eral Clarke by comparing his treatment of the Tories with the mild
and humane policy pursued by Francis Marion. There was, indeed, some
misunderstanding between the two men in regard to the methods that might
be adopted. The policy of Marion was undoubtedly the correct one, so far
as South Carolina was concerned; but if the Tories in that Province had
been guilty of the crimes committed by their brethren in Wilkes and the
surrounding region, General Marion's policy would not have been very
different from that of General Clarke. The Tories with whom Clarke was
familiar were guilty of murder, rapine, pillage, and incendiarism. The
Tories in South Carolina were kept under by the presence of Marion and
his men. Clarke went wherever his services were needed; and during his
absence, the Tories of the Broad River region were free to commit
every excess. Marion refused to leave the region where he made his name
famous, and thus kept the Tories in constant fear and dread.

Who shall say that Marion would not have been as ready to exterminate
the Tories as Clarke was, or that Clarke would not have been as humane
as Marion, if each of these distinguished patriots had been in the
other's place?

At the battle of Kettle Creek, in what is now Wilkes County, Elijah
Clarke distinguished himself by his readiness and skill as a commander.
The Americans under Colonel Pickens were in pursuit of the British under
Colonel Boyd. Their line of march was the order of battle, and following
the vanguard came the right and left wings. The left wing was commanded
by Elijah Clarke. The center was led by Colonel Pickens, who was in
command of the expedition. Colonel Boyd, the British commander, appeared
to be unconscious of pursuit. He had halted on a farm on the north side
of Kettle Creek. His horses were left to forage on the young cane that
grew on the edge of the swamp; and his men were slaying cattle and
parching corn, preparing for a feast after their short rations. The
British encampment was formed near the creek, on a piece of open ground
flanked on two sides by a canebrake. Colonel Boyd was in utter ignorance
of the approach of the Americans, who advanced at once to the attack.
The British colonel formed his line in the rear of his encampment, and
there received the assault. The battle was hotly contested for more than
an hour, and then the Tories retreated through the swamp.

Elijah Clarke, seeing a piece of rising ground on the farther si