the British legion of infantry, forced the passage at Biggen bridge,
and drove Gen. Huger and the infantry before him. -- In this affair,
Major James Conyers, of the Americans, distinguished himself
by a skilful retreat, and by calling off the attention of the enemy
from his sleeping friends, to himself. The British had only
one officer and two men wounded. The account of the loss of the Americans
in this affair, is taken from Tarleton, who blames "the injudicious conduct of
the American commander, who besides making a false disposition of his corps,
by placing his cavalry in front of the bridge, during the night,
and his infantry in the rear, neglected sending patroles in front of
his videttes." In this surprise, the British made free use of the bayonet,
the houses in Monk's corner, then a village, were afterwards deserted,
and long bore the marks of deadly thrust, and much bloodshed.
Col. White soon after took the command of the American cavalry,
but with no better fortune. On the 5th May, he took a British officer
and seventeen men of the legion, at Ball's plantation, near Strawberry,
in the morning, and pushed back twenty-five miles, to Lenud's ferry,
on Santee. While crossing there, Tarleton surprised him, at three
in the afternoon; who states, that five officers and 36 men of the Americans
were killed and wounded, and seven officers and sixty dragoons were taken;
while he lost only two men, and retook his dragoons.
Cols. White and Washington, Major Jamieson, and several officers and men,
escaped by swimming the river, but many perished in the like attempt.*
Thus the American corps of cavalry and infantry, in the open field,
was completely annihilated, and from the Saltketcher to the Santee,
a distance of one hundred and twenty miles, either terror
or a general depression of spirits, had spread through the country.
What served to increase this, was the cannonade at the town.
This was a novel thing in South Carolina, and along water courses,
it was heard more than one hundred miles. In that distance,