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Prevost before Charleston.

Pulaski's Attack and Defeat.

Proposition for Surrender refused.

Expected Attack. 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 River and entered the town, and at noon he led his infantry to attack the British advanced guard. He was repulsed with great loss. A large portion of his infantry were killed, wounded, or made prisThe commander himself escaped with difficulty to the American lines, under cover of some discharges of cannon.

oners.

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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

i 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 party 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

* 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 State of South Carolina; Daniel was a member of the Continental Congress; and Francis K. was quartermaster general of the Southern Department. Major Huger's son, Francis K., married a daughter of General Thomas Pinckney, and was that officer's adjutant general during the war of 1812.

Battle at Stono Ferry.

Death of Huger.

Withdrawal of the British Army.

Retreat of the British.

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 ápproach intercepted by Lincoln, he essayed to escape back to Savannah, by way of the isl ands 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.

3

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.

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. 3 On their retreat across the fertile islands, on the Carolina coast, the British committed the most crue! 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. four thousand, valued at two hundred and eighty thousand dollars. clothing, money, and every thing of value that could be carried away. ed, and in a few cases females were violated by the brutal soldiery. Cc c

II.

The whole loss was more than Houses were stripped of plate, jewelry. Live-stock was wantonly slaughter

Charleston after the Invasion.

Condition of South Carolina.

Arrival of a British Armament.

CHAPTER XXIX.

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HE season of repose enjoyed by Charleston after the invasion of Prevost was brief. When the hot summer months had passed away, both parties commenced preparations for a vigorous autumn campaign-the British to maintain their position and extend their conquests, if possible; the Americans to drive the invaders from the Southern States, or, at least, to confine them to the sea-ports of Savannah and St. Augustine. The fall of Savannah was a disastrous event. It was the initial step in those strides of power which the royal army made a few months later, when Charleston fell, when the patriot army of the South was crushed, and when the civil institutions of South Carolina and Georgia, established by the Republicans, were prostrated at the feet of the conquerors.

During the winter preceding the siege of Charleston, Lincoln's army had dwindled to a handful, chiefly on account of the termination of the enlistments, and the hesitation of the militia when called to service, because of the defeat at Savannah and the apparent hopelessness of further resistance. The prison-ships at Savannah were crowded with the captives of the Georgia regiments, and the heel of British power, planted firmly upon the patriots of that state, made the Loyalists bold and active. All along the Southern frontier of South Carolina the voice of rebellion was subdued to a whisper, and a fearful cloud of hostile savages, gathered by the emissaries of the crown, frowned sullenly and threatening upon her western borders; while within her bosom, bands of unprincipled Tories, encouraged by others more respectable but passive, were endeavoring, by menaces and promises, to sap the foundation of Republican strength. Such was the condition of South Carolina when a British fleet, under Admiral Arbuthnot, bearing five thousand land troops, commanded by Sir Henry Clinton,' appeared off Edisto Inlet, within thirty miles of Charleston, toward the close of the winter of 1780.a

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n Feb. 10,

1780. They came to subjugate the whole

SIR HENRY CLINTON. From an English Print.

South, the chief feature in the programme of operations for that year.
The Assembly of South Carolina was in session when the enemy appeared. Governor
Rutledge was immediately clothed with the powers of supreme dictator, and with judgment

1 Henry Clinton, K. B., was a son of George Clinton, governor of New York in 1743, and grandson of the Earl of Lincoln. He served in the British army on the Continent, during the Seven Years' War, and came to America with General Howe in the spring of 1775, bearing the commission of a major general. He was distinguished at the battle of Bunker Hill; commanded in New York, and operated against the forts among the Hudson Highlands in 1777; and in 1778, succeeded Sir William Howe in the supreme command. After he evacuated Philadelphia, he went to New York, where he continued his head-quarters until he left the country, in 1782. He was appointed governor of Gibraltar in 1795, and died there on the twenty-second of December, the same year. His signature is printed on page 350.

