The Nation: Grog, Grit and Gunnery

"It being a very hot day, we were served along the platform with grog in fire-buckets, which we partook of very heartily. I never had a more agreeable draft." With these surprising words, Colonel William Moultrie, 45, commander of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment, was recounting not an assault upon some savanna-side grogshop but a striking colonial victory off Charles Town, South Carolina. In a bitter ten-hour action, Moultrie and 435 men inflicted heavy losses upon a strong British naval squadron under the command of Commodore Sir Peter Parker (two ships of the...

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