Georgia Natural Wonder #106 - Savannah – Chatham Co. - Revolutionary (Part 4). 1,516

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Georgia Natural Wonder #106 - Savannah – Chatham County - Revolutionary (Part 4)

Damn, here we are on (part 4) of this Georgia Natural Wonder #106 and we haven't even made it through the Revolutionary War. I have to admit I am learning myself some of this Colonial history of Georgia. So we ended Friday with Savannah being captured in late December 1778. Major General Augustine Prevost arrived from East Florida in mid-January 1779, and shortly after sent Major-General Sir Archibald Campbell with 1,000 men to take Augusta. Campbell occupied the frontier town against minimal opposition, but they did encounter a skirmish at the Burke County Jail. By then General Benjamin Lincoln had begun to rally support in South Carolina to oppose the British. Campbell abandoned Augusta on February 14, the same day a Loyalist force en route to meet him was defeated in the Battle of Kettle Creek.



(We provide this link, but we are waiting for a Wilkes County tangent to really cover Kettle Creek) GNW #128. The British were on the run but Patriot forces following the British were ambushed in the March 3 Battle of Brier Creek. The Georgia backcountry remained in Patriot hands.

Battle of Brier Creek

The Battle of Brier Creek was an American Revolutionary War battle fought on March 3, 1779 near the confluence of Brier Creek with the Savannah River in eastern Georgia. A Patriot force consisting principally of militia from North Carolina and Georgia was surprised, suffering significant casualties. It was #22 of the top 25 deadliest battles of the Revolutionary War as 150 patriots were killed.



The battle occurred only a few weeks after a resounding American Patriot victory over a Loyalist militia at Kettle Creek, north of Augusta, reversing its effect on morale.

Background

Leaving Savannah on January 24, Campbell and more than 1,000 men arrived near Augusta a week later, with only minimal harassment from Georgia Patriot militia on the way. Augusta had been defended by South Carolina General Andrew Williamson leading about 1,000 militia from Georgia and South Carolina, but he withdrew most of his men when Campbell approached. This rear guard skirmished with Campbell's men before withdrawing across the Savannah River into South Carolina.



Campbell then began recruiting Loyalists. About 1,100 men signed up, but relatively few actually formed militia companies. Campbell then began requiring oaths of loyalty, on pain of forfeiture of property; many took this oath insincerely, quickly letting Williamson know their true feelings. Campbell also anticipated, but did not receive Indian support while at Augusta, and was concerned that a recruiting expedition into the Carolinas by Loyalist John Boyd, might not succeed in raising a large supporting force. The arrival of more than 1,000 North Carolina Patriot militia under General John Ashe in Williamson's camp prompted Campbell to decide on February 12 to abandon Augusta. Two days later, the same day that Boyd's force of 600–700 was defeated in the Battle of Kettle Creek, Campbell withdrew from Augusta and began marching back toward Savannah.

Campbell leaves Augusta

Campbell did not find out about the Kettle Creek battle until after he had already left Augusta. During the occupation of Augusta, he had suffered only a single casualty, but the means of that loss was cause for anger among his regulars. One of the 71st Regiment men had been assigned as a "safeguard" in a private residence, a position normally out of bounds to attack in European warfare. This soldier had been killed by Patriot partisans, and neither Williamson nor Lincoln wanted to prosecute them for the violation.



Campbell led the troops south until they reached Ebenezer, burning the bridge across Brier Creek on the way. At Ebenezer he turned command of the column over to General Prevost's younger brother, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Prevost, and headed down the river to return to England. General Ashe trailed after Campbell, and on February 26 camped near the confluence of Brier Creek and the Savannah River, about 15 miles to the north. Ashe set his men to repairing the bridge. While encamped there, he was joined by about 200 light cavalry and some additional light infantry units, swelling his force to about 1,300 men.

Geography

Brier Creek itself is a riverine watercourse traversing much of eastern Georgia between the Ogeechee River and the Savannah River. It arises between Warrenton in Warren County and Thomson in McDuffie County in the lower portion of the Piedmont. The upper portion of the creek is surrounded by open pit kaolin mines as it passes through the Fall Line. From there it enters the upper coastal plain and courses down past towns like Wrens and Waynesboro before joining the Savannah River in eastern Screven County near Sylvania. This waterway has a length of approximately 80 miles. In many places along the length of its course it is 30 to 50 feet in width. Near its mouth it is sometimes as broad as 80 feet. Much of the lowest portion of the creek is bordered by the Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area, which contains a significant portion of the battlefield.


Site of the battle at present-day Brannen's Bridges. In the foreground is the historical marker for the battle site. Brier Creek can be seen in the background.

