d be wished. Whole regiments fled without firing a shot, and numbers
without even attempting to seize their arms; they ran in their confusion
into the marsh, and swam across the river, in which numbers of them were
drowned. The Continental troops, under General Elbert, and a regiment of
North Carolina Militia, alone offered resistance; but they were not long
able to maintain the unequal conflict, and, being overpowered, were
compelled to surrender. The Americans lost from 300 to 400 men, and
seven pieces of cannon. The British lost five men killed, and one
officer and ten men wounded.

After this success, the British and American forces remained on opposite
sides of the River Savannah, until the end of April, when General
Lincoln, thinking the swollen state of the river and the inundation of
the marshes was sufficient protection for the lower districts, withdrew
his forces further inland, leaving General Moultrie with 1000 men at
Black Swamp. By this movement Lincoln left Charlestown exposed to the
British. General Prevost at once took advantage of this, and, on the
29th of April, suddenly crossed the river, near Purrysburgh, with 2500
men, among whom was the South Carolina Regiment, which had been
considerably increased by accessions of loyalists and freed negroes.

General Prevost advanced rapidly into the country, the militia under
Moultrie, who had considered the swamps impassable, offering but a
feeble resistance, and retiring hastily, destroying the bridges in their
rear. On the 11th of May, the British force crossed the Ashley River a
few miles above Charlestown, and, advancing along the neck formed by the
Ashley and Cooper Rivers, established itself at a little more than
cannon-shot from the city. A continued succession of skirmishes took
place on that day and the ensuing night, and on the following morning
Charlestown was summoned to surrender.

Negotiations were broken off in the evening, much to the disappointment
of the British general, who had been led to suppose that a large
proportion of the inhabitants were favourable to the royal cause, and
that the city would fall easily into his hands. He now found himself in
a dangerous predicament. He was without siege guns, before lines
defended by a considerable force of artillery, and flanked by shipping;
he was involved in a labyrinth of creeks and rivers, where a defeat
would have been fatal, and General Lincoln with a force equal, if not
superior to his own,