USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780 > Part 33
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During Prévost's invasion an incident occurred which nearly cost the State the life of a citizen who afterwards rose to great distinction in her service. Two companies, one commanded by Captain John Raven Mathews, and the other by Captain John Barnwell, were stationed at the plantation of Mathews on the John's Island's side of the Stono. Captain Mathews, by seniority, commanded Cap- tain Barnwell's Beaufort company as well as his own, and unfortunately by drilling in sight of the British post allowed the British to ascertain the strength of his com- mand; nor was he sufficiently careful in posting his guards and in permitting visitors to his camp. Thomas Fenwick, who was after this a well-known Royalist, com- ing in, supped with his officers, and thus obtained full information in regard to the post. At midnight a body 1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 11.
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of British troops crossed to John's Island in two parties, one of which went directly to Fenwick's house, about three miles above, and the other to Mathews's landing. Upon a signal from Fenwick himself both parties pro- ceeded simultaneously to the attack, Fenwick himself con- ducting his party against his friends and neighbors, of whose hospitality he had just partaken. The first sentinel approached, whether from fright or treachery, ran off with- out firing; the second, James Black, a ship carpenter of Beaufort, fired upon the advancing enemy and was imme- diately bayoneted, and died of his wounds. Captain Mathews's quarters were surrounded, and every man of his company made prisoners. Captain Barnwell, when also called upon to surrender, inquired what quarter they should have. "No quarter to rebels," was the reply. Then said Captain Barnwell, " Defend yourselves." Then a British sergeant called out, "Surrender, and you shall have honorable quarter." Barnwell demanded by what authority he offered quarter. "I am but a sergeant in command," was the answer, "but my word is as good as any officer's in his Majesty's service." On this Captain Barnwell and his men surrendered their arms, whereupon they were immediately set upon and bayoneted, most of the company falling killed or wounded. Robert Barn- well and a Mr. Barnes each received seventeen bayonet wounds. Mr. Barnwell was left apparently dead, but by the unremitting kindness and attentions of Mrs. Robert Gibbes, who lived on the adjoining plantation, he finally recovered, and lived to occupy distinguished positions in the State for which at this time he came so near losing his life. With his two elder brothers, John and Edward, after the fall of Charlestown, he was confined in a British prison ship.1
1 Johnson's Traditions, 182, 185.
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While General Prevost lay near the town several armed vessels brought him supplies from Savannah. To intercept this communication Captain William Hall, in the brig Notre Dame, Captain Tryon, in the brig Beaufort, Captain Anthony, in the brig Bellona, and some other private armed vessels put to sea under the direction of the navy board. They fell in with seven British vessels near Stono, two of which were taken and brought safe into Charlestown; one was blown up, the rest escaped.
About the same time sixty grenadiers of the British army, with two field-pieces and musketry, attacked the American schooner Rattlesnake from the banks of the Stono. Her gallant commander, Frisbie, repulsed the assailants with the loss of their captain and the greater part of his men; but finding it impossible to escape with his vessel, set her on fire and conducted his wounded men with the rest of his crew safely through the country, though in pos- session of the enemy, to the American camp at Bacon's bridge.1
1 Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 71, 72.
CHAPTER XIX
1779
COUNT D'ESTAING, as we have seen, upon abandoning the expedition against Rhode Island, had put into Boston. Having refitted his ships there on the 3d of November, 1778, he sailed for the West Indies. There he had been more successful, having wrested from the British the islands of St. Vincent, in June, and Grenada, in July, 1779. After remaining some time at Grenada for the purpose of settling the government, he had sailed with his fleet for Cape François in Hispaniola.
The post at Beaufort, established by Prévost, was secure against attack so long as the British maintained their superiority by sea, and so long as that post was maintained General Lincoln could not even occupy his former quar- ters at Purrysburg without danger of being enclosed between the British troops at Savannah and those at Beaufort. On the other hand, if the British lost their superiority by sea, the division of their force into two parts would render each of them more vulnerable. Moved by such considerations Governor Rutledge, General Lin- coln, and Monsieur Plombard, the French consul at Charlestown, severally wrote letters to the Count D'Estaing, who by this time had arrived at Cape Fran- çois, in which they represented to him the state of affairs in the Southern States, and pointed out to him the advan- tage which might be expected should he during the hurri- cane months in the West Indies visit the American coast
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with his fleet and cooperate with General Lincoln in the recovery of Georgia.