The joining of Brier Creek with the Savannah River forms a significant geographic constraint upon movement in that area between the forks formed by the creek and river. The land surrounding the creek and river is often swampy, and movement across both waterways is greatly constrained. This lay of the land contributed to the location and consequences of the battle.

Prelude

The site at which Ashe made his camp has been criticized by contemporary sources and modern historians. With its back to the creek and swampy lands, its front presented no particular opportunities for defense. Ashe's adjutant, William Bryan, recognized some of these problems, and after Ashe left camp on February 28 to attend a war council at Purrysburg, Bryan moved the camp about one mile north, nearer the Savannah River and a small hill. Ashe returned to the camp on March 2.

Turning the American flank


Marker commemorating the British crossing at Paris' Mill. The bridge at the mill site was burned down by retreating Patriot forces and the advancing British demolished the home and or millhouse of Francis Paris, whose timbers were used to construct a crossing over Brier Creek.

Colonel Prevost decided to execute an attack plan devised by Campbell before he left. This plan involved making a large loop, crossing over Brier Creek at a bridge further north and west, and then moving south and trapping Ashe's men on the triangle of land where the creek and the river met. A decoy force would demonstrate at the destroyed bridge site to distract Ashe's men.



On March 1, the decoy force, about 500 men including regulars and militia, openly marched north until they were with three miles of the burned-out bridge, and made camp there. That night, about 900 experienced troops drawn primarily from the 71st Regiment and James Baird's light infantry companies and also including five field pieces and a number of experienced militia units, including members of the Florida Rangers. They made a rapid march north to the Paris Mill bridge.



Arriving around 10:00 am the next morning, they found the bridge destroyed, and set about building a temporary bridge to get their equipment across. Concerned that they might be discovered, Prevost sent Baird's light infantry and a company of light dragoons to ford the river the night of March 2.They acted as a screen against discovery of the ongoing work, and cut off Ashe's escape route. Prevost's full party had crossed the river by dawn on March 3. While participants later disagreed on whether or not patrols from Ashe's camp were aware of the British movement, he took no particular action to guard against the possibility.

Battle

On the afternoon of March 3, a rider galloped into the American camp, warning of the British approach. While the exact amount of time they had to deploy is uncertain, the relatively hurried nature of their deployment was clear. The number of troops that actually formed up was about 900, as a number of troops had been dispatched to the south for scouting, and others were on duty at the burned-out bridge. Distribution of ammunition to the men was complicated by the shortage of cartouche boxes and varying musket calibers. When the American lines were finally formed, the left side was flanked by Brier Creek, but there was a large gap on the right side, between the end of the line and the river. The left was held by the North Carolina New Bern regiment, the center by a combination of Georgia militia and Continental Army units under Samuel Elbert, and the right was held primarily by the North Carolina Edenton regiment.


Replica of a cannon of the type used in the battle.

Prevost's troops approached in three columns. Baird's light infantry were on the left, the 1st battalion of the 71st was in the center, and Carolina provincials and "rangers" formed the right. Prevost held in reserve the light dragoons and grenadiers. Both sides opened fire at long range, and then Elbert's men moved forward to close the range. Two things then occurred to create a gap in the American line. Elbert's men drifted left as they advanced, partially screening the fire from the New Bern men, and British cavalry threatened the right, drawing the Edenton men away from the center. Seeing this opening, Prevost ordered his men to fix bayonets and charge.



Most of the Patriot militia did not have bayonets. Seeing the British charging at them, many broke and ran without even firing a shot. The Edenton men fired a few rounds, and then abandoned the fight. Elbert's Continentals held formation in the center while the militia around them fled for the swamps, and were eventually surrounded, forcing Elbert to surrender.



The 200 men at the bridge came up to the battlefield late in the fighting, but quickly withdrew before getting drawn into the rout.


State historical marker commemorating the battle. Picture taken March 3, 2007, the 228th anniversary of the battle.

The British counted five killed and eleven wounded. The carnage on the American side was never fully tallied, as many militiamen retreated all the way back to North Carolina, and an unknown number drowned in the swamps.



Prevost claimed that 150 American bodies were found on the battlefield, and that 227 captives were taken, mostly from Elbert's Continentals.



Anthony Lytle, the commander of the American light infantry, dispersed his men to avoid capture. General Ashe was seen riding after the militia companies, and was widely blamed for the disaster, often amid claims that he led the retreat. A court martial acquitted him of charges of cowardice, but did convict him of failure to secure his camp. Can't find nothing on Lytle, but did you read those Elbert historical markers? Elbert and Col. McIntosh, with 60 Continentals and 150 Georgia Militia, made one of the valiant stands of military history. So fiercely did these Georgians fight that the British had to bring up reserves. Asking no quarter, they fought until nearly every man was dead or wounded. Gen. Elbert saved himself by giving a Masonic sign from the ground as he was about to be bayonetted. Gen. Elbert, Col. McIntosh and the rest of his command surrendered.


