On the first of June advices were received in Charleston, that a fleet of forty or fifty sail was at anchor about six leagues to the northward of Sullivan’s Island. The next day the alarm signal was fired, and expresses sent to the officers commanding the militia in the country, to repair to the immediate defence of the capital, with the forces under their respective command. In a few days several hundred of the enemy’s troops were landed on Long-Island, situated to the eastward of Sullivan’s, and separated from it by a creek. On the 10th the Bristol, a 50 gun ship, her guns being previously taken out, got safe over the bar. About this time a proclamation was sent ashore, in which gen. Clinton promised pardon to the inhabitants upon their laying down their arms and quietly submitting to the re-establishment of royal government. It produced none of the effects wished from it. The militia of the country very generally obeyed the summons of president Rutledge, and repaired in great numbers to the capital. The regular regiments of the adjacent northern colonies, having been ordered to the assistance of their southern neighbors, arrived at this critical juncture. The whole were commanded by gen. Lee, who had been sent to the southward on gen. Clinton’s leaving the Hook. The great opinion every where entertained of his ability and experience, add to the spirits of the troops and inhabitants. In a few days the Americans, including the militia of the town and country amounted to five or six thousand men. The first South-Carolina regular regiment, commanded by col. Gadsden, was stationed at Fort Johnson, on the most northerly point of James Island, and within point blank shot of the channel. The second and third regular regiments of the colony, commanded by cols. _Moultrie_ and _Thompson_, occupied the two extremities of Sullivan’s Island. The other forces had their posts assigned them at Haddrell’s Point, James Island, and along the bay in front of the town. The streets near the water were in different places strongly barricaded. The stores on the wharfs, though immensely valuable, were pulled down, and lines of defence continued along the water’s edge. Domestic conveniencies were exchanged for blankets and knapsacks, and gentlemen of the most independent fortune, labored with the hoe and spade in their hands. Gov. Rutledge, sore against his will, was obliged to adopt some absolute measures for the defence of the place. He pressed 700 negroes, with tools, &c. belonging to non-associators, to work upon the fortifications and trenches; and seized, for the present, the cash and papers of many associators in name only, to prevent their doing mischief, as they hung back in the hour of trial. In a few days, by the labor of the citizens, in conjunction with the negroes, such obstructions were thrown in the way, as would have greatly embarrassed the royal army, had it attempted landing in the town.