On receiving intelligence of this threatening aspect of affairs in South Carolina, Lincoln recrossed the Savannah, and hastened to the relief of that state.

The situation of Charleston was extremely critical.  The inhabitants, entirely unapprehensive of an attack by land, had directed their whole attention to its protection against an invasion by sea.  Had Prevost continued his march with the rapidity with which it was commenced, the place must have fallen.  But, after having gained more than half the distance, he halted, and consumed two or three days in deliberating on his future measures.  While his intelligence determined him to proceed, and assured him of a state of things which rendered success almost certain, that state of things was rapidly changing.  Fortifications on the land side were commenced and prosecuted with unremitting labour; the neighbouring militia were drawn into the town; the reinforcements detached by General Lincoln, and the remnant of the legion of Pulaski arrived; and the governor also entered the city, at the head of some troops which had been stationed at Orangeburg.

The next morning Prevost crossed Ashly River, and encamped just without cannon shot of the works.  The town was summoned to surrender, and the day was spent in sending and receiving flags.  The neutrality of South Carolina during the war, leaving the question whether that state should finally belong to Great Britain or the United States, to be settled in the treaty of peace, was proposed by the garrison, and rejected by Prevost; who required that they should surrender themselves prisoners of war.  This proposition being also rejected, the garrison prepared to sustain an assault.  But an attempt to carry the works by storm was too hazardous to be made; and Prevost came to the prudent resolution of decamping that night, and recrossing Ashly River.

[Sidenote:  Lincoln attacks the British at the ferry but without success.]

The British army passed into the island of St. James, and thence to that of St. John’s, which lies south of Charleston harbour; soon after which General Lincoln encamped in the neighbourhood, so as to confine them in a great degree to the island they occupied.  This island is separated from the main land by an inlet, to which the name of Stono River has been given; and the communication is preserved by a ferry.  A British post was established upon the main land at this ferry, and works were thrown up in front for its defence.  When Prevost commenced his retreat, and the troops were moving from island to island, the occasion seemed a fair one for attacking it.  Only eight hundred men, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Maitland, defended it; but a large corps still lay on the island.  To prevent these troops from supporting those on the main land, General Moultrie, who commanded in Charleston, was ordered to pass over a body of militia into James’s island, who should amuse the enemy in St. John’s, while a real attack should be made on the post at the ferry.  About seven in the morning, General Lincoln commenced this attack with about one thousand men; and continued it with great spirit, until he perceived that strong reinforcements were crossing over from the island; when he called off his troops, and retreated, unmolested, to his old ground.