ved military command over a region of country of vast extent,
which the indefatigable partisan contrived to compass and coerce, if not
altogether to command and control. Similar orders with those which were
given to Postelle, were addressed to Col. P. Horry; and they were both
dispatched; the one, as we have seen, between Black and Pedee rivers,
the other to Waccamaw Creek. Other parties were sent out in other
quarters, with like objects; and, with the whole contiguous country thus
placed under the keenest surveillance, Marion hailed the close of the
year in his swamp fortress. All these parties were more or less
engaged with the enemy, at different periods, while on their scouting
expeditions. Several small, but spirited achievements, of which history
condescends to furnish no details, occurred among them, in which,
however, the partisans were not always successful. One instance may
be mentioned. Lieutenant Roger Gordon had been dispatched with a small
party to patrol on Lynch's Creek. He suffered himself, while taking
refreshments at a house, to be surrounded by a party of Tories, under
Capt. Butler. The enemy made good his approaches to the house, and set
it on fire. Finding himself greatly outnumbered, and perceiving that
resistance would be useless, Gordon surrendered upon terms; but as soon
as his party had yielded up their arms, they were murdered to a man.
These bloody events were accompanied and followed by others of a like
character. Nor were the Tories always, or exclusively guilty. The
sanguinary warfare began with them, but it was perpetuated by mutual
excesses. Shortly after the murder of Gabriel Marion, the person who was
supposed to have been guilty of the savage crime, was taken prisoner
by Horry. While on the road, returning to the camp, environed by his
guards, the prisoner was shot down by an officer, who escaped detection
under cover of the night. Prisoners, after this, were seldom made on
either side, where the Whigs and Tories came in conflict. No quarter was
given. Safety lay in victory alone, and the vanquished, if they could
not find refuge in the swamps, found no mercy from the conqueror.
Even where, under the occasional influence of a milder mood, or milder
captain, the discomfited were admitted to present mercy, there was still
no security for their lives. There were a few infuriated men, who defied
subordination, by whom, on both sides, the unhappy captives were sure to
be sacrificed.

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