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Courage and Arrest of Emily Geiger.

Rawdon foiled.

Camp at Orangeburg.

Greene on the Santee Hills.

his corps, under Captain Eggleston, a foraging party of fifty or sixty dragoons, with some wagons, were captured and sent to Greene's camp, then on the banks of the Saluda, near its

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junction with the Broad River at Columbia. Rawdon, not meeting with Stuart, and ignorant of the cause of his delay, was baffled, and turning southward, pushed on toward Orangeburg, unwilling now to encounter the Americans, for he had only a thousand men with him. In the mean while, Stuart had again marched from Charleston; and Marion and Lieutenant-colonel Washington being engaged in retarding his progress, did not join Lee until the morning of the tenth of July, when that officer and his corps were upon Beaver Creek, in the present Lexington District.

Rawdon halted at Orangeburg, with the intention of establishing a post there, and awaiting the arrival of Cruger and his Loyalists. Greene, advancing rapidly, approached that place with a force now augmented to almost two thousand men, before the British general had time properly to arrange his camp and cast up defenses. Rawdon's force, though inferior to Greene's, was so strongly posted and furnished with artillery, that the latter was unwilling to hazard an assault, particularly as Cruger was hourly expected at Orangeburg. As the heat of the season was oppressive, provisions scarce, and sickness increasing among his troops, he crossed the Congaree, and encamped upon the high hills of Santee, where salubrious air and excellent water soon restored the vigor of his army. Sumter, Marion, and Lee were ordered to make rapid marches toward Charleston, beat up the British quarters at Dorchester and Monk's Corner, cut off convoys between Rawdon and the capital, and then join the main army upon the Santee Hills. Here we will leave the belligerents for the present. I left Columbia at seven o'clock on Monday morning,a and was at Orangeburg, fifty-one miles distant, at half past nine. The weather was delightful. A dreamy 1849. haziness was in the atmosphere, and the air was as mild as early June. Leaving my baggage at the rail-way station, I strolled over that village and vicinity, for an hour, with a gentleman from Columbia, who was familiar with its historical localities. The village (which

a Jan. 23,

was flying before the Americans toward Orangeburg. Emily Geiger afterward married Mr. Thurwits, a rich planter on the Congaree. The picture of her capture, here given, I copied from the original painting by Flagg, in possession of Stacy G. Potts, Esq., of Trenton, New Jersey.

Orangeburg.

Old Court-house.

Orangeburg taken by Sumter.

Sumter and Lee.

Rawdon's Departure

was settled as early as 1735) is beautifully situated upon a gently-rolling plain, near the banks of the Edisto (which is here skirted with swamps), and contains about four hundred inhabitants. There are several elegant dwellings standing upon each side of the broad street extending from the rail-way to the heart of the village, all shaded by lofty trees. It is about eighty miles west of Charleston, and being the seat of justice, is the largest town in Orange District. It has a handsome court-house and jail, and is regularly laid out. The old jail, which the British fortified while they occupied the place, was built of brick, in 1770, and stood upon the crown of the gentle hill, a few yards northwest of the old court-house (represented in the picture), which is yet standing. The court-house is a frame building, and was used for a blacksmith's shop when I was there. The two trees seen on the left are venerable Pride-of-Indias, choice shade-trees of the South. This edifice exhibited several bullet-marks, the effect of Sumter's assault in 1781. After sketching this-the only remaining relic of the Revolution at Orangeburg, except some vestiges of the works cast up by Rawdon, half a mile westward, near the Edisto I hired a horse and gig to visit Eutaw Springs, about forty miles distant, near the south bank of the Santee. It was with great difficulty that I could ascertain their probable distance from Orangeburg; and the person from whom I procured a conveyance supposed it to be twenty-five or thirty miles. His price was determined by the distance, and he was agreeably surprised, on my return, to learn that I had traveled eighty miles. Before departing on this journey, let us consider for a moment the Revolutionary events which distinguish Orangeburg.

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a May, 1780.

b 1780.

THE OLD COURT-HOUSE.