D'Estaing, having discretionary orders from his court for such cooperation, flushed with his success at Granada, indulged the ambitious but vain hope of being able not only to sweep the American coast with his superior fleet, but by acting in conjunction with the Americans to reduce the different posts occupied by the British troops within the limits of the revolted provinces, and thereby put an end to the war, even during the present campaign. He accordingly sailed forthwith and dispatched to Charles- town two ships of the line as soon as he got through the Windward Passage to announce his approach, and with the rest of his fleet, consisting of twenty ships of the line, two ships of fifty guns, and eleven frigates having on board a considerable force, arrived on the coast of Georgia about the beginning of September. So sudden and unex- pected was his appearance that the British ship Experi- ment of fifty guns and two store ships under convoy fell in with the French fleet off the bar of Savannah, and were of course taken. The Ariel, of twenty-four guns, which had been on a cruise off Charlestown bar, shared the same fate.1
In the meanwhile the General Assembly met again in July, and Lincoln readily gave leave of absence to Moul- trie, who was a senator for the parishes of St. Philip and St. Michael, and to all officers of the army who were mem- bers of it, to attend. Indeed, he desired all of them to do so in the hope that upon the floor of the Assembly they might represent the difficulties of keeping up the army and the folly of depending upon the militia; that it was impossible to keep the latter in the field; and that unless some other method could be devised to raise an army, the
1 Steadman's Am. War, vol. II, 121, 123.
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country must be given up.1 But notwithstanding the presence of Moultrie and his officers, all that was done for the defence of the State was the passage of an act to recruit the regular regiments already organized, offering increased bounties, and to make new militia regulations. The most that could have been accomplished by this act - had the inducements been sufficient to effect its purpose - was the filling up the six Continental regiments and Colonel Horry's Regiment of Dragoons, which would have given but five thousand men. The act then went on to divide the whole militia of the State into three classes, one of which should be required to hold them- selves in readiness to march to such place as they should be ordered, to do duty for two months from the time of their joining headquarters or arriving at the place of their destination, at the expiration of which it was provided that they should be promptly relieved by another class, who should also do duty for two months, at the expiration of which they should in turn be relieved by the third class, and so on in rotation. The commanding officer, it was provided, might detain any such class ten days over and above these two months, and no longer in any case whatsoever !2 Such were the inadequate provisions made for a war of independence by a State struggling for its existence. Five thousand men were to be hired, if pos- sible, by high bounties, to fight for liberty; but in no case whatsoever were the militia to be kept in the field longer than two months and ten days. No matter that a siege was in progress or a battle imminent at the expira- tion of seventy days, they were to be discharged. So far from adding to the efficiency of the militia this act really reduced the time during which the militia could be kept in
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 29.
2 Statutes at Large of So. Ca., vol. IV, 502.
VOL. III. - 2 D
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the field. For by the act of the 13th of February before, the Governor was given authority when a sister State was invaded to order a draft of one-third of the militia of the State, who were to remain so long as the service might re- quire, not exceeding three months at any one time, unless a relief had been ordered and on their march, in which case they were required to remain till such relief arrived.1 The term of the service of the militia was thus reduced, not extended, and their efficiency that much lessened.
After the battle of Stono, Lincoln established his little army at Sheldon, some fifteen or twenty miles from Beau- fort. Nothing of interest transpired while he, with the Governor, was waiting to hear from D'Estaing except some very successful scouting by Sergeant Jasper. Jasper was as intelligent and enterprising as he was brave. He possessed not only the dashing gallantry which he exhib- ited when he leapt from the bastion of Fort Moultrie to take up the flag and replace it on the parapet amidst the storm of shot and shell from the British fleet on the 28th of June, 1776, but the cool, calm courage, the first requi- site of a scout. Moultrie had great confidence in him, and when in the field gave him occasionally a roving commis- sion, allowing him to take out with him six men of his own selection, at a time. He often went out in this way, and sometimes returned with prisoners before his absence was observed. At one time he went into the British lines at Savannah and delivered himself up as a deserter, com- plaining of the ill usage he received in the American camp. The British, who had heard of his heroic conduct and character, strange to say readily accepted his story and gladly received and caressed him. Jasper seems to have enjoyed their hospitality, for he remained with them eight days, and then, having thoroughly informed him- 1 Statutes at Large of So. Ca., vol. IV, 466.
