and where the officers were men of the cities,
and of more aristocratic habits.

CHAPTER XXXI.
THE WAR IN THE SOUTH.--AFFAIRS IN THE HIGHLANDS.

Letters from General Lee gave Washington intelligence of the fate of
Sir Henry Clinton's expedition to the South; that expedition which had
been the subject of so much surmise and perplexity.

Within a year past, Charleston had been fortified at various points.
Fort Johnson, on James Island, three miles from the city, and
commanding the breadth of the channel, was garrisoned by a regiment of
South Carolina regulars under Colonel Gadsden. A strong fort had
recently been constructed nearly opposite, on the south-west point of
Sullivan's Island, about six miles below the city. It was mounted with
twenty-six guns, and garrisoned by three hundred and seventy-five
regulars and a few militia, and commanded by Colonel William Moultrie,
of South Carolina, who had constructed it. This fort, in connection
with that on James Island, was considered the key of the harbor.
Cannon had also been mounted on Haddrell's Point on the mainland, to
the north-west of Sullivan's Island, and along the bay in front of the
town.

The arrival of General Lee gave great joy to the people of Charleston,
from his high reputation for military skill and experience. According
to his own account in a letter to Washington, the town on his arrival
was "utterly defenceless." He was rejoiced, therefore, when the enemy,
instead of immediately attacking it, directed his whole force against
the fort on Sullivan's Island.

The British ships, in fact, having passed the bar with some
difficulty, landed their troops on Long Island, situated to the east
of Sullivan's Island, and separated from it by a small creek called
the Breach. Sir Henry Clinton meditated a combined attack with his
land and naval forces on the fort commanded by Moultrie; the capture
of which, he thought, would insure the reduction of Charleston. The
Americans immediately threw up works on the north-eastern extremity of
Sullivan's Island, to prevent the passage of the enemy over the
Breach, stationing a force of regulars and militia there, under
Colonel Thompson. General Lee encamped on Haddrell's Point, on the
mainland, to the north of the island, whence he intended to keep up a
communication by a bridge of boats, so as to be ready at any moment to
aid either Moultrie or Thompson.

Sir Henry Clinton, on the other hand, had to construct ba