Elbert

Near this spot, March 3rd, 1779, General Samuel Elbert, then Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Georgia, Free and Accepted Masons, commanding 60 Continentals and 150 Georgia Militia, made one of the most gallant stands against overwhelming odds of the Revolutionary War. After General Ashe’s main army had been routed, the left wing under General Elbert was folded back against Brier Creek. With his back to the creek and surrounded on all other sides he attempted to turn the fortune of the battle by fighting his way through the British lines. It was only after British reserves came up, and all hope of escape or victory had vanished that General Elbert surrendered the remnants of his courageous command. Of the 150 Americans killed in the entire battle more than half of them were General Elbert’s men. It is said that when General Elbert was about to be killed he was recognized as a Mason by a British Officer who spared his life. In 1785 Past Grand Master Samuel Elbert was elected Governor of Georgia.


Masonic hand signals, surely not just the hands up (TD) surrender, (not so secret).

Aftermath

Brier Creek stalemated American attempts to force the enemy out of the new state and guaranteed British domination of the region. William Moultrie, in his memoirs of the war, wrote that the loss at Brier Creek extended the war by a year and made possible the British invasion of South Carolina in 1780. It also caused the state of Georgia to temporarily revert to British colony status from 1779 to 1782.


Georgia Colony Seal.

British Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell wrote that he would be "the first British officer to [rend] a star and stripe from the flag of Congress". Savannah was used as a base to conduct coastal raids which targeted areas from Charleston, South Carolina to the Florida coast. In the fall of 1779, a combined French and American siege to recapture Savannah failed with significant casualties.


Georgia Red Bulldog stripe still on bottom of U.S. flag.

British forces captured Savannah in 1778 and reinstalled James Wright as colonial governor of Georgia. In October 1779 a combined force of Americans and Frenchmen, commanded by General Benjamin Lincoln and Count Charles Henri d'Estaing, attempted to retake Savannah from its British occupiers. Oh wow - Charles later in life testified in favor of Marie Antoinette during the Reign of Terror. He was sent to the guillotine on 28 April 1794. Before his execution, d'Estaing wrote, "After my head falls off, send it to the British, they will pay a good deal for it!"


Caricature of French admiral Charles Henri d'Estaing (1729-1794). Caption in French: "Le Destin molestant les Anglais." Library of Congress description: "Print shows the Comte d'Estaing presenting a palm frond to America, a Native wearing feathered headdress and skirt and holding a staff topped with a liberty cap and who is seated on a throne of bales and barrels of produce destined for France; above the scene Fame trumpets the success of d'Estaing who is shown wearing armor and holding on leash three muzzled animals."

The allied army sustained heavy casualties and was repulsed on the outskirts of Savannah by British defenders led by Colonel John Maitland and the Seventy-first Highlanders. Oh Wow again - He died of malaria on 22 October 1779 shortly after the siege was lifted. For over a century, he was interred in a tomb in Savannah's Colonial Park Cemetery, alongside his rival Nathanael Greene. In 1981, Maitland's bones were taken back to his native Scotland.


The Graham Vault where Maitland was interred till 1981.

From this encounter, regarded as one of the bloodiest battles of the American Revolution (1775-83), emerged two of Savannah's most notable military heroes, Sergeant William Jasper and Count Casimir Pulaski, both of whom were killed during the unsuccessful assault on the British lines. From a post the other day (Pulaski a Girl?)


An image of Sgt. Jasper raising the battle flag of the colonial forces over present-day Fort Moultrie on June 28, 1776 during the Battle of Sullivan's Island.


Pulaski at the walls of Jasna Góra Monastery in 1770.

Siege Of Savannah

The Siege of Savannah or the Second Battle of Savannah was an encounter of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), in 1779. The year before, the city of Savannah, Georgia, had been captured by a British expeditionary corps under Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell. The siege itself consisted of a joint Franco-American attempt to retake Savannah, from September 16 to October 18, 1779. On October 9 a major assault against the British siege works failed. During the attack, Polish nobleman Count Casimir Pułaski, leading the combined cavalry forces on the American side, was mortally wounded. With the failure of the joint attack, the siege was abandoned, and the British remained in control of Savannah until July 1782, near the end of the war.


