CHAPTER XXVIII.

[Illustration: 9752]

HERE are but few remains of Revolutionary localities about Savannah.

The city has spread out over all the British works; and where their

batteries, redoubts, ramparts, and ditches were constructed, public

squares are laid out and adorned with trees, or houses and stores cover

the earth. Not so with the works constructed by the French engineers

during the siege in the autumn of 1779. Although the regular forms are

effaced, yet the mounds and ditches may be traced many rods near the

margin of the swamp southeast of the city. These I visited early on the

morning of my arrival in Savannah, after an instructive interview with

the Honorable J. C. Nicoll, to whom I am indebted for a knowledge of

the several historical localities in and near the city. Their present

appearance and description are delineated on page 737. After sketching

General M'Intosh's house, printed on the preceding page, I procured a

saddle-horse and rode out to "Jasper's Spring," a place famous as the

scene of a bold exploit, which has been the theme of history and song.*

[Illustration: 7752]

It is near the Augusta road, two and a half miles westward of the city.

The day was very warm. The gardens were garnished with flowers; the

orange-trees were blooming; blossoms covered the peach-trees, and

insects were sporting in the sunbeams.

Jasper's Spring is just within the edge of a forest of oaks and gums,

and is remarkable only on account of its historical associations. It is

in the midst of a marshy spot partially covered with underwood, on the

northern side of the road, and its area is marked by the circumference

of a sunken barrel. Being the only fountain of pure water in the

vicinity, it is resorted to daily by travelers upon the road. One

* We have already met Sergeant William Jasper while securing the

Carolina flags upon the parapet of the Spring Hill redoubt at Savannah

(see page 738), and there sealing his patriotism with his life's blood.

Jasper was one of the bravest of the brave. After his exploits at Fort

Moultrie, which we shall consider hereafter, his commander, General

Moultrie, gave him a sort of roving commission, certain that he would

always be usefully employed. Jasper belonged to the second South

Carolina regiment, and was privileged to select from his corps such men

as he pleased to accompany him in his enterprises. Bravery and humanity

were his chief characteristics, and while he was active in the cause of

his country, he never injured an enemy unnecessarily. While out upon

one of his excursions, when the British had a camp at Ebenezer, all the

sympathies of his heart were aroused by the distress of a Mrs. Jones,

whose husband, an American by birth, was confined in irons for deserting

the royal cause after taking a protection. She felt certain that he

would be hanged, for, with others, he was to be taken to Savannah for

that purpose the next morning. Jasper and his only companion (Sergeant

Newton) resolved to rescue Jones and his fellow-prisoners. Concealing

themselves in the thick bushes near the spring (at which they doubted

not the guard of eight men would halt), they awaited their approach. As

expected, the guard halted to drink. Only two of them remained with the

prisoners, while the others, leaning their muskets against a tree,

went to the spring. Jasper and his companion then leaped from their

concealment, seized two of the guns, shot the two sentinels, and took

possession of the remainder of the muskets. The guards, unarmed, were

powerless, and surrendered. The irons were knocked off the wrists of

the prisoners, muskets were placed in their hands, and the custodians

of Jones and his fellow-patriots were taken to the American camp at

Purysburg the next morning, themselves prisoners of war. Jones was

restored to his wife, child, and country, and for that noble deed

posterity blesses the name of Sergeant Jasper. That name is indelibly

written on the page of history, and the people of Savannah have

perpetuated it by bestowing it upon one of the beautiful squares of

their city.

[[[Departure from Savannah.--Night Voyage.--Arrival at

Charleston.--Early Settlement.]]]

{743}of them, a wagoner, came, knelt, and quaffed when I opened my

port-folio, and, as he arose from the spring I sketched him, as seen

in the preceding picture. He knew nothing of the event which makes it

famous.

After lingering for half an hour in the cool shade at the spring, I

returned to Savannah. A slight haziness began to overspread the sky,

which deepened toward evening, and descended in gentle rain when I left

the city at eight o'clock in a steam-packet for Charleston. We passed

the lights at Fort Pulaski at half past eight, and an hour later glided

by the beacons of Tybee and breasted the rising waves of the Atlantic.

Like Yellow Plush, I soon discovered the "use of basins," and at an

early hour turned into my berth to prevent a turning out of my supper.

During the night we passed through Port Royal entrance, touched at

Beaufort, stuck in the mud in the channel between Ladies' and St. Helena

Islands, and at daylight emerged again into the Atlantic through St.

Helena's Sound. The breeze was hourly stiffening, and every "landlubber"

on board preferred the berth to breakfast, until we approached

Charleston bar, when the wind died away, the sun gleamed through the

breaking clouds, and upon the bosom of long, heaving swells, we were

wafted into Charleston harbor.

[Illustration: 8753]

We landed at one o'clock, dined at two, and at three I called upon the

Reverend Samuel Smythe, D.D., with a letter of introduction, with whom

I passed the remainder of the afternoon in visiting places of interest

upon the banks of the Cooper River, above the city. To the kind courtesy

of Dr. Smythe I am indebted for much of the interest, pleasure, and

profit of my visit at Charleston and vicinity.

Here, upon the spot where the first permanent English settlement in

South Carolina was accomplished, let us glance at the record of history.

In the Introduction to this work (page xxxii.), I have referred to the

first attempt at permanent settlement on South Carolina soil, and the

result. As it was only an _attempt_, proved unsuccessful, and does

not illustrate the growth of popular liberty, except so far as the

_principles_, of the Huguenots (those first emigrants) had influence in

the political opinions of the people in after years, we will not stop

to consider the details, but pass on to the period of permanent

settlements.

For a hundred years after the first attempt at colonization in South

Carolina was made, no settlements were undertaken, and no white man

walked in her forests, except a few Spaniards, who penetrated the

wilderness from St. Augustine in search of a fancied region of gold.

At length the English, who had formed settlements on the Cape Fear and

vicinity, turned their attention to more southerly regions.

In January, 1670, two ships, with materials fora permanent settlement,

sailed from England, under the command of Sir William Sayle, who had

previously visited and explored the South Carolina coast. He entered

Port Royal, planted his colony upon Beaufort, and soon afterward died

there.

The jurisdiction of Sir John Yeamans, of the Northern colony, was then

extended over this settlement, and in 1671 he was chosen their governor.

The people were easily induced, "for the convenience of pasturage and

tillage," to remove to the south bank of the Ashley River, further

north, and there they laid the foundation of old Charlestown ** (at

present called Old Town, or the Landing); and there was planted the

first fruitful seed a gift of the commonwealth of South Carolina. The

colony, in honor of Sir George Carteret, one of the proprietors, was

called the Carteret County Colony. ** Nine years afterward, the settlers

abandoned this spot, and upon Oyster Point, nearer the sea, at the

confluence of the

* There were about fifty families who went from the Fort Royal

settlement to the Ashley River, and about the same number from the

Northern colony accompanied Governor Yeamans thither.

** Governor Yeamans caused a number of African slaves to be brought from

Barbadoes, and in the year 1672 the slave system in South Carolina was

commenced

[[[Founding of Charleston.--Increase of Settlers.--Their

Character.--Difficulties with the Indians.]]]

{744}Ashley and Cooper Rivers * (so called in compliment to Ashley

Cooper, the Earl of Shaftesbury), a place more eligible for commercial

pursuits, they founded the present city of Charleston,[[1680]] and in

the course of the year built thirty houses. *** The city retained its

original name of Charles _Town_ until after the Revolution, when it was

called Charleston. The general early history of South Carolina we have

already considered in its connection with the North State; we have,

therefore, only a few particular points to notice in its progress prior

to the separation in 1729.

The beauty of the climate and the freedom which then prevailed made

South Carolina a chosen refuge for the oppressed and the discontented

of all lands. Several Dutch families of New York went to South Carolina

when that city passed into the hands of the English, and settled on the

southwest side of the Ashley, near the English colony, from whence they

spread over the state, and were joined by many from "fader-land."

In 1679, Charles the Second sent quite a number of French Protestant

refugees (Huguenots) thither; and when, in 1685, the Edict of Nantes

(see page 386, volume i.) was revoked, large numbers of the Huguenots

crossed the Atlantic, and sought refuge in South Carolina from the fires

of persecution about to be relighted in France. Ten years later,[[1696]]

a colony of Congregationalists, from Dorchester, in Massachusetts,

ascended the Ashley almost to its head, and founded the town of

Dorchester, in the present parish of St. George, Dorchester. This was

a village of considerable note during the Revolution, but it is now

deserted, and little remains of the past but the primitive church and

the graves around it.

Under various leaders, men of every creed and of various countries went

to South Carolina; "and the Santee, the Congaree, the Wateree, and the

Edisto now listened to the strange voices of several nations, who in the

Old World had scarcely known each other, except as foes. There, for a

while, they mingled harmoniously with the natives. The French Huguenot

and the German Palatine smoked their pipes in amity with the Westo

and the Serattee; and the tastes and habits of the Seine and the Rhine

became familiar to the wandering eyes of the fearless warriors along the

Congaree. It was not long before a French violinist had opened a school

for dancing among the Indians on the Santee River." ***

For some time the colonists were obliged to depend, in part, upon

the bounty of the proprietors for subsistence, and the calls of this

dependence being generally answered, idle and improvident habits

were begotten, highly inimical to the prosperity of a new state. The

proprietors perceived the bad tendency of such indulgence, and in a

letter to the colonists declared that they would "no longer continue to

feed and clothe them, without expectation or demand of any return." This

resolve, so unkind to the apprehension of the Carolinians, was of great

benefit to the colonists. Ultimately the people, compelled to work or

starve--to be provident or to be beggars--turned to their own resources,

and their development began. Independence of action begat independence

of thought and feeling, and in this first broken fallow, turned up to

the vivifying influence of the sun and shower of free civil, political

and religious life, the seed of Republican liberty, which subsequently

bore such generous fruit in the Carolinas, was planted and took firm

root..

