Collapse of the Patriot Militia

Collapse of the Patriot Militia. Battle of Camden. , "I fired without thinking except that I might prevent the man opposite from killing me… I confess I was amongst the first that fled." , -Private Garret Watts, North Carolina Militia, Both armies took up positions in the area where you stand now. In keeping with traditional rules of 18th-century warfare, British commanders placed their most experienced units on the right of the battle line. Gates followed this practice, however, at Camden he failed to anticipate Cornwallis's deployment. He placed his best-trained veterans from Maryland and Delaware on the right. He then stationed the inexperienced Virginia and North Carolina militias on his left. When the lines faced one another, Gates's weakest troops were opposite Cornwallis's honored 23rd and 33rd Regiments of Foot , a devastating arrangement., Once his troops were deployed on the field, Cornwallis ordered the 23rd and 33rd Regiments to attack the Patriot line. Gates instructed the Virginia and North Carolina militias to move forward and to hold their fire until the British were "within six paces." Lieutenant Colonel Henry Dixon's North Carolina regiment held firm, firing as many as three volleys, but the militia, untrained in the use of the bayonet, panicked at the sight of elite British troops advancing with fixed blades and fled. , Ordered forward to support the militia, the 1st Maryland Brigade did not get far before the Patriot militia collapsed back into them. The Marylanders opened their ranks to allow the militia through. Gates, as well as North Carolina militia commander Major General Richard Caswell, and other officers attempted to stop and rally the fleeing troops, but pressed by the British, the terrified mass of American soldiers "ran like a torrent" up the road toward Rugeley's Mill.