USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780 > Part 37
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IN THE REVOLUTION
army was now transferred to South Carolina with the remains of Bland's, Baylor's, and Moylan's Virginia regiments of horse.1 This first encounter between these great cavalry leaders took place at Governor Rutledge's plantation between Rantowle's Bridge and Ashley Ferry. In this affair Washington drove back the cavalry of the British Legion under Tarleton and took several prisoners, including Colonel Hamilton of the North Carolina Roy- alists and a British surgeon. Colonel Hamilton, of whom we have before spoken, was a valuable prize, but Washington was hunting much bigger game, and came near capturing Sir Henry Clinton himself on his visit to the newly arrived reinforcements from Georgia.2
On this same day, 26th of March, now that the British were advancing against this town, Lincoln's army moved into their lines and took their positions. These works that had been thrown up the spring before upon Prévost's invasion, had been strengthened and extended while Sir Henry Clinton was waiting his reinforcements. Lines of defence and redoubts had been continued entirely across the Neck from Cooper to Ashley rivers. The lines began on Town Creek, a branch of the Cooper, at a point just below the present site of the railroad depot in Chapel Street, and to the north of where then stood the Liberty Tree; then running on a line passing close by the present site of St. Luke's Church and the Second Presbyterian Church in Charlotte Street, they crossed Meeting Street,
1 The First Continental Dragoons (Bland's), now commanded by Colo- nel Anthony Walton White of New Jersey ; the Third Continental Dra- goons, now commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Washington ; and the Fourth Continental Dragoons, Colonel Stephen Moylan of Pennsylvania. Neither Colonel White nor Colonel Moylan appears to have been present.
2 Tarleton's Memoirs, 8; Siege of Charlestown (Munsell), 161. We have no mention of the numbers of either party.
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where now was reached a large hornwork, crossing King Street, - then the only road to the country, - a remnant of which work is preserved and is still to be seen on Marion Square. Thence the line of fortifications ran through the present Vanderhorst Street, crossing the present site of St. Paul's Church, where it rested upon the creek which ran up between Cannonsborough and the town just east of the present Smith Street. This consti- tuted the main line. South of this on the Ashley there were batteries on Coming's Point, that is, the land south of what is now known as Bennett's Millpond and between Bull and Beaufain streets. There was a line of works also on South Bay, extending from the Ashley to the Cooper, and including the former Lytleton's and Gran- ville's bastions.1 In front of these lines on the Neck was a strong abatis and a wet ditch, picketed on the nearest side. The lines were made particularly strong on the right and left, and so constructed as to rake the wet ditch in almost its whole extent. In the centre a strong citadel was erected. Works were thrown up on all sides of the town where a landing was practicable. Colonel De Laumoy and Lieutenant Colonel De Cambray, two French engi- neers in the service of Congress, were indefatigable in strengthening the lines.2 But, after all, these were little more than field works. In manning the lines the North Carolina regulars (Hogan's) were posted on the right; the Virginia battalion (Heth's) next; then Lytle's North Carolina corps, those who remained when the rest of the brigade, under General Lillington, left; and then the South Carolina regulars on the left,3 at a battery known as Coming's Point.4
1 See the map accompanying Mayor Courtenay's centennial address, Year Book, 1883.
2 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 49.
3 So. Ca. in the Revolution, 100.
4 Between the western ends of Wentworth and Bull streets.
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The militia were posted at the less exposed positions on South Bay and other parts of the town.1 General Moul- trie was ordered to direct the disposition of the artillery of the different batteries and works in and about the town.2 A council of war, consisting of the generals and field officers, was held on the 27th at the headquarters, which were in Tradd Street, to consider the propriety of evacuating Fort Moultrie at once, now that the harbor was abandoned; but it was decided not to do so.3
While Lincoln was thus posting his troops and holding his first council, the British were slowly but steadily advancing up the Ashley, and Captain Elphinstone of the Royal navy, having stationed his galleys to protect the boats, the army began to cross the river at Ashley Ferry and at Drayton. Hall on the 29th. This they were allowed to do without the slightest opposition. In his letter to Washington Lincoln says he had to lament that the state of the garrison would not admit of a sufficient force being sent to annoy them in crossing the river, but that his whole number at the time in garrison amounted to only 2225. It is true that the circumstances were different from those of Prevost's invasion the year before, and Lin- coln, if he was to attempt to hold the town, could not now bring out the army to meet Clinton at his crossing, as Moultrie should have done to meet Prevost; for the Brit- ish now had a large army, with boats and abundant means of crossing the river between Old Town and Gibbes's Landing, and thus at once capturing the town had Lin- coln abandoned it to meet the British force at the ferry; whereas, the year before, Prévost had no means of crossing the river but at the ferry, and had too small an army to
1 Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 49.
