states  that  Captain  Oates  was  taken  by  the  Americans  near  the  Pedee,  in  South  Carolina,
and  "lately  put  to  death."


AND  ITS  HEROES.  341

anything  he  hated  more  than  another,  it  was  a  Tory  ;  and,
it  may  be,  much  of  his  extreme  bitterness  grew  out  of  the
fact,  that  he  knew  full  well  how  intensely  he,  in  turn,  was
hated  by  the  Loyalists.  Pointing  at  the  unfortunates,  while
dangling  in  mid-air,  Carr  exclaimed:  ^' Would  to  God
every  tree  in  the  wilderness  bore  such  fruit  as  that !"  '^

After  nine  of  the  Loyalist  leaders  had  been  executed,
and  three  others  were  about  to  follow  suit,  an  unexpected
incident  occurred.  Isaac  Baldwin,  one  of  these  condemned
trio,  had  been  a  leader  of  a  Tory  gang  in  Burke  County,
who  had  sacked  many  a  house,  stripping  the  unfortunate
occupants  of  food,  beds  and  clothing  ;  and  not  unfrequently,
after  tying  them  to  trees,  and  whipping  them  severely,
would  leave  them  in  their  helpless  and  gory  condition  to
their  fate.  While  all  eyes  were  directed  to  Baldwin  and
his  companions,  pinioned,  and  awaiting  the  call  of  the  exe-
cutioners, a  brother  of  Baldwin's,  a  mere  lad,  approached,


=''J.  L.  Gray's  MS.  statement;   Rutherford  ^«$'MzVirr,  May  24,  1859.
