USA > Georgia > The history of Georgia, Volume II > Part 42
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The following are the names of some of the Continental and militia officers killed and wounded the same day : -
Killed : Major John Jones, aid to General McIntosh; Second Regiment, Major Motte, and Lieutenants Hume, Wickham, and Bush ; Third Regiment, Major Wise and Lieutenant Bailey ; General Williamson's Brigade, Captain Beraud ; Charlestown Regiment, Captain Shepherd ; South Carolina Artillery, Captain Donnom, Charles Price, a volunteer, and Sergeant William Jas- per.
Wounded : Brigadier-General Count Pulaski, mortally ; Major l'Enfant and Captains Bentalou, Giles, and Rogowski ; Second Regiment, Captain Roux and Lieutenants Gray and Petrie; Third Regiment, Captain Farrar and Lieutenants Gaston and
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DEATH OF SERGEANT JASPER.
De Saussure ; Sixth Regiment, Captain Bowie ; Virginia Levies, Lieutenants Parker and Walker ; Light Infantry, Captain Smith, of the Third ; Captains Warren and Hogan, of the Fifth ; Lieu- tenant Vleland, of the Second, and Lieutenant Parsons, of the Fifth ; South Carolina Militia, Captains Davis and Treville, and Lieutenants Bonneau, Wilkie, Wade, and Wardel ; Lieutenant Edward Lloyd, Mr. Owen.
During the siege a number of Georgia officers who had no command and some patriotic gentlemen associated themselves together for active duty under the leadership of Colonel Leonard Marbury.1 Although only thirty in all, four were killed and seven wounded. Of these were Charles Price, of Sunbury, a young attorney of note, and Lieutenant Bailey, whose names we have enumerated among the slain.
Among the incidents of the occasion, Captain McCall 2 records the following : While a surgeon was dressing the stump from which the arm of Lieutenant Edward Lloyd had been torn by a cannon ball, Major James Jackson observed to that excellent young officer that his prospects in life were rendered unpromis- ing by this heavy burden which a cruel fate had imposed upon him. Lloyd replied that, grievous as the affliction was, he would not exchange situations with Lieutenant Stedman who had fled at the commencement of the assault.
The death of Sergeant Jasper was the logical sequence of the heroic impulses and intrepid daring which always characterized him. During the assault the colors of the Second South Caro- lina Regiment, which had been presented by Mrs. Elliott just after the battle of Fort Moultrie, were borne, one by Lieutenant Bush, supported by Jasper, and the other by Lieutenant Grey, supported by Sergeant McDonald. Under the inspiring leader- ship of Colonel Laurens they were both planted upon the slope of the Spring-Hill redoubt. So terrific, however, was the enemy's fire that the brave assailants melted before it. Lieutenant Grey was mortally wounded just by his colors, and Lieutenant Bush lost his life under similar circumstances.
When the retreat was sounded, Sergeant McDonald plucked his standard from the redoubt where it had been floating on the furthest vergo of the crimson tide and retired with it in safety. Jasper, already sore wounded, was, at the moment, endeavoring
1 Charlton's Life of Major- General
2 Quoting from Charlton's Life of Mu- James Jackson, Part I. p. 16. Augusta, jor-General JJames Jackson, Part I. p. 17. Georgia. 1809.
Augusta, Georgia. 1809.
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THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
to replace upon the parapet the colors which had been struck down upon the fall of Lieutenant Bush, when he encountered a second and a mortal hurt. Recollecting, however, even in this moment of supreme agony, the pledges given when from fair hands this emblem of hope and confidence had been received, and, summoning his expiring energies for the final effort, he snatched those colors from the grasp of the triumphant enemy and bore them from the bloody field.
