3S 2 The Winning of the West 



land himself being one of the offenders. 80 Those of 

 their friends and relatives who had fallen into the 

 hands of the tories, or of Cornwallis' regulars, had 

 fared even worse ; yet this can not palliate their con- 

 duct. Campbell himself, when in a fit of gusty an- 

 ger, often did things he must have regretted after- 

 ward ; but he was essentially manly, and his soul re- 

 volted at the continued persecution of helpless ene- 

 mies. He issued a sharp manifesto in reference to 

 the way the prisoners were "slaughtered and dis- 

 turbed," assuring the troops that if it could not be 

 prevented by moderate measures, he would put a 

 stop to it by taking summary vengeance on the offen- 

 ders. 81 After this the prisoners were, on the whole, 

 well treated. When they met a couple of Continen- 

 tal officers, the latter were very polite, expressing 

 their sympathy for their fate in falling into such 

 hands ; for from Washington and Greene down, the 

 Continental troops disliked and distrusted the militia 

 almost as much as the British regulars did the tories. 

 There was one dark deed of vengeance. It had 

 come to be common for the victors on both sides to 

 hang those whom they regarded as the chief offen- 

 ders among their conquered opponents. As the dif- 

 ferent districts were alternately overrun, the unfort- 

 unate inhabitants were compelled to swear allegiance 

 in succession to Congress and to king; and then, on 

 whichever side they bore arms, they were branded as 

 traitors. Moreover, the different leaders, both Brit- 

 ish and American, from Tarleton and Ferguson to 



80 Allaire's diary, entry of Nov. ist. 



81 Campbell's General Orders, Oct. nth. 



