CHAPTER XXXVII.

CAMPAIGN OF 1779.

HE South Carolina delegates had requested Congress to appoint General Lincoln to the command of the southern army. In making this request, they had a view to the conquest of East Florida; and when the

general set out for Georgia, they put into his hands a plan for

OPERATIONS IN SOUTH CAROLINA.

19

the completion of their object; but when on the 4th of December, 1778, he arