ng with the enemy at a place called
the Cow-pens, although their force was greatly superior, he immediately
engaged them, and was defeated with considerable less. Soon after this
affair General Greene took the field in person, and Lord Cornwallis,
being joined by General Leslie, resolved to cross the Catawba and give
him battle. Cornwallis forced a passage over that river on the 1st of
February, and his troops scattered the North Carolina militia that were
stationed on the opposite bank to defend the ford, and killed many of
them, with General Davidson, their commander. Greene retreated to the
Yadkin, closely followed by Cornwallis, and both armies crossed that
river. Cornwallis took up a position between Greene and the frontiers
of Virginia, and a variety of manouvres and rapid marches ensued. In the
end, however, Greene succeeded in placing the river Dan between him
and the enemy, and getting on a line of march which would lead him into
Virginia, without being compelled to risk a battle. Desisting from the
pursuit, Cornwallis proceeded to Hillsborough, the capital of North
Carolina, where he raised the royal standard, and issued proclamations
to the people. All North Carolina appeared to be at his feet, for
there was no army to resist him, and the royalists soon began to form
themselves into independent companies, to serve with Tarleton's legion.
Greene, however, who had been recruited on the Virginian frontier,
soon returned, resolving to keep the field, though he wished to avoid
a general engagement. Soon after his return he sent Lieutenant-colonel
Lee, with a detachment, against a body of nearly three hundred
loyalists, who had been collected by Colonel Pyle, and were marching to
join the British army. These unfortunate men mistook Lee's troops
for their British allies, and being suddenly surrounded by them, were
butchered on the spot, in the act of imploring mercy. The disaster was
rendered still more dreadful by a mistake made by Colonel Tarleton.
Happening to be within a mile of this scene of slaughter, and hearing
the alarm, he recrossed the Haw, and meeting in his retreat with another
body of loyalists, he conceived that they were militiamen, and put them
to the sword. All these circumstances combined wholly disconcerted the
schemes of Lord Cornwallis in North Carolina, and he crossed the river
Haw, and encamped on Allamance Creek, in order to afford protection to
the great body of the royalists who resided betw