50. CHAPTER L.
As the events of this history are confined to the duration of the
Tory Ascendency in South Carolina, it becomes me to prepare my
reader for the conclusion to which, doubtless much to his content,
he will hear that we are now hastening. We have reached a
period which brings us to take notice of certain important
operations that were in progress upon the frontier, and touching
the details of which, to avoid prolixity, I must refer to the graver
chronicles of the times. It answers my present purpose merely to
apprise my reader that Colonel Clarke had lately assembled his
followers and marched to Augusta, where he had made an attack
upon Brown, but that almost at the moment when his dexterous
and valiant adversary had fallen within his grasp, a timely succor
from Fort Ninety-Six, under the command of Cruger, had forced
him to abandon his ground, and retreat towards the mountain
districts of North Carolina. To this, it is important to add that
Ferguson had now recruited a considerable army amongst the
native Tories, and had moved to the small frontier village of
Gilbert-town, with a purpose to intercept Clarke, and thus place
him under the disadvantage of having a foe both in front and
rear.
The midnight seizure of Arthur Butler and his friends, whilst
returning from Ramsay's funeral, was effected by M`Alpine, who
happened at that moment to be hastening, by a forced march,
with a detachment of newly-recruited cavalry from Ninety-Six, to
strengthen Ferguson, and to aid in what was expected to be the
certain capture of the troublesome Whig partisan.
As M`Alpine's purpose required despatch, he made but a short
delay after sun-rise at Drummond's cabin, and then pushed
forward with his prisoners with all possible expedition. The route
of his journey diverged, almost at the spot of the capture, from the
roads leading towards Musgrove's Mill, and he consequently had
but little chance to fall in with parties who might communicate
to him the nature of the accident which threw the prisoners into
his possession; whilst the prisoners themselves were sufficiently
discreet to conceal from him everything that might afford a hint
of Butler's previous condition.
The road lay through a rugged wilderness, and the distance to
be travelled, before the party could reach Gilbert-town, was
something more than sixty miles. It was, accordingly, about the
middle of the second day after leaving Drummond's habitation,
before the troop arrived at the term of their journey, a period that
coincided with that of Cornwallis's breaking ground from his late
encampment at the Waxhaws, which we have seen in the last chapter.
Ferguson was a stout, fearless, and bluff soldier, and instigated
by the most unsparing hatred against all who took up the Whig
cause. He had been promoted by Earl Cornwallis to the brevet
rank of lieutenant-colonel, a short time before the battle of Camden,
and despatched towards this wild and mountainous border to
collect together and organize the Tory inhabitants of the district.
His zeal and activity, no less than his peremptory bearing, had
particularly recommended him to the duty to be performed; and
he is, at least, entitled to the commendation of having acquitted himself
with great promptitude and efficiency in the principal objects
of his appointment. He was now at the head of between eleven and
twelve hundred men, of which about one hundred and fifty were
regulars of the British line, the remainder consisting of the disorderly
and untamed population of the frontier.
Gilbert-town was a small village, composed of a number of
rather well-built and comfortable log-houses. It was situated in
a mountainous but fertile district of North Carolina, about the
centre of Rutherford country. And I may venture to add (which
I do upon report only), that although its former name has faded
from the maps of the present day, under that reprehensible indifference
to ancient associations, and that pernicious love of change
which have obliterated so many of the landmarks of our revolutionary
history, yet this village is still a prosperous and
pleasant community, known as the seat of justice to the county to
which it belongs.
When the troop having charge of Butler and his companions
arrived, they halted immediately in front of one of the largest
buildings of the village, and in a short time the prisoners were
marched into the presence of Ferguson. They were received in
a common room of ample dimensions, furnished with a table
upon which was seen a confused array of drinking vessels, and a
number of half-emptied bottles of spirit surrounding a wooden
bucket filled with water. Immediately against one of the posts of
the door of the apartment, the carcass of a buck, recently shot and
now stripped of its skin, hung by the tendons of the hinder feet;
and a soldier was at this moment employed with his knife in the
butcher-craft necessary to its preparation for the spit. Ferguson
himself, conspicuous for his robust, athletic, and weather-beaten
exterior, stood by apparently directing the operation. Around the
room were hung the hide and antlers of former victims of the
chase, intermingled with various weapons of war, military cloaks,
cartridge-boxes, bridles, saddles, and other furniture denoting the
habitation of a party of soldiers. There was a general air of
disorder and untidiness throughout the apartment, which seemed
to bespeak early and late revels, and no great observance of the
thrift of even military housekeeping. This impression was heightened
to the eye of the beholder, by the unchecked liberty with
which men of all ranks, privates as well as officers, flung themselves,
as their occasions served, into the room and made free with the
contents of the flasks that were scattered over the table.
The irregular and ill-disciplined host under Ferguson's command
lay in and around the village, and presented a scene of which the
predominating features bore a sufficient resemblance to the economy
of their leader's own quarters, to raise but an unfavorable opinion
of their subordination and soldier-like demeanor: it was wild,
noisy, and confused.
When M`Alpine entered the apartment, the words that fell from
Ferguson showed that his mind, at the moment, was disturbed by
a double solicitude—alternating between the operations performed
upon the carcass of venison, and certain symptoms of uproar and
disorder that manifested themselves amongst the militia without.
