USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume I > Part 30
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It seems strange that although Charleston was surrendered to the British eight days before (May 12th, 1780) Sir James Wright had not then received the news.
We hear no more of the proceedings of the assembly until the 17th of July, at which time a letter from Wright to Lord Germain informed the latter of eight acts passed by that body and approved by the former -two on the 1st of July, and six on the 10th. Of these we will only mention two-those approved on the 1st. They were important meas- ures as viewed from a British standpoint, and the governor thus men- tioned them :
"On the 1st instant I assented to a bill entitled an Act to disqualify and render incapable the several persons thereinafter named from hold- ing or exercising any office of trust, honor, or profit in the Province of Georgia for a certain time and for other purposes therein mentioned. This bill, my Lord, I judged very necessary for his Majesty's service, as some kind of punishment to delinquents and check to rebellion, and indeed for the support of government and the peace and quiet of the inhabitants. For by it they were not only disabled as in the title. but they were disqualified from serving on juries, from sitting as members of the Assembly, and are disarmed and obliged to take the state oaths and a new test, also to find security for their good behavior, &c., and I am hopeful it will answer many good purposes, and when such a strong disposition appeared to general pardon, forgiveness and oblivion, I thought it the more necessary that something of this kind should be done, and doubt not but his Majesty will be graciously pleased to ap- prove it.
"At the same time I assented to a bill entitled an Act for the relief of such of his Majesty's loyal subjects as are inhabitants of the Province of Georgia, or have any property or intercourse therein. It was thought very necessary, my Lord, to pass a law of this kind. for altho' all the pretended laws and proceedings of the rebels were absolutely null and void, yet it will very much quiet and satisfy the minds of the people to
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declare them by law to be so, and we had an exceeding good precedent and example in the statute of the 1st William and Mary session 2d Chap. 9 after the Rebellion in Ireland."
Those two measures were adopted as acts of retaliation for the passing by the republican legislature on the 1st of March, 1778, of an aet attaint- ing of high treason all of the prominent loyalists, property owners, who decided to support the British government, and confiseating their real and personal property, and appointing commissioners to sell such con- fiscated estates.
AFFAIRS MANAGED BY WRIGHT AND COUNCIL
The legislature at this period of Savannah's history appears to have had little business to attend to, and the affairs of the town and province were managed by Governor Wright and his council. Sir James wrote again to the principal secretary of state on the 19th of July: "In my letter of the 17th instant. No. 24, I have given your Lordship an account of the several bills assented to by me during the session of the Assembly. There were one or two more which I had in view, but the weather was excessively hot, and the gentlemen grew tired of attending to business, and I thought it most prudent to let 'em alone till our next meeting." The town and district of Savannah did not present to him a very pleasing picture in the way of being able to withstand a sudden attack. On the 20th of August he wrote: "The troops at Savannah, my Lord, are in all about 500, and at Augusta now only about 240, and which I believe are the whole of his Majesty's forces at present in the Province of Georgia. But your Lordship will be precisely in- formed by the returns, and when any of these or any others may be sent either to Sunbury or Dartmouth I can't say, but I understand that if there should be reason to apprehend an attack upon East Florida, in such case the garrison at St. Augustine is to be re-inforced from hence, and I must say that I think this Province is already too soon and too much weakened.
"I find we have only 15 nine pounders. 4 six pounders and 1 four pounder, all mounted on ship carriages, late the guns of his Majesty's ship Rose-2 pieces of brass six pound ordnanee 5 four pounders and 2 three pounders, two of which are only fit to take the field-and 3 twenty-four pounders not mounted."
Realizing the situation in which, through the failure of those respon- sible to help him, he found the province, he assented to the passage of a bill on the 30th of October by which he was authorized to put upwards of four hundred negroes to work upon the fortifications, and, on the 1st of December, he wrote to Lord Germain: "We are making five redoubts and batteries, and there is to be a parapet made of fascines and earth from the river at each end and on the back of the town. This parapet is 10 foot wide and 7 foot high, with a diteh on the outside 15 foot wide at top. 10 foot deep, and sloping to the bottom 3 foot. I think the redoubts will be finished and each parapet about half done, or say the whole 4 foot high, by Christmas, and I expect the work will be entirely finished in all January."
