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"At the same time, he was desired to request their Lordships to augment their Secretary's salary, to allow the members of the council so much money for the time and expence of attending the council on their service; to establish custom-house officers at Beaufort; to grant six thousand acres of land to the three garrisons at Congarees, Savanna Town, and Apalachicola; and liberty of appealing from erroneous judgements in law, which at that time the people had not, the whole judicial power in all the provincial courts being lodged in the hands of one man."
They were required to rendezvous at the Congarees, about one hundred and forty miles from Charleston. To this rendezvous Francis Marion repaired, in a troop of provincial cavalry commanded by one of his brothers.* But he was not yet to flesh his maiden valor upon the enemy. The prompt preparation of the Carolinians had somewhat lessened the appetite of the savages for war.
Waggons, carts and horses were impressed for the service of his Majesty, and the colonists flattered themselves with the hopes that they would now be able to punish the insolence of their barbarous enemies. A few weeks after his arrival Colonel Montgomery marched to the Congarees, where he was joined by the internal strength of the province, and immediately set out for the Cherokee country.
A few days after holding this conference with the chieftains the governor set out for Congarees, the place of general rendezvous for the militia, and about one hundred and forty miles distant from Charlestown, where he mustered in all about one thousand four hundred men.
Several gentlemen of fortune, excited by a laudable zeal for the safety of their country, formed themselves into a company of volunteers, and joined the army. The whole force of the province was collected, and ordered to rendezvous at Congarees.
Roger Williams, for instance, speaks of the New England Indians keeping tame hawks about their dwellings "to keep the little birds from their corn." The Dakotas and other western tribes keep eagles for the same purpose. They also tame crows, which are fed from the hand, as well as hawks and magpies. A case nearer in point is a reference in Lawson to the Congarees of North Carolina.
Being still exposed to incursions from the sanguinary and vindictive Yamassees, furnished with arms and ammunition from the Spaniards, they were obliged to maintain a company of rangers, to protect the frontiers against them. Three small forts were erected at Congarees, Savanna, and Apalachicola, for the public defence, and money must be raised for the payment of garrisons.
The militia of the country had orders to rendezvous at Congarees, where the Governor, with such a force as he could procure from the lower parts, resolved to join them, and march to the relief of the frontier settlements.
The Carolineans had foolishly entertained hopes of the friendship of the Congarees, the Catawbas and Cherokees; but they soon found that they had also joined in the conspiracy, and declared for war. It was computed that the southern division of the enemy consisted of above six thousand bowmen, and the northern of between six hundred and a thousand.
It is certain that Governor Lyttleton doubted their sincerity, refused to listen to their explanations, and, carrying them along with him, rather as hostages than as commissioners in sacred trust, he proceeded to meet the main body of his army, already assembled at the Congarees.
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