Battle of Camden

“ General Gates had lost the confidence of the officers, and the troops all their discipline, and so addicted to plundering, that they were a terror to the inhabitants. The General and I met upon very good terms, and parted so. The old gentleman was in great distress, having but just heard of the death of his son before my arrival.
The battle of Camden is spoken of very differently here to what it is to the Northward, and as for a regular retreat, there was none ; every man got off the ground in the best manner he could. ”

“ The effect of this withdrawal of Cornwallis was of great value to the American cause, and cleared away obstructions to a broader range of operations for the army of the North. Subsequently, on the twenty-fifth of April Greene met Rawdon, at Hobkirk Hill, in an action sometimes called the Second Battle of Camden, as it was fought near that town, in which the American casualties were two hundred and seventy-one, and the British casualties were two hundred and fifty-eight. Greene, after the action, withdrew to Rugeley’s Mills, and Rawdon to Camden. ”

“ The British victory was complete; the Americans lost about 1,000 killed and wounded, over 1,000 prisoners, and their artillery and stores; the British casualties were 324. Two days later Colonel Tarleton smartly surprised Sumter, and dispersed his band, retaking a convoy which had fallen into his hands shortly before the battle of Camden. The defeat of Gates's army drove the Americans almost to despair. ”

“ The disheartening intelligence, that Cornwallis had reinforced the British army, and the darkness of night, may, in some measure, account for the conduct of the militia in the battle of Camden, for they gave way early in the action, thereby throwing the whole of the British troops entirely upon the two Maryland brigades, who maintained the contest obstinately against superior numbers, at one time making a partially successful attempt to use the bayonet. ”

“ Cornwallis, it was understood, since the battle of Camden, had removed his head-quarters into the neighborhood of the Waxhaws, some distance up the Catawba, where he was supposed to be yet stationary. The whole country in the neighborhood of either army was in a state of earnest preparation; the British commander recruiting his forces for further and immediate operations—the American endeavoring to reassemble his feeble and scattered auxiliaries for defence. ”

“ Battle of Camden, between the provincials, about 1200, and the British under lord Rawdon. In the beginning of the action the Americans had essentially the advantage; but the premature retreat of two companies occasioned a total defeat. Greene retreated in such order as to bring off all his wounded and cannon, and took 50 prisoners.
1781. British under Arnold and Philips took Petersburg, Va., after a smart action with baron Steuben. They burnt 400 hogsheads of tobacco, a ship, and several small craft.
1782. Adrian Balbi, the Venitian geographer, was born at Venice. ”

“ The battle at Camden was sanguinary, and had the effect to spread a gloom over the face of American affairs. The loss of the patriots exceeded six hundred in killed; the wounded and prisoners thirteen hundred. The British stated their loss to be only three hundred in killed and wounded.
Cornwallis was the victor—but the British cause had now reached its culminating point. Elated at their successes, the conquerors grew insolent and rapacious; the Americans, resolute and determined. ”

“ Clinton in his despatch to Lord George Germain dated 5 June, points out ‘that the enemy's killed, wounded, and taken exceed Lieutenant-colonel Tarleton's numbers with which he attacked them.’
The victory of Camden gained by Cornwallis on 16 Aug. 1780 over the American general, Gates, was completed by a charge of cavalry under Tarleton against infantry and artillery, and a pursuit continued for upwards of twenty miles from the field of battle, when all the baggage and the last piece of the enemy's ordnance were taken. ”

“ The total loss sustained by the British army has been stated at two hundred and fifty-eight, of whom thirty-eight were killed in the field.
The plan which the strength of Camden and his own weakness had induced General Greene originally to adopt, was still substantially pursued. He remained in the vicinity of that place, and by the activity of his cavalry, straightened the communication of the garrison with the neighbouring country. Their distress for provisions had been considerably increased by the progress of Marion and Lee. ”

