enterprise checked the British, and prevented any attempt for the present against South Carolina; yet they extended themselves over a great part of Georgia, and had already established posts at Ebenezer, and at Augusta. As they extended their posts up the river Savannah on the south side, General Lincoln extended his on the north side; and fixed one encampment at Black Swamp, above Purisburgh, and another, nearly opposite to Augusta. It was the general's intention, as soon as a sufficient force should be collected, to cross the Savannah River above his upper encampment, and oblige the enemy to evacuate the upper parts of Georgia. Before he was able to execute this plan, General Prevost withdrew his troops from Augusta, and fell back to Hudson's Ferry, about twentyfour miles above Ebenezer. General Lincoln, in prosecution of his object, ordered the detachment, commanded by General Ash, consisting of fifteen hundred North Carolina militia, and about sixty continentals, to cross the Savannah, and take post near the confluence of Briar Creek with that river. No sooner had they taken this well chosen position, than General Prevost determined to dislodge them. Having made dispositions for keeping up the attention of General Lincoln by the semblance of a design to cross the Savannah, and for amusing General Ash with a feint on his front, he took a circuit of fifty miles, and, crossing Briar Creek fifteen miles above the ground occupied by Ash, came down unsuspected on his rear. The continental troops under Brigadier General Elbert commenced the action, and fought with great bravery; but most of the militia threw away their arms, and fled in confusion. The handful of continentals, aided by one regiment only of the militia, could not long maintain the action; and the survivors were compelled to surrender themselves prisoners of war. The killed and taken amounted to upward of three hundred men. General Elbert and Colonel M'Intosh were among the prisoners. By this victory, which cost the British, in killed and wounded, but one officer and fifteen privates, their communication with the Indians and their friends in the back country was restored.

The southern army being afterward re-enforced with a body of one thousand militia; General Lincoln was enabled to resume his design of entering Georgia by the way of Augusta. His whole force amounted to five thousand men; of which number he left about one thousand to garrison Purisburgh and Black Swamp; and with the rest, on the twenty-third of April, he began his march up Savannah River. Five days afterward, General Prevost, to oblige him to return, passed two thousand four hundred men over the same river, near its mouth, into South Carolina. The posts at Purisburgh and Black Swamp were immediately abandoned; and General Moultrie, unable to withstand the force, which advanced against him, retired toward Charlestown, destroying all the bridges in his rear. Lincoln, on receiving information of these movements, detached three hundred of his light troops to re-enforce Moultrie; but, believing that Prevost

merely intended to divert him by a feint on Carolina, he proceeded with the main army toward Augusta. The original intention of the British general was no other than what General Lincoln supposed; but meeting with scarcely any impediment in his progress, and learning that Charlestown, on that side on which he could approach it, was in a defenceless state, he began to cherish the hope of being able to reduce it before General Lincoln could come to its relief. Happily for the Carolinians, Prevost, when advanced about half the distance, halted two or three days; and in that interval they made every preparation for the defence of their capital. All the houses in its suburbs were burnt. Lines and abbatis were carried across the peninsula between Ashley and Cooper Rivers; cannon were mounted at proper intervals; and in a few days a force of three thousand three hundred men assembled in Charlestown for its defence. On the tenth of May, in the evening, the British troops reached Ashley Ferry; and, having passed the river, appeared before the town on the following day. After inconsiderable skirmishes, the town on the twelfth was summoned to surrender; and favourable terms of capitulation were offered, but rejected. It being known, on the part of the Americans, that General Lincoln was hastening for the relief of Charlestown, it was an object with them to gain as much time as possible; and by dextrous management a whole day was spent in sending and receiving messages. When the commissioners from the town were at length told, that, as the garrison were in arms, they must surrender as prisoners of war, the negotiation terminated, and the inhabitants expected nothing else than an assault; but on the following morning they were agreeably surprised to find, that the British troops had been withdrawn during the night, and had recrossed Ashley Ferry.

Prevost, after foraging some days, knowing by an intercepted letter that Lincoln was coming on his rear, retired with his whole force from the main to the islands near the sea. Both armies encamped in the vicinity of Charlestown, and watched each other's movements. Although it was not the interest of general Lincoln to hazard a general engagement with the enemy; it was his wish to attack their outposts, and cut them off in detail. With this view, he appeared with his army on the fourth of June in front of the British post at Stono Ferry; but, after viewing the lines, thought fit to retire. Not long after, Prevost departed for Savannah, carrying with him the grenadiers of the sixtieth rigiment; and about this time it seems to have been determined to abandon the post at Stono. Measures for this purpose were taken by lieutenant colonel Maitland, on whom the command devolved after the departure of Prevost. The garrison had now become much weakened; and general Lincoln, knowing its weak state, renewed his design of cutting it off. On the twentieth of June he advanced against it with about twelve hundred men. The garrison had redoubts with a line of communication, and field pieces in the intervals, and the whole was secured by

an abbatis. According to a preconcerted plan, a feint was to have been made from James' Island with a body of Charlestown militia, at the moment when General Lincoln began the attack from the main; but, from some mismanagement, they did not reach the place of destination until the action was over. The attack was continued an hour and twenty minutes, and the assailants had the advantage; but the appearance of a re-enforcement, which the feint was to have prevented, rendered their retreat necessary, The whole garrison sallied out on the retiring Americans; but the light troops, commanded by Colonel Malmedy and Lieutenant Colonel Henderson, so effectually retarded their pursuit, that the troops, commanded by General Lincoln. retreated with regularity, and brought off their wounded in safety. The loss of the Americans, in killed and wounded, was one hundred and seventy-nine. Among the slain, was Colonel Roberts, an artillery officer of distinguished abilities, whose early fall was the subject of universal regret. The British, after this attack, retreated from the islands near Charlestown. General Prevost established a post at Beaufort, in Port Royal Island, the garrison of which was left under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Maitland; and their main army returned to Savannah. General Lincoln, at the head of about eight hundred men, retired to Sheldon, in the neighbourhood of Beaufort.

The Count D'Estaing, after repairing and victualing his fleet, at Boston, sailed for the West Indies; and, having taken St. Vincent's and Grenada, retired to Cape Francois about the beginning of this year. On the solicitation of General Lincoln, President Lownds, of South Carolina, and Mr. Plombard, consul of France, he sailed for the American continent, and arrived on the coast of Georgia with a fleet, consisting of twenty sail of the line, two of fifty guns, and eleven frigates. As soon as his arrival was known, General Lincoln with the army under his command marched for Savannah ; and orders were given for the militia of Georgia and South Carolina to rendezvous near the same place. The British, to prepare for their defence, employed great numbers by day and night in strengthening and extending their lines, while the American militia, sanguine in the hope of expelling the enemy from their southern_possessions, turned out with unusual alacrity. Before the arrival of General Lincoln, Count D'Estaing demanded a surrender of the town to the arms of France. Prevost asked a suspension of hostilities twenty four hours for preparing terms; and the request was incautiously granted. Before the stipulated time had elapsed, Lieutenant Colonel Maitland, with about eight hundred men, after struggling with great difficulties, arrived from Beaufort, and joined the royal army at Savannah. The arrival of so considerable a reinforcement of chosen troops, and especially the presence of the officer who commanded them, in whose zeal, ability, and military experience much confi dence was justly placed by the army, inspired the garrison in Savannah with new animation; and an answer was returned to the count