part of the present county of Gaston.  On the 24th the army arrived at Ramsour’s Mill, near the present town of Lincolnton.  Here Cornwallis was compelled to remain three days to lay in a supply of provisions for his large army.  To accomplish this, foraging parties were sent out in different directions to purchase all the grain, of every kind, that could be procured.  Ramsour’s Mill, surrounded with a guard of eight or ten men, was set to work, running day and night, converting the grain into meal or flour.

General O’Hara camped at the “Reep place,” two miles and a half northwest of Ramsour’s Mill.  His forces crossed the South Fork, about a mile above the bridge, on the public road leading to Rutherfordton.  Tarleton’s cavalry crossed the same stream in “Cobb’s bottom,” passing over the present site of Lincolnton, to form a junction with Cornwallis.  This small divergence from the direct line of travel, and subsequent concentration at some designated point, was frequently made by sections of the British army for the purpose of procuring supplies.

Lord Cornwallis, during his transitory stay, made his headquarters nearly on the summit of the rising ground, two hundred and fifty yards east of the Mill, on which had been fought the severe battle between the Whigs, under Colonel Francis Locke, and the Tories, under Lieutenant Colonel John Moore (son of Moses Moore), in which the former were victorious.

Christian Reinhardt, one of the first German settlers of the county, then lived near the base of the rising battle ground, and carried on a tan-yard.  He owned a valuable servant, named Fess, (contraction of Festus,) whose whole soul was exerted in making good sole leather, and upper too, for the surrounding country.  This servant, greatly attached to his kind master, was forced off, very much against his will, by some of the British soldiery on their departure; but his whereabouts having been found out, Adam Reep, and one or two other noted Whigs, adroitly managed to recover him from the British camp, a few days afterward, and restored him to his rightful owner.

The Marquee of Lord Cornwallis was placed near a a pine tree, still standing on the battle ground, left there by the present owner of the property, (W.M.  Reinhardt, Esq., grand son of Christian Reinhardt,) in clearing the land, as a memento of the past—­where Royalty, for a brief season, held undisputed sway, and feasted on the fat of the land.

Reliable tradition says that some of the British soldiery, while encamped on the Ramsour battle ground, evinced a notable propensity for depredating upon the savory poultry of the good old house-wife, Mrs. Barbara Reinhardt—­in other words, they showed a fondness for procuring fowl meat by foul means, in opposition to the principles of honesty and good morals.  As soon as the depredations were discovered by Mrs. Reinhardt she immediately laid in her complaints at head-quarters.  Whereupon his lordship, placing greater stress upon the sanctity of the eighth commandment than his loyal soldiers, promptly replied, “Madam, you shall be protected,” and accordingly had a guard placed over her property until his departure.