At noon Ewald reached Drayton's plantation and posted his men in the zoological gardens. ...In the afternoon Leslie arrived and took up quarters in Drayton's Plantation.

General Leslie received information that 600 of Colonel Washington's dragoons and Verner's Legion had occupied the pass to Bacon's Bridge. At daybreak on March 25^th Heinrichs and his Jägers detected a party of cavalry approaching their post on the Dorchester Road.

25 March. [skirmish] Dorchester Road (Charleston County, S.C.) Ewald: "At daybreak the outpost under Captain Hinrichs on the highway to Dorchester was alarmed by an enemy party. He sent several men through the wood lying before him on the right to fire a few shots in the flank of the enemy. A noncommissioned officer of the enemy [American] party, who ventured ahead beyond all daring, was shot in the belly and captured. I asked him why he behaved so rashly. – 'Sir, Colonel [William] Washington promised me that I would become an officer right away, if I could discover whether the jagers were supported by infantry and had cannon with them, because if not, he would try to harass the jagers.' "He begged me to ask the surgeon whether his wound was mortal, and when he heard that it was he lay quietly down like a brave man, clasping his hands, saying: 'Well, then I die for my country and its just cause.' "Captain Hinrichs handed him a glass of wine. He drank it down with relish, and died like a man."²⁹⁸

[footnote:]298 EHJ p. 214.
[abbreviation,p.9:] EHJ ~ (Johann Ewald) Diary of the American War (Joseph P. Tustin, editor and translator.)

Related locations:
Fort Dorchester   Fair Spring   Horse Savannah   Dorchester Creek   Dorchester  

Confidence level:: See above.