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self of their situation, strength, and intentions, quietly returned to his friends with the information he had obtained.1
About the first of September an officer came up to the town from Count D'Estaing's fleet, then off Charles- town bar, to inform General Lincoln that the Count was ready to cooperate with him in the reduction of Savannah, and at the same time to urge the necessity of dispatch, as he could not remain long on the coast at that season of the year. The news caused great excite- ment, and the legislature, which was still in session, issuing paper money, raising taxes, regulating auctions, and laying embargoes, adjourned, that the military mem- bers might return to their commands. The Governor and Council and the military men joined heartily in expedit- ing everything that was necessary; and boats were sent to the French fleet to assist in taking the guns and stores on shore. Every one, says Moultrie, was cheerful and sure of success; no one doubted that there was anything more to do than to march up to Savannah and demand a surrender. The militia was drafted, and volunteers joined readily, to be present at the expected surrender, and in hopes of seeing the British march out and deliver up their arms. But alas ! adds Moultrie, it turned out a bloody affair, and we were repulsed from the British lines with a loss of eight or nine hundred men killed and wounded; and he continues : "I think I may say that the militia volunteers were much disappointed, as I suppose they did not go with the expectation of storming lines. I was pleased when I was informed that in general they behaved well; and they could truly say they had been in a severe fire."
The British commanders in Georgia were not apprised of the arrival of Count D'Estaing until the 4th of Sep-
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 24.
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tember, when his whole force, consisting of forty-one sail, was seen to the southward of Tybee plying to windward. Information was immedately sent to General Prévost, and measures were at once taken for increasing the fortifica- tions at Savannah and putting the town in a proper con- dition of defence. The garrison at Sunbury, under Lieutenant Colonel Cruger, was withdrawn and orders were dispatched to Beaufort for Lieutenant Colonel Maitland, with the troops, and Captain Christian of the navy, with the ships and galleys under his command, to repair in all haste to Savannah.1
On the 5th General Lincoln ordered all officers and soldiers to join their regiments, and on the 8th the Con- tinentals were drawn from the forts and their places taken by the militia. The scarcity of arms and ammunition made it necessary to furnish them to the militia from the arsenals of South Carolina, and a detachment of the Georgia Continental troops commanded by General Lach- lan McIntosh was ordered to take charge of them and march to Augusta. There Pulaski was ordered to join McIntosh, who with the infantry and cavalry was then directed to march toward Savannah in advance of the army under General Lincoln to open communication with the French. Lincoln proceeded to take command of the army at Sheldon on the 12th, leaving Moultrie in com- mand at Charlestown.2
On the 9th of September the French fleet came to anchor off Savannah bar, but as their large ships could not come near the shore, a landing could only be effected by small boats, which were sent from Charlestown for the purpose. This occasioned delay, so that it was not un- til the 12th that D'Estaing's troops were got ashore at
1 Steadman's Am. War, vol. II, 123.
2 McCall's History of Georgia, vol. 11, 243, 247.
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Beaulieu in Ossabaw Sound, an inlet of the sea some miles south of the Savannah River. As soon as the de- barkation of the French troops - about three thousand in number - was completed, Count D'Estaing moved against Savannah, without waiting for the junction of the forces under Lincoln, and, on the 16th, in a most offensive manner, demanded the surrender of Prévost in the name of his most Christian Majesty the King of France, with- out any reference to his allies, the Americans. In his summons he vaunted in terms of extravagance the magni- tude of his force, the valor of his troops, who had so lately stormed the fortifications of Granada and achieved the conquest of that island, and threatened to make General Prévost answerable in his own person should he persist in making a fruitless defence. This conduct of D'Estaing aroused at once the same jealousy on the part of the South Carolinians as Lafayette's scheme, in 1778, for an attack upon Canada, through the joint operations of the United States and France, had excited in the minds of Washing- ton and of Henry Laurens, then President of Congress.1 What if, having thus possessed himself of Savannah, D'Estaing should hold it for the French King, in whose name he demanded its surrender? Upon a remonstrance, however, it is said, having been made by General Lincoln, the Count gave an explanation which was accepted at least as satisfactory; 2 but there was still suspicion on the part of the Carolinians and arrogance on the part of the French.
