summoning him to surrender the place to his Most Christian Majesty:
informing him, at the same time, that among the troops which he had the
honour to command, was the detachment which had stormed the Hospital Hill
at the Grenades. He begged leave to recal this to his memory; and assured
him, that he gave him this notice from motives of humanity, in order to
spare the shedding of human blood. General Prevost, on receiving this
message, called a meeting of the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and
Field-Officers in the garrison, who authorised him to say, that he declined
surrendering on a general summons, without specific terms; but that, if
such were proposed as he could with honour accept, he would then give his
answer. This drew a reply from M. d'Estaing, in which he affirmed, that it
was customary, not for besiegers, but for those who were besieged, to
propose terms of capitulation; stated, that he had no objections to allow
the General every indulgence consistent with his duty; and informed him
that, as it was his intention next day to form a junction with the army of
the United States of America, if his answer was not immediately ready, he
must in future treat with General Lincoln and him. General Prevost, in
return, demanded a cessation of hostilities for 24 hours; as a time
absolutely necessary for deliberation, and for the discussion of various
interests. Towards the evening of the 16th, the Compte d'Estaing returned
an answer, in which he consented to this demand. The two armies joined on
the 17th, and formed separate but contiguous encampments.
It was during this parley, that the detachment under Lieutenant-Colonel
Maitland, consisting of upwards of 1,000 men, arrived from Beaufort. The
enemy well knew, how important it would be to their interests to prevent
this junction; and for that purpose, had attempted an enterprise, which
proved unsuccessful, by their pilots refusing to undertake to place the
French frigates in the necessary stations, for enabling them to cut off
Colonel Maitland's communication with Savannah. Of this circumstance the
Colonel availed himself: and after undergoing immense fatigues, joined
General Prevost in the evening of the 16th, with 500 men; and the remainder
of his detachment arrived about noon the next day. As he found the enemy in
possession of the ship-channel, the Colonel had been obliged to come round
Dawfaskie, and land on the marshes; and after dragging his boats (empty)
through a cut, got into the Savannah river above the French frigates, and
from that came down to the town. A Council of War was held, in which it was
determined to defend the place to the last extremity: and notice of this
resolution was sent to the besieging Generals. To this M. d'Estaing
returned an answer. Hostilities immediately recommenced: and the British
tars could not refrain from giving three huzzas from their batteries. Both
sides now exerted themselves with the utmost assiduity. When the town was
first summoned, there were not above eight or ten guns mounted; but so
indefatigable were the exertions of Captain Moncrieffe, the senior engineer
in the place, in putting it in a proper state of defence, that, by adding
the guns landed from the ships to those which were in store, he had, in the
course of a few days, nearly 90 pieces of cannon ready to oppose to the
enemy, as soon as their batteries should open. He had likewise erected many
redoubts, batteries, and other works, to retard their progress. In all
these operations, the soldiers and sailors, with the utmost cheerfulness,
worked day and night in the face of hostile troops flushed with conquest:
the enemy were greatly astonished at the activity of the garrison.
From the accounts given to M. d'Estaing, of the situation of things at
Savannah, he considered his success against it as certain. He had made
repeated declarations to the Americans, that, as the season of the year was
so far advanced, he could not remain more than ten or fifteen days on
shore, lest his fleet should be injured on such a dangerous coast. The
reinforcement which the garrison had received, reduced the besiegers to
the alternative of either storming or besieging the town of Savannah. The
latter plan was adopted, and they took their measures accordingly.
