Lee again demanded Brown’s surrender. This time the refusal was immediate and polite, and included an apology for not having answered the earlier demand because Brown thought it had come from Elijah Clarke, for whom he had no respect. Lee informed Greene of this exchange and indicated that he agreed with Brown, whom he described as “a vigilant, resolute, active, and sagacious officer.” He reminded Greene of the murder of Major Dunlap and his men by Clarke’s militia, an act of “plunder, murder, and iniquity.”

After a week of being besieged, Brown began nightly raids against the Americans, but these efforts were repulsed. Finally, on June 2, the six-pounder was hoisted to the top of the completed tower and began to fire directly down into the fort.

Brown sent a Scot “deserter” with instructions to gain the Americans’ confidence and then to burn the tower, but Lee was suspicious and had him detained. Brown had secretly dug a tunnel under the houses between the tower and fort, and now he burned all the buildings except one, under which he planted a huge explosive charge. Lee sent a small detachment of inspectors into the building, and they reported no reason why the building had not been burned with the others. Still, Lee was reluctant to occupy the house fully and stationed only a few men in it. That night, when Brown thought the house would be full of Americans, he blew it up, but only six men were inside. Lee once again called on Brown to surrender, and Brown’s reply was to parade American prisoners along the parapet of the fort to show that they would be killed during any final assault. One of them was the aged John Alexander, whose sons James and Samuel were militia captains in the besieging force and who had been plotting with Ethan Pratt and others to kill Brown and Grierson.

Now Brown had no further options except to negotiate favorable terms of surrender. He chose a beautiful and talented young woman named Sophronia Cowan, gave her his optimum proposal, and late in the afternoon sent her under a flag of truce with instructions to speak to no one except Colonel Lee. To the Rangers’ surprise and over the furious objections of Georgia’s militia leaders, Brown’s entire offer was accepted shortly before daybreak the following morning, fourteen days after the military engagement had begun, with Colonel Lee’s words, “The judicious and gallant defence made by the garrison entitles them to every mark of military respect.” The agreement quickly became known as Sophronia’s Peace (Piece).