USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume I > Part 27
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At the time of the disaster under General Howe that officer was in command only in expeetation of the early arrival of Gen. Benjamin Lineoln who, on the 26th of September, 1778. had been named by the Continental Congress to take command of the army in the southern de- partment of the United States. Lincoln relieved Howe at Purysburg on the 3d of January, 1779, just five days after the loss of Savannah.
COMING OF THE FRENCH FLEET
Franee became the ally of the United States on the signing of the treaty at Versailles. February 6, 1778. and, in furtherance of that treaty a fleet of French vessels sailed from Tonton on the 12th of April. Twelve ships of the line and four frigates, all under the command of Count d' Estaing, comprised the fleet, and a delay in the passage caused the prime object of its sailing to be frustrated, bringing about a change in the plan whereby the ships after operating for a while along the northern coast sailed to the West Indies, capturing Grenada and St. Vincent. Here d' Estaing received letters from the French minister,
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General Lineoln, and M. Plombard, the French eonsul at Charleston, asking his co-operation with Lincoln in the capture of Savannah. That request met with his approval, and sailing from the Windward Islands, he reached the Georgia coast September 3, 1779. Not expecting the appearance of a formidable naval force, Sir James Wallaee, in command of the British fleet off Tybee, was forced to surrender to the French some of his ships. Before the time appointed for his joining Lincoln, which was set for the 17th of September, d'Estaing landed on Tybee, causing the evacuation of that post by the British, and proceeded to Ossabaw where Col. Joseph Habersham awaited him with instructions as to the landing of the troops. During that time General Lincoln was gathering together the militia and seeuring reeruits for his army." In the evening of the 12th, soldiers amounting to twelve hundred, seleeted from the regiments, were landed at Beaulieu, formerly the residence of President William Stephens, where a detachment of the enemy with two field-pieces had been posted, but the approach of the fleet caused the immediate withdrawal of that force. Some difficulty having been encountered in the landing of the troops, it took all of three days, the 13th, 14th, and 15th, to effect that object. Meanwhile Count Pulaski had made a june- tion with the French, and the march for Savannah beginning in the morn- ing of the 16th, the encampment that evening was made at Greenwich, about three miles from the town. The centre of this force was com- manded by d'Estaing, the right by Dillon, and the left by Noailles. The Georgia continentals, commanded by Gen. Lachlan Melntosh, and on duty at Augusta, received orders from General Lincoln to take the British outposts and open the way to the coast, and, having done so, retired to Miller's plantation, there to join the troops under his command.
General Lincoln was oceupied on the 12th and 13th in transporting his forces across the Savannah at Zubly's Ferry, and that work was retarded by the want of boats, as the British had destroyed all they could find. A junction with the advance guard of General Lincoln's army was made by MeIntosh in the afternoon of the 13th, and those combined troops made camp at Cherokee Hill.
D'ESTAING DEMANDS SURRENDER OF SAVANNAH
Count d'Estaing, on the 16th, having with him the grenadiers of Auxerrois and the chasseurs of Champagne and Guadeloupe, and before the arrival of Lincoln with his American forces, thinking it time to take some definite step, sent a communication to Maj .- Gen. Augustine Prevost, the ranking officer of the British army, demanding the surrender of the town of Savannah, doing this, as will be seen, in the name of the King of France.
The demand was in the following words: "Count d'Estaing summons his Excellency General Prevost to surrender himself to the arms of his Majesty the King of France. He admonishes him that he will be per- sonally answerable for every event and misfortune attending a defence demonstrated to be absolutely impossible and useless from the superior- ity of the foree which attacks him by land and sea. He also warns him that he will be nominally and personally answerable henecforward for Vol. 1-14
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the burning, previous to or at the hour of attaek, of any ships or vessels of war or merchant ships in the Savannah River, as well as of magazines in the town.
"The situation of the Morne de l'Hopital in Grenada, the strength of the three redoubts which defended it, the disproportion betwixt the number of the French troops now before Savannah and the inconsider- able detachment which took Grenada by assault, should be a lesson for the future. Humanity requires that Count d'Estaing should remind you of it. After this he ean have nothing with which to reproach him- self.
