In ship and prison

by William P. Chipman

“We find eleven feet of water in the channel from the bar to Five Fathom Hole. The Hole is three miles from the bar. Ships cannot anchor until they are at that distance from the bar. Off North Breaker Head, where the vessels can anchor, they will be one and a half miles from the shore.

“It would be useless to place batteries there, for should the enemy make a retreat necessary, it would be impossible for us to cover that retreat, or to take the men away. It is clear, therefore, that our ships can do the most effectual service for the defense and security of the town by acting in conjunction with Fort Moultrie.

“Our reasons are: that the channel is so narrow between the fort and the middle ground that they (the ships) may be moved so as to rake the channel and prevent the enemy’s troops from being landed to annoy the fort; and will also be in the best position to check the advance of the enemy’s fleet into the inner bay.”

This report prevailed, and our little fleet remained where it was—on line with Fort Moultrie. This garrison was under the command of Colonel Pinckney, an experienced and intrepid officer, and every one of the soldiers with him was a picked man.

Scarcely was the advance across the Ashley begun by the troops when the British ships began their advance up the bay. Arranged in the form of an inverted V, the apex pointing up the harbor, they came on. The moment it arrived within gun range, the leading vessel opened up a brisk fire; the other vessels in turn followed her example. The fort and our ships returned the fire, and the battle was on.

For an hour it raged. But wind and tide, as well as the number and strength of the ships, was on the side of the enemy, and they at length broke through our line, and were enabled to attack us from the rear. To save our ships, therefore, we were compelled to withdraw to the mouth of the Cooper River, while the English fleet anchored off the ruins of Fort Johnson to repair their damages, which had been severe.

The position they now occupied made it useless for Colonel Pinckney to remain in Fort Moultrie, so, abandoning it under the cover of the night, he escaped with his men and his guns to the Neck.

To prevent the fleet from coming up the Cooper River and enfilading our lines, on the next day we sank eleven vessels across the river’s mouth, and stationed the Ranger and two galleys north of the sunken craft.

The other ships were taken farther up the river and dismantled, both men and guns being transferred to the shore to re-inforce the batteries. There was also a further addition to our little army. General Woodford arrived with seven hundred men, he and his brave followers having made a forced march of five hundred miles in twenty-eight days for our relief.

But however bright the ray of hope was which was awakened by their coming, it shone only for ten days, for then the British were reinforced by the arrival of two thousand fresh troops from New York. About the same time also they completed their second line of redoubts within three hundred yards of ours; their fleet advanced within cannon shot of the town; and a heavy detachment of soldiers was thrown across the north end of the Neck, completely hemming us in. It was now the twentieth of April—a day long to be remembered by us, for on it we received our first summons to surrender. To this demand the brave Lincoln replied: