Wynnesborough, Dec. 18, 1780.

DEAR TARLETON,
Our friends hereabouts are so timid and so stupid that I can get no intelligence. I have heard nothing from Ninety-six, but a man who came here from near Broad Rugiver says that General Cunningham¹ has beat Clarke, and wounded him mortally. I shall be glad to hear a confirmation of this. I hear a good account of our recruits in general, and hope to march from hence 3500 fighting men, leaving those I mentioned to you on the frontiers.

I trust you have made every possible shift rather than go much farther back, as I should in that case be uneasy about M'Arthur.

Very sincerely yours,
CORNWALLIS.

[Source: Charles, Marquis Cornwallis, The Correspondence of Charles, First Marquis Cornwallis, 2d ed. Ed. Charles Derek Ross. 3 vols. (London: J. Murray, 1859), 1:74.]

Notes:

¹ [1] Robert Cunningham of South Carolina, a Loyalist, b. 1737, d. 1813; he was taken by the rebels in 1775, but was rescued by his brothers. [ back ]