The ford took a sharp
turn in the middle of the river.
The night being dark, the guards were not perceived until they had
reached this point, when the enemy immediately opened fire upon them.
The guide at once fled, without his absence being noticed until it
was too late to stop him. Colonel Hall, not knowing of the bend in
the ford, led his men straight forward toward the opposite bank, and
although their difficulties were much increased by the greater depth
of water through which they had to pass, the mistake was really the
means of saving them from much loss, as the Americans were assembled
to meet them at the head of the ford, and would have inflicted a
heavy loss upon them as they struggled in the stream. They did not
perceive the change in the direction of the column's march until too
late, and the guards, on landing, met them as they came on and
quickly routed and dispersed them. The British lost 4 killed, among
whom was Colonel Hall, and 36 wounded.
The rest of the division then crossed. Colonel Tarleton, with the
cavalry, was sent against 500 of the Americans who had fallen back
from the various fords, and, burning with the desire to retrieve the
defeat of the Cowpens, the legion horse charged the enemy with such
fury that they were completely routed, 50 of them being killed.
Morgan and Greene withdrew their army through the Roanoke River,
hotly pursued by the English. For a few days the British army
remained at Hillsborough, but no supplies of food sufficient for its
maintenance could be found there, so it again fell back.
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