Attack of 2nd South Carolina Continentals on the Spring Hill Redoubt at the Siege of Savannah on 9th October 1779 in the American Revolutionary War: picture by A.I. Keller

In 1779, more than 500 recruits from Saint-Domingue (the French colony which later became Haiti), under the overall command of French nobleman Charles Hector, Comte d'Estaing, fought alongside American colonial troops against the British Army during the siege of Savannah. This was one of the most significant, foreign contributions to the American Revolutionary War.This French-colonial force had been established six months earlier and included hundreds of soldiers of color in addition to white soldiers and a couple of enslaved black men.



Background

Following the failures of military campaigns in the northern United States earlier in the American Revolutionary War, British military planners decided to embark on a southern strategy to conquer the rebellious colonies, with the support of Loyalists in the South. Their first step was to gain control of the southern ports of Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina. An expedition in December 1778 took Savannah with modest resistance from ineffective militia and Continental Army defenses.



The Continental Army regrouped, and by June 1779 the combined army and militia forces guarding Charleston numbered between 5,000 and 7,000 men. General Benjamin Lincoln, commanding those forces, knew that he could not recapture Savannah without naval assistance; for this he turned to the French, who had entered the war as an American ally in 1778. French Admiral the Comte d'Estaing spent the first part of 1779 in the Caribbean, where his fleet and a British fleet monitored each other's movements. He took advantage of conditions to capture Grenada in July before acceding to American requests for support in operations against Savannah.



On September 3—an uncharacteristically early arrival as there was still substantial risk of seasonal hurricanes—a few French ships arrived at Charleston with news that d'Estaing was sailing for Georgia with twenty-five ships of the line and 4,000 French troops. Lincoln and the French emissaries agreed on a plan of attack on Savannah, and Lincoln left Charleston with over 2,000 men on September 11.

British defenses

British troop strength in the area consisted of about 6,500 regulars mostly at Savannah and Brunswick, Georgia. There was another 900 at Beaufort, South Carolina, under Colonel John Maitland, and about 100 Loyalists at Sunbury, Georgia. General Augustine Prevost, in command of these troops from his base at Savannah, was caught unprepared when the French fleet began to arrive off Tybee Island near Savannah and recalled the troops stationed at Beaufort and Sunbury to aid in the city's defense.


British Marines and Irish Soldiers.

Captain Moncrief of the Royal Engineers was tasked with constructing fortifications to repulse the invaders. Using 500–800 African-American slaves working up to twelve hours per day, Moncrief constructed an entrenched defensive line, which included redoubts, nearly 1,200 feet long, on the plains outside the city.



Vessels

The British Royal Navy contributed two over-age frigates, HMS Foley and HMS Rose. They landed their guns and most of their men to reinforce the land forces. In addition, the British also deployed the armed brig Keppel and the armed ship Germaine, the latter from the East Florida navy. There were two galleys, Comet and Thunder, also from East Florida. Lastly, the British armed two merchant vessels, Savannah and Venus.



Siege


A map of the siege

D'Estaing began landing troops below the city on September 12, and began moving in by September 16. Confident of victory, and believing that Maitland's reinforcements would be prevented from reaching Savannah by Lincoln, he offered Prevost the opportunity to surrender. Prevost delayed, asking for 24 hours of truce. Owing to miscommunication about who was responsible for preventing Maitland's movements, the waterways separating South Carolina's Hilton Head Island from the mainland were left unguarded, and Maitland was able to reach Savannah hours before the truce ended. Prevost's response to d'Estaing's offer was a polite refusal, despite the arrival of Lincoln's forces.



On 19 September, as Charles-Marie de Trolong du Rumain moved his squadron up the river, he exchanged fire with Comet, Thunder, Savannah, and Venus. The next day the British scuttled Rose, which was leaking badly, just below the town to impede the French vessels from progressing further. They also burnt Savannah and Venus. By scuttling Rose in a narrow part of the channel, the British effectively blocked it. Consequently, the French fleet was unable to assist the American assault.


A modern half-sunken ship (Barba Negra) settled next to the Convention Center.

Germaine took up a position to protect the north side of Savannah's defenses. Comet and Thunder had the mission of opposing any attempt by the South Carolinian galleys to bombard the town. Over the next few days, British shore batteries assisted Comet and Thunder in engagements with the two South Carolinian galleys; during one of these, they severely damaged Revenge.



The French commander, rejecting the idea of assaulting the British defenses, unloaded cannons from his ships and began a bombardment of the city. The city, rather than the entrenched defenses, bore the brunt of this bombardment, which lasted from October 3 to 8. "The appearance of the town afforded a melancholy prospect, for there was hardly a house that had not been shot through", wrote one British observer.



