Stono Ferry, battle of.
After
Prevost menaced
Charleston, and, on account of the approach of
Lincoln, retired to
St. John's Island (April, 1779), both armies encamped within 30 miles of the
South Carolina capital.
The British cast up works at Stono Ferry, between the island and the main, and garrisoned them with 800 men, under
Colonel Maitland.
These were attacked (June 12, 1779) by about 1.200 of
Lincoln's troops, in an attempt to dislodge the
British.
The contest was severe for more than an hour.
Maitland was reinforced, and the
Americans were compelled to retreat.
When they fell back, the whole garrison sallied out to pursue, but the
American light-horse covered the retreat so skilfully that all the wounded patriots were taken away by their friends.
The
Americans lost, in killed and wounded, 146, besides 155 missing; the
British loss was somewhat less.
Three days afterwards the
British evacuated Stono Ferry, and retreated from island to island to
Beaufort, on
Port Royal Island, and thence by boats to
Savannah.
In a skirmish here, September, 1782, with a British foraging party, sent out of
Charleston by
General Leslie,
Captain Wilmot, commanding the
Americans, and accompanied by
Kosciuszko, was killed.
His was the last blood shed in the
Revolutionary War.
