USA > Georgia > The history of Georgia: containing brief sketches of the most remarkable events, up to the present day, Vol. II > Part 11
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On the 24th of November, lieutenant-colonel Archibald Campbell of the British army, an offi. cer in whose bravery and talents, great confidence had been justly placed by the commander-in- chief of the British forces at New-York ; had embarked at Sandy-Hook, 'with the seventy-first regiment of royal Scots; two battalions of Hes- sians ; four battalions of provincials, and a detach. ment of royal artillery. The transports were es- corted by a squadron of the fleet under the com- mand of commodore sir Hyde Parker. On the 27th of December they crossed the bar and came up to Cockspur island. Having made arrange- ments for landing : the Vigilant man of war, Kep- pel brig, Greenwich sloop of war, and the Co- met galley, came up the river with a strong tide and favourable breeze ; followed by the transports in three divisions. About five o'clock in the af- ternoon of the 28th, the Vigilant opened the reach at four mile point, and was cannonaded by the American gallies Congress and Lee, but without much effect. Night coming on, some of the transports grounded on a mud flat, but got off in the night at high water, and proceeded up in the morning above Five-fathom Hole, opposite to Brewton's Hill, where the first division of light
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infantry debarked, and marched up to take pos- session of the high ground, so as to cover the landing of the troops from the other transports. As this division of the enemy landed, they formed for action and marched up with great confidence.
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General Howe had formed his encampment, south-east of the town of Savannah, anxiously. waiting the arrival of re-enforcements of militia and the continental troops from South-Carolina, under the command of major-general Benjamin Lincoln. Howe's army had not yet recovered from the fatal effects of the Florida campaign, the preceding summer : about one fourth were yet confined by disease, and many of his convales- cents too feeble to encounter the fatigues of a battle. The dread of a climate, where disease had produced more terrors than the sword and not less fatal, retarded the progress of militia; and prevented many from returning, who were absent on furlough. On the day of battle, Howe's army, exclusive of militia, amounted to six hun- dred and seventy-two, rank and file. The force of the enemy was two thousand one hundred, in- cluding land troops, seamen, and marines ; but it was thought by Howe that the enemy exhibited the appearance of greater numbers, than what was really possessed, and that the opposing armies were nearly equal.
On the 28th a general order was issued to pre- pare for action, and on the 29th, the following order of battle :
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"SAVANNAH, HEAD-QUARTERS,
December 29, 1778.
" Parole, Firmness. The first brigade is to be told off into sixteen platoons, of an equal num- ber of files, the odd files. to be formed into one platoon on the right wing of the brigade, to act as light infantry according to exigencies.
" Two field officers to be appointed to the command of the right wing of both brigades.
" The second brigade to be told off into eight platoons of an equal number of files to be formed on the left of the first brigade, in order to act as light infantry, as will be directed.
"Colonel Isaac Huger will command the right wing of the army, composed of the first bri- gade and the light troops belonging to it.
" The artillery of both brigades, and the park, to be posted before and during the action as shall be directed, and defend their ground until further orders. The artillery when ordered or forced to retreat, are to fall into the road leading to the wes- tern defile, where colonel Roberts is to take as advantageous a post as possible, to protect the re- treat of the line."
The town of Savannah is situate on high level sandy ground, forty feet above the surface of the water, on the south bank of the river, and ap- proachable by land at three points: from the high ground of Brewton's hill and Thunderbolt, on the east, by a road and causeway over a morass, with rice fields on the north side of the causeway to the
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siver, and the morass and wooded swamps from the causeway southward, several miles; from the south, by the road from White bluff, on Vernon river, and the road trom Ogechee ferry which unite near the town; and from the westward, by a road and causeway over the deep swamps of Musgrove's creek, with rice fields from the cause- way to the river on the north, and by Musgrove's swamp leading in from the southward. From the eastern causeway to that on the west, is about three quarters of a mile.
