USA > Georgia > The history of Georgia, Volume II > Part 41
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" At five o'clock in the morning, the three columns, which had observed a similar order of march, arrived within about eighty toises (160 yards) of the edge of the wood which borders upon Sa- vannah. Here the head of column was halted and we were or- dered to form into platoons. Day begins to dawn and we grow im- patient. This movement is scarcely commenced when we are directed to march forward, quick time, the vanguard inclining a little to the right, the column of M. de Steding to the left, and the column of the General (D'Estaing) moving straight to the front. M. de Noailles, with his reserve corps, proceeds to a small eminence from which he could observe all our movements and repair to any point where the exigencies might demand his pres- ence.
" At half past five o'clock we hear on our right, and on the enemy's left, a very lively fire of musketry and cannon upon our 1 The Spring-Hill and Ebenezer batteries.
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troops from the trenches who had commenced the false attack. A few minutes afterwards, we are discovered by the enemy's sen. tinels, who fire a few shots. The General now orders an advance at double quick, to shout Vive le Roy, and to beat the charge. The enemy opens upon us a very brisk fire of artillery and mus- ketry, which, however, does not prevent the vanguard from ad- vancing upon the redoubt, and the right column upon the en- trenchments. The ardor of our troops and the difficulties offered by the ground do not permit us long to preserve our ranks. Dis- order begins to prevail. The head of the column penetrates within the entrenchments, but, having marched too rapidly, it is not supported by the rest of the column which, arriving in con- fusion, is cut down by discharges of grape shot from the redoubts and batteries and by a musketry fire from the entrenchments. We are violently repulsed at this point. Instead of moving to the right, this column and the vanguard fall back toward the left. Count d'Estaing receives a musket shot when almost within the redoubt, and M. Betizi is here wounded several times.
" The column of M. de Steding, which moved to the left, while traversing a muddy swamp full of brambles, loses its formation and no longer preserves any order. This swamp, upon which the enemy's entrenchments rested, formed a slope which served as a glacis to them. The firing is very lively; and, although this column is here most seriously injured, it crosses the road to Au- gusta that it may advance to the enemy's right which it was or- dered to attack. On this spot nearly all the volunteers are killed. The Baron de Steding is here wounded.
" The column of M. d'Estaing, and the repulsed vanguard which had retreated to the left, arrived here as soon as the col- umn of M. de Steding, and threw it into utter confusion. At this moment everything is in such disorder that the formations are no longer preserved. The road to Augusta is choked up. It here, between two impracticable morasses, consists of an artificial causeway upon which all our soldiers, who had disengaged them- selves from the swamps, collected. We are crowded together and badly pressed. Two 18-pounder guns, upon field carriages, charged with canister and placed at the head of the road, cause terrible slaughter. The musketry fire from the entrenchments is concentrated upon this spot and upon the swamps. Two Eng- lish galleys and one frigate 1 sweep this point with their broad- sides, and the redoubts and batteries use only grape shot, which
1 The armed brig Germain.
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THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
they shower down upon this locality. [Another contemporane- ous French writer says the English fired from their cannon pack- ets of scrap iron, the blades of knives and scissors, and even chains five and six feet long.] Notwithstanding all this our offi- cers endeavor to form into columns this mass which does not re- treat, and the soldiers themselves strive to regain their ranks. Scarcely have they commenced to do this when the General or- ders the charge to be beaten. Three times do our troops advance en masse up to the entrenchments which cannot be carried. An attempt is made to penetrate through the swamp on our left to gain the enemy's right. More than half of those who enter are either killed, or remain stuck fast in the mud. . . . Standing in the road leading to Augusta, and at a most exposed point, the General, with perfect self-possession, surveys this slaughter, de- mands constant renewals of the assault, and, although sure of the bravery of his troops, determines upon a retreat only when he sees that success is impossible.
