ARRIVAL OF A FRENCH FLEET.--MASSACRE AT WYOMING VALLEY.--CAPTURE OF
SAVANNAH.
While encamped at Paramus, Washington, in the night of the 13th of
July, received a letter from Congress informing him of the arrival of
a French fleet on the coast; instructing him to concert measures with
the commander, the Count D'Estaing, for offensive operations by sea
and land, and empowering him to call on the States from New Hampshire
to New Jersey inclusive, to aid with their militia. The fleet in
question was composed of twelve ships of the line and six frigates,
with a land force of four thousand men. On board of it came Mons.
Gerard, minister from France to the United States, and the Hon. Silas
Deane, one of the American ministers who had effected the late treaty
of alliance. The fleet had sailed from Toulon on the 13th of April.
After struggling against adverse winds for eighty-seven or
eighty-eight days, it had made its appearance off the northern
extremity of the Virginia coast, and anchored at the mouth of the
Delaware on the 8th of July.
Finding the enemy had evacuated both city and river, the count sent up
the French minister and Mr. Deane to Philadelphia in a frigate, and
then, putting to sea, continued along the coast. A little earlier, and
he might have intercepted the squadron of Lord Howe on its way to New
York. It had had but a very few days the advantage of him, and when he
arrived with his fleet in the road outside of Sandy Hook, he descried
the British ships quietly anchored inside of it.
A frank and cordial correspondence took place forthwith between the
count and Washington, and a plan of action was concerted between them
by the intervention of confidential officers; Washington's
aides-de-camp, Laurens and Hamilton, boarding the fleet while off the
Hook, and Major Chouin, a French officer of merit, repairing to the
American head-quarters.
The first idea of the count was to enter at Sandy Hook, and capture or
destroy the British fleet, composed of six ships of the line, four
fifty-gun ships, and a number of frigates and smaller vessels; should
he succeed in this, which his greatly superior force rendered
probable, he was to proceed against the city, with the co-operation of
the American forces. To be at hand for such purpose, Washington
crossed the Hudson, with his army, at King's Ferry, and encamped at
White Plains about the 20th of July. Several experienced American
pilots and masters of vessels, however, who had accompanied Colonels
Laurens and Hamilton on board of the fleet, declared that there was
not sufficient depth of water on the bar to admit the safe passage of
the largest ships, one of which carried 80 and another 90 guns; the
attempt, therefore, was reluctantly abandoned, and the ships anchored
about four miles off, near Shrewsbury on the Jersey coast, taking in
provisions and water.
The enterprise which the American and French commanders deemed next
worthy of a combined operation, was the recapture of Rhode Island
proper, that is to say, the island which gives its name to the State,
and which the enemy had made one of their military depots and
strongholds. In anticipation of such an enterprise, Washington, on the
17th of July wrote to General Sullivan, who commanded at Providence,
ordering him to make the necessary preparations for a descent from the
mainland upon the island, and authorizing him to call in
reinforcements of New England militia. He subsequently sent to his aid
the Marquis Lafayette with two brigades (Varnum's and Glover's).
Quartermaster-general Greene also was detached for the service, being
a native of the island, well acquainted with its localities, and
having great influence among its inhabitants. Sullivan was instructed
to form his whole force, Continental, State and militia, into two
equal divisions, one to be commanded by Greene, the other by
Lafayette.
On the 22d of July, the French fleet, having finished taking in its
supplies, stood away to the eastward, and on the 29th arrived off
Point Judith, coming to anchor within five miles of Newport.
Rhode Island (proper), the object of this expedition, is about sixteen
miles long, running deep into the great Narraganset Bay. Seaconnet
Channel separates it on the east from the mainland, and on the west
the main channel passes between it and Conanicut Island. The town of
Newport is situated near the south end of the island, facing the west,
with Conanicut Island in front of it. It was protected by batteries
and a small naval force. Here General Sir Robert Pigott, who commanded
in the island, had his head-quarters. The force under him was about
six thousand strong, variously posted about the island, some in works
at the north end, but the greater part within strongly intrenched
lines extending across the island, about three miles from the town.
