams having robbed Maj. M'Dow-
ell of the credit of reducing a post of
the enemy," must, I presume, allude
to the battle fought at Musgrove's Mill,
on the Enorce river, on the 19th of
Angus?, 1TS0 ; for I recollect of none
other from whence prisoners were ta
ken to Hillsborough. Col. Shelby
commanded the right w ing in that ac
tion, and Col. Elijah Clarke, of Geor
gia, the left : There were manv field
Joflictrs in the action, who had volun-
tccred their services from M'DowelFs
camp at Smith's Ford on Broad river,
of which Col. Williams was one, who
had a few men that always adhered to
him. His object was, if the entcrprhe
succeeded, to reach his ownhome some
where near Ninety Six ; but in which
he was disappointed by the rapid and
miraculous retreat we were forced to
make from the field of battle, on ac
count of an express from Col. M'Dow
ell, informing us of the defeat of the
main army, under Gen. Gates, near
Camden. Our retreat was up towards
thj mountains and along under them
into North-Carolina. We left the
prisoners we had taken in the action,
with Col. Clarke, who, I understood,
consigned them to the care of Col.
Williams, to take to Hillsborough, in
N. Carolina ; which, I afterwards learnt,
he did, and arrogated to himself the
sole honor of commanding the action
in which they had been captured.
Be so good as to acknowledge the
receipt of this letter, and let me know
what direction to tive a letter to reach
vou most certainly. One directed to
me at this place, will come safe to hand.
I shall expect a line from you before I
write again.
Very respectfully,
Yours, ckc.
August 2Gtk, 1814.
dear sir :
Your favor of the 22d of April has
been some time at hand ; but I have
been unable to attend earlier to its con
tents. I now inclose you such a sketch of
events of the Revolutionary War, to
the southward, as came within my own
observation, as well as my recollection
serves.
In the right and left wings of the ar
my which defeated Maj. Ferguson,
there were several other field officers of
distinction, whose names I do not re
collect, and cannot state their true po
sition in those lines you can remedy
any defect.
There will be no occasion in your
history of using my name as the au-
thor of any information of events. Be
so good as to acknowledge the receipt
of this letter, with its inclosures. A
line directed to me at this place, will
come safe to hand, by mail ; and when
your history is printed, I shall be glad
to get a copy.
I have the honor to be,
Your Friend,
Collection of American Troops to oppose Major
Ferguson Capture of the British Post at
Iiickctty and action at the Cedar Springs.
Shortly after the fall of Charleston
in May, 1 780, the enemy had well over
run the states of Georgia and South
Carolina, and advanced to the borders
of North-Carolina. Gen. Charles ?!'-
Dowell, of the latter state, made a re-
quisition of Col. Isaac Shelby and Col.
John Sevier, to march a body of militia
from the Western Waters, to aid in
repelling the enemy, who were in con
siderable force under Major Ferguson.
It was in the month of July, of the
same year, Col. Shelby and Col. Sevier
marched with the regiments of Sullivan
and Washington counties, and formed
a junction with Gen. INI'Dowell on
Broad river, with which force he was
able to check the advance of the enemy
commanded by Ferguson, an officer of
great experience and enterprize as a
partisan, who headed a force of British
and tories, amounting to upwards of
three thousand men.
Very shortly after this acquisition of
force, Gen. M'Dowell detached Col.
Shelby and Lieut. Col. Elijah Clarke,
with six hundred men, to attack and
carry a British post on Ilicketty, gar
risoned principally by tories, and com
manded by Capt. Patrick Moore. The
American detachment appeared before
the British garrison, and instantly sur
rounded it, on the morning of the 22d
July, 1780, just at day-light. Capt.
Wm. Cocke was sent in with a flag,
by Col. Shelby, to demand a surrender
of the garrison. Capt. Moore at first
refused to surrender ; but on being
warned bv Capt. Cocke of the conse
quences of the garrison being stormed
by the Americans, he surrendered, al
though his post was made doubly strong
bv abattis well constructed around it.
Our men took one hundred prisoners
of the enemy, and two hundred stand
of arms, which were all charged with
bullets and buck-shot. This surren
der was a fortunate event, as the place
was capable of sustaining an attack from
double our force of small arms.
