The countersign of the day was "Buford," the name of the colonel whose troops Tarleton had defeated and butchered.

The final order was for each man to look carefully at the priming of his rifle, and then to go into battle and fight till he died.
The Battle.
The foes were now face to face.

On the one side were the American backwoodsmen, under their own leaders, armed in their own manner, and fighting after their own fashion, for the freedom and the future of America; on the opposite side were other Americans--the loyalists, led by British officers, armed and trained in the British fashion, and fighting on behalf of the empire of Britain and the majesty of the monarchy.

The Americans numbered, all told, about nine hundred and fifty men.

[Footnote: Nine hundred and ten horsemen (possibly nine hundred, or perhaps nine hundred and thirty-three) started out; and the footmen who kept up were certainly less than fifty in number.