The consternation in the British camp was complete.
Everything was given up for lost by a considerable portion of the army.
The commissaries destroyed their stores, the loyalists and American
deserters, dreading the rope, seizing every horse which they could
command, fled incontinently for Charleston, whither they carried such
an alarm that the stores along the road were destroyed, and the trees
felled across it for the obstruction of the victorious Americans, who
were supposed to be pressing down upon the city with all their might.
Equally deceived were the conquerors. Flushed with success, the infantry
scattered themselves about the British camp, which, as all the tents had
been left standing, presented a thousand objects to tempt the appetites
of a half-starved and half-naked soldiery. Insubordination followed
disorder....
No more could be done. The laurels won in the first act of this exciting
drama, were all withered in the second. Both parties claimed a victory.
It belonged to neither. The British were beaten from the field at the
point of the bayonet, sought shelter in a fortress, and repulsed their
assailants from that fortress. It is to the shame and discredit of the
Americans that they were repulsed. The victory was in their hands.
Pages:
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577