A Brief History of the United StatesSteele, Joel Dorman
History
A Brief History of the United States
Steele, Joel Dorman
United States -- History
[Footnote: Colonel William A. Washington, in a personal combat in
this battle, wounded Tarleton. Months afterward, the British
officer while conversing with Mrs. Jones, a witty American lady,
sneeringly said, "That Colonel Washington is very illiterate. I am
told that he cannot write his name." "Ah, Colonel," replied she,
"you bear evidence that he can make his mark." Tarleton expressing,
at another time, his desire to see Colonel Washington, the lady
replied, "Had you looked behind you at Cowpens, you might have had
that pleasure."]
GREENE'S RETREAT.--General Greene now joined Morgan, and conducted
the retreat. At the Yadkin, just as the Americans had reached the
other side, it began to rain. When Cornwallis came up, the river
was so swollen that he could not cross. He, however, marched up the
stream, effected a passage, and was soon in full pursuit again. Now
came a race, on parallel roads, thirty miles per day, for the fords
of the Dan. Greene reached them first, and Cornwallis gave up the
chase. This signal deliverance of Greene's exhausted army awoke
every pious feeling of the American heart, and was a cause for
general thanksgiving.
[Footnote: During this retreat, General Greene, after a hard day's
ride in the rain, alighted at the door of Mrs. Elizabeth Steele, in
Salisbury, N. C., announcing himself as, "fatigued, hungry, cold,
and penniless." Quickly providing the honored guest with a warm
supper before a cheerful fire, this patriotic woman brought forth
two small bags of specie, her earnings for years. "Take these," she
said; "you will want them, and I can do without them." "Never,"
says his biographer, "did relief come at a more needy moment; the
hero resumed his dangerous journey that night with a lightened
heart." Another story illustrative of the patriotism of the
Southern women is told of Mrs. Motte. The British had taken
possession of her house, fortified and garrisoned it. On Colonel
Lee's advance, she furnished him a bow and arrows, by means of
which fire was thrown upon the shingled roof. Her mansion was soon
in flames. The occupants, to save their lives, surrendered.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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