"Lord Maeartney had the good fortune to escape in person on the first outset of troops foreing a town sword in hand, but having shut up his valuable effects in a fort deemed impregnable by all his offieers and engineers, it was impossible for Count d'Estaing to be happy enough to prevent the whole from being pillaged."
To the above summons General Prevost made this reply :
"Savannah, September 16th, 1779-Sir: I am just now honored with your Excellency's letter of this date, containing a summons for me to surrender this town to the arms of his Majesty the King of France, which I had just delayed to answer till I had shown it to the King's Civil Governor.
"I hope your Excellency will have a better opinion of me and of British troops than to think either will surrender on general summons without any specific terms.
"If you, Sir, have any to propose that may with honor be accepted of by me, you ean mention them both with regard to eivil and military, and I will give my answer. In the meantime I promise upon my honor that nothing with my eonsent or knowledge shall be destroyed in either this town or river."
Count d'Estaing then promptly despatched this response to General Prevost :
"CAMP BEFORE SAVANNAH, September 16th, 1779-Sir: I have just received your Exeelleney's answer to the letter I had the honor of writ- ing to you this morning. You are sensible that it is the part of the Besieged to propose sueh terms as they may desire, and you ean not doubt of the satisfaction I shall have in eonsenting to those which I can aeeept consistently with my duty.
"I am informed that you continue intrenehing yourself. It is a matter of very little importanee to me. However, for form's sake, I. must desire that you will desist during our conferences.
"The different columns, which I had ordered to stop, will eontinne their mareh, but without approaching your posts or reconnoitering your situation.
"P. S. I apprise your Excellency that I have not been able to refuse the Army of the United States uniting itself with that of the King. The junetion will probably be effected this day. If I have not an answer therefore immediately, you must eonfer in the future with General Lincoln and me."
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The correspondence was continued by this note promptly sent by General Prevost to Count d'Estaing :
"SAVANNAH. September, 16th, 1779-Sir: I am honored with your Excellency's letter in reply to mine of this day. The business we have in hand being of importance, there being various interests to diseuss, a just time is absolutely necessary to deliberate. I am therefor to pro- pose that a cessation of hostilities shall take place for twenty-four hours from this date: and to request that your Excellency will order 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. If they did not reconnoiter anything afternoon, they were sure within the distance."
Consenting to the eessation of hostilities, but probably making a mistake in not having the advice of others whose opinion should have been asked, the count returned the following :
"CAMP BEFORE SAVANNAH, September 16, 1779-Sir: I consent to the truee you ask. It shall continue till the signal for retreat to-morrow night, the 17th, which will serve also to announce the recommencement of hostilities. It is unnecessary to observe to your Excellency that this suspension of arms is entirely in your favor, since I ean not be certain that you will not make use of it to fortify yourself, at the same time that the propositions you shall make may be inadmissable.
"I must observe to you also how important it is that you should be fully aware of your own situation as well as that of the troops under your command. Be assured that I am thoroughly acquainted with it. Your knowledge in military affairs will not suffer you to be ignorant that a due examination of that eireumstance always precedes the mareh of the columns. and that this preliminary is not carried into execution by the mere show of troops.
"I have ordered them to withdraw before night comes on to prevent any cause of complaint on your part. I understand that my eivility in this respect has been the oeeasion that the Chevalier de Chambis, a lieu- tenant in the Navy, has been made a prisoner of war.
"I propose sending out some small advaneed posts tomorrow morn- ing. They will place themselves in such a situation as to have in view the four entrances into the wood in order to prevent a similar mistake in future. I do not know whether two columns commanded by the Viscount de Noailles and the Count de Dillon have shown too much ardor, or whether your cannoniers have not paid a proper respect to the truce subsisting between us; but this I know, that what has hap- pened this night is a proof that matters will soon come to a decision between us one way or another."
On the same day the foregoing communications were written the American forces commanded by General Lincoln and the French under Count d'Estaing formed a junction, and it was supposed by those two leaders that faihire was impossible. The French camp which
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at first was located southeast of the town, was moved to a position nearly south. with General Dillon in command of the right, Count d'Estaing the center, and Count de Noailles the left, the front of the line resting parallel with the streets of the town. To the southwest General Lincoln's command was stationed, while to his rear was the Springfield plantation swamp. Between Lincoln and the French stood Count Pulaski's cavalry camp facing to the north. It is admitted that d'Estaing made a mistake in consenting to a twenty-four hours' delay in commencing the confliet.
