“As long as my men have food to eat, and sufficient strength to endure the ceaseless toil and vigilance required of them, I have no intention of surrendering.”
Distress through the scarcity of food was not, however, long in coming. All supplies from the country were cut off; the amount of stores on hand was not large; and it was not long before all classes had to be put on an allowance, six ounces of pork and a little rice being each one’s portion.
On May first famine stared us in the face; only rations enough for one more week remained. Our hospitals were overflowing with the wounded; our death roll—due to our constant skirmishing—had become frightfully large; our men were becoming emaciated from their scanty supply of food, and worn with their unremitting toil and vigilance. Still, to a second demand from the British general for surrender, General Lincoln, after consulting with his officers, returned a flat refusal.
Ten more days went by. The British troops were now within twenty-five yards of our line. For several days hot shot from the ships in the harbor and the batteries on shore had been thrown into the town, setting houses on fire in several quarters. Our entrenchments were shattered; our garrisons were weakened by their losses; our food was gone; our men had hardly strength enough to make a firm stand against a general assault, yet so intrepid was our leader he decided to undertake one.
The last battle, the fiercest and most formidable during the invasion, followed. Pouring out from our redoubts at an unsuspected moment, we swept down and upon the first line of British batteries, striving to dislodge the red-coats and drive them back to the second line of entrenchments. It is not within my power to describe the onslaught, for before I reached the batteries a ball from a musket struck me in the breast, and I went down, to be trampled under the feet of my comrades as they rushed on in their vain undertaking. For though the contest raged long and fiercely, with terrible losses on both sides, superior numbers finally told and we were driven back to our redoubts, beaten, but not conquered.
As night came on our commander called his officers together again for consultation. The general feeling was that it would be useless, yes, an unwise sacrifice of precious lives, to fight longer, and so on the following day General Lincoln secured terms of honorable surrender.
CHAPTER XXI
“THE CRUISE OF THE NINE”
I did not lie long there on the battlefield after the struggle was over. Some of my comrades had seen me when I fell, and as soon as an armistice for the burial of the dead and the removal of the wounded could be arranged, they came to my help. I was carried to a large storehouse near the Cooper River which had been turned into a temporary hospital, and there Dr. Burns of our own frigate gave me his special care. My wound, though serious, did not reach the danger point, and within three weeks I was able to receive visitors. Captain Tucker was the first, and when left alone for a few minutes, he bent over my cot, and, lowering his voice, said:
“We have not been able to keep your whereabouts from the British authorities, my lad.”
“I am not surprised at that,” I replied slowly, and wondering what else he would tell me.