urch at
Indiantown; because, as he said, it was a sedition shop. Before a house
was burnt, permission was seldom given to remove the furniture. When
he came to Maj. James' he was met by his lady with much composure. He
wished to bring her husband to submission, and said to her, "If he
would come in and lay down his arms, he should have a free pardon." She
replied, "As to that she could not have any influence over him. That
times were such he was compelled to take a part, and he had taken that
of his country." Wemyss after this had her and her children locked up in
a chamber, from whence they did not come out, for two days and a half;
and until the house was about to be burnt. Capt. David Campbell (of
Edisto,) carried with his own hands, food and other refreshments to a
back window for her, apparently unknown to Wemyss. Capt. John James, son
of the major, had been taken in Charleston, and paroled. He was ordered
into custody, with the threat, that "If he was found to have broken his
parole, he would be hanged in the morning to yonder tree." Accordingly a
court martial sat over him in the morning. The witnesses called were
his own and his father's negroes; but, strange to tell, no evidence was
given against him, and he was acquitted. Such were the mock trials of
the British. As, when we come to speak of the battle of Eutaw, there
will be many chiefs of higher title to be named, it is but justice to
Capt. James now to mention, that before that time he was exchanged, and
fought there with much bravery, as an adjutant. As there was no trade or
intercourse between that part of the country and a market, people were
to be seen, after the fires, searching for every thing they could find,
knife blades, scissors, hinges, nails, &c. Handles were put to the
knives, dishes and plates were rudely manufactured out of wood, and log
huts were gradually built by the assistance of one another. Many negroes
were taken out of Williamsburgh; these were afterwards recovered by Maj.
James. Directly after the retreat of Rawdon from Camden, he, at the head
of five or six men, passed through the country from Santee to an island
near Beaufort, where he found and brought away one hundred and fifty,
all plundered from his own neighbourhood. This account has been inserted
here, that the chain of events might not hereafter be broken.

It is stated, (page 45,*) that Col. Tarleton took Mr. James Bradley
prisoner; the manner in which this was done, and the