BRITISH DEFENCE OF SAVANNAH
For this work of defending Savannah against the attack of the eom- bined Ameriean and French troops. General Prevost had well fortified the place. In addition to the twenty-three cannon, all that were mounted just before the advance of the French fleet. one hundred more were mounted. The military under Lieut. Col. Cruger at Sunbury had been sent from that point to aid in the defence, and from all the outposts troops were called in to strengthen the British army. Nearly five hun- dred negroes were set to work, and the batteries from the war vessels in the river were transferred to the earthworks. When the attacking began they had erected thirteen redoubts together with fifteen gun batteries mounting eighty guns, and they were manned by sailors from the " Fowey," the " Rose," and the "Keppel." The channel had been obstructed by the sinking of ships to prevent the sailing of American and French vessels up the river, and that work was accomplished by Captain Moncrieff.
Colonel Maitland was ordered from Beanfort with a troop of eight hundred men, and when he approached Daufnskie, finding the river in possession of the French fleet, and his advanee thereby stopped, he beeame aware. through some negro fishermen, of the fact that there was a passage called Wall's Cut, through Seull creek, through which small boats could pass at high tide, and in that way, aided by a dense fog, he led his men through to Savannah, where he arrived in the afternoon of the 17th. Of that feat Hugh McCall says: "The acquisition of this formidable reinforcement, headed by an experienced and brave officer, effected a complete change in the dispirited garrison. A signal was made, and three cheers were given, which rang from one end of the town to the other." On the arrival of Maitland, General Prevost replied to d'Estaing. as follows :
"SAVANNAH. September 17th. 1779-Sir: In answer to the letter of your Excellency which I had the honor to receive abont twelve last night, I am to acquaint you that having laid the whole correspondenee before the King's Civil Governor and the military officers of rank. as- sembled in Conneil of War. the manimons determination has been that though we can not look upon our post as absolutely impregnable, yet that it may and ought to be defended; therefore the evening gun to be fired this evening at the hour before sundown shall be the signal for recommeneing hostilities agreeable to your Excellency's proposal."
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In the mind of Count d'Estaing there was not the slightest doubt as to the successful issue of the attack about to be made. So confident was he of the result that he did not wait for General Lincoln, and it was doubtless his ambition that victory would be achieved by the French unaided by the Americans. His desire might have been fulfilled had he not consented to the delay proposed. Finding that the demand for an immediate surrender met with a positive denial, and realizing that the enemy had made much of the time gained by his granting a respite, the count changed his plan, and, instead of making a quiek assault, he planned for the capture of the town by besieging it, and promptly ad- vanced his own line to about twelve hundred yards of the English, showing a front of thirty-two hundred yards. On the left of the French was formed the American line, under Lincoln, resting on the swamp located at the western limit of Savannah. The division of de Noailles eame next, and it was composed of the regiments of Champagne, Aux- errois, Foix, Guadeloupe, and Martinique, numbering nine hundred men. To the right of de Noailles the regiments of Cambresis, Hainault. volunteers of Berges. Agenois, Gatinois, the Cape, and Port au Prince, one thousand strong, forming the division of d'Estaing, together with the artillery, made the center of the French army. The right was made up of Dillon's division, nine hundred in all. including men of his own regiment with those of Armagnae and the volunteer grenadiers. A small field hospital, the cattle depot and the powder magazine were on Dil- ion's right, and slightly in advance of the depot were stationed fifty men of the dragoons of Conde and Belzume under M. Dejean. Further to the right eame the dragoons of M. de Rouvrai and his volunteer chas- seurs, in all about 750. To the extreme right, but about two hundred yards in advance of M. de Rouvrai the grenadier volunteers, under M. des Framais, together with about two hundred troops, detached from the various regiments, held position. This arrangement, made on the 22d of September, closed the right of the army and completely invaded the town on the land side.
In the river lay the frigate "La Truite" and two galleys, and they were within cannon shot of Savannah; and the frigate "La Chimère" and the armed store-ship "La Bricole" were placed in such a position as to prevent communication with the islands near the mouth of the river.