On the morning of the 29th, when colonel El- bert discovered the place of landing of the enemy, he advised general Howe of the advantages they would obtain, if allowed to gain undisturbed pos- session of Brewton's hill, and offered to defend it with his regiment ; assuring him from a perfect knowledge of the ground, the advantages it would give over the enemy. Howe rejected the offer, and formed for battle on the south-east side of the town. His centre was opposed to the head of the causeway, by which he believed the enemy must approach him; his left with the rice fields in front, and flanked by the river ; his right with the morass in front, and flanked obliquely by the wooded swamp, and one hundred of the Georgia militia. Colonel George Walton informes the general of a private way through the swamp. by which the enemy could pass from the high grounds of Brewton's hill and gain the rear of the Ameri. can right; and which in his belief, was important
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and admitted of easy defence ; but general Howe neglected to avail himself of the advantage which would have resulted from its being occupied and defended. The British commander availed him- self of this pass, as will be seen. Brewton's hill was connected with the river, by a causeway about six hundred yards in length, with rice fields and a ditch and bank on each side. The British ship- ping were at anchor in the river, near to the end of the causeway. Having made his disposition, general Howe detached captain John C. Smith, of South Carolina, with his company of forty in- fantry, to occupy Brewton's hill and the head of the causeway, with orders, should the enemy land and approach that way, to defend it as long as it was tenable, and then to retreat to the main army : Smith advanced and occupied the position assigned him, but his force was inadequate to its object. The enemy landed, advanced on the causeway, and gained the hill : Smith defended it with gallantry, but was forced to retreat, which he accomplished without loss of men. The ene- my lost in this affair, one captain and two privates killed, and five privates wounded. General Howe finding that the enemy were landed, in force of which he was ignorant, but now believed, from all circumstances, to be greatly superior to his own, called a council of his field officers to advise him whether to retreat or defend Savannah. Mayn of the officers had every thing at stake. To secure the retreat of their families, with any part
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of their property, was then impracticable. The council advised defence, to the last extremity. Under existing circumstances, with the exception of the loss of lives, to retreat or be defeated, was indifferent in their consequences; and to contend with chosen troops of three times his own number, commanded by an officer whose activity, courage and experience, were not exceeded by any other in the British army in America ; success was not to be expected. General Howe certainly ought not to have risked an action with a superior force, when he had certain information, that general Lincoln was advancing with a body of troops to re-enforce him, with whom he could have formed a junction in two days.
After colonel Campbell had formed his army on Brewton's hill, he moved forward and took a position within eight hundred yards of the Ame- rican front, where he manœuvred to excite a belief that he intended an attack on their centre and left, for which purpose, he ordered the first battalion of the seventy-first regiment, to form on the right of the road, to divert the attention of the Ameri- can general from his real intention on a different point ; at the same time, a body of infantry and New- York volunteers, under the command of major, Sir James Baird, filed off from the rear, unperceived, under cover of a low thick wood, with the intention to turn the American right, and gain their rear, whereby their retreat would be cut off : fortune threw in their way an old negro
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man, named 'Quamino Dolly, who, for a small reward, conducted Sir James Baird through the swamp by a bye way, by which the troops passed unperceived and without opposition to the place of their destination : having reached the White bluff road which enters through the South com- mon of the town, in the rear of the American troops, they commenced the attack, and Campbell moved forward and attacked the American front. By the unexpected attack on the right and rear, the American line was broken: general Howe ordered a retreat, which was made in great con- fusion, and before he gained the head of the cause- way over Musgrove's swamp, west of the town, the only pass by which a retreat was practicable, the enemy had gained an advantageous position to dispute the passage. Colonel Roberts had retired to the post assigned to him, in the event of a re- treat; and by his extraordinary exertions, the American centre gained the causeway and ac- complished their retreat : the right flank was be- tween two fires, and in retiring suffered severely : the left, under the command of colonel Elbert continued the conflict, until a retreat by the cause- way was impracticable : that pass being in pos- session of the enemy, he attempted to escape with a part of his troops through the rice fields, be- tween the causeway and the river, exposed to a galling fire from the high grounds of Ewensburg near the causeway ; but when they reached the creek it was high tide, and only those who could
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swim escaped, with the loss of their arms and ac- coutrements ; the others were made prisoners, or were drowned. About one hundred of the Geor- gia militia were posted in the rear of the right of the American line, on the South-common of the town, under the command of colonel George · Walton ; they were attacked by Sir James Baird and fought with spirit, until the colonel received a wound, fell from his horse and was taken prison- er. The way of retreat being occupied by the enemy, his command was killed, wounded, and taken. Some of them who were inhabitants of Savannah, were bayoneted in the streets by their victorious pursuers.