Tardiness of the Militia.

Clinton's Mistake.

Charleston Strengthened.

Spaniards in Florida.

and vigor he exercised them for the defense of the capital. Yet he did not accomplish much, for the militia were tardy in obeying his call to hasten to the city. If Clinton had marched directly upon Charleston when he landed his troops upon John's Island, he might have conquered it within a week after his debarkation.' More cautious than wise, he formed a depôt at Wappoo, on James's Island, and tarried more than a month in preparations for a siege.

General Lincoln was in Charleston with about fourteen hundred troops, a large portion of them North Carolina levies, whose term of service was almost expired. The finances of the state were in a wretched condition. The paper money was so rapidly diminishing, that it required seven hundred dollars to purchase a pair of shoes; and in every department, civil and military, the patriots were exceedingly weak. Lincoln's first impulse was to evacuate the city, retire to the upper country, collect a sufficient army, and then return and drive the invaders from it. The tardy plans of Clinton changed Lincoln's views. Hoping

for re-enforcements, then daily expected, and also aid from the Spanish West Indies,' he resolved to maintain a siege. His first care was to strengthen the works upon Charleston Neck, cast up the previous year when Prevost menaced the town. Rutledge ordered three hundred negroes to be brought from the neighboring plantations to work upon the fortifications, and within a few days cannons and mortars were mounted; a trench, filled with water, stretched across the Neck from the Ashley to the Cooper, and two rows of abatis protected the whole. Fort Moultrie, the redoubts at Haddrell's Point and Hobcaw, the works at South Bay, Hospital Point, and all along the city front, were strengthened and manned." Charles Cotesworth Pinckney' was placed in command of the garrison at Fort Moultrie. Captain Daniel Horry was sent to Ashley Ferry to watch the approach of the enemy, and General Moultrie went southward to gather the militia, direct the movements of the cavalry, and annoy the enemy on his approach.

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66 Smekney

1 On the voyage from New York, one vessel, carrying heavy ordnance for the siege, foundered and was lost, and nearly all the horses belonging to the artillery and cavalry perished at sea. Immediately after landing, Lieutenant-colonel Tarleton was ordered to obtain a fresh supply of horses. This service he soon performed, by seizing all that fell in his way on the plantations upon the islands and the main, some of which were paid for, and some were not. The Whigs were not considered entitled to any pay. Having mounted his cavalry, Tarleton joined a body of one thousand men, under General Patterson, whom Clinton had ordered from Savannah to re-enforce him.

2

Spain was now at war with Great Britain, and willingly became a party in our quarrel, with the hope, like France, of crippling English power. When the approach of the British fleet was made known, Lincoln dispatched a messenger to Havana to solicit material aid from the Spanish governor.

Direct assist

ance was refused, but the Spaniards indirectly aided the Americans. When Clinton was preparing to march upon Charleston, Don Bernardo de Galvez sailed from New Orleans to reduce Fort Charlotte, an English post at Mobile. It surrendered to the Spaniards on the fourteenth of March, 1781, and on the ninth of May, Pensacola also bowed to Spanish domination. These successes placed the two Floridas in possession of the Spaniards, except the strong fortress of St. Augustine.

3 The lines of intrenchments were on the ridge of land whereon St. Paul's Church, the Orphan House, the "Citadel" (a part of the old works), and the Presbyterian church now stand.

4 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was born in Charleston on the twenty-fifth of February, 1746. At the age of seven years, he was taken to England with his brother, Thomas, by their father (Chief-justice Pinckney), where he was educated, and also studied law. In 1769 he returned to Charleston, after visiting the Continent. In England he took part against the Stamp Act with its opposers there, and, on reaching his

Whipple's Flotilla.

Passage of the Ashley by the British.

British Fleet in the Harbor.