2 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 65; So. Ca. in the Revolution (Simms), 100.
3 McIntosh, So. Ca. in the Revolution (Simms), 102.
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divide for the purpose. Still, if the enemy were to be met at all outside of the city, as they were, there must have been some strong reason which restrained Lincoln from making the opposition while the British were involved in the difficulties of the crossing a bold river flanked upon both sides by an impassable marsh, the only causeway across the marsh at Bee's Ferry being easily raked by artillery. This opportunity of inflicting loss and delaying their movement was lost; but Colonel John Laurens was given the command of a battalion of light infantry of two hundred men and was sent up the great path, that is, the main road from the city, of the beauty of which we have before had occasion to speak,1 to meet the enemy's advanced parties, and to retard their movements as much as possible.
On the following day, the 30th, Sir Henry Clinton ordered the light infantry and yagers, supported by the grenadiers and the other corps and regiments, to gain the road and to move toward the town.2 This they did, and met with no opposition for ten miles of their march; but as they approached Gibbes's farm, about two miles from the town, their advance, about ten or twelve o'clock, met Colonel Laurens, who skirmished with them the rest of the day, being reenforced in the evening by Major Lowe,3 with ninety men and two field-pieces. This skirmish took place in view of both armies and of many ladies of Charles- town, who came out to the works, and who continued to do so even after the firing from the town had begun, and would, with all the composure imaginable, watch the can-
1 King Street Road. Hist. of So. Ca. under Prop. Gov. (McCrady), 342.
2 Tarleton's Memoirs, 9.
3 Philip Lowe first entered the service as an officer in the Second North Carolina Continental Regiment, subsequently served as Major of Third Georgia.
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nonading of the enemy.1 In this first encounter of the siege Captain Bowman, of Hogan's North Carolina brigade, was killed,2 and Major Hyrne 3 and seven pri- vates were wounded. On the British side the Earl of Caithness, aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-chief, was wounded, with several men. About dark Colonel Laurens and his party fell back into the lines. General McIntosh pronounced the whole affair a mere point of honor without advantage !
General Patterson had been left at Wappoo Cut, imme- diately west of the city, with the greater part of his com- mand, to guard the magazines and stores while the main body gained the Neck. As soon as this was accomplished by Sir Henry Clinton, Patterson's command was crossed over at Gibbes's Landing, and communication was opened at this point, and all trouble and delay attendant upon the land carriage by the upper crossing by the way of Ashley Ferry was avoided. By this route the British now received their supplies of guns, provisions, and baggage with facility and expedition, and Sir Henry Clinton was put in immediate communication with the navy.
On the 31st of March General Scott, who had been anxiously expected with a body of Virginia State troops, arrived, but brought no troops with him. This was a great disappointment to the people of the town. The garrison were busily employed all the day strengthening the works and mounting cannon. The British broke ground at night at from ten to twelve hundred yards.
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 62; McIntosh, So. Ca. in the Revolu- tion (Simms), 104.
2 Joseph Bowman, Major, First North Carolina Continental Regiment.
3 Edmund Hyrne entered service as Captain, First South Carolina Continental Regiment, June 17, 1775; Major, May 12, 1779; Deputy Adjutant General, Southern Department, November 17, 1778, to close of the war. We shall find him serving as aide-de-camp to Major General Greene in 1781-82.
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No incident of consequence occurred during the first three days of April. The British were engaged opening their trenches and the Americans strengthening theirs and cannonading the British working parties. The Charles- town militia were ordered from the bay to the right of the lines. But what was of importance and encouragement was the arrival of Colonel Neville,1 with dispatches from Woodford's brigade, announcing their approach ; and later that of another messenger, on Monday the 3d, with an account that this brigade was at Camden on Wednesday the 29th, and would be within forty miles of the town that evening.