As it was apprehended, that the enemy's ships might come too near the town,
and annoy the rear of the British lines, Captain Moncrieffe had some
fire-rafts prepared, and in readiness to act against them, if they should
make the attempt. It was also judged expedient, in order effectually to
prevent it, to sink a number of vessels to stop up the passage. As his
Majesty's ship the Rose was in so very bad a condition, that, by the report
of shipwrights lately employed to survey her, she could not swim above two
months; as her guns, ammunition, and stores, had been landed; and as her
weight would keep her across the channel, when lighter vessels might shift,
owing to the rapidity of the current, and to the hardness of its sandy
bottom, in which they could have little hold, Captain Henry selected her as
a vessel proper to be sunk. The Savannah armed ship, and four transports,
were also scuttled and sunk, and by these the channel was blocked up. Above
the town several smaller vessels were sunk, and a boom was laid across the
river, to prevent the enemy from sending down fire-rafts among the
shipping, or landing troops in the British rear. Previous to the vessels
being sunk, the Fowey, Keppel brig, Comet galley, and Germain provincial
armed ship, were got up to the town: and the latter having guns, was placed
off Yamairaw, to flank the lines. While the enemy's batteries were getting
ready to play against the town, three French frigates advanced up the river
to Mud-flat. One of them, having twelve-pounders, and two rebel galleys,
carrying each two eighteen-pounders in their prows, anchored in Five Fathom
Hole; from which one of the frigates sailed into the back river, with a
design to cannonade the rear of the British lines. She fired a great number
of shot; which, being at their utmost range, did no execution. The galleys
advancing nearer, did some damage to the houses; but a few shot now and
then from the river battery, made them keep a respectable distance.
Two sallies, one of them on the 24th; commanded by Major Graham, of the
16th regiment; and another on the 27th, commanded by Major M'Arthur, of the
71st regiment; were admirably well conducted, did the enemy considerable
mischief, and killed and wounded a great many of their best troops, while
the loss on our side was very inconsiderable; In the first sally, Major
Graham artfully drew the enemy into a snare, by which the French and the
rebels fired on each other, and had near 50 men killed before the mistake
was discovered.
The batteries played on every place where the enemy were perceived to be at
work; and more than once obliged them to discontinue their labour. It was
the 3rd of October, before they opened any of their batteries: and then,
about midnight they began to bombard from nine mortars of eight and ten
inches, and continued the bombardment about two hours. At day-light, their
fire commenced again from the nine mortars, and also from 37 pieces of
cannon from the land side, and 16 from their shipping: and in this they
persisted with little variation during several days. The execution done by
this heavy fire, was much less than could have been imagined. It consisted
in killing a few helpless women and children, and some few negroes and
horses in the town, and on the common. On the 6th, the enemy threw some
carcasses into the town, which burnt one wooden house: and about 11
o'clock, the General sent a letter, by a flag of truce, to M. d'Estaing,
requesting permission to send the women and children out of the place, on
board of ships and down the river, under the protection of a French ship of
war, until the siege should be ended. After three hours, and a deal of
intermediate cannon shot and shells, an insulting answer was returned by
Messrs. Lincoln and d'Estaing, in which they refused to comply with this
reasonable and humane demand.
The garrison, undismayed by this brutal conduct on the part of their
opponents, kept up a smart fire against them; and during the night were
extremely busy in adding to their works, and in repairing such of them as
had sustained damage. Thus things went on until the morning of the 9th;
when, a little before day-break, after a heavy, and as usual, incessant
cannonade and bombardment, the enemy attacked General Prevost's lines.