“ This Jack of Newbury, alias Winchcombe, alias Smallwoode, “was the most considerable clothier England ever had. He kept an hundred looms in his house, each managed by a man and a boy. He feasted King Henry VIII. and his first Queen Catherine at his own house in Newbury, now divided into sixteen clothiers’ houses. He built the Church of Newbury, from the pulpit westward to the town.” [98] At the battle of Flodden in 1513, he joined the Earl of Surrey with a corps of one hundred men, well equipped at his sole expense, who distinguished themselves greatly in that fight. ”

“ In 1605 he published his Remains concerning Britain, a book of collections from the Britannia, which quickly passed through seven editions; and he wrote an official account of the trial of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators as Actio in Henricum Garnetum, Societatis Jesuiticae in Anglia superiorem et caeteros.
Camden, who refused a knighthood, was a man of enormous industry, and possessed a modest and friendly disposition. He had a large number of influential friends, among whom were Archbishop Ussher, Sir Robert Cotton, John Selden, the French jurist Brisson, and Isaac Casaubon. ”

“ On his father's death in 1787 he succeeded to the peerage, and he was appointed colonel of the 6th regiment of dragoons, 23 June 1788. In 1789 he became lieutenant-general of the ordnance in Ireland, and in 1795 was entrusted with the suppression of the Defenders in Connaught and the pacification of the province. His impressment of many rebels as sailors provoked much hostile criticism; but in 1796 he was promoted to the commandership of the forces in Ireland. He continued his high-handed policy. ‘Carhampton,’ the lord-lieutenant Lord Camden wrote to the Duke of Portland on 22 Jan. ”

“ The enemy fled, and our forces occupied their works without an engagement.
"The pursuit of the enemy in this direction was abandoned. The command arrived at Camden on the 16th of April, 1864, and occupied the place with its strong fortifications without opposition. On the day following, Colonel Williams started with five hundred men of the 1st Colorado, two hundred Cavalry, detailed from the 2nd, 6th and 14th, Kansas regiments, and one section of the 2nd Indian Battery, with a train to load forage and provisions at a point twenty miles west of Camden, on the Washington road. ”

“ His entire correspondence, private and public, bears one and the same burthen—the violence, cruelty, and tyranny of Lord Camden's chief advisers, and the pitiful weakness of the Viceroy himself. Against the infamous plan of letting loose a lustful and brutal soldiery to live at "free quarters" on a defenceless and disarmed people—an outrage against which Englishmen had taken perpetual security at their revolution, as may be seen in "the Bill of Rights," he struggled during his six months' command, but with no great success. ”

“ Greene, without regard to the movements of his opponent, pushed on and established himself at Hobkirk's Hill, about a mile from Rawdon's headquarters at Camden. The militia having either deserted or their term of service being expired his force was reduced to 1,800 men, but those in fact included all on whom he could ever place much dependence. Camden was occupied by Rawdon with about 800 men, the other troops being employed upon the defense of detached posts, yet his position was judged so strong as to afford no hope of success in a direct attack. ”

“ On 7 Sept. 1607 Camden had injured his leg so severely by a fall from his horse that he was kept to his house for nine months, only leaving it at length to attend the funeral of his friend Sir John Fortescue, who had assisted him in his early work on the 'Annals.' During this confinement 'he put the last hand to his "Britannia" which gained him the titles of the Varro, the Strabo, and the Pausanias of Britain in the writings and letters of learned men' (Gibson) , and published during 1607 an edition in folio, which was a considerable enlargement on those which had preceded. ”

“ The strife would be marked by unheard-of atrocities. For the sake of human nature, Pitt must at once send 5,000 regular troops. Camden added that cavalry were useless against lines of pikemen, a phrase which tells of the dogged fury of the peasantry. Nevertheless, his assertion that the rebellion was extensive proves his lack of balance. The saving facts of the situation were that the Ulstermen had not yet moved; that Connaught and Munster were quiet; and of Leinster, only Kildare, Wexford, and parts of Carlow and Wicklow were in arms. In Dublin murder was rife, but the pikemen did not muster. ”

