Southern States had more of romance and daring
enterprise connected with it than the war in the North," said Hand;
"though it must be owned, that the movements of the Northern armies were
of more consequence in the long run."

"Yes, there was more that most young men like to read about in the
Southern war," said Warner; "plenty of dare-devil movements, but no
Canadian expedition, nor Saratoga."

"It's a pity there are no soldiers of the Southern army here to reply to
your sneers," said Kinnison. "I know from what I've heard, there never
were better soldiers than the men who fought under Lee and Morgan, and I
scarcely think that George Washington himself was a better general than
Nathaniel Greene. But I was going to tell you of some other officers of
Lee's Legion; there was Lieutenant Manning, an Irishman, who was very
much of a favourite among his brother officers on account of his
good-humour in company, and his coolness and bravery in battle. Many
anecdotes are told of him which speak his parts, and if agreeable, I'll
tell some of them to you as they were told to me."

"Very agreeable," said Hand.

"The kind of stories I like to hear," said another of the young men.

"Well, you shall hear, if I can recollect aright," said Kinnison. "The
intrigues and efforts of Lord Cornwallis, to excite insurrection, backed
by a very formidable force, had produced among the Highland emigrants a
spirit of revolt, which it required all the energies of General Greene
to counteract, before it could be matured. The zeal and activity of
Lieutenant Colonel Lee, united to his acuteness and happy talent of
obtaining intelligence of every movement, and of the most secret
intentions of the enemy, pointed him out as the fittest man for this
important service. He was accordingly selected with orders to impede the
intercourse of Lord Cornwallis with the disaffected; to repress every
symptom of revolt, and promptly to cut off every party that should take
up arms for Britain. Constantly on the alert, he was equally anxious to
give security to his own command, while he harassed the enemy. A secure
position was, on one occasion, taken near a forked road, one division of
which led directly to Lord Cornwallis' camp, about six miles distant.
The ground was chosen in the dusk of evening; and to prevent surprise,
patrols of cavalry were kept out on each fork during the night. An order
for a movement before day had been communicated to every individual,