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Still he saw that without considerable help he could not expect to make headway against any real attempt to capture the town. On the 20th of December he again wrote: "The parties of militia which were employed under the authority given by Sir Henry Clinton * * * were very soon at an end. I being given to understand that they could not be paid and subsisted any longer, and I have no power to oblige the militia to do military duty without pay & subsistence. *
* * Not a man has been sent here, and all my applications hitherto taken very little notice of and this province too much weakened and left almost destitute." In a letter written on the 26th of January, 1781, he among other things, asserted that "I cannot think this province and So. Carolina in a state of security, and if Lord Cornwallis penetrates far into No. Carolina I shall expect a rebel army will come in behind him and throw us into the utmost confusion and danger-for this province is still left in a defence- less state."
That the patriots, at this time, could easily have recaptured the town is evident from the statements quoted from the letters of Sir James Wright. but unfortunately for them their condition was almost as deplorable as was that of the enemy. They were not only weak in regard to numbers but they were in a condition of absolute want not only of supplies, but of provisions; and at the same time many of them were then on duty serving the cause in other parts of the country.
AUGUSTA SURRENDERED TO THE AMERICANS
On the 5th of June, 1781, Augusta was surrendered by the British, and the cause of the Americans in Georgia became brighter while Gov- ernor Wright's spirits in a corresponding degree began to fall. He wrote to Lieutenant-Colonel Balfour, on the 11th, "It gives me the greatest concern to acquaint you of the loss of Augusta. * * *
I must observe that if this Province is not recovered from the rebels with- out the least delay I conceive it may be too late to prevent the whole from being laid waste and totally destroyed and the people ruined. We are now in a most wretched condition. I should not reflect on the causes. * I can only represent facts which it is my indispensable duty to do, and which I have hitherto from time to time done. Our distresses are many, and how to furnish the militia on actual duty with rations I can't tell, for there is not a single barrel of beef or pork to be pur- chased here, even if I had the money to buy it."
ROYAL CAUSE GETTING DARK
The time was surely coming when England's hold on the American colonies nmust be let loose, and Sir James Wright clearly saw that, unless something was done speedily and materially for the protection of British interests in Georgia the royal cause there was doomed. It was not long before the republicans saw their opportunity and set to work to take advantage of the same. News, of such activity reached the ears of Wright, and we find him writing in this doleful strain to Lord G. Ger-
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main from Savannah on the 18th of December, 1781: "We are at this moment in the utmost danger and distress and expect every day to have a formidable force against us, for a few days ago we received accounts from General Leslie who now commands in Charles Town that General Green is on his way to the southward and had crossed Edisto river, and that Generals St. Clair and Wayne were at Santee river with 2,500 Continentals mounted, and were to join General Green, who was said to have about the same number, and we have also intelligence that the Marquess De la Fayette is on his way here (but this is rebel intelli- gence), and we have received accounts many different ways of a very serious and formidable attack being preparing and intending against us, and by a gentleman of undoubted credit who is come to Savannah a few days ago, from the Creek nation, we are informed that letters passed through that country some time ago from General Green to the Spanish officer commanding at Pensacola acquainting him that they should be ready to act against this Province by the middle of this month, and we have many rebel accounts that they expect a French and Span- ish fleet here every day. This gentleman (Mr. Taitt) was a prisoner in West Florida for some time, and says they avowed an intention to take East Florida and Georgia ; and the garrison in Charles Town being dwin- dled away one half, we cannot depend on much assistance, if any, from hence. And thus your Lordship sees the consequences of not protecting and holding these two provinces. I always dreaded it from the moment Lord Cornwallis went into Virginia, and the cruel 10th article in his Lordship's capitulation I fear has ruined the King's cause in America, and I need not comment upon it. God knows what will become of us, but without immediate assistance I think we shall not be able to stand it, and if we fall I much fear that St. Augustine and Charles Town will soon follow."