The attack being upon the left of his centre, in front of the French; and
very soon after, upon his left and right. It was yet dark, and the darkness
was increased by a very thick fog, which made it impossible to determine
with precision, where the real attack was to be made, or how many assaults
were intended. No reinforcements therefore were sent; but every thing was
kept in readiness for that purpose, and the troops waited with the greatest
coolness in their different posts, for the approach of the enemy. Those in
the lines were prepared to charge them, wherever they should attempt to
penetrate: and the General had the greatest hopes, that the fire of the
field artillery, which was placed to support the advanced redoubts, would
enable him, while the enemy were entangled among these, to throw them into
some confusion; and, perhaps, with a good prospect of success, to order his
corps de reserve to sally forth and charge them. The ground toward both his
flanks, owing to its natural defects, which the utmost efforts of Captain
Moncrieffe had been unable effectually to remove, was but too favourable
for an enemy. On the right was a swampy hollow, by which they could
approach under cover to within fifty yards of his principal works, and in
some places still nearer; and there, he supposed, that the rebels would
make their assault. On the left, the approach was neither so well covered,
nor of so great an extent as that on the right; but as it was sufficiently
large to admit troops to act, as the ground was firm and clear, and as it
was near their encampment, he expected that the French regulars would make
their attack there: but in this he was mistaken. A real attack did take
place there: but the principal attack, composed of the flower of the French
and rebel armies, and led by the Compte d'Estaing in person, assisted by
all the principal officers of both, was made upon his right. Under cover of
the hollow, they advanced in three columns; but, owing to the darkness,
took a wider circuit than they needed or intended to have done, and went
deeper into the bog. These circumstances prevented them from beginning the
attack so soon as they had concerted; and besides occasioning a loss of
critical time, produced considerable disorder in their ranks. The attack,
however, was very spirited, and for some time obstinately maintained;
particularly at a redoubt on the Ebenezer road, which was a scene of hot
action, great loss, and consummate bravery. Two stand of colours were
actually planted, and several of the assailants killed upon the parapet;
but they met so determined a resistance, that they could not, with all
their efforts, force an entrance. It was now, that the skill and design of
the defences raised by Captain Moncrieffe, were fully displayed; for, while
the conflict was still dubious and bloody, the field-pieces, from three
batteries which were manned by the sailors, took them in every direction,
and made such havock in their ranks, that they were thrown into confusion,
and compelled to make a pause. At this critical moment, Major Glacier, of
the 60th regiment, with the grenadiers of that corps and the marines,
advanced rapidly from the lines; in the most impetuous manner, charged the
enemy with their fixed bayonets; and plunging among them, into the ditches
and works, drove them, in an instant, from the ditches of the redoubt, and
from a battery a little to the right of it. Following up the blow, they
forced them to fly, in great confusion, over the abatis, and into the
swamp. On this occasion, Captain Wickham, of the 2d battalion of the 60th
grenadiers, greatly distinguished himself. When the grenadiers advanced,
three companies of the second battalion of the 71st regiment were ordered
to sustain them: and although they were posted at no considerable
distance, and marched forward with the usual ardour of that corps, such was
the rapidity with which the grenadiers had made their attack, and so
precipitate was the enemy's retreat, that they could not come in for a
share of the victory. One of the enemy's columns a little more to their
left, in every attempt which it made to come out of the hollow, was
repulsed by the brisk and well directed fire of a redoubt, where the
militia were posted, aided by Hamilton's small corps of North Carolinians,
who were on the right, and moved there with a field-piece to bear obliquely
against it, while one of the seamen's batteries took it directly in flank.
It was now day-light: but the fog was not sufficiently cleared off, to
enable General Prevost to judge with any degree of certainty of the
strength, disposition, or further intentions of the enemy on the right. On
the left, and in the centre, the fog, with the addition of the smoke, was
still impenetrably close: and a smart firing being still kept up there, the
General thought it would be improper to draw from it a number of troops
sufficient to make a respectable sortie. By these means, an opportunity was
lost of taking complete advantage of the confusion of the enemy, by
charging them in their retreat; but they did not get off without being
severely cannonaded by the batteries and field-pieces, as long as they were
in sight, or judged to be within reach. They were every where repulsed: and
those on the left were only heard, being concealed from view by the
thickness of the fog.
