family; with these, lighted torches May 8. were shot upon her house, which took fire, and thus the enemy were driven from it. Lee then marched against Fort Granby, on the Congaree, and forced a gar rison of three hundred and fifty men to surrender, while Marion marched against Georgetown, on the Black river, which place he reduced.

After the battle of Hobkirk's hill, General Greene had continued for a short time near Camden; but on hearing that Rawdon had received an addition to his force of some troops from the north-eastern part of the state, Greene moved his camp to a safe position behind Sawney's Creek. Rawdon followed him, and tried to draw him from his favourable situation; but finding that he could not succeed, he returned to Camden, and in a few days after destroyed the military works there and marched his army to Nielson's Ferry, where he crossed the Santee river, and moved to Monk's Corner. While he was thus retiring, General Greene marched to besiege the May 22. town of Ninety-Six. Rawdon, on hearing of this, moved for the defence of the town. Greene used great efforts to get possession of it before Rawdon should arrive, but he was not successful, and was obliged to retreat from it. The two armies continued for some time approaching each

other, and then again retreating, without coming to an action; but detachments from each made frequent attacks on the other; and in those attacks the Americans were very successful. The whole army had shown great activity and courage. Though defeated in two battles, and obliged to retreat from Ninety-Six, it had always kept the field, and without gaining one victory, had confined the English power in the southern states to the seacoast, and country between the Santee, the Congaree, and the Edisto rivers,

In July the intense heat of the climate made it necessary for General Greene to give his troops some rest, and he moved them to the high hills of Santee for that purpose. There he was joined by some troops from North Carolina. In August he determined on once more risking an action with the English army, and for that purpose, on the 22d, he crossed the Wateree, near Camden, and proceeded to Friday's Ferry, on the Congaree, where he was joined by General Pikens with the militia, and by some state troops of South Carolina, commanded by Colonel Henderson. On hearing of his approach, the English moved to the Eutaw Springs, on the Santee, and there on the 8th of September, a severe action commenced, and was continued for some time with great warmth and boldness on both sides. At length the contest ceased,

and both armies claimed the victory. In November the English retired to Charleston Neck, and to the islands near that city.

When General Greene had entered South Carolina, he found it completely conquered and defended by a regular army; by a course which was courageous but prudent, he recovered the southern states, and at the close of the year 1781, they were again under their own government. The power which the English had possessed; the rigour with which they exercised it on all who seemed disposed to resist; the feelings of sorrow or resentment which were excited in neighbourhoods and families, by some of the members being driven by fear to join the enemies of their country; and the severity with which such were treated if they repented, caused war to be more full of calamities to the inhabitants of the southern states than to those of any other portion of the country.

CHAPTER IX.

When General Washington had performed all the duties which the surrender of Cornwallis rendered necessary, before he could leave Yorktown, he went to visit his respected and aged mother, whom he had not seen for more than six years. At the commencement of the war, he had with anxious tenderness, removed her to the village of Fredericksburgh, where he thought she would be comfortable and distant from danger; and from that time, he had not been at liberty to visit his native state, as his services were required by his country every day, and indeed every moment. He was

careful to send constantly to his parent, an account of himself and the situation of public affairs, and she received all such intelligence with a calm confidence in the wisdom and mercy of God, which prevented her being depressed by the news of losses that frequently reached her ears. When she heard of the success of her son in the December of 1776, (when he crossed the Delaware and marched to Princeton,) she said, "George appears to have deserved well of his country;" and when her neighbours pressed around her with letters that they had re

ceived, full of his praises, she said, "Here is too much flattery;-still George will not forget the lessons I early taught him;-he will not forget himself, though he is the subject of so much praise."

Washington knew that it would be no gratification to this good and strong minded mother to see him surrounded by attendants, or to have his approach made known by any kind of parade. He therefore left the officers who rode with him, and dismounting from his horse, alone, and on foot, he went to her residence. When he entered it, he found her usefully employed. Her aged arms were quickly and tenderly thrown around him, and her eyes soon observed the marks of toil and care on his changed countenance. She called him by an endearing name, which he well remembered she had always used when in his childhood he deserved her approbation; and she anxiously questioned him on the state of his health, talked of old times and old friends, but spoke not one word on the subject of his renown, or of the praise which his countrymen were giving him for his noble conduct.

When he left this revered parent, he went to his long forsaken home. Mrs. Washington was then there. She had been with him through each winter, and as she said, had

heard the first cannon on the opening,