“ His method to anticipate the meditated malice of his enemies, is well worthy of notice. He always had in his service a parcel of active young men, generally selected from the best whig families, and of tried courage and fidelity. These, mounted on the swiftest horses, he would station in the neighborhood of those places where the British and tories were embodied in force, as Camden, Georgetown, &c. ”

“ Whatever may be the future historian’s dictum as to its value, the First Battle of Cambrai must always rank as one of the most remarkable battles ever fought. On November 20, from a base of some 13,000 yards in width, a penetration of no less than 10,000 yards was effected in twelve hours (at the Third Battle of Ypres a similar penetration took three months) , 8000 prisoners and 100 guns were captured, and these prisoners alone were nearly double the casualties suffered by the 3rd and 4th Armies during the first day of the battle. ”

“ Thus, here again, events made for animosity and bloodshed. Protestants remembered the foul play at Prosperous; the rebels swore to avenge the treachery at the Curragh.
News of the first of these events sped across the Irish Sea on 25th and 26th May. They reached Pitt just before or after his Whitsunday duel on Putney Heath. Thick and fast came the tales of slaughter. On 29th May Camden wrote in almost despairing terms—The rebellion was most formidable and extensive. It would certainly be followed by a French invasion. It must be suppressed at once. ”

“ The 310th Brigade was in action covering the Guards' Division, but the 312th were resting at and around Estourmel, and came back under my command. This day brought to a close the Battle of Cambrai—St. Quentin, 27th September to 10th October, which in ten days of victorious fighting broke through the last and strongest of the enemy's fully prepared positions, opening the way to a war of movement and an advance on the German main lines of communication. Thirty-five Infantry, 3 Cavalry, and 2 American Divisions defeated 45 German Divisions, taking 48,500 prisoners and 630 guns. ”

“ The baggage of our army was sent off to Rugely's, and the troops halted at Saunder's Creek, about two miles South of where we fought last year, and about five miles from Camden. The loss was nearly equal on both sides, if we do not consider the loss of opportunity. We lost about 130 killed and wounded, and from every account the enemy were not more lucky.
"The cavalry, the light infantry, and the guards, acquired all the honor, and the infantry of the battalions all the disgrace that fell upon our shoulders. The cavalry, led on by Washington, behaved in a manner truly heroic. ”

“ We had literally fought every step of the way from Georgetown to Camden, and the enemy made a last desperate stand at this place. No better position could be found for a defense, as the only approach to it, was by a narrow embankment about 200 yards long, where only one could walk at a time. ”

“ This decisive victory cost the British only 80 men killed and 245 wounded. Eight hundred or 900 of the Americans were killed or wounded, and about 1,000 taken prisoners. The militia endeavored to save themselves by flight; the Continentals alone fought, and almost half their number fell.
While the army under Gates was completely defeated and dispersed Colonel Sumter was successful in his enterprise. On the evening in which Cornwallis marched from Camden he reduced the redoubt on the Wateree, took the stores on their way to Camden, and made about 100 prisoners. ”

“ At a little after nine o'clock, when the lights had been extinguished, and a teacher made the nightly rounds, a Camanche scout quietly closed and bolted the iron doors and relighted the hall lamps. Then, with hair-starting war-whoops, the savages began dropping down through the trap-door, which opened from one hall to another in the capacity of fire-escapes.
The Diggers, peacefully studying in their rooms, were summarily ordered into the hall to battle. Every man protested, but the Camanches refused to parley. Then, seizing their weapons, the assailed marched forth to the field of carnage. ”

“ The strengthening of the Queen’s navy and the building of merchantmen continued without intermission. Camden says that in consequence of this activity there were now (1562) 20,000 fighting men ready for sea service alone. All the fortresses were put into order for defence, and the shortcomings of material and system demonstrated in the Scottish campaign were remedied. The ample correspondence on these points in the Hatfield Papers are all endorsed, annotated, or drafted in Sir William Cecil’s own hand, and no detail seems to have escaped him. ”