Charleston was principally located on a peninsula, and so Lincoln aligned his Continental units in defensive works that barricaded the "neck" of the peninsula, using a line of redoubts, redans, and batteries. These defensive works were connected by a parapet, and commanded from a concrete hornwork jutting out from the defensive line. In front of the fortifications, the Patriot forces dug an 18-foot-wide moat, and between the moat and parapet they constructed a line of abatis to stall any British assault. When the siege by the British Army began in earnest on April 1, Hogun and his men were positioned on the right of the Continental Army's lines, near the Cooper River.