regiment--all veterans--and sent them south under De Kalb, a brave
officer of German blood, who had seen long service in France. Virginia,
though herself exposed, nobly contributed arms and men. Gates, the
laurels of Saratoga still fresh upon his brow, was, against Washington's
judgment, appointed by Congress to succeed Lincoln.

Cornwallis, whom the return of Clinton to New York had left in command,
lay at Camden, S. C. Gates, as if he had but to look the Briton in the
eye to beat him, pompously assumed the offensive. On August 15th he made
a night march to secure a more favorable position near Camden.
Cornwallis happened to have chosen the same night for an attack upon
Gates. The two armies unexpectedly met in the woods, nine miles from
Camden, early in the morning of the 16th. Gates's force, increased by
North Carolina militia, was between 3,000 and 4,000. Cornwallis had
about 2,000. The American position was strong, a swamp protecting both
flanks, but at the first bayonet charge of the British veterans the raw
militia threw away their guns and "ran like a torrent." The Maryland and
Delaware Continentals stood their ground bravely, but were finally
obliged to retreat. De Kalb fell, with eleven wounds.

[Illustration: Portrait, holding a spear.]
General Sullivan.

This heroic foreigner had been sent hither by Choiseul before the
Revolution to report to the French minister on American affairs, and at
the outbreak of war had at great cost cast in his lot with our fathers.
Sent south to aid Lincoln, he arrived only in time to be utilized by
Gates. De Kalb was the hero of Camden. Wounded and his horse shot from
under him, on foot he led his stanch division in a charge which drove
Rawdon's men and took fifty prisoners. Believing his side victorious he
would not yield, though literally ridden down by Cornwallis' dragoons,
till his wounds exhausted him. Two-fifths of his noble division fell
with him.

The whole army was pursued for miles and completely scattered. Arms,
knapsacks, broken wagons, dead horses strewed the line of retreat. The
Americans lost 900 killed and as many more prisoners. The British loss
was less than 500. Gates, who had been literally borne off the field by
the panic-stricken militia, rode in all haste two hundred miles north to
Hillsborough, N. C, where he tried to organize a new army.

[Illustration: Portrait.]
General Lincoln.

The gloom created at the North by this defeat was deep