Hearing that he was fatally wounded, Major Horry, when the battle was over, hastened to the rude couch of the bleeding ser- geant and thus details the conversation which ensued. "I have got my furlough," said he ; and, pointing to his sword, continued : " That sword was presented to me by Governor Rutledge for my services in the defense of Fort Moultrie. Give it to my father, and tell him I have worn it with honor. If he should weep, say to him his son died in the hope of a better life. Tell Mrs. El- liott that I lost my life supporting the colors which she presented to our regiment." Then, from out the bright visions of his former achievements as they floated for the last time before his dying memory selecting his success at the Spring, and repeating the names of those whom he there rescued, he added : "Should you ever see them, tell them that Jasper is gone, but that the remembrance of the battle he fought for them brought a secret joy to his heart when it was about to stop its motion forever."
Thus thinking and thus speaking, the gallant sergeant and the true patriot closed his eyes upon the Revolution and entered into peace. The place of his sepulture is unmarked. He sleeps with the brave dead of the siege who lie beneath the soil of Savannah. Although no monumental shaft designates his grave, his heroic memory is perpetuated in the gentle murmurs of that perennial spring at which one of his most generous and daring deeds was wrought. His name is day by day repeated in a ward of the beautiful city of Oglethorpe whose liberation he died to achieve, is inscribed upon the flag of one of the volunteer companies, and diguifies a county of Georgia whose independence he gave his life to maintain.
Invoking the aid of an eminent sculptor to embody their grati- tnde and respect in a permanent, artistic memorial, the citizens of Savannah, with, imposing ceremonies, dedicated in Monterey Square to the memory of Count Pulaski a monument which, in purity of conception, symmetry of form, and varied attractions, stands at once a gem of art and a noble expression of a people's gratitude.
alle podle ف عد العمل
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INTERMENT OF THE SLAIN.
The day is not far distant when, in another of the high places of this city, shall rise a shaft testifying the admiration of the present and the coming generations for the distinguished ser- vices, unselfish devotion, and heroic death of Sergeant William Jasper.1
Upon the withdrawal of the French and American forces from the field, a truce of four hours was requested and allowed for burying the dead and collecting the wounded. To the allied army was accorded the melancholy privilege of interring only such of the slain as lay beyond the abattis. The bodies of such as were killed within the abattis were buried by the British ; and there they remain to this day without mound or column to des- ignate their last resting-places.
It is stated by Captain McCall that two hundred and thirty of the slain and one hundred and sixteen wounded were delivered up by the English, with the understanding that the latter should be accounted for as prisoners of war.
Although urged by General Lincoln not to abandon the siege,2 the grievous loss sustained during the assault, the prevalence of sickness in camp, frequent desertions, the exposed and impover- ished condition of his fleet, and the apprehension of the appear-
1 It is a pleasing thought that the pa- triotic citizens of Savannah, mindful of the heroic memories which this brave ser- geant bequeathed to our Revolutionary annals, are soliciting subscriptions and inaugurating measures which will soon culminate in the erection of a worthy monument to William Jasper in one of the central squares in the city of Ogle- thorpe. Its corner-stone has already been laid with appropriate ceremonies.
2 It would appear that the Americans at first were not inclined to regard this repulse as decisive of the contest, but that they still cherished the hope of capturing Savannah. In proof of this, we refer to a letter addressed by General Charles Cotes- worth Pinckney [then colonel command- ing the first South Carolina regiment] to his mother [the original of which lies be- fore us], from which we make the follow- ing extract : -
" CAMP BEFORE SAVANNAH, October 9, 1779.
" HOND MADAM : I acquainted my dear Sally this morning that about daybreak we had made an assault'on the Enemy's
Lines and were repulsed, owing chiefly to those who said they knew the way for the different Columns to take & who were to be our guides not being such masters of the ground as they ought to have been. My Brother, Mr. Horry, Hugh Rutledge, Major Butler, Mr. R. Smith, Ladson, Gadsden, my Cousins, and most of our Friends are well. Major Wise & Major Motte are killed : Count D'Estaing wounded, not dangerously : Count Pu- laski also wounded, I am afraid mortally : Jack Jones [Major John Jones, aid to General Lachlan McIntosh], a nephew of my Cousin Charles [the father of the Honorable Charles Pinckney, governor of South Carolina, etc. ], is killed.
