Kennedy's Horse-Shoe Robinson [pp. 203-220]

1852.J Kennedy's Horse-Shoe Robinson. 21(}
they did so. The results, however, were the same in both
cases. It was no reproach to the people of South-Carolina, or of Maryland, that Prevost and Ross were audacious captains. It might have been a reproach, had they
both been successful. As it was, neither succeeded. But
our author's facts are as erroneous as his conclusions
He speaks of the "facility of Prevost's march through
S'outh-C~rolina." Why, Prevost can scarcely be said to
have entered South-Carolina at all! His progress was
confined wholly to a march along the seacoast, not so far
from his flotilla but that he might have reached it at any
moment, with a few hours' effort, and through a region of
swamp country, penetrated by creeks and water-courses,
arms of the sea, occupied by but few white inhabitants,
covered with unbroken and dense thickets, through which,
with moderate skill and caution, he might at any time
make his way, without waking up the country at all.
Moultrie, with one-third of his force, and those badly
armed militia, could only harass and retard, and not prevent his march. The two armies had sundry skirmishes,
in which the Carolinians showed no supineness. Moultrie
regained the city, and prepared for defence, having no
force but his militia and the citizens. Negotiations were
opened, and, to gain time for the arrival of Governor
Rutledge and General Lincoln, from the interior, were
gravely deliberated upon. Had the city been taken, there
would have been nothing to surprise, and the reproach
would have lain only at the door of the continental general, who, with the regular forces of the country, had rambled off into the backwoods of Georgia, as if purposely
to invite the bold enterprise of the British commander.
The reduction of the city, the year following, was far less
easily effected than that of Philadelphia, New-York, and
other places, while the inequalities of force were even
greater. We could take up, sentence by sentence, this
summary of our author, and show its equal injustice to
the zeal, the republicanism and the courage of SouthCarolina, but that our space and leisure do not allow.
We trust that we have suggested clues enough for the
re-examination of the whole history. Summed up in brie?,
South-Carolina had shown a zeal and spirit which provoked the British government to extreme hostility, the
more particularly because her republicanism was regard