in the forenoon of that day, all the king's troops, together with such of the inhabitants as were attached to the royal cause, were embarked and under sail. As the rear guard went on board the ships, Washington marched into the town, where he was received in triumph by the people, with every demonstration of joy and gratitude. Several ships of war were left in the bay by the British, to protect the vessels which should arrive from England. In this they were not perfectly successful. The great extent of the bay, with its numerous creeks and islands, and the number of small ports that surround it, afforded such opportunities to the provincial armed boats and privateers, that they took a number of valuable transport ships, who were still in ignorance that the town had changed its masters.

Washington was now in possession of the capital of Massachusetts, but being ignorant of the destination of the fleet, and apprehensive of an attempt upon New York, he detached several regiments for the protection of that city, on the very day on which he took possession of Boston. The royal army were not as yet in a situation which admitted of their undertaking any important expedition. They did not exceed nine thousand effective men, and were in some respects very ill provided. This army, nevertheless, was three times more numer ous than had been thought sufficient to conquer all America. Their repulse was a mortifying blow to the schemes of the ministry, who had given out that the sight of a few grenadiers, would frighten all the colonies into a compliance with their measures. Their invincible troops had been obliged to abandon Boston, before a newly raised militia, who were styled cowards in England.

The fleets, transports and victualers, which had been sent from England, met with bad weather in their passage; many delays and untoward circumstances befel them, which in a great degree frustrated their designs. A squadron, under Sir Peter Parker, destined for the invasion of South Carolina, sailed from Portsmouth, about the end of the year 1775, but, suffering great delays, did not reach Carolina till May, 1776. In the beginning of June, the fleet anchored off Charleston, and made preparations for attacking the place. Two of the ships mounted fifty guns, four were frigates of twenty-eight, to which were added four more ships of smaller force, and a bomb-ketch. The passage of the bar was a work of difficulty and danger, especially to the two large ships, which, though lightened of their guns, both struck on the bar several times. The land forces were commanded by Generals Clinton, Cornwallis, and Vaughn. It is somewhat singular, that at the time General Clinton sailed from Boston, General Lee, at the head of a strong detachment from the army before that place, immediately set out to secure New York. Having

succeeded in that object, General Clinton could not be surprised, at his arrival in Virginia, to find Lee in the same state of preparation in which he had left him at New York. Upon Clinton's leaving Cape Fear, Lee hastened to secure North Carolina; and at length, upon the further progress of the fleet and army to the southward, General Lee again, with equal celerity, proceeded to the defense of Charleston.

The British troops landed on Long Island, which lies eastward of Sullivan's, being separated only by a creek, which was deemed passable at low water. The Carolinians had posted some forces with a few pieces of cannon near the north-east extremity of Sullivan's Island. General Lee was encamped with a considerable body of forces upon the continent to the northward of the island, with which he had a communication by a bridge of boats. Long Island is a naked burning sand, where the troops suffered much from their exposure to the heat of the sun. Both the fleet and the army were greatly distressed through the badness of the water; that which is found upon the sea-coast of Carolina being very brackish. Nor were they in any better condition with respect to the quantity or quality of their provisions. Though the greatest despatch was necessary, on account of these inconveniences, yet such delays occurred in carrying the design into execution, that it was near the end of the month, before the attack on Sullivan's Island took place. This leisure was improved by the provincials, with great diligence, for completing their works. Every thing being at length settled for the attack, the

bomb-ketch, covered by an armed ship, took her station on the morning of the 28th of June, and began by throwing shells at Fort Moultre, as the fleet advanced. About eleven o'clock, four other ships brought up directly against the fort, and began a most furious and incessant cannonade. Three ships were ordered to the westward, to take their station between the island and Charleston, with a design to demolish the works of the fort, and, if possible, to interrupt the communication between the island and continent, and cut off the retreat of the garrison. This part of the design miscarried by the unskillfullness of the pilot, who entangled the frigates in the shoals, where they all stuck fast; and though two of them were got off, it was then too late to be of any service. One was burnt by the crew the next morning to prevent her falling into the hands of the Americans. The ships suffered excessively from the fire of the batteries, and the slaughter on board was dreadful. Scarcely was ever British valor put to so severe a trial. The battle continued till the darkness of the night compelled the assailants to desist. Sir Peter Parker, after using every effort, finding that all hopes of success were at an end, and the ebbing tide near spent, withdrew his shattered vessels, between nine and ten o'clock in the evening, after an engagement which had been supported for above ten hours with uncommon courage and resolution. One of his ships had one hundred and eleven, and another seventy-nine, killed and wounded. The frigates did not suffer so severely, for the provincials pointed their fire principally at the ships of the line.

This defeat was a most unexpected blow to the British. They had never imagined that this insignificant fort would have been able to withstand the heavy fire of their squadron for the space of one hour; though, upon trial, it was found that after ten hours' severe cannonade, it was as far from being reduced as at the beginning. The provincials showed, on this occasion, a degree of skill and intrepidity, which would have done honor to veteran troops; both officers and men performed their duty to the amazement of their enemies, and conducted their fire with such deliberation and design, that almost every shot did execution. Colonel Moultre, who commanded in the fort, received great and deserved praise from his countrymen. The garrison also received great applause, and a sergeant was publicly honored with a present of a sword, from the president of the congress, for a particular act of bravery. This defense greatly raised the character of the Carolinians and the southern colonies. Sir Peter, with his shattered fleet, made the best of his way to New York.

CHAPTER LX.

Declaration of Independence. British expedition against New York. Battle of Long Island. Escape of the American army. Lord Howe attempts to negotiate with Congress. New York captured by the British. Action at White Plains. Conquest of the Jerseys.

Forts Washington and Lee taken by the British.

The British reduce Rhode Island. Desperate condition of the American cause.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

Putnam reading the Declaration of Independence to the soldiers.

HITHERTO the colonists had maintained their struggle against the encroachments of the mother country, without abandoning the hope that pacific councils and conciliatory measures might heal the breach between them. But as the British ministry continued to manifest the most hostile and arrogant spirit, and showed a fierce determination to reduce them by force of arms to unconditional submission, their feelings became more and more alienated, and they began to despair of any amicable settlement of their difficulties. The news that sixteen thousand German mercenary troops had been hired to make war upon them, added still more to their resentment. Ere long they began to disown the authority of the king, and to declare, in speech and writing, that nothing remained for them but a complete and final separation from the British crown. The popular feeling soon found a correspondent expression in public bodies, and at length the continental congress, on the fourth of July, 1776, issued the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE; thus dissolving the connection of the colonies with England, and claiming for them a rank among independent nations. This declaration was received everywhere

throughout the country with the highest exultation, and the ennobling prospect of a separate national existence now animated the colonists with new courage and resolution to repel their invaders.

Washington, meantime, confident that the British would never appear again at Boston, marched his army to New York, anticipating the next attack in that quarter. He was right in his conjecture. The forces that evacuated Boston proceeded first to Halifax, to await