"The Repulse seems not to dispirit our men, as they are convinced it was only owing to a mistake of the ground, & I have not the least doubt but that we shall soon be in possession of Savannah.
" My regiment and the Sixth preserved their order inviolable, & gave me great satisfaction : the Charlestown Militia, par- ticularly the Volunteer Company, bo- haved exceedingly well."
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THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
ance of a British naval force off the coast induced Count d'Es- taing to hasten his departure. Accordingly, he resolved at once to raise the siege, and, on the morning of the 10th, gave orders for dismantling the batteries and returning the guns on ship- board. Causton's Bluff was selected as the point for embarka- tion. With a view to protecting this avenue of retreat, two hundred and ninety-two men were detailed from the regiments of Armagnac and Auxerrois and from the marines, and posted at three points to the east of Savannah.
On the 15th, M. de Bretigny arrived from Charlestown and requested Count d'Estaing to send nine hundred French troops for the protection of that city. The requisition was refused. Desertions from the ranks of the allied army multiplied daily. During the removal of their guns, munitions, and camp equipage, the French were not interrupted by the English.
The Virginia, Carolina, and Georgia militia withdrew by land on the 15th, and there remained with the French troops only the regulars and Pulaski's command.
At ten o'clock on the morning of the 18th the tents and camp utensils were placed in wagons, and, the same day, were trans- ported to the point of embarkation. At eleven o'clock at night the Americans moved to the left and the French to the right, and thus the camp before Savannah was broken up. General Lincoln then marched for Zubly's ferry, en route for Charles- town. The French proceeded only about two miles in the direc- tion of Causton's Bluff where they halted for the night and re- mained until the ensuing day that they might be near enough to assist General Lincoln in the event that the English attempted on this side the river to interrupt his retreat.
Causton's Bluff was reached at five o'clock on Tuesday morn- ing, the 19th of October, and the work of embarkation com- menced. It was completed by the 21st, when, in the language of the French journal, "Causton's Creek and all Georgia are evacuated."
The following English vessels were captured by the French fleet while upon the Georgia coast : the ship Experiment, of fifty guns, having on board Major-General Garth, thirty thousand pounds sterling, and a large quantity of army stores; the ship Ariel, of twenty guns; the Myrtle, a victualer; the Champion, a store-ship ; the ship Fame ; the ship Victory, richly freighted, and several small sloops, schooners, and coasting vessels laden with rice and flour. Two privateer sloops, of ten guns each, and
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THE FRENCH FLEET.
three schooners were taken in Great Ogeechee River by Colonel White. In addition, the British were forced to sink the ships Rose and Savannah and four transports in a narrow part of the Savannah River, below the town, to prevent the ascent of the French men-of-war. Several vessels were also sunk above Sa- vannah to preclude the near approach of the French and Amer- jean galleys, which, passing up the North River and rounding Hutchinson's Island, threatened an attack from that direction.
The following is a list of the French vessels of war under the command of Admiral the Count d'Estaing, concentrated on the Georgia coast during the operations against Savannah : -
FIRST DIVISION : Commanded by Bougainville.
Le Guerrier, 74 guns. Le Magnifique, 74 guns.
Le Cæsar, 74 guns.
Le Vengeur, 74 guns.
Le Provence, 64 guns. Le Marseilles, 64 guns. Le Fantasque, 64 guns.
SECOND DIVISION : Commanded by Count d'Estaing.
Le Languedoc, 74 guns.
Le Robuste, 74 guns.
Le Zele, 74 guns.
L'Annibal, 74 guns.
Le Valliant, 74 guns. L'Artesien, 64 guns. Le Sagittaire, 54 guns.
THIRD DIVISION : Commanded by M. de Vaudreuil.