When the bombardment failed to have the desired effect, d'Estaing changed his mind, and decided it was time to try an assault. He was motivated in part by the desire to finish the operation quickly, as scurvy and dysentery were becoming problems on his ships, and some of his supplies were running low. While a traditional siege operation would likely have succeeded eventually, it would have taken longer than d'Estaing was prepared to stay.

Attack

Against the advice of many of his officers, d'Estaing launched the assault against the British position on the morning of October 9. The success depended in part on the secrecy of some its aspects, which were betrayed to Prevost well before the operations were supposed to begin around 4:00 am. Fog caused troops attacking the Spring Hill redoubt to get lost in the swamps, and it was nearly daylight when the attack finally got underway. The redoubt on the right side of the British works had been chosen by the French admiral in part because he believed it to be defended only by militia. In fact, it was defended by a combination of militia and Scotsmen from John Maitland's 71st Regiment of Foot, Fraser's Highlanders, who had distinguished themselves at Stono Ferry. The militia included riflemen, who easily picked-off the white-clad French troops when the assault was underway. Admiral d'Estaing was twice wounded, and Polish cavalry officer Casimir Pułaski, fighting with the Americans, was mortally wounded.


Pulaski mortally wounded by grapeshot while leading cavalry charge.


Father (Mother) of the U.S. Calvary.

By the time the second wave arrived near the redoubt, the first wave was in complete disarray, and the trenches below the redoubt were filled with bodies. Attacks intended as feints against other redoubts of the British position were easily taken.


American and French troops attacking Spring Hill Redoubt

The second assault column was commanded by the Swedish Count Curt von Stedingk, who managed to reach the last trench. He later wrote in his journal, "I had the pleasure of planting the American flag on the last trench, but the enemy renewed its attack and our people were annihilated by cross-fire". Wait, I thought William Jasper planted the flag. Must have been a different flag.



At the Siege of Savannah, he received his death wound while fastening to the parapet the standard which had been presented to his regiment. His hold, however, never relaxed, and he bore the colors to a place of safety before he died.


Sergeant Jasper on the parapet of the Spring Hill Redoubt

He was forced back by overwhelming numbers of British troops, left with some 20 men—all were wounded, including von Stedingk. He later wrote, "The moment of retreat with the cries of our dying comrades piercing my heart was the bitterest of my life". After an hour of carnage, d'Estaing ordered a retreat. On October 17, Lincoln and d'Estaing abandoned the siege.



Aftermath and legacy

The battle was one of the bloodiest of the war. While Prevost claimed Franco-American losses at 1,000 to 1,200, the actual tally of 244 killed, nearly 600 wounded and 120 taken prisoner, was severe enough. My research shows this as the 5th deadliest battle of the revolutionary War with 457 Patriots - French - Haitians killed. British casualties were comparatively light: 40 killed, 63 wounded, and 52 missing. Sir Henry Clinton wrote, "I think that this is the greatest event that has happened the whole war," and celebratory cannons were fired when the news reached London.


Redoubt restored.

It was perhaps because of the Siege's reputation as a famous British victory that Charles Dickens chose the siege of Savannah as the place for Joe Willet to be wounded (losing his arm) in the novel Barnaby Rudge.


Joe Willet: illustration by Harry Furniss.

Three currently-existing Army National Guard units (118th Field Artillery,131st Military Police and 263rd Air Defense Artillery) are derived from American units that participated in the Siege of Savannah. There are only thirty current U.S. Army units with lineages that go back to the colonial era.


263rd ADA sleeve patch.

Battlefield archaeology

In 2005, archaeologists with the Coastal Heritage Society (CHS) and the LAMAR Institute discovered portions of the British fortifications at Spring Hill, the site of the worst part of the Franco-American attack on October 9. The find represents the first tangible remains of the battlefield. In 2008, the CHS/LAMAR Institute archaeology team discovered another segment of the British fortifications in Madison Square. A detailed report of that project is available on line in pdf format from the CHS website. CHS archaeologists are currently finalizing a follow-up grant project in Savannah, which examined several outlying portions of the battlefield. These included the position of the Saint-Domingue reserve troops at the Jewish Burying Ground west of Savannah.





An archaeology presentation and public meeting took place in February 2011 to gather suggestions for managing Savannah's Revolutionary War battlefield resources. Archaeologist Rita Elliott from the Coastal Heritage Society revealed Revolutionary War discoveries in Savannah stemming from the two "Savannah Under Fire" projects conducted from 2007 to 2011.



The projects uncovered startling discoveries, including trenches, fortifications, and battle debris. The research also showed that residents and tourists are interested in these sites. Archaeologists described the findings and explored ways to generate economic income which could be used for improving the quality-of-life of area residents.


General Casimir Pułaski postage stamp, 1931 Issue, 2c

The battle is commemorated each year by Presidential proclamation, on General Pulaski Memorial Day.

