te of the last
value to a country so greatly divided in public feeling and opinion.
The battle preceded the declaration of Independence, and, though not
generally known to have taken place before that decisive measure was
resolved upon, it came seasonably to confirm the patriots in those
principles which they had so solemnly and recently avowed. Its farther
effect was to dissipate that spell of invincibility, which, in the minds
of the Americans, seemed to hover about a British armament;--to heighten
the courage of the militia, and to convince the most sceptical, that it
needed only confidence and practice, to make the American people as good
soldiers as any in the world. The Carolina riflemen were not a little
elated to discover that they could handle twenty-six pounders as
efficiently as the smaller implements of death, to which their hands
were better accustomed. To the defenders of the fortress, their victory
brought imperishable laurels. They had shown the courage and the skill
of veterans, and their countrymen gloried in the reputation in which
they necessarily shared. Moultrie received the thanks of Congress,
of the Commander-in-Chief, and of his fellow citizens. The fort was
thenceforth called by his name, and he was made a Brigadier-General. His
Major, Marion, necessarily had his share in these public honors, and was
raised by Congress to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel in the regular service.
Two days after the battle, General Lee reviewed the garrison at Fort
Moultrie, and thanked them "for their gallant defence of the fort
against a fleet of eight men-of-war and a bomb, during a cannonade
of eleven hours, and a bombardment of seven." At the same time, Mrs.
Barnard Elliott presented an elegant pair of embroidered colors to
the Second Regiment, with a brief address, in which she expressed her
conviction that they would "stand by them as long as they can wave in
the air of liberty." It was in fulfilling the pledge made by General
Moultrie, on this occasion, in behalf of the regiment, that the brave
Jasper lost his life before the walls of Savannah.

The three years' respite from the horrors of war, which this victory
secured to Carolina, was not, however, left unemployed by her citizen
soldiery. The progress of events around them kept their services in
constant requisition. While a part of them, in the interior, were
compelled to take arms against the Cherokee Indians, the troops of the
lower country were required a