General Prévost, to whom it was of the utmost impor- tance to gain time, returned a civil message to Count D'Estaing, acknowledging the receipt of the summons and desiring twenty-four hours to consider an answer and to prepare the terms on which a surrender might be made,
1 Writings of Washington, vol. VI, 106 ; Hildreth, vol. III, 270.
2 Steadman's Am. War, vol. II, 125 ; Memoirs of the War of 1776, 137.
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should that be his ultimate determination. D'Estaing, without doubting but that the terror of his name had caused the British hearts to tremble, and expecting noth- ing less than a surrender of the town at the expiration of the time, granted the request without any difficulty.1 But Prévost had no idea of surrendering; he was negotiating for time to allow Lieutenant Colonel Maitland to join him with the garrison from Beaufort - and in this hope he was not disappointed.
Lieutenant Colonel Maitland, who had commanded the British at the battle of Stono, a very able and enterprising officer, responded at once to the summons of Prévost to join him; and after struggling with difficulties, during some parts of the route, which to one less determined would have appeared insurmountable, arrived at Savannah before the expiration of the time with the best part of his detachment, amounting to eight hundred veteran troops. As the French were in possession of the lower part of the river, to effect a junction Maitland was obliged to take his troops in boats through the marshes by an inland watercourse called Watts' Cut, which for two miles was so shoal that the men, wading up to their waists, had to drag the boats by main force through the mud. Maitland himself during this expedition was fatally ill with a bilious fever; but this undaunted and accomplished officer, ill unto death as he was, braving all difficulties, made good his way to the Savannah River, where, taking his boats above the anchorage ground of the French fleet,
1 The friends of Sir James Wright, the loyal Governor of Georgia, claim that it was by his determined zeal and spirit the defence of his capital was made "one of the most brilliant events of the war in the South." This defence, it is also affirmed, would not have been made but for his vote in the council of war, which decided upon it. The Am. Loyalists (Sabine), 727.
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he entered the town in time to allow Prévost to send a message of defiance instead of a proposal to surrender. The rest of the Beaufort garrison, which for want of boats could not be transported, remained with the ships and galleys under the command of Captain Christian of the Royal navy, and their retreat being cut off, they took a new position in Callibogie Sound, where, by erecting batteries on the shore, they made such a strong disposi- tion for defence that neither the French nor Americans attempted to molest them during the subsequent siege of Savannah.
The safe arrival of so considerable a reënforcement, and that, too, of chosen troops, but above all, says Steadman, the presence of this officer who commanded them, sick as he was, but in whose zeal, ability, and military experience so much confidence was deservedly placed by the army, inspired the garrison of Savannah with new animation. An answer was returned to Count D'Estaing that the town would be defended to the last extremity. Thus was D'Estaing's opportunity lost. Had he attacked the garri- son at once when he appeared before Savannah, Prévost must have been taken with his army.
Governor Rutledge made great exertions to get out the militia, and succeeded so far that with those of Georgia and the South Carolina Continental regiments, Lincoln's force amounted to 4000; with these Lincoln lay at McMillen's, three miles from Savannah, from the 17th to the 23d of September, when he joined the French and encamped before the town. The allied army thus num- bered about 7000 men. The British garrison was about 2500.1
From the 23d of September the allied army was employed
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 41 ; Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 137 ; Steadman's Am. War, vol. II, 127.