In addition to the diseases incident to the climate, and the privations

always attendant upon first settlement, the Carolinians were soon

called upon to resist powerful foes--the Indian tribes upon whose

hunting-grounds they were settling. These difficulties have been noticed

in a preceding chapter. The red men were hardly quieted before internal

troubles menaced the colony with a more terrible blow. Food had become

scarce, discontents were

* The Indian name for the Ashley was Ke-a-wah; for the Cooper, E-li-uan.

The city has a tine sheltered harbor, with the sea six miles distant.

** The city of Charleston was laid out in 1680 by John Culpepper, who

had been surveyor general of the Northern colony of the Carolinas,

but was then a fugitive, on account of his participation in an

insurrectionary movement there. The streets were laid out nearly at

right angles, and the town site was completely inclosed with a line of

fortifications. A plan of these fortifications, and of the city at that

time, is published in Johnson's Traditions and Reminiscences of the

Revolution, page 3.

*** Simm's History of South Carolina, page 64.

[[[An Insurrection.--Legislative Assembly.--French and English.--Church

Liturgy adopted]]]

{745}heard on every side, and an insurrectionary movement occurred. The

rebellion was promptly suppressed, and some supplies just then arriving

from England with some new settlers, the people were quieted and became

loyal. This difficulty had just passed by, when the Spaniards menaced

the English, and ships of war with land troops appeared. Before their

arrival, vessels which had been sent to Virginia and Barbadoes for

provisions and munitions of war reached the harbor of Charleston.

Governor Yeamans at once acted on the offensive, and drove the Spaniards

back to St. Augustine.

Yeamans left the colony in 1674, and was succeeded by Joseph West, a man

of republican tendencies. He called the freemen of the colony together

in convention at Charleston to make laws for their government. This was

the first legislative assembly convened in South Carolina. It might have

been an auspicious event, had not the jarring interests of classes and

creeds, there represented, produced discord and confusion. Cavaliers and

Puritans, Churchmen and Dissenters, each strenuous for the prevalence

of their respective opinions, presented, in this first attempt at

representative legislation, powerful arguments in favor of absolutism.

Anarchy prevailed, and in the midst of the dissensions in Charleston,

the Stono Indians swept along the frontiers of the settlements, and

plundered a great quantity of grain and numerous cattle. The inhabitants

armed themselves, defeated the Stonos in several skirmishes, took

many of them prisoners, and sent them to the West Indies to be sold as

slaves. After other obstinate conflicts, the Stonos were subdued and

almost exterminated. They have never had a tribal existence since, and

it is believed that they have no living representative upon the earth.

A Legislative Assembly met in Charleston in 1682, and enacted laws for

the civil and military operations of the colony. The spirit of freedom

had begun to work in the hearts of the people, and when the collection

of rents, the great cause of discontent in the Northern colony,

was pressed, they rebelled. The public records were seized, and the

Assembly, assuming the functions of government, imprisoned the secretary

of the province. The governor (Colleton) declared martial law. The

exasperated people clamored for his impeachment. The Assembly complied,

and he was banished from the province. Turbulence and misrule continued

until the scheme of government of Locke and Shaftesbury was abandoned;

a better day then dawned. John Archdale, the good Quaker, came, and

his policy was like oil poured upon troubled waters. Only one great

difficulty remained--the troubles arising from the antipathy of the

English to the French. The general excellence of character possessed by

the latter soon disarmed prejudices; their political disabilities were

removed; they were no longer excluded from participation in governmental

affairs, and the last fountain of disquietude was dried up. During the

whole of Archdale's administration, and that of Blake, his successor,

peace and prosperity prevailed.

James Moore succeeded Blake in 1700. He sent an expedition against

the Spaniards at St. Augustine, in 1702, which proved unsuccessful.

A subsequent expedition against the Apalachian Indians, undertaken by

Moore, has been considered in a previous chapter.

Nathaniel Johnson, a pliant servant of Lord Granville, one of the

proprietors, succeeded Moore in 1703, and, pursuant to a plan long

cherished by that nobleman and his friends, he proceeded to the

establishment of the Church of England in Carolina. This was the first

budding of religious intolerance there. The Dissenters were excluded

from the Colonial Legislature, and suffered other disabilities. They

laid their grievances before the English Parliament. There they received

encouragement, and the law of disfranchisement was soon repealed by the

Colonial Assembly, but the Liturgy of the Church of England remained the

established form of religion in the province until the Revolution.

England was now at war with France and Spain. Her enemies coalesced, and

joined in an expedition against South Carolina in 1706. A squadron of

five ships came from Havana and appeared before Charleston. The governor

called upon the people to repel the invaders, and they cheerfully

responded. The invading troops were compelled to fly to their ships, and

these, in turn, being attacked by some vessels which had been speedily

armed in the harbor, retreated in haste across the bar, and departed.

This was the first

[[[Revolution.--Royal Government established.--Separation of the

Colonies.--Extension of Settlements.]]]

{746}_naval victory_ of the South Carolinians. Of eight hundred of the

enemy, almost three hundred were killed or taken prisoners.

In 1710 a speck of civil war appeared in Charleston, when two claimants

to the office of acting governor, on the death of Tynte, the successor

of Johnson, disputed for the honor. A compromise was effected, by

referring the case to the proprietors for a decision. They wisely

discarded both candidates, and appointed Charles Craven, brother of one

of the proprietors, governor of the province. Under his administration

the colony prospered, settlements extended, and the power of a dangerous

Indian confederacy against the Carolinas was effectually broken. *

Craven was succeeded by Robert Johnson, a son of the former

governor,[[1717]] and during his administration a revolution occurred

in South Carolina which changed the government from a proprietary to a

royal one. The remote causes of this change may be found in the desire

of the people for a simple and inexpensive government responsible only

to the crown, and not to be subjected to the caprices, avarice, and

inefficiency of a Board of Control composed of private individuals,

intent only upon personal gain. The immediate and ostensible cause was

the refusal of the proprietors to pay any portion of the debt incurred

by the Indian war so promptly suppressed by Governor Craven; and the

severity with which they enforced the collection of rents. The people

looked to the crown for relief, aid, and protection. A scheme for a

revolution was secretly planned, and on the twenty-eighth of November,

1719, Governor Johnson was deposed. The people proceeded to elect

James Moore governor. The militia, on whom Johnson looked for aid, were

against him, and finding himself entirely unsupported, he withdrew to

his plantation. Moore was proclaimed governor of the province in

the king's name, and royal authority was established. During the

administration of Francis Nicholson, the successor of Moore, and that

of Arthur Middleton, acting governor, little of political importance

occurred in relation to the colony, except the legal disputes in England

concerning the rights of the proprietors. These were finally settled

in 1729, by a royal purchase of both colonies (see page 562) from

the proprietors, and during that year North and South Carolina became

separate royal provinces.

The colony was now very prosperous, and from the period of the

separation until the Revolution, nothing occurred to impede its general

progress but the troubles with the Indians, detailed in preceding

chapters, and difficulties with the Spaniards. Soon all alarm on account

of the latter subsided, for Oglethorpe had established a barrier on

the Southern border, by laying the foundation of the commonwealth of

Georgia, and preparing means for keeping the Spaniards south of the St.

John's. When this barrier was made secure, the treaties with the Indians

were accomplished, the war with France ended, and universal peace

reigned in the Carolinas. Emigration flowed thither in a broad and rapid

stream. Immigrants came from all parts of Europe. Up the Pedee, Santee,

Edisto, and Savannah Rivers, settlements spread rapidly, and soon the

ax and the plow were plying with mighty energy upon the banks of the

Wateree, the Broad, and the Saluda Rivers, and their tributaries. *** At

one time six hundred German settlers came in a body; and from the North

of Ireland such numbers of the Protestant inhabitants (Scotch-Irish

chiefly) departed for Carolina that the depopulation of whole districts

was menaced. Immigrants came, too, from the other colonies. Within

a single year,[[1764]] more than a thousand families with their

effects--their cattle, hogs, and horses--crossed the Alleghanies

from the Eastern settlements, and pitched their tents in the bosom of

Carolina. Far removed from the po-

* See page 562.

** Previous to this period, some important settlements were made.

Between the years 1730 and 1740, an Irish settlement was planted near

the Santee, to whieh was given the name of Williamsburg township. At

the same time, some Swiss emigrants, under John Pury, settled upon the

northeast side of the Savannah, and founded the village of Purysburg.

From 1748 to 1755, great numbers of Palatines (Germans) were introduced,

and settled Orangeburgh and other places upon the Congaree and Wateree.

After the battle of Culloden in 1745, many Scotch Highlanders came over.

Some of them settled in South Carolina, but a larger portion located at

Cross Creek (Fayetteville), in North Carolina. The greatest influx of

settlement was after the treaty of Paris, in 1763.

[[[Discontents.--Disputes with the Governor.--Effects of the Stamp

Act.--Boldness of the People.]]]

{747}litical power they had been taught to reverence they soon

became alienated. They felt neither the favors nor the oppressions of

government, and in the free wilderness their minds and hearts became

schooled in that sturdy independence which developed bold and energetic

action when the Revolution broke out.