At this time Maj. Ferguson, with
an armv of three thousand tories and
British. with a small squadron of horse,
commanded by Major Dunlap, lay en
r.nmnerl some miles south of Warlord's
Iron Works, in the eugeot otitn-ar-olina.
Gen. M'Dowell detached Col.
Shelby, with Lieut. Col. Clarke and
Col. Joseph M'Dowell, witn seven or
eight hundred horsemen, to reconnoi
tre the enemy's camp, and cut off any
oi nis ioragmg parties which nuu iau
in their way. Col. Shelby with his
light party, hung upon the enemy's
lines for several days, until the morn
ing of the 22d of July, just at day
light, at the Cedar Springs, he fell in
with a reconnoiterinp- party of the en
emy's camp, of about the strength of
his own party, and near Warlord s Iron
Works, commanded by Maj. Dunlap.
An action, severe and bloody, ensued
for near an hour, when the enemy's
main body came up, and the Ameri
cans were obliged to give way, with the
loss of near twenty men, and some
valuable officers. Col. Clarke was ta
ken prisoner.
It was believed that our men killed
more than double that number of the
enemy, as they brought off upwards of
fifty prisoners, mostly British regulars,
with an Ensign and one Lieutenant.
Gen. INI'Dowell lay at that time 25
miles or upwards distant, on the north
sidt of Broad river, at the Cherokee
Ford, with the main army. The ene
my made great efforts to regain the
prisoners, and continued the pursuit
for several miles, often occasioning our
party to form and give battle while the
prisoners were hurried on anenu ; by
which means the Americans made good
their retreat to Gen. M'DoweH's head
quarters, with all the prisoners, on one
of the warmest davs ever felt.
Defeat of the Enemy at Musgrove's Mill Re
treat and Dispersion of the American forces.
Gen. INI'Dowell continued to ma
noeuvre on the north side of Broad
river, not being in force to attempt an
attack on Ferguson's camp, until the
18th of August, at which time he re
ceived information that 500 tories were
encamped at Musgrove's Mill, on the
bank of the Enoree river. Col. Shelby
ant Lieut. Col. Clarke were again se-
lected by Gen. M'Dowell, to head the
detachment destined to cut up that par
ty of tones. McDowell's camp was
then at Smith's ford of Broad river,
forty miles or upwards from the tories
encamped at Musgrove's. Maj. Fer
guson lay about half way with all his
force, and onlv two or three miles from
the route our party had to travel. They
commenced their march from Smith's
ford at sun about one hour high, in the
evening of the 18th of August, 17S0,
with seven hundred picked men, well
mounted, among whom were several of
the field officers of M'Dowell's armv,
who volunteered their services, and
they were joined by Col. John Will
iams and bis followers, making alto
gether a force of between seven and
eight hundred picked men. They
travelled through the woods till dark,
then took the road and travelled fast
all night, great part of the way in a
canter, never stopped even to let their
horses drink, and arrived within half
a mile of the enemy's camp just at
break of day, where they were met
by a strong patrol party oi the enemy
coming out to reconnoitre. A. sharp
fire commenced, in which several cf the
enemy fell, and they gave back to their
camp. At this juncture a countryman,
who lived in sight, came up, and in
formed Col. Shelby, that the enemy
had been strongly reinforced the eve
ning before with six hundred regular
troops from Ninety Six, the Queen's
American Regiment from New-York,
commanded by Col. Innes. The Amer
icans, after a hard travel all night of
forty miles or upwards, were too much
broke down to retreat : they prepared
for battle as fast as possible, by making
a breast-work of logs and brush, which
they completed in half an hour ; when
the enemy's whole force appeared in
full view. Their lines lay across the
road upwards of half a mile in length.
A small party, under Capt. Shadrach
Inman, had been sent on to skirmish
with the enemy as soon as they crossed
the river (for their camp was on the
south side of Musgrove's plantation.)
