least, to oblige them to take refuge within the lines of Charleston.
With this view, he collected his forces into one body, and
marched to give battle to the enemy, then stationed at the
Springs of the Eutaw.
A general action took place. Animated, obstinate, and
bloody, was the contest. The front line of the American army
consisting of militia, after beginning a brisk attack, began to
give way. At this critical and inauspicious juncture, Greene,
with that collected intrepidity which never forsook him, gave
orders to the second line, composed of Continentals, to advance
to the charge with trailed arms. This order, enforced by exam
ple, and executed with matchless composure and constancy,
could not fail of success. The British veterans shrunk from the
American bayonet. They were routed and pursued a consider
able distance. Numbers of them fell into the hands of their
pursuers, and the remainder were threatened with a similar fate ;
when, arriving at a position which, with peculiar advantages, in
vited to a fresh stand, they rallied, and renewed the action. In
vain did the intrepid Washington, at the head of the pursu
ing detachment, redouble the efforts of his valor, to dislodge
them from this new station. He was himself wounded and
made a prisoner, and his followers, in their turn, compelled to
retire.
But though the enemy, by an exertion of bravery which
demands our esteem, saved themselves from the total ruin which
was ready to overwhelm them ; they had, nevertheless, received
too severe a blow to attempt any longer to maintain a footing in
the open country. They, accordingly, the day following, re
treated towards Charleston ; leaving behind them their wounded,
and a considerable quantity of arms. Here ended all serious
offensive operations in the South ! . The predatory excursions
494 HAMILTON'S WORKS. [MT. 32.
which intervened between the battle of the Eutaw and the evac
uation of Charleston and Savannah, deserve not a place in the
catalogue of military achievements. But before we take leave
of a scene as honorable as it was advantageous to the American
arms, it behooves us to stop for a moment, to pay the tribute of
merited applause to the memory of that gallant officer, who, at
the head of the Virginia line, fell in this memorable conflict.
More anxious, to the last, about his country than himself, in the
very agonies of departing life, he eagerly inquired which of the
contending parties prevailed ; and having learned that his coun
trymen were victorious, he like another Epaminondas yielded up
his last breath in this noble exclamation: " Then do I die con
tented" Heroic Campbell ! How enviable was such a death !
The evacuation of the two capitals of South Carolina and
Georgia, entirely restored those States to their own governments
and laws. They now hailed the illustrious Greene as their de
fender and deliverer. Their gratitude was proportioned to the
extent of the benefits resulting from his services ; nor did it show
itself in words only, but was manifested by acts that did honor
to their generosity. Consecrated in the affections of their citizens
to the remotest posterity, the fame of Greene will ever find in
them, a more durable, as well as a more flattering, memorial,
than in the proudest monuments of marble or brass.
But where, alas, is now this consummate General ; this brave
Soldier ; this discerning Statesman ; this steady Patriot ; this
virtuous Citizen ; this amiable Man ? Why could not so many
talents, so many virtues, so many bright and useful qualities,
shield him from a premature grave ? Why was he not longer
spared to a country he so dearly loved ; which he was so well
able to serve ; which still seems so much to stand in need of his
services ? Why was he only allowed to assist in laying the foun
dation, and not permitted to aid in rearing the superstructure,
of American greatness? Such are the inquiries which our
friendly, yet short-sighted regrets, would naturally suggest. But
inquiries like these are to be discarded as presumptuous. 'Tis
not for us to scan, but to submit to the dispensations of Heaven.
Let us content ourselves with revering the memory, imitating
;ET.32.] EULOGIUM ON GEN. GREENE. 495
the virtues, and, as far as we dare, emulating the glory of the
man, whom neither our warmest admiration, nor our fondest
predilection, could protect from the fatal shaft. And as often as
we indulge our sorrow for his loss, let us not fail to mingle the
reflection, that he has left behind him, offspring who are the
heirs to the friendship which we bore to the father, and who have
a claim from many, if not from all of us, to cares not less than
parental.
END OF VOL. II.
77
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