steady themselves by sticking the points of their swords in the logs. But they were shot down, and their men thrown into confusion by the loss of their leaders and the condition of the bridge. Many fell into the water and were drowned. The short and furious struggle ended in the rout of the Tories. They turned and fled. The Whigs soon replaced the planks and charged across the bridge, pursuing them with great impetuosity.

Lieutenant Slocumb from Craven county with a small company hurried up the creek to a ford, crossed there, and attacked the Tories in the flank. Colonel Moore, following from Cross Creek, soon came up and assisted in the

rout.

It was an overwhelming victory. The camp, the wagons and horses, and all the stores of the Tories were taken. Fifteen hundred rifles, three hundred and fifty guns, one hundred and fifty swords and dirks, medicinechests and other fine military equipments from England, and a bag of English gold worth $75,000, were among the spoils.

General McDonald, who had gotten out of bed and was sitting on a stump near the house, unable to escape, was taken prisoner, with all his officers and eight hundred and fifty of his soldiers.

The patriots had but one man killed. His name was Grady from Duplin county. When he was buried, the captain of his company, James Love, took off his own sword, wrapped a silk handkerchief round it, and laid it on his dead friend's breast. The grave is now unknown.

Too many of these patriots rest in unknown or unmarked

graves.

RECITATION.

THY sacred leaves, fair Freedom's flower,
Shall ever float on dome and tower,
To all their heavenly colors true
In blackening frost or crimson dew;
And God love us as we love thee,
Thrice holy flower of Liberty!

Then hail the banner of the free,
The starry flower of Liberty!

O. W. HOLMES.

CHAPTER XX.

BRITISH DECLINE TO ENTER NORTH CAROLINA.-BRAVE MRS. SLOCUMB.

THE defeat of the Tories at Moore's Creek was of great importance. It placed North Carolina in her proper place among the foremost on the side of liberty; it inspired her patriots with fresh confidence; it taught the Tories a lesson; and, above all, it saved the State from the threatened invasion by Lord Cornwallis.

The day after the battle Colonel Caswell sent his report of it to the State council, then at Halifax. The ardor excited by such glorious news was so great that in less than a fortnight full ten thousand men were in arms and enrolled, and ready to march to Wilmington.

But the British ships were delayed by a stormy voyage, and did not arrive till several weeks after the battle. There were then fifty vessels, armed and unarmed, riding in the Cape Fear below Brunswick. Governor Martin felt sure of a speedy restoration to power.

The British commanders, however, were much discouraged by the defeat and losses of the Tory army and by the hostile attitude of the State. They resolved to make no attack on North Carolina just then, beyond landing some troops and burning and plundering some of the plantations

on the river. Among these was the home of our General Robert Howe, who was at that time in Virginia with a North Carolina battalion assisting to drive the governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, to take refuge on an English ship of war, as our governor had done.

May, 1776. Disappointed in their hopes, the whole British fleet left the Cape Fear in May, taking Governor Martin with them. They sailed away to Charleston, South Carolina, and spent the month of June in a vain attempt to take the fort on Sullivan's Island in the harbor of Charleston.

General Moore, General Howe, and General Nash were all sent with North Carolina troops to the assistance of Charleston.

The greatest enthusiasm was felt for Caswell and his officers and for their gallant little army. The General Congress at Philadelphia sent them its thanks, and made Caswell and Lillington both brigadier-generals. The State council appointed a day of thanksgiving, which was kept with religious services.

The Rev. Mr. Debow, minister of the Hawfield church, was preaching that day very earnestly on the goodness of the Almighty, to whom alone he ascribed the victory. One of Caswell's soldiers was present, an honest and brave but rude fellow. He got up in meeting and said if that was to be the way, and Dick Caswell and his men were not to have any credit, he wouldn't stay there any longer. And so he went out.

The wife of Lieutenant Slocumb at her home, sixty

miles from Moore's Creek, felt so uneasy about her husband that she saddled a horse and rode as fast as she could go, and alone, all night in the direction Caswell's troops had taken. At nine o'clock in the morning she heard the guns of the battle. She galloped on till she came up on the edge of the fight, and then alighted from her horse and set at once to work helping the wounded. Her husband and Colonel Caswell came up presently and were astonished to find her there. She stayed all day attending to the wounded Whigs and Tories alike, and at night mounted her horse and started for home. She rode one hundred and twenty miles in forty-eight hours without resting.

We are glad to know that this brave soldier and his brave wife lived happily together more than fifty years after this battle.

There were many such heroic women as Mary Slocumb in North Carolina, and indeed in all the States. Many stories are told of their courage and their patriotism all through the long war. They encouraged and assisted the patriots, they shared in all the dangers and hardships cheerfully, taking care of their homes and their children while their husbands and sons and brothers were fighting for their country. Many of them worked in the fields and raised with their own hands the corn and the potatoes and the flax to feed and clothe their families.

The women of the Revolution share now in the love and grateful remembrance of the nation whose freedom they helped to secure.