Perfectly acquainted with every foot of the ground, the farmer and his friends constantly changed their position, giving in their fire as they loaded so that it appeared to the British that they were surrounded by a large force. The alternate hilly and swampy grounds and thickets, with woods on both sides the road, did not allow efficient action to the horses of the dragoons, and after a number of the troopers had been shot down they turned and fled. The leading horses in the wagons were killed before they could ascend the hill and the road became blocked up. The soldiers in charge, frantic at the idea of being left behind, cut loose some of the surviving animals, and galloped after their retreating comrades.
“They didn’t find it so easy to get pickings up here as they did down at my house,” chuckled Henry Egan as the hidden farmers came forth after the skirmish, without the loss of a man. “I reckon, pa, you’d better get the women back here. Some of these men need attention. I wonder where Peggy went? The daring little witch! I was scared clean out of my senses when she sassed that captain. Find where she is, pa.”
It was not long before the women were back, and with them came Peggy, tearful but joyous, leading Star by the bridle.
“I still had hoped ... Around my fire an evening group to draw, And tell of all I heard, of all I saw.”
A few days later the country was electrified by the news that the Whigs west of the Alleghanies had marched to the relief of their oppressed brethren of the Carolinas, and defeated the British at King’s Mountain. The victory fired the patriots with new zeal, checked the rising of the loyalists in North Carolina, and was fatal to the intended expedition of Cornwallis. He had hoped to step with ease from one Carolina to the other, and then proceed to the conquest of Virginia; he was left with no choice but to retreat.
The men about Charlotte had disputed his advance; they now harassed his foraging parties, intercepted his despatches and cut off his communications. Declaring that every bush hid a rebel, Lord Cornwallis fell back across the Catawba into South Carolina.
At the plantation the news of the victory was received with joy, causing Peggy to unfold the plan that had been maturing ever since she had regained possession of Star.