While the people of New England were murmuring because of Writs of

Assistance and other grievances, the Carolinians were not indifferent

listeners, especially those upon the seaboard; and before the Stamp

Act lighted the flame of general indignation in America, leading men in

South Carolina were freely discussing the rights and privileges of

each colony, and saw in day-dreams a mighty empire stretching along

the Atlantic coast from the Penobscot to the St. John's. Already their

representatives had quarreled with the governor (William Boone), because

he had presumed to touch, with official hands, one of their dearest

privileges (the elective franchise), and refused to hold intercourse

with him. In these disputes, Christopher Gadsden, Thomas Lynch, Henry

Laurens, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, the Rutledges, and other stanch

patriots in the stormy strife ten years later, were engaged. A spirit of

resistance was then aroused, which brought South Carolina early into the

arena of conflict when the war began.

When intelligence of the Stamp Act came over the sea, the Assembly of

South Carolina did not wait to consult the opinions of those of other

colonies, but immediately passed a series of condemnatory resolves.

When, soon afterward, the proposition for a Colonial Congress came from

Massachusetts, a member of the Assembly ridiculed it, * others thought

the scheme chimerical, yet a majority of them were in favor of it, and

delegates were appointed to represent South Carolina in the Congress

which was held at New York.[[Oct. 7, 1765]] The iniquitous character of

the Stamp Aet was freely discussed by the Carolinians, and as the day

approached[[Nov. 1]] when it was to go into operation, the people

became more and more determined to resist it. When the stamps arrived in

Charleston, no man was found willing to act as distributor, and Governor

William Bull (who had succeeded Boone) ordered them to be placed in Fort

Johnson, a strong fortress on James's Island, then garrisoned by a very

small force. When the place of deposit became known, one hundred and

fifty armed men, who had secretly organized, went down to the fort

at midnight, in open boats, to destroy the stamps. They surprised

and captured the garrison, loaded the cannons, hoisted a flag, and

at sunrise proclaimed open defiance of the power of the governor. The

captain of the armed ship which brought the stamps opened a parley with

the insurgents, and agreed to take away the obnoxious articles, and

"not land them elsewhere in America." ** This was agreed to, and the men

returned to the city. So universal was the opposition to the Act, that

no attempt was made to arrest the men concerned in this overt act of

treason.

* "If you agree to the proposition of composing a Congress from the

different British colonies," said the member, "what sort of a dish will

you make. New England will throw in fish and onions; the Middle States

flax-seed and flour; Maryland and Virginia will add tobacco; North

Carolina pitch, tar, and turpentine; South Carolina rice and indigo;

and Georgia will sprinkle the whole composition with saw-dust. Such an

absurd jumble will you make if you attempt to form a union among such

discordant materials as the thirteen British provinces." A shrewd

country member replied, "I would not choose the gentleman who made the

objection for my cook, but, nevertheless, I would venture to assert that

if the colonies proceed judiciously in the appointment of deputies to a

Continental Congress, they would prepare a dish fit to be presented to

any crowned head in Europe."--Ramsay.

** In a letter from Charleston, published in Weyman's New York Gazette,

it is stated that on the morning of the nineteenth of October a gallows

was discovered in the middle of Broad Street, where Chinch Street

intersects (then the central part of the town), on which were suspended

an effigy representing a stamp distributor, and another to impersonate

the devil. Near by was suspended a boot (Lord Bute), with a head upon

it, covered by a blue Scotch bonnet. To these effigies labels were

affixed. Upon one was the warning, "Whoever shall dare to pull down

these effigies had better been born with a mill-stone about his neck,

and cast into the sea." At evening they were taken down, and paraded

through the street by about two thousand persons, until they came to the

house of George Saxby, in Tradd Street, an appointed stamp distributor,

where they made a great noise, and injured his windows and other

portions of his house, to "the value of five pounds sterling." No other

riotous feelings were manifested. Nine day's afterward, Saxby and Caleb

Lloyd made oath at Fort Johnson that they would have nothing more to do

with the stamps.

[[[Liberty Tree.--Charleston Sons of Liberty.--Pitt's

Statue.--Christopher Gadsden]]]

{748}Under a wide-spreading live oak, a little north of the residence

of Christopher Gadsden--the Samuel Adams of South Carolina--the patriots

used to assemble during the summer and autumn of 1765, and also the

following summer, when the Stamp Act was repealed. There they discussed

the political questions of the day. From this circumstance the green

oak was called, like the great elm in Boston, _Liberty Tree_. * There

Gadsden assembled some of his political friends after the repeal of

the Stamp Act in 1766, and, while bonfires were blazing, cannons were

pealing for joy, and the Legislature of South Carolina was voting a

statue in honor of Pitt, ** he warned them not to be deceived by

this mere show of justice. *** His keen perception comprehended the

Declaratory Act in all its deformity, and while others were loud in

their praises of the king and Parliament, he ceased not to proclaim the

whole proceeding a deceptive and wicked scheme to lull the Americans

into a dangerous inactivity. And more; it is claimed, and generally

believed in South Carolina, that under Liberty Tree Christopher Gadsden

first spoke of American Independence. How early is not known, but

supposed to be as early as 1764. ****

The people of Charleston cheerfully signed non-importation agreements in

1769 and

* This tree stood within the square now bounded by Charlotte,

Washington, Boundary, and Alexander Streets. This continued to be

the favorite meeting-place until the Revolution was in full progress.

Beneath that tree the Declaration of Independence was first read to

the assembled people of Charleston. Its history and associations were

hateful to the officers of the crown, and when Sir Henry Clinton took

possession of the eity in 1780, he ordered it to be cut down, and a fire

lighted over the stump by piling its branches around it. Many cane heads

were made from the remains of the stump in after years. A part of it was

sawed into thin boards and made into a neat ballot-box, and presented to

the "'76 Association." This box was destroyed by fire, at the rooms of

the association, during the great conflagration in 1838.

** This statue was of marble, and stood at the intersection of Broad

and Meeting Streets. During the siege of Charleston, in April, 1780, a

British cannon-ball from James's Island passed up Meeting Street, struck

this statue, and broke off its left arm. Several years after the war,

the statue, being considered an obstruction, was rudely pulled down by

some workmen employed for the purpose, when the head was broken off, and

it was otherwise mutilated. Good taste would have restored the arm, and

kept the statue in its place until this day.

[Illustration: 9758]

*** The following are the names of the Sons of Liberty of Charleston,

who met with Gadsden, under Liberty Tree, in 1766, and with linked

hands pledged themselves to resist when the hour for resistance should

arrive. They are published by Johnson from the original record of George

Flagg, one of the party: General Christopher Gadsden, William Johnson,

Joseph Verre, John Fullerton, James Brown, Nathaniel Libby, George

Flagg, Thomas Coleman, John Hall, William Field, Robert Jones, John

Lawton, Uzziah Rogers, John Calvert, Henry Bookless, J. Barlow, Tunis

Tebout, Peter Munclear, William Trusler, Robert Howard, Alexander

Alexander, Edward Weyman, Thomas Searl, William Laughton, Daniel Cannon,

and Benjamin Hawes. The last survivor, George Flagg, died in 1824.

**** Christopher Gadsden was born in Charleston in 1724. He was educated

in England, where he became accomplished in the learned languages.

He returned to Ameriea at the age of sixteen, and entered the

counting-house of a merchant in Philadelphia, where he remained until he

was twenty-one years of age. He then went to England, and on his return

engaged in mercantile pursuits in Charleston. He was successful, and was

soon able to purchase all of the properly known as Ansonborough, which

his father lost in play with Lord Anson. His house was upon the lot now

(1848) owned by Mrs. Isaac Ball, and the kitchen is yet standing on the

lot at the northeast corner of East Bay and Vernon Streets. Mr. Gadsden

was one of the earliest opponents of Great Britain in South Carolina,

and, as the Revolution advanced, was one of its firmest supporters. He

was a delegate in the first Continental Congress in 1774, and his name

is attached to the American Association agreed to by that body. In 1775,

he was elected senior colonel and commandant of three South Carolina

regiments, and was subsequently made a brigadier. He was in the

engagement at the siege of Charleston in 1776. He was one of the framers

of the Constitution of South Carolina, adopted in 1778. He resigned his

commission in 1779, and when Charleston was taken by Clinton, in 1780,

he was lieutenant governor; as sueh, he signed the capitulation. Three

months afterward, he was taken, with others, and cast into the loathsome

prison at St. Augustine (an act in open violation of the terms of

capitulation), because he would not submit to indignity at the hands of

Governor Tonyn. There he suffered for eleven months, until exchanged

in June, 1781, when he sailed to Philadelphia with other prisoners. He

returned to Charleston, and was a member of the Assembly convened at

Jacksonburg in the winter of 1782. He opposed the confiscation of the

property of the Loyalists, and thereby won their esteem. He was elected

governor of the state in 1782, but declined the honor, and went into

the retirement of private life. He died on the twenty-eighth of August,

1805, at the age of eighty-one years.

[[[Tea repudiated.--Sympathy for Bostonians.--Provincial Convention and

Congress.--Seizure of Dispatches.]]]

{749}1770, and faithfully adhered thereto; and when the Continental

Congress of 1774 adopted the _American Association_, its recommendations

were very generally complied with in South Carolina. When tea was sent

to America, under the provisions of a new act of 1773 (see page 495,

volume i.), the South Carolinians were as firm in their opposition to

the landing of the cargoes _for sale_, as were the people of Boston.

It was stored in the warehouses, and there rotted, for not a pound was

allowed to be sold.

The closing of the port of Boston, by act of Parliament, on the first

of January, 1774, aroused the indignation and sympathy of the South

Carolinians, and substantial aid was freely sent to the suffering

inhabitants of that city. When the proposition for a General Congress

went forth, the affirmative voice of South Carolina was among the first

heard in response. In an assembly of the people, held in Charleston, on

the sixth, seventh, and eighth of July, 1774, it was declared that the

Boston Port Bill was "most cruel and oppressive," and plainly showed

that "if the inhabitants of that town are intimidated into a mean

submission of said acts, that the like are designed for all the

colonies; when not even the shadow of liberty to his person, or of

security to his property, will be left to any of his majesty's subjects

residing on the American continent." The same convention approved of the

proposition for a General Congress, chose delegates to represent them in

Federal Council, * and closed their proceedings by the appointment of a

committee of ninety-nine, "to act as a general committee, to correspond

with the committees of other colonies, and to do all matters and things

necessary to carry the resolutions of the convention into execution."

