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Show BY CONGRESSMAN ALLAN HOWE The American invasion of Canada ended on June 24, 1776. American forces had been forced to retreat from Quebec and Montreal and, at Isle aux Noix, Canada, the mostly sick American troops barely repulsed a probe by the British advance guard. The American commander, General John Sullivan, deciding decid-ing there was no other choice, continued the retreat of his troops to Crown Point. ON June 25, a British fleet arrived off Sandy Hook, New York. The fleet was commanded com-manded by Admiral Molyneux Shuldham, and was convoying the British Army Commander, General Howe, and his forces, from Halifax Nova Scotia. Admiral Howe, the General's brother and commander of the British naval forces, was enroute with a fleet from England. This joint navy-army expedition sailed into New York Bay on June 28. Admiral Shuldham's fleet, still convoying con-voying General Howe's army, crossed Sandy Hook bar and approached the Narrows between Long Island and Sta-tan Sta-tan Island. ON JUNE 30 this British force occupied Statan Island. General Howe's 9,300 troops began their disembarkment from the ships, which was completed on July 7. In South Carolina, Patriots were fighting on two fronts. On June 26, Captain James McCall, commanding the South Carolina Rangers, was taken prisoner in a skirmish with Indians at the Cherokee Indian town. But the more serious threat was invasion of South Carolina by British forces. At the Battle of Sullivan's Island, on June 28, a British fleet of eight warships under Admiral Sir Peter Parker was repulsed and severely damaged in Charleston Harbor by American artillery under Colonel William Moultrie. The American forces knew the British were on their way long before they arrived, and were well prepared for their arrival. Their successful defense against the British in this battle ended operations by regular British forces ir the Carolinas for two years. VIRGINIA adopted a state constitution on June 28. But the most significant event of the week occured in Philadelphia. Thomas Jefferson Jeffer-son presented his draft of the Declaration of Independence to Congress on June 28, setting set-ting the stage ior the final debate over thi future of the American colonies. |