of Marion was so liable to
fluctuation. The necessity of providing for, and protecting destitute
families, starving wives and naked children, was more imperative than
that of a remote and fancied liberty. These cases attended to, the
militia came forth, struck a few blows, and once more returned to their
destitute dependents. The victory over the Tories of Black Mingo, was,
from this cause, followed by a more than usually prolonged inactivity of
our partisan. His men demanded a respite to go and see their families.
He consented, with some reluctance, for the business of the campaign was
only beginning to open itself before him. They promised him, as usual,
to return in season; but remained so long absent, that, for the first
time, he now began to doubt and despair of them. This feeling was not
natural with him. It was probably only due now to some derangement
of his own health, some anxiety to achieve objects which presented
themselves prominently to his mind. He had probably heard of the advance
of General Greene, who, having succeeded to Gates, was pressing forward
with fresh recruits, and the remnant of the fugitives who survived, in
freedom, the fatal battle of Camden. A laudable anxiety to be active at
such a time, to show to the approaching Continentals that there was a
spirit in the State which they came to succor, of which the most happy
auguries might be entertained, prompted his morbid impatience at the
long delay of his absentees. There were other causes which led him to
feel this delay more seriously now than at other times. The Tories were
again gathering in force around him. Under these circumstances, and with
these feelings, he consulted with his officers whether they should not
leave the State and join the approaching army of Greene. Hugh Horry
counselled him strenuously against it. His counsel was seconded by the
rest. They prevailed with him. It was fortunate that they did so; for
the great efficiency of Marion was in the independence of his command.
While the matter was yet in debate, the militia began to reappear. He
had not sufficiently allowed for their exigencies, for the scattered
homes and hiding-places of famishing hundreds, living on precarious
supplies, in swamp and thicket. How could he reproach them--fighting
as they were for love of country only, and under such privations--that
country yielding them nothing, no money, no clothes, no provisions,--for
they were nothing but militia. They were n