His fears were well-founded, and the events immediately following did not tend towards allaying them as he showed in writing one month iater, January 18, 1782: "Yesterday I received advice from Charles- town that Wayne and St. Clair have joined Green, and that the last party, with their artillery, &e., are not far off. and that they are ad- vancing towards ns, but with what force we cannot certainly learn, tho' it is said about 3.000 Continentals, horse and foot together, and I presmine the South Carolina militia will join them in great members, and. many here, some from principle and some from necessity, seeing they can get no protection from goverment. Surely, surely, my Lord, the commanders of the King's forces in America ought to have supported these southern provinces, and happy would it have been for the King's cause and friends, and a most valuable footing secured in America, if they had, or may yet be, for if they fall I fear New York will be of little consequence." And, as that letter was not promptly sent off. he added this postscript on the 23d: "A party of Continental horse have showed themselves at different times and places for 2 or 3 days past within 8 or 10 miles of Savannah. and now all our ontposts are broke up and called in, and we expect every day to hear of the main body of the rebel army, &e., having crossed the Savannah river. The horse come are said to be abont 200, which we presume are an advanee party."
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WRIGHT'S PITIABLE MENTAL CONDITION
The mental condition of the royal governor in Savannah at this time, judged by his communications to the home government, must have been well-nigh unbearable. He wrote on the 12th of February, 1782, a short letter to Under Secretary William Knox, beginning with the statement that he was so hurried he had not time to write to Secre- tary Lord Germain, and continuing: "General Leslie, after promising a re-inforcement, altered his mind, and countermanded it-and this Province will be totally lost. unless very soon relieved. I know what I wrote long ago, tho' not regarded, and, as I find it's in vain to write, I shall trouble none of your generals any more-a strange kind of conduct or infatuation seems to have lost every thing. * It's said ** 0 % Green recommends it strongly to the people here to pass an act of oblivion and to receive all with open arms who will join them, and they are doing all they can to cajole the negroes and get them over. John Martin, a northward man who used to go by the name of Black Jack, is now ehosen Governor. But I will stop, for, as I can tell you nothing pleasant, I shall say no more;" and he added this: "P. S. At night. I have this moment rec'd a letter from Sir H. C. * a trifling answer that a man might be ashamed to write; and thus do the King's Generals conduet everything."
He wrote again to William Knox on the 23d of February, and these are some of his words: "Appearances are very gloomy * *
* I am informed beyond a doubt that my life is threatened, and that offers have been made to General Wayne to assassinate me, or carry me off, which he chooses, and in this situation I am at present, and ought to have been in England long ago, and sure I am it would have been for the King's serviee. * P. S. 4th March.
* * * A party of rebels came here last Tuesday night and burnt me another barn, almost within musket shot of the town. This is the tenth barn they have burnt of mine. Fine ample protection to eivil government, even within musket shot of our lines ! *
* * 5th March. The rebel Governor Martin, now at Ebenezer, has issued 3 proclamations, one to the King's troops, one to the Hessians, and another to the militia, inviting them all to revolt and join the virtuous Americans against the tyranny of the British govern- ment, for which each man is to have 200 aeres of land and a cow, &e."
AMERICAN TROOPS AT GATES OF SAVANNAH
With the American army almost at the gates of the town, having their headquarters, as we have seen, at Ebenezer, Wright was practically at the mercy of his enemies. Savannah then had about 240 houses oceu- pied by some 750 white inhabitants and the officers and soldiers of whom we have no definite count. His real danger will be apparent when we consider the words of one of his military officers who deseribed the town as "so closely bloekaded by the rebel army that it was dangerous to go without our lines." This condition of affairs is partly shown by the
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* Sir Henry Clinton.
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extraets we have given from Sir James Wright's letters. General Na- thanael Greene, after his successful operations in South Carolina, was prepared to give that attention to the situation in Georgia which he so ardently desired.