Lieutenant-Colonel de Porbeck, of Weissenbeck's Hessian regiment, was
field-officer of the right wing: and being in the redoubt when the attack
began, had an opportunity, which he well improved, of signalizing himself
in a most gallant manner. It would not be doing justice to the different
corps who defended the redoubt, if we neglected to mention them. They were
part of the South Carolina Royalists; and the light dragoons dismounted,
and commanded (by special order) by Captain Tawae, a good and gallant
officer, who nobly fell with his sword in the body of the third man he had
killed with his own hand. The loss on the part of the British in this
battle, consisted of one captain, and fifteen rank and file killed; one
captain, three subalterns, and thirty-five rank and file wounded. The loss
sustained by the enemy, as acknowledged by the French, was about a thousand
or twelve hundred men killed and wounded; of these, they lost forty-four
officers and seven hundred men: and the deserters, of whom there were a
great many, all declared, that the loss on the part of the rebels was not
less than four hundred men. Among the wounded was M. d'Estaing, (in two
places) M. de Fontange, Major-General; and several others of distinction.
Count Polaski, (who has been mentioned in the course of these Memoirs), a
Colonel of cavalry in the rebel service, in making a desperate push at the
British lines, was mortally wounded.
About ten o'clock, the enemy requested a truce, and leave to bury their
dead, and carry off their wounded men. This was granted for those who lay
at a distance from the lines, or out of sight of them: but those within or
near the abatis were interred by the British. Their numbers were on the
right, two hundred and three; on the left, twenty-eight. One hundred and
sixteen prisoners, most of them mortally wounded, were delivered to the
enemy. To this loss, considerable of itself, must be added, the numbers
buried by them, the numbers who perished in the swamp, and many who were
carried off by them when they retreated.
From this time to the 18th, nothing very material happened. Several flags
of truce were sent during that period by the enemy, and a great deal of
civility passed mutually between the French and British. Many apologies
were made for their refusal to allow the women and children to be sent out
of town: and the blame of this base conduct was laid, by a French Colonel,
Compte O'Duin, entirely on the scoundrel Lincoln, and the Americans.[100]
The offer was then made with great earnestness, that the ladies and
children should be received by the Chevalier du Romain, on board of the
Chimere; but the answer given to it was blunt and soldierly, that what had
once been refused, and that in terms of insult, was not in any
circumstances deemed worth acceptance. All the French officers seemed quite
ashamed of this affair. As it was with them only, that the British had any
intercourse after the repulse on the 9th, the sentiments of the Americans
could not be so well known. But, as the letter was signed by d'Estaing, as
well as by Lincoln, their imputing this harsh, cruel, and unprecedented
refusal, entirely to the brutality of the American General, may serve to
shew their consciousness, that it was altogether indefensible; but is by no
means sufficient to exculpate the French Commander, from his share of the
blame and disgrace, inseparable from it. An author,[101] who is extremely
partial to the American cause, endeavours to defend this measure from
motives of policy: "The combined army (says he) was so confident of
success, that it was suspected, that the request of sending away the women
and children, proceeded from a desire of secreting the plunder lately taken
from the South Carolinians, and artfully covered under the specious veil of
humanity. That the Commanders were suspicious, considering the stratagem
Prevost had practised after being summoned, is not strange. It was also
presumed, that a refusal would expedite a surrender." There does not seem
to have been much cordiality between the French and Americans in this
enterprise. M. d'Estaing would have been well pleased to have done the
business without them, by summoning the place to surrender to his Most
Christian Majesty. This, the latter took much amiss, as they considered
themselves as principals, and the French only as auxiliaries: and for this
piece of presumption, some concessions were made. When the time assigned by
M. d'Estaing for this expedition had elapsed, and still more was required
by the engineers, if it was expected that the garrison should be compelled
to surrender by regular approaches, he became extremely impatient to bring
matters to a quick decision, and urged giving the assault to the place.
