The wretched example was followed by the North Carolina militia, with the exception of a single corps, commanded by Major Dixon.

The cavalry under Armand, a foreign adventurer, broke at nearly the same moment; and a charge of the British cavalry, happily timed, put an end to all hope of rallying the terror-stricken fugitives.

The devoted Continentals alone kept their ground and bore the brunt of the action.
They were led by the veteran De Kalb--the Commander-in-Chief having hurried from the field in a vain attempt to bring the militia back.

The artillery was lost, the cavalry dispersed;--the regulars, numbering but nine hundred men, were required to bear the undivided pressure of two thousand of the best troops in the British service.

With the example before them, the desertion of their General, and their own perfect isolation, they would have been justified by the necessity of the case, in instant flight.