George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 10

[305] Wando; so that an evacuation was no longer pos-

Chap. XIV.} 1780. May 6.

sible. On the sixth of May, Fort Moultrie surrendered without firing a gun. That field intrenchments supported a siege for six weeks, was due to the caution of the besiegers more than to the vigor of the defence, which languished from an almost general disaffection of the citizens.¹

On the twelfth, after the British had mounted can-

12.

non in their third parallel, had crossed the wet ditch and advanced within twenty-five yards of the American works, ready to assault the town by land and water, Lincoln signed a capitulation. A proposal to allow the men of South Carolina, who did not choose to reside under British rule, twelve months to dispose of their property, was not accepted. The continental troops and sailors became prisoners of war until exchanged; the militia from the country were to return home as prisoners of war on parole, and to be secured in their property so long as their parole should be observed. All free male adults in Charleston, including the aged, the infirm, and even the loyalists, who a few days later offered their congratulations on the reduction of South Carolina, were counted and paroled as prisoners. In this vainglorious way Clinton could report over five thousand prisoners.

Less property was wasted than in the preceding year, but there was not less greediness for plunder. The value of the spoil, which was distributed by English and Hessian commissaries of captures, amounted to about three hundred thousand pounds sterling, so that the dividend of a major-general exceeded four