Henry Laurens was appointed chairman of this large committee, and it was

agreed that twenty-one should constitute a business quorum. **

In defiance of the remonstrances and menaces of Lieutenant-governor

Bull, a Provincial Congress of delegates, chosen by the people, met at

Charleston on the eleventh of January, 1775. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney

was chosen president. That Assembly approved of the proceedings of

the General Congress, and appointed a committee of inspection and

observation to see that its recommendations were complied with. *** Now

began those coercive measures of the Whigs which were often wrong and

oppressive, but frequently necessary and salutary. The non-importation

measures were rigorously enforced, and royal power was boldly defied.

The people of Charleston formed themselves into volunteer companies to

practice the use of fire-arms, and the boys, catching the spirit of the

hour, banded together, and with mimic weapons imitated the discipline of

their seniors.

On the nineteenth of April, 1775, the day when the first blow was

struck for liberty at Lexington, the packet ship _Swallow_ arrived

at Charleston, bringing dispatches for the governors of the Southern

colonies. Among others was a dispatch for the acting governor of South

Carolina, William Bull. His disputes with the Committee of Safety and

the Provincial Congress had risen to a high pitch of acrimony, and the

public mind was greatly excited. Yet all hoped for reconciliation, and

few could believe that civil war would actually ensue. The arrival of

the _Swallow_ extinguished these hopes, for a secret committee who had

been appointed to seize the next mail that should arrive from England,

performed their duty well. **** On opening the dispatches to the

governor, it was found that the British

* Henry Middleton, John Rutledge, Christopher Gadsden, Thomas Lynch, and

Edward Rutledge, were appointed delegates.

** Ramsay's History of South Carolina, i., 18; Moultrie's Memoirs, i.,

10. The place of meeting was at a large tavern on the northeast corner

of Broad and Church Streets, commonly called, at that day, "The Corner."

*** The following gentlemen composed the Charleston committee:

Christopher Gadsden, Isaac Huger, William Gibbes, William Parker, Aaron

Locock, Roger Smith, Maurice Simons, John Poang, Thomas Legarc, Sen.,

Edward Simons, Edward Blake, Samuel Prioleau, Jr., Hugh Swinton, John

Champneys, William Host, John Brewton, Alexander Chisholme, Alexander

Chovin, William Livingston, and John Baddeley.

**** This committee consisted of William Henry Drayton, John Neufville,

and Thomas Corbett. After the mail was carried to the post-office, and

before it could be opened, this committee went thither, and demanded it

from Stevens, the postmaster, in the name of the Provincial Congress.

Stevens allowed them to take it, under protest. It was then carried to

the State House and opened. The packages for the governors were retained

and opened; the private letters, with seals unbroken, were returned to

the post-office.

[[[Intentions of the Ministry.--Condition of the People.--Seizure of

Arms and Powder.--Civil Government organized.]]]

{750}ministry had resolved to coerce the colonies into submission. The

royal governors were ordered to seize the arms and ammunition belonging

to the several provinces, raise provincial troops, if possible, and

prepare to receive an army of British regulars to aid them. Gage and

Dunmore, we have seen, acted upon these instructions, but the patriots

of Lexington, Concord, and Williamsburg thwarted them; and the

Charleston Committee of Correspondence, giving those of North Carolina

and Georgia timely warning, enabled them to assume an attitude of

defense before it was too late. A messenger, with these dispatches, was

sent to the Continental Congress, and this was the first intelligence

which that body had of the real intentions of the British ministry.

A few days after the discovery of this scheme, intelligence of the

battle at Lexington arrived. Suspicion now yielded to demonstration;

there was no longer any uncertainty; the mother was arming against her

children; war was inevitable. While patriotism, gushing in full fountain

from the hearts of the people, made them proclaim boldly, We are ready!

sober reason saw the disparity in the strength of the oppressor and the

oppressed. England was then among the first powers of the earth; the

colonies were weak in material defenses. The savage tribes on their

whole western frontier might be brought, like thirsty blood-hounds,

upon them; they possessed not a single ship of war; they had very little

money; at the South, the slaves, by offers of freedom, might become

enemies in their midst; a large number of wealthy, influential,

and conscientious men were loyal to the king; the governors, being

commanders-in-chief, had control of the provincial military forces, and,

if their thoughts had for a moment turned to the Continental powers of

Europe for aid, they were pressed back by the reflection that republican

principles were at variance with the dominant sentiments of the Old

World. And yet they did not hesitate. Pleading the justice of their

cause, they leaned for support upon the strong arm of the God of

Battles.

Having resolved on rebellion, the people of Charleston were not afraid

to commit acts of legal treason. They justly considered that "all

statutes of allegiance were repealed on the plains of Lexington, and

the laws of self-preservation left to operate in full force." * They

accordingly concerted a plan, like their brethren in Savannah (see page

726), to secure the arms and ammunition in the city, and on the night

of the twentieth of April they seized upon all the munitions of war they

could find. This was the first overt act of resistance, and at that hour

began the Revolution, in earnest, in South Carolina.

A second session of the Provincial Congress commenced on the first

of June. An association, drawn up by Henry Laurens, was adopted; ** a

permanent Committee of Safety was appointed; an issue of six hundred

thousand dollars in paper money was ordered, and two regiments of

infantry, of five hundred men each, and a battalion of cavalry or

rangers, was directed to be raised. Some gentlemen were sent to the West

Indies in a fast-sailing vessel to procure powder, and were fortunate

enough to return with about ten thousand pounds.

After arranging military affairs, the attention of the Assembly was next

turned to the organization of civil government. A Council of Safety was

appointed to act during the recess of the Provincial Congress, to whom

all the powers of that body were delegated. *** They had the entire

control of the army; were clothed with power to contract debts for

the public service, and to issue coin and bills of credit. With this

organization, civil government, upon a republican basis, was begun.

During the session of the Congress, Lord William Campbell, **** who had

been appointed

* Ramsay, i., 30.

** The core of this document consisted in the declaration of those who

signed it, that they were "ready to sacrifice life and fortune to secure

the freedom and safety of South Carolina: holding all persons inimical

to the liberties of the colonies who shall refuse to subscribe to the

association."

*** This council consisted of Henry Laurens, Charles Pinckney, Rawlins

Lowndes, Thomas Ferguson, Miles Brewlon, Arthur Middleton, Thomas

Heyward, Jr., Thomas Bee, John Huger, James Parsons, William Henry

Drayton, Benjamin Elliott, and William Williams

**** Lord Campbell was the third brother of the Duke of Argyle. He had

married Sarah Izard, the sister of Ralph Izard, who belonged to the

richest family in the province. The residence of Lord Campbell was on

Meeting Street, now (1851) owned and occupied by Judge D. E. Huger.

Soon finding his residence in Charleston unsafe, he escaped to a British

vessel in the harbor, leaving his family behind. Lady Campbell was

treated with great respect, but finally she too went on board the

vessel, and was landed at Jamaica. The next year (1776), Campbell was on

board the Bristol in the attack upon Charleston, and, while fighting

on the quarter-deck, he was wounded. He died from the effects of his

wounds, two years afterward.

[[[Seizure of Powder at St. Augustine.--Expulsion of Lord Campbell and

the Garrison.--City Defenses.]]]

{751}governor, arrived at Charleston,[[July, 1775]] and was very

courteously received. He professed great love for the people of the

province, and assured them that he would use his best endeavors to

promote the welfare of the inhabitants.

[Illustration: 9761]

Taught by experience to suspect the promises of royalty or its

representatives, the people took measures to test his sincerity. The

hollowness of his professions was proven, and turning their backs upon

him, the patriots proceeded in their preparations for armed resistance.

A vessel was fitted out by the Committee of Safety to attempt the

capture of an English sloop laden with powder, then lying at St.

Augustine. The expedition was successful, and fifteen thousand pounds

of powder were brought safely into Charleston, though chased by cruisers

sent out by Campbell. Part of this powder, which was sent to the

Continental Congress for the use of the grand army, was used by Arnold

and his men in the siege of Quebec at the close of 1775.

Early in September,[[1775]] Colonel Moultriel proceeded to take

possession of the fort on Sullivan's Island, in Charleston harbor.

[Illustration: 8761]

The small garrison made no resistance, but fled to the British sloops of

war _Tamar_ and _Cherokee,_ then lying in Rebellion Roads, in front

of Fort Sullivan. Lord Campbell, perceiving the storm of popular

indignation against him daily increasing, particularly when it became

known that he was endeavoring to incite the Indians on the frontier to

lift the hatchet for the king, and was tampering with the Tories in the

interior, also fled to these vessels for shelter, and thus "abdicated"

royal power.[[Sept. 14]]

The Provincial Council now increased the defenses of the city, and

organized a company of artillery. They also took measures for fortifying

the harbor. Lieutenant-colonel Motte, accompanied by Captains Charles

Cotes worth Pinckney, Bernard Elliot, and Francis Marion, took

possession of Fort Johnson,-on James Island, and on the same evening,

Captain Heyward, with thirty-five of the Charleston artillery, went down

and mounted three guns in the place of those spiked by the garrison when

they fled.

Three days afterward, the first Republican flag displayed at the South

was floating over the main bastion of the fortress. **

* William Moultrie was a native of South Carolina. He was born in 1730.

