; these two
young ladies, Miss F----and M----, are just from Georgetown; they are
much frightened, and I believe the British are leaving it and may soon
attack you. As to provisions, which they make such a rout about, I have
plenty for your men and horses in yonder barn, but you must affect to
take them by force. Hams, bacon, rice, and fodder, are there. You must
insist on the key of the barn, and threaten to split the door with an
axe if not immediately opened.' I begged her to say no more, for I
was well acquainted with all such matters--to leave the ladies and
everything else to my management. She said 'Yes; but do not ruin us: be
artful and cunning, or Mr. White may be hanged and all our houses burnt
over our heads.' We both secretly returned, she to the room where the
young ladies were, and I to the piazza I had just left."*1* This little
narrative will give some idea of the straits to which the good whig
matrons of Carolina were sometimes reduced in those days. But no time
was allowed Horry to extort the provisions as suggested. He had scarcely
got to the piazza when his videttes gave the alarm. Two shots warned
him of the approach of the foe, and forgetting that his cap, sabre and
pistols, lay on the long bench on the piazza, Horry mounted his
horse, left the enclosure, and rushed into the melee. The British were
seventeen in number, well mounted, and commanded by a brave fellow named
Merritt. The dragoons, taken by surprise, turned in flight, and, smiting
at every step, the partisans pursued them with fatal earnestness. But
two men are reported to have escaped death or captivity, and they were
their captain and a sergeant. It was in approaching to encounter Merritt
that Horry discovered that he was weaponless. "My officers," says he,
"in succession, came up with Captain Merritt, who was in the rear of
his party, urging them forward. They engaged him. He was a brave fellow.
Baxter, with pistols, fired at his breast, and missing him, retired;
Postelle and Greene, with swords, engaged him; both were beaten off.
Greene nearly lost his head. His buckskin breeches were cut through
several inches.... I almost blush to say that this one British officer
beat off three Americans."*2* The honor of the day was decidedly with
Merritt, though he was beaten. He was no doubt a far better swordsman
than our self-taught cavalry, with broadswords wrought out of mill saws.
Merritt abandoned his horse, and escaped to a neighboring swa