to the invasion of Georgia. He hurried on immediately to prepare Savannah
for defence; while Marion, with a force of 600 men, in several vessels,
provided with cannon and ammunition, was dispatched, by the inland passage,
to his assistance. Marion left Charleston on the 28th of February,
but his approach had no farther effect than to precipitate the flight
of the enemy, who, meeting with a stout opposition from Colonel Elbert,
at Ogechee ferry, had already desisted from farther advance.
The British attempts on Georgia were deferred to a later period.
But the loyalists were busy, particularly that portion of them,
which took the name of Scopholites, after one Scophol, a militia Colonel,
whom Moultrie describes as an "illiterate, stupid, noisy blockhead".
He proved not the less troublesome because of his stupidity.

--
* Drayton's Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 336.
--

Marion was more or less employed during this period, in various situations.
He was never unemployed. We find him at length in command of the fort
which he had formerly contributed to defend and render famous.
He was placed in charge of the garrison at Fort Moultrie.
The value of this fort was estimated rather according to its celebrity,
than its real usefulness. Subsequent events have shown that its capacity
was not great in retarding the approach of an enemy's fleet to the city.
It was the error of Sir Peter Parker -- obeying an old but exploded
military maxim, not to leave an armed post of the enemy in his rear --
to pause before a fortress, the conquest of which could in no wise
contribute to his success, -- and defeat before which,
must necessarily endanger his final objects. It was still
the impression of the Carolinians that Fort Moultrie must be assailed