Influence on Haitian revolutionaries

The battle is much-remembered in Haitian history; the Chasseurs-Volontaires de Saint-Domingue, consisting of some 545 gens de couleur—free men of color from Saint-Domingue—fought with the Americans.



Henri Christophe, (Drummer Boy?) who later declared himself to be the king of (northern) Haiti, while a republic was established in southern Haiti, was 22-years old at the time and may have been among these troops.



Many other less-famous individuals from Saint-Domingue served in this regiment and formed the officer class of the rebel armies in the Haitian Revolution, especially in the northern province around today's Cap-Haïtien, where the unit was recruited.



There Comes a Reaper

Holding Savannah against a force of superior numbers seemed to renew interest in the "Southern strategy" that had been proposed in 1778. Sir Henry Clinton, along with Major General Charles "Lord" Cornwallis went South, weighing anchor at Tybee Roads. From Tybee, which Clinton used as a staging area, the British launched a combined army-navy operation up coastal South Carolina. After investing Charleston, they forced Benjamin Lincoln to surrender the city and a force of some 5,500 men, including many Georgians, on May 12, 1780. The loss was a stunning blow to the United States and is generally considered the greatest British victory during the American Revolution.



Control of Georgia was formally returned to its royal governor, James Wright, in July 1779, but the backcountry would not come under British control until after the 1780 Siege of Charleston. Clinton returned north, leaving Cornwallis and a fighting force of some 7,500-8,000 men against little more than militia. Andrew Pickens and others accepted defeat and arranged agreements with the British to lay down their arms and returning to their farms. It was against this curtain that Patriots like Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter got their respective nicknames: The Swamp Fox and The Gamecock.


Pickens, Marion, Sumner

Lord Cornwallis advanced into the interior intent on conquering the rest of the South, but his fate was sealed by a basic British misunderstanding of both the American psyche and the American continent. What had begun as a revolt of the educated, the coastal wealthy and smugglers had coalesced American resistance thanks to Britain's blatant disregard of the rights of citizens. Cornwallis was defeated at King's Mountain and again at Cowpens, ending up retreating across the land he had come to conquer, as much a victim of his own arrogance as a victim of American ingenuity.



While all this was occurring, the United States essentially forgot about Georgia with the defeat at Savannah. The state appealed to neighboring South Carolina, who held Augusta for awhile, but then had to withdraw to deal with their own problems. Whigs began to take the Loyalist oath, seemingly more out of necessity than desire, and the only area of settlers not actually under the Tories where the extreme northwest of the state, roughly north of Augusta west to Wilkes County. What little access the Rebel Americans had to coastal Georgia was gone.



Individual commanders led small groups of Rebel militia whose major job was to see that the backcountry did not fall into anarchy. James Jackson, William Few, Elijah Clark and John Dooly commanded the largest and best organized of these militia. They were so despised by Governor James Wright that a force of Regulars was sent to dispatch the leaders. They did find Dooly, who was murdered in his home in front of his two young sons.



Georgia militia were called on by Col. Isaac Shelby of North Carolina to assist in driving the British from an encampment at Musgrove's Mill on the Enoree River. Elijah Clarke answered this call with some 300 men, and helped Shelby rout the British foes on August 17, 1780. Clarke suffered a serious wound during the battle. His return trip took him through South Carolina, where he meted out justice to the Tory occupiers. Clarke returned home and after a brief rest reformed his brigade to attack Augusta. Clarke nearly succeeded in taking Augusta from Loyalist Thomas Brown, but was stymied when British Regulars arrived from Ninety-six in support of Brown's militia.


Siege of Ninety-Six.

Since the defeat of the Continental Army at Savannah the British had been trying to make inroads with the farmers in the Georgia backcountry. Repeated attempts to disarm those not trusted by the British and Tories met with little success. These soldiers and militia met Whig resistance with force, killing men, assaulting women and children, and destroying property. As Clarke returned from his near victory at Augusta he stumbled upon a group of some 400 backcountry women and children who were fleeing the ravages of these British and Tory soldiers. He and his men escorted them to the Watauga Valley of North Carolina (now Tennessee), firmly in the control of the Whigs whom he had aided at Musgrove's Mill. Clarke's militia then joined Thomas Sumter to win the Battle of Blackstock (variously described as a ferry, a plantation or a farm), defeating Banistre Tarleton on November 20, 1780.


Battle Blackstock farm.

Returning to Georgia his men dispersed for Winter. Spring would bring better news.