This measure, says Mr. Gordon, was forced on M. d'Estaing by his naval
officers, who had remonstrated against his continuing to risk so valuable a
fleet in its present unrepaired condition, on such a dangerous coast in the
hurricane season; and at so great a distance from the shore, that it might
be surprised. These remonstrances were enforced, by the probability of
their being attacked by the British fleet completely repaired, with their
full complement of men, soldiers, and artillery on board, when the ships of
his Most Christian Majesty were weakened, by the absence of a considerable
part of their crews, artillery, and officers, employed at the siege of
Savannah. These reasons had great weight with M. d'Estaing: and he
prevailed on General Lincoln to storm the place without farther loss of
time. The Americans seemed to think, that by a little more patience and
perseverance, the town must have submitted; as in a few days, the lines of
the besiegers would have been carried quite close to the works of the
besieged. Their allies, however, judged themselves to be in so critical a
situation, that they acquiesced in M. d'Estaing's proposal; for, if the
French had retired to their ships, the siege must have been raised, so that
there remained only one alternative for them to adopt. The repulse which
they had received, was not followed by mutual accusations of want of
courage or conduct in either party; but the French, in all their
conversations, spoke of the Americans with the greatest contempt.
It was not perceived until the 18th, that the enemy had raised the siege;
but, the fog clearing up in the morning of that day, it was found that they
had moved off. For some days previous to this, they had been busy in
drawing off their cannon and mortars, and in embarking their sick and
wounded, of whom they had a great number. General Prevost immediately
detached parties in pursuit of them; but they had got to such distance
before it was discovered they had retreated, that they could not overtake
them: the enemy in their march having broken down all the bridges. The
French embarked in Augustine creek, and the rebels crossed the river
Savannah, at Zubley's ferry, and got into South Carolina. The enemy's fleet
quitted the coast on the 26th October, and their frigates and galleys on
the 2d of November, as soon as an exchange of prisoners had taken place.
The balance of prisoners was in the enemy's favour: for while they were off
this coast, on the 11th of September, his Majesty's ship, Ariel, of 24
guns, was taken by the French frigate, the Amazon, of 36 guns; and besides
taking the Experiment, they took also the Myrtle, navy victualler; and
Champion, storeship. The last of these was a prize of considerable
importance to them, for their fleet was very badly manned, their crews
sickly, their ships in bad condition, short of anchors and cables, and no
running rigging to reeve, but this ship afforded them a supply. She had
been sent from New York, with naval stores for the ships and vessels, under
the command of Captain Henry.
No. II.
_Address from the Council and House of Representatives of St. Vincents to
Lieut.-Col. Prevost, p. 7._
"SIR,
The Committee of His Majesty's Council, and of the Representatives of the
Inhabitants of St. Vincents, deeply impressed with the many and eminent
services you have rendered this colony, beg leave to offer their most
grateful thanks to you, not only on their own account, but on that of the
community at large. It might be irksome to you to minutely particularize
these services: the Committee, however, cannot forbear mentioning your
voluntary and unsolicited return to the defence of the Colony, and to
participate in a most laborious and perilous war, against an inglorious
enemy. Such zeal, Sir, strongly characterizes the soldier. The happy
consequences to the public cause, although unfortunate to yourself, of your
late gallant attack on the enemy's advanced post, demand the warmest
acknowledgments, and the universal wish that you may speedily recover from
your wounds, and that our gracious Sovereign may discern, and properly
reward such distinguished merit.
"_10th March, 1796._"
No. III.
_Letter from the Duke of Portland to Brigadier-General Prevost, p. 7._
"_Whitehall, 29th April, 1801._
"SIR,
"The satisfactory manner in which you have conducted the Administration of
Public Affairs in St. Lucie, and the representations made to the King in
your behalf by the Members of the Court of Appeal, have induced His Majesty
to appoint you Lieutenant-Governor of that Island. I transmit to you
inclosed His Majesty's Commission; and I have only to add, that I am
persuaded that your conduct in the administration of your Government will
continue to justify the very flattering and favorable intentions of the
Court of Appeal, to contribute to the support of the respectability of your
civil station.
"I am, Sir,
"Your most obedient humble servant,
(Signed) "PORTLAND."
No. IV.
_Address to Brigadier-General Prevost from the Inhabitants of St. Lucie, p.
7._
Les Habitans de l'Isle de St. Lucie, a Son Excellence
Monsieur le Brigadier-General George Prevost,
Lieut.-Gouverneur de cette Isle, &c.
Monsieur le Gouverneur,