The wind had fortunately continued westwardly since the British fleet got across the bar, and they were thus prevented from attempting to come in and run past Fort Moultrie. On the 4th another work appeared on the enemy's left at Hampstead on a rising ground which com- manded that which had been thrown up by Lincoln near the Liberty Tree. To silence this the Continental frigate Ranger, which had not been sunk, was sent up Town Creek, a branch of the Cooper, which runs in near the shore, to enfilade it; but she made very poor work with her guns, and receiving two or three shots from a field-piece brought to the side of the river by the British troops, she retired. It had been determined to send three armed vessels, with a detachment of five hundred men under Colonel Laurens, to take this work in reverse, but Major Clarkson,2 who was sent in the Ranger, reported when he returned that the work was enclosed in the rear, and so the
1 Pressley Neville of Virginia, who had first served as Major and aide-de-camp to General Lafayette, now Brevet Lieutenant Colonel.
2 Matthew Clarkson, Major and aide-de-camp to General Arnold, August, 1778, and aide-de-camp to General Lincoln, March, 1779, to July 2, 1782.
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enterprise was abandoned. The cannonading by the Americans was kept up all that night, and shells were thrown which damaged the British works upon Hamp- stead; but it was not until the next morning at seven o'clock that a shot was fired from the besiegers. At this time, the morning of the 5th of April, Mr. Thomas Horry, who was superintending the negroes working upon the lines, received a contusion from a spent musket ball, and a few shots followed afterward, but without doing any damage. The negroes were a little frightened at first, but continued their work.1 In the evening fire was opened from the opposite side of the town. Four galleys came out of Wappoo Cut, two-thirds across Ashley River, about eight o'clock, it being very dark, and with the batteries on Wappoo Neck opened fire upon the town. This was kept up all night. The enemy's principal object was Battery No. 1 of the Americans on Coming's Point, where the Third South Carolina Regiment was posted. Their shot were twenty-four and thirty-two pounders. Several houses were struck and shattered. Mr. Morrow of the militia grenadiers was killed by a can- non ball as he stood in his own door in King Street; but one other - a soldier in Battery No. 2- was wounded. Two horses of General McIntosh's were killed on the lot of Mr. Lowndes's residence in Broad Street, in which the General was quartered.2
During the night also the enemy attempted to surprise Colonel Washington's cavalry at Middleton Place, near
1 J. L. Gervais, So. Ca. in the Revolution (Simms), 111.
2 J. L. Gervais, McIntosh, and Moses Young, So. Ca. in the Revolution (Simms), 112. Governor Rutledge wrote to General Lincoln suggesting a scheme for the surprise and capture of the galleys which had thus in- sulted the town; but nothing appears to have come of it. Lincoln's papers, Year Book of the City of Charleston, 1897 (Smyth), 348-349.
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the head of the Ashley. For this purpose fifty horse and five hundred infantry were detached and marched to his encampment. But Washington was on the alert, and when the enemy advanced with fixed bayonets, they found the fires burning, but no troops behind. Washington had received information of the movement and had removed his camp to the twenty-third mile house. The British, disappointed, retired, and Colonel Washington, sending a party of his horse after them, picked up three of their rear- guard.1
Both parties continued their works during the 6th, and each kept up a cannonade which was doubled during the night by the British from their galleys and batteries at Wappoo. On the 7th, Friday, the besieged were rejoiced by the arrival of Woodford's brigade of Virginians and some North Carolina militia under Colonel Harrington.2 The Virginians were said to be very fine-looking troops, bearing the appearance of what they were in reality, - hardy veterans, -the sight of whom made an amazing alteration in the countenances of the citizens, who had almost despaired of their arrival. In the afternoon the lines were manned, and a feu de joie was fired from thir- teen pieces of cannon, followed by huzzas from the troops. The Charlestown militia gave up their places on the right of the line to the newly arrived veterans, and resumed their former position on South Bay.3 Another diarist observes, however, that an opportunity was unfortunately
1 Moses Young, So. Ca. in the Revolution (Simms), 112.
2 De Brahm and Mcintosh, the two usually most correct of the diarists, put their arrival as of the 6th ; but Moultrie, Gervais, and Young put it as of the 7th. We have accepted the latter date, as Young gives it as " Friday," which was the 7th, and so does Peter Timothy, in his MS. journal, Laurens's Papers. Ramsay gives it as the 10th, but is clearly wrong.
