He could overrun the country, but he made no conquests.

His great armies passed over the land unquestioned, but had no sooner withdrawn, than his posts were assailed, his detachments cut off, his supplies arrested, and the Tories once more overawed by their fierce and fearless neighbors.

Marion's brigade, in particular, constantly in motion,--moving by night as frequently as by day, singularly well informed by its scouts, and appearing at the least expected moment,--was always ready to prevent the gathering, into force and strength, of the loyalists.

And this activity was shown, and this warfare waged, at a time, when, not only was the State without an army, without any distinct embodiment of its own, or of its confederates,--but when it was covered everywhere with strong and well appointed posts of the enemy.

The position of Earl Cornwallis at Winnsboro', completed his chain of posts from Georgetown to Augusta, in a circle, the centre of which would have been about Beaufort, in South Carolina, equidistant from Charleston and Savannah.