Chapter 7
Section 7 of History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution, Volume 3, by Mercy Otis Warren. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution, Volume 3, by Mercy Otis Warren. Chapter 22, Part 2 A few days after this, a very large body of the Creek Indians,
accompanied by their principal warriors and chieftains, headed by a British officer, attempted in the night to surprise General Wayne in his quarters. He, ever vigilant and defying all personal danger, was in greater rudderness for the reception that was expected.
The assailants gained little advantage by this sudden onset. The affray was fierce, but did not continue long before the Indians were willing to retreat, having lost a number of their principal associates. But the capture of Lord Cornwallis and his army, the low state of British affairs in the Carolinas, and the advance of a body of American troops were circumstances so discouraging
that the British did not think proper to make any vigorous resistance. A period was soon put to those hostilities that had for several years ravaged the state of Georgia and destroyed or driven away many of its former inhabitants. General Wayne was an officer of high military reputation His prudence and judgment had been conspicuous In the trying scene which called out his talents of 1780
On the mutiny and cessation of the Pennsylvania lot Which he commanded His valor had been signalized at Stony Point and in Virginia As well as in many other places where decided action was necessary He now had the honor of terminating the war in the state of Georgia.
On the expectation of the British leaving Savannah, some proposals were made to General Wayne by the merchants and others for the security of their property, and every reasonable indulgence was promised by him to those who chose to remain there.
He engaged that those merchants who did not owe allegiance to the United States should be permitted to remain there at reasonable time, to dispose of their property and settle their affairs, and that they should be protected by the military until delivered into the hands of the civil authority.
Thus, in a few months after the events above mentioned, the whole state of Georgia was evacuated by their formidable enemies. This was early in the year 1782. Not a single British soldier was left in the pay of the King of England, except such as were prisoners to the Americans. Much to the honor of General Clark, he quoted the post without any injury to the town of Savannah,
and left the work standing that had been erected by the industry of the loyal troops. This defeat at the efforts of the British government to hold the state of Georgia in subjection fully justified the observations of Lord Maitland, who had served his country with ability and applause in several parts of America. By his exertions, in conjunction with General Prevost,
the state of Georgia had been long retained against the combined force of an American army under General Lincoln and a French fleet commanded by the Count d'Estaing. The sum of Lord Maitland's speech in the British Parliament on his return to England afterwards, was that those men who had brought the nation into its
present state had come into life at a time when the arms of their country were carried to an unprecedented height of splendor and glory, when the empire was under the benefit of wise councils and of a vigorous system, great and respectable abroad, opulent and happy at home, when her trade covered every sea and filled every port in the world, and when her navy claimed and enjoyed the proud and enviable dominion of the seas. He observed that their predecessors had come into
life with gay prospects and with pleasing hopes, but how different was the fate of himself and those who entered into public life at the present moment, and came upon the stage of public action at a time when their country was perhaps upon the eve of dissolution, when it certainly was fallen from the high consideration of which it stood a few years before,
and when every prospect of grandeur was banished, when every incitement to great and laudable ambition was extinguished, and when they had not even the consolation to believe that the efforts of their youth could snatch their country from impending war. His Lordship added that the prosecution of the war against America was criminal and absurd beyond expression, and that nothing short of the immediate discontinuance of it could save the nation from irretrievable destruction.
It was, therefore, the duty of that house to raise their sinking country, which left prostrate at their feet, and sought, amidst the bitterest hours of calamity, their aid to snatch her from impending ruin. Though the state of Georgia was now happily relieved from the oppression of its foreign foes, South Carolina continued some time longer in a state of hostility. They remained several months exposed to the ravages of small parties of the British, sent out for various purposes, the most important of which was to collect provisions for their own immediate necessities.
Among the most painful events which took place on these occasions, and which justly regretted by all America, was the death of Colonel John Lawrence. No one acquainted with his merits can forbear to drop a tear over the memory of so worthy an officer.
His zeal for the interests of his country and the cause of freedom had often been exhibited by his exertions in the field, nor was he less distinguished as an able negotiator in France,
where he had repaid in some of the darkest days of America. There, he rendered his country the most essential service by procuring a loan of money and expediting by his address the troops in the Navy that came to its relief in the year 1780.
Colonel Lawrence was a gentleman, not only of great military talents and public virtues, but was endeared to everyone by his affability of manners, his polite accomplishments, refined understanding, and the most amiable private character. Immediately after the capture of Lord Cornwallis, Colonel Lawrence returned to the state of South Carolina to exert his talents in emancipating his native state from the power and oppression of its enemies.
His zeal and activity ever prompted him to go forward on smaller, as well as the greatest occasions that required his assistance. He met his premature fate in one of the many desultory skirmishes that took place not far from the environs of Charleston. General Leslie had sent out a party to march toward the Calbody River to secure rice and other provisions, which his army greatly wanted. They were followed by a detachment sent on by General Green.
In this party, Colonel Lawrence was a volunteer. He was mortally wounded in a severe encounter, almost at the moment when victory declared in favor of the party commanded by General Gist. His death was universally lamented. The tears of his country were but a just tribute, due to his own merits, while grief was heightened in every compassionate bosom, one reflecting on the sorrow this premature stroke must occasion to his respected father, just released from the calamities of a long imprisonment in England.
The work to be completed in the state of South Carolina was yet arduous. The sufferings of General Green and his little army have been already portrayed. A more ample detail of these may be seen in his own letters, if curiosity is not sufficiently gratified. The distressing accounts from his own hand, above referred to, were not ameliorated, O'Dell's military conflict cease until the final embarkation of the British troops from Charleston.
Such had been the deranged state of affairs there, and such the distance of South Carolina from the central states, as had rendered it impossible for him to procure support, supplies, and pay for his own army. He was obliged in order to procure subsistence for them, to enter into large contracts on his own private security. This embarrassed him the remainder of his life. As General Green had now nearly finished his military drama, it may not be improper to observe here that this worthy officer survived the war but a few years.
He died in Georgia by a coup de soleil, or sudden stroke of the sun, not unusual in the southern parts of America, which instantly puts a period to human life. His property was afterwards seized by his creditors and his family after his death, left to the mercy of the public. It would not be doing justice to his memory to pass unobserved that General Green conducted the whole campaign if the South would with the most consummate prudence, courage, and ability, notwithstanding the innumerable difficulties that lay in his way. He entered on the command under every disadvantage. He superseded a brave, unfortunate, popular officer, just beaten from the field.
The country was divided in opinion and intimidated by the power of Britain. Its troops, unprovided, naked and desponding, had to march a long way through a barren and inhospitable country, stripped of its small produce by the previous march of the British army. They had to attack and retreat, to advance and to fly over rivers, swamps and mountains, in opposition to a conquering foe.
Flushed with the recent success, who considered at that time South Carolina and Georgia is already subdued, and North Carolina on the point of submission to royal authority. Cities have often contended for the honor of giving birth to men of eminence, and when a great degree of celebrity has been acquired,
it awakens a curiosity in everyone to inquire after their origin. General Green was a native of the state of Rhode Island. He was a gentleman of moderate fortune, who, previous to the American war, had lived in the plain and sober habits in which he was educated, which were in that simplicity of style that usually marks the manners of those denominated Quakers. It is well known that the religious tenets of the sect are averse to all the operations of offensive war. The situation of America was then such that no man of principle could balance on the line of conduct which duty impelled him to take.
The natural and civil rights of man invaded, and all the social enjoyments interrupted. he did not think himself bound to sit a quiet spectator of the impending distractions and distresses of his country. He viewed the opposition to the oppressions of Great Britain in the light of necessary and offensive war. End of Section 7
