but the general result was the weakening and dispiriting
of the American forces. Brigadier General Ashe was surprised in his camp
and utterly defeated, and the British army not only penetrated into Georgia,
but made its appearance at Beaufort in South Carolina. Here it was met
by Moultrie in a spirited encounter, which resulted in a drawn battle.
Meanwhile, General Lincoln found the militia refractory.
They refused to submit to the articles of war, and desired to serve
only under those laws by which the militia was governed.
Chagrined with this resistance, Lincoln transferred the militia to Moultrie,
and, at the head of about 2000 troops of the regular service,
he marched up the country to Augusta, proposing by this course to circumscribe
the progress of the enemy in that quarter. Taking advantage of this movement,
by which the regular troops were withdrawn from the seaboard,
the British General, Prevost, immediately crossed the Savannah
with the intention of surprising Moultrie, who, with 1200 militia-men,
lay at Black Swamp. But Moultrie, advised of his enemy,
retired to Coosawhatchie, where he placed his rear guard;
his headquarters being pitched on the hill, east of Tuliffinnee,
two miles in advance, and on the route to Charleston. Here the rear-guard,
under Colonel Laurens, engaged the enemy's advance, and was driven before it.
Moultrie gradually retired as Prevost advanced, and the contest which followed
between the two, seemed to be which should reach Charleston first.
The defenceless condition of that city was known to the British General,
whose object was to take it by `coup de main'. Moultrie erred
in not making continued fight in the swamps and strong passes,
the thick forests and intricate defiles, which were numerous along
the route of the pursuing army. His policy seems to have been dictated by
an undue estimate of the value of the city, and the importance of its safety
to the state. But for this, even an army so much inferior as his,
could have effectually checked the enemy long before the city