3 Moses Young, So. Ca. in the Revolution, (Simms) 112.
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given by marching the whole corps in regular order to their encampment to ascertain their precise number, which, not according with the expectations almost universally entertained, may have been the occasion of several deser- tions which happened the same night.1 However much the people of Charlestown may have admired these gal- lant Virginians, who had made the extraordinary march of five hundred miles in twenty-eight days, no doubt bitter was the disappointment when it was ascertained that these seven hundred were all of the Virginia line of three thousand they had been promised who were likely
to reach them in their extremity. Indeed, it seems now an act of folly to have taken these few in, if no more were to come. They were but to swell the number of captives in the town already doomed to the enemy's possession.
The wind, which had so long been blowing in favor of the beleaguered town, now at last shifted, and Admiral Arbuthnot, taking advantage of a strong southerly breeze and flood tide, signalled to Clinton that he would immedi- ately weigh anchor and come in; the salute in honor of the arrival of the Virginians had hardly died away when the guns in the harbor announced that the fleet were pass- ing Fort Moultrie. Timothy, from St. Michael's steeple, at half-past four o'clock saw and reported that the admiral, in the Roebuck, had received and returned the fire of Fort Moultrie and had passed it without any apparent damage; and that a frigate, supposed to be the Blonde, had also passed the fort, after receiving and returning the fire, with the loss of her foretopmast. Then the admiral, having passed above Fort Johnson, fired a gun and hoisted a striped flag at the mizzen peak. Another forty-four-gun ship, supposed to be the Romulus, passed the fort after a pretty smart fire on both sides, but with little apparent 1 Thomas Wells, Jr., So. Ca. in the Revolution (Simms), 118.
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damage. The admiral then, near five o'clock, came to anchor near James Island, above Fort Johnson; a frigate with her topmast shot away did the same, and by five o'clock three other frigates had passed the fort, firing and receiving the fort's fire as they did so. Then the fire opened between the fort and the Renown, and by half- past five every ship of the fleet had passed the fort and come to anchor, except a transport which had run aground. Timothy, rebel as he was, could not refrain his admiration of the action of the fleet. "They really make," he says, "a most noble appearance, and I could not help admiring the regularity and intrepidity with which they approached, engaged, and passed Fort Moultrie. It will reflect great honor upon the admiral and all his captains; but 'tis pity
they are not friends." 1 But Colonel C. C. Pinckney, who commanded at Fort Moultrie, had not allowed the fleet to pass without some atonement. With a garrison of three hundred men of the First Regiment he had main- tained a severe fire and inflicted a loss of twenty-nine sea- men, fourteen of whom were killed and fifteen wounded.2 The Acteus, a store ship, following the squadron, had grounded near Haddrell's Point; and upon this Captain Thomas Gadsden, detached by Colonel Pinckney, with two field-pieces did her such damage that the crew set her on fire and retreated in boats to the other vessels. The Royal fleet were thus at anchor near the remains of Fort Johnson on James Island, within long range of the town batteries. Fortunately the sunken ships across the channel from the town to Shutes's Folly,3 supported by the town batteries
1 Diary, Peter Timothy, MS. Laurens's Papers, Promiscuous Letters, So. Ca. Hist. Soc.
2 Journal of Operations before Charlestown; Siege of Charlestown (Munsell), 124.
3 Now the site of Castle Pinckney.
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and the remaining Continental fleet, prevented them from running up Cooper River and enfilading as well the town as the lines of the defence. Nothing was heard from the garrison of Fort Moultrie until Sunday afternoon, the 9th, when Major Thomas Pinckney came up and reported that not a single man had been hurt and that but about ten of the shots from the fleet had struck any part of the fort.1
The first parallel of the enemy's lines was now com- pleted and the town very nearly invested. There remained but the one means of communication with the rest of the world, and that was crossing the Cooper River to Had- drell's or to Lemprière's Point, or Hobcaw. This com- munication was difficult and precarious. These routes were each four miles across the Cooper, which here is but an arm of sea, and now that the enemy's fleet were in the harbor that to Haddrell's Point was commanded by their guns.
Sunday, the 9th of April, was spent by the garrison of the town in a series of fatigues and hard duty, with little rest, and by the people in throwing up banks of earth against their dwelling-houses to protect them as far as possible from the British shot.2 It was expected that the town would now soon be summoned, -probably the next day, - and upon an answer refusing to surrender that a bombardment would commence, and be maintained inces- santly from all quarters.3 This expectation was to be ful- filled. The day Admiral Arbuthnot had brought in his fleet (9th) he repaired to the camp on Charlestown Neck, where he was warmly welcomed, 4 and where, with Sir Henry Clinton, it was determined to summon the town the next day.
