noyed, in which were mounted about thirty pieces of heavy artillery. In the beginning of June the British fleet came to anchor off the harbour of Charlestown, and couriers were immediately dispatched by President Rutlege through the country, to order in all the militia of the colony for the defence of the capital. The streets were, in different places, strongly barricaded, and the stores on the wharfs, though of great value, were pulled down, and lines of defence continued along the water's edge *. The British Admiral experienced some difficulty in crossing the bar; and although all their guns were taken out, and the vessels lightened as much as possible, the two large ships touched the ground, and struck several times on the way. This object being at length accomplished, it was determined to commence their operations by silencing the fort on Sullivan's Island t. During the interval between passing the bar and attacking this fort, the continental troops of Virginia and North Carolina, who had been ordered to the assistance of their sister colony, arrived in Charlestown; and the American force collected at that point, amounted to between five and six thousand men, of whom two thousand five hundred were regulars. This army was commanded Ramsay.Gordon. + Ann. Reg. by by General Lee, whose fortune it had been to meet General Clinton at New York, in Virginia, in North Carolina, and now at Charlestown. View ing, with a military eye, the situation of the post entrusted to his care, Lee was disinclined to hazard his army, by engaging it deeply in the defence of either the fort or the town. The works on Sullivan's Island, though strong towards the water, were almost open in the rear, and consequently incapable of being defended against an attack by land, to which they were exposed, from the troops on Long Island, who might cross the creek between them, or from others who might be landed on Sullivan's Island. They also admitted of being raked by the guns of any vessels which might gain their western flank. He apprehended, too, that the ships would pass the fort, and station themselves out of the reach of its guns, between Sullivan's Island and Charlestown; and that the land-forces already on Long Island would cross over to the main land, and place the garrison in a situation of extreme hazard. The great solicitude, however, of the South Carolinians to maintain their capital, aided by the hope that a vigilant attention to the movements of the enemy would enable Lee to extricate his troops before they should be enclosed, at length prevailed; and he determined to attempt its defence. Two regular regiments of South Carolina, commanded manded by Colonels Gadsden and Moultrie, garrisoned Fort Johnson, on the northern point of James Island, and Fort Moultrie. About five hundred regulars, and three hundred militia, under Colonel Thompson, assisted by an eighteenpounder and a field-piece, were stationed in some works which had been thrown up on the northeastern extremity of Sullivan's Island, for the purpose of opposing the passage of the British from Long Island; and the remaining troops were ar ranged on Hadiell's Point, and along the bay in front of the town. General Lee remained in person with the troops encamped on the continent, at Hadiell's Point, in the rear, and to the north of Sullivan's Island. A bridge of boats had been commenced, in order to keep open the communication between Fort Moultrie and the main land, but had not been completed. His position was chosen in such a manner as to enable him to observe and support the operations in every quarter, and particularly to watch and oppose any attempt of the enemy to pass from Long Island to the continent; a movement which he seems to have dreaded more than any other. Every preparation having at length been made, the fleet, consisting of the Bristol and Experiment, two fifty-gun ships; the Active, Solebay, Actæon, and Syren, of twenty-eight guns each; the Sphynx, of twenty guns; an armed ship of twenty-two guns, and the Thunder bomb-ketch, weighed an ehor, and sailed for the stations assigned them. The Thunder bomb, covered by the armed ship, took her station, and about half past ten began the attack, by throwing shells at the fort as the fleet advanced. About a quarter past eleven o'clock, the Bristol, Active, Experiment, and Solebay, brought up directly against the fort, and commenced upon it a most furious cannonade. The Sphynx, Actæon, and Syren, had been ordered to the westward, to take their station between the end of the island and Charlestown, partly to enfilade the works of the fort, partly to cut off, if possible, the communication between the island and the continent, and partly to prevent any attempt which might be made by fire-ships, or otherwise, to interrupt the grand attack. These vessels were, by the unskilfulness of the pilot, entangled in the shoals called the Middle Grounds, where they stuck fast, till it was too late to execute the intended service. The Actæon, being unable ta get off, was scuttled and burnt next morning by the officers and crew, to prevent her falling into the hands of the Americans *. The cannonade from the ships was incessant and heavy, but was not attended with the expected effect on the fort. This was attributable to its * Ann. Reg. form, form, and the materials with which it was built. It was very low, with merlons of great thickness, and was constructed of earth, and a species of soft wood, common in that country, called the palmetto, which, on being struck with a ball, does not splinter, but closes upon it, The beds of the mortars, in the bomb-ketch, were loosened by being overcharged; and they soon became entirely useless*. The fire from the fort was slow, was directed with great skill, and did vast execution. The springs of the Bristol's cable being cut by the shot, she was for a short space of time unmanageable; and was so raked by the fort, that at one time the Commodore is said to have remained alone on the deck. The Experiment was also roughly handled, and her Captain very dangerously wounded. In the course of the action, all the powder in the fort was at one time expended, and for a short interval the guns were silent. Great hopes were then entertained of success; but these hopes were soon blasted by a fresh supply of powder, and a consequent recommencement of the same terrible fire under which the British ships had already so greatly suffered. The garrison united the cool determined courage of veterans to the enthusiastic valour of youth. General Lee crossed over to * Ann. Reg. them |