The Baron DeKalb [pp. 141-202]

1852.1`The Baron DeKaib. 201
obliged to give way, and were again rallied. The second brigade
were still warmly engaged. The distance between the two brigades
did not exceed two hundred yards, their opposite flanks being nearly
upon a line perpendicular to their front. At this eventful juncture,
the deputy adjutant-general, anxious that the communication between them should be preserved, and wishing that, in the almost
certain event of a retreat, some order might be sustained by them,
hastened from the first to the second brigade, which he found precisely in the same circumstances. lle called upon his own regiment,
(the 6th Maryland,) not to fly, and was answered by the lieutenant-colonel, Ford, who said, "They have done all that can be expected of them-we are outnumbered and outflanked-see the
enemy charge with bayonets." The enemy having collected their
corps, and directing their whole force against the two devoted brigades, a tremendous fire of musketry was, for some time, kept up on
both sides, with equal perseverance and obstinacy, until Lord Cornwallis, perceiving that there was no cavalry opposed to him, pushed
forward his dragoons-and his infantry charging, at the same moment, with fixed bayonets, put an end to the contest. His victory
was complete. All the artillery, and a very great number of prisoners, fell into his hands; many fine fellows lay on the field, and
the rout of the remainder was entire; not even a company retired
in any order; every one escaped as he could. If, in this affair, the
militia fled too soon, the regulars may be thought almost as blameable, for remaining too long on the field, especially after all hope of
victory must have been despaired of. Let tlie commandants of the
brigades answer for themselves. Allow the same privilege to the
officers of the corps comprising those brigades, and they will say
that they never received orders to retreat, nor any order from any
general officer, from (he commencement of the action until it became
desperate. The brave major-general, the Baron DeKaIb, fought on
foot, with the second brigade, and fell, mortally wounded, into the
hands of the enemy, who stripped him even of his shirt-a fate
which probably was avoided by other generals, only by an opportune retreat."
Weems tells the story of DeKalb's death more dramatic ally; and, more recently, there is another witness on
the subject-one who claims to have been on the field, in
the battle, and to have witi~essed the event. This witness
is the Rev. Humphrey Hunter, whose narrative is on file
in the archives of North-Carolina, and occurs in Wheeler's History of North-Carolina, lately published. Hunter became a preacher of the Gospel after the war was
over, and was but twenty when it began. It will be seen