time, our flag was shot away; their hopes were then gone, and they gave up all for lost! supposing that we had struck our flag and given up the fort. Sergeant Jasper, perceiving that the flag was shot away, and had fallen without the fort, jumped from one of the embrasures, and brought it up through a heavy fire, fixed it upon a spunge staff, and planted it upon the ramparts again. Our flag once more waving in the air, revived the drooping spirits of our friends, and they continued looking on till night had closed the scene, and hid us from their view. At length, the British gave up the conflict; the ships slipped their cables, and dropped down with the tide and out of the reach of our guns. When the firing had ceased, our friends for a time were again in an unhappy suspense, not knowing our fate; till they received an account by a dispatch boat which I sent up to town to acquaint them that the British ships had retired, and that we were victorious."

A few days after this battle, the lady of Major Elliott presented an elegant pair of colors to Colonel MOULTRIE and Lieutenant Colonel Motte, of the gallant second regiment. These colors were honorably supported; they were planted on the British lines at Savannah, where one of them was lost; the other was saved by the brave Sergeant Jasper, who was mortally wounded in the act; but it was afterwards taken at the fall of Charleston.

"As soon as the British had retreated after the battle of Sullivan's Island, the state was left tranquil and free from any apprehension of another attack." General MOULTRIE was sent with an expedition to Georgia; when he arrived at Savannah, preparations were made for an attack on St. Augustine, where his brother was governor; but part of the troops being recalled, the project was abandoned. Shortly after this, the colonial troops were put on the continental establishment, and Colonel MOULTRIE came into the line of the army, as a brigadier general, his commission being dated September 16, 1776.

When General Lincoln took command of the southern department, General MOULTRIE was ordered to join the army with his brigade at Purisburgh. In February, 1779, with a detachment consisting of only a few hundred militia, and nine continental troops, he defeated a superior force of the enemy near Beaufort. General Lincoln soon after marched into Georgia, and left General MOULTRIE with about twelve hundred militia and a few continentals, to watch the motions

*The fort on Sullivan's Island was, by the legislature, afterwards named Fort Moultrie.

of the British, who were by this time collecting a force for the purpose of striking at some important point. In the beginning of May they advanced towards Charleston, with nearly four thousand men under the command of General Provost. MOULTRIE retired before them, destroying the bridges on the route, and impeding them as opportunities offered; he at the same time kept the governor in Charleston, and General Lincoln, informed of the enemy's advance. In a few days he reached Charleston, but with only six hundred men; the rest had deserted by the way. General Provost appeared before the town; but a few cannon shot stopped his progress. The governor and his council were so much alarmed at the prospect of a siege, that they requested a parley. General Provost offered pro tection to such of the inhabitants as would accept of it, and to receive the rest as prisoners of war. This proposal was rejected, and a proposition of neutrality during the war was sent. The military were so decidedly opposed to such a spiritless submission, that it was with difficulty an officer could be prevailed on to bear the message. When it was at last delivered, General Provost replied that he had nothing to do with the governor, his business was with General MOULTRIE. "Upon this," says the general, "the governor and council looked very grave and steadfastly on each other and on me, not knowing what I would say. After a little pause, I said, 'Gentlemen, you see how the matter stands, -the point is this: am I to deliver you up prisoners of war, or not? Some replied 'Yes.' I then said, 'I am determined not to deliver you up prisoners of war. We will fight it out.' I immediately ordered a flag to be waved from the gate, which was the signal agreed upon, should the conference be at an end." But all were disappointed in the result; for the next morning, at daylight, it was discovered that the enemy had decamped. They had intercepted a letter from General Lincoln, who was in their rear with four thousand men. In the spring of 1780, General MOULTRIE again distinguished himself at the siege of Charleston; which, after holding out upwards of a month, capitulated, and he remained a prisoner of war until February, 1782, when he was exchanged for General Burgoyne. He was promoted by congress to the rank of major-general, but was not afterwards engaged in military operations, as at that period the British held no strong post in South Carolina, except Charleston, and that they evacuated in December of the same year.

While he was a prisoner on parole, a proposition was made to him by Lord Charles Montague, under the guise of private friendship, to

leave the service, accept a British commission, and save his reputa tion by quitting the country; to which he replied in a dignified and becoming manner, in a letter, from which, the following is extracted:

"When I entered into this contest, I did it with the most mature deliberation, and with a determined resolution to risk my life and fortune in the cause. The hardships I have gone through I look back upon with the greatest pleasure: I shall continue to go on as I have begun, that my example may encourage the youths of America to stand forth in defence of their rights and liberties. You call upon me now, and tell me I have a fair opening of quitting that service with honor and reputation to myself by going to Jamaica. Good GOD! Is it possible that such an idea could arise in the breast of a man of honor! I am sorry you should imagine I have so little regard for my own reputation as to listen to such dishonorable proposals; would you wish to have that man whom you have honored with your friendship, play the traitor? Surely not. You say, by quitting this country for a short time, I might avoid disagreeable conversations, and might return at my own leisure, and take possession of my estates for myself and family; but you have forgot to tell me how I am to get rid of the feelings of an injured honest heart, and where to hide myself from myself;-could I be guilty of so much baseness I should hate myself and shun mankind. This would be a fatal exchange from my present situation, with an easy and approved conscience of having done my duty, and conducted myself as a man of honor."

The only authentic information we have been able to obtain of the life of General MOULTRIE before, or subsequent to the revolution is, that he entered the field of Mars as the captain of a light infantry company in a provincial regiment, and was engaged in an expedition against the Cherokee Indians in 1761. He was governor of South Carolina, in 1785-6, and again in 1794-5. He died September 27th, 1805, in the seventy-fifth year of his age.