General Greene hastened from Providence on hearing of the arrival of
the fleet of Count D'Estaing, and went on board of it at the anchorage
to concert a plan of operations. It was agreed that the fleet should
force its way into the harbor at the same time that the Americans
approached by land, and that the landing of the troops from the ships
on the west side of the island should take place at the same time that
the Americans should cross Seaconnet Channel, and land on the east
side near the north end. This combined operation was to have been
carried promptly into effect, but was postponed until the 10th of
August, to give time for the reinforcements sent by Washington to
arrive. The delay was fatal to the enterprise.
On the 8th, the Count D'Estaing entered the harbor and passed up the
main channel, exchanging a cannonade with the batteries as he passed,
and anchored a little above the town, between Goat and Conanicut
Islands. The English, on his approach, burnt or scuttled three
frigates and some smaller vessels, which would otherwise have been
captured. General Sullivan, to be ready for the concerted attack, had
moved down from Providence to the neighborhood of Howland's Ferry, on
the east side of Seaconnet passage.
The British troops stationed opposite on the north end of the island,
fearful of being cut off, evacuated their works in the night of the
8th, and drew into the lines at Newport. Sullivan, seeing the works
thus abandoned, could not resist the temptation to cross the channel
in flat-bottomed boats on the morning of the 9th, and take possession
of them.
This sudden movement, a day in advance of the concerted time, and
without due notice given to the count, surprised and offended him,
clashing with his notions of etiquette and punctilio. He, however,
prepared to co-operate, and was ordering out his boats for the
purpose, when, about two o'clock in the day, his attention was called
to a great fleet of ships standing toward Newport. It was, in fact,
the fleet of Lord Howe. That gallant nobleman had heard of the danger
of Newport, and being reinforced by four stout ships, part of a
squadron coming out under Admiral Byron, had hastened to its relief;
though still inferior in force to the French admiral. The delay of the
concerted attack had enabled him to arrive in time. The wind set
directly into the harbor. Had he entered promptly the French would
have been placed between two fires, from his ships and the batteries,
and cramped up in a confined channel where their largest ships had no
room to operate. His lordship, however, came to anchor at Point
Judith, some distance from the south-west entrance of the bay.
In the night the wind changed to the north-east. The count hastened to
avail himself of the error of the British admiral. Favored by the
wind, he stood out of the harbor at eight o'clock in the morning to
give the enemy battle where he should have good sea room; previously
sending word to General Sullivan that he would land his promised
troops and marines, and co-operate with him on his return. The French
ships were severely cannonaded as they passed the batteries, but
without material damage. Forming in order of battle, they bore down
upon the fleet of Lord Howe, confidently anticipating a victory from
their superiority of force. The British ships slipt their cables at
their approach, and likewise formed in line of battle, but his
lordship avoided an encounter while the enemy had the weathergage. To
gain this on the one part, and retain it on the other, the two fleets
manoeuvred throughout the day standing to the southward, and gradually
disappearing from the anxious eyes of the belligerent forces on Rhode
Island.
The army of Sullivan, now left to itself before Newport, amounted to
ten thousand men, having received the militia reinforcements.
Lafayette advised the delay of hostile operations until the return of
D'Estaing, but the American commander, piqued and chagrined at the
departure of his allies, determined to commence the siege immediately
without waiting for his tardy aid. On the 12th, however, came on a
tempest of wind and rain which raged for two days and nights with
unexampled violence. On the 14th the weather cleared up and the sun
shone brightly, but the army was worn down and dispirited. The day was
passed in drying their clothes, cleaning their arms, and putting
themselves in order for action. By the next morning they were again on
the alert. Expecting the prompt return of the French, they now took
post on Honeyman's Hill, about two miles from the British lines, and
began to construct batteries, form lines of communication, and make
regular approaches. The British were equally active in strengthening
their defences. There was casual cannonading on each side, but nothing
of consequence. Several days elapsed without the re-appearance of the
French. The situation of the besiegers was growing critical, when, on
the evening of the 19th, they descried the expected fleet standing
toward the harbor. All now was exultation in the camp. Should the
French with their ships and troops attack the town by sea and land on
the one side while the Americans assailed it on the other, the
surrender of the place was inevitable.
