variously estimated, encamped on the Cape Fear river, CHAP. four miles below Cross Creek.

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On that same day Moore, who, at the first menace 1776. of danger, took the field at the head of his regiment, and lay in an intrenched camp at Rockfish, was joined by Lillington, with one hundred and fifty minute men from Wilmington, by Kenon with two hundred of the Duplin militia, and by Ashe with about a hundred volunteer independent rangers; so that his number was increased to eleven hundred.

On the nineteenth the royalists were paraded, with a view to assail Moore on the following night; but his camp was too strong to be attempted; and at the bare suspicion of such a project, two companies of Cotton's corps ran off with their arms. On that day Donald Macdonald, their commander, sent Donald Morrison with a proclamation, prepared the month before by Martin, calling on Moore and his troops to join the king's standard, or to be considered as enemies. Moore made answer instantly, that "neither his duty nor his inclination permitted him to accept terms so incompatible with American freedom;" and in return, he besought Macdonald not to array the deluded people under his command, against men who were resolved to hazard every thing in defence of the liberties of mankind. "You declare sentiments of revolt, hostility, and rebellion to the king and to the constitution," was Macdonald's prompt answer; a soldier in his majesty's service, it is my duty to conquer, if I cannot reclaim, all those who may be hardy enough to take up arms against the best of masters."

(6 as

But knowing that Caswell, at the head of the gallant minute men of Newbern, and others to the num

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CHAP. ber of six or eight hundred, was marching through LVIII. Duplin county, to effect a junction with Moore, Mac1776. donald became aware of the extremity of his danger; cut off from the direct road along the Cape Fear, he resolved to leave the army at Rockfish in his rear, and by celerity of movement, and crossing rivers at unexpected places, to disengage himself from that larger force, and encounter the party with Caswell alone. Before marching, he urged his men to fidelity, expressed bitter scorn of "the base cravens who had deserted the night before," and continued: "If any amongst you is so faint-hearted as not to serve with the resolution of conquering or dying, this is the time for such to declare themselves." The speech was answered by a general huzza for the king; but from Cotton's corps about twenty men laid down their arms. The army then marched to Fayetteville, employed the night in crossing the Cape Fear, sunk their boats, and sent a party fifteen miles in advance to secure the bridge over South River. This the main body passed on the twenty first, and took the direct route to Wilmington. On the day on which they effected the passage, Moore detached Lillington and Ashe to reënforce Caswell, or, if that could not be effected, to occupy Moore's Creek bridge.

On the following days the Scots and Regulators drew near to Caswell, who perceived their purpose, and changed his own course, the more effectually to intercept their march. On the twenty third they thought to overtake him, and were arrayed in the order of battle, eighty able-bodied Highlanders, armed with broadswords, forming the centre of the army; but Caswell was already posted at Corbett's Ferry,

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and could not be reached for want of boats. The CHAP. royalists were in extreme danger; but at a point six miles higher up the Black River a negro succeeded in 1776. raising for their use a broad shallow boat; and while Maclean and Fraser, with a few men, a drum, and a pipe, were left to amuse Caswell, the main body of the loyalists crossed Black River near what is now Newkirk Bridge.

On the twenty fifth, Lillington, who had not as yet been able to join Caswell, took post with his small party on the east side of the bridge over Moore's Creek. On the afternoon of the twenty sixth, Caswell reached its west side, and raising a small breastwork and destroying a part of the bridge, awaited the enemy, who on that day advanced within six miles of him. A messenger from the loyalists, sent to his camp under the pretext of summoning him to return to his allegiance, brought back word that he had halted upon the same side of the river with themselves, and could be attacked with advantage; but the wise Carolina commander, who was one of the best woodmen in the province, as well as a man of superior ability, had no sooner misled his enemy, than lighting up fires and leaving them burning, he crossed the creek, took off the planks from the bridge, and placed his men behind trees and such slight intrench ments as the night permitted to be thrown up.

The loyalists, expecting an easy victory, unanimously agreed that his camp should be immediately assaulted. His force at that time amounted to a thousand men, consisting of the Newbern minute men, of militia from Craven, Johnson, Dobbs, and Wake counties, and the detachment under Lillington. The

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CHAP. army under Macdonald, who was himself confined to his tent by illness, numbered between fifteen and six1776. teen hundred. At one o'clock in the morning of the twenty seventh, the loyalists, commanded by Donald Macleod, began their march; but it cost so much time to cross an intervening morass, that it was within an hour of daylight before they reached the western bank of the creek. There they had expected to find Caswell encamped; they entered the ground in three columns without resistance, for Caswell and all his force had taken post on the opposite side. The Scots were now within less than twenty miles of Wilming ton; orders were directly given to reduce the columns, and for the sake of concealment to form the line of battle within the verge of the wood; the rallying cry was, "King George and broadswords;" the signal for the attack, three cheers, the drum to beat and the pipes to play. It was still dark; Macleod, who led the van of about forty, was challenged at the bridge by the Carolina sentinels, asking: "Who goes there?" He answered: "A friend."-"A friend to whom? "To the king." Upon this the sentinels bent themselves down with their faces towards the ground. Macleod then challenged them in Gaelic, thinking they might be some of his own party who had crossed the bridge; receiving no answer, he fired his own piece, and ordered those with him to fire. Of the bridge that separated the Scots and the Carolinians, nothing had been left but the two logs, which had served as sleepers; only two persons therefore could pass at a time. Donald Macleod and John Campbell rushed forward, and succeeded in getting over; Highlanders who followed with broadswords, were shot

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down on the logs, falling into the deep and muddy CHAP. water of the creek. Macleod, who was greatly esteemed for his valor and his worth, was mortally 1776. wounded; and yet he was seen to rise repeatedly from the ground, flourishing his sword and encouraging his men to come on, till he received twenty six, or as some say thirty six, balls in his body. Campbell also was shot dead. It was impossible to furnish men for the deadly pass, and in a very few minutes the assailants fled in irretrievable despair. The Americans had but three wounded, one only mortally; of their opponents, about thirty, less than fifty at most, were killed or mortally wounded, most of them while passing the bridge. The routed fugitives could never be rallied; during the following day the aged Macdonald their general, and many others of the chief men, were taken prisoners; amongst the rest, Macdonald of Kingsborough and one of his sons, who were at first confined in Halifax jail, and afterwards transferred to Reading in Pennsylvania. Thirteen wagons, with complete sets of horses, eighteen hundred stand of arms, one hundred and fifty swords, two medicine chests just received from England, a box containing fifteen thousand pounds sterling in gold, fell to the victors; eight or nine hundred common soldiers were taken, disarmed, and dismissed.

A generous zeal pervaded all ranks of people in every part of North Carolina; in less than a fortnight more than nine thousand four hundred men had risen against the enemy; and the coming of Clinton inspired no terror. They knew well the difficulty of moving from the sea into their back country, and almost every man was ready to turn out at an hour's