Marion renews his Pursuit of Doyle -- Confronts Watson --Is joined by Col. Lee -- Invests and takes Fort Watson --Fort Motte taken -- Anecdote of Horry and Marion.
Marion instantly put his men in motion in pursuit of Doyle.
In crossing the swamp of Lynch's Creek, during the night, several of the soldiers lost their arms, in consequence of the freshet.
The swamp was inundated, and it required all their dexterity and promptitude to save themselves. Snatching a hasty breakfast, the pursuit was continued all day, and resumed the next morning until ten o'clock, when they found such signs of the superior speed and haste of the enemy, as to preclude all possibility of overtaking him. They had been necessarily delayed by the passage of the swamp, and had not made sufficient allowance for the speed with which an enemy might run when there was occasion for it.
Here they found that Doyle had destroyed all his heavy baggage, and had sped in such confusion towards Camden, that his encampment, and the road which he traversed, were strewn with canteens and knapsacks, and everything, not necessary to defence, which might retard his progress.
Marion, somewhat surprised at a flight for which he could not then account, for his own force was far inferior to that of Doyle, yet saw that the fugitive was beyond present pursuit. He wheeled about, accordingly, and set his men in motion for another meeting with Watson. That commander, now strengthened, and just doubling the numbers of our partisan, with fresh supplies of provisions and military stores, had once more pushed for the Pedee. He took the nearest route across Black river, at Wragg's Ferry, and, crossing the Pedee at Euhaney, and the Little Pedee at Potato Ferry, he halted at Catfish Creek, one mile from the present site of Marion Courthouse.
Marion crossed the Pedee, and encamped at the Warhees, within five miles of the enemy. Here he planted himself, in vigilant watch of the force which he could not openly encounter.
In addition to the want of men, he labored under a still greater want of ammunition. When asked by Capt. Gavin Witherspoon, whether he meant to fight Watson -- a measure which Witherspoon thought particularly advisable -- before he was joined by any more bodies of Tories, he answered, "That would be best, but we have not ammunition.""Why, general," said Witherspoon, "my powder-horn is full.""Ah, my friend!" was the reply of Marion, "YOU are an extraordinary soldier;but for the others, there are not two rounds to a man."Thus stood the two parties; and thus it but too frequently stood with our partisan -- wanting the most simple resources by which to make his own genius and the valor of his men apparent. That the former was alive and equal to emergencies, even in such a condition of necessity, may be inferred from the fact, that he should dare take such a position, so immediately contiguous to an enemy double his own force, and abounding in all the requisite materials of war. The inactivity of Watson is only to be accounted for by his total ignorance of the resourceless state of Marion's rifles.
While Marion and Watson were thus relatively placed, the former was apprised of the return of Greene to South Carolina.
This intelligence accounted for the hasty retreat of Doyle.
He was summoned by Lord Rawdon to Camden, to strengthen that position against the American force, which was advancing in that direction.
The reappearance of Greene was a source of heartfelt joy to those who, but a little while before, had anticipated the necessity of flying before the foe, and taking shelter in the mountains.
It was because of the absence of the American army that Rawdon was enabled, as we have seen, to concentrate his chief force upon Marion.
The presence of Greene, which had caused the recall of Doyle, must, as Marion well knew, effect that of Watson also.
He was preparing himself accordingly, when further advices brought him news of the approach of Colonel Lee, with the Continental Legion, to his own assistance. He dispatched a guide to Lee, and by means of boats, which he always kept secreted, the Legion was transported over the Pedee, and a junction with Marion's force was effected on the fourteenth of April.
The tidings which had brought such gratification to the camp of Marion, had as inspiring, though not as grateful an effect in that of Watson.
He lost no time in breaking up his encampment. The safety of Rawdon and Camden was paramount, and, wheeling his two field-pieces into Catfish Creek, and burning his baggage, as Doyle had done, he sped, with similar precipitation, in the same direction.
The route taken in his flight declared his apprehensions of Marion.
He trembled at the recollection of the recent race between them --the harassings and skirmishings night and day -- the sleepless struggles, and unintermitting alarms. Recrossing the Little Pedee, and avoiding Euhaney, he passed the Waccamaw at Greene's Ferry, and, retreating through the Neck, between that river and the sea, crossed Winyaw Bay, three miles in width, and, in this manner, arrived in Georgetown. A slight glance at any map of the country, keeping in mind that Watson's object was really Camden, will show the reader the extent of his fears of that wily and indefatigable enemy from whom he had previously escaped with so much difficulty.
Marion was exceedingly anxious to pursue Watson, but Lee, though subordinate, succeeded in preventing this desire.
Instructions which he brought from Greene, and which he earnestly dwelt upon, required their cooperation against the British posts below Camden.
Lee urged, also, that such a pursuit would take them too far from Greene, with the movements of whose army it was important that Marion's force should act as intimately as possible. Marion yielded the point with great reluctance, and was heard repeatedly after to regret that his orders did not permit him to follow the dictates of his own judgment.
