Note 100 — PART I. LETTERS WRITTEN BEFORE HIS MISSION TO EUROPE 1773-1783. (continued 3)

[General Greene, after taking command of the Southern army, divided his force, and sent one division of it, under General Morgan, to the western part of South Carolina. Cornwallis, who was now nearly prepared to invade North Carolina, unwilling to leave Morgan in his rear, sent Tarleton in pursuit of him. The two detachments met on the 17th of January, 1781, when the battle of Cowpens was fought, and Tarleton defeated. Cornwallis, after the defeat of Tarleton, abandoned the invasion of North Carolina for the present, and started in pursuit of Morgan. Greene, suspecting his intention, hastened to join Morgan, and, after a fatiguing march, effected a junction at Guilford Court House. During this march he was closely pursued by Cornwallis, who, as stated in the above letter, "burnt his own wagons in order to enable himself to move with greater facility." After this junction at Guilford Court House, Greene crossed the Dan, into Virginia—again narrowly escaping the pursuit of Cornwallis, who now retired to Hillsborough, where, erecting the royal standard, he issued his proclamation, inviting the loyalists to join him, and sent Tarleton with a detachment to support a body of them collected between the Havre and Deep Rivers. Greene, having despatched Generals Pickens and Lee to watch the movements of Tarleton, and having been reinforced in Virginia, now returned into North Carolina, and fought the battle of Guilford Court House on the 8th of March, 1781.—Ed.]