ire and abandoned. Within a few days
the troops were re-embarked from Long Island: the attempt upon
Charleston was for the present abandoned, and the fleet once more put
to sea.

In this action, one of the severest in the whole course of the war,
the loss of the Americans in killed and wounded was but thirty-five
men. Colonel Moultrie derived the greatest glory from the defence of
Sullivan's Island; though the thanks of Congress were voted as well to
General Lee, Colonel Thompson and those under their command.

The tidings of this signal repulse of the enemy came most opportunely
to Washington, when he was apprehending an attack upon New York.

* * * * * * *

General Putnam, beside his bravery in the field, was somewhat of a
mechanical projector. The batteries at Fort Washington had proved
ineffectual in opposing the passage of hostile ships up the Hudson. He
was now engaged on a plan for obstructing the channel opposite the
fort, so as to prevent the passing of any more ships. A letter from
him to General Gales (July 26th) explains his project. "We are
preparing chevaux-de-frise, at which we make great despatch by the
help of ships, which are to be sunk. The two ships' sterns lie towards
each other, about seventy feet apart. Three large logs, which reach
from ship to ship, are fastened to them. The two ships and logs stop
the river two hundred and eighty feet. The ships are to be sunk, and
when hauled down on one side, the pricks will be raised to a proper
height, and they must inevitably stop the river, if the enemy will let
us sink them."

It so happened that one Ephraim Anderson, adjutant to the second
Jersey battalion, had recently submitted a project to Congress for
destroying the enemy's fleet in the harbor of New York. He had
attempted an enterprise of the kind against the British ships in the
harbor of Quebec during the siege, and, according to his own account,
would have succeeded, had not the enemy discovered his intentions, and
stretched a cable across the mouth of the harbor, and had he not
accidentally been much burnt. His scheme was favorably entertained by
Congress, and Washington, by a letter dated July 10th, was instructed
to aid him in carrying it into effect. Anderson, accordingly, was soon
at work at New York constructing fire-ships, with which the fleet was
to be attacked. Simultaneous with the attack, a descent was to be made
on the British camp on Staten Island,