uson's troops again had a chance to show their skill in the
use of the bayonet.

Tarleton did his work with brutal ruthlessness; his men plundered and
ravaged, maltreated prisoners, outraged women, and hung without mercy
all who were suspected of turning from the loyalist to the whig side.
His victories were almost always followed by massacres; in particular,
when he routed with small loss a certain Captain Buford, his soldiers
refused to grant quarter, and mercilessly butchered the beaten.
Americans. [Footnote: It is worth while remembering that it was not
merely the tories who were guilty of gross crimes; the British regulars,
including even some of their officers, often behaved with abhorrent
brutality.]

Ferguson, on the contrary, while quite as valiant and successful a
commander, showed a generous heart, and treated the inhabitants of the
country fairly well. He was especially incensed at any outrage upon
women, punishing the offender with the utmost severity, and as far as
possible he spared his conquered foes. Yet even Ferguson's tender
mercies must have seemed cruel to the whigs, as may be judged by the
following extract from a diary kept by one of his lieutenants [Footnote:
Diary of Lt. Anthony Allaire, entry for March 24, 1780.]: "This day Col.
Ferguson got the rear guard in order to do his King and country justice,
by protecting friends and widows, and destroying rebel property; also to
collect live stock for the use of the army. All of which we effect as we
go by destroying furniture, breaking windows, etc., taking all their
horned cattle, horses, mules, sheep, etc., and their negroes to drive
them." When such were the authorized proceedings of troops under even
the most merciful of the British commanders, it is easy to guess what
deeds were done by uncontrolled bodies of stragglers bent on plunder.

When Ferguson moved into the back country of the two Carolinas still
worse outrages followed. In the three southernmost of the thirteen
rebellious colonies there was a very large tory party. [Footnote: Gates
MSS., _passim_, for July-October, 1780. _E.g._, letter of Mr. Ramsey,
August 9, 1780, describes how "the Scotch are all lying out," the number
of tories in the "Drowning Creek region," their resistance to the levy
of cattle, etc. In these colonies, as in the middle colonies, the tory
party was very strong.] In consequence the struggle in the Carolinas and
Georgia took the form of a ferocious civil war. Eac