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 MOULTKIE MOUNT tie effect, while the fire from the fort was very destructive to the vessels. The whole num- ber of guns carried by the attacking fleet was 262, on eight vessels. The action lasted, with some intermissions, from about noon until after 9 o'clock in the evening, when such of the vessels as were not disabled drew off. Sev- eral auxiliary attempts were made in the mean while by other parts of the British force, but without result. The loss of the British was 205 killed and wounded ; that of the Ameri- cans 11 killed and 26 wounded. In December, 1860, Fort Moultrie was occupied by a United States force under Major Kobert Anderson, who on the 26th withdrew to Fort Sumter. (See ANDERSON, KOBEET.) Fort Moultrie now exists only in name. Sullivan's island, upon which it stood, after being almost devastated during the civil war, has since come to be a suburb and watering place of Charleston. MOULTRIE, William, an American soldier, born in South Carolina in 1731, died in Charleston, Sept. 27, 1805. In 1761 he was appointed a captain of foot in a militia regiment raised against the Cherokees. At the outbreak of the revolutionary war he was appointed to the command of the second colonial regiment, and he also represented the parish of St. Helena in the provincial congress of 1775. In March, 1776, he was ordered to construct a fortress on Sullivan's island at the mouth of Charleston harbor, and was busy at the work when the enemy made his appearance. (See MOULTRIE, FORT.) In commemoration of Moultrie's bra- very in defending the fort, it was subsequently called after his name. He was soon after put upon the continental establishment, was made a brigadier general, Sept. 16, 1776, and in February, 1779, he defeated a superior British force under Col. Gardner, near Beaufort. In May following, with about 1,200 militia, he op- posed the advance of Gen. Prevost on Charles- ton, and held the city until the approach of Gen. Lincoln compelled Prevost to retire to Savannah. In the spring of 1780 Charleston was attacked for the third time by a strong land and sea force, and Moultrie, who was second in command, shared in the capitulation of the American troops. While a prisoner he was approached by the British officers with offers of pecuniary compensation and the com- mand of a British regiment stationed in Jamaica if he would leave the American service. He replied: "Not the fee simple of all Jamaica should induce me to part with my integrity." After remaining nearly two years a prisoner, he was permitted to go to Philadelphia, where in February, 1782, he was exchanged for Gen. Burgdyne. He was made a major general, Oct. 15, 1782. In 1785 he was elected gov- ernor of South Carolina, and again in 1794. After the close of his term in 1796 he devo- ted most of his remaining years to the prepa- ration of his "Memoirs of the Revolution" (2 vols., New York, 1802). MOUND BIRD. See BRUSH TURKEY. MOUNDS. See AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. MOUNDSVILLE, a town and the capital of Marshall co., West Virginia, 12 m. below Wheeling, on the left bank of the Ohio, be- tween two streams called Big and Little Grave creeks; pop. in 1870, 1,500. The post office name was formerly Grave Creek. It derives its present name from a mound in the vicinity, one of the largest of the ancient mounds in the United States, and one of the most interesting of American antiquities. It is connected with a series of earthworks of ancient construction, and is 820 ft. in circumference at the base, about 70 ft. high, and at the summit 63 ft. in diameter. In 1838 a shaft was sunk from the apex of the mound to its base, and a horizontal tunnel made from the exterior of the base to the centre. Two sepulchral chambers were found, one at the base, the other 30 ft. above it. These chambers had been constructed of logs and covered with stones, but had sunk in from the decay of the woodwork. One skele- ton was found in the upper chamber, and two in the lower. There were also found in these chambers nearly 4,000 shell beads, several or- naments made of mica, copper bracelets, and articles carved in stone. Ten other skeletons in an advanced stage of decay were found in making the excavation. It is asserted that among the articles dug from it was a small stone on which was sculptured an alphabetical inscription. This tablet is of dark, compact, silicious rock, and is oval, 1 in. long and 1^ in. broad. It is of rude workmanship, but the characters are all distinct. The inscription consists of three lines and of 22 characters, with an ideographic sign. Much diversity of opinion exists as to the nature and origin of this inscription. Dr. Wills De Hass of Vir- ginia, in a paper read before the American ethnological society at New York, adduced evidence and arguments which seem to estab- lish the authenticity of the tablet, of which strong doubt had been expressed. He main- tained that similar ones have been found in the mounds composing the Grave Creek group, among others a small globular stone having five characters enclosed in a cartouche. MOUNT, William Sidney, an American painter, born in Setauket, L. I., Nov. 26, 1807, died there, Nov. 19, 1868. In 1826 he entered the school of the national academy of design, in 1828 painted his first picture, a portrait of himself, and produced afterward in New York "The Daughter of Jairus," a full-length portrait of Bishop Onderdonk, and several clever portraits of children, which gave him reputation ; but he soon returned to Setauket, where he devoted himself wholly to genre art. His first picture of this class, a " Eustic Dance," was exhibited in New York in 1830, and was followed in succeeding years by "Husk- ing Corn," "Walking the Crack," "Farmer's Nooning," " Wringing the Pigs," " Turning the Grindstone," " The Raffle," " The Courtship," "Boys Gambling in a Barn," "Turn of the