rty of the inhabitants of the town, to be secure while they
adhered to their paroles.

These terms being agreed on, the garrison laid down their arms, and
General Leslie was appointed to take possession of the town.

The defence of Charleston was obstinate, but not bloody. The besiegers
conducted their approaches with great caution; and the besieged, too
weak to hazard repeated sorties, kept within their lines. The loss on
both sides was nearly equal. That of the British was seventy-six
killed and one hundred and eighty-nine wounded; and that of the
Americans, excluding the inhabitants of the town not bearing arms, was
ninety-two killed, and one hundred and forty-eight wounded.

From the official returns made to Sir Henry Clinton by his deputy
adjutant general, the number of prisoners, exclusive of sailors,
amounted to five thousand six hundred and eighteen men. This report,
however, presents a very incorrect view of the real strength of the
garrison. It includes every male adult inhabitant of the town. The
precise number of privates in the continental regiments, according to
the report made to congress by General Lincoln, was one thousand nine
hundred and seventy-seven; of whom five hundred were in the hospital.

The unfortunate are generally condemned; and the loss of the garrison
of Charleston so maimed the force, and palsied the operations of the
American government in the south, that censure was unsparingly
bestowed on the officer who had undertaken and persevered in the
defence of that place. In his justificatory letter to the
Commander-in-chief, General Lincoln detailed at large the motives of
his conduct, and stated the testimony on which those delusive hopes of
substantial assistance were founded, which tempted him to remain in
town, until the unexpected arrival of the reinforcement from New York
deprived him of the power to leave it.

The importance of that great mart of the southern states, which had
become the depot for the country to a considerable extent around it;
the magazines and military stores there collected, which, from the
difficulty of obtaining wagons, could not be removed; the ships of
war, which must be sacrificed should the town be evacuated; the
intention of congress that the place should be defended; the
assurances received that the garrison should be made up to ten
thousand men, of whom nearly one half would be regular troops; the
anxious solicitude of the government of South Carolina;