We find him first in public-service as an officer, in the expedition

against the Cherokees in 1760. He was also in subsequent expeditions

against that unhappy people. When the Revolution broke out, he was among

the earliest in South Carolina to take the field on the Republican side.

His defense of the fort on Sullivan's Island in 1776. gave him great

eclat, and he was promoted to brigadier. He gained a battle over the

British near Beaufort in 1779, and in May, 1780, was second in command

when Charleston was besieged. He went to Philadelphia while a prisoner

of war, and did not return to South Carolina until 1782. He was several

times chosen governor of the state, and retired from public life only

when the infirmities of age demanded repose. He published his Memoirs

of the Revolution, relating to the war in the South, in two volumes, in

1802, printed by David Longworth, of New York. Governor Moultrie died

at Charleston on the twenty-seventh of September, 1805, at the age of

seventy-five years.

** Moultrie, in his Memoirs, says, "As there was no national flag at

the time, I was desired by the Council of Safety to have one made,

upon which, as the state troops were clothed in blue, and the fort was

garrisoned by the first and second regiments, who wore a silver crescent

on the front of their caps, I had a large blue flag made, with a

crescent in the dexter corner, to be in uniform with the troops. This

was the first American flag displayed in the South."--Vol. i., p. 90.

[[[Fortifications around Charleston.--Fort Moultrie.--Organization of

Civil Government.--John Rutledge.]]]

{752}Colonel Moultrie soon afterward mounted some heavy cannons

upon Haddrell's Point, and the troops in and around Charleston were

ordered[[Sept. 16, 1775]] to hold themselves in readiness, for it

was expected that the _Tamar_ and _Cherokee_ would, pursuant to Lord

Campbell's menaces, open a fire upon the town or the forts. A magazine

was built at Dorchester, and ten thousand pounds of powder were sent

thither. A small fort was also erected upon the Cheraw Hills, on the

Great Pedee, to give confidence to the Whigs in that region where

Campbell's emissaries had been. In December, Moultrie, with a

considerable force, took possession of Sullivan's Island and commenced

the erection of a fascine battery.

[Illustration: 9762]

This advantage, and a few long shots from Haddrell's Point (where a

battery had been erected), caused the _Tamar_ and _Cherokee_ to leave

the harbor. Lord Campbell, despairing of maintaining his power, sailed

to Jamaica. It was during these events upon the sea-board in the course

of the autumn of 1775 that the organization of the Tories in Ninety-Six

and other portions of the upper country, already noticed, occurred.

Colonel Gadsden assumed command of all the troops in Charleston early

in 1776, and the Council of Safety commissioned him a brigadier.

Colonel Moultrie was ordered[[March, 1776]] to build a strong fort upon

Sullivan's Island, large enough to accommodate one thousand men, and

to take the command there. * This measure was considered necessary, for

certain intelligence had arrived that a fleet and army were preparing to

assail Charleston, and a fort at the point designated would be a key

to the harbor, with the aid of Fort Johnson. The civil government

was revised; a temporary Constitution was formed ** (the first in the

colonies); and the Legislature was called the _General Assembly of South

Carolina_. It possessed all powers of supreme local government. John

Rutledge *** was chosen president, with the actual powers of governor; and

other executive officers, with a privy and a legislative council, were

elected by the new Assembly. ****

* This fort was constructed of palmetto logs, in sections, and filled in

with sand. The merlons were sixteen feet thick, and sufficiently high

to cover the men from the fire that might be directed upon them from the

tops of the British vessels. It was first called Fort Sullivan, being

upon the island of that name, but was named Fort Moultrie, after its

gallant defense by its commander, in June, 1776. When I visited its

site (a portion of which is covered by the modern strong works of Fort

Moultrie) in 1849, some of the palmetto logs were visible, imbedded in

the sand. The annexed engraving shows the plan of the fort when attacked

in June, 1776, before it was completed. The drawing of the fort in the

text is from a large plan by an English engineer, who was attached to

the British fleet.

** This Constitution was to remain in force until October of the same

year.

*** John Rutledge was the son of Doctor John Rutledge, who came to

America, from Ireland, in 1735. He studied law at the Temple in London,

and returned to Charleston in 1761. He espoused the republican cause

at an early period of the dispute, and was a member of the first

Continental Congress m 1774. When the temporary Constitution of South

Carolina was adopted in the spring of 1776, he was appointed president

and commander-in-chicf of the colony. When the new and permanent

Constitution was established two years later, he refused his assent,

because he thought it too democratic. His prejudices yielded, however,

and in 1779 he was chosen governor under it, with the temporary power of

a dictator. He took the field at the head of the militia, and with great

skill and energy managed the affairs of the state until the fall of

Charleston in May, 1780. After the war, he was made judge of the Court

of Chancery, and in 1789 a judge of the Supreme Court of the United

States. He was appointed chief justice of South Carolina in 1791, and in

1796 was elevated to the seat of chief justice of the United States. He

died in July, 1800.

**** Henry Laurens was elected vice-president, William Henry Drayton,

chief justice; * Alexander Moultrie, attorney general; John Huger,

secretary; Hugh Rutledge, judge of the admiralty; and James Parsons,

William H. Drayton, John Edwards, Charles Pinckney, Thomas Ferguson, and

Rawlins Lowndes, members of the Privy Council.

* In April, about a month after his appointment, Chief-justice

Drayton delivered an able charge to the Grand Jury on the subject of

independence. Its effects were powerful, salutary, and extensive. In

South Carolina its arguments convinced the dubious, and its boldness,

both of reason and expression, strengthened the feeble and upheld the

wavering. It was published in all of the Whig papers of the Northern

colonies; was commented upon by the London press, and received the

warmest expressions of approbation from the friends of the colonists

every where.

[[[Defenses of Charleston Harbor.--Arrival of Generals Armstrong and

Lee.--Arrival of the British.]]]

{753}After passing a few necessary laws, the Assembly adjourned,[[April

11, 1776]]the Council of Safety and General Committee were dissolved,

and a constitutional government began.

The president and privy council were vested with executive power to

administer the government during the recess of the Legislature.

Under the efficient direction of President Rutledge, Charleston and

vicinity were well prepared for defense in the spring of 1776.

[Illustration: 8763]

About one hundred pieces of cannon were mounted at various points

around the harbor, and a strong battery was erected at Georgetown.

Brigadier-general John Armstrong, of Pennsylvania, arrived in April,

and took the general command; and early in June,[[June 4]] Major-general

Charles Lee reached Charleston. He had been sent by General Washington,

after the expulsion of the British from Boston, to watch the movements

of General Sir Henry Clinton, and to command the troops for the defense

of the Southern sea-board. Lee's known experience, skill, and bravery

gave the people great confidence, and the alarm which had prevailed

since the appearance of a British squadron off Dewees Island, five days

before, soon subsided. Lee was indefatigable in his preparations for

the defense of Charleston, and was generally satisfied with all the

arrangements of the local authorities. The garrison at Fort Sullivan

worked day and night to complete it, and when the British fleet

appeared, about thirty heavy pieces of cannon were mounted upon it. *

The British fleet bearing a land force, and both designed to act against

the Southern colonies in the campaign of 1776, was commanded by

Admiral Sir Peter Parker (portrayed on the next page). Its approach was

providentially discovered in time ** to allow the Carolinians to prepare

for defense, and for Washington to dispatch Lee and Armstrong, officers

of experience, to aid them. Parker reached the Cape Fear early in May,

where he was joined by Sir Henry Clinton, from New York, who assumed

the chief command of all the land troops. On the fourth of June, the

day when General Lee arrived, the fleet appeared off Charleston bar, and

several hundred land troops took possession of Long Island, which lies

eastward of Sullivan's Island, and is separated from it only by a narrow

creek.

All was now activity among the patriots. The militia of the surrounding

country obeyed the summons of Governor Rutledge with great alacrity, and

flocked to the town. These, with the regular troops of South Carolina,

and those of the Northern colonies who had come with Armstrong and Lee,

made an available force of between five and six thousand men. Gadsden

commanded the first regiment of South Carolina regulars at Fort Johnson,

on James's Island, three miles from Charleston; Colonel Moultrie those

at Fort

* General Moultrie says that Lee ordered a bridge of boats to be

constructed for a retreat. There were not boats enough, and empty

hogsheads, with planks across, were tried, but without success. Lee

was very anxious on this point, and felt that in case of attack, the

garrison must be sacrificed. "For my part, says Moultrie, "I never was

uneasy on not having a retreat, because I never imagined that the enemy

could force me to that necessity."

** Early in April, Lord Dunmore sent a boat to Annapolis, with

dispatches for Governor Eden, from Lord Dartmouth. James Barron, then

cruising in the Chesapeake, captured this boat and conveyed the papers

to Williamsburg. Dartmouth's communication revealed the whole plan of

operations. It was dated December 23, 1775.

[[[Rutledge's rigorous Measures.--Clinton's Preparations for

Attack.--Commencement of the Action.]]]

{754}Sullivan; and Colonel Thomson, the advanced post on the east end

of Sullivan's Island. Thomson's troops were chiefly riflemen. There was

also a strong force at Haddrell's Point, under the immediate command of

General Lee. In the city, governor Rutledge, impelled by the necessities

of the hour, and under the belief that an attempt would be made to pass

the forts and land the troops in the city, pursued the rigorous course

of martial law.

[Illustration: 9764]

Valuable stores on the wharves were torn down, and a line of defenses

was made in their places. The streets near the water were barricaded,

and, on account of the scarceness of lead, many window-sashes of that

material were melted into bullets. He pressed into service seven hundred

negroes with tools, who belonged to Loyalists; and seized, for the

moment, the money and papers of the lukewarm. By these energetic

measures the city was made strong in moral and physical material, and

when the British fleet crossed the bar, all were ready to receive them.