" We beat a retreat, which is mainly effected across the swamp lying to the right of the Augusta road; our forces being entirely, and at short range, exposed to the concentrated fire of the en- trenchments which constantly increases in vehemence. At this juncture the enemy show themselves openly upon the parapets and deliver their fire with their muskets almost touching our troops. The General here receives a second shot.1
" About four hundred men, more judiciously led by the Baron de Steding, retreated without loss by following the road to Au- gusta and turning the swamp by a long detour. M. de Noailles, anxious to preserve his command for the moment when it could be used to best advantage, orders his reserve corps to fall back rapidly. Had he not done so, it would have suffered a loss almost as severe as that encountered by the assaulting columns, the effect of the grape shot being more dangerous at the re- move where it was posted than at the foot of the entrenchments. Accompanied only by his adjutant, he ascends an elevation fif- teen paces in advance of his corps that he might with certainty observe all the movements of the army. His adjutant, M. Ca- lignon, is mortally wounded by his side. When the Viscount de Noailles perceives the disorder reigning among the columns, he brings his reserve corps up to charge the enemy ; and, when he hears the retreat sounded, advances in silence, at a slow step,
1 During the conduct of the assault musket balls, once in the arm and again Count d'Estaing was twice wounded by in the thigh.
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and in perfect order, to afford an opportunity to the repulsed troops to reform themselves in his rear. He makes a demon- stration to penetrate within the entrenchments in case the enemy should leave them, and prepares to cut them off in that event. Under these circumstances he encounters some loss, but the anticipated sortie would have caused the total destruction of our army. That the enemy did not make this apprehended sor- tie is to be attributed to this excellent disposition of his forces and this prompt manœuvre on the part of the Viscount de No- ailles.1
" The fragments of the army hastily form in single column behind the reserve corps and begin marching to our camp. M. de Noailles constitutes the rear guard, and retires slowly and in perfect order. Towards eight o'clock in the morning the army was again in camp, and a cessation of hostilities for the purpose of burying the dead and removing the wounded was proposed and allowed."
The American right column, under the command of Colonel Laurens, preceded by Count Pulaski, assaulted the Spring-Hill redoubt with conspicuous valor. At one time the ditch was passed and the colors of the second South Carolina regiment were planted upon the exterior slope. The parapet being too high for them to scale in the face of a murderous fire, these brave assailants were driven out of the ditch. On the retreat, this command was thrown into great disorder by the cavalry and lancers who, severely galled by the enemy's fire, broke away to the left and passed through the infantry, bearing a portion of it into the swamp.
The second American column, led by General McIntosh, ar- rived near the Spring-Hill redoubt at a moment of supreme con- fusion. Count d'Estaing was then, his arm wounded, endeavor- ing to rally his men. "General McIntosh," says Major Thomas Pinckney, who was present and an earnest actor in the bloody details of this unfortunate and ill-considered attempt, " did not speak French, but desired me to inform the Commander-in-Chief that his column was fresh, and that he wished his directions,
1 This statement is not entirely cor- rect. Major Glasier, of the Sixtieth Regi- ment, who, with the grenadiers and re- serve marines, was supporting the points assailed, did, when the order for retreat was given by the commander of the al- lied army, make a sortie from the British VOL. II. 26
lines. He struck General McIntosh's, column in the flank and pursued the re- tiring troops as far as the abattis. Sco General Prevost's report of the engage- ment to Lord George Germain, dated Savannah, November 1, 1779. Gentle- man's Magazine for 1779, pp. 633, 636.
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THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
where, under present circumstances, he should make the attack. The Count ordered that we should move more to the left, and by no means to interfere with the troops he was endeavoring to rally. In pursuing this direction we were thrown too much to the left, and, before we could reach Spring-Hill redoubt, we had to pass through Yamacraw swamp, then wet and boggy, with the galley at the mouth annoying our left flank with grape shot. While struggling through this morass, the firing slacked, and it was reported that the whole army had retired. I was sent by General McIntosh to look out from the Spring-Hill, where I found not an assailant standing. On reporting this to the General, he ordered a retreat which was effected without much loss, notwith- standing the heavy fire of grape shot with which we were fol- lowed."