General Anthony Wayne was sent "to reinstate as far as might be possible the authority of the Union within the limits of Georgia." . In this he was assisted by Col. Anthony Walton while in command of one hundred of Colonel Moylan's dragoons and a battery of artillery. Cross- ing the Savannah river on the 12th of January, 1782, with his eavalry, and leaving his artillery for a more favorable time to cross, he was re- inforced by Colonel Hampton with three hundred eayalrymen from General Sumter's brigade. Lieut .- Col. James Jackson, under Colonel Twiggs, had previously moved towards Savannah, and was in readi- ness to aid in the work to be performed. When the headquarters of General Wayne were settled at Ebenezer, Governor Martin made that place the capital of republican Georgia. Skirmishes between the Amer- iean troops and the loyalists and Indians oeeurred from time to time, and one decided victory was gained in the defeat of the chief Gurister- sigo who, at the head of three hundred men, struek out with the inten- tion to relieve General Alured Clarke in the town of Savannah.
WAYNE'S TERMS FOR BRITISH EVACUATION
Governor Wright had received information of the aetion of parlia- ment-looking to a settlement with tlie colonies, and believing, as we may conclude from his letters so freely quoted, that England's eause was hopeless, proposed to General Wayne a suspension of hostilities; but matters were brought to a conclusion by the reeeipt of an order from Sir Guy Carlton to Wright, dated at New York, May 23d, 1782, author- izing the evacuation of Savannah and the whole provinee of Georgia, and advising Wright that vessels would be sent for the transportation of troops, stores, and all British subjeets who eared to leave. General Wayne was appealed to by the subjects of Great Britain to define their rights particularly in regard to their property, and to know upon what terms they would be allowed to remain in Savannah should they so wish. Governor Martin was eonsulted on the subject, and it was deeided " to offer assurances of safety for the persons and property of such in- habitants as chose to remain in Savannah after it should be evacuated by the British troops, and that a reasonable time would be allowed them to dispose of their property and settle their pecuniary concerns in the state." Other conditions relating to offenders against the cause mentioned in the agreement are here omitted as not strictly belonging to this history; but it is well to reproduce here the words of General Wayne covering his view of the subject. He said: "Iu offering these terms I have in view not only the interest of the United States but also that of Georgia : by retaining as many inhabitants and merchants as cir- cumstances would admit, and with them a considerable quantity of goods much wanted for public and private use, but (what was yet of greater consequence) to complete your quota of troops without any ex- pense to the public, and thus reclaim a number of men who, at another
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ยท day, will become valuable members of society. This also appeared to me an act of justice tempered with mercy: justice to oblige those who have joined or remained with the enemy to expiate their crime by mili- tary service ; and merey to admit the repentant sinner to citizenship after a reasonable quarantine. By these means those worthy citizens who have so long endured every vicissitude of fortune with more than Roman virtue, will be relieved from that duty."
No mistake was to be made as to the truc intent of the terms of sur- render, and they were given to Major John Habersham to be put in writing, and, in view of the almost immediate evacuation of the town, Gen. Anthony Wayne issued orders regulating the behavior of the troops on that occasion, while he was in camp at Gibbons' plantation, a few miles west of Savannah, which were in the following words :
"HEAD QUARTERS, CAMP AT GIBBONS, July 10, 1782 .- As the enemy may be expected daily to evacuate the town, the troops will take care to be provided with a clean shift of linen, and to make themselves as re- spectable as possible for the occasion. The officers are particularly called upon to attend to this order and see it executed in their respective corps. No followers of the army are to be permitted to enter the town until the main body has marched in. Lieut. Col. Jackson, in considera- tion of his severe and fatiguing service in the advance. is to receive the keys of Savannah, and is allowed to enter at the western gate, keeping a patrole in town to apprehend stragglers who may steal in with the hopes of plunder. Marauders may assure themselves of the, most severe and exemplary punishment."
It was just one day after the date of the foregoing order that the British departed, and the occupation of the town by the American forces followed that afternoon, July 11, 1782, when the second order from General Wayne was published in the following form :
"HEAD QUARTERS, SAVANNAH, 11th July, 1782 -The light infantry company under Captain Parker to take post in the centre work in front of the town, placing sentries at the respective gateways and sally ports to prevent any person or persons going from or entering the lines without written permits until further orders.
