With this object he pressed his march for Nelson's Ferry on the Santee, and placed his men in ambush in the river swamp.

He arrived too late.

Tarleton had already crossed fully two days before.

Marion passed the river in pursuit, advancing with some earnestness on the footsteps of his foe, still under the impression that Tarleton was only in command of the small troop with which he had marched from Charleston.
But the British commander had already effected the junction with his legion, and was at hand in greater force than our partisan dreamed of.
At night, having reached a strong position in the woods, Marion was taking his usual precautions for making his camp.

He was suddenly struck with a great light, seemingly at the plantation of General Richardson.
This awakened his anxieties, and led him at once to suspect the presence of his enemy in that quarter.