Communication between Fort Moultrie and Charleston
was now cut off. The British fleet, however, found
its progress further barred by a line of sunken hulks,
and could not sail up the Cooper River and take the
American works in their rear. As some of the ships
in that river interfered with the operations of the
besiegers, several large row-boats were hauled
overland to operate on it, the vehicle used for this purpose
being dragged by one hundred and thirty-four negroes.
Work on the approaches went on unceasingly, but the
siege was somewhat delayed by the fact that some of
the heavy artillery and most of the horses had been
lost at sea. The place of the siege-train was supplied
by cannon from the ships, brought with great labor
overland from James Island. On the 13th of April
hot shot were fired by the Hessian artillery, and several
houses caught fire. Sir Henry Clinton ordered his
batteries to slacken their fire, that the flames might
be extinguished. On the following night the second
parallel was opened, and soon after this counter-approaches
were begun by the Americans, so that not
only artillery, but musket-balls, could be brought to
bear. On the 20th, however, the siege-works had so far
advanced that the chasseurs were able to pick men off
in the embrasures of the fortifications, and render the
service of the guns very dangerous. The third parallel
was opened in the following night, and on the 21st,
Lincoln, who had refused to surrender on the day after
Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/272
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248
THE HESSIANS.