登陆注册
5194800000052

第52章 THE WAR IN THE SOUTH(2)

At Charleston the American General Lincoln was in command with about six thousand men.The place, named after King Charles II, had been a center of British influence before the war.That critical traveler, Lord Adam Gordon, thought its people clever in business, courteous, and hospitable.Most of them, he says, made a visit to England at some time during life and it was the fashion to send there the children to be educated.Obviously Charleston was fitted to be a British rallying center in the South; yet it had remained in American hands since the opening of the war.In 1776 Sir Henry Clinton, the British Commander, had woefully failed in his assault on Charleston.Now in December, 1779, he sailed from New York to make a renewed effort.With him were three of his best officer--Cornwallis, Simcoe, and Tarleton, the last two skillful leaders of irregulars, recruited in America and used chiefly for raids.The wintry voyage was rough; one of the vessels laden with cannon foundered and sank, and all the horses died.But Clinton reached Charleston and was able to surround it on the landward side with an army at least ten thousand strong.Tarleton's irregulars rode through the country.

It is on record that he marched sixty-four miles in twenty-three hours and a hundred and five miles in fifty-four hours.Such mobility was irresistible.On the 12th of April, after a ride of thirty miles, Tarleton surprised, in the night, three regiments of American cavalry regulars at a place called Biggin's Bridge, routed them completely and, according to his own account, with the loss of three men wounded, carried off a hundred prisoners, four hundred horses, and also stores and ammunition.There is no doubt that Tarleton's dragoons behaved with great brutality and it would perhaps have taught a needed lesson if, as was indeed threatened by a British officer, Major Ferguson, a few of them had been shot on the spot for these outrages.Tarleton's dashing attacks isolated Charleston and there was nothing for Lincoln to do but to surrender.This he did on the 12th of May.Burgoyne seemed to have been avenged.The most important city in the South had fallen."We look on America as at our feet," wrote Horace Walpole.The British advanced boldly into the interior.On the 29th of May Tarleton attacked an American force under Colonel Buford, killed over a hundred men, carried off two hundred prisoners, and had only twenty-one casualties.It is such scenes that reveal the true character of the war in the South.Above all it was a war of hard riding, often in the night, of sudden attack, and terrible bloodshed.

After the fall of Charleston only a few American irregulars were to be found in South Carolina.It and Georgia seemed safe in British control.With British successes came the problem of governing the South.On the royalist theory, the recovered land had been in a state of rebellion and was now restored to its true allegiance.Every one who had taken up arms against the King was guilty of treason with death as the penalty.Clinton had no intention of applying this hard theory, but he was returning to New York and he had to establish a government on some legal basis.During the first years of the war, Loyalists who would not accept the new order had been punished with great severity.Their day had now come.Clinton said that "every good man" must be ready to join in arms the King's troops in order "to reestablish peace and good government." "Wicked and desperate men" who still opposed the King should be punished with rigor and have their property confiscated.He offered pardon for past offenses, except to those who had taken part in killing Loyalists "under the mock forms of justice." No one was henceforth to be exempted from the active duty of supporting the King's authority.

Clinton's proclamation was very disturbing to the large element in South Carolina which did not desire to fight on either side.

Every one must now be for or against the King, and many were in their secret hearts resolved to be against him.There followed an orgy of bloodshed which discredits human nature.The patriots fled to the mountains rather than yield and, in their turn, waylaid and murdered straggling Loyalists.Under pressure some republicans would give outward compliance to royal government, but they could not be coerced into a real loyalty.It required only a reverse to the King's forces to make them again actively hostile.To meet the difficult situation Congress now made a disastrous blunder.On June 13, 1780, General Gates, the belauded victor at Saratoga, was given the command in the South.

