The Story of the Thirteen ColoniesGuerber, H. A. (Hélène Adeline)
History
The Story of the Thirteen Colonies
Guerber, H. A. (Hélène Adeline)
United States -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
We are told that it was during this race for the Dan that Greene
once stopped at the house of a patriot Southern lady, Mrs. Steele.
She quickly supplied him with warm garments and food, and hearing
him say he could not pay her because he was penniless, she brought
him all her savings, which she forced him to accept and use for the
sake of his country.
It seems also that in the course of this campaign the Americans
laid siege to a house which served as a fort for British soldiers.
Although Light-Horse Harry Lee was very anxious to secure these men,
he soon found that he could not drive them out of the house. He
therefore asked Mrs. Motte, owner of the place, whether she would
allow him to set fire to it, to force the British out.
She not only consented to this,--although the house was all she
had,--but brought Lee an Indian bow and arrows, so that he could
shoot bits of flaming wood upon the shingled roof. The house was
thus soon in flames, and the British, seeing they would be roasted
alive if they staid in it, and shot if they tried to escape,
promptly surrendered. Then the fire was put out, and as it had not
yet gained much headway, Mrs. Motte did not, after all, lose the
house which she had been willing to sacrifice for the sake of her
country.
As was the case all through the Southern campaign, the British were
very cruel; still, a few patriots managed to escape from their
clutches. For example, one of Tarleton's men once ordered a prisoner
to give him the silver buckles he wore. The man proudly bade the
Englishman take them if he wanted them. Knowing that he would be
slain if he did not escape, the American killed the man kneeling
before him, and, jumping on a riderless horse, dashed away. Before
any of the four hundred men around there thought of pursuing him, he
was out of reach.
As soon as his men had rested a little from their fatigues, Greene
again led them against the British, whom he met at Guil´ford
Courthouse in North Carolina. Here, although the Americans behaved
with great valor, the British won the victory. But it was at the
cost of so many lives that when Fox, a British statesman, heard of
it, he sadly exclaimed: "Another such victory would ruin us!"
The site of the old Revolutionary battlefield at Guilford Courthouse
is now a beautiful park. Here are many interesting statues, and
in the museum, among other curiosities, you can see British and
American flags peacefully crossed, showing that after the war was
over the two parties generously forgot the past and were ready to
meet as friends.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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