"No insults or depredations to be committed upon the persons or property of the inhabitants on any pretext whatever. The civil author- ity only will take cognizance of the criminals or defaulters belonging to the State, if any there be. The merchants and traders are immediately to make out an exact and true invoice of all goods, wares, or merchan- dise of every speeies, dry, wet, or hard. respectively belonging to them or in their possession, with the original invoices, to the Commissary, who will select such articles as may be necessary for the army and for the public uses of the State, for which a reasonable profit will be allowed. No goods or merchandise of any kind whatever are to be removed, se- creted or sold, or disposed of, until the public and army are first served, which will be as soon as possible after the receipt of the invoices, &c.
"N. B. Orders will be left with Captain Parker for the immediate
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admission of the Honorable the Executive Council, and the Honorable the Members of the Legislature, with their officers and attendants."
General Wayne wisely appointed Col. James Jackson to receive the sur- render of the town, and historians have delighted in recounting the faet that to him "were the keys of the town delivered at its principal gate." Of the exaet procedure on the part of the persons aeting on both sides of this solemn transaction we have no definite account, but that its im- portance was fully realized we cannot for one moment doubt. When Savannah was evacuated by the British, July 11, 1782, as we have shown, the capital of the state was at Ebenezer, but the legislature met there only on the 3d of July (having adjourned at Augusta on the 4th of May "to meet at Ebenezer on the 3d of July," both place and time being named in the motion to adjourn), and the day following, the 4th, when, by motion, it "adjourned to meet in Savannah" on the 13th, when its sessions were held in Christ church. At that time John Martin was governor, and his term lasted from January S, 1782, to January 9, 1783, at which last named time Gov. Lyman Hall, who had been elected two days before, took his seat. Just how long the assembly met in the church is not known, but during Governor Hall's administration, probably at its very beginning, it met and continued to meet in the house now known as 110 Oglethorpe avenue east (then South Broad street) and that is said to be the oldest briek house in Savannah. After that time it was used as a publie house, and was known as "Eppinger's Ball Room." The first meeting of the legislature in Savannah is thus mentioned in the record book of the elerk: "The following members met in Savannah, at the church, agreeable to the adjournment at Ebenezer." There were forty-one members present-7 from Chatham County, 6 from Rielmond. 6 from Burke, 6 from Effingham, 5 from Wilkes, and 11 from Liberty. The first business transacted was the election of a speaker, and James Habersham was the unanimous choice. The seat of Nathan Brownson, a representative at the time from Glynn County, was deelared vaeant, and it was "ordered that a writ of election do issue for a mem- ber" to fill the place. It was "resolved that the Governor be requested to order the publie filature to be immediately filled up and put in order for the use of the General Assembly."
There was another Eppinger house, built on the northeast eorner of South Broad (now Oglethorpe avenue) and Jefferson streets, and it was undoubtedly an old structure when it was removed some years sinee to make place for a more modern edifiee. Many persons have mistaken that old house for the historic Legislative Hall; but the only faet eon- neeting it with the latter is that it was owned by one of the family of the Eppingers.
Other measures were adopted looking to the welfare of the state and the people. Among others were the plans for the remuneration of offieers of high rank whose efforts in ridding Georgia of the presence of the enemy were successful. To Col. James Jackson, by resolution, "the house which heretofore belonged to Mr. Tattnall in Savannah" was granted because of his "great and useful services to his country for which he is entitled to the notice and attachment of the Legislature."
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NATHANIEL GREENE AND HIS SERVICES
More important were the services of Generals Greene and Wayne considered, and consequently more legislation was required to befittingly repay thein for what they had done. This was especially true of the former, and, as action in his behalf was in an important respect connected with Savannah's subsequent history we will here give in full the pro- ceedings in his case.
Extracts from House Journals of 1782 and 1783 in regards to Genl. Nathaniel Greene .-
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