osite
these fellows. As you form, each man will fire at the one directly
opposite, and my word for it, few will need a second shot."

Nothing, indeed, was more certain than this; and how McIlraith proposed
to fight with any hope of the result, knowing how deadly was the aim of
the Americans, is beyond conjecture. If he relied upon the bayonet, as
perhaps he did, his hope must have rested only upon those who survived
the first fire; and with these, it was only necessary for the Americans
to practise the game of the survivor of the Horatii, in order to gain
as complete a victory. They had but to scatter and re-load--change their
ground, avoid the push of the bayonet, till they could secure a second
shot, and that certainly would have finished the business. But McIlraith
had already reconsidered the proceeding. His men were formed in a
straight line in front of the oak. Vanderhorst was advancing and had
got within one hundred yards, when a British officer was seen to pass
hurriedly to the detachment, and the next moment the men retreated,
with a quick step, towards the main body. Vanderhorst and his party gave
three huzzas, but not a shot was fired.

McIlraith committed two errors. He should not have made the arrangement,
but, once made, he should have suffered it to go on at all hazards. The
effect was discreditable to himself, and detrimental to the efficiency
of his men. Marion would have fought his enemy all day on the same
terms. His followers were on their own ground, with a familiar weapon,
while the soldiers of the British were deprived of all their usual
advantages--the assurance of support after the fire of the enemy was
drawn. The militia seldom stood the encounter of the bayonet, but they
as seldom failed to do famous execution with the first two or three
discharges.

That night McIlraith abandoned his heavy baggage, left fires burning,
and retreating silently from the ground, hurried, with all dispatch,
along the river road towards Singleton's Mills, distant ten miles.
Marion discovered the retreat before daylight, and sent Col. Hugh Horry
forward with one hundred men, to get in advance of him before he should
reach the mill. But Horry soon found this to be impossible, and he
detached Major James, at the head of a select party, well mounted on
the swiftest horses, with instructions to cross the mill-pond above, and
take possession of Singleton's houses. These standing on a high hill,
commanded a narrow defi