of the island to be cut off with the whole of his command. But as he was not required by this order to abandon the fort as long as he had ammunition, he determined to save it as long as possible. By slackening the discharges of his guns to intervals of about ten minutes each, he was enabled so to pro tract the defence and to save the day. The powder, however, being much reduced and a rumor spreading in the fort that the British troops had effected a landing between Colonel Thomson and the fort, Moultrie ceased firing entirely, reserving his ammunition for the troops he believed to have effected a landing. This was between three and five in the afternoon. The cessation of the fire was so complete that the British at this time believed that the fort was silenced. President Rutledge, however, succeeded in sending Moultrie five hundred pounds of powder with a note predicting "honor and victory," and adding by way of postscript, "Do not make too free with your cannon-keep cool and do mischief." This supply of powder enabled Moultrie to resume his fire at shorter intervals during the rest of the day. About the time the supply of powder sent by Rutledge arrived General Lee came over in a boat from Haddrell's Point through the British line of fire, and ascending the platform of the fort he pointed two or three of the cannon which were discharged against the enemy. He remained a quarter of an hour, then saying to Colonel Moultrie, "I see you are doing very well here-you have no occasion for me--I will go up to town again," he left the fort, and returned to Haddrell's Point through the same line of fire in which he had come.

About five o'clock in the afternoon Colonel Muhlenberg of Virginia, with seven hundred continentals, crossed over from Haddrell's Point and reënforced Colonel Thomson, thus rendering his position more secure against any further attempt from Long Island.

The total number killed in the fort was twelve and the wounded twenty-five. The dying words of Sergeant McDaniel of Captain Huger's company will be remembered as long as the story of the battle is told. He was cruelly mangled by a cannon ball, yet life and vigor remained long enough to enable him to call to his comrades, "Fight on, my brave boys; don't let liberty expire with me to-day."

On the other side the Bristol alone had upward of one hundred men killed and wounded and the Experiment not much less. Each of their captains lost an arm and died a few days after. The Solebay had twelve killed and wounded and the Active seven. Thirty-seven were killed and wounded in the fort, over two hundred in the fleet. The proportion of loss in the fleet was scarcely less than six to one over that in the fort. The fort expended about 4,766 pounds of powder, the fleet about 34,000 pounds.

The firing had continued until near seven o'clock in the evening when it slackened with the setting sun, and at half-past nine it ceased on both sides. At eleven the ships slipped their cables without any noise or piping and returned with the last of the ebb tide to their former anchorage near Five Fathom Hole. When the morning of the twenty-ninth of June broke upon the scene the Act@on lay fast ashore at the distance of about a mile from the fort. The rest of the men-of-war and transports were riding at anchor opposite Morris Island, while Sir Peter Parker's broad pennant was hardly seen on a jury mast considerably lower than the foremast of his ship. The blue flag with the crescent and the word "Liberty" still gently waved in the wind from the sponge staff to which it had been fastened by Jasper. Boats were passing and repassing in safety between the fort and town, and the hearts of the people were throbbing with gratitude and exultation. The garrison at Fort Moultrie fired a few shots at the Acteon, which were promptly and gallantly returned from her by Captain Atkins, when, to prevent her falling into the hands of the Americans, he set fire to her, taking off her crew in small boats, leaving her colors flying and her guns loaded. But this did not prevent a party under Lieutenant Jacob Milligan of the Carolina ship of war Prosper from boarding her while on fire. This party pointed and fired three of her guns at the British commodore, and stripping her of what the pressing moments permitted brought off her colors, ship's bell, and as much of her sails and stores as his boats could contain. Milligan had scarcely done this when the Acteon blew up with an awful explosion.

On the thirtieth of June in the afternoon, General Lee and staff reviewed the garrison at Fort Moultrie and thanked them for their heroic defence, and on the fourth of July President

Rutledge visited the garrison, and taking his own sword from his side presented it to Sergeant Jasper as a reward for his bravery and an incitement to further deeds of valor.