Capt. Inman had orders to give way as
the enemy advanced. -When they
came within seventy yards cf our breast
works, a heavy and destructive fire
commenced upon them. The action
was bloody and obstinate for upwards
of an hour and a half. The enemy had
got within a few yards of our works
at that juncture Col. Innes, who com
manded the enemy, was badly wound
ed and carried back, and every other
regular officer, except one Lieutenant,
of the British, was cither killed oi
wounded, when the enemy began to
give way ; just at that moment, also,
Capt. Hawsey, an officer of considera
ble distinction among the tories, wl:s
shot down near our lines, while making
the greatest efforts to animate his men.
The tories, upon the fall of Capt. Haw
ser, broke in great confusion. The
slaughter from thence to Euoree river,
about half a mil-, was very great
Dead men lay thick on the ground o
ver which our men pursued the enemy
In this pursuit Capt. Inman was kill
ed, wiile pressing the enemy close in
his rear. Great praise was due tc
Capt. Inman for the manner in which
he brought on the action, and to which
the success of the day was greatly to
be attributed.
The action was one of the hardest
ever fought in the United States with
small arms. The smoke was so thick
as to hide a man at the distance- of
twenty yards. Our men took 200 pris
oners during the action, and would
have improved the victory to great ad
vantage. Their object was to be in
Ninety Six that night, distant 25 or SO
miles, and weak and defenceless. But
just after the close of the action, an
express arrived from Gen. INI'Dowell
with a letter to him from Gov. Cas
well, informing of the defeat on the
16th, of our Grand Army under Gen.
Gates, near Camden; In this situation,
to secure a safe retreat was a most dif
ficult task. Our small party, broke
down with fatigue, 200 British prison
ers in charge, upwards of 40 miles ad
vance of Gen. M Dowell, who re
treated immediately and dispersed up
on the receipt of the news of Gates
defeat ; Ferguson, with 3000 men, al
most directly in their rear, it requir
ed all the vigilance and exertion which
human nature was capable of, to avoid
being cut to pieces by Ferguson's light
parties: it was known to Col. Shelby
that he had a body of dragoons and
mounted men that would endeavor to
intercept him ; which caused him to
bear up towards the mountains. The
enemy pursued, as was expected, fifty
or sixty miles, until their horses broke
down and could follow no further. It
is to be remarked, that during the ad
vance of upwards of forty miles, and
the retreat of fifty or sixty, the Amer
icans never stopped to eat, but made
use of peaches and green corn for their
support. The excessive fatigue to
which they were subjected for two
nights and two days, effectually broke
down every officer, that their faces be
came bloated and swelled so as scarce
lv to be able to see.
This action happened at the most
gloomy period of the Revolution, just
after the defeat and dispersion of the
American army, and is not known in
the history of the Revolution. After
our party had retreated into North -Carolina,
clear of their pursuers, Col.
Shelby crossed the mountains to his
own country, and left the prisoners ta
ken in the action, in the possession of
Col. Clarke, to carrv them to the north
until they could be safely secured.
Col. Clarke gave them up shortly after
to Col. John Williams, to conduct them
to Hillsborough.
At this period there was not the ap
pearance of a corps of Americans em
bodied any where to the southward of
Virginia.
In this action the loss of the Amer
icans was small compared with that of
the enemy, who over-shot them as they
lay concealed behind their breast-wTorks.
The loss of Capt. Inman was much re
gretted. He fell gloriously fighting for
his country, with many other brave
spirits, who volunteered their services
on that occasion, and defeated an ene
my far superior in force to their own.
To be concluded in our ?iext.
Religion, how great is thy influence ovei
mankind ! For how many virtues ar?.
mortals indebted to thee ! How happy is
the man that penetrates thy sublime
truths ! he continually finds in thy bosom
an asylum against vice, and a refuge from
adversity. Should inconstant fortune smile
on his innocent wishes, should his day
glide cn without a cloud, thou canst add
to them new charms, and give additional
pleasure to that which arises from the
good he does to his fellow creatures. Thy
very severity is a benefit ; thou takest from
happiness only that which must corrupt it :
thou foibiddest us to cherish only what we
must blush to love. Should fate, on the
other hand, overwhelm a soul which
obeys thy laws, it is then we find in thee
the surest support. Without enjoying
insensibility, which nature happily ren
ders impossible, thou teachest us to en
dure the evils thou permittest to afflict
us ; thou descendest into the bleeding
heart to assuage its pains, and to instil a
reviving hope.