Sal and Amanda Take Morgan's Victory March to the Battle of Cowpens (4 page)

“I know our salamander ancestors always lived near the rivers. I'm sure they were spurring on the Patriots…just think of that! My great-great-great-great-great-grandfather might have watched as the Swamp Fox crossed the Santee!” Amanda said dreamily.

“Get real!” Sal snapped.

“Well, it could be that way. I'm gonna ask Uncle Newt what he thinks!” Amanda shot back.

Ben warned, “Hey, you two, cut it out!”

But it was too late. Grammy had already called from her room, “Ben, are you OK? What's all that noise and who are you talking to? Go to sleep now! I don't want to have to come in there.”

With that, Sal and Amanda scampered off the bed and out the window.

“Hey, guys, come back!” Ben whispered loudly, but it was too late—the salamanders were already out the window and halfway across the yard.

Chapter 3

Rivers, Rivers and More Rivers!

The next morning, Grammy greeted Ben as he came in to breakfast. “Good morning! I have some good news. Your Aunt Melissa has invited us to come to Cheraw to see a play about Dizzy Gillespie.”

“Who is that?” Ben asked. Grammy told him about Dizzy's career as a world-famous trumpet player from Cheraw. Ben was delighted to learn that the play was being held at the Theater on the Green and his cousin Sam was in it.

“When do we go?” Ben jumped up and down with excitement.

Even though he did not care one bit about the play, he was excited about hanging out with Sam and taking a break from worrying about the speech.

“This afternoon, but now, I want you to get started on your speech before we leave,” Grammy insisted.

At that very moment, Jen peeked in the screen door.

“Come on in, Jen,” Grammy called as she started to set her a plate for breakfast.

Ben's smile widened. “Yeah, thank goodness she's here to help me!”

“Well, good morning to you too!” Jen shot back at him.

Ben suggested that they go outside and sit under the tree again where it was cooler.

Grammy, occupied with preparing for their trip later, waved them off and said, “See you two later; I've got some errands to do before we leave for Cheraw.”

“Oh, you're going too?” Jen asked Ben as they headed out the door.

“Yes, I can't wait to get out of here so Grammy will forget about this speech for a while!” Ben said as he began looking around for any sign of his salamander friends.

“I don't think you're going to get off that easily,” Jen said as she, too, searched for the pair.

“I know,” Ben frowned.

“Well, maybe Sal and Amanda will show up again.”

“They did, last night! In my room!”

“And let me guess…you scared them off again!”

Ben told Jen that Sal and Amanda had shared more information about the Revolutionary War the night before and how Grammy had suspected something was up.

“Why didn't you call me? Did you learn anything new for your speech?”

“We just left off at the Battle of Cowpens, but I learned that General Nathanael Greene was sent by George Washington to lead the Southern Campaign. Greene divided his army into two parts to confuse Cornwallis. He took one part to Cheraw to rest, and Morgan took the other part from Charlotte to the Pacolet River.”

“Bravo! Bravo!” two familiar voices cheered.

Ben beamed with pride but tried to act like he did not care as he watched Sal and Amanda climb over tree roots and perch themselves on top of a large rock.

“Now, maybe we can finish this story,” Sal muttered.

“I wish I had something to draw a map on so you could see just how close both sides were to each other,” Amanda continued.

“I've got a dry erase board in my room. Will that do?” Ben asked.

“Sure!” both Sal and Amanda exclaimed.

Ben raced in and got the supplies. When he got back to the yard, Amanda picked up the marker and began. First, she drew an outline of South Carolina. Jen commented on how well Amanda could draw, and the tiny salamander beamed with pride.

“Hey, you are pretty good at that,” Jen commented.

“Well, it's easy. It looks like a triangle, you know,” she replied.

Then Amanda added the names of places that were important to the story. She drew in the rivers: Catawba, Broad, Pee Dee and Pacolet.

“These rivers were very important to the war in the backcountry because both sides camped near fords in the river so they could get across quickly,” Ben added to show he had been paying attention last night.

Then Amanda labeled Charlotte, Kings Mountain, Cowpens, Cheraw, Grindal Shoals, Fairforest, Winnsboro, Ninety Six, Clinton and Columbia in different colors and stepped back to look at her work.