Excluding Lexington, which ushered in the war, and Yorktown, which ended it, the battle of Fort Moultrie must rank with the three most complete and decisive American victories of the Revolution. It was the first absolute victory. The next was Saratoga, and the third the culmination of the long series of smaller affairs at King's Mountain. Bunker Hill was a gloriously fought battle, and did much to establish the first confidence of the Americans in the efficacy of their own ability and valor; but the military advantage of the struggle lay with the British. Princeton and Trenton were brilliant military strokes, which did much to revive the failing spirits of the time, but besides this were productive of no decisive or lasting results. The victory of Fort Moultrie in its moral aspect was as valuable to the cause as Bunker Hill, but it was far more so in the consequences which followed, and the advantages it secured. At Bunker Hill the American troops had exhibited the highest qualities of valor and steadfastness, but the object of the struggle was not attained-the position was ultimately abandoned. At Fort Moultrie they had fought with no less valor and fortunately with the most brilliant success. They had not only resisted but utterly defeated the supposed invincible British navy. The little log fort had withstood the broadsides of some of the largest vessels in his Majesty's service, but the material results were far greater. The expedition which so confidently set out to crush and subjugate the Southern colonies was utterly defeated, and these colonies were relieved for three years from invasion, to remain a source of strength and supply to their friends at the North while the war waged there. The victory at Saratoga put an end to the grand strategy by which the New England States were to be cut off and permanently separated from the others, thus it was confidently believed practically to end the war. The culminating victory of King's Mountain recalled Cornwallis from the further prosecution of his victorious career, and put an end to the grand movement by which the war was to be carried "from South to North," and gained time for the coming of the second French fleet. The battle of Fort Moultrie was the

first of these great achievements and victories, nor was it the least brilliant of them. Carolinians, North and South, may well remember "Palmetto Day," and glory in its fame, for Carolinians only were actively engaged in that great battle; it was South Carolina blood only that was shed on the ramparts of the fort; it was owing only to John Rutledge that the battle was fought, and to William Moultrie that the victory was won; and yet amidst our rejoicing and pride it is well for us to remember that the result of the battle was, in a manner more than ordinarily manifest, in the hands of the God of Battles by whose behest the east winds blew, which prevented the British force from crossing the inlet to the attack, and to the confusion of the enemy's vessels, and their grounding upon the shoals when moving to take advantage of our hero's error.

SOUTH CAROLINA'S SHARE IN THE REVOLUTION From 'History of South Carolina.' Copyright, The Macmillan Company, and used here by permission of the publishers.

It will be seen that there are recorded one hundred and thirty-seven battles, actions, and engagements which took place in the State. Doubtless some of these were very small affairs, scarcely more than skirmishes, but the list contains no smaller affairs than are to be found in the list of battles which took place in other States; it enumerates as but one the siege of Charlestown, which lasted fifty-three days, and included several bloody actions, and as but one each also the sieges of Forts Watson, Granby, and Ninety Six, each of which occupied several days in its operations. If we analyze this table we shall see that in the first two years of the war, 1775-76, there were nine battles in South Carolina-one, the great victory of Fort Moultrie, in which none but Carolinians, North and South, took part, nor any blood but that of South Carolina was shed. In the other eight none but South Carolinians fought for the American cause. For three years there were no military operations in South Carolina, but her Continentals were wasted in a fruitless expedition to Florida in 1778.

In 1779, when the war turned southward, there were nine

affairs in South Carolina, and in these none but her own Continentals and militia took part. In a preceding volume, we have shown that in 1780 there had been thirty-four engagements in the State, in eight of which Continental troops had taken part, and in the remaining twenty-six only partisan bands. To the twenty-six should be added two in the early affairs of Beckham's Old Field and Mobley Meeting-house (omitted in that list because of the want of any account of casualties in either of them on either side). In four of these partisan affairs, i.e. Gowen's Old Fort, Flat Rock, Hanging Rock, and Wahub's Plantation, North Carolinians only were engaged; and in the battle of Camden there were no South Carolina troops present; in nine other partisan conflicts there were men from the three States of North and South Carolina and Georgia; in twenty-two there were none but South Carolinians. From the advent of Greene to the end of the war, i. e., during the years 1781-82, it will be seen by the table appended that there were eighty-three battles, etc., fought, and that in these the Continentals from other Southern States, under Greene alone, took part in nine; that South Carolinians took part with these Continentals in ten, and that they fought sixty-four without assistance from any one coming from beyond the borders of the State. To recapitulate, then, of the one hundred and thirty-seven battles, actions, and engagements, between the British and Tories and Indians on the one hand, and the American Whigs on the other, which took place in South Carolina during the Revolution, one hundred and three were fought by South Carolinians alone, in twenty others South Carolinians took part with troops from other States, making in all one hundred and twenty-three battles in which South Carolinians fought, within the borders of their State, for the liberties of America; leaving but fourteen in which troops from other States fought within the same without her assistance. Besides the battles fought in their own State, South Carolinians fought twice at Savannah and twice at Augusta. They were with Howe when he was defeated by Colonel Campbell at Savannah in December, 1778, and bore a conspicuous part in the siege of that place by Lincoln and D'Estaing in 1779. They took part with Clarke and McCall at the first siege of Augusta in 1780, and under Pickens and Lee in the second in