Discipline as well as mercy made the order advisable. The battle was not over. The Highlanders were still fighting fiercely against Pickens’ men. Tarleton was riding frantically toward his Legion cavalry to bring them back into the battle. But the militia riflemen were back on the field and Tarleton was their prime target. Bullets whistled around him as he rode. Several hit his horse. The animal crashed to the ground. Tarleton sprang up, his saber ready. Dr. Robert Jackson, assistant surgeon of the 71st, galloped to the distraught lieutenant colonel and offered him his horse. Tarleton refused. For a moment he seemed ready to die on the chaotic battlefield with his men. Dr. Jackson urged him again. Springing off his horse, he told Tarleton, “Your safety is of the highest importance to the army.” Tarleton mounted Jackson’s horse and rode to rally his troops. Fastening a white handkerchief to his cane, Jackson strolled toward the all-but-victorious Americans. No matter how the battle ended, he wanted to stay alive to tend the wounded. Looking over his shoulder at the battlefield, Tarleton clung to a shred of hope. An all-out charge by the cavalry could still “retrieve the day,” he said later. The Americans were “much broken by their rapid advance.” But the British Legion had no appetite for another encounter with the muskets of Andrew Pickens’ militia. “All attempts to restore order, recollection [of past glory] or courage, proved fruitless,” Tarleton said. No less than 200 Legion dragoons wheeled their horses and galloped for safety in the very teeth of Tarleton’s harangue. Fourteen officers and 40 dragoons of the 17th Regiment obeyed his summons and charged with him toward the all-but-disintegrated British battle line. Their chief hope was to save the cannon and rescue some small consolation from the defeat. Stages of the Battle Because the battle was a continuous flow of action from the opening skirmish to the pell-mell flight of the Legion dragoons at the end, the important maneuvers cannot all be shown on a single map. This sequence of maps diagrams the main stages of the battle. [Illustration: 1.] Skirmishers drive back Tarleton’s cavalry, sent forward to examine the enemy’s lines, and then withdraw into Pickens’ line of militia. Without pausing, Tarleton forms his line of battle. Green River Road Route 11 Morgan’s camp Washington’s cavalry Visitor Center Howard’s Continentals Pickens’ militia Skirmishers 17th dragoons Legion dragoons Tarleton’s main line 71st Highlanders Scruggs House [Illustration: 2.] The British advance on Pickens’ militia, who deliver the promised two shots each and fall back on the flanks. When they are pursued by British dragoons, Washington’s cavalry charges into action and drives them off.