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of the militia were able to rejoin the
American camp; the rest perished or were captured or returned to their homes.
So quickly was one-fourth of the troops of
Lincoln lost.
The British captured seven pieces of cannon, and more than one thousand stand of arms.
After this success,
General Prevost proclaimed a sort of civil government in
Georgia.
Re-enforced from the South Carolina militia, of whom
Rutledge had assembled great numbers at
Orangeburg,
Lincoln, who had neither the means of conducting a siege, nor a soldiery that could encounter veterans, nor the command of the river, undertook to lead his troops against
Savannah by way of
Augusta, leaving only a thousand militia under
Moultrie at
Perrysburg.
The British general had the choice between awaiting an attack, or invading the richest part of
Carolina.
His decision was for the side which
promised booty.
On the twenty-eighth of April, when the
American army was distant five days march,
General Prevost, this time supported by
Indians, crossed the river with three thousand men, and drove
Moultrie before him. The approach of the savage allies, who spared neither child nor woman, and the waste and plunder of the plantations, spread terror through the land.
Many of
Moultrie's militia left him to protect their own families.
Timid planters, to save their property, made professions of loyalty; and sudden converts represented to
Prevost that
Charleston lay defenceless at his mercy.
After two or three days of doubt, the hope of seizing the wealthy city lured him on; and upon the eleventh of May, two days too late,
he appeared before the town.
While he hesitated, the
