r_."

After the unfortunate battle of Camden, on the 16th of August, 1780,
where Gen. Gates lost the laurels he had obtained at Saratoga,
Congress perceived the necessity of appointing a more efficient
commander for the Southern army. Accordingly Gen. Washington was
directed to make the selection from his well-tried and experienced
officers. Whereupon the commander-in-chief appointed General Nathaniel
Greene, late the Quartermaster General, on the 30th of October, 1780,
who, in a few days afterward, set out for his field of labor. As he
passed through Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, he ascertained what
supplies it was likely could be obtained from those States; and
leaving the Baron Steuben to take charge of the defence of Virginia he
proceeded to Hillsboro, then the temporary seat of government for
North Carolina. Gov. Nash received him with much joy, as the safety of
the State was in imminent danger. After a short stay in that place he
hastened on to Charlotte, the headquarters of the Southern army. Gen.
Gates there met him with marked respect, without displaying any of
those feelings which sometimes arise from disappointed ambition, and
immediately set out for the headquarters of Washington, then in New
Jersey, to submit to an inquiry into his conduct, which had been
ordered by Congress.

Gen. Green took charge of the Southern army in the town of Charlotte
on the 3rd day of December, 1780. After surveying his troops and
supplies he found himself at the head of about two thousand men, one
half of whom were militia, with only a sufficiency of provisions for
three days, in an exhausted country, and with a scanty supply of
ammunition. With the quick eye of military genius, he determined at
once to divide his army, small as it was, and provide the needful
supplies in different localities. Relying upon Gen. Davidson's
militia, as a central force and protection, to be called out upon
emergencies from the surrounding counties, he led the largest portion
of his army under himself, and encamped on Hick's Creek, opposite
Cheraw, and about seventy miles to the right of Cornwallis, who was
then at Winsboro, South Carolina. While encamped at this place he was
joined by the legionary corps of cavalry under Lieutenant-Colonel
Henry Lee, more familiarly known as "Light Horse Harry," and father of
the late distinguished Gen. Robert E. Lee, of the Confederate army,
whose memory the Southern people and an _impartial world_ will ever