General Moultrie had been unable to execute that part of the plan which devolved on him.  Boats were not in readiness to convey the men into James’s island, and consequently the feint on St. John’s was not made.

The loss of the Americans, in killed and wounded, amounted to twenty-four officers, and one hundred and twenty-five privates.  That of the British was stated to be rather less.

Three days after this action, the posts at Stono and St. John’s were evacuated.  The heat now became too excessive for active service; and the British army, after establishing a post on the island contiguous to Port Royal and St. Helena, retired into Georgia and St. Augustine.

The American militia dispersed, leaving General Lincoln at the head of about eight hundred men; with whom he retired to Sheldon, where his primary object was to prepare for the next campaign, which it was supposed would open in October.

The invasion of the southern states wore so serious an aspect, that Bland’s regiment of cavalry, and the remnant of that lately Baylor’s, now commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Washington, with the new levies of Virginia, were ordered to repair to Charleston, and to place themselves under the command of General Lincoln.  The execution of these orders was for a time suspended by the invasion of Virginia.

[Sidenote:  Invasion of Virginia by General Matthews.]

An expedition against that state had been concerted in the spring between Sir Henry Clinton and Sir George Collier, the Commander-in-chief of the British naval force on the American station.  The land troops assigned to this service were commanded by General Matthews.  The transports, on board of which they embarked, were convoyed by the Admiral in person.  On the 9th of May the fleet entered the Chesapeake, and the next day anchored in Hampton Roads.

Virginia had raised a regiment of artillery for the performance of garrison duty in the state, which had been distributed along the eastern frontier; and slight fortifications had been constructed in the most important situations, which were defensible on the side of the water, but were not tenable against a military force strong enough to act on land.  Fort Nelson, on the west side of Elizabeth river, garrisoned by about one hundred and fifty soldiers, commanded by Major Matthews, was designed to protect the towns of Norfolk and Portsmouth, which were on each side of the river just above it; and the town of Gosport, which lies still higher up on a point of land intervening between two branches of the river.  Norfolk and Portsmouth were places of the most considerable commerce in Virginia.  Large supplies for the army were deposited in them; and the state government had established at Gosport a marine yard, where ships of war and other vessels were building, for which naval stores were collected to a very great amount.  The destruction of these vessels and stores, constituted the principal object of General Matthews.