While the assault was raging, Pulaski, with the approval of General Lincoln, attempted, at the head of some two hundred cavalrymen, to force a passage between the enemy's works. His purpose was to penetrate within the town, pass in rear of the hostile lines, and carry confusion and havoc into the British camp. In the execution of this design, he advanced at full speed until arrested by the abattis. Here his command encountered a heavy cross-fire from the batteries which threw it into confusion. The count himself was unhorsed by a canister shot which, pene- trating his right thigh, inflicted a motal wound.1 He was borne from the bloody field ; and, after the conflict was over, was con-
1 The last command uttered by the batteries, a cross fire, like a pouring gallant Polo us he fell, wounded to the shower, confused our ranks. I looked around. Oh! sad moment, ever to be remembered, Pulaski lies prostrate on the ground ! I leaped towards him, thinking possibly his wound was not dan- gerous, but a canister shot had pierced his thigh, and the blood was also flowing from his breast, probably from a second wound. Falling on my knees I tried to raise him. He said, in a faint voice, Jesus ! Maria! Joseph ! Further I knew not, for at that moment a musket ball, grazing my scalp, blinded me with blood and I fell to the ground in a state of in- sensibility." death, was : " Follow my Lancers to whom I have given the order of attack." Major Rogowski thus describes Pulaski's charge: "For half an hour the guns roared and blood flowed abundantly. Seeing an opening between the enemy's works Pulaski resolved, with his Legion and a small detachment of Georgia Cav- alry, to charge through, enter the city, confuse the enemy, and cheer the inhab- itauts with good tidings. General Lin- coln approved the daring plan. Implor- ing the help of the Almighty, Pulaski shouted to his men forward, and we, two hundred strong, rode at full speed after Nine days before, Pulaski had lost his scapulars which the Nuncio had blessed during his stay ut Creustochowe. Ho regarded it us an evil omen, and advised Major Rogowski thut he anticipated early death. him, - the earth resounding under the hoofs of our chargers. For the first two moments all went well. We sped like knights into the peril. Just, however, as we passed the gap between the two
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COUNT PULASKI.
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DEATH OF COUNT PULASKI.
veyed on board the United States brig Wasp to go round to Charlestown. The ship, delayed by head-winds, remained sev- eral days in Savannah River and, during this period, he was attended by the most skillful surgeons in the French fleet. It was found impossible to establish suppuration, and gangrene su- pervened. As the Wasp was leaving the river Pulaski breathed his last. His corpse became so offensive that Colonel Bentalou, his officer in attendance, " was compelled, though reluctantly, to consign to a watery grave all that was now left upon earth of his beloved and honored commander."
After the retreat of the assaulting columns from the right of the British lines, eighty men lay dead in the ditch and on the parapet of the redoubt first attacked, and ninety-three within the abattis. The ditch, says an eye-witness, was filled with dead. In front, for fifty yards, the field was covered with the slain. Many hung dead and wounded upon the abattis, and for some hundred yards without the lines the plain was strewed with mangled bodies killed by grape and langrage. The attacks upon the Ebenezer battery, the Spring-Hill redoubt, and the redoubt in which Colonel Maitland had located his headquarters were made with the utmost gallantry and impetuosity. Two standards were planted by the allied forces upon the Ebenezer battery ; one of which was captured, and the other brought off by the brave Sergeant Jasper who, at the moment, was suffering from a mor- tal wound. Major Jolin Jones, aid to General McIntosh, was literally cut in twain by a cannon shot while within a few paces of the embrasure from which the piece was discharged.
Of the valor and heroism of the assault there can be no ques- tion. That it was ill conceived and calamitous to the last degree is equally certain.