The remains of Howe's army attempted to rally on an advantageous ground on the west side of Musgrove's swamp, but the impetuosity of the enemy in pursuit, foiled every effort for that pur- pose. They preserved three pieces of field artil- lery, but sustained some loss of small arms during the passage of the swamp. General Howe re- treated to Cherokee hill, about eight miles, where he halted until the rear. came up, and then march- ed up the Savannah river to the Sister's and Zub- ley's ferry's and crossed over into South- Carolina.
Few conquests have ever been made with so little loss to the victor. The enemy had only seven killed and nineteen.wounded.
The American army lost eighty-three men killed, and thirty-eight officers, and four hundred and fifteen non-commisoned officers and privates,
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including the sick, wounded, and the aged inhabi- tants of the town and country, were made prison- ers. The fort, with forty-eight pieces of cannon and twenty-three mortars and howitzers, with all the ammunition and stores belonging to them, a large quantity of provisions, the shipping in the river, and the capital of Georgia, all fell into the possession of the British army, in the course of a few hours. The private soldiers who were made prisoners on this occasion, were alternately per- suaded and threatened to induce them to enlist in- to the British army : those who resolutely refused were crowded on board of prison-ships, and dur- ing the succeeding summer, four or five of them died every day : the staff officers, particularly those of the quarter-master's and commissary's departments, were treated in a similar way. Many gentlemen who had been accustomed to ease and affluence, were consigned to these abominable prison-ships : among the number was the vene- rable Jonathan Bryan, bending under the weight of years and infirmities, whose daughter, when she was entreating with commodore Sir Hyde Parker, to soften the sufferings of her father, was treated by him with vulgar rudeness and con- tempt.
When general Howe halted at Cherokee hill, he despatched lieutenant Tennill, with orders to lieutenant Aaron Smith of the third regiment of . South-Carolina, who commanded at Ogechee ferry, and to major Joseph Lane, who commanded.
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at Sunbury, to evacuate their posts and retreat across the country and join the army at the Sis- ter's ferry. Lieutenant Smith, whose command consisted of twenty men, succeeded, and joined a detachment of the rear guard at Ebenezer, after a march of thirty-six hours through a country of swamps, covered with water. Major Lane was ordered to retreat up the south side of Ogechee river, and to cross over opposite to, and join the army at Zubley's ferry : he received his orders in time to have effected his retreat and save his command from falling into the hands of the ene- my ; but captain Dollar, who commanded a corps of artillery, and many others of the principal in- habitants, whose pecuniary ruin, as well as the fate of their families, was at stake, urged Lane to the imprudence of disobeying his orders, and de. fending the post. Lane was afterward tried by a court-martial, and dismissed from the service, for disobedience of orders.