The Liberation of Georgia

As Cornwallis moved further from his base in the South, it became easier for guerillas to operate effectively. Colonel Isaac Shelby raided Georgia, killing some forty Loyalists. Colonel Thomas Brown and Colonel James Grierson, Loyalists in charge of Augusta, could not mount a retaliatory offensive against the agitators. Shelby, though, was not the Augusta commanders major problem.



Elijah Clarke reformed his brigade in the Spring of 1781 and joined with a group of South Carolina militia under the command of Micajah Williamson to invest the city of Augusta. If it seems that Clarke was obsessed with freeing Augusta, he was. The city was an outpost connected to Savannah by the 80 mile River Road. The few British troops in the state remained in Savannah and Ebenezer, where they guarded vital outposts such as Hudson's Ferry on the River Road.


Guarding the Ferry.

On May 20, 1781, Clarke and Williamson got welcome support from General Andrew Pickens, in command of a group of South Carolina militia and Lieutenant Colonel Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, who had learned tactical cavalry support under Casimir Pulaski. Colonel Lee commanded the first Continentals to make it to Georgia in a year and a half. A second group of Continentals, under the new Commander of the Southern Department Nathanael Greene was laying siege to Ninety Six not far from Augusta. Clarke and the other Georgia commanders were greatly relieved at Lee's arrival. On May 21, Lee and Pickens raid Fort Galphinton on Silver Bluff, securing a significant amount of British stores including munitions. On May 25 they took Fort Grierson, and on June 5 the patriots secured Augusta. Grierson, who had been so abusive to the upcountry Whigs, was killed after the surrender of the city.He was murdered under the nose of General Andrew Pickens, who sat 10 paces away. His body was stripped of clothing, and mutilated, mob style and thrown out of the fort. He was later interred there at the fort, most likely in an unmarked grave. The murder was considered, even decades afterwards to be an Assassination by the British population.


Grierson.

Now that Augusta was freed Elijah Clarke decided to address a problem that had plagued Wilkes County for years. Living somewhere in the Cherokee Nation, a group of white men had been raiding the farms in the county since the British had taken the state, preying on the weakened conditions of the upland farmers. Clarke did not know exactly where these raiders were living, but he figured it had to be in the southeastern corner of the Nation. At the end of 1781, the Cherokee invaded Georgia once again with a group of Muscogee. By the fall of 1782, Lt. Col. Thomas Waters of the Loyalist Rangers, formerly stationed at Fort Ninety-Six in South Carolina, had retreated to the frontier of Cherokee-Muscogee territory just outside Georgia. From his base at the mouth of Long Swamp Creek on Etowah River, he and his remaining rangers, in conjunction with Cherokee and Muscogee warriors, ravaged backwoods homesteads and settlements.



The states of South Carolina and Georgia sent out a joint expedition led by Andrew Pickens and Elijah Clarke to put an end to his insurgency. Evading the American force, the Cherokee withdrew, adopting a scorched earth strategy to deny their foes supplies. The force eventually retreated, opening the back country to further raids.Leaving September 16, they invaded that section of the country, ranging at least as far as Ustanali, where they took prisoners. Just east of Traveler's Rest in Georgia, they raided Tugaloo Old Town, Nachoochee Valley (near Helen, Georgia) and headed west to Long Swamp Creek, the major settlement of the area. Here Clarke and Pickens engaged and defeated the Cherokee, forcing them to surrender the men who had been raiding the white settlements and a large portion of land. In all they destroyed thirteen towns and villages. By October 22, Waters and his men had escaped and the Cherokee sued for peace.



With the fall of Augusta the British concentrated their forces in Savannah. On June 15 Greene reported that every major post on both sides of the Savannah River had been evacuated except for Ninety Six. This would be abandoned on July 3, 1781, allowing both Georgia and South Carolina to claim control of most of their colonies for the first time in almost 2 years. Loyalists now fled to British areas, creating serious shortages in Savannah. The stage was set for the arrival of General Anthony Wayne.


Mad Anthony Wayne is great grandfather of Bruce Wayne.

Widely regarded as one of the best American general during the Revolution, Wayne joined George Washington at Valley Forge and fought in the battles of Brandywine, Paoli, and Germantown and led the American attack at Monmouth. After a supporting role in Cornwalis' surrender at Yorktown Wayne headed south to assist the patriots of Georgia. Although outnumbered two to one, Wayne soundly defeated his British opponents in Georgia, culminating what was one of the most brilliant campaigns of the Revolution.


Wayne captures Stoney Point New York.