Orangeburg was one of the chain of military posts established by the British after the fall of Charleston. a The jail was fortified and garrisoned by about seventy militia and a dozen regulars. Sumter, when marching to join Greene at Camden, according to orders, conceived a plan for capturing Fort Granby, and therefore did not re-enforce his general. He began the siege successfully, when, learning the fact that Rawdon had ordered the evacuation of Orangeburg, he left Colonel Taylor, with a strong party, to maintain the siege of Fort Granby, while he should strike the garrison at the former place, before it should retire. By a rapid march he reached Orangeburg on the morning of the eleventh of May,b and, after one or two volleys, the garrison surrendered themselves unconditional prisoners of war. Paroling his prisoners, Sumter hastened toward Fort Granby; but before his arrival, Lee had invested and reduced it, allowing, as we have seen (page 689), the most favorable terms. Sumter was incensed at the conduct of Lee, for he felt that he had not only snatched from him the laurels he had almost won, but that he had hastened the capitulation, and allowed favorable terms, in order to accomplish the surrender before Sumter could arrive. No doubt the garrison would have surrendered unconditionally, if besieged a day or two longer. Sumter sent an indignant letter of complaint to Greene, inclosing his commission. Greene, knowing his worth, returned it to him with many expressions of regard, and Sumter, sacrificing private resentment for the good of the cause, remained in the army.

On the day after Rawdon's arrival at Orangeburg, he was joined by Lieutenant-colonel Stewart, with the third regiment from Ireland, called the Buffs, whom Rawdon had ordered from Charleston. The retirement of Greene to the high hills of Santee, and the rendezvous there of the several corps of Marion, Sumter, and Lee, indicating a present cessation of hostilities, Lord Rawdon proceeded to Charleston, and embarked for Europe, for the purpose of recruiting his health.' The command of all the troops in the field now devolved

While Rawdon was in Charleston preparing to sail for Europe, the execution of Colonel Hayne occurred. This foul stain upon the character of Rawdon and Colonel Balfour, the commandant at Charleston, we shall consider hereafter.

Movements of the two Armies toward Eutaw.

Journey thither.

Four-hole Swamp.

General Sumner.

upon Colonel Stuart. That officer soon left Orangeburg, and, moving forward, encamped upon the Congaree, near its junction with the Wateree. The two armies were only sixteen miles apart by air line, but two rivers rolled between, and they could not meet without making a circuit of seventy miles. Stuart's foraging parties soon spread over the country. Marion was detached toward the Combahee Ferry, and Washington went across the Wateree to disperse them. Many brisk skirmishes ensued. In the mean time, Greene was re-enforced by a brigade of Continental troops from North Carolina, under General Sumner.' Intent upon the recovery of South Carolina, he determined, with his augmented strength, to attack the enemy. He left the Santee Hills on the twenty-second of August,a with about twenty-six hundred men (only sixteen hundred of whom were fit for active service), crossed the Wateree at the Camden Ferry, and made rapid marches to Friday's Ferry, on the Congaree. There he was joined by General Pickens, with the militia of Ninety-Six, and a body of South Carolina state troops recently organized, under Colonel Henderson. On hearing of Greene's approach, Stuart decamped from Orangeburg, and pitched his tents at Eutaw Springs, forty miles below, vigorously pursued by the Americans. Thither let us proceed, where we shall meet the two armies in terrible conflict.

a 1781.

1849.

I left Orangeburg for Eutaw Springs at eleven o'clock.b The day was so warm b Jan. 26, that the shade of the pine forests was very refreshing. My horse was fleet, the gig light, the road level and generally fine, and at sunset I arrived at the house of Mr. Avinger (Vances's Ferry post-office), thirty miles distant. About fourteen miles from Orangeburg I crossed the Four-hole Swamp,' upon a narrow causeway of logs and three bridges. The distance is about a mile, and a gloomier place can not well be imagined. On either side was a dense undergrowth of shrubs, closely interlaced with vines; and above, draped with moss, towered lofty cypresses and gums. At two o'clock I passed one of those primitive school-houses, built of logs (for portrait, see next page), which the traveler meets occasionally in the South. It stood in the edge of a wood, and in front was a fine Prideof-India- Tree, under which the teacher sat listening to the efforts of half a dozen children in the science of orthography. The country is very sparsely populated, and many of the children, living four or five miles away from the school-house, are conveyed on horseback by the negro servants. I stopped a moment in conversation with the pedagogue, who was a Vermonter, one of those New England people described by Halleck as

"Wandering through the Southern countries, teaching

The A B C from Webster's Spelling-book;
Gallant and godly, making love and preaching."

