"Well," continued he, laughing heartily, "that was MY lucky day.
I had a command there that morning of about thirty men, as an advance.
We had not left the guard more than five minutes before the Americans charged and swept all. The moment we heard the firing and the cries of our people, we squatted in the high grass like so many rabbits, then running on the stoop, till we gained the woods, we cleared ourselves." I laughed, and asked how many men he supposed Marion had that morning."He replied, he really did not know, but supposed he must have had three or four hundred.
"Well, sir," said I, "he had exactly thirty."The reader may perhaps conceive Ferguson's astonishment:
I cannot describe it.
Soon as the dishes were removed, we were presented with a spectacle to which our eyes had long been strangers, a brave parade of excellent wine: several hampers of which had been received at the fort the very day before we commenced the attack. To poor soldiers like us, who, for years, had hardly quenched our thirst on any thing better than water or apple brandy grog, this was a sight immensely refreshing.
Whether it was owing to the virtues of this noble cordial, with the recollection of our late glorious victories;or whether it was the happy result of our generosity to the enemy, and of their correspondent politeness to us, I do not know;but certain it is, we were all very gay. But in the midst of our enjoyments, which none seemed to relish with a higher glee than general Marion, a British soldier came up and whispered to one of their officers, who instantly coming round to the general, told him in a low voice, that the Americans were hanging the tories who had been taken in the fort!
In a moment he sprang up, in a violent passion, and snatching his sword, ran down towards our encampment. We all followed him, though without knowing the cause. On turning the corner of the garden which had concealed their cruel deeds, we discovered a sight most shocking to humanity, a poor man hanging in the air to the beam of a gate, and struggling hard in the agonies of death. "Cut him down! cut him down!" cried the general, as soon as he had got near enough to be heard, which was instantly done.
Then running up, with cheeks as red as fire coals, and half choked with rage, he bawled out, "In the name of God! what are you about, what are you about here!""Only hanging a few tories, sir," replied captain Harrison of Lee's legion.
"Who gave you a right, sir, to touch the tories?"To this, young M'Corde, of the same corps, replied, that it was only three or four rascals of them that they meant to hang;and that they had not supposed the general would mind that.
"What! not mind murdering the prisoners. Why, my God! what do you take me to be? do you take me for a devil?"Then, after placing a guard over the tories, and vowing to make an example of the first man who should dare to offer them violence, he returned with the company to Mrs. Motte's table.
Of the three unfortunate tories that were hung dead, one was named Hugh Mizcally. The name of the person so timely cut down was Levi Smith, a most furious tory. This title produced him such respect among those degenerate Britons, that they appointed him gatekeeper of Charleston, a circumstance that operated much against the poor whigs in the country. For Smith soon broke up a pious kind of fraud, which the wives and daughters of the tories had for some time carried on at a bold rate.