Thunderbolt became the point of communication with the French fleet, and at that place a large house was used as a hospital.
The river channel had been obstructed by the sinking of the ships "Rose" and "Savannah," and four transports, and so the armed ves- sels of the French could not approach near enough to render aid in the siege. Above the town small boats had been used for the purpose of preventing the passing of galleys up North river around Hutchinson's island and attacking at that point. AAdded to these precautions the British had guns mounted on the bluff as a protection on the north side.
We have given in detail the numerical strength of the French allies; to that number must be added the American forces engaged in the siege, under General Lincoln. amonnting to twenty-one hundred, all told. It is estimated that the British numbered twenty-five hundred inside the
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lines for the defense of Savannah, including Colonel Maitland's troops.
We now give in full, in order to a clear understanding of the situa- tion, the orders of General Prevost, issued September 9th, as to the disposition of his army: "The regiment of Wissenbach to take their ground of encampment; likewise the 2d battalion of General Delancey 's. In case of an alarm, which will be known by the beating to arms both at the Barraeks and main guard, the troops are to repair to their several posts without confusion or tumult.
"Captain Stuart of the British Legion will take post with his men in the work on the right near the river. The main guard to be relieved by convalescents from the Hessians.
"Major Wright's corps to send their convalescents in the old fort. Twenty-four men in the small redoubt, and seventy men in the left flank redoubt above the road to Tattnall's.
"The militia to assemble in rear of the Barraeks.
"The Light Infantry, the Dragoons, and Carolina Light-Horse as a reserve, two hundred yards behind the Barracks.
"The King's Rangers, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, in the small redoubt on the right, with fifty men; the remainder extend- ing towards the larger redoubt on the right.
"The Carolinians divided equally in the two large redoubts.
"The Battalion men of the 60th Regiment in the right redoubt. The Grenadiers on the left, extending along the abatis towards the Barraeks; the Hessians on the left, so as to fill up the space to the Barracks.
"On the left of the Barracks, the 3rd Battalion of Skinner's, General Delancey's, and the New York Volunteers, and on the left the 71st Regiment lining the abatis to the left flank redoubt on the road to Tattnall's.
"If all orders are silently and punctually obeyed, the General makes no doubt that, if the enemy should attempt to make an attack, they will be repulsed and the troops maintain their former well acquired reputa- tion; nor will it be the first time that British and Hessian troops have beat a greater superiority of both French and Americans than it is probable they will have to encounter on this occasion. The General repeats his firm reliance on the spirit and steady coolness of the troops he has the honor to command."
So wrote Prevost on the 9th of September, and when Colonel Mait- land, with his substantial addition to the defenders of the British eause against the attack of the Americans and their French supporters, was safe in the town and the time to show their mettle was near at hand, he supplemented those instructions with the following general order :
"CAMP BEFORE SAVANNAH, 17th September, 1779-Parole, Maitland. Countersign, St. George, Field officers for tomorrow, Lieutenant-Colonel Cruger and Major Graham.
"The troops to be under arms this afternoon at four o'clock. As the enemy is now very near, an attack may be hourly expected. The General therefore desires that the whole may be in instant readiness. By the known steadiness and spirit of the troops he has the most un- limited dependence. doubting nothing of a glorious victory should the
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enemy try their strength. What is it that may not, by the blessings of God, be expected from the united efforts of British sailors and soldiers and valiant Hessians against an enemy that they have often beaten before ?
"In ease of a night attack, the General earnestly requests the utmost silence to be observed, and attention to the officers, who will be careful that the men do not throw away their fire at random, and warn them earnestly not to fire until ordered."
COMBINED FRENCH-AMERICAN ADVANCE
In preparation for the attack guns were landed at Thunderbolt from the French fleet, and thenee taken for use on the lines outside of the town.
