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Gen. Greene to Gen. Marion Head Quarters, Round O, Dec. 22, 1781. Dear Sir: I have just received your letter of yesterday, dated near Dorchester; when I wrote you to move this way, I had every reason to believe the enemy intended to take the field; by intelligence from different people, I thought it most advisable to draw our forces together, that we might not be beat in detachment, and that if we did fight, to have it in our power to give the enemy a crippling blow, if we could not obtain victory. The enemy came out, but did not make any stay and the force was inconsiderable; on hearing this, I directed Col. Lee to inform you thereof, and that if nothing appeared to indicate further operations in the country, that you might return to your old station; you will therefore, after hearing from Col. Lee, take your measures according to circumstances. The enemy have a body of Cavalry which frequently comes out as far almost as Dorchester. Cannot Lee and Maham concert a plan in conjunction to cut them off? I am unacquainted with the ground and roads, and therefore cannot judge of the practicability. A blow of this kind could be effected with proper address, and would prevent further excursions, which will be more and more troublesome without some check. You will please to order me a return of the two corps of Horry and Maham, as well of the horse as the men, and I think, as there is a large body of regular Cavalry coming from the northward, that it will not be worth while to go to the expense of equipping any more, especially as the nature of the war is changed so as to render Infantry much more useful than Horse. If those corps could be made legionary, one half Infantry and the other Cavalry, they will be more useful and less expensive; since the fall of Lord Cornwallis, I considered the plan of the war as totally changed, and what was before the first object is now only a secondary one; I mean as having a very great body of Cavalry in the field. It will be impossible for the enemy to get a Cavalry, with every exertion they can make, that will be able to combat with one half of ours, and the Cavalry in this lower country, and especially in a siege, can be of little use to what Infantry may be, and they are five times as expensive. I beg your opinion on the matter. I am, sir, most respectfully yours, NATH. GREENE (No. 233 From Documentary History of the American Revolution, by Gibbes, Volume 3, pp. 225-226) Doc ID: Gibbes, v. 3, p. 225a Date: 12/22/1781 |
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