Advance of Clinton

The little flotilla of Commodore Whipple, then in the harbor, was ordered to oppose the passage of the British fleet over the bar, but his vessels were small and thinly manned, and little reliance was placed upon them. The inhabitants viewed the gathering dangers with increasing alarm. Knowing the weakness of Lincoln's army, and desirous of saving it, as their only hope for the future, the citizens advised an evacuation before it should be too late. Lincoln, hourly expecting re-enforcements, was hopeful, and expressing a belief that he might maintain a siege, or leave at a future time, if necessary, he resolved to remain, at the same time taking measures for keeping open a communication with the country toward the Santee.

On the twenty-eighth of March the royal army crossed the Stono, marched to the Ashley, at Old Town (the site of ancient Charleston), and there crossed that stream toward evening. They had strengthened Fort Johnson, cast up intrenchments along the Ashley to confront those of the Americans upon the opposite shore, and galleys were in motion to enter the harbor and anchor in the Ashley. The army moved slowly down the Neck, and on Sunday morning, the first of April, broke ground within eleven hundred yards of the American works, then defended by about eighty cannons and mortars. They were annoyed all the way by a party of light horsemen under Lieutenant-colonel John Laurens, and lost between twenty and thirty men in the skirmishes.

Admiral Arbuthnot entered the harbor on the twentieth of March with his smaller vessels and transports, drove Whipple with his little fleet from Five Fathom Hole, and while exposed to an enfilading fire from Fort Moultrie,' sailed near to James's Island and anchored under the guns of Fort Johnson, within cannon shot of the town. Pinckney hoped that Whipple would retard the British vessels, and allow him to batter thein, as Moultrie did four years before; but the commodore, with prudent caution, retreated to the mouth of the Cooper River, and suuk most of his own and some merchant vessels between the town and Shute's Folly (marked boom on the opposite map), and thus formed an effectual bar to the passage of British vessels up the channel to rake the American works upon the Neck. Clinton advanced to Hamstead Hill on the fifth,a and in the face of a sharp fire, erected a battery and mounted twelve cannons upon it. He and Arbuthnot now demanded an immediate surrender of the town and garrison. Brigadier Woodford had just arrived with seven hundred Virginians, and reported others on their way. The citizens urged Lincoln to maintain a siege, for rumors had come that large numbers were pressing forward from the North to the relief of the city. Thus strengthened by fresh troops and public opinion, Lincoln assured the besiegers that he should continue his defense until the last extremity. Forty-eight hours elapsed, when Clinton opened his bat

a April, 1780.

native country, he eagerly espoused the cause of the patriots. He commenced the practice of law in 1770, and soon became eminent. When a regiment was formed in Charleston in 1775, of which Gadsden was colonel, Pinckney was appointed a captain, and was at Newbern for a while on recruiting service. He was active in the defense of Charleston in 1776. In 1778, he accompanied General Howe in his expedition to Florida. He assisted in the repulse of Prevost in 1779, and in the defense of Charleston in 1780. When the city fell, he became a prisoner, and suffered much from sickness and cruel treatment. He was exchanged in February, 1782, when the war was almost ended. He was soon afterward raised to the brevet rank of brigadier. On the return of peace, he resumed the practice of his profession. He was a member of the convention which formed the Constitution of the United States. Washington offered him a seat in his cabinet, which he declined, and in 1796 he accepted the appointment of minister to the French Republic. There he had a delicate duty to perform, and while in the midst of personal peril in the French capital, he uttered that noble sentiment, "Millions for defense, not one cent for tribute." In 1797, Mr. Pinckney was appointed the second major general in the army under Washington, and for many years he was an active politician. For about twenty-five years he lived in elegant retirement, in the enjoyment of books and the pleasures of domestic happiness. He died on the sixteenth of August, 1825, in the eightieth year of his age.

In this passage the British lost twenty-seven seamen killed, and a transport which ran aground and was burned by its crew.

2 Woodford had marched five hundred miles within twenty-eight days. On the day of his arrival the terms of enlistment of about seven hundred North Carolinians expired, and they all went home at an hour when they were most needed.

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