husband and the father. The crime of Cusack was in having
taken arms against the enemy. Their prayers were in vain. But for the
interference of his own officers, the ruthless Briton would have ridden
over the kneeling innocents. This was not the only savage murder of
the same description which this wretched people had to endure. But such
atrocities were sharp medicines, benefits in disguise, good against
cowardice, selfishness, double-dealing, and deficient patriotism. They
worked famously upon the natives, while they proved the invader to be as
little capable of good policy, as of ordinary humanity. They roused the
spirit of the militia, whet their anger and their swords together, and,
by the time that Marion reappeared, they were ready for their General.
He asked for nothing more. He re-entered South Carolina by a forced
march. Travelling night and day, he hurried through the Tory settlements
on Little Pedee, a space of sixty miles, on the second day of his
journey. At Lynch's Creek he was joined by Captains James and Mouzon,
with a considerable body of men. He was prepared to give them instant
employment. Major Wemyss had retired to Georgetown, but Marion was
advised of a large body of Tories at Black Mingo, fifteen miles below,
under the command of Capt. John Coming Ball. Marion was in expectation,
every moment, of additional troops, but he determined not to wait for
them. He found his men in the proper mood for fight, and at such times
small inequalities of force are not to be regarded. He resolved to
give the humor vent, and at once commenced his march for the enemy's
encampment. He found the Tories strongly posted at Shepherd's Ferry,
on the south side of the Black Mingo, on a deep navigable stream, the
passage of which they commanded. There was but one other approach to
them, about a mile above their position, through a boggy causeway, and
over a bridge of planks. It was nearly midnight when Marion's troops
reached this pass. While the horses were crossing the bridge, an
alarm-gun was heard from the Tory camp. Celerity now became as necessary
to success as caution, and Marion ordered his men to follow him at full
gallop. When they reached the main road, about three hundred yards from
the enemy, the whole force, with the exception of a small body acting
as cavalry, dismounted. A body of picked men, under Captain Waties, was
ordered down the road to attack Dollard's house, where the Tories had
been posted. Two comp