"Notwithstanding every order, every entreaty that Lord Cornwallis has given to the army, to prevent the shameful practice of plundering and distressing the country, and these orders backed by every effort that can have been made by Brigadier-General O'Hara, he is shocked to find that this evil still prevails, and ashamed to observe that the frequent complaints he receives from headquarters of the irregularity of the Guards particularly affect the credit of that corps. He therefore calls upon the officers, non-commissioned officers, and those men who are yet possessed of the feelings of humanity, and actuated by the principles of true soldiers, _the love of their country, the good of the service, and the honor of their own corps_, to assist with the same indefatigable diligence the General himself is determined to persevere in, in order to detect and punish all men and women so offending with the utmost severity of example." Such was Lord Cornwallis's policy. What was the disposition toward him of the country through which he was passing? "So inveterate was the rancor of the inhabitants, that the expresses for the Commander-in-Chief were frequently murdered; and the people, instead of remaining quietly at home to receive pay for the produce of their plantations, made it a practice to waylay the British foraging parties, fire their rifles from concealed places, and then fly to the woods." (Stedman's History.) In all cases where the country people practice such warfare, retaliation by the army so annoyed is justified. But even in Colonel Tarleton's ("bloody Tarleton's") command, Lord Cornwallis took care that justice should be done. In Tarleton's own narrative we read: "On the arrival of some country people, Lord Cornwallis directed Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton to dismount his dragoons and mounted infantry, and to form them into a rank entire, for the convenient inspection of the inhabitants, and to facilitate the discovery of the villains who had committed atrocious outrages the preceding evening. A sergeant and one private were pointed out, and accused of rape and robbery. They were condemned to death by martial law. The immediate infliction of this sentence exhibited to the army and manifested to the country the discipline and justice of the British General." In Lee's Memoirs, we learn that on one occasion he captured on the banks of the Haw, in Alamance, two of Tarleton's staff, "who had been detained in _settling for the subsistence of the detachment_." What was the course of General Sherman's officers, eighty-four years afterward, in the very same neighborhood, on the very same ground, let us now see. "Look on this picture, then on that." FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 2: 'Tis a thousand pities that a certain gallant major-general, late of the cavalry service in General S.'s army, (now Minister to Chili,) could not have his attention drawn to this.] CHAPTER III.