Le Tonant, 80 guns.
Le Diademe, 74 guns.
Le Hector, 74 guns.
Le Dauphin Royal, 70 guns.
Le Royal 70 guns.
Le Fendant, 74 guns. Le Refleclie, 64 guns. Lo Sphynx, 64 guns.
Le Roderique, store-ship.
FRIGATES.
Le Fortuné, 38 guns.
L' Amazon, 36 guns.
L'Iphigenie, 36 guns. La Blanche, 36 guns.
La Chimère, 36 guns.
La Boudeuse, 36 guns. La Bricole, 36 guns, armed store-ship. La Lys, 18 guns. La Truite.
After the lapse of a century we are not inclined to dwell upon the mistakes committed during the conduct of this memorable siege. The overweening confidence of Count d'Estaing in the superiority of his arms ; his eagerness, at the outset, to pluck the laurel of victory and entwine it around his individual brow ; his manifest error in not insisting upon an immediate response to his summons for surrender ; his delay in not assaulting at the earliest moment when the English defensive lines were incomplete and poorly armed, and when Colonel Maitland and his splendid com- mand formed no part of the garrison ; the injudicious selection of a point for attack ; and the confusion and lack of concert which
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prevailed in conducting the columns of assault against the enemy's works, may fairly be criticised. But we forbear. We prefer to recall only the generosity which prompted the alliance, the valor which characterized the troops, and the heroic action which has given to the history of Savannah and the State of Georgia a chapter than which none is bloodier, braver, or more noteworthy.
Errors of judgment belong to the past, while the fraternity evolved, the patriotism displayed, and the examples of courage, patient endurance, and glorious death born of the event consti- tute now and will continue to form subjects of special boast.
Bitter was the disappointment experienced by the Americans at this disastrous result. From the cooperation of the French the most decided and fortunate issue had been anticipated. Gen- erously couched was General Lincoln's letter to Congress: " Count d'Estaing has undoubtedly the interest of America much at heart. This he has evidenced by coming over to our assistance, by his constant attention during the siege, his under- taking to reduce the enemy by assault when he despaired of effecting it otherwise, and by bravely putting himself at the head of his troops and leading them to the attack. In our service he has freely bled. I feel much for him ; for while he is suffer- ing the distresses of painful wounds on a boisterous ocean, he has to combat chagrin. I hope lie will be consoled by an assurance that although he has not succeeded according to his wishes and those of America, we regard with high approbation his intentions to serve us, and that his want of success will not lessen our ideas of his merit."
We cannot resist the temptation to introduce here the follow- ing estimate of the character of Count d'Estaing expressed by one of his naval officers when commenting upon the failure of the effort to capture Savannah. Our translation is literal. "Covetous of glory, excited by his successes, and easily seduced by an invitation from the Sieur de Bretigny who made him be- lieve that the conquest of Savannah was an easy matter, Count d'Estaing was unable to resist a desire, rising superior to the hazard, to attempt to add new triumphs to those which he had already achieved.
" If zeal, activity, eagerness, and ambition to accomplish great deeds are worthy of recompense, never will France be able suffi- ciently to acknowledge her obligations to Count d'Estaing. With much intelligence, he possesses the enthusiasm and the fire of a
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COUNT D'ESTAING.
man twenty years of age. Enterprising, bold even to temerity, all things appear possible to him. He fancies no representations which bring home to him a knowledge of difficulties. Whoever dares to describe them as formidable is illy received. He wishes every one to view and to think of his plans as he does. The sail- ors believe him inhuman. Many died upbraiding him with their misery and unwilling to pardon him; but this is a reproach in- cident to his austere mode of life, because he is cruel to himself. We have seen him, sick and attacked with scurvy, never desiring to make use of any remedies, working night and day, sleeping only an hour after dinner, his head resting upon his hands, some- times lying down, but without undressing.