These sanguine anticipations, however, were shortlived. The French
fleet was in a shattered and forlorn condition. After sailing from
before Newport on the 20th, it had manoeuvred for two days with the
British fleet, each unwilling to enter into action without having the
weathergage. While thus manoeuvring, the same furious storm which had
raged on shore separated and dispersed them with fearful ravage. Some
single encounters of scattered ships subsequently took place, but
without definite result. All were too much tempest-tossed and disabled
to make good fight. Lord Howe with such of his ships as he could
collect bore away to New York to refit, and the French admiral was now
before Newport, but in no plight or mood for fighting.
In a letter to General Sullivan, he informed him that pursuant to the
orders of his sovereign and the advice of his officers, he was bound
for Boston, being instructed to repair to that port should he meet
with misfortune, or a superior British force appear upon the coast.
Dismayed at this intelligence which threatened ruin and disgrace to
the enterprise, Sullivan wrote a letter of remonstrance to the count,
and General Greene and the Marquis Lafayette repaired with it on board
of the admiral's ship, to enforce it by their personal exertions. They
represented to the count the certainty of carrying the place in two
days by a combined attack; and the discouragement and reproach that
would follow a failure on this their first attempt at co-operation; an
attempt, too, for which the Americans had made such great and
expensive preparations, and on which they had indulged such sanguine
hopes. These and other considerations equally urgent had their weight
with the count, and he was inclined to remain and pursue the
enterprise, but was overruled by the principal officers of his fleet.
The fact is, that he was properly a land officer, and they had been
indignant at his having a nautical command over their heads. They were
glad, therefore, of any opportunity to thwart and mortify him; and now
insisted on his complying with his letter of instructions and sailing
for Boston.
At the sailing of the ships there was a feeling of exasperation
throughout the camp. Sullivan gave vent to his vexation in a general
order on the 24th, wherein he observed: "The general cannot help
lamenting the sudden and unexpected departure of the French fleet, as
he finds it has a tendency to discourage some who placed great
dependence upon the assistance of it; though he can by no means
suppose the army or any part of it, endangered by this movement. He
yet hopes the event will prove America able to procure that by her own
arms which her allies refuse to assist in obtaining." On cooler
reflection he thought proper in subsequent orders, to explain away
this rash imputation on French loyalty, but a general feeling of
irritation against the French continued to prevail in the army.
The departure of the fleet was a death-blow to the enterprise. Between
two and three thousand volunteers abandoned the camp in the course of
four and twenty hours; others continued to go off; and in a few days
the number of besiegers did not exceed that of the besieged. All
thoughts of offensive operations were now at an end. The question was
how best to extricate the army from its perilous position. On the 28th
it was determined, in a council of war, to fall back to the military
works at the north end of the island, and fortify there, until it
should be known whether the French fleet would soon return to their
assistance, the Marquis Lafayette setting off with all speed to have
an interview with the Count D'Estaing, and ascertain the fact.
General Sullivan broke up his camp, and commenced his retreat that
very night, between nine and ten o'clock. Their retreat was not
discovered until daylight, when a pursuit was commenced. The covering
parties behaved gallantly, making frequent stands. After a series of
skirmishes they were pressed back to the fortified grounds on the
north end of the island; but Sullivan had already taken post there, on
Batt's Hill, the main body of his army being drawn up in order of
battle, with strong works in their rear, and a redoubt in front of the
right wing.
The British now took post on an advantageous height called Quaker
Hill, a little more than a mile from the American front, whence they
commenced a cannonade which was briskly returned. Skirmishing ensued
until about ten o'clock, when two British sloops-of-war and some small
vessels having gained a favorable position, the enemy's troops, under
cover of their fire, advanced in force to turn the right flank of the
American army, and capture the redoubt which protected it. This was
bravely defended by General Greene; a sharp action ensued, which had
nearly become a general one; between two and three hundred men were
killed on each side; the British at length drew back to their
artillery and works on Quaker Hill, and a mutual cannonade was resumed
and kept up until night. On the following day (29th) General Sullivan
received intelligence that Lord Howe had again put to sea with the
design, no doubt, to attempt the relief of Newport.
