The Minute Boys of South Carolina

FOREWORD

It has always seemed proper to me that he who writes a story should explain to the readers how it came about that he was prompted to tell the tale, for surely there must be a good and sufficient reason for the making of a book, and it also comes to my mind that however dry and uninteresting such an explanation may be, he who reads the story owes it to himself, as well as the author, to learn all he can regarding the facts, however remote, which may pertain to the characters presented, and yet be of such a nature that the author cannot well, without sacrificing his own plans, deviate sufficiently to relate them in the book itself.

Therefore it is that I shall be grateful to the reader if he will set down in his own mind certain passages from history which are quoted below, to the end that he may the better understand why two lads born and bred in Charleston, in the State of South Carolina, left their homes at a time when the cause of liberty appeared to be crushed to earth, and why they followed the desperate ventures of[vi] Francis Marion during his unequal but wondrously successful struggle against an enemy which was bent on trampling into the mire the patriots who strove to rear a country for themselves in the New World.

Shortly after the publication of the story entitled “The Minute Boys of the Mohawk Valley,” a gentleman residing at Charleston sent to me a packet of closely written pages, stained by time, and with the ink so faded that only with difficulty certain portions could be read. I was richly rewarded, however, for the labor spent in reading that which was set down, for I found that the manuscript was neither more nor less than a series of letters connected, evidently at a later date, by memoranda, and all written by one Rufus Randolph, a distant relative of Francis and Gabriel Marion.

To make of the whole a story, such as entertained myself at least, was a trifling task compared with the labor which had been performed by the young writer, and verily it was a labor of love, for while working over the faded pages I came to learn many things concerning that heroic struggle which the “Swamp Fox” made against overwhelming forces bent on devastating the fair colony of South Carolina, and I have done little more in the pages which follow than transcribe his own story.

So much for the reason why “The Minute Boys of South Carolina” has been put into print, and now, because Rufus Randolph failed to set down anything concerning those terrible days after Sir[vii] Henry Clinton captured the city of Charleston, I ask that the following extracts from the historian Lossing’s “Field Book of the Revolution,” a goodly portion of which I have condensed lest one weary with the reading, be studied with some care.

“The fall of Charleston, and loss of Lincoln’s army, paralyzed the Republican strength at the South, and the British commanders confidently believed that the finishing-stroke of the war had been given.”

“Clinton sailed for New York on the fifth of June, leaving Cornwallis in chief command of the British troops at the South. Before his departure, Clinton issued a proclamation, declaring all persons not in military service, who were prisoners at Charleston, released from their paroles, provided they returned to their allegiance as subjects of Great Britain. So far, well; but not the sequel. All persons refusing to comply with this requisition were declared to be enemies and rebels, and were to be treated accordingly. And more; they were required to enroll themselves as militia under the king’s standard. This flagrant violation of the terms of capitulation aroused a spirit of indignant defiance, which proved a powerful lever in overturning the royal power in the South. Many considered themselves released from all the obligations of their paroles, and immediately armed themselves in defence of their homes and country, while others refused to exchange their paroles for any new conditions. The silent influence of eminent citizens who took this course was now perceived by Cornwallis,[viii] and, in further violation of the conditions of capitulation, he sent many leading men of Charleston as close prisoners to St. Augustine, while a large number of the Continental soldiers were cast into the loathsome prison-ships, and other vessels in the harbor.”

“But when the trumpet-blasts of the conqueror of Burgoyne were heard upon the Roanoke, and the brave hearts of Virginia and North Carolina were gathering around the standard of Gates, the patriots of the South lifted up their heads, and many of them, like Samson rising in strength, broke the feeble cords of ‘paroles’ and ‘protections,’ and smote the Philistines of the crown with mighty energy. Sumter sounded the bugle among the hills on the Catawba and Broad Rivers; Marion’s shrill whistle rang amid the swamps on the Pedee; and Pickens and Clarke called forth the brave sons of liberty upon the banks of the Saluda, the Savannah, the Ogeechee, and the Alatamaha.

“Fortunately for the Republican cause, an accident prevented Marion being among the prisoners when Charleston fell, and he was yet at liberty, having no parole to violate, to arouse his countrymen to make further efforts against the invaders. While yet unable to be active, he took refuge in the swamps upon the Black River, while Governor Rutledge, Colonel Horry, and others, who had escaped the disasters at Charleston, were in North Carolina arousing the people of that State to meet the danger which stood menacing upon its southern border. Marion’s military genius and great bravery[ix] were known to friends and foes, and while the latter sought to entrap him, the former held over him the shield of their vigilance. ‘In the moment of alarm he was sped from house to house, from tree to thicket, from the thicket to the swamp.’”

“It was while in the camp of Gates that Governor Rutledge, who also was there, commissioned Marion a brigadier, and he sped to the district of Williamsburg, between the Santee and Pedee, to lead its rising patriots to the field of active military duties. They had accepted the protection of British power after Charleston was surrendered, in common with their subdued brethren of the low country; but when Clinton’s proclamation was promulgated, making active service for the crown or the penalty of rebellion an alternative, they eagerly chose the latter, and lifted the strong arm-resistance to tyranny. They called Marion to be their leader, and of these men he formed his efficient brigade, the terror of British scouts and outposts. Near the mouth of Lynch’s Creek he assumed the command, and among the interminable swamps upon Snow’s Island, near the junction of that stream with the Great Pedee, he made his chief rendezvous during the greater portion of his independent partisan warfare.”