The left of the English line rested upon a heavy work, mount- ing fourteen cannon, located just where the bluff, upon which the town was situated, yields to the low grounds below. The line thence followed the high ground, where it looks to the east, until about the point where it is now intersected by Liberty Street. Then, bending to the south and west, it followed a semicircular course until it reached the point where the Angusta road de- scended into the low grounds on the west. Thence, running northwards and following the edge of the high ground, its right developed into a two-gun battery on the Savannah River. On the east and west the approaches to this line were rendered. almost impracticable by swamps at that time badly drained. We
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THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
have already alluded to the precautions adopted by Prevost for the protection of the town where it looks upon the river. This line, at the time it was assaulted, was strong and bristling with more than one hundred guns in fixed position. Accurately ad- vised in advance of the precise points of attack concerted by the allies, Prevost made his dispositions accordingly. His heaviest concentration occurred on his right, and to Lieutenant-Colonel Maitland was the defense of this post of honor and of danger en- trusted.
While it is difficult to reconcile the conflicting estimates which have been handed down to us of the forces actually engaged dur- ing the siege of Savannah, we submit the following as the most accurate we have been able to prepare after a careful comparison of the most reliable authorities at command : -
STRENGTH OF THE FRENCH ARMY, COMMANDED BY COUNT D'ESTAING. Noailles' Division, composed of the regiments of Cham-
pagne, Auxerrois, Foix, Guadeloupe, and Martinique . 900 men.
The Division of Count d' Estaing, composed of the regi- ments of Cambresis, Hainault, the Volunteers of Berges, Agenois, Gatinois, the Cape, and Port-au-Prince, and the artillery. 1,000 men. Dillon's Division, composed of the regiments of Dillon, Armagnac, and Volunteer Grenadiers. 900 men.
The Dragoons of Conde and of Belzunce, under the com- mand of M. Dejean . 50 men.
The Volunteer Chasseurs, commanded by M. de Rouvrai . 750 men.
The Grenadier Volunteers, and men of other regiments, commanded by M. des Framais . 356 men.
To these should probably be added the Marines and Sailors from the fleet, detailed for special labor to the number of 500 men.
Total .
. 4,456 men.
STRENGTH OF THE AMERICAN ARMY, COMMANDED BY GENERAL LINCOLN. Continental Troops, including the Fifth Regiment of South Carolina Infantry. . 1,003 men.
Heyward's Artillery 65 men.
Charlestown Volunteers and Militia 365 men.
General Williamson's Brigade 212 men.
Regiments of Georgia Militia, commanded by Colonels Twiggs and Few 232 men.
Cavalry, under command of Brigadier General Count
Pulaski .
250 men.
Total . . 2,127 men.
RECAPITULATION.
French Troops
. 4,456
American .
2,127
Total strength of the allied army 6,583
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ESTIMATES OF FORCES ENGAGED.
Anthony Stokes, chief justice of the colony of Georgia, who was in Savannah during the siege, estimates the besieging army at about 4,500 French and 2,500 Americans.
In the Paris "Gazette " of January 7, 1780, the besieging forces are enumerated as follows : -
FRENCH TROOPS.
I. Europeans : Draughted from the regiments of Armagnac, Champagne, Auxerrois, Agenois, Gatinois, Cambresis, Hai- nault, Foix, Dillon, Walsh, le Cap, la Guadeloupe, la Marti- nique, and Port-au-Prince, a detachment of the Royal Corps of Infantry of the Marine, the Volunteers of Vallelle, the Dragoons, and 156 Volunteer Grenadiers, lately raised at Cape François 2,979
II. Colored : Volunteer Chasseurs, mulattoes, and negroes
newly raised at Saint Domingo. 545
AMERICAN TROOPS 2,000
Total 5,524
In his inclosure to Lord George Germain, under date Novem- ber 5, 1779, Governor Sir James Wright reports the British forces within the lines of Savannah during the siege, "includ- ing regulars, militia, sailors, and volunteers," as not exceeding twenty-three hundred and fifty men fit for duty.