Under these circumstances it was determined to abandon Rhode Island.
To do so with safety, however, required the utmost caution, as the
hostile sentries were within four hundred yards of each other. The
position on Batt's Hill favored a deception. Tents were brought
forward and pitched in sight of the enemy, and a great part of the
troops employed throughout the day in throwing up works, as if the
post was to be resolutely maintained; at the same time, the heavy
baggage and stores were quietly conveyed away in the rear of the hill,
and ferried across the bay. As soon as it was dark the tents were
struck, fires were lighted at various points, the troops withdrawn,
and in a few hours the whole were transported across the channel to
the mainland.
The whole army had crossed by two o'clock in the morning unperceived
by the enemy; the very next day Sir Henry Clinton arrived at Newport
in a light squadron, with a reinforcement of four thousand men, a
naval and land force that might effectually have cut off Sullivan's
retreat, had he lingered on the island. Sir Henry, finding he had
arrived a day too late, returned to New York, but first detached
Major-general Sir Charles Grey with the troops, on a ravaging
expedition to the eastward; chiefly against ports which were the
haunts of privateers. He destroyed more than seventy vessels in
Acushnet River, some of them privateers with their prizes, others
peaceful merchant ships. New Bedford and Fair Haven having been made
military and naval deposits, were laid waste, wharves demolished,
rope-walks, store-houses and mills, with several private dwellings,
wrapped in flames. Similar destruction was effected at the Island of
Martha's Vineyard. Having thus ravaged the coasts of New England, the
squadron returned laden with inglorious spoil to New York.
Lord Howe, also, who had sailed for Boston in the hope of intercepting
the Count D'Estaing, and had reached there on the 30th of August,
found the French fleet safely sheltered in Nantasket Road, and
protected by American batteries erected on commanding points. He also
returned to New York, and shortly afterward, availing himself of a
permission granted him some time before by government, resigned the
command of the fleet to Admiral Gambler, to hold it until the arrival
of Admiral Byron.
While hostilities were carried on in the customary form along the
Atlantic borders, Indian warfare, with all its atrocity, was going on
in the interior. The British post at Niagara was its cradle. It was
the common rallying place of tories, refugees, savage warriors, and
other desperadoes of the frontiers. Hither Brant, the noted Indian
chief, had retired after the repulse of St. Leger at Fort Schuyler, to
plan further mischief; and here was concerted the memorable incursion
into the Valley of Wyoming, suggested by tory refugees, who had until
recently inhabited it.
The Valley of Wyoming is a beautiful region lying along the
Susquehanna. Peaceful as was its aspect, it had been the scene of
sanguinary feuds prior to the Revolution, between the people of
Pennsylvania and Connecticut, who both laid claim to it. Seven rural
forts or block-houses, situated on various parts of the valley, had
been strongholds during these territorial contests, and remained as
places of refuge for women and children in times of Indian ravage. The
expedition now set on foot against it, in June, was composed of
Butler's rangers, Johnson's royal greens, and Brant, with his Indian
braves. Their united force, about eleven hundred strong, was conducted
by Colonel John Butler, renowned in Indian warfare. Passing down the
Chemung and Susquehanna in canoes, they landed at a place called Three
Islands, struck through the wilderness to a gap or "notch" of the
mountains, by which they entered the Valley of Wyoming. Butler made
his head-quarters at one of the strongholds already mentioned, called
Wintermoot's Fort, from a tory family of the same name. Hence he sent
out his marauding parties to plunder and lay waste the country.
