I have so often escaped the danger, that I am contented
to do my duty, and submit myself to that fate which Heaven ordains."

The campaign of 1780 was a most unfortunate one for the Southern States,
as that of 1776 was for the Northern. Soon after General Gates took
command, the battle of Camden was fought, which resulted in the total
defeat of the Americans. Col. Williams gives an account of it in his
sketch of the campaign, but I have not been able to find any of his
private letters on the subject. The battle was fought on the 16th of
August, and from returns which Williams collected, the actual number of
fighting men or rather of able bodied troops, for some did not fight at
all, amounted only to three thousand and fifty-two, about one-half of
the nominal strength of the army. The numbers of the enemy were much
superior, and at the very time that Gen. Gates had determined to march
upon Camden, Lord Cornwallis, commander-in-chief, (Clinton having
returned to New York,) apprised of all that was passing in the interior
of the States, determined to march himself to reinforce Lord Rawdon,
thinking it highly probable from the position of the American army, that
Camden would be a point of speedy attack. He arrived there two days
before the battle, and unwilling to hazard an assault, determined to
surprise the rebels in their place of encampment at Clermont. Thus both
armies, ignorant of each other's intentions, moved about the same hour
of the night, and approaching each other, met half way between their
respective encampments at midnight. An exchange of fire between the
advanced guards was the first notice that either army had of the other.
Hostilities were for the time suspended, and from one of the prisoners
taken in the skirmish, Williams learned that Lord Cornwallis led the
army with three thousand troops under his especial command, besides
those of Lord Rawdon's.

This intelligence threw consternation into the American army, and Gen.
Gates called a council of war. It was decided that the time had passed
for any course but fighting. Frequent skirmishes occurred throughout the
night, which served to display the relative force and situation of the
two armies. Col. Williams narrates another circumstance which
contributed to distress the Americans, and he says:

"Nothing ought to be considered as trivial in an army which in any
degree affects the health or spirit of the troops, upon which often,
more than upon number, t