antation on the Round O., while Marion, pressing nearer to Charleston,
kept the right of the enemy in check. The movements of our partisan were
left to his own discretion. Greene, in all cases, not only suffers the
judgment of the former to determine for himself his course, giving him
a thoroughly independent command, but he betrays the most respectful
desire on frequent occasions to have his opinion. Thus, on the 5th of
November, he writes to him:--"Gen. Sumter has orders to take post
at Orangeburgh, to prevent the Tories in that quarter from conveying
supplies to town, and his advanced parties will penetrate as low as
Dorchester; therefore, you may act in conjunction with him, or employ
your troops on the enemy's left, as you may find from information they
can be best employed. Please to give me your opinion on which side they
can be most useful." On the 15th of the same month, he writes again:
"You are at liberty to act as you think advisedly. I have no particular
instructions to give you, and only wish you to avoid surprise." The
latter caution to a soldier of Marion's character and prudence was
scarcely necessary, but he was so near the enemy, and the latter in such
superior force, that the suggestion, on the part of Greene, was only
natural. Where Greene himself lay, two rivers ran between his army
and that of the British. Without ammunition himself, and informed of
reinforcements which the enemy had received, to preserve a respectful
distance between them, was, on the part of the American commander, only
a becoming caution. It was now December, and the troops, both of Greene
and Marion, were without the necessary clothing. They had neither cloaks
nor blankets. On the 14th of that month, Greene received a supply
of ammunition, ALL of which he sent to Marion--no small proof of the
confidence which he felt that, in such hands, it would not be thrown
away.

Thus closed the campaign of 1781. By manoeuvre, and a successful
combination of events, the British troops had been driven down the
country and restrained within the narrow neck of land contiguous to
Charleston. The encampment of the main army continued at the Round O.
Marion was at Watboo on Cooper river, watching the enemy's right; Sumter
held Orangeburg and the bridge at Four Holes; Hampton with fifty
State cavalry kept open the communication between Marion and the
commander-in-chief; Cols. Harden and Wilkinson watched the enemy's
movements on the south between