On the first notice of the arrival of the trans. ports of the coast of Georgia, general Provost marched, and embarked in boats, two thousand men, consisting of artillery, infantry, loyalists, and Indians. On the 6th of January, that part of his army, which moved by water ivas landed on Co- lonel's island, seven miles south of Sunbury, about ten o'clock in the morning ; and Provost with the light infantry, marched and took possession of the town early on the ensuing day. Two American gallies and an armed sloop, cannonaded the ene-
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my ; but with little effect. The following day the main body of the enemy arrived. Every ex- ertion was made to prevent the landing of the can- non and mortars near the town, by the fire. from the gallies and the fort. On the night of the 8th, they took advantage of the low tide to pass behind a marsh island, opposite to the fort, with a few of their boats containing cannon, howitzers, and mortars, and landed them above the town, and placed them on batteries previously prepared. On the morning of the 9th, Provost summoned the fort to surrender unconditionally, accompa- nied by a statement of his force, and the weight of his metal. Major Lane replied that his duty, inclination, and means pointed to the propriety of defending the post against any force, however su- perior it might be. The British batteries of can- non and mortars were opened on the fort, and re- plied to : Lane soon discovered that his fortress would not be long tenable, and began to repent his disobedience of orders. He parlied, to obtain better terms than unconditional surrender, but no other would be allowed him, and the time be- ing elapsed for his acceptance or refusal, hos- tilities re-commenced : he parlied again, and re- quested until eight o'clock the next morning to consider of the conditions offered to him, which being peremptorily refused, he agreed to them ; and surrendered the fort containing twenty-four pieces of artillery, ammunition, and provisions, and the garrison, consisting of seventeen commis-
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sioned officers, and one hundred and ninety-five non-commissioned officers and privates, including continental troops and militia. The American loss was one captain and three privates killed, and seven wounded. The British loss was one private killed, and three wounded.
The Washington and Bulloch gallies were taken to Ossabaw island, stranded on the beach, and burned by their crews, who took passage on board of captain Salter's sloop, and sailed for Charleston, but were captured by a British ten- der, and taken to Savannah. Captain John Law- son of the sloop Rebecca, of sixteen guns, put to, sea and got safe to Charleston.
After Sunbury fell into the possession of the British troops, the continental officers who were . made prisoners at Savannah, were sent to that place on their parole, except the reverend Moses Allen who had accepted a commission as chaplain in the Georgia brigade. This gentleman was re- fused the privileges allowed to the other officers, and confined on board of a prison-ship. His ani- mated exertions on the field of battle, and his pa- triotic exhortations from the pulpit, had exposed him to the particular resentment of the enemy. Wearied by long confinement in a loathsome pris- on-ship, and hopeless of speedy release, he deter- mined to re-gain his liberty, or lose his life in the attempt. In pursuance of this hazardous resolu- tion, he leaped overboard with the hope of being able to swim to one of the islands, assisted by the .
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flood tide, but was unfortunately drowned. The death of that gentleman was lamented by the friends of Independence, and particularly by his brethren in arms, who justly admired him for his bravery, exemplary life, and many virtues. The treatment which Mr. Allen received from the Bri- tish, during his captivity, is not a solitary instance of refinement in cruelty practised by them on American prisoners; numerous beyond counting, were the victims of their inhuman conduct, during the revolution.
By the defeat of the American troops at Sa- vannah, and the capture of the town by the enemy, the future services of a considerable portion of the militia of the eastern part of the state were lost to their country ; the distress of their families, and the ruin of their fortunes, would be consequent on their further resistance : many of them bowed the neck and received the yoke of the British government.
General Howe was a man of moderate talents, easy manners, and much admired by his convivial friends ; but his want of circumspection was ap- parent, and his military qualifications had become questionable among his officers, and the private soldiery had lost their confidence in him as a leader. These impressions had been frequently communicated to the members in congress, from the southern states, who applied to that honoura- ble body for a successor to general Howe, in the command of the army in the southern department
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of the United States. If general Howe had acted on his own judgment, he would probably have retired from Savannah on his obtaining a know- ledge of the great superiority of the enemy's force; but he placed himself in the council of his offi- cers, who at any other place, and under any other circumstances, would have advised him correct. ly ; but their private feelings and their pecuniary interests, were too deeply and immediately con- cerned to advise with a correct judgment. He had long been apprised of the contemplated inva- sion of Georgia, from New-York and Florida, and knowing that with his existing force, aided by the probable re-enforcements which he was to expect, the defence of Savannah and low country was problematical ; he ought to have removed, at. least a part of his magazines and stores, to a place of greater security, and to have apprised the in- habitants of the propriety of removing their fami- lies, and most valuable moveable property from the place where the storm might burst on them unprepared for it. But the general had not con- templated his enemy on all his bearings, nor did he avail himself of all the advantages presented to him by his position.
