Fort Moultrie had been passed by the fleet, offered to
capitulate. Hostilities were suspended for six hours,
but at the end of that time they were renewed, as the
generals had not agreed on terms. On the 24th the
Americans made a sortie, and penetrated in some
places as far as the second parallel, but were presently
driven back into the town. On the 26th the British
took possession of a fort commanding the Cooper
River, and the besieged were completely shut up in
Charleston.
On the night of the 3d of May, a party of men from the besieging camp rowed silently up to a three-masted vessel lying close to the town. They climbed on to the deck, which they found undefended, cast off the moorings, and took back the ship within the British lines. Next morning they examined their prize, and on going below found her to be a hospital-ship, full of small-pox patients.[1]
The end of the siege was approaching. On the night of the 7th of May, 1780, Fort Moultrie was taken by sailors from the fleet. On the 8th, negotiations for a surrender of the town were renewed and again broken off; but on the 11th, Clinton's terms were agreed to. These were that the garrison should march out with colors cased and bands playing, but not an English or Hessian tune, and lay down their arms outside the town. The Continentals were to be prisoners of war, the militia were to return to their homes on parole. In consequence of this capitulation the Continentals marched out on the 12th, the bands playing a Turkish march. The officers were allowed to retain their
- ↑ Journal of the Grenadier Battalion von Platte.
