sports. Affairs looked serious for the
people of this fair city; but they were of fighting stock, and, with
the war thus brought to their doors, were not slow to show their
mettle.

{38} For weeks the patriots had been pushing the works of defense.
Stores and warehouses were leveled to the ground, to give room for
the fire of cannon and muskets from various lines of earthworks;
seven hundred wagons belonging to loyalists were pressed into
service, to help build redoubts; owners of houses gave the lead from
their windows, to be cast into bullets; fire boats were made ready to
burn the enemy's vessels, if they passed the forts. The militia came
pouring in from the neighboring colonies until there were sixty-five
hundred ready to defend the city.

It was believed that a fort built on the southern end of Sullivan's
Island, within point-blank shot of the channel leading into
Charleston Harbor, might help prevent the British fleet from sailing
up to the city. At all events it would be worth trying. So, in the
early spring of 1776, Colonel William Moultrie, a veteran of the
Indian wars, was ordered to build a square fort large enough to hold
a thousand men.

[Illustration: Colonel William Moultrie]

The use of palmetto logs was a happy thought. Hundreds of negroes
were set at work cutting down the trees and hauling them to the
southern end of the island. The long straight logs were laid one upon
another in two parallel rows sixteen feet apart, and were bound
together with cross timbers dovetailed and bolted into the logs. The
space between the two rows of logs was filled with sand. This made
the walls of the fort.

{39} The cannon were mounted upon platforms six feet high, which
rested upon brick pillars. Upon these platforms the men could stand
and fire through the openings. The rear of the fort and the eastern
side were left unfinished, being merely built up seven feet with
logs. Thirty-one cannon were mounted, but only twenty-five could at
any one time be brought to bear upon the enemy.

On the day of the battle, there were about four hundred and fifty men
in the fort, only thirty of whom knew anything about handling cannon.
But most of the garrison were expert riflemen, and it was soon found
that their skill in small arms helped them in sighting the artillery.

One day early in June, General Charles Lee, who had been sent down to
take the chief command, went over to the island to visit the fort. As
the old-time s