Rumors of this intended invasion had reached the valley some time
before the appearance of the enemy, and had spread great
consternation. Most of the sturdy yeomanry were absent in the army. A
company of sixty men, enlisted under an act of Congress, and hastily
and imperfectly organized, yet styling themselves regulars, took post
at one of the strongholds called Forty Fort; where they were joined by
about three hundred of the most efficient of the yeomanry, armed and
equipped in rude rustic style. In this emergency old men and boys
volunteered to meet the common danger, posting themselves in the
smaller forts in which women and children had taken refuge. Colonel
Zebulon Butler, an officer of the Continental army, took the general
command. Several officers arrived from the army, having obtained leave
to repair home for the protection of their families. They brought word
that a reinforcement, sent by Washington, was on its way.
In the meantime the marauding parties sent out by Butler and Brant
were spreading desolation through the valley; farm-houses were wrapped
in flames; husbandmen were murdered while at work in the fields; all
who had not taken refuge in the fort were threatened with destruction.
What was to be done? Wait for the arrival of the promised
reinforcement, or attempt to check the ravage? The latter was rashly
determined on. Leaving the women and children in Forty Fort, Colonel
Zebulon Butler with his men sallied forth on the 3d of July, and made
a rapid move upon Wintermoot Fort, hoping to come upon it by surprise.
They found the enemy drawn up in front of it, in a line extending from
the river to a marsh; Colonel John Butler and his rangers, with
Johnson's royal greens, on the left; Indians and tories on the right.
The Americans formed a line of the same extent; the regulars under
Colonel Butler on the right flank resting on the river, the militia
under Colonel Denison on the left wing on the marsh. A sharp fire was
opened from right to left; after a few volleys the enemy in front of
Colonel Butler began to give way. The Indians, however, throwing
themselves into the marsh, turned the left flank of the Americans and
attacked the militia in the rear. Denison, finding himself exposed to
a cross fire, sought to change his position, and gave the word to fall
back. It was mistaken for an order to retreat. In an instant the left
wing turned and fled; all attempts to rally it were vain; the panic
extended to the right wing. The savages, throwing down their rifles,
rushed on with tomahawk and scalping-knife, and a horrible massacre
ensued. Some of the Americans escaped to Forty Fort, some swam the
river; others broke their way across the swamp, and climbed the
mountain; some few were taken prisoners; but the greater number were
slaughtered.
The desolation of the valley was now completed; fields were laid
waste, houses burnt, and their inhabitants murdered. According to the
British accounts, upwards of four hundred of the yeomanry of Wyoming
were slain, and five thousand persons fled in the utmost distress and
consternation, seeking refuge in the settlements on the Lehigh and the
Delaware. After completing this horrible work of devastation, the
enemy retired before the arrival of the troops detached by Washington.
For a great part of the summer, Washington had remained encamped at
White Plains, watching the movements of the enemy at New York. Early
in September he observed a great stir of preparation; cannon and
military stores were embarked, and a fleet of one hundred and forty
transports were ready to make sail. What was their destination? There
were but two capital objects which they could have in view, beside the
defeat and dispersion of his army. One was to get possession of the
forts and passes of the Highlands: the other, by a junction of their
land and naval forces, to attempt the destruction of the French fleet
at Boston, and regain possession of that town. Those points were so
far asunder that it was difficult to protect the one without leaving
the other exposed. To do the best that the nature of the case would
admit, Washington strengthened the works and reinforced the garrison
in the Highlands, stationing Putnam with two brigades in the
neighborhood of West Point. General Gates was sent with three brigades
to Danbury in Connecticut, where he was joined by two brigades under
General McDougal, while Washington moved his camp to a rear position
at Fredericksburg on the borders of Connecticut, and about thirty
miles from West Point, so as to be ready for a movement to the
eastward or a speedy junction for the defence of the Hudson.
Scarce had Washington moved from White Plains, when Sir Henry Clinton
threw a detachment of five thousand men under Lord Cornwallis into the
Jerseys, between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers, and another of
three thousand under Knyphausen into Westchester County, between the
Hudson and the Bronx. These detachments held communication with each
other, and by the aid of flat-bottomed boats could unite their forces,
in twenty-four hours, on either side of the Hudson. Washington
considered these mere foraging expeditions, though on a large scale,
and detached troops into the Jerseys to co-operate with the militia in
checking them; but, as something more might be intended, he ordered
General Putnam to cross the river to West Point, for its immediate
security; while he himself moved with a division of his army to
Fishkill.
