the army immediately before the siege of
Charleston.

In June of the same year, the battalion companies, with a detachment of
the 82d regiment, under the command of Brigadier-General Maclean,
embarked from Halifax, and took possession of Penobscot, with the
intention of establishing a post there. Before the defences were
completed, a hostile fleet from Boston, with two thousand troops on
board, under Brigadier-General Solomon Lovell, appeared in the bay, and
on July 28th effected a landing on a peninsula, where the British were
erecting a fort, and immediately began to construct batteries for a
regular siege. These operations were frequently interrupted by sallies
of parties from the fort. General Maclean exerted himself to the utmost
to strengthen his position, and not only kept the Americans in check,
but preserved communication with the shipping, which they endeavored to
cut off. Both parties kept skirmishing till August 13th, when Sir George
Collier appeared in the bay, with a fleet intended for relief of the
post. This accession of strength disconcerted the Americans, and
completely destroyed their hopes, so that they quickly decamped and
retired to their boats. Being unable to re-embark all the troops, those
who remained, along with the sailors of several vessels which had run
aground in the hurry of escaping, formed themselves into a body, and
endeavored to penetrate through the woods. In the course of this attempt
they ran short of provisions, quarrelled among themselves, and, coming
to blows, fired on each other till their ammunition was expended.
Upwards of sixty men were killed and wounded; the rest dispersed through
the woods, numbers perishing before they could reach an inhabited
country.

The conduct of General Maclean and his troops met with approbation. In
his dispatch, giving an account of the attack and defeat of his foes, he
particularly noticed the exertions and zeal of Lieutenant-Colonel
Alexander Campbell of the 74th. The loss of this regiment was two
sergeants, and fourteen privates killed, and seventeen rank and file
wounded.

General Maclean returned to Halifax with the detachment of the 82d,
leaving Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Campbell of Monzie with the 74th at
Penobscot, where they remained till the termination of hostilities, when
they embarked for England. They landed at Portsmouth whence they marched
for Stirling, and, after being joined by the flank companies, were
reduced in the au