After the battle at Moores Creek, the loyalists who survived were unable to mount another offensive. Within four months, the British fleet, which had sailed on without the loyalist volunteers, was repulsed at Fort Moultrie off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. The defeat of the southern campaign convinced the British to concentrate on fighting the rebellion in the northern colonies. The patriot victory at Moores Creek tipped the scales in North Carolina, and on April 12, 1776, the North Carolina Provincial Congress adopted the Halifax Resolves, making North Carolina the first colony to instruct its delegates to the Second Continental Congress to vote for independence.