“These are all towns, right?” Ben asked.

“Nope, remember there weren't many towns in those days. They were just different places that were important to the story,” Sal answered.

“I'll point to the places and explain them as we continue our story,” Amanda suggested as she settled down.

“Morgan headed west from Charlotte. It was a four-day march across rain-soaked country. He had to cross the Catawba and the Broad. He finally arrived at Grindal Shoals on the north bank of the Pacolet River on Christmas Day 1780 and set up camp,” Sal spoke with authority as Amanda pointed to each of the places.

“Thank you, Vanna!” Sal mocked his sister.

“Don't make fun of Vanna White; she is also a famous South Carolinian!” Amanda shot back.

“Okay, I know,” Sal snickered as he rolled his eyes at his sister and continued, “Morgan had six hundred soldiers, including militia and Continental dragoons.”

“What's a dragoon?” Ben asked.

“I knew you would ask that,” Amanda boasted. “It's a mounted soldier who rode on horseback to the site of the battle and then could dismount to fight on foot.”

Sal resumed, “Late that same day, General Andrew Pickens arrived in Morgan's camp with sixty South Carolina volunteers.”

“Andrew Pickens was called the Wizard Owl by the Cherokee because he had been ‘as wise as an owl' during the Cherokee War,” Jen inserted.

“He was certainly a great help to Morgan,” Sal continued. “Now where was I? Oh, right, Morgan's camp. Two days later, General William Davidson arrived from Charlotte with 120 North Carolina militia. He soon left to go get 500 more. About that time, some Georgia Tories were terrorizing the settlers of Fairforest, only twenty miles away.”

“I know where Fairforest is,” Ben interrupted. “It's on the other side of Spartanburg.”

Sal smiled, glad to see that Ben was becoming more and more interested in the story, and then continued, “Morgan sent two hundred of his militia to join William Washington's dragoons to take care of these Tories because he knew he had to protect the local people to ensure they were on his side.”

William Washington

“Scaredy cats!” Ben shouted.

“Shhh! You want us to finish the story, don't you?” Amanda warned as she picked up the marker again. “I think we need to review where everyone was. Cornwallis was at Winnsboro, and by now, he knew that Morgan was west of the Broad. Nathanael Greene was still at Cheraw with his part of the army.”

“Thanks!”Jen chimed in.

“Cornwallis knew what he had to do. Even though he wanted to go after Greene, he knew he had to deal with Morgan first. So he requested that Banastre Tarleton join him. Tarleton was young, brash and ruthless,” Sal continued.

Ben paused and asked, “I was just thinking, how did Cornwallis let Tarleton know to come there?”

“A letter, my friend,” Sal answered. “Handwritten letters were one of the most important parts of the war. The writer used a quill taken from a duck or turkey and ink made from crushed walnuts or berries.”

“I remember seeing those at Walnut Grove!” Jen exclaimed.

Sal and Amanda took turns discussing how the letters were delivered by soldiers called couriers. They explained that most of the time couriers had to go through enemy territory, so it was a very dangerous job. It was important that they get there as quickly as possible because the success of the battle depended on it. Couriers risked their lives each time they rode off alone.”

Ben took a moment to think about how these individuals didn't have e-mail, instant messages or even phones or post offices. He thought to himself that it must have been a miracle that they ever got through to each other!

“We know that the use of letters was important because many of the letters written by soldiers on both sides have been found and are housed in museums today as artifacts for us to see,” Amanda added.

“There were even secret messages written in code, and both sides had spies,” Sal informed them. “The most famous spy was Benedict Arnold. He was a brigadier general for the Patriots, but he betrayed George Washington in letters to the British.”

“Glad
he
wasn't from South Carolina!” Jen interjected.

“OK, back to the story. It was late in December. Cornwallis told Tarleton that there was no rush to carry out his orders,” Sal explained.

“Boy, that was a mistake!” Ben laughed. “He must have forgotten about Morgan!”

“I thought you weren't a fan of Morgan!” Jen teased Ben.

“I was just saying…” Ben muttered.