He appeared satisfied with his success in each vocation, and hinted that the daughter of a

Although the name of General Jethro Sumner does not appear very conspicuous in the general histories of the War for Independence, his services in the Southern campaigns were well appreciated by his peers and compatriots in the field. He was a native of Virginia, and as early as 1760 his merits caused him to be appointed a paymaster in the provincial army of that state, and commander of Fort Cumberland. In 1776, he lived in North Carolina, was appointed colonel of a regiment of Continental troops, and joined the army at the North, under Washington. He went South with General Gates, and was in the battle at Sander's

IMhro, Sumner

Creek (Camden) when the Americans were defeated. He was actively engaged when Greene took command of the army, and continued in North Carolina until he marched to re-enforce Greene upon the High Hills of Santee. When Greene heard of the abduction of Governor Burke, after the battle at Eutaw, in which Sumner was engaged, he sent that officer into North Carolina to awe the Tories and encourage the Whigs. After the war, General Sumner married a wealthy widow at Newbern. He died in Warren county, North Carolina, and was buried near old Shocco Chapel, and Bute old Court House. The following inscription is upon his tomb-stone: "To the memory of GENERAL JETHRO SUMNER, one of the heroes of '76."-See Wheeler's History of North Carolina, page 425.

This swamp derives its name from the fact that the deep and sluggish stream, a branch of the South Edisto, which it skirts, disappears from the surface four times within this morass. Plunging into one pit, the water boils up from the next; disappearing again in the third, it reappears in the fourth, and then courses its way to the Edisto. These pits are about half a mile apart, and are filled with remarkably fine fish which may be taken with a hook and line at the depth of thirty feet.

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neighboring planter had promised him her heart and hand.

A SOUTHERN SCHOOL HOUSE.

than upon ways less used.

Locality and Appearance of the Springs.

When obtained, he intended to cultivate cotton and maize, instead of the dull intellects of other people's children.

I passed the night at Mr. Avinger's, and very early in the morning departed for Eutaw, ten miles distant. I was now upon the Congaree road, and found the traveling somewhat heavier

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About three miles from Avinger's, I passed Burdell's plantation, where the American army encamped the night before the battle of Eutaw. It was another glorious morning, and at sunrise I was greeted with the whistle of the quail, the drum of the partridge, the sweet notes of the robin and blue-bird, and the querulous cadences of the cat-bird, all summer tenants of our Northern forests. They appeared each to carol a brief natin hymn at sunrise, and were silent the remainder of the day. I saw several mocking-birds, but they flitted about in silence, taking lessons, I suppose, from their Northern friends, to be sung during their absence.

"Winged mimic of the woods! thou motley fool!

Who shall thy gay buffoonery describe?

Thine ever ready notes of ridicule

Pursue thy fellows still with jest and gibe:
Wit, sophist, songster, YORICK of thy tribe,
Thou sportive satirist of Nature's school!"

RICHARD HENRY WILDE.

Occasionally a wild turkey would start from a branch, or a filthy buzzard alight by the wayside, until, as I came suddenly upon a water-course, a wild fawn that stood lapping from the clear stream wheeled and bounded away among the evergreens of the wood.