The first advance was made on Wednesday the 22d, by the small company of fifty picked men from Noailles's division, led by M. de Guillaume in an effort to take an advaneed post of the British; but he met with a sharp return of artillery and small arms, and was repulsed. - The besieging foree on the next afternoon (the 23d), at 3 o'clock opened a trench at a distance of three hundred yards from the enemy's works, guarded by six companies to protect them while at work. This act which was begun while a heavy fog enveloped the posts, was dis- covered in the morning by the British who at once attacked the eager workers, and they have asserted that this assault on the part of Major Graham with three companies of light infantry was simply for the pur- pose of driving the French out of their lines to gain information as to their strength. Be this as it may, the Major was forced to retreat with a loss of twenty-one killed and wounded.
As early as 7 o'eloek in the morning of September 25th a battery under the direction of M. de Sauee began to fire upon the town with the full force of its two eighteen pounders; but the Count d'Estaing, not satisfied, ordered a reinforcement of this battery making it consist of twelve eighteen and twelve pounders, and the construction of another battery on the right of the trench, comprising thirteen eighteen pound- ers. Besides, he eaused the plaeing at a point two hundred yards to the left and rear of the treneh of nine mortars, by the side of which he ordered that six sixteen pounders, to be manned by Americans, be put in position; and then he commanded that there be no firing until all that work should be completed.
We have an account of a sortie made on the 27th by Maj. Archibald MeArthur with a detachment of the Seventy-first Regiment, in an cu- deavor to force the allies to abandon the construction of their batteries which was unsuccessful; and the moving up the river on the 28th of the frigate La Truite and entering the north channel of the river, making an useless attempt to bombard the town.
The family of General McIntosh was left in Savannah, and, on the 29th of September, by his request General Lincoln eonscuted to send a flag of truce with a letter to General Prevost to obtain, if possible. per- mission for Mrs. Melntosh and the children to leave the town. General McIntosh's aid, Maj. John JJones, was the bearer of the flag of truce, and, ernel as it may seem, General Prevost refused to grant the request.
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Concerning what happened in the town we have these words of Major Jones in a letter written from the camp before Savannah on the 7th of October, eight days after:
"The poor women and children have suffered beyond description. A number of them in Savannah have already been put to death by our bombs and cannon. A deserter has this moment come out who gives an account that many of them were killed in their beds, and amongst others a poor woman, with her infant in her arms, was destroyed by a cannon ball. They have all gone into cellars; but even there they do not escape the fury of our bombs, several having been mangled in that supposed place of security. I pity General McIntosh; his situation is peculiar. The whole of his family is there."
In connection with this most important event in the history of Savan- nah, the following incident, written by the Rev. George White and printed in his "Statistics of the State of Georgia,"* well deserves a place here :
"During the siege of Savannah, one of the most extraordinary cap- tures took place that the annals of warfare ever recorded. When General Prevost called in his detachments he ordered the commandant at Sun- bury, on the Georgia coast, upon evacuating that post, to put the in- valids on board of the small armed vessels, and to send them by the inland navigation to Savannah under the care of Captain Trench, of the British Regulars. In consequence of head winds Captain Trench and his command were detained until some of d'Estaing's fleet were in possession of the pass, and he was induced to sail up the Ogeechee river until he reached a point about 25 miles from the city of Savannah. Having arrived here, he learned that the passage over land was also blocked up by the allied force, and he therefore made a descent upon the shore, and finally took post with his party about 15 or 20 miles from Savannah. Col. John White, of the Georgia line, having ascertained that Captain Trench's force consisted of 111 soldiers possessing 130 stand of arms, and that he also had under his charge, in the river Ogee- chee adjacent to his camp, five vessels, four of them fully armed, and one of them mounting 14 guns and manned by 40 seamen, formed the resolution of capturing the detachment. He disclosed his plan to those who were with him. MeCall, in his History of Georgia, says that the party consisted of Colonel White, Capts. Geo. Melvin and A. E. Elholm, a sergeant and three privates, seven in all. Other histories make no mention of Captain Melvin, or of a sergeant, but give the whole praise to White, Elholm, and three soldiers, reducing the number to five, White built many watch-fires around the camp, placing them in such a posi- tion, and at such intervals, as to induce Captain Trench and his soldiers to believe that he was absolutely surrounded by a large force. The deception was kept up through the night by White and his companions marching from fire to fire with the measured tread and the loud chal- lenge of sentinels, now hailing from the east of the British camp, and then shifting rapidly their position and challenging from the extreme west. Nor was this the only stratagem; cach mounted a horse and rode
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