(Extract.)
Charles Town, S. C., 30 June, 1780.
In regard to N. Carolina, I have established the most satisfactory Correspondence, & have seen several people of Credit and undoubted Fidelity from that Province. They all agree in Assurances of the good disposition of a considerable Body of the Inhabitants, and of the Impossibility of subsisting a Body of Troops in that Country 'till the Harvest is over. This, the Heat of the Summer, and the unsettled State of So. Carolina, all concurred to convince me of the Necessity of postponing offensive operations on that side until the latter end of August or beginning of September, and in Consequence I sent Emissaries to the leading Persons amongst our Friends, recommending in the strongest Terms that they should attend to their Harvest, prepare Provisions, & remain quiet until the King's Troops were ready to enter the Province. Notwithstanding these Precautions, I am sorry to say that a considerable Number of loyal Inhabitants of Tryon County, encouraged & headed by a Coll. Moore, whom I know nothing of,
& excited by the sanguine Emissaries of the very sanguine & imprudent Lieut. Colo. Hamilton, rose on the 18th Instant, without Order or Caution, and were in a few days defeated by General Rutherford with some Loss. I still hope this unlucky business will not materially affect the general Plan or occasion any Commotions on the frontiers of this Province. The Force of the Enemy in N. Carolina consists of about 1,000 Militia under General Rutherford, at or near Salisbury, & 300 Virginians in that neighborhood under Col. Porterfield. Monsieur Treville returned with Information that he saw 2,000 Maryland & Delaware Troops at Hillsborough under Major General de Kalb. Other Accounts have corresponded with his, but I have since heard that the greatest Part of the last have returned to Virginia.