While these preparations were in progress by the Republicans, Sir Henry

Clinton was busy in arranging for a combined attack with the land and

naval forces. He constructed two batteries upon Long Island, to confront

those of Thomson upon Sullivan's Island, and to cover the passage of his

troops in boats and in fording from the former to the latter, for Fort

Sullivan, the main work in the harbor, was the devoted mark for the

first blow.

[Illustration: 8764]

Its garrison consisted of only three hundred and forty-four regulars

and a few volunteer militia, and its only aid was an armed sloop, with

powder, which was anchored off Haddrell's Point, now Point Pleasant.

At half past ten o'clock on the morning of the twenty-eighth of June,

Sir Peter Parker, on board his flag-ship, the Bristol, made the signal

for attack. His fleet immediately advanced, and, with springs on their

cables, anchored in front of Fort Sullivan. * The Active, Bristol,

Experiment, and Solebay led to the attack, and anchored nearest the

fort. At the moment of anchoring, the fort poured a heavy fire upon

them, and each vessel returned the compliment by delivering a broadside

upon the little fortress, but with almost harmless effect upon the

spongy palmetto logs. ** It was a little before eleven o'clock when the

action began, and terrible to the people of Charleston, who looked upon

the contest from balconies, roofs, and steeples, was the roar of three

hundred cannons.

To the little garrison the peril seemed great, yet they maintained their

fire with precision and coolness. Perceiving the unfinished state of the

fort on the western side, toward

* The British vessels brought into action were the Bristol and

Experiment, of fifty guns each; the frigates Active, Solebay, Actseon,

Syren, and Sphynx, of twenty-eight guns each; the Thunder-bomb, and

Ranger, sloop, each of twenty-eight guns; and the Friendship, an armed

vessel of twenty-two guns.

** The palmetto is peculiar to the low sandy shores of the Southern

States. It grows from twenty to forty feet in height, without branches,

terminating in a large tuft of very long leaves. The wood is very

porous, and a bullet or cannon-ball, on entering it, makes no extended

fracture. It becomes buried, without injuring adjacent parts.

[[[Clinton Repulsed.--Cannonade of Fort Sullivan.--Fate of the British

Fleet.]]]

{755}Charleston, Parker ordered the Sphynx, Actæon, and Syren to take

a position in the channel on that side, so as to enfilade the garrison.

Had they succeeded, surrender or certain destruction must have been the

alternative for the Americans. The three vessels advanced to execute the

orders, when they all struck upon a shoal called the Middle Ground, and

while thus entangled a very destructive fire was poured upon them from

the fort. The Sphynx got off with the loss of her bowsprit, and the

Syren without much injury, and withdrew to another part of the harbor;

but the Actæon was too thoroughly grounded to be moved. Simultaneously

with the advance of the ships to the attack of Fort Sullivan, Clinton's

batteries upon Long Island, and some floating batteries in the creek,

opened upon those of Thomson; and a portion of the British land forces

embarked in boats under cover of their artillery, to force their way

to assail the fort on the west, where it was unfinished, or at least to

prevent Lee from sending re-enforcements or ammunition from Haddrell's

Point, across the bridge of boats which had now been constructed.

Clinton's whole regular force on Long Island was about two thousand

troops, and between five and six hundred seamen. Colonel Thomson had

only two cannons, but his riflemen were among the best marksmen in the

state. He allowed Clinton's flotilla to approach within musket shot,

when he opened a destructive fire upon them from his battery and small

arms. Several attempts to advance were made, and every time the sure

marksmen of Carolina swept many from the boats, and Clinton was obliged

to abandon his design. Lee, who had perceived the weakness of the fort

on its western side, and penetrated the design of Clinton, observed

this retrograde movement with joy; and when at about two o'clock, the

garrison ceased firing, on account of the exhaustion of ammunition, he

sent a sufficient supply from Haddrell's Point and a schooner, and the

defensive cannonade was resumed.

The fire from the ships was almost incessant, and yet the patriots in

the fort were firm. * Their shots were dreadfully effective, and the

ships were severely battered and maimed. Anxiously the seamen and

marines turned their eyes toward the East, expecting aid from Clinton,

but it did not appear. For ten long hours, while the iron storm from the

fort was beating their ships in pieces, and sweeping whole ranks from

the decks, scarcely a ray of hope appeared for the seamen; and when the

sun went down, its last gleams were upon the scarlet coats and burnished

arms of the British, yet upon Long Island, and kept at bay by Thomson's

batteries and sure-aimed riflemen. The contest continued without

intermission until sunset, when it slackened, and at half past nine in

the evening it entirely ceased. At eleven o'clock the shattered vessels

slipped their cables and withdrew to Five Fathom Hole, about two

miles northeastward of Fort Johnson, except the Actæon, which remained

aground. Early the next morning the garrison fired a few shots at her,

which were returned. At the same time, Clinton made another effort to

cross from Long Island to Sullivan's Island, but Thomson confronted

him with such hot volleys, that he was obliged to retreat behind his

batteries. Perceiving further efforts to reduce the fort, especially in

his

* Burke, in his Annual Register, gave the following graphic account of

the naval engagement and the fort: "While the continued thunder from the

ships seemed sufficient to shake the firmness of the bravest enemy, and

daunt the courage of the most veteran soldier, the return made by the

fort could not fail of calling for the respect, as well as of highly

incommoding the brave seamen of Britain. In the midst of that dreadful

war of artillery, they stuck with the greatest firmness and constancy to

their guns, fired deliberately and slowly, and took a cool and effective

aim. The ships suffered accordingly; they were torn to pieces, and the

slaughter was dreadful. Never did British valor shine more conspicuous,

and never did our marines, in an engagement of the same nature with

any foreign enemy, experience as rude an encounter. The springs of the

Bristol's cable being cut by the shot, she lay for some time exposed in

such a manner to the enemy's fire as to be most dreadfully raked. The

brave Captain Morris, after receiving a number of wounds, which would

have sufficiently justified a gallant man in retiring from his station,

still with a noble obstinacy disdained to quit his duty, until his arm

being at length shot off, he was carried away in a condition which did

not afford a possibility of recovery. It is said that the quarter-deck

of the Bristol was at one time cleared of every person but the

commodore, who stood alone, a spectacle of intrepidity and firmness

which have seldom been equaled, never exceeded. The others on that deck

were either killed or carried down to have their wounds dressed. Nor did

Captain Scott, of the Experiment, miss his share of the danger or glory,

who, besides the loss of an arm, received so many other wounds, that his

life was at first despaired of."

[[[Burning of the Actseon.--Effect of the Battle.--The Loss.--Bravery of

Sergeant Jasper.]]]

{756}crippled condition, to be futile, Parker ordered the crew of the

Actæon to set fire to and abandon her. They did so, leaving the colors

flying and guns loaded. When they had left, the Americans boarded her,

secured her colors as a trophy, carried off the ship's bell, fired her

guns at the Bristol, loaded three boats with stores, and set her on

fire. Within half an hour after they left her, she blew up.

This battle was one of the severest during the whole war, and while it

redounded to the military glory of the Americans, and greatly increased

the patriot strength at the South, it was regarded by the British as

peculiarly disastrous, aside from the actual loss of life and property

in the action. * This discomfiture occurred at a time when the British

were desirous of making the most favorable impression here and in

Europe, for Lord Howe was then on his way as a _commissioner_ to settle

all disputes, or as a _commander_ to prosecute the war. His course was

to be determined by circumstances. This was the first time that the

Americans had encountered a regular British fleet. The fact that it had

been terribly shattered and driven to sea was very humiliating to the

vanquished, and, at the same time, encouraging to the victors, at a

moment when a brilliant act like this was of immense moment to the

Republican cause.

On the morning after the battle, the British fleet left Charleston

harbor, and proceeded to Long Island to recruit. Almost every vessel

was obliged to remain for that purpose. On the thirty-first, General

Clinton, with Cornwallis and the troops, escorted by the Solebay

frigate, with Sir Peter Parker on board, sailed for New York with a

heavy heart.

The joy of the Americans on account of this victory was unbounded, and

the praises of the actors were upon all lips. On the day when Clinton

sailed,[[June 31]] the lady of Bernard Elliot ** presented Colonel

Moultrie's regiment with a pair of elegant colors.

* The loss on board of the ships was frightful. Every man stationed on

the quarter-decks of the vessels, at the beginning of the action, was

either killed or wounded. The commodore suffered a slight contusion.

Captain Morris soon afterward died of his wounds. Forty men were killed

and seventy-one wounded, on board the Bristol. The Experiment had

twenty-three killed and seventy-six wounded. Her commander, Captain

Scott, lost an arm. Lord William Campbell, the last royal governor

of the province, who served as a volunteer, was badly wounded at the

beginning of the action. The whole loss of the British, in killed and

wounded, was two hundred and twenty-five. The Bristol had not less than

seventy balls put through her. When the spring of her cable was cut, she

swung round with her stern toward the fort, and instantly every gun that

could be brought to bear upon her hurled its iron balls upon her. At the

beginning of the action, Moultrie gave the word, "Mind the commodore and

the fifty gun ships!" These were the principal sufferers. Although the

Thunder-bomb cast more than fifty shells into the fort, not one of them

did serious damage. There was a large moat, filled with water, in

the center of the fort, which received nearly all of the shells, and

extinguished the fusees before the fire reached the powder. Others

were buried in the sand, and did no harm. Only ten of the garrison were

killed and twenty-two wounded. Most of these were injured by shots which

passed through the embrasures. Moultrie says that, after the battle,

they picked up, in and around the fort, twelve hundred shot of different

calibre that were fired at them, and a great number of thirteen inch

shells.