From Yorktown, Wayne took 500 men south with orders to free Savannah. The hope was that with Savannah in American hands the British in Charleston would be forced to withdraw or surrender. Wayne faced three major problems: lack of naval support, the 1,000 British regulars stationed in Savannah, and the loss of Clarke, Pickens, and the Whig militia under their command. It was a difficult assignment as Wayne would not have a force capable of assaulting the defenses of Savannah. Greene warned him not to risk his little army in a major engagement where a defeat would destroy him. Rather, he was to clear the countryside and keep the British bottled up within the city. He was also to endeavor to win over the hearts and minds of the Tories to encourage desertion and defection. At the same time Wayne was to “soften the malignity [and] deadly resentments” between the Whigs and the Tories. The Indian allies of the British had to be controlled and encouraged not only to leave the area but also to withdraw from the war. The returning government of the state of Georgia had to be propped up as well. The mission was to be carried out with only a few hundred troops, many of whom were unreliable, and there were few supplies. It was a complex task. In the end, Wayne was remarkably successful.



Wayne's major advantage:Himself. During his initial engagement with British forces near Ebenezer, he aggressively attacked a British force of superior numbers that had been sent to probe his strength. These Regulars withdrew when Wayne positioned two groups with small arms as if they were trying to enfilade the British forces. Using tactics similar to those used by Nathan Bedford Forrest during the Civil War, Wayne fooled the garrison in Savannah, making them believe they were surrounded by a much larger force. He had black slaves working the perimeter of the British line, getting Hessians and some English to desert, all the while convincing the British of his numerical superiority. At Ebenezer, he maintained his position in spite of continued British probes and Creek attacks.



In March, when word of Creek Indians from the Altamaha traveling to Savannah reached General Wayne, he attacked the Ogeechee Bridge on the King's Road, defeating a small British force. When the Creek Indians arrived his men accepted the gifts they were bringing to the British in Savannah. These gifts included much needed food. Then on June 23, 1782, a band of some 100 Creek warriors Coming to the aid of the British trapped in Savannah attacked Wayne's line from the rear. Since these were seasoned Regulars, the line did not break as one might expect, but fought back, initially with return fire, then in hand-to-hand combat before reinforcements arrived. Unknown to Wayne at the time, his men killed the chief of the Creek tribes, Emistesigo.



Finally, after some five months under near-siege conditions the British withdrew. British Royal Governor Sir James Wright, along with several civil officials and military officers, flee the city of Savannah, Georgia, and head to Charleston, South Carolina. As part of the British evacuation, a group consisting of British regulars led by General Alured Clarke traveled to New York, while Colonel Thomas Brown led a mixed group of rangers and Indians to St. Augustine, Florida. The remaining British soldiers were transported to the West Indies aboard the frigate HMS Zebra and the sloop of war HMS Vulture.

Under a flag of truce a delegation of Savannah merchants came out to talk with Wayne on July 1. The formal surrender took place on July 11. Wayne deferred entering the town, letting Lt. Col. James Jackson retake the town he had given up three years earlier. The regular troops shipped out to Charleston. The Tory civilian refugees, consisting of about 4,000 blacks and 2,500 whites, waited for transportation to St. Augustine on Tybee Island twelve miles south of Savannah. Almost as quickly as the British withdrew from Savannah Anthony Wayne was called to Charleston to support Nathanael Greene force. Greene was concerned that the additional troops from Savannah might encourage the besieged British to try an offensive maneuver. They did not.



Meanwhile, Jackson headed south along the Georgia, chasing the loyalists and a few British regulars towards St. Augustine. On July 25, 1782 Jackson encountered a small group of British Marines on Skidaway Island on the coast of Georgia. This is the last encounter of U.S. troops and British troops anywhere within the present-day boundaries of the state of Georgia. The last battle happened at Colonel Philip Delegal's Plantation at the southeast point of Skidaway Island. James Jackson, commanding the Georgia Legion, described the fight in the following words:

"The last skirmish in Georgia between the Troops of the two nations was on Delegal's point in Skiddaway Island, where Col. Jackson had taken post by order of Genl. Wayne with a few militia, who were compelled to retreat after taking an armed Boat with her crew from the superior numbers of the enemy, supported by two armed Gallies & several large armed vessels, who destroyed the buildings on Delegal's plantation on the 25th July 1782."

This is sometimes characterized as the last battle of the Revolution, but British agitated Indian-settler conflicts continued through November.



In September of 1779 the Spanish, who had joined the war on the American side, retook British West Florida. After the loss of Savannah the Spanish walked into St. Augustine and claimed the city with little resistance from the British. February, 1783, marked the official cession of hostilities and on September 3, 1783 the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Revolution. The 13 colonies had defeated the most powerful nation in the world.


Spanish back in St. Augustine.

Wow, I am exhausted, Savannah attacked three times. Battles all around between Augusta and Savannah. Anyway, time to move on to antebellum period of Savannah with next post. Victorious GNW Patriot gal.