1 Moses Young, So. Ca. in the Revolution (Simms), 116.
2 Ibid., 113-117.
8 Thomas Wells, Jr., ibid.
4 Journal of the Operations before Charlestown; Siege of Charles- town (Munsell), 124.
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On the evening of the 10th of April a flag came in from the British lines with a summons to Major General Lin- coln. The summons ran thus : 1-
" CAMP BEFORE CHARLESTOWN, April 10, 1780.
"Sir Henry Clinton, K.B., General and Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's forces in the colonies, &c., and Vice-Admiral Arbuthnot Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's ships in North America " &c., "regretting the effusion of blood and the distresses which must now commence deem it consonant to humanity to warn the town and garrison of Charlestown of the havoc and desolation with which they are threatened from the formidable force surrounding them by sea and land. An alternative is offered at this hour to the inhabitants, of saving their lives and property contained in the town or of abid- ing by the fatal consequences of a cannonade and storm.
"Should the place, in a fallacious security, or its commander in a wanton indifference to the fate of its inhabitants, delay the surrender, or should public stores or shipping be destroyed, the resentment of an exasperated soldiery may intervene; but the same mild and compas- sionate offer can never be renewed.
" The respective commanders who hereby summon the town do not apprehend so rash a part as further resistance will be taken; but rather that the gates will be opened and themselves received with a degree of confidence which will forebode further reconcilliation.
(Signed) " H. CLINTON. "M. ARBUTHNOT."
Without consulting any one,2 General Lincoln immedi- ately sent the following answer: -
" GENTLEMEN, -
"I have received your summons of this date-sixty days have passed since it has been known that your intentions against this town were hostile, in which time has been afforded to abandon it, but duty and inclination point to the propriety of supporting it to the last extremity.
" I have the honor to be &c. " B. LINCOLN,
"Commanding in the South department."
1 Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 399 ; Siege of Charlestown (Munsell), 67.
2 McIntosh, So. Ca. in the Revolution (Simms), 119.
CHAPTER XXII
1780
LINCOLN, without calling a council or consulting any one, had peremptorily refused the summons to surrender; but this was his last decisive action during the siege. His conduct during the month which it was to continue was indecisive and weak. He allowed his measures to be discussed, his military councils to be interfered with and dictated to by civilians, and his authority to be slighted; and while the inhabitants of the town patiently and heroi- cally bore the suffering and dangers of the siege, he allowed himself, without an enterprising measure or striking an efficient blow, gradually but steadily to be hemmed in, and finally compelled to accept the rejected terms without securing but partially even the honors of war for his garrison.
The day after the summons Sir Henry Clinton opened his batteries upon the town and pressed on his works. The garrison replied with vigor, the meanwhile strengthen- ing their defences as far as possible.1 The most important incident of this day was the loss of Major John Gilbank, one of the most valuable officers in the garrison. He was an able engineer, and was accidentally killed while mak- ing experiments with shells.2
1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 14, 39; So. Ca. in the Revolutionary War (Simms), 119.
2 De Brahm, So. Ca. in the Revolutionary War (Simms), 120. But see Johnson's Traditions, 248, where another account of the accident is given.
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While Lincoln refused to surrender, on the one hand, or, on the other, to withdraw his troops from their inevi- table doom unless he did so, now that but one opening for escape remained, he recognized the situation sufficiently to urge upon Governor Rutledge to leave the town while yet he might; and on the 12th he sent for the general officers and obtained their signatures to a letter urging upon the Governor and part of his Council, at least, to leave, in order that upon the fall of the town there might remain a nucleus of the government in the State. The firing continued as usual during the day, but very little at night. But on the morning of the 13th, at nine o'clock, the enemy's batteries opened with vigor, throwing bombs, carcasses, and red-hot balls. This lasted for about two hours, when the fire abated on both sides. The carcasses - combustibles confined in iron hoops - and the red-hot shot now began to do their work. The inhabitants were exposed to the burning of their houses in addition to the danger to their persons. To meet this a fire department was organized, and upon alarm the members turned out actively and crowded around the flames, to extinguish them or prevent their extension. In doing this the citi- zens exposed themselves more conspicuously to the enemy, and on all such occasions the British increased their fire, directing their shot and shells at the smoke. The families which remained in Charlestown amidst these exciting and alarming scenes of danger burrowed in their cellars, and generally escaped; not more than twenty of them were killed during the siege.1
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