* During the action, Sergeant William Jasper, whom we have already met

at the Spring, near Savannah, and witnessed his death while planting

the Carolina flag upon the parapet of the British works, at the siege of

that town, performed a daring feat. At the commencement of the action,

the flag-staff was cut away by a ball from a British ship, and the

Crescent flag of South Carolina, that waved opposite the Union flag upon

the western bastion, fell outside, upon the beach. Jasper leaped the

parapet, walked the length of the fort, picked up the flag, fastened it

upon a sponge staff, and in the midst of the iron hail pouring upon the

fortress, and in sight of the whole fleet, he fixed the flag firmly upon

the bastion. Three cheers greeted him as he ascended to the parapet and

leaped, unhurt, within the fort. On the day after the battle, Governor

Rutledge visited the fort, and rewarded Jasper for his valor by

presenting him with his own handsome small sword which hung at his

side, and thanked him in the name of his country. He offered him a

lieutenant's commission, but the young hero, who could neither read

nor write, modestly refused it, saying, "I am not fit to keep officer's

company; I am but a sergeant."

** Mrs. Elliot is represented as one of "the most busy among the

Revolutionary women, and always active among soldiers." She was a niece

of Mrs. Rebecca Motte, the patriot widow of Orangeburg, mentioned on

page 683, and during the whole war was a useful co-worker with her

republican husband. The wife of Charles Elliot, brother of Bernard

Elliot, was also a glorious Whig. Her wit and repartee often scathed

the proud feelings of the British officers, when the royal army occupied

Charleston. On one occasion, Colonel Balfour was walking with her in her

garden, when, pointing to a chamomile flower, he asked its name. "The

rebel flower," she replied. "And why is it ealled the rebel flower?"

asked the officer. "Because," replied Mrs. Elliot, "it always flourishes

most when trampled upon."

[[[Presentation of Standards.--Patriotism not sectional.--Declaration of

Independence.--Fort Sullivan.]]]

{757}These were the standards which were afterward planted on the walls

of Savannah by Bush, Hume, and Jasper. * They were afterward captured

when Charleston fell, and were seen years after the war, among other

British trophies, in the Tower of London. *** The Legislature of South

Carolina changed the name of the fort from Sullivan to Moultrie, in

honor of its brave defender; and on the twentieth of July,[[1776]]

the Continental Congress passed a resolution of thanks to General Lee,

Colonels Moultrie and Thomson, and the officers and men under their

command. ***

For three years after the repulse of the British from Charleston, South

Carolina enjoyed comparative quiet while the war was raging at the

North.

[Illustration: 9767]

Yet her sons were not idle listeners to the roar of cannons in New

England, New York, and Pennsylvania, but flocked thither in hundreds,

under brave leaders, to do battle for their common country. The patriots

of that war were not divided by sectional interests. There was no line

of demarkation over which men hesitated to pass. A desire for the

happiness of the New England people was a twin sentiment with love for

his own fireside, in the heart of the Carolinian and Georgian; and the

bosom of the "Green Mountain Boy" heaved as strongly with emotions of

joy when a blow for freedom was successfully dealt among the rice lands

of the South, as when the shout of victory went up from the heights of

Saratoga.

Upon the western frontiers of the South, the Indians, stirred up by

Tory emissaries, gave the people some trouble; but from the day when

the Declaration of Independence was read at Liberty Tree, **** until the

opening of the campaign of 1779, the people of Charleston continued

in quiet pursuit of lucrative commerce. Yet prosperity did not stifle

aspirations for freedom, nor the accumulation of riches cause hesitation

when danger drew nigh and demanded sacrifices. The spirit of liberty

burned with a light as steady and eternal as the polar star, even amid

the clouds and darkness of intensest sufferings which ensued.

I visited Sullivan's Island on the day of my departure from

Charleston,[[Jan. 29, 1849]] and sauntered for an hour upon the beach

where the old Palmetto Fort once stood.

Nothing of it now remains but a few of the logs imbedded in the drifting

sand. The modern Fort Moultrie is not a large, but a well-constructed

fortification. The island is sandy, and bears no shrub or tree

spontaneously except the Palmetto, and these are not seen in profusion.

On the northwestern

* See page 738.

** Moultrie, i., 182. One of them was of fine blue silk, and the other

of fine red silk, richly embroidered.

*** Journals, ii., 260.

**** Johnson (page 189) relates that on that occasion (fifth of August,

1776) the people of Charleston, young and old, of both sexes, assembled

around Liberty Tree (see page 748) with all the military of the city

and vicinity, drums beating and flags flying. The ceremonies were opened

with prayer. The Declaration was then read by Major Bernard Elliot

(whose lady presented the flags, mentioned on page 756), and were closed

by an eloquent address by the Reverend William Percy, of the Protestant

Episcopal Church It was a hot day, and Mr. Percy's black servant held

an umbrella over his head and fanned him during the delivering of his

address. Alluding to this, a British wag wrote: "Good Mr. Parson, it is

not quite civil To be preaching rebellion, thus fanned by the devil."

* (v) This view is from the southwestern angle of Fort Sullivan, looking

toward James's Island. That angle, with cannons, a portion of the

barracks, and the flag-staff, are seen on the right. The small building

toward the left marks the center of the old Palmetto Fort. In the

distance is seen Fort Sumter, and in the extreme distance, close by

the angle of the fort, is seen the village upon the site of old Fort

Johnson. Charleston bar, at the entrance of the harbor, is about six

miles from the city. The width of the inner harbor, at its mouth,

is about a mile wide. This is guarded by Forts Moultrie, Sumter, and

Johnson, and by Castle Pinckney, a handsome work in front of the city,

within the inner harbor.

[[[The British Lazaretto--Formation of an Army under Lincoln.--Major

Thomas Pinckney.]]]

{785}side of the island are the remains of an old causeway or bridge,

extending to the main, nearly upon the site of a bridge of boats,

which was used during the battle in 1776. It was constructed after that

conflict, at the cost of Christopher Gadsden, and was called Gadsden's

Bridge. The British, when they afterward possessed Charleston, used

it to pass over to their lazaretto, which they erected on Sullivan's

Island. This lazaretto was upon the site of the present Episcopal church

in Moultrieville. A part of the old brick wall was yet standing when I

visited the spot in 1849.

We have already considered the demonstration made by the British at the

South, in the capture of Savannah at the close of 1778, and also

the events in Georgia after the arrival of General Lincoln as

commander-in-chief of the Southern army.

[Illustration: 8768]

Lincoln reached Charleston on the fourth of December,[[1778]]and

proceeded immediately to re-enforce the scattered army

of Howe, after the fall of Savannah.[[Dec. 29, 1778]] On the first

intimation of the designs of the British upon the South, North Carolina

raised about two thousand men, and placed them under Generals Ashe and

Rutherford. They did not arrive in time to aid Howe at Savannah, but

helped to augment the small force of Lincoln. These had entered the

state; and to the concentration of these troops, and the raising of

South Carolina militia, Lincoln bent all his energies. He chose Major

Thomas Pinckney * as his chief aid, and on the twenty-sixth of December,

he marched from Charleston with about three hundred levies of that

vicinity, and about nine hundred and fifty levies and militia of North

Carolina, for the Georgia frontier. On the way, they met the flying

Americans from the disastrous battle at the capital of Georgia, and

on the third of January Lincoln established his head-quarters at

Purysburg, on the north side of the Savannah River. He had been

promised seven thousand men; he had only about fourteen hundred. He had

been promised supplies, instead of which the new levies, and militia

conscripts who were brought to head-quarters, were destitute of tents,

camp utensils, or lead, and had very little powder, and no field-pieces.

The South Carolina militia, under Richardson, were insubordinate, and

rapidly melted away by desertion, or became useless by actual refusal

to be controled by any but their immediate commanders. Happily, their

places were supplied by the arrival of General Ashe with eleven hundred

North Carolinians at the close of January.[[Jan. 31, 1779]]

* Thomas Pinekney was born at Charleston on the twenty-third of October,

1750. His early years were passed in England. At the close of his

studies there, he returned to Charleston, and, with his brother, Charles

Cotesworth Pinekney, was among the earliest and most efficient military

patriots in the provincial regiment raised there. Assured of his talents

and worth, Lincoln appointed him his aid, and in that capacity he served

at the siege of Savannah by the Americans and French in October,

1779. He distinguished himself in the battle at Stono Ferry. He was

aid-de-camp to General Gates in the battle near Camden, where he was

wounded and made a prisoner. When sufficiently recovered, he was sent

to Philadelphia. In 1787, Major Pinckney succeeded General Moultrie as

governor of South Carolina; and in 1792, was appointed by Washington,

Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James. In November, 1794,

he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary to the Spanish court, and repaired

to Madrid the following summer. He effected a treaty by which the free

navigation of the Mississippi was secured to the United States. He

returned to Charleston in 1796. At the beginning of the war of 1812,

President Madison appointed him to the command of the Southern division

of the army, and it was under General Pinckney that General Andrew

Jackson distinguished himself. After the war, General Pinekney

retired into private life. He died on the 2d of November, 1828, aged

seventy-eight years. He married the daughter of Rebecca Motte.

[[[Battle on Port Royal Island.--Prevost's March toward

Charleston.--Preparations to receive him.]]]

{759}While Lincoln was recruiting and organizing an army near Purysburg,

General Prevost joined Campbell at Savannah, with seven hundred regular

troops from St. Augustine. Hoping to follow up Campbell's success by

striking Charleston, he sent forward Major Gardiner with two hundred

men, to take post on Port Royal Island, within about sixty miles of the

capital of South Carolina. General Moultrie, with about an equal number

of Charleston militia, and two field-pieces, attacked and defeated

Gardiner on the morning of the third of February.[[1779]] The British

lost almost all of their officers, and several privates were made

prisoners. The loss of the Americans was trifling. Gardiner, with the

remnant of his force, escaped in boats and fled to Savannah, while

Moultrie, crossing to the main, pressed forward and joined Lincoln at

Purysburg.

