Mrs. Elizabeth Steele
The long, arduous, and eventful retreat of General Morgan through the Carolinas after the battle of the Cowpens and the eager pursuit of Cornwallis to overtake him, having more than five hundred prisoners, on his way to a place of safety in Virginia, affords many exciting incidents. Having met Morgan on the eastern banks of the Catawba River at Sherrill's Ford and directed his forward movements, General Greene proceeded to Salisbury, a little in advance of his forces. It had been slightly raining during the day, and his wet garments, the appearance of exhaustion, and dejection of spirits at the loss of General Davidson at Cowans Ford as he dismounted at the door of the principal hotel in Salisbury indicated too clearly that he was suffering under harassing anxiety of mind. Dr. Reed, who had charge of the sick and wounded prisoners while waiting for the General's arrival, wrote the necessary paroles for such officers as could not go on. General Greene's aids, having been dispatched to different parts of the retreating army, he was alone when he rode up to the hotel. Seeing his gloomy looks, Dr. Reed remarked that he appeared tired, to which the wearied officer replied: " Yes, exhausted, hungry, alone, and penniless! " General Greene had hardly taken his seat at the well-spread table when Mrs. Steele, the hotel's landlady, entered the room and carefully shut the door behind her. Approaching her distinguished guest, she reminded him of the despondent words he had uttered in her hearing, implying, as she thought, a distrust of the devotion of his friends to the cause of freedom. She declared money he should have and immediately drew from under her apron two small bags full of specie, probably the earnings of several years. " Take these, General," said she, " you need them, and I can do without them. This offering of a benevolent heart, accompanied by words of kindness and encouragement, General Greene accepted with thankfulness.General Greene remained briefly in Salisbury, but before he departed from the house of Mrs. Steele, he left a memorial of his visit. Seeing a picture of George III. hanging against the wall, sent as a present to a connection of Mrs. Steele from England, he took it down and wrote with its face to the wall. The picture, with the writing uneffaced, is still in the possession of a granddaughter. Mrs. Steele was twice married; her first husband was a Gillespie, by whom she had a daughter, Margaret, who married the Rev. Samuel E. McCorkle, a distinguished Presbyterian minister; and Richard Gillespie, who was a Captain in the Revolution, and died unmarried. By her second husband, William Steele, she had only one child, the Hon. John Steele, who died in Salisbury on the 14th of August 1815. He was a conspicuous actor in the councils of the State and Nation and one whose services offer materials for an exciting and instructive biography. Mrs. Steele died in Salisbury on the 22nd of November, 1790. She was distinguished not only for her strong attachment to the cause of freedom but for the piety which shone forth brightly in her pilgrimage upon the earth. Among her papers was found, after her death, a written dedication of herself to her Creator and a prayer for support in the practice of Christian duty, with a letter left as a legacy to her children, urging it upon them to make religion the great work of life.