By the legend accompanying Faden's "Plan of the Siege of Savannah," printed at Charing Cross on the 2d of February, 1784, wo aro informed that the total number of English troops, " including soldiers, seamen, and militia," garrisoning the forts, redoubts, and epaulements, and fit for duty on the 9th of October, 1779, was twenty-three hundred and sixty. "The force in Sa- vannah under General Prevost," says that excellent historian, Stedman,1 " did not exceed two thousand five hundred of all sorts, regulars, provincial corps, seamen, militia, and volunteers."
Dr. Ramsay 2 states that " the force of the garrison was between two and three thousand, of which about one hundred and fifty were militia." General Moultrie, in his " Memoirs," 3 substantially adopts this estimate. According to Captain Hugh McCall,4 the British force "consisted of two thousand eight hundred and fifty men, including one hundred and fifty militia, some Indians, and three hundred armed slaves." In Rivington's "Gazette " it is asserted that the entire strength of the English garrison on duty, including regulars, militia, volunteers, and sailors, did not exceed two thousand three hundred and fifty men.
1 Ilistory of the American War, vol. ii. 8 Vol. ii. pp. 41, 42.
p. 127. London. 1794.
4 Ilistory of Georgia, vol. ii. p. 270.
2 History of the Revolution, etc., vol. ii.
p. 40. Trenton. MDCCLXXXV.
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Upon an inspection of the returns, as we are informed by the French journal from which we have already quoted, Count d'Es- taing ascertained that the allied army had suffered the following loss in killed and wounded : - -
French soldiers 760 men.
French officers
61 men.
Americans
312 men.
Total 1,133 men.
The aggregate loss encountered by the combined French and American forces during the progress of the siege and in the as- sault of the 9th of October has been variously estimated at from one thousand to fifteen hundred killed and wounded. Dr. Ram- say asserts that the assaulting columns under Count d'Estaing and General McIntosh did not stand the enemy's fire more than fifty-five minutes, and that during this short period the French had six hundred and thirty-seven men killed and wounded, and the Americans two hundred and fifty-seven. "In this unsuc- cessful attempt," says Marshall,1 " the loss of the French in killed and wounded was about seven hundred men. The continental troops lost two hundred and thirty-four men, and the Charles- ton militia, who, though united with them in danger, were more fortunate, had one Captain killed and six privates wounded." Irving,2 in a general way, states that the French lost in killed and wounded upwards of six hundred men, and the Americans about four hundred. "Our troops," says General Moultrie,3 " re- mained before the lines in this hot fire fifty-five minutes ; the Generals, seeing no prospect of success, were constrained to order a retreat, after having six hundred and thirty-seven French and four hundred and fifty-seven Continentals killed and wounded." General Lee's estimate 4 accords substantially with that of Mar- shall. When driven out of the ditch and compelled to retreat, Stedman asserts 5 that the assailants left behind them, in killed and wounded, of the French troops six hundred and thirty-seven, and of the Americans two hundred and sixty-four.
General Prevost reports the allied loss at from one thousand to twelve hundred.
Thoroughly protected by their well-constructed earthworks,
1 Life of Washington, vol. iv. p. 102. 4 Memoirs, vol. i. p. 109. Philadelphia. Philadelphia. 1805. 1812.
2 Life of Washington, vol. iii. p. 522. New York. 1856.
8 Memoirs, etc., vol. ii. p. 41. Now York. 1802.
5 Ilistory of the American War, vol. ii. p. 131. London. 1794.
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CASUALTIES SUSTAINED BY THE BRITISH.
the English suffered but little. The few casualties reported in the British ranks and the terrible slaughter dealt out to the as- saulting columns assure us how admirably Prevost had covered his men by intrenchments and redoubts and how skillfully and rapidly the besieged handled their muskets and field and siege pieces. General Prevost's return shows forty killed, sixty-three wounded, four missing, and forty-eight desertions during the siege. In a letter to his wife, dated Savannah, November 4, 1779, Captain T. W. Moore, aid to General Prevost, estimates the entire loss sustained by the garrison in killed, wounded, and missing at one hundred and sixty-three ; and Stedman says " the loss of the garrison, in the whole, did not exceed one hundred and twenty." So potent are military skill and proper defenses for the preservation of human life.
