The Rebellion Burns Bright

General Kim watched as the British and their colonial allies retreated away from Amelia and towards the east. The fact that General Arnold and his men were also towards the east did not escape him, but there was little he could do at this moment.

The fighting raged on for approximately three hours and after some time, it became clear that the British did not intend to break the colonial defenses at Amelia. Instead, they harassed and picked off any colonial units towards the outskirts of the town, as the attackers were clearly outnumbered by the defenders. Both sides received few casualties, as they cautiously remained out of each other's firing range. The battle only escalated after Colonel Knowlton, Colonel Warren, and the marines with them approached the town and flanked the British positions. When the general saw the marines flanking the enemy lines, he pushed his men forward to engage the British head-on. After taking a number of losses, the British retreated to the only open road available to them and abandoned their attack on Amelia.

Even though Amelia remained secured, it did little to improve his sour mood. He couldn't risk sending his soldiers towards the east to rescue the beleaguered Connecticut Regiments, not after they and the marines were ambushed when they stepped out of Amelia. Additionally, the men under his command were exhausted from defending the town, leaving only a handful of soldiers that were willing and able to wander into hostile territory.

To put it simply; General Arnold and his men were alone. And General Kim would only know about their fate after the battle was decided.

Colonel Warren stepped up to him along with Colonel Knowlton and saluted, "Sir, I'm here to report on the incident with Colonel Knowlton's men and Major Marion's men."

"Did you manage to catch the Swamp Devil?"

"No, general. Unfortunately, the Swamp Devil was not with the soldiers that attacked us. I fired the flare because I believed we would be overrun, but the militiamen that attacked us retreated shortly after I fired. It seemed as though the forces that attacked us were smaller than we thought and took heavy losses before they retreated. We hastily counted the number of dead attackers, and we counted approximately two hundred."

The general nearly cursed as he scratched his chin forcefully, "And your casualties?"

"One hundred and seventy, sir. Fifty-seven are dead."

"Treat the wounded and have the men rest up. The British may return if General Arnold and his men are defeated," General Kim ordered, "Let us hope he managed to break through and reach General Washington though."

+++++

News regarding the fate of General Arnold and his men reached General Kim five days later. During the five days, the general improved the defenses surrounding the town and managed to gather precious intelligence that revolved around the town. Many of the patriot sympathizing civilians were fleeing en masse to the western and northern parts of the border, and only a three-mile radius surrounding Amelia was cleared of any hostile activity. It seemed as though the British and Major Marion decided to withdraw from the area for the time being.

On April 3rd of 1776, a single soldier wearing a Continental Army uniform approached the northern borders of Amelia. His uniform was dirtied and ragged, and the man wearing the uniform looked just as worn out as his uniform. He was limping and using his musket as a form of support as he appeared in front of the colonial defenders.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I'm Colonel Gold Silliman. I'm with the 3rd Connecticut Regiment!" The man cried as he laid down his musket onto the ground and collapsed onto the ground.

The soldiers that were posted as guards in the northern parts of the town cautiously moved into the forest surrounding the northern roads as one of the soldiers rushed to the fallen soldier's aid, "Are you alright?"

"I'll live," The ragged soldier answered, "But I must see the general. I have news regarding my commanding general and the men under his command."

General Kim rushed to the northern entrance and ran to the injured soldier as he was brought into the town, "I apologize if I sound crude, but may I ask what happened to General Arnold and the Connecticut regiments?"

Colonel Silliman grimaced as he held onto a nearby soldier for support, "He's dead, sir."

"Dead?" General Kim echoed as he looked to the sky in frustration, "What happened?"

"We were ambushed by the British about an hour east from Amelia. We were outnumbered and they caught us out in the open. They were hiding behind the terrain while shooting at us. We lost dozens in the initial few minutes, so General Arnold ordered the majority of the men to keep on moving east to support General Washington. He refused to retreat with the others and ordered the remaining men to continue without him. I was one of the few that stayed behind with him and we moved into the forest to try and fight them on even footing. We might have held our ground if a few dozen of the British soldiers didn't have some new rifle that could fire every few seconds! We lost more than half of our men before General Arnold was shot through the chest and collapsed onto the ground. He died shortly afterward and the surviving men surrendered. I was shot in the leg when that happened and they didn't notice I was still alive because they began to chase the fleeing regiments soon after," The injured colonel winced again before looking serious at his leader, "But there's something else I must tell you, sir."

The general's face looked dark as he listened to the man's story, but became curious at the man's sudden change of composure, "Something else, colonel?"

"The Negro folks we had in our rank, sir. A few of them stayed behind with us to help the others retreat. A good number of them died fighting, brave men they were. But the ones that surrendered after General Arnold's death... they were shot. Not by the damned British, but Major Marion and his men."

"Major Marion and his men shot them? He was there at the battle? And he shot the surrendering black soldiers?"

Colonel Similiman nodded, "Aye. He was there alright, most likely the reason why the British and the Loyalists were fighting from the woods then out in the open. I was watching from the ground when the prisoners were rounded up and the Negros were singled out. I recognized Major Marion since one of the Loyalists called him by his name, but he and his men executed the dozen or so Negro soldiers that surrendered before they went on their way. After they left, I bandaged my leg as best as I could and then began my way back to town to let you know what happened.

General Kim had a fiery look in his eyes as he scanned the men surrounding him, "Those damned Loyalists will pay for every single life they have taken these past several days. Mark my words; not a single Loyalist town will remain standing after I am finished with South Carolina."