In spite of the headlong flight of Gates the disaster at Camden
had only a transient effect. The war developed a number of
irregular leaders on the American side who were never beaten
beyond recovery, no matter what might be the reverses of the day.
The two most famous are Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter. Marion,
descended from a family of Huguenot exiles, was slight in frame
and courteous in manner; Sumter, tall, powerful, and rough, was
the vigorous frontiersman in type. Threatened men live long:
Sumter died in 1832, at the age of ninety-six, the last surviving
general of the Revolution. Both men had had prolonged experience
in frontier fighting against the Indians. Tarleton called Marion
the "old swamp fox" because he often escaped through using
by-paths across the great swamps of the country. British
communications were always in danger. A small British force might
find itself in the midst of a host which had suddenly come
together as an army, only to dissolve next day into its elements
of hardy farmers, woodsmen, and mountaineers.
After the victory at Camden Cornwallis advanced into North
Carolina, and sent Major Ferguson, one of his most trusted
officers, with a force of about a thousand men, into the
mountainous country lying westward, chiefly to secure Loyalist
recruits.
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