It is believed that about one thousand shells and twenty car- casses were thrown into the city during the continuance of the siege. . Of the expenditure of solid shots we can find no record, although we know that they were freely used.
In the repulse of the French and Americans on the right of the city lines, the following English troops, under the general command of Colonel Maitland, were mainly engaged : -
Dismounted dragoons 28
Battalion men of the 60th regiment 28
South Carolina loyalists. They held the redoubts on the Eben- ezer road where the brave Captain Tawse, commanding, fell . 54
Colonel IIamilton's North Carolina loyalists 90
Militia under Captains Wallace, Tallemach, and Polhill. These were posted in the redoubt where Colonel Maitland was 75
Grenadiers of the 60th regiment 74
Marines. Ordered to support the redoubt, they bravely charged the allied army when the retreat was sounded 37
Sailors under the command of Captains Manley and Stiel, sta- tioned in the Spring-IIill battery of six guns 31
417
General Huger's attack upon the left was frustrated by troops under the command of Colonel Cruger and Major Wright.
The following is a list of the French officers killed and wounded on the 9th of October, 1779 : -
Killed : Brow, major of Dillon's regiment, colonel of in- fantry ; Balheon, midshipman ; Destinville, second lieutenant of the navy ; Molart, lieutenant of the regiment of Armagnac ; Stancey, second lieutenant of the Dragoons of Conde ; Taf, lieu- tenant of the regiment of Dillon ; Guillaume, lieutenant of the
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Grenadiers of Guadeloupe ; De Montaign, captain of the Chas- seurs ; Boisneuf, lieutenant of the regiment of Port au Prince ; Du Perron, captain on staff duty. Total, 10.
Wounded : Count d'Estaing, general; De Fontanges, major- general; De Betizi, colonel, and second in command of the regi- ment of Gatinois ; De Steding, colonel of infantry ; Derneville, aide-major of division, mortally wounded ; Chalignon, aide-major of division, mortally wounded ; Boulan, captain of the Grena- diers of Armagnac ; Grillere, captain of the regiment of Armag- nac; Barris, captain of the regiment of Augenois ; St. Sauveur, lieutenant of the regiment of Augenois ; Chaussepred, lieutenant of the regiment of Augenois; Morege, second lieutenant of the regiment of Augenois ; Chamson, lieutenant of the regiment of Cambresis; Coleau, lieutenant of the regiment of Cambresis ; Boozel, lieutenant of the regiment of Cambresis ; Oradon, second lieutenant of the regiment of Hainault; Labarre, lieutenant of the dragoons of Conde ; Quelle, captain of the regiment of Dil- lon ; Doyon, lieutenant of the regiment of Dillon ; Deloy, officer of the regiment of Dillon ; Chr. de Termoi, cadet, of the regi- ment of Dillon ; Dumouries, lieutenant of the regiment of the Cape ; Desombrages, lieutenant of the regiment of the Cape ; Delbos, second lieutenant of the regiment of the Cape; Des- noyers, major of the regiment of Guadeloupe ; Roger, captain of the regiment of Guadeloupe ; Noyelles, captain attached to the staff of the regiment of Guadeloupe ; D'Anglemont, lieutenant of the Chasseurs of Guadeloupe ; De Rousson, second lieutenant of the Chasseurs of Guadeloupe ; Bailly de Menager, lieutenant of the regiment of Port au Prince, prisoner ; Duelos, lieutenant of the volunteer Chasseurs. Total, 31.
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