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.

* * * * *

From the "Life of Francis Marion."

=_304._= CHARACTER AND SERVICES OF GENERAL MARION.

No commander had ever been more solicitous of the safety and comfort of
his men. It was this which had rendered him so sure of their fidelity,
which had enabled him to extract from them such admirable service. This
simple entreaty stayed their quarrels; ... No duel took place among his
officers during the whole of his command.

The province which was assigned to his control by Governor Rutledge, was
the constant theatre of war. He was required to cover an immense extent
of country. With a force constantly unequal and constantly fluctuating,
he contrived to supply its deficiencies by the resources of his own
vigilance and skill. His personal bravery was frequently shown, and the
fact that he himself conducted an enterprise, was enough to convince his
men that they were certain to be led to victory.... He had no lives to
waste, and the game he played was that which enabled him to secure the
greatest results, with the smallest amount of hazard. Yet, when the
occasion seemed to require it, he could advance and strike with an
audacity, which in the ordinary relations of the leader with the
soldier,