The royal governor was still in the city, and in some degree exerting his authority.

Fort Johnson, on James' Island, was suffered to remain in the hands of the king's troops for more than three months after the Provincial Congress had ordered a levy of troops, and had resolved on taking up arms.

Two British armed vessels, the Tamar and Cherokee, lay in Rebellion Roads, opposite Sullivan's Island.

This force was quite sufficient, under existing circumstances, to have destroyed the town.
But the royal leaders were not prepared for this issue; they shared the reluctance of the patriots to begin a conflict, the issues of which were so extreme.

Their policy, like that of the patriots--influencing it, and possibly influenced by it--was equally halting and indecisive.