s.

The British army readied Salisbury on that night, and on the next
morning started in pursuit of Green and Morgan. These officers did not
await the dawn, but crossed the Yadkin river at the Trading Ford, six
miles beyond Salisbury, while his Lordship was quietly slumbering, and
dreaming, perhaps, of future conquest and glory! When Cornwallis awoke
on the morning of the third, he hastened to strike a fatal blow on the
banks of the Yadkin, but the Americans were beyond his reach, and
Providence had again placed an impassable barrier of water between
them. Copious rains in the mountains had swollen the Yadkin to a
mighty river. The horses of Morgan had forded the stream at midnight,
and the infantry passed over in boats at dawn. These vessels were
fastened on the eastern shore of the Yadkin, and Cornwallis was
obliged to wait for the waters to subside before he could attempt to
cross. Again he had the Americans _almost within his grasp_. A corps
of riflemen were yet on the Western side when O'Hara, with the
vanguard of the British army, approached, but these escaped across the
river, after a slight skirmish. Nothing was lost but a few wagons
belonging to Whig families, who, with their effects, were fleeing with
the American army.

Lord Cornwallis, after an ineffectual cannonade over the river,
returned to Salisbury, and, on the 7th, marched up the western bank of
the Yadkin, and crossed at the Shallow Ford, near the village of
Huntsville.

Dr. Read, the surgeon of the American army, has left this record of
the cannonading scene:

"At a little distance from the river was a small cabin, in
which General Greene had taken up his quarters. At this
building the enemy directed their fire, and the balls
rebounded from the rocks in the rear of it. But little of
the roof was visible to the enemy. The General was preparing
his orders for the army, and his dispatches to the Congress.
In a short time the balls began to strike the roof, and
clapboards were flying in all directions. But the General's
pen never stopped, only when a new visitor arrived, or some
officer for orders; and then the answer was given with
calmness and precision, and Greene resumed his pen."

It is related as a truthful tradition that, after the British army
reached Salisbury, Lord Cornwallis, Tarleton, and other royal
officers, were hospitably entertained by Dr. Anthony Newman, although
he was a tr