“Sir: The business we have in hand being of importance, there being various interests to discuss, a just time is absolutely necessary to deliberate. I am, therefore, to propose that a suspension of hostilities shall take place for twenty-four hours from this date; and to request that Your Excellency will direct your columns to fall back to a greater distance, and out of sight of our works, or I shall think myself under the necessity to direct their being fired upon.”

Having nothing to lose and certain of success, d’Estaing granted the delay. Now, with Maitland’s eight hundred troops deployed and most of his defenses arranged, Prevost notified d’Estaing that he would have to defend the city and that the evening gun fired an hour before sunset would be a signal of the recommencement of hostilities.

The French and Americans now moved forward their mortars and light cannon, and for two weeks extended their siege trenches toward the town. They commenced a strong barrage the first week in October, and Prevost requested from both Lincoln and d’Estaing that women and children be permitted to leave the town. This was refused by another message from the French: “It is with regret we yield to the austerity of our functions, and we deplore the fate of those persons who will be the victims of your own conduct, and the delusion which appears in your mind.”

D’Estaing’s fellow naval officers put great pressure on him to conclude this adventure, based on an engineer’s estimate that it would require ten more days for the siege trenches to reach the British lines. The French general had long overstayed his time in the western Atlantic, was expecting the inevitable approach of autumn hurricanes, and had received warnings of a possible British naval attack from the fleet stationed in New York.

Thomas Brown and fifty men were assigned an area on the extreme right of the line facing the enemy troops. He was pleased that in the written directive, his group was called “the King’s Rangers.” Brown had lost touch with his key informant, a former clerk of Charles Town named James Curry and now a sergeant major on General Lincoln’s staff, who was always familiar with plans at the top level of command. Now, at about midnight on October 7, Curry reported personally to Brown, having left the American lines and traversed the heavily defended approaches to the city. He relayed the complete plan of attack, as agreed between d’Estaing and Lincoln, and said it would commence in exactly forty-eight hours, at daylight, with three thousand troops engaged. There would be a feint by the Americans, and Count d’Estaing would personally lead the main attack.