ritish had been before him throughout the
country. The dragoons of Tarleton had swept the stables; and, where this
was not the case, the horses were held by militia men, to whom they were
quite as indispensable as to the grand army. Marion's troopers could
only be of service while in possession of their horses--they had
large and extensive tracts of country to traverse--could procure no
intelligence without--and, any attempt to dismount a soldier from his
favorite steed, would be to produce a degree of discontent in his mind
which would most certainly deprive the country of his services. To
expect that the partisan militia under Marion and Sumter, who had been
constantly on horseback, in the face of the enemy, should deliver their
horses up to others who possessed no higher claim upon the country than
themselves, was to expect more largely than was altogether reasonable,
from the liberality or the patriotism of any set of men. A few, such as
could be spared, had been supplied by Marion. He never, for an instant,
contemplated the dismounting of his troopers--those hardy fellows
who had been constant in all vicissitudes--who had murmured at no
tasks--shrunk from no adventures--and spared neither themselves nor
their property, when the necessities of the country required, at periods
when there was no grand army to divide with themselves the honors and
the dangers of the war. Nay, to dismount them was, in fact, to disarm
himself. It appears, however, that this was expected of him. An
unfortunate letter of Col. Lee, dated the 23d May, and addressed to
Greene, contained this paragraph:

"General Marion," says the letter, "can supply you, if he will, with one
hundred and fifty good dragoon horses, most of them impressed horses. He
might, in my opinion, spare sixty, which would be a happy supply."

The effect of this communication upon Greene was immediate and painful.
Believing that he had been ill-used, and vexed that Marion, knowing
his necessities, and with the power to relieve them, should yet have
forborne to do so, though urgently exhorted, he frankly declared
his feelings in the very next letter to our partisan. Marion did not
dissemble his indignation in his reply. He repels the charge that he had
ever withheld supplies which he might have furnished, and concludes his
letter by requesting permission to resign--firmly, but respectfully,
intimating his resolution to retire from service as soon as Fort Motte
should be re