rps of
provincial dragoons, dismounted, in the left or Springhill redoubt,
supported by the South Carolina regiment. The whole of this force on the
right of the line, was under the command of the gallant Lieutenant-colonel
Maitland; and it was this force that made the charge that barely failed
of annihilating the American army. On the left of the line, the Georgia
loyalists garrisoned one of those massy wooden sand-filled redoubts;
while in the centre, cheek by jowl so to speak, with two battalions of
the seventy-first regiment, and two regiments of hessians, stood the New
York Volunteers. All of these corps were ready to act as circumstances
should require and to support any part of the line that might be
attacked. The Negroes who worked on these defences were under the
direction of Major Moncrief.

The French troops had landed below the city and were formed facing the
British lines, with the river on their right. On their left, later,
assembled the American troops. The final dispositions were concluded by
September 22nd, and were as follows: The American troops under Lincoln
formed the left of the line, their left resting upon the swamp and the
entire division facing the Springhill redoubt and her two sister
defences; then came the division of M. de Noailles, composed of nine
hundred men. D'Estaing's division of one thousand men beside the
artillery, came next, and formed the centre of the French army. On
D'Estaing's right was Count Dillon's division of nine hundred men; on
the right of Dillon were the powder magazine, cattle depot, and a small
field hospital; on the right of the depot and a little in advance, were
Dejean's dragoons, numbering fifty men; upon the same alignment and to
the right of the dragoons were Rouvrais' Volunteer Chasseurs, numbering
seven hundred and fifty men; still further on to the right and two
hundred yards in advance of Rouvrais, was Framais, commanding the
Grenadier Volunteers, and two hundred men besides, his right resting
upon the swampy wood that bordered the river, thus completely closing in
the city on the land side. The frigate, La Truite, and two galleys, lay
within cannon shot of the town, and with the aid of the armed store
ship, La Bricole, and the frigate, La Chimere, effectually cut off all
communication by water.

On the 23rd, both the French and the Americans opened their trenches;
and on the 24th, a small detachment of the besieged made a sortie
against the French. The at