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*** 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.
1770, and faithfully adhered thereto; and when the Continental Congress of 1774 adopted theAmerican 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 cargoesfor 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 shipSwallowarrived 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 theSwallowextinguished 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.
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.
governor, arrived at Charleston,July, 1775and 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.
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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,1775Colonel Moultriel proceeded to take possession of the fort on Sullivan's Island, in Charleston harbor.
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The small garrison made no resistance, but fled to the British sloops of warTamarandCherokee,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.
Colonel Moultrie soon afterward mounted some heavy cannons upon Haddrell's Point, and the troops in and around Charleston were orderedSept. 16, 1775to hold themselves in readiness, for it was expected that theTamarandCherokeewould, 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.
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This advantage, and a few long shots from Haddrell's Point (where a battery had been erected), caused theTamarandCherokeeto 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 orderedMarch, 1776to 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 theGeneral 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.
After passing a few necessary laws, the Assembly adjourned,April 11, 1776the 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.
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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 4Major-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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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 acommissionerto settle all disputes, or as acommanderto 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 31the 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.
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,1776the 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.