This posting is from Doris which was sent me by accident. <G> Sara >From "The Guns Over the Carolinas" by Ralph Edgar Bailey: ... Brig. Gen. Andrew Pickens and Col. Harry "Light Horse" Lee were sent over the Dan (River) with a chosen force to harry Cronwallis, cut his communications, seize his supplies and frighten the Tories into remaining at home. Gen. Nathaniel Greene realized that while the British commander probably wouldn't risk crossing the Dan with his present force, even though they were veterans, he might do so if enough Tories joined his ranks. Greene was playing for time to allow his reinforcements to come in, his supplies to arrive from the North, and more ammunition to be procured. One thing worried him: Lee and Pickens, in their enthusiasm, might overreach themselves and get too far out of touch. Worse still, they might be surprised and be captured or their band annihilated. He wanted to make certain that his orders would be carried out to the letter. So, close on their heels, he crossed the Dan himself, riding some eighteen miles south of the river. At a conference he told Lee and Pickens that he had decided to move his entire army south of the river within a few days. The incident leaked out and spread through the American camp, giving the men ever greater confidence in their chief. For Greene's readiness to share the fatigue and poor food with his men was what they appreciated as much as his careful planning, vigilance, and caution. In an army of that kind this attitude was doubly important. While Green still was at the Lee-Pickens camp over the Haw River, south of the Dan, a report was received that Tarleton's Green Dragoons had been seen in the vicinity. Greene rightly suspected that Tarleton's mission was to drum up recruits among the Tories. Since preventing this recruitment was vital to Green's plans, he ordered immediate pursuit of Tarleton. Lee and Pickens set off at once. The Tories had to be taught that neither Cornwallis nor Tarleton could protect them. Lee and Pickens followed a trail of smoking farmhouses that told where Tarleton or Tories marching to join Cornwallis had passed. By noon the next day, while covering a wide area between the Haw and Deep Rivers, Lee and Pickens nearly surprised Tarleton dining at a Tory farmhouse, but he escaped. A Tory named Pyles, who had the title of colonel, was leading 300 men of the Haw and Deep Rivers' country, looking for Tarleton, when two of Pyle's scouts fell in with an offficer of Lee's Legion, riding patrol some distance ahead of the unit. Lee's Legion and Tarleton's dragoons both dressed in smartly cut green uniforms. To most people they looked alike. Pyle's men, having been told that Tarleton was in the vicinity, as indeed he was, mistook Lee's officer for one of Tarleton's men. The quick-witted American officer went along with the deception and escorted Pyle's scout's to Lee, answering their greetings of "Colonel Tarleton, sir," questioned the men closely, He discovered that no one in the group had seen Banastre Tarleton. How much more emphatic, Lee thought, to teach the Tories a lesson by capturing them without a fight. They would learn that Cornwallis, indeed, was no protection, which was what Greene wanted. Lee ordered his column forward, posing as Tarleton, and soon caught up with Pyles who had stopped on a narrow, thickly wooded road to rest his mounted men and horses. When Pyle's two scouts, or vedettes, rode in with Lee and introduced him as Colonel Tarleton, Pyles was overjoyed. He thought he had reached the safety of a trained unit of British horse much sooner than he had hoped. For there was no telling what might happen to his little band if they fell in with Greene. Of course, Greene was supposed to be north of the Dan, but who knew where that wily Rhode Islander ever was? Lee had formed an instant plan to get his Legion ahead of the mounted Tories. Then, with Pickens's infantrymen behind them, the enemy would have no choice but to surrender. His horsemen began to pass the Tory line. But as Lee rode forward to exchange a handclasp with Colonel Pyles--still carrying out his masquerade--some quick eye on the Tory left, near Pyles' rear, spotted the well-known green twig of the Whig or partiot riflemen. The frightened Tory fired his musket. The shot went wild, but it had alarmed the Tories. There was no chance to avoid a fight. With the two bodies of bitter enemies face to face, the first to strike probably would win. There would be no second chance. Lee did not hesitate. "Draw sabers!" He didn't have to give the order to attack. Within seconds the heavy swords were slashing at Tory heads, cutting men down from their saddles before they could aim their muskets. Within minutes, 90 of the 300 Tories lay dead on the road. Most of the others, including Pyles, were wounded but managed to flee. Lee did not pursue them far. The stories they would tell throughout the countryside would do what Greene wanted, they would frighten the Tories into deserting Cornwallis. And so it happened. The Whig Massacre, as Pyles's men described Lee's sudden attack, quickly terrorized the Tory community. The recruits who had been intent on joining Cornwallis decided to stay home and get their spring work done around the farm... This is from a biography of Col. Nathaniel Greene if anyone wants to get it and read the whole story for themselves. This is the same Col. John Pyle that Joe Pyle posted a story on earlier written by Ben M. Pyle. In Ben's narrative he stated that John Pyle of Kaufman Co. Tex. (my gg grandfather) was a grandson of this Col. John Pyle. At this point in time I have not documented that, but of course I'm working on it.!!