FAILURE OF BRITISH EXPEDITIONS.
General William Moultrie.
161. Carleton’s Expedition.—While Washington had been unsuccessfully attempting to resist the advances of the British in New York, the Americans had been more fortunate in other parts of the country. An expedition under Sir Guy Carleton, the governor of Canada, was planned to advance up the river St. John, into Lake Champlain, and down the Hudson, but it met so vigorous a resistance from Arnold near Valcour’s Island, that, although Arnold’s fleet was almost destroyed, the British were obliged to return to Montreal for winter quarters.
162. Expedition of Sir Henry Clinton.—In the South the enemy fared no better. Sir Henry Clinton, with about two thousand men, had been sent from Boston, while the siege was going on, to take possession of North Carolina; but the sturdy Scotchmen of that state, who were generally Tories, were defeated by the patriots, who immediately organized so powerful a resistance that Clinton did not attempt even to land. Reënforced a little later by a British fleet of ten ships under Sir Peter Parker, he advanced upon Charleston in South Carolina. Vigorous preparations for resistance had already been made, under the direction of General Lee. General William Moultrie[[75]] constructed a low fort in Charleston Harbor, chiefly of palmetto logs and sand, which proved an effectual barrier to the British advance. The shots from the fleet sank into the spongy logs without doing much damage, while the shots from the fort were so effective as to disable nine of the ten ships (June 28). The gallantry of this defense has caused the fort ever since to be known as Fort Moultrie, although events of the War between the States have caused the neighboring Fort Sumter to become more famous. Clinton’s land force being held back for lack of suitable boats, the expedition proved a complete failure, and the British with their disabled ships returned to the North.
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
Richard Henry Lee.
163. Growing Spirit of Independence.—Of much greater importance than the events in the field were the events in Congress. At the beginning of the contest public opinion in America very generally attributed the course of Great Britain to bad leaders in Parliament rather than to the king. At first there was a strong feeling of loyalty and even affection toward George III., which would have made it easy for him to heal all differences. One effort after another had been made to induce the king to consider the petitions and remonstrances sent him, but these efforts had all failed. Even as late as the beginning of the war there was very little general thought of independence. But at the end of May, soon after the news of the first conflict at Lexington and Concord reached North Carolina, the people of Mecklenburg County assembled and passed a series of resolutions, declaring that as the mother country had pronounced the Americans rebels, the colonists were absolved from all further allegiance. This declaration seems to have attracted very little attention at the time; but as events progressed, public opinion drifted so rapidly in this direction, that early in the summer of 1776 the leading minds came one after another to the conclusion that independence was inevitable. Final action was not the result of any sudden impulse, but of most careful consideration.
