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it arrive, or, in any event, to make a great, and he hoped a successful effort, to give the ascendancy, in North Carolina, to the royal cause, he sent seIveral commissions to the leaders of the Highlanders, for raising and commanding regiments; and granted one to a Mr. M'Donald, their Chief, to act as their General. He also sent them a proclamation, to be used on a proper occasion, commanding all persons, on their allegiance, to repair to the royal standard. Impatient to begin his operations, this was erected by General M'Donald at Cross Creek, about the middle of February, and about fifteen hundred men arranged themselves under it.

Upon the first advice that the loyalists were assembling, Brigadier-General Moore immediately marched at the head of a provincial regiment, with such militia as he could suddenly collect, and some pieces of cannon, to an important post, within a few miles of them, called Rockfish Bridge, of which he took possession; and, being inferior in numbers, he immediately intrenched himself, and took the necessary precautions to render his camp defensible. General M'Donald soon approached, at the head of his army, and sent a letter to Moore, enclosing the Governor's proclamation, and recommending to him and his party to join the King's standard by a given hour the next day. This invitation was accompanied with

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the threat, that he should be under the necessity of considering them as enemies, in the event of their refusing to accede to the proposition he had made.

Moore, knowing that the provincial forces were collecting and marching from all quarters, protracted the negotiation, in the hope that M'Donald might be completely surrounded. When, at length, it became necessary to speak decisively, he, in his final answer, declared, that he and his followers were engaged in a cause the most glorious and honourable in the world-the defence of the liberties of mankind; and, in return for the proclamation of the Governor, he sent the test proposed by Congress, with a proffer, that, if they subscribed it, and laid down their arms, they should be received as friends; but, if they refused to comply, they must expect consequences similar to those with which they had threatened his people.

M'Donald now perceiving the danger he was in of being enclosed, suddenly decamped, and endeavoured, with much dexterity, by forced marches, by the unexpected passing of rivers, and great celerity of movement, to disengage himself.

His primary object was to join Governor Martin, Lord William Campbell, and General Clinton, who had never arrived in this colony, and to penetrate with them the interior of the province; by which means it was expected that all the back settlers

VOL. II.

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settlers of the southern colonies would be united in support of the royal cause, and the Indians be also induced to take up arms in their favour.

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The provincial parties, however, were so close in the pursuit, and so alert in every part of the country, that he at length found himself under the necessity of engaging Colonels Caswell and Lillington, who, with about one thousand minutemen and militia, had intrenched themselves directly in his front, at a place called Moore's Creek Bridge. The royalists were greatly superior in number, but were under the disadvantage of being compelled to cross the bridge, the planks of which were partly taken up in the face of the intrenchments occupied by the provincials. They commenced the attack, however, with great spirit; but Colonel M'Leod, who, in consequence of the indisposition of M'Donald, commanded them, and several others of their bravest officers and men having fallen in the first onset, their courage deserted them, and they fled with the utmost precipitation in all directions, leaving behind them their General and several others of their leaders, who fell into the hands of the provincials *.

This victory was of eminent service to the American cause in North Carolina. It broke the spirits of a great body of men, who would have con

* Ramsay. Gordon.-Ann. Reg.-Gazette.

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stituted a very formidable reinforcement to an invading army; it increased the confidence of the provincials in themselves, and attached to them the timid and the wavering, who form a large portion of every community.

General Clinton, who was to command in the south, had left Boston with a force too inconsiderable to attempt any thing till the arrival of the troops expected from Europe. After parting with Governor Tryon in New York, he had proceeded to Virginia, where he passed a few days with Lord Dunmore; but finding himself too weak to effect any thing in that province, he set out for North Carolina, and remained with Governor Martin in Cape Fear till the arrival of Sir Peter Parker. That officer had sailed about the close of the last year from Portsmouth, to take on board some regiments stationed in Ireland; but had been detained so long, first by delays in that kingdom, and afterwards by contrary winds, that he did not arrive on the coast of North Carolina till the beginning of May. Fortunately for that province, the unsuccessful insurrection of M'Donald had previously broken the strength and spirits of the loyalists, and deprived them of their most active chiefs; in consequence of which, the operations which had been meditated by the provincials were, for the present, deferred. Clinton continued at Cape Fear, probably undetermined respecting his

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future measures, till near the end of that month; when, hearing nothing certain from General Howe, it was determined to make an attempt on Charlestown, the capital of South Carolina *.

A letter from the Secretary of State to Mr. Eden, the royal Governor of Maryland, disclosing the designs of administration against the southern colonies, was fortunately intercepted in the Chesapeake early in the month of April; and thus South Carolina became apprised of the danger which threatened its metropolis. Mr. Rutlege, a gentleman of vigour and talents, who on the dissolution of the regal government had been chosen president of that province, adopted the most energetic means for placing it in a posture of defence. In addition to a great number of slaves belonging to non-associators who were impressed and brought in from the country for the purposes of labour, all ranks of citizens were employed on the works, and gentlemen of independent fortunes prided themselves on being among the first to use the hoe and the spade. The defence of Charlestown was strengthened, and a new fort, afterwards called Fort Moultrie, was constructed on Sullivan's Island, an advantageous position, from whence ships of war approaching the town might be greatly an

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