The Life of George Washington, Vol. 4 | Page 2

thereon.... Bill for fixing the
permanent seat of government.... Adjournment of congress.... Treaty
with the Creek Indians.... Relations of the United States with Great
Britain and Spain.... The President visits Mount Vernon.... Session of
congress.... The President's speech.... Debates on the excise.... On a
national bank.... The opinions of the cabinet on the law.... Progress of
parties.... War with the Indians.... Defeat of Harmar.... Adjournment of
congress.
CHAPTER VII.
General St. Clair appointed Commander-in-chief.... The President
makes a tour through the southern states.... Meeting of congress....
President's speech.... Debate on the bill for apportioning
representatives.... Military law.... Defeat of St. Clair.... Opposition to
the increase of the army.... Report of the Secretary of the Treasury for
raising additional supplies.... Congress adjourns.... Strictures on the
conduct of administration, with a view of parties.... Disagreement
between the Secretaries of State and Treasury.... Letters from General
Washington.... Opposition to the excise law.... President's
proclamation.... Insurrection and massacre in the island of St.

Domingo.... General Wayne appointed to the command of the army....
Meeting of congress.... President's speech.... Resolutions implicating
the Secretary of the Treasury, rejected.... Congress adjourns.... Progress
of the French revolution, and its effects on parties in the United States.

THE LIFE
OF
GEORGE WASHINGTON
CHAPTER I.
Greene invests Camden.... Battle of Hobkirk's Hill.... Progress of
Marion and Lee.... Lord Rawdon retires into the lower country....
Greene invests Ninety Six.... Is repulsed.... Retires from that place....
Active movements of the two armies.... After a short repose they
resume active operations.... Battle of Eutaw.... The British army retires
towards Charleston.
{1781}
In South Carolina and Georgia, the campaign of 1781 was
uncommonly active. The importance of the object, the perseverance
with which it was pursued, the talents of the generals, the courage,
activity, and sufferings of the armies, and the accumulated miseries of
the inhabitants, gave to the contest for these states, a degree of interest
seldom bestowed on military transactions, in which greater numbers
have not been employed.
When Lord Cornwallis entered North Carolina, the military operations
in the more southern states were committed to Lord Rawdon. For the
preservation of his power, a line of posts slightly fortified had been
continued from Charleston, by the way of Camden and Ninety Six, to
Augusta, in Georgia. The spirit of resistance was still kept up in the
north-western and north-eastern parts of the state, by Generals Sumpter

and Marion, who respectively commanded a corps of militia. Their
exertions, though great, seem not to have been successful; and they
excited no alarm, because no addition to their strength was
apprehended.
Such was the situation of the country when General Greene formed the
bold resolution of endeavouring to reannex it to the American union.
His army consisted of about eighteen hundred men. The prospect of
procuring subsistence was unpromising, and the chance of
reinforcements precarious. He was apprized of the dangers to be
encountered, but believed it to be for the public interest to meet them.
"I shall take every measure," said this gallant officer, in a letter
communicating his plan of operations to General Washington, "to avoid
a misfortune. But necessity obliges me to commit myself to chance,
and if any accident should attend me, I trust my friends will do justice
to my reputation."
The extensive line of posts maintained by Lord Rawdon, presented to
Greene many objects, at which, it was probable he might strike with
advantage. The day preceding his march from the camp on Deep river,
he detached Lee to join General Marion, and communicated his
intention of entering South Carolina to General Pickens with a request
that he would assemble the western militia, and lay siege to Ninety Six,
and Augusta.
{April.}
[Sidenote: Green invests Camden.]
Having made these arrangements, he moved from Deep river on the
seventh of April, and encamped before Camden on the nineteenth of
the same month, within half a mile of the British works. Lord Rawdon
had received early notice of his approach, and was prepared for his
reception.
{April 24.}
Camden stands on a gentle elevation, and is covered on the south and

south-west by the Wateree,[1] and on the east by Pine-tree creek. A
strong chain of redoubts, extending from the river to the creek,
protected the north and west sides of the town. Being unable to storm
the works or to invest them on all sides, Greene contented himself with
lying before the place in the hope of being reinforced by militia, or of
some event which might bring on an action in the open field. With this
view he retired a small distance, and encamped on Hobkirk's hill, about
a mile and a half from the town. While in this situation, he received
information that Colonel Watson was marching up the Santee with
about four hundred men. A junction between these two