"Thus have we observed Count d'Estaing during this cam- paign. There is not a man in his fleet who would believe that he has endured all the fatigue which he has undergone. When I am now asked if he is a good General, it is difficult for me to respond to this inquiry, He committed much to chance, and played largely the game of hazard. But that he was energetic, adventurous almost to rashness, indefatigable in his enterprises which he conducted with an ardor of which, had we not followed him, we could have formed no conception, and that to all this he added much intellect, and a temper which imparted great auster- ity to his character, we are forced to admit."
In testimony of respect for his meritorious services the General Assembly of Georgia granted twenty thousand acres of land to Count d'Estaing and admitted him to all the privileges, liberties, and immunities of a free citizen of the State.
The exultation of the English garrison was, on the 25th of Octo- ber, mingled with grief at the sudden death of Colonel Maitland. Some say that he was carried off by a fever contracted at Beau- fort. Others affirm that he fell a victim to intemperance. He was a brilliant officer and an accomplished gentleman.1
After the departure of Count d'Estaing and the retreat of Gen- eral Lincoln, the condition of Savannah and the sea-coast of Geor- gia became more pitiable than ever. Exasperated by the formida- ble demonstration which, at the outset, seriously threatened the overthrow of British dominion in Georgia, and rendered more ar-
1 Ile was a brother of James, Earl of Lauderdale, and a member of Parliament for the district of Haddington, Dunbar, North Berwick, Lawder, and Jedburgh. Sincerely was his domiso lumonted in
England, and touching were the tributes rendered to his memory. Soo Savannah, a Poem in two Cantos, to the Memory of the Honourable Colonel John Maitland. By Mr. Colville. London. MDCCLXXX.
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1 rogant and exacting, the loyalists set out in every direction upon missions of insult, pillage, and inhumanity. Plundering banditti roved about unrestrained, seizing negroes, stock, furniture, wear- ing apparel, plate, jewels, and anything they coveted. Chil- dren were severely beaten to compel a revelation of the places where their parents had concealed or were supposed to have hidden valuable personal property and money. Confiscation of property and incarceration or expatriation were the only alter- natives presented to those who clave to the cause of the Revolu- tionists. So poor were many of the inhabitants that they could not command the means requisite to venture upon a removal. Even under such circumstances not a few, on foot, sought an asylum in South Carolina. Among the principal sufferers may be mentioned the families of General McIntosh, Colonel John Twiggs, and Colonel Elijah Clarke. Georgia was under the yoke ; and she was forced to pay the penalty of unsuccessful re- bellion, rendered tenfold more grievous because of this recent formidable attempt to expel from her borders the civil and mili- tary servants of the king. The ribald language and licentious conduct of the soldiery, coupled with the insults of lawless ne- groes, rendered a residence in Savannah by all not in sympathy with the Crown, and especially by the weaker sex, almost beyond endurance. Far and near the region had experienced the desola- tions of war. "The rage between Whig and Tory ran so high," says General Moultrie, " that what was called a Georgia parole, and to be shot down, were synonymous." So stringent, too, were the restrictions upon trade, such was the depreciation of the paper currency, and so sadly interrupted were all agricultural and commercial adventures, that poverty and distress were the common heritage. At this time sixteen hundred and eighteen dollars, paper money, were the equivalent of one dollar in gold.1
1 " We talked of millions," remarks General Moultrie, "and in fact it was next to nothing. There was one conven- iency in it, which was that a couple of men on horseback, with their bags, could
convey a million of dollars from one end of the continent to the other in a little time with great facility." Memoirs of the American Revolution, vol. ii. p. 35. New York. 1802.
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CHAPTER XXII.
