|
HOME
DOCUMENTS
BATTLE
Edward Stevens letter to Thomas Jefferson 27 August 1780
Page one Page two Page three Page four
North Carolina Hillsborough August 27th,, 1780 Agreeable to orders I am Just arrived here with all the Men that was Collected about Peadee, I wrote you from Spinkes[1] about 70 miles from this giving you an Account of our unfortunate affair of the 16th It is not in my power to Give you a more Satisfactory Account of the Disaster now than I did then, and as you have had an Opportunity of seeing Majr McGill[2] presume he has given you every Information that I could do. Great Numbers of the Militia has certainly gone home, it is not Possible to say what numbers of them were lost; I now furnish you with a Return of those we have collected, having lost every Paper I cannot inform you of ye Situation of the Brigade before the Action. The total loss of my Papers renders every thing more confused than it otherwise would have been; all the Publick Money which was in the care of QM is lost except about ___ which was all that he could get off, we had expended little or none of it, in any thing else but the payment of �60[?]� a man, by a return I now furnish you with you'll see that the Militia have lost nearly all their arms and accoutriments. I am determined unless ordered to the contrary that those who have lost them shall pay for them out of their Wages, this has been notified to them and is what they
expect, tho' then it will by no means be adequate to the loss of the Arms How they are to be again furnished or what is to be done with them must rest with you, Aand the sooner I can hear from you on the Subject the better. I believe it is Genl Gate's Intention as soon as the Virginia Militia can be armed to send them forward to Guildford. The Assembly of this State was to have set at this place the 20th of this Month but they cannot yet make a House, what may be their Intentions with respect to their present situation of affairs I am a Stranger to. But make no doubt, the Governor of the State has wrote you since our disaster, All the spare Arms that I left in the care of a Major Meagarett[?], by order of Genl Gates, was delivered out to the Militia of this State. They have all lost their arms as Well as the V Militia. The men under me are in a very distressed situation on Acct of the loss of their Cloths, and if they are Continued in Service untill cold Weather they will be much more so. It is true from their Rascally Behavior they deserve very little attention to be paid to their destresses but if no attempt is made to alleviate them, Bad Consequences may result from it, for when they return Home, they will make such impressions on the Minds of others that whenever there is a necessity of calling on the Militia again it may add reatly to the Difficulty of getting them out, Indeed Humanity requires that something should be attempted for their relief, from these Considerations I have obtained G. Gates approbation to send an Officer to every County with a list of the Mens Names to Collect from their Friends Cloths and other Necessaries
for them, and as numbers of Waggons must be sent on from Virginia for the use of the Southern Army they can be handily sent out and if it meets your Sanction the business[?] will go on, if not you'll countermand it. The Report of Colo Sumpters Defeat has turned out to be too true he had got near 60 Miles from Camdon[3] with a Number of the Enemies Waggons but was pursued by a Body of Horse and was Surprised while his Men were getting some refreshment. Lord Cornwallis had his Baggage taken by a party of Militia as it was going from Charles Town to Camdon.
I am, &c
Copy of a Letter from Edward
By John Robertson
|
