Sometime back someone sent me selected pages from The Old North State In 1776, Volumes I and II with Index, written by the Rev Eli W. Caruthers, D.D., 1854 and 1856. This publication was reprinted by the Guilford County Genealogical Society in 1985 and it is apparent that I need to order this publication for myself. <g> I have scanned the pages with my brand new, <patting myself on back> but in a few places they did not scan exactly. I have inserted ?? where I could not make out from scanned copy or the original copy. Regarding Arthur Forbis: He and his little company all belonged to the Alamance congregation, in which he was a ruling elder of the church, and was highly esteemed as a man and a Christian. Some years ago, his daughter, who well recollected the time and had often heard her mother and neighbors talking about it for long years after, told me that, two or three days before the battle, her father called his company together and after making known his intentions, gave them their choice either to stay or go with him. About half made excuses. The other half, about twenty-five, volunteered to go. He was as brave a man as walked the ground; but he had not been tried. No one in the regiment, except his own company knew whether he had more firmness or a better judgment than any other militia captain; and it was not to be expected that the whole regiment would have the same confidence in him that they would have had in the proper officer, or that they would pay the same deference to his authority; for we all know that when the regular officer is killed or removed in battle, it has a discouraging influence even upon veteran soldiers. Ramsay, in his History of the Revolution, says, 'It,' meaning the North Carolina line, "gave way while the adversaries were at the distance of one hundred and forty yards, and he lays the blame of it on the misconduct of a Colonel, who, on the advance of the enemy, called Out to an officer at some distance, 'that he would be surrounded,' which, according to him, caused a panic among the men, and they all fled. There was, perhaps, some truth in this statement, for the British were making every exertion to surround or outflank them. The announcement of the fact which might have been the cause of their retreat, was calculated to excite a panic, and the imprudence of the Colonel, which was owing to his inexperience, consisted in his manner of making it known, but that the line as a whole, or generally, gave way when the enemy were at the distance of hundred and forty yards, is at variance with the British authorities, as we have shown, and with all the testimony I have had from men who were in Butler's brigade on that day. It is certain that the company of Captain Forbis, with many others, fired twice, and that he and some of his men did not give way until the British were within a few steps. He and two of his neighbors were then wounded, Thomas Wiley and William Paisley, father of the Rev. Samuel Paisley, who is yet living. Nathaniel Slade of Caswell, told me that he fired once, and commenced loading to fire again, when he broke his ramrod. He then borrowed one from the man on his right hand, and was ramming down his bullet, but had not got ready to fire, when the men all broke and fled. On looking forward, the British were within a few rods. Had it not been for the accident of breaking his ramrod, which was a loss of some minutes, he would have fired twice; and he said many of the men on both sides of him did give two ??es; but we call attention to the fact that, according to his testimony, the line did not generally give way until the enemy were within a few rods. Captain Forbis said before he died, that if all the men uner his command, meaning the regiment, I suppose, had shown as much firmness as William Montgomery, ?? Law, John Allison, and William Paisley, he would have kept that part of the British line back in spite of everything. But the relative proportion of the killed and wounded ought not to be overlooked, and as the basis of a comparative estimate, we take the official return of the adjutant-general, Colonel Williams. The return, as a whole, was very imperfect; for it was impossible to ascertain in that length of time, the second day after the battle, when the return was made, the precise number of killed and wounded, especially in the ranks of the militia. Besides, he made out his statement from the reports not of the general field officers, who returned to the Iron Works; but all the field officers had not then returned to ???. Moreover, there was one regiment, a whole regiment of North Carolina militia, of which whose officers had made no report, and it would be strange, if not one man in it was killed or wounded. The return, as a whole, was, therefore, imperfect, and, owing to their peculiar circumstances, was especially deficient in regard to the North Carolina militia, but we shall have more to say about that before we are done, and for the present take the return of Williams as the basis of comparison. Of the whole Virginia militia, one thousand six hundred and ninety-three, only twelve were reported as killed; if you divide one thousand six hundred and ninety-three by twelve, it will give you one in one hundred and forty-one and a half. Of the whole North Carolina militia, one thousand and sixty, six were listed as killed; and if you divide one thousand and sixty by six, it will give one in one hundred seventy-six and two-thirds. This is not such a great disparity, yet it is unfavorable, and we must look for other facts; but there was one whole regiment of North Carolina militia, of which the Field Officers had then made no report! and what of that? Did they never make a report? or, if they did not, it follow that there was nothing good to report of them? Had they disappeared like ghosts at the end of day? Or were they like the man's flea, when they went to look for them, they "warn't there?" ?? hason and those who have copied after him seem to have taken this for granted; but was that the fact? It does not follow'. and Williams gives no such intimation. He merely says that the field officers had 1 made no report of it; and if that was the regiment which was left to the command of Captain Forbis, which there can be very little doubt, the mystery is explained and the question settled. I do not report that the regiment of which no report had then been received was the one commanded by Forbis, but write the