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in making fascines and building batteries. The ordnance intended for the siege was brought up, and in twelve days fifty-three pieces of battering guns and fourteen mortars were mounted. On the other hand, the zeal and ardor of the British garrison, under the inspiration of Maitland's arrival, was increased, and new defences were daily con- structed under the judicious eye and masterly direction of an able engineer, Captain Moncrieff. When the French first landed, not more than ten or twelve pieces of artillery appeared upon the fortifications of Savannah ; but so inces- santly did the garrison labor in strengthening and enlarg- ing the old works, and in erecting new redoubts and batteries, that before the conclusion of the siege nearly one hundred guns were in position. While thus himself engaged Prévost, who thoroughly understood D'Estaing's character, was well content to allow his operations to take the form of a siege rather than of a storm. He counted not only upon the impatient character of the French com- mander and of his unwillingness to subordinate his own voluntary movement to the cooperation of the allies, but also upon the real danger to the French fleet and army, separated as they were from each other, from the active and daring operations of the British navy, as well as from tempests usual in the autumn and so often destructive to ships on the coast. Prévost did not waste his force in attempts, therefore, to impede the advance of the allies; only two sorties were made during the siege, from neither of which did any material consequence ensue.
All of the guns of the allies opened on the 4th of Octo- ber, and upon this Prévost asked that the women and chil- dren might be permitted to leave the town and embark upon board of vessels in the river, which should be placed under the protection of Count D'Estaing, and intimated that his own wife and family would be the first to profit
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by the indulgence. This request, dictated by the claims of humanity, and in no way injurious to the besiegers, was rejected by Lincoln and D'Estaing.1 Fortunately, however, for the inhabitants, as well as the garrison, although an incessant cannonade from so many pieces of artillery was continued from the 4th to the 9th of Octo- ber, less injury was done to the houses in the town than might have been expected; few lives were lost, and the defences were in no respect materially damaged.
Prévost was wise in preserving his full strength for the decisive hour. It came in time ; already Count D'Estaing had spent one month in an enterprise which, from infor- mation he had received at Cape François, he calculated would have detained him scarcely longer than his conquest of Granada - certainly not more than ten days. Nor were Governor Rutledge and the French consul mistaken when they had so represented to him. Any five hours before the junction of Colonel Maitland had been sufficient to have taken Savannah; 2 and even after this there can be little doubt that if the French and American armies had marched into Savannah when they arrived on the 17th, they would easily have carried the town.3 But the delay in the face of the excellent officers and veterans of the British army was fatal. The French naval officers, too, became anxious for the safety of the fleet and desirous of changing their station. Then the affairs of the West Indies, to which in D'Estaing's estimation these were but secondary, began to demand his attention. He accordingly informed Lincoln that the siege must be raised forthwith or a storm attempted. Lincoln had no alternative. How-
1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 138; Hist. of Am. War, Steadman, vol. II, 127 ; Annual Register, vol. XXII, 211.
2 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 139.
3 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 42.
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ever sincerely he must have wished for a continuance of the siege, safe and sure as it was, and having the assur- ance of the engineers that it would require but ten days more to work into the enemy's lines, he could not hesitate to abandon it and to put everything to the hazard, rather than give up the enterprise entirely; and so a council of war, called by D'Estaing, decided. It is said, upon un- reliable authority however, that a sentinel on duty at the door of the tent overheard the decision of the council and deserted in the darkness of the night, carrying to the British the plan of attack.1
The town of Savannah is situated on the southern bank of the river of the same name. Its northern front was secured by the broad river, and, at the time of the siege, its western side was also covered by a thick swamp and woody morass communicating with the river above the town. The other sides were originally open toward the country, which in front of them, for several miles, was level and entirely cleared of woods. But they were at this time covered with a line of works, the right and left defended by redoubts, and the centre by seamen's batteries in the front, with impalements and traverses thrown up in the rear to protect the troops from the fire of the besiegers. The whole extent of the works was surrounded with abatis. The redoubts to the right toward the swamp were three in number. That in the centre was garrisoned by two companies of loyal militia, with the North Carolina regi- ment of Loyalists, under Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton, to support them. Captains Raworth and Wylie, of the South Carolina corps of King's Rangers, were posted in the redoubt on the right. Captain Tawse, with his corps of provincial dragoons, dismounted, in that on the left, called the Spring Hill redoubt, supported by a regiment
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