Strengthened by a party of Creeks and Cherokees, for whom a

communication with Savannah was opened by the defeat of General Ashe

on Brier Creek (see page 713), and informed that Lincoln, with his main

army, was far up the river, near Augusta, Prevost determined to attempt

the capture of Charleston. With about two thousand chosen troops, and a

considerable body of Loyalists and Indians, he crossed the Savannah at

Purysburg,[[April 25]] and pushed forward by the road nearest the coast,

toward Charleston.

When Lincoln was informed of this movement of Prevost, he considered

it a feint to draw him from Georgia. With that view he crossed the

Savannah, and for three days marched down its southern side, directly

toward the capital of that state, hoping either to bring Prevost back or

to capture Savannah. In the mean while, he detached Colonel Harris, with

three hundred of his best light troops, to re-enforce Moultrie, who was

retreating before Prevost, toward Charleston. Governor Rutledge, who had

gone up to Orangeburg to embody the militia, advanced at the same time

with six hundred men of that district, and when Lincoln recrossed the

Savannah in pursuit of Prevost, the interesting spectacle was presented

of four armies pressing toward Charleston. *

When Prevost commenced his invading march, Charleston was quite

unprepared for an attack by land. The ferries of the Ashley were not

fortified, and only some weak defenses guarded the Neck. Intelligence

of the invasion aroused all the energies of the civil and military

authorities in the city, and night and day the people labored in casting

up intrenchments across the Neck from the Ashley to the Cooper, under

the general direction of the Chevalier De Cambray, an accomplished

French engineer. The Assembly, then in session, gave Rutledge power only

a little less than was conferred upon him a few months afterward, when

he was made dictator for the time, and the utmost energy was every where

displayed. Lieutenant-governor Bee, with the council, aided the efforts

to fortify the town by necessary legal orders. All the houses in

the suburbs were burned, and within a few days a complete line of

fortifications with _abatis_ was raised across the Neck, on which

several cannons were mounted. Colonel Marion, who commanded the garrison

at Fort Moultrie, was re-enforced, and the battery on Haddrell's Point

was well manned. These arrangements were effected before the arrival

of Prevost, who halted, in hesitation, for three days at Pocataligo,

on account of conflicting intelligence. This delay was fatal to his

success, for it allowed the people of Charleston time to prepare for an

attack.

Lincoln's distance from Charleston with the main army, the retreat of

Moultrie, and the terror inspired by the torch of the invader, who

went on plundering and burning, caused great numbers to remain on their

plantations, and to take protection from Prevost. On the evening of the

ninth of May,[[1779]] he encamped on the south side of the Ashley Rivcr.

On that and the following day, Moultrie, Rutledge, and Harris arrived

with their respective forces. That of Moultrie had dwindled from one

thousand men to about six hundred. He immediately took command of

all the Continental troops, while Rutledge claimed the control of the

militia. This produced some confusion, but no serious misunderstanding.

On the morning of the eleventh of May, Prevost, with nine hundred

regulars, crossed the

* Rutledge, with the men of Orangeburg; Moultrie pursued by Prevost;

Prevost pursued by Lincoln; and Colonel Harris with his corps of light

troops.

[[[Prevost before Charleston.--Pulaski's Attack and Defeat.--Proposition

for Surrender refused.--Expected Attack.]]]

{760}Ashley and appeared before the works on Charleston Neck. He left

his main army and heavy baggage on the south side of the river, and

approaching within cannon shot of the lines, summoned the garrison to

surrender. During the forenoon, Count Pulaski, who was stationed at

Haddrell's Point with his legion, crossed the Cooper Priver and entered

the town, and at noon he led his infantry to attack the British advanced

guard. He was repulsed with great loss.

[Illustration: 0770]

A large portion of his infantry were killed, wounded, or made prisoners.

The commander himself escaped with difficulty to the American lines,

under cover of some discharges of cannon.

Prevost now advanced to within a mile of the American works, when his

progress was checked by a sharp cannonade. He renewed his demand for

a surrender, and the remainder of the day was spent in the passage

of flags. Aware of the approach of Lincoln, the Americans desired

procrastination, and asked time to deliberate. Prevost refused it, and

the city was filled with consternation in expectation of an assault. The

civil authorities, trembling in view of the horrors of a cannonade, sent

a proposition to Prevost to guarantee the neutrality of South Carolina

until the close of the war, and then allow it to follow the fate of its

neighbors, on condition that the royal army should withdraw. Prevost

rejected the proposition, and insisted that, as the garrison were in

arms, they should surrender prisoners of war. To this Moultrie and the

military objected, and every moment until past midnight a cannonade was

expected. * Not an eye closed in slumber, and at three o'clock

* During the evening, an unfortunate accident deprived the state of the

life and services of a brave officer. Having discovered a breach in the

_abatis_, Governor Rutledge, without the knowledge of the garrison, sent

out Major Benjamin Huger * and a small parly to repair it. The garrison

had lighted tar barrels in front of their lines to prevent a surprise,

and by their light Huger and his men were discovered, and believed to be

a party of the enemy. Immediately a fire of cannons, muskets, and rifles

ran along almost the whole line, and poor Huger and twelve of his men

were slain. The folly of having two commanders was perceived, and all

military authority was immediately given to Moultrie. The cannonade

alarmed the town, it being regarded as a prelude! to something more

dreadful.

* Benjamin was one of the five patriot brothers, who were active in

revolutionary scenes. He was the gentleman who first received La Fayette

on his arrival at Georgetown in 1777. His brother Isaac was a brigadier

in the army under Greene; John was Secretary of the Stale of South

Carolina; Daniel was a member of the Continental Congress; and Franeis

K. was quartermaster general of the Southern Department Major Huger's

son, Franeis K., married a daughter of General Thomas Pinekney, and was

that officer's adjutant general during the war of 1812.

[[[Death of Huger.--Withdrawal of the British Army.--Battle at Stone

Ferry.--Retreat of the British.]]]

{761}in the morning, at the solicitation of the civil authorities,

Moultrie sent a message to Prevost, renewing the proposition of the

previous day. It was rejected, and all anxiously awaited the dawn,

expecting a terrible assault. The morning broke clear and serene, but

the eyes of the sentinels upon the batteries, and of anxious watchers

upon the house tops, could perceive no traces of a beleaguing army. For

a moment it appeared as if all had been disturbed by a terrible dream,

but as the sun arose, the scarlet uniforms and burnished arms of the

invaders were seen south of the Ashley. The British host was crossing to

James's Island. The mystery was soon solved. During the night, Prevost

was informed that Lincoln, with four thousand men, was pressing on

toward Charleston, and he feared that his force, hardly sufficient to

attack the town with hopes of success, would be annihilated if placed

between two fires. * He prudently withdrew, and, perceiving his pathway

of approach intercepted by Lincoln, he essayed to escape back to

Savannah, by way of the islands along the coast.

Lincoln soon approached, and both armies encamped within thirty miles

of Charleston, the Americans upon the main, and the British upon John's

Island. ** There they continued for a month, Prevost fearing to move

forward, and Lincoln not feeling quite strong enough to pass over and

attack him. Finally, an attempt to dislodge the British was made. They

had cast up works at Stono Ferry, and garrisoned them with eight hundred

men, under Colonel Maitland, the brave officer who died at. Savannah a

few months later. These were attacked on the morning of the twentieth

of June by about twelve hundred of Lincoln's troops. The contest was

severe, and for an hour and twenty minutes the battle was waged with

skill and valor. A re-enforcement for Maitland appeared, and the

Americans perceived it to be necessary to retreat. When they fell back,

the whole garrison sallied out, but the American light troops covered

the retreat so successfully, that all of the wounded patriots were

brought off. The Americans lost in killed and wounded, one hundred and

forty-six, besides one hundred and fifty-five missing. Of the killed and

wounded twenty-four were officers. The British loss was somewhat less.

Three days afterward, the British evacuated the post at Stono Ferry, and

retreated from island to island, until they reached Beaufort, on Port

Royal. After establishing a post on Ladies' Island, between Port Royal

and St. Helena, they returned in boats to Savannah and St. Augustine.

*** The heat was now becoming intense, and Lincoln's army dispersed,

with the exception of about eight hundred men, with whom he retired to

Sheldon to prepare for the opening of another campaign in October. Thus

closed, ingloriously to the invaders, the second attempt of the British

to possess themselves of the capital of South Carolina.

* According to an imperfect estimate, the number of American troops in

the city was three thousand one hundred and eighty; the British force

numbered about three thousand three hundred and sixty.

** This island is separated from the main land by a narrow inlet, which

is called Stono River. Over this, at a narrow place, there was then (and

is still) a ferry, where the British cast up defensive works.

*** On their retreat across the fertile inlands, on the Carolina coast,

the British committed the most cruel depredations. The people hid their

treasures, but the negroes, who had been promised freedom, repaired in

great numbers to the British camp, and informed the soldiers where their

master's property was concealed. It is believed that in this incursion

three thousand negroes were carried out of the state, many of whom were

shipped to the West Indies and sold. Hundreds died of camp fever upon

Otter Island, and for years afterward their bleaching bones strewed the

ground thereon. The whole loss was more than four thousand, valued at

two hundred and eighty thousand dollars. Houses were stripped of plate,

jewelry, clothing, money, and every thing of value that could be carried

away. Live-stock was wantonly slaughtered, and in a few cases females

were violated bv the brutal soldiery.

[[[Charleston after the Invasion.--Condition of South Carolina.--Arrival

of a British Armament.]]]

{762}