facts and leave the reader to draw his own conclusions. Certainly the most natural Inference is it was not reported because it had no field officer to make a report, and that was probably the ?? with no other regiment on the ground. That the command of the regiment in question was, on that morning, given to Captain Forbis, by Green's order or sanction Is well known, and does not admit of a doubt; but there were more of our militia killed and wounded than the field officers reported or could have known at the time. We will take a few cases which have accidentally come to my knowledge, and let the reader judge. There was a man killed by the name of Pinkerton who, I think1was a volunteer, and from what was then Orange county. He was under Forbis' immediate command, and was killed by the last cannonball, supposed to be a six-pounder, thrown from the British artillery while occupying its first position on the high ground to the west. Butler's brigade commenced at the road in which the American artillery was planted, and extended south, along the fence, and beyond it as far as necessary. Pinkerton was in a corner of the fence only a few steps from the road, with his gun pointing through a crack, and waiting until the British, who were then a little below Hoskins' house, would come within rifle shot. The ball struck him in the head, and as he was probably resting on one knee to keep himself more steady, which made his posture coincide with the parabolic curve of the descending ball, it tore out the spine the whole length of the body, there where the mere fragments of what, only a moment before had been a man, and one who, in common phrase, "had a soul." The fragments lay there among the leaves and bushes for two days, and his death was probably known to any field officer on the ground. On the afternoon of the second day after the British had all left, a great many came in from the surrounding country; some to gratify their curiosity in looking over the ground, and others in search of friends, whose fate was yet unknown. Two women who were going about looking for friends, first discovered the mangled body of Pinkerton, and called the attention of the men, who came and buried his remains. That he was overlooked for two days is not strange, when Capt. Forbis, who was only wounded, was overlooked the same length of time. Mr. Slade told me that when he was retreating through the woods, he passed a man who was so desperately wounded that he thought he could not possibly live to the close of the battle. At the same instant a certain Major came along on horseback, and the wounded man begged that he would just let him ride his horse till he got beyond the reach of the guns; but the Major, who was making very good use of his locomotive powers, never turned his head in that direction. I have asked two or three physicians with whom I happy to get in conversation on this subject, about the case, and they said that the wound was not necessarily mortal, but that, as some considerable arteries were cut, he must very soon bleed to death without aid, which was then and there out of the question. As he never heard of the man again, Slade had no doubt that he had crawled off into the woods, where he lay down and bled to death without any one knowing what had become of him, and yet, if reported at all, it could be only as wounded or missing. There was a young man killed by the name of Toliafero, who was from Surry county, and came down as, volunteer with Jesse Franklin, late Governor of the State. In what part of the army they were engaged, I have not learned, but from circumstances I infer that they were on the left, either with Butlers brigade or with Campbell's riflemen. They rode down, but tied their horses in the woods at some distance from scene of conflict. At the close, when Tarleton was sent with his dragoons to extricate the Hessians, Lee had left with his cavalry, he soon scattered them, killing some, and wounding others. When all flying for safety, these two young men ran towards their horses, and were pursued by some dragoons. ?? lin by cutting his bridle, barely made his escape; but Tollafero, who undertook to untie his bridle, was cut down by the sword of a dragoon when in the act of mounting. Franklin, afterwards, when the Brigade left the neighborhood, returned to the place, buried his friend, and carried back his armor to his family. In that merciless onslaught of the dragoons, several must have been killed, and more wounded, as Ta?? intimates in his history; but scattered, as they were, through the woods in every direction, Virgininans, North Carolinians together, they could not possibly be all found and reported at the Iron Works by the second day after the battle. If the reader chooses to add Pinkerton, Toliafero and the other man, or only two of them, to the Number reported as killed, and then divide as before, he will be a little surprised to find what a difference it will make in the relative proportion. It was impossible that Williams or any body else could then what execution was done by the front line, or how much it suffered in the action; for we know that some were wounded and probably some killed after the field officers had all left. They retreated, every one them, with the mass, some of them leading the way, and left portions of their men still engaged with enemy. Captain Forbis was wounded and two of his neighbors, Thomas Wiley and William Paisley, after field officers had all left and were beyond the reach of danger. Forbis was mortally wounded and lay till the afternoon of the second day, forty-eight hours, when he was found by some of his neighbors and taken home. There may have been others, but these have incidentally come to my knowledge from having a good part of my life among their descendants, many of whom have been, ever since, most valuable members of the Alamance church. The men under the immediate command of Forbis were probably the most firm and efficient part of line, and, if we are right in supposing that the regiment of which Williams had received no report was one which was left under his command, it will give a different aspect to the whole affair. It will ?? the difficulties. In the official return of Williams; it will confirm the statements of the British historians and of Capt. Stuart, all of whom were actors in the scene, and it will accord with the testimony substantial and reliable men of this region, who were in the battle.