Wayne, who was with the detachment in the Jerseys, took post with a
body of militia and a regiment of light-horse in front of the division
of Lord Cornwallis. The militia were quartered at the village of New
Tappan; but Lieutenant-colonel Baylor, who commanded the light-horse,
chose to camp apart, to be free, as is supposed, from the control of
Wayne. He took up his quarters, therefore, in Old Tappan, where his
men lay very negligently and unguardedly in barns. Cornwallis had
intelligence of their exposed situation, and laid a plan to cut off
the whole detachment. A body of troops from Knyphausen's division was
to cross the Hudson in the night, and come by surprise upon the
militia in New Tappan: at the same time, Major-general Grey, of
marauding renown, was to advance on the left, and attack Baylor and
his dragoons in their careless quarters in Old Tappan.
Fortunately Knyphausen's troops, led by Lieutenant-colonel Campbell,
were slow in crossing the river, and the militia were apprised by
deserters of their danger in time to escape. Not so with Baylor's
party. General Grey, having cut off a sergeant's patrol, advanced in
silence, and surrounded with his troops three barns in which the
dragoons were sleeping. We have seen, in his surprise of Wayne's
detachment in the preceding year, how stealthy and effective he was in
the work of destruction. To prevent noise he had caused his men to
draw the charges and take the flints from their guns, and fix their
bayonets. The bayonet was his favorite weapon. With this his men
rushed forward, and, deaf for a time to all cries for mercy, made a
savage slaughter of naked and defenceless men. Eleven were killed on
the spot, and twenty-five mangled with repeated thrusts, some
receiving ten, twelve, and even sixteen wounds. Among the wounded were
Colonel Baylor and Major Clough, the last of whom soon died.
This whole movement of troops, on both sides of the Hudson, was
designed to cover an expedition against Little Egg Harbor, on the east
coast of New Jersey, a noted rendezvous of American privateers. Three
hundred regular troops, and a body of royalist volunteers from the
Jerseys, headed by Captain Patrick Ferguson, embarked at New York on
board galleys and transports, and made for Little Egg Harbor under
convoy of vessels of war. They were long at sea. The country heard of
their coming; four privateers put to sea and escaped; others took
refuge up the river. The wind prevented the transports from entering.
The troops embarked in row galleys and small craft, and pushed twenty
miles up the river to the village of Chestnut Neck. Here were
batteries without guns, prize ships which had been hastily scuttled,
and storehouses for the reception of prize goods. The batteries and
storehouses were demolished, the prize ships burnt, saltworks
destroyed, private dwellings sacked and laid in ashes; all, it was
pretended, being the property of persons concerned in privateering.
The vessels which brought this detachment being wind-bound for several
days, Captain Ferguson had time for another enterprise. Among the
forces detached by Washington into the Jerseys to check these ravages,
was the Count Pulaski's legionary corps, composed of three companies
of foot, and a troop of horse, officered principally by foreigners. A
deserter from the corps brought word to the British commander that the
legion was cantoned about twelve miles up the river; the infantry in
three houses by themselves; Count Pulaski with the cavalry at some
distance apart. Informed of these circumstances, Captain Ferguson
embarked in boats with two hundred and fifty men, ascended the river
in the night, landed at four in the morning, and surrounded the houses
in which the infantry were sleeping. "It being a night attack," says
the captain in his official report, "little quarter of course could be
given, _so there were only five prisoners_." Fifty of the infantry
were butchered on the spot: among whom were two of the foreign
officers, the Baron de Bose and Lieutenant de la Broderie. The
clattering of hoofs gave note of the approach of Pulaski and his
horse, whereupon the British made a rapid retreat to their boats and
pulled down the river, and thus ended the marauding expedition of
Captain Ferguson, worthy of the times of the buccaneers.
