s they
caught them. The fact is chronicled by Colonel Jones, and it is worth
noting, that the officers and men paroled by Clarke, in utter disregard
of their obligations, took up their arms as soon as the Americans
had departed. The probability is that they were driven to this by the
commands of Brown.

It is well known, that, as soon as Clarke and his men had retreated,
Colonel Brown sent detachments of troops in all directions, with orders
to arrest all persons who had taken part in the siege, or who had
sympathized with the efforts of the Americans to recapture Augusta.
Under this sweeping order, men of all ages and conditions were dragged
from their homes and thrown into prison. Those who were suspected of
taking part in the siege, or of belonging to Clarke's command, were
seized and hanged out of hand. Old men, no longer able to bear arms,
were imprisoned for welcoming the return of members of their families
who had fought on the American side. One instance out of many that
might be cited was the arrest of the father of Captains Samuel and
James Alexander. In the seventy-eighth year of his age, this old man
was arrested at his home, tied to the tail of a cart, and dragged forty
miles in two days. When caught leaning against the cart to rest his
feeble limbs, he was whipped by the driver. It was at this time that
in the region round about Augusta the hopes of the patriots grew very
faint. The women and children assembled, and begged Elijah Clarke to
take them out of the country; and in response to the appeals of these
defenseless ones, he undertook the movement that culminated in the
glorious victory of Kings Mountain.

[Illustration: Old man whipped at the tail of a cart 111]

The winter of 1780 was the darkest hour of the Revolution in Upper
Georgia. There was no trade. Farming was at a low ebb. The schoolhouses
were closed. Many of the patriots had carried off their families.
Many had gone with Elijah Clarke to Kentucky. The patriots had betaken
themselves to South Carolina, though the services they rendered there
have been slurred over by the historians of that State.

When General Greene began his Southern campaign, and gradually rid South
Carolina of the British and the Tory element, the patriots of Upper
Georgia ventured to return to their homes. Captain McCall, who was among
them, says, in his history, that they returned in parties of ten and
twelve, so as to attract as little attention as possible. They