nd
given to Gates, the victor at Saratoga. One night both Gates and
Cornwallis set out to attack the other's camp. The two armies met at
daybreak, the British having the best position. But this really made
little difference, for Gates's Virginia militiamen ran away before the
British came within fighting distance. The North Carolina militia
followed the Virginians. Only the regulars from Maryland and Delaware
were left. They fought on like heroes until their leader, General John
De Kalb, fell with seventeen wounds. Then the survivors surrendered.
Gates himself had been carried far to the rear by the rush of the
fleeing militia.

[Battle of King's Mountain, 1780. _Hero Tales_, 71-78.]

159. King's Mountain, October, 1780.--Cornwallis now thought that
resistance surely was at an end. He sent an expedition to the
settlements on the lower slopes of the Alleghany Mountains to get
recruits, for there were many loyalists in that region. Suddenly from
the mountains and from the settlements in Tennessee rode a body of armed
frontiersmen. They found the British soldiers encamped on the top of
King's Mountain. In about an hour they had killed or captured every
British soldier.

[Illustration: THE SOUTHERN CAMPAIGNS.]

[Sidenote: General Greene.]

[Sidenote: Morgan's victory of the Cowpens, 1781.]

160. The Cowpens, 1781.--General Greene was now sent to the South
to take charge of the resistance to Cornwallis. A great soldier and a
great organizer Greene found that he needed all his abilities. His
coming gave new spirit to the survivors of Gates's army. He gathered
militia from all directions and marched toward Cornwallis. Dividing his
army into two parts, he sent General Daniel Morgan to threaten
Cornwallis from one direction, while he threatened him from another
direction. Cornwallis at once became uneasy and sent Tarleton to drive
Morgan away, but the hero of many hard-fought battles was not easily
frightened. He drew up his little force so skillfully that in a very few
minutes the British were nearly all killed or captured.

[Illustration: GENERAL MORGAN THE HERO OF COWPENS.]

[Sidenote: Greene's retreat.]

[Sidenote: The Battle of Guilford, 1781.]

161. The Guilford Campaign, 1781.--Cornwallis now made a desperate
attempt to capture the Americans, but Greene and Morgan joined forces
and marched diagonally across North Carolina. Cornwallis followed so
closely that frequently the two armies seemed to be one. When, h