PARTISAN CORPS.--The Carolinas were full of tories. Many of them joined the British army; others organized companies that mercilessly robbed and murdered their whig neighbors. On the other hand there were patriot bands which rendezvoused (ren-da-vood) in swamps, and sallied out as occasion offered. These partisan corps kept the country in continual terror. Marion, Sumter, Pickens, and Lee, were noted patriot leaders. Their bands were strong enough to cut off British detachments, and even successfully attack small garrisons. The cruel treatment which the whigs received from the British drove many to this partisan warfare. The issue of the contest at the South was mainly decided by these bold citizen soldiers. [Footnote: A British officer sent to negotiate concerning an exchange of prisoners, dined with Marion. The dinner consisted of roasted potatoes. Surprised at this meagre diet, he made some inquiries, when he found that this was their customary fare, and that the patriot general served without pay. This devotion to the cause of liberty so affected the officer that he resigned his commission, thinking it folly to fight such men.] [Footnote: At _Hanging Rock_ (Aug. 6) Sumter gained a victory over a strong body of British and tories. He began the action with only two rounds of ammunition, but soon supplied himself from the fleeing tories. Frequently, in these contests, a portion of the bands would go into a battle without guns, arming themselves with the muskets of their comrades as they fell. At _King's Mountain_ (Oct. 7) a large body of independent riflemen, each company under its own leader, attacked Ferguson, who had been sent out to rally the tories of the neighborhood. Ferguson and one hundred and fifty of his men were killed, and the rest taken prisoners.] [Footnote: An event which occurred in Charleston aroused the bitterest resentment. When that city was captured by the British, Colonel Isaac Hayne, with others, was paroled, but was afterwards ordered into the British ranks. At this time his wife and several of his children lay at the point of death with small-pox. The choice was given him to become a British subject or to be placed in close confinement. Agonized by thoughts of his dying family, he signed a pledge of allegiance to England, with the assurance that he should never be required to fight against his countrymen. Being afterward summoned by Lord Rawdon to join the British army, he considered the pledge annulled, and raised a partisan band. He was captured, and without being allowed a trial, was condemned to death. The citizens of Charleston vainly implored pardon for him. Lord Rawdon allowed him forty-eight hours in which to take leave of his orphan children, at the end of which time he was hanged.] [Illustration: SUMTER.]