GOVERNOR WRIGHT'S OPPRESSIVE REGULATIONS. - DEPLORABLE CONDITION OF SAVANNAHI. - MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL COMMONS HOUSE OF ASSEM- BLY. - ACTS OF CONFISCATION. - PARTIES AFFECTED. - CALAMITIES OF A DIVIDED GOVERNMENT. - ACTS OF THE ROYAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY. - EFFORTS TO FORTIFY SAVANNAH. - POLITICAL AFFAIRS OF GEORGIA AS ADMINISTERED BY THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF SAFETY. - PROCLAMATION OF GOVERNOR WEREAT. - TWO EXECUTIVE COUNCILS IN BEING. - PA- TRIOTIC MANIFESTO OF THE LEGITIMATE COUNCIL. - CASE OF GENERAL LACHILAN MCINTOSH. - THE GLASCOCK LETTER .- WALTON'S COMPLICITY. -THE FORGERY UNMASKED. - GOVERNOR GEORGE WALTON. - GOV- ERNOR RICHARD HOWLEY. - THE CAPITAL TRANSFERRED TO HEARD'S FORT. - PRESIDENT GEORGE WELLS. - PRESIDENT STEPHEN HEARD. - PRESIDENT MYRICK DAVIES. - THE DOCTRINE OF " UTI POSSIDETIS."- GOVERNOR NATHAN BROWNSON. - REORGANIZATION OF THE STATE GOV- ERNMENT. - GOVERNOR JOHN MARTIN. - COMPLIMENTARY RESOLUTIONS TO GENERALS GREENE AND WAYNE, AND TO COLONEL ELIJAH CLARKE. - THE LEGISLATURE ASSEMBLES AT EBENEZER, AND ONCE MORE AT SAVAN- NAH. - RESOLUTIONS AND PRUDENTIAL RESTRICTIONS. - REVIEW OF THE PERIPATETIC GOVERNMENT OF GEORGIA DURING THE REVOLUTION .- CO- LONIAL RECORDS.
So thoroughly were the republican inhabitants of Southern Georgia overwhelmed by the disappointment consequent upon the disastrous failure of the allied army to capture Savannalı, so entirely were they enfeebled and deserted upon the withdrawal of the American and French forces, and so completely did they find themselves in the power of the king's troops that they were brought to the very verge of despair. Organized resistance was out of the question, and their lamentable condition was rendered even more deplorable by the enforcement of orders promulgated by Governor Wright.
To " check the spirit of rebellion," he compelled all who could have joined in the defense of Savannah, but who did not do so, " to give a very circumstantial account of their conduct during the siege." Those of the lower class whom he did not deem " materially culpable " he constrained to furnish security for their good behavior for twelve months. Bonds were exacted of each of them to the amount of £100 sterling, with two sureties,
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THIE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
each justifying in the sum of £50. They were also required to swear allegiance to the Crown, and to subscribe a special test oath. Such as appeared to have "offended capitally " he caused to be committed and to be prosecuted for high treason.1
A proclamation was issued appointing the 29th of October, 1779, as a day of public thanksgiving to Almighty God for "His divine interposition " and "signal protection " displayed in the " late deliverance from the united efforts of rebellion and our natural enemies." Other proclamations, both by Governor Wright and the military authorities, promised protection to all Georgians who would lay down their arms and submit peacefully to the restoration of English rule. Believing that all was lost, and beguiled by these offers of quiet and life, not a few of the inhabitants returned to their former allegiance to the realmn.
So seriously had Savannah been endamaged by the cannon and mortars of the allied army ; so sadly had its churches and public buildings been impaired by conversion into hospitals, store- houses, and barracks; and so polluted were many private struc- tures by the presence of wanton soldiers and filthy negroes, that the early and thorough restoration of the town to order and cleanliness demanded and received the earnest attention of Sir James Wright. The wretched condition of affairs was rendered even more frightful by the appearance of that loathsome pest, the small-pox, and by the insubordination of the slave population which, having been armed and put to work in the trenches during the continuance of the siege, now that the danger was overpast, refused in many instances to return to obedience and former servitude. Inoculation and severe measures, however, succeeded in restoring health and comparative security to this unhappy community.
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