late to be of
effectual service in the war, yet furnished sufficient proofs of their
fidelity.

No farther necessity appearing for the longer stay of Marion on the
Pedee, he prepared to return to his former range along the rivers Cooper
and Santee. His absence from this region afforded an opportunity for
the enemy to renew their depredations from Charleston. Marion had left
Colonel Ashby in command of his infantry, when, at the head of Mayham's
horse, he hurried to encounter Gainey, and quell his insurrection.
Ashby, pressed by a superior British force, had been compelled to yield
before it, and this intelligence left our partisan no moment of respite
after quelling the commotions on the Pedee, before he was required to
return and cover the country which had so long been indebted to his
vigilance for protection. In leaving the Pedee, with still some doubts
of the newly converted loyalists of that quarter, he left Col. Baxter
with one hundred and fifty trusty men, to maintain the ascendency which
he had just acquired. This object was of the last importance, not only
with reference to the doubtful 'personnel' of the country, but the
valuable 'materiel', cattle and provisions, which might have been
carried off to the enemy. Suspicious of the fidelity of the loyalists,
there was every reason to fear that it might be too strongly tested.
The British were known to be preparing a fleet of small vessels for some
enterprises directed northwardly, and no object of importance seemed
more obvious than that of renewing the disturbances on the Pedee and
possessing themselves of the immense plunder which that region of
country might still afford.

All precautions taken, our partisan hurried his return. But had he not
been joined by a newly raised corps under Major Conyers, he must have
marched alone. So rapid had been his movements, so unremitting his
duties, that the cavalry of Mayham which he led, were completely broken
down. He was compelled to leave them behind him to recruit. At Murray's
Ferry, on the Santee, he halted to collect his militia, and await the
arrival of Mayham's corps. Here he consolidated the commands of Mayham
and Conyers into one regiment; and about the middle of July was enabled
once more to cross the Santee with a force of three hundred dismounted
infantry, and a respectable body of horse. With these he took post on
the Wassamasaw, in a position which, while it was secure, enabled him to
cooperate with the d