Camden, on the Wateree River, lies inland from Charleston about a hundred and twenty-five miles as the crow flies.The British had occupied it soon after the fall of Charleston, and it was now held by a small force under Lord Rawdon, one of the ablest of the British commanders.Gates had superior numbers and could probably have taken Camden by a rapid movement; but the man had no real stomach for fighting.He delayed until, on the 14th of August, Cornwallis arrived at Camden with reinforcements and with the fixed resolve to attack Gates before Gates attacked him.On the early morning of the 16th of August, Cornwallis with two thousand men marching northward between swamps on both flanks, met Gates with three thousand marching southward, each of them intending to surprise the other.A fierce struggle followed.Gates was completely routed with a thousand casualties, a thousand prisoners, and the loss of nearly the whole of his guns and transport.The fleeing army was pursued for twenty miles by the relentless Tarleton.General Kalb, who had done much to organize the American army, was killed.The enemies of Gates jeered at his riding away with the fugitives and hardly drawing rein until after four days he was at Hillsborough, two hundred miles away.

同类推荐
  • 杂阿毗昙心论

    杂阿毗昙心论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 元宫词百章笺注

    元宫词百章笺注

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 治意经

    治意经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说老母女六英经

    佛说老母女六英经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 洪武圣政记

    洪武圣政记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 易经大智慧

    易经大智慧

    国学经典,包罗万象,深奥难懂。如何参悟?如何为我所用?轻松阅读国学丛书结合当今读者的阅读习惯和思维习惯,利用古今中外的具体事例重新诠释经典的智慧;让您能够轻松领悟!本书为该系列丛书之一。它主要通过简单的故事,让厚重的《易经》变得生动,用最短的时间将《易经》知识了然于胸。
  • 威尼斯商人

    威尼斯商人

    《威尼斯商人》是莎士比亚四大喜剧之一。约写于1596年。剧中描写威尼斯一位身无分文的贵族青年巴萨尼奥,为向富家嗣女鲍西娅求婚,向好友安东尼奥借钱。安东尼因货船尚未到港,只好向犹太高利贷者夏洛克借债,并被迫立约:如不按期偿还,就让夏洛克从安东尼奥身上割一磅肉。巴萨尼奥与鲍西娅一见钟情,但安东尼奥的货船却遇险未归,债务到期他将被罚割下一磅肉。鲍西娅毅然扮作律师,去威尼斯营救安东尼奥。在法庭上,鲍西以惊人的才智,驳倒夏洛克,打赢了官司。
  • 太子弃妃:青楼季九儿

    太子弃妃:青楼季九儿

    原来他就是当朝一手遮天的太子殿下,毒母弑兄控制着皇帝,名不正言不顺登上太子之位,他的狠他的绝情震惊天下。他玩弄政治权谋、坐拥如花美眷时,她在民间苦苦找了他整整六年,找到最后只等到一封休书……难怪他能那么轻易抛下她,一个青楼出身的低贱娘子。
  • 婉儿的那些年

    婉儿的那些年

    职场初级人士,情感受挫,职场遇阻。反者道之动。看小主如何活出生命的意义。
  • 阿呆的方程式

    阿呆的方程式

    本书为中短篇小说选,收录作者12篇风格各异的作品。作品既包括恩爱冤家生死恋的“爱你才毒辣”,又有描写好为人师文化酒友的“阿呆的方程式”,还有短小精悍发人深省的短篇聋羊杨六等等。平实诙谐的语言,在幽默中悲情抒怀,伤感中深切反思。作者年志勇为吉林省作家协会会员,作品《天下》、《洗牌》、《命门》构建了中国通信业的激流三部曲,深受读者喜爱。
  • Father Sergius

    Father Sergius

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Uncle Vanya

    Uncle Vanya

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 网游之天堂地狱

    网游之天堂地狱

    亲密朋友的背叛?第一任女友的死亡?网游中还有真情可讲?比勇气?比智谋?算来算去,你还是算不过我!因为我是游戏中的王者!我是.易天!
  • 快穿之女配作妖记

    快穿之女配作妖记

    你听见过花开的声音吗?你看见过日落的山海吗?你见过你自己哭泣的样子吗?,我想要回去找到我一直认为的,做一个普普通通的梦想,001,你做好准备了没?去看看你梦里的样子,启程吧!
  • 我的剧本女友

    我的剧本女友

    古代琴圣魂穿都市,还绑定了剧本系统。系统会载入模版,比如还珠、流星花园等风格,并随机让一位女性成为主角的临时女友,按系统指令完成剧本。完成系统发布的任务,并获得奖励。以琴艺为起点,涉及娱乐圈,打造古风女团,复兴古风文化,引领潮流。————————读前提醒,本书有点小毒