At about eight o'clock, I arrived at the elegant mansion of William Sinkler, Esq., upon whose plantation are the celebrated Eutaw Springs. It stands in the midst of noble shadetrees, half a mile from the high-way, and is approached by a lane fringed with every variety of evergreen tree and shrub which beautify Southern scenery in winter. I was courteously received by the proprietor; and when the object of my visit was made known, he ordered his horse and accompanied me to the springs and the field of battle, which are about half a mile eastward of his mansion. The springs present a curious spectacle, being really but the first and second apparition of the same subterranean stream. They are a few rods north of the forks of the Canal and the Monk's Corner roads, at the head of a shallow ravine. The first spring is at the foot of a hill, twenty or thirty feet in height. The water bubbles up, cold, limpid, and sparkling, in large volumes, from two or three orifices, into a basin of rock-marl, and, flowing fifty or sixty yards, descends, rushing and foaming, into a cavern beneath a high ridge of marl' covered with alluvium and forest-trees. After trav ersing its subterraneous way some thirty rods, it reappears upon the other side, where it is a broader stream, and flows gently over a smooth rocky bed toward the Santee, its course marked by tall cypresses, draped with moss. The whole length of the Eutaw Creek, in all its windings, is only about two miles. Where it first bubbles from the earth there is suffi

This marl appears to be a concretion of oyster-shells, and is said to be an excellent fertilizer when crushed to powder. In this vicinity, many bones of monsters, like the mastodon, have been found.

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Remains of the Citadel" at Eutaw.

Greene joined by Marion. American Encampment before the Battle.

Captain Coffin.

cient volume to turn a large mill-wheel, but the fountain is so near the level of the Santee at Nelson's Ferry, where the Eutaw enters, that no fall can be obtained; on the contrary, when the Santee is filled to the brim, the waters flow back to the springs.

Just at the forks of the road, on the side toward the springs, was a clump of trees and shrubbery, which marked the spot where stood a strong brick house, famous as the citadel of the British camp, and a retreat for some of the warriors in the conflict at Eutaw. Nothing of it now remains but the foundation, and a few broken bricks scattered among some plum-trees. Let us sit down here, in the shadow of a cypress, by the bubbling spring, and consider the event when human blood tinged the clear waters of the Eutaw, where patriots fought and died for a holy principle.

"They saw their injured country's woe,

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EUTAW SPRING.1

The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then marched to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, but left the shield!
Led by thy conquering standards, GREENE,
The Britons they compelled to fly:
None distant viewed the fatal plain,

None grieved in such a cause to die;

But, like the Parthians, famed of old,

Who, flying, still their arrows threw;

These routed Britons, full as bold,

Retreated, and retreating, slew.-PHILIP FRENEAU.

a Sept. 4. 1781.

At Orangeburg, General Greene was informed that Stuart had been re-enforced by a corps of cavalry, under Brevet-major John Coffin' (whose real rank was captain), which Rawdon had formed on his arrival at Charleston. He immediately issued an ordera for Marion (who was then, with his command, scouring the country toward the Edisto, in rescuing Colonel Harden from the toils of Major Fraser) to join him, and then pressed forward toward Eutaw. Marion, by a forced night march, reached Laurens's plantation,' a few miles from Eutaw, in advance of the American army, on the fifth. In the mean while, Greene's army slowly approached the British camp, preceded by Lee's legion and Henderson's South Carolina corps. The main army reached Burdell's plantation, on the Congaree road, within seven miles of Eutaw, on the afternoon of the seventh, and there it encamped for the night.

b Sept., 1781.

This is a view of the reappearance of the stream (or lower spring) from the marl ridge thirty feet in height. These springs are in Charleston District, near the Orangeburg line, about sixty miles northwest of Charleston. It is probable that a subterranean stream here first finds its way to the surface of the earth. John Coffin was a native of Boston, and brother of Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, of the Royal Navy. He accompanied the British army in the action on Breed's Hill. He soon obtained a commission, rose to the rank of captain in the Orange Rangers, and finally, effecting an exchange into the New York Volunteers. went with that corps to Georgia in 1778. In the campaigns of 1779 and 1780, his conduct won the admiration of his superiors. His behavior in the battle of Eutaw attracted the attention of Greene and his officers. He retired to New Brunswick at the close of the contest. In the war of 1812, he commanded a regiment. He filled several civil offices in the province until 1828, when he retired from public life. He had been a member of the Assembly, chief magistrate of King's county, and a member of the council. He died at his seat in King's county in 1838, at the age of eighty-seven years. He held the rank of lieutenant general at the time of his death.-Sabine's Lives of the Loyalists.

3 This plantation belonged to Henry Laurens, who was one of the presidents of the Continental Congress.

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