By a resolution of congress, dated the 26th day of September, 1778, major-general Benjamin Lincoln was appointed to take the command of the army in the southern department, and or. dered forthwith to repair to South-Carolina for that purpose.
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When general Lincoln arrived at Charleston, he embodied the troops remaining in South- Carolina, and on the 24th of November was joined by the new levies from North-Carolina, which increased his force to twelve hundred men : with this little . army, which was composed of a few regular troops, militia, and the levies from North Caroli- na, who were but little better, except in the uni- formity of their arms ; he advanced to the relief of Georgia. On the 3d of January general Lincoln arrived at Purysburg, a few miles above Savannah, on the Carolina side of the river, where he was joined by general Howe and his suite, who gave him in detail an account of the disastrous engage- ment at Savannah. On the 4th, he was joined by the remnant of Howe's army, which had been placed under the orders of colonel Huger. Gene- ral Lincoln finding himself in no condition to ad- vance on his enemy, established his head-quarters at Purysburgh, and waited for the expected re- enforcements.
When general Provost had united the troops from Florida with those under the command of lieutenant-colonel Campbell, his force consisted of three thousand regular troops, and nearly one thousand loyal militia. He determined to com- plete the subjugation of Georgia, and to establish military posts as far as the populous settlements in the back country extended. He confided the garrison of Savannah, and the police of the neigh . bouring country, to lieutenant-colonel Alexander
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Innes; he established a post at Ebenezer, twenty. five miles above Savannah, under the orders of lieutenant-colonel J. M. Provost ; and advanced lieutenant-colonel Archibald Campbell to Au- gusta, at the head of eight hundred infantry and a · party of militia, to establish a post at that place and to take advantage of circumstances in completing the conquest of the state. With the main body he watched the movements of the American general.
Lieutenant-colonel Innes issued a proclama- tion, requiring the inhabitants of the town and neighbouring country to bring in their arms and accoutrements of every description, and deliver them to the store-keeper of the artillery, and to discover where arms, accoutrements, stores, and effects of every description were buried or other. wise concealed ; asserting that strict search would be made, and if any effects were discovered which had been secreted after the notice given, the in- habitants of such houses or plantations, where such concealments were made, would be punished as enemies to the royal government. Regulations were established, and places designated for the landing of all boats, which were to receive permits for their departure from the superintendant of the port, to prevent property from being carried away ; and for a violation of this regulation, such boats and goods were to be confiscated, and the crews punished.
On the 4th of January, previous to the arrival of general Provost, a joint proclamation was issu-
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ed by commodore Sir Hyde Parker and lieute. nant colonel Campbell, as commanders of the royal navy and army in North-Carolina, South- Carolina, and Georgia, offering peace, freedom, and protection to the king's subjects in America, desiring them to repair without loss of time, and unite their forces under the royal standard ; re- probating the idea of forming a league with the French, and thereby prolonging the calamities of war ; promising freedom from the imposition of taxes by the British parliament, and securing them in the irrevocable enjoyment of every privi- lege consistent with the union of interests, on which their mutual advantage, religion and liber. ties depended. They promised ample protection to the persons, families, and effects of those who would immediately return and acknowledge their allegiance to the crown, and support it with their arms; and lamented the necessity of exhibiting the rigors of war against such as obstinately per- sisted in refusing to accept the terms of peace and happiness which were offered to them. Desert- ers of every description were invited to return within three months from the date of the procla- mation ; such inhabitants as inclined to enjoy the benefits of the proclamation, were desired to re- pair to head-quarters, at Savannah, and take the oath of allegiance.
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