m I should be glad to send
where they could be better taken care of. I wish, therefore, to know if
they will be permitted to pass to Charleston." Gen. Marion wrote for a
list of them, and next day sent the following pass: "Gen. Marion's pass,
granted to Lieut. Torriano and twelve privates.--One officer and six
wounded men, with six attendants, of the British troops, are permitted
to pass to Nelson's ferry, thence to Charleston, unmolested," &c. Col.
Watson was now literally besieged; his supplies were cut off on all
sides, and so many of his men killed, that, he is said by tradition, to
have sunk them in Black river to hide their number. There is a quarry of
rock in the neighbourhood of the place, and the only one in that part
of the country, where, it is said, he sunk his men. At length Watson,
decamping, made a forced march down the Georgetown road; but paused at
Ox swamp, six miles below the lower bridge. On each side of the road
there was then a thick, boggy swamp--trees were felled across the
causeway--three bridges were destroyed, and Marion was watching him with
the eye of an eagle. Thus situated, and having to force a more difficult
pass at Johnson's swamp, ten miles ahead, Watson most prudently wheeled
to the right, and passed on, through open piney woods, to the Santee
road, distant about fifteen miles. When overtaken by Marion upon this
road, his infantry were passing like horses at a full trot. Here he
had not so many obstacles to encounter as on the other road, and, by
wheeling covertly and marching so briskly, had gained considerable
ground. However, Col. Peter Horry now advanced ahead with the cavalry
and riflemen, and annoyed him in flank and in front, while Marion
attacked in the rear, until they reached Sampit bridge, where the last
skirmish took place. News from Doyle appears to have arrested Marion's
progress, and summoned him to new perils.

Watson reached Georgetown, with two waggon loads of wounded men.* It is
evident from an intercepted letter of his of the 20th of March, that he
had been hemmed in so closely that he was in want of every thing, and
had taken this route to Georgetown, fifty miles out of his way, to
obtain supplies. From Fort Watson to the lower bridge, he had not
advanced more than forty miles on his premeditated route to join Doyle.

* Horry's Narrative.

In the mean time, Col. Doyle, an active, enterprising officer, had
driven Col. Ervin, who commanded only a weak gua