Contest with the Continentals

Contest with the Continentals. Battle of Camden. "I am sorry, sir, to see you, not sorry that you are vanquished, but sorry to see you so badly wounded." , -Lord Cornwallis confronting General Johann de Kalb, As the Patriot Line disintegrated near where you stand, the right flank of the Maryland Continentals pushed back the British Legion, North Carolina Loyalists, and Volunteers of Ireland, three times, capturing an artillery piece and some soldiers. These Americans fighting for independence were winning their half of the field against fellow Americans fighting for the King., Meanwhile, Patriot troops on the west side of the road, to your left, were putting up a valiant fight against Cornwallis's men. Major General Johann de Kalb, a seasoned European officer who offered his services to the Patriots during the war, made a vigorous charge with a regiment of Continental infantry through the left division of the British. For more than 30 minutes, the bloody contest raged on the western side of the battlefield, directly across the modern road you see here today. Hit and bleeding, de Kalb fell from the saddle and continued to fight on foot, but he eventually collapsed from multiple wounded. A monument on these grounds commemorates his heroism., Cornwallis soon realized that there was no Patriot cavalry remaining to oppose him and moved forward against the Maryland brigades with his dragoons. His infantry charged with fixed bayonets. Those Patriot units, still struggling to hold steady, were finally broken and the contest was over. The British captured the Patriot artillery and a great number of Patriot soldiers. Some Continentals escaped through the swamp on the right of the American position where the British could not follow. As Gates's army retreated north, de Kalb was taken to the British base in the town of Camden. He died there three days later, thousands of miles from his home., (caption) , De Kalb on his deathbed , Bleeding profusely from his battle wounds, de Kalb was taken prisoner and moved to Camden, where he was treated by Patriot doctor Isaac Alexander of the North Carolina militia. From his deathbed, he dictated letters to his military aide Chevalier du Buysson.