The detachment on the east side of the Hudson likewise made a
predatory and disgraceful foray from their lines at King's Bridge,
towards the American encampment at White Plains, plundering the
inhabitants without discrimination, not only of their provisions and
forage, but of the very clothes on their backs. None were more
efficient in this ravage than a party of about one hundred of Captain
Donop's Hessian yagers, and they were in full maraud between Tarrytown
and Dobbs' Ferry, when a detachment of infantry under Colonel Richard
Butler, and of cavalry under Major Henry Lee, came upon them by
surprise, killed ten of them on the spot, and captured a lieutenant
and eighteen privates.
The British detachments having accomplished the main objects of their
movements, returned to New York; leaving those parts of the country
they had harassed still more determined in their hostility, having
achieved nothing but what is least honorable and most detestable in
warfare.
About the middle of September Admiral Byron arrived at New York with
the residue of the scattered armament, which had sailed from England
in June to counteract the designs of the Count D'Estaing. Finding that
the count was still repairing his shattered fleet in the harbor of
Boston, he put to sea again as soon as his ships were refitted, and
set sail for that port to entrap him. Success seemed likely to crown
his schemes: he arrived off Boston on the 1st of November; his rival
was still in port. Scarce had the admiral entered the bay, however,
when another violent storm drove him out to sea, disabled his ships,
and compelled him to put into Rhode Island to refit. Meanwhile, the
count having his ships in good order, and finding the coast clear, put
to sea, and made the best of his way for the West Indies.
The force at New York, which had been an object of watchful
solicitude, was gradually dispersed in different directions.
Immediately after the departure of Admiral Byron for Boston, another
naval expedition had been set on foot by Sir Henry Clinton. All being
ready, a fleet of transports with five thousand men, under General
Grant, convoyed by Commodore Hotham with a squadron of six
ships-of-war, set sail on the 3d of November, with the secret design
of an attack on St. Lucia. Towards the end of the same month, another
body of troops, under Lieutenant-colonel Campbell, sailed for Georgia
in the squadron of Commodore Hyde Parker; the British cabinet having
determined to carry the war into the Southern States. At the same time
General Prevost, who commanded in Florida, was ordered by Sir Henry
Clinton to march to the banks of the Savannah River, and attack
Georgia in flank, while the expedition under Campbell should attack it
in front on the seaboard.
The squadron of Commodore Hyde Parker anchored in the Savannah River
towards the end of December. An American force of about six hundred
regulars, and a few militia under General Robert Howe, were encamped
near the town. Lieutenant-colonel Campbell landed his troops on the
29th of December. The whole country bordering the river is a deep
morass, cut up by creeks, and only to be traversed by causeways. Over
one of these, six hundred yards in length, with a ditch on each side,
Colonel Campbell advanced, putting to flight a small party stationed
to guard it. General Howe had posted his little army on the main road,
with the river on his left and a morass in front. A negro gave
Campbell information of a path leading through the morass, by which
troops might get unobserved to the rear of the Americans. Sir James
Baird was detached with the light infantry by this path, while Colonel
Campbell advanced in front. The Americans, thus suddenly attacked in
front and rear, were completely routed; upwards of one hundred were
either killed on the spot or perished in the morass; thirty-eight
officers and four hundred and fifteen privates were taken prisoners,
the rest retreated up the Savannah River and crossed into South
Carolina. Savannah, the capital of Georgia, was taken possession of by
the victors, with cannon, military stores and provisions; their loss
was only seven killed and nineteen wounded.
While Colonel Campbell had thus invaded Georgia in front, General
Prevost, who commanded the British forces in Florida, had received
orders from Sir Henry Clinton to take it in flank. He accordingly
traversed deserts to its southern frontier, took Sunbury, the only
remaining fort of importance, and marched to Savannah, where he
assumed the general command, detaching Colonel Campbell against
Augusta. By the middle of January (1779) all Georgia was reduced to
submission.
A more experienced American general than Howe had by this time arrived
to take command of the Southern Department, Major-general Lincoln, who
had gained such reputation in the campaign against Burgoyne, and whose
appointment to this station had been solicited by the delegates from
South Carolina and Georgia. He had received his orders from Washington
in the beginning of October. Of his operations at the South we shall
have occasion to speak hereafter.