Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 99/397

CORNWALLIS ’ S INVASION OF NORTH CAROLINA , 1780

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gunpowder from the enemy. 98 The effect of the American Militia tactics was well documented by British participants throughout the ranks. Sergeant Roger Lamb, of the 23rd Regiment, recalled a straggler from his party being killed by American Militiamen. 99 Tarleton noted that the foraging parties were attacked every day, being fired on from the woods. 100 Stedman wrote that half the army was needed to cover the foraging parties given the ‘inveterate’ and ‘hostile’ disposition of the inhabitants. 101 The result left Cornwallis remarking that ‘this County of Mecklenburg is the most rebellious and inveterate that I have met with in this country’. 102 In a few days, his communications would be mostly severed, Lieutenant-Colonel Nisbet Balfour of the 23rd Foot, Commandant of Charles Town, penned sardonically that if one wanted to send a letter safely, one would need at least 500 men. 103 Tarleton noted that ‘individuals with expresses were frequently murdered’ and that communication with Loyalists in other provinces was ‘totally destroyed’. 104 On 10 October, Tarleton was dispatched west towards the Catawba River to reinforce Major Ferguson. Instead of coming to his aid, he was the first to receive news of Ferguson’s defeat and death three days earlier. 105 Ferguson had been moving his detachment eastwards since 30 September, having received reports of a sizable force advancing against him. 106 When Cornwallis received Ferguson’s letter of 5 October, he directed him to move to the Catawba River, but it was already too late for his force to reach the river or for any assistance to get to him in time. Ferguson, one day later, wrote ‘I arrived today at Kings Mountain [64 kilometres from Charlotte] and have taken post where I do not think I can be forced by a stronger enemy than that against us’ . 107 With confirmation of Ferguson’s defeat, the British decamped from Charlotte on 12 October, moving southwest towards a ford on the Catawba River. The 16- day retreat would be long remembered amongst British participants as an extremely arduous and harrowing experience. Within hours of leaving Charlotte, they were led astray and then abandoned in the middle of the night by their guide. Then came the torrential rain. Many men described it as the most severe storm they had ever experienced. One American Militia officer commented that not one of his men had dry gunpowder due to the continued deluge . 108 Stedman still felt 100 Tarleton, A History of the Campaigns, p. 160. 101 Stedman, American War, II, pp. 216-217. 102 Cornwallis to Balfour, 3 Oct. 1780, Cornwallis Papers, II, p. 106. 103 Urban, Fusiliers, p. 220. 104 Tarleton, A History of the Campaigns, p. 160. 105 Ibid., 165. 106 Ferguson was under orders to retreat in the face of a superior force. See The Campaign in Virginia, I, p. 185. 107 Ferguson to Cornwallis, 6 Oct. 1780, Cornwallis Papers, II, p. 165. 108 Davie to Sumner, 16 Oct. 1780, and Philip Taylor to Sumner, October (no date), CSRNC , XIV, p. 790. 199 D.N. Hagist, ‘Unpublished Writings of Roger Lamb, Soldier in the American War of Independence (Part 1)’ JSAHR, vol. 89, no. 360, (Winter 2011), p. 285.