“Curse on these swaggering, upland bullies!” he said, whilst
M`Alpine and the prisoners stood inside the room, as yet unnoticed,
“I would as soon undertake to train as many wolves from the
mountain, as bring these fellows into habits of discipline. Thady,
you cut that haunch too low—go deep, man—a long sweep from
the pommel to the cantle—it is a saddle worth riding on! By the
infernal gods! if these yelping savages do not learn to keep quiet
in camp, I'll make a school for them with my regulars, where they
shall have good taste of the cat! nine hours' drill and all the camp
duty besides! Ha, M`Alpine, is it you who have been standing
here all this while? I didn't observe it, man—my quarters are
like a bar-room, and have been full of comers and goers all day.
I thought you were but some of my usual free-and-easy customers.
Damn them, I am sick of these gawky, long-legged, half-civilized
recruits! but I shall take a course with them yet. What news, old
boy? What have you to tell of the rebels? Where is my pretty
fellow, Clarke?”
“Clarke is still in the woods,” replied M`Alpine. “It would
take good hounds to track him.”
“And Cruger, I hope, has nose enough to follow. So, the cunning
Indian hunter will be caught at last! We have him safe
now, M`Alpine. There is but one path for the fox to come out of
the bush, and upon that path Patrick Ferguson has about as pretty
a handful of mischievous imps as ever lapped blood. The slinking
runaway never reaches the other side of the mountains while I am
awake. With Cruger behind him—our line of posts upon his
right—the wild mountains, as full of Cherokees as squirrels, upon
his left—and these devils of mine right before him—we have him
in a pretty net. Who have you here, captain?”
“Some stray rebel game, that I picked up on my road, as I
came from Ninety-Six. This gentleman, I learn, is Major Butler
of the Continental army, and these others, some of his party.”
“So, ho, more rebels! damn it, man,” exclaimed the commandant,
“why do you bring them to me? What can I do with them”—
then dropping his voice into a tone of confidential conference, he
added, “but follow the fashion and hang them? I have got
some score of prisoners already—and have been wishing that they
would cut some devilish caper, that I might have an excuse for
stringing them up, to get clear of them. A major in the regular
Continental line, sir?” he asked, addressing himself to Butler.
Butler bowed his head.
“I thought the cuffs your people got at Camden had driven
everything like a day-light soldier out of the province. We have
some skulking bush-fighters left—some jack-o'-lantern devils, that
live in the swamps and feed on frogs and water-snakes—Marion
and Sumpter, and a few of their kidney: but you, sir, are the
first regular Continental officer I have met with. What brought
you so far out of your latitude?”
“I was on my way to join one,” replied Butler, “that but now
you seemed to think in severe straits.”
“Ha! to visit Clarke, eh? Well, sir, may I be bold to ask, do
you know where that worshipful gentleman is to be found?”
“I am free to answer you,” said Butler, “that his position, at
this moment, is entirely unknown to me. On my journey I heard
the report that he had been constrained to abandon Augusta.”
“Yes, and in haste, let me tell you. And marches in this direction,
Major Butler, as he needs must. I shall make his acquaintance:
and inasmuch as you went to seek him, you may count it a
lucky accident that brought you here—you will find him all the
sooner by it.”
“Doubtless, sir, Colonel Clarke will feel proud to see you,”
returned Butler.
“Well, M`Alpine,” said Ferguson, “I have my hands full of
business; for I certainly have the wildest crew of devil's babies
that ever stole cattle, or fired a haystack. I am obliged to coax
them into discipline by a somewhat free use of this mother's milk—
(pointing to the bottles)—“to which I now and then add a gentle
castigation at the drum-head, and, when that doesn't serve, a dose
of powder and lead, administered at ten paces from a few files of
grenadiers. I have shot a brace of them, since you left me, only
for impertinence to their officers! This waiting for Clarke plays
the devil with us. I must be moving, and have some thought of
crossing the mountains westward, and burning out the settlements.
Faith! I would do it, just to keep my lads in spirits, if I thought
Clarke would give me another week. How, now, Thady?—that
buck should have been half roasted by this time. We shall never
have dinner with your slow work. Look at that, M`Alpine, there
is something to make your mouth water—an inch and a half of
fat on the very ridge of the back. Give over your prisoners to the
camp major—he will take care of them: and, hark you, captain,”
he added, beckoning his comrade aside, “if you choose, as you
seem to think well of this Major Butler, you may bring him in to
dinner presently, with my compliments. Now, away—I must to
business.”
The prisoners were conducted to a separate building, where they
were put in charge of an officer, who performed the duties of
provost-marshal over some twenty or more Whigs that had been
captured in the late excursions of the Tories, and brought into
camp for safe keeping. The place of their confinement was narrow
and uncomfortable, and Butler was soon made aware that in the
exchange of his prison at Musgrove's mill for his present one, he
had made an unprofitable venture. His condition with Ferguson,
however, was alleviated by the constantly-exciting hope that the
events which were immediately in prospect might, by the chances
of war, redound to his advantage.
In this situation Butler remained for several days. For although
Ferguson found it necessary to keep in almost constant motion,
with a view to hover about the supposed direction of Clarke's
retreat, and, conformably to this purpose, to advance into South
Carolina, and again to fall back towards his present position, yet
he had established a guard at Gilbert-town which, during all these
operations, remained stationary with the prisoners, apparently
waiting some fit opportunity to march them off to Cornwallis's
army, that was now making its way northwards. That opportunity
did not present itself. The communications between this post and
the commander-in-chief were, by a fatal error, neglected; and in a
short time from the date of the present events, as will be seen in
the sequel, a web was woven which was strong enough to ensnare
and bind up the limbs of the giant who had, during the last five
months, erected and maintained the Tory Ascendency in Carolina.
