held
abundance of provisions. To this communication Greene replies: "I have
detached Major Anderson with one thousand regulars, and one hundred
Virginia militia, to attack and disperse the Tories at Amy's Mill, on
Drowning Creek. The party marched yesterday with orders to endeavor to
surprise them; perhaps you might be able to make some detachment that
would contribute to their success.... I wish your answer respecting the
practicability of surprising the party near Nelson's; the route, and
force you will be able to detach. This inquiry is a matter that requires
great secrecy." Another letter of Greene's, three days after (January
22d), refers to some "skirmishes between your people and the enemy,
which," says Greene, "do them honor,"--but of which we have no
particulars. The same letter begs for a supply of horses. "Get as many
as you can, and let us have fifteen or twenty sent to camp without loss
of time, they being wanted for immediate service." By another letter,
dated the day after the preceding, Greene communicates to Marion the
defeat of Tarleton by Morgan, at the celebrated battle of the Cowpens.
"On the 17th at daybreak, the enemy, consisting of eleven hundred and
fifty British troops and fifty militia, attacked General Morgan, who
was at the Cowpens, between Pacolet and Broad rivers, with 290 infantry,
eighty cavalry and about six hundred militia. The action lasted fifty
minutes and was remarkably severe. Our brave troops charged the enemy
with bayonets and entirely routed them, killing nearly one hundred
and fifty, wounding upwards of two hundred, and taking more than
five hundred prisoners, exclusive of the prisoners with two pieces of
artillery, thirty-five wagons, upwards of one hundred dragoon horses,
and with the loss of only ten men killed and fifty-five wounded. Our
intrepid party pursued the enemy upwards of twenty miles. About thirty
commissioned officers are among the prisoners. Col. Tarleton had his
horse killed and was wounded, but made his escape with two hundred of
his troops."

Before receiving this grateful intelligence Marion had been joined by
Lieut.-Col. Lee, at the head of a legion which acquired high reputation
for its spirit and activity during the war. Lee tells us that it was
no easy matter to find our partisan. "An officer, with a small party,
preceded Lee a few days' march to find out Marion, who was known to vary
his position in the swamps of the Pedee; sometimes in South Carolina,