Page:The Marquess Cornwallis and the Consolidation of British Rule.djvu/18

12 inconsiderable loss. At the siege of Charleston he actually as a volunteer formed one of the storming party, and if it be objected that a general officer had no business to place himself in such a position, his example was followed by Sir James Outram in the Indian Mutiny, who charged with the Volunteer Cavalry at the relief of Lucknow and actually resigned the command to General Havelock. On August 18, 1780, by a rapid march from Charleston to Camden and Rugeley Mills, he totally defeated the army of General Gates. In a letter to an officer he says: 'Above 1000 were killed and wounded and about 800 taken prisoners. We are in possession of eight pieces of brass cannon, all they had in the field, all their ammunition-waggons, a great number of arms, and 130 baggage-waggons: in short, there never was a more complete victory.' Unfortunately, as has been remarked by more than one writer, these temporary successes were never properly followed up. Our movements were hindered by want of transport and by a defective commissariat; and the British army, though numerically superior to its adversaries, was never strong in discipline or morale. Moreover, while Cornwallis was successful, detachments under other officers were defeated by the colonists. The Royalists and their levies of militia became dispirited and disheartened by a series of small failures, and although the campaign of 1780 was on the whole favourable to the Royal cause, Colonel Tarleton suffered a defeat at