The War in the Northwest 297 



and then marched into the old North State. Corn- 

 wallis, much the ablest of the British generals, was 

 in command over a mixed force of British, Hes- 

 sian, and loyal American regulars, aided by Irish 

 volunteers and bodies of refugees from Florida. 

 In addition, the friends to the king's cause, who 

 were very numerous in the southernmost States, 

 rose at once on the news of the British successes, 

 and thronged to the royal standards ; so that a num- 

 ber of regiments of tory militia were soon em- 

 bodied. McGillivray, the Creek chief, sent bands 

 of his warriors to assist the British and tories on 

 the frontier, and the Cherokees likewise came to 

 their help. The patriots for the moment abandoned 

 hope, and bowed before their victorious foes. 



Cornwallis himself led the main army northward 

 against the American forces. Meanwhile he in- 

 trusted to two of his most redoubtable officers the 

 task of scouring the country, raising the loyalists, 

 scattering the patriot troops that were still embod- 

 ied, and finally crushing out all remaining opposi- 

 tion. These two men were Tarleton the dashing 

 cavalryman, and Ferguson the rifleman, the skilled 

 partisan leader. 



Patrick Ferguson, the son of Lord Pitfour, was 

 a Scotch soldier, at this time about thirty-six years 

 old, who had been twenty years in the British army. 

 He had served with distinction against the French 

 in Germany, had quelled a Carib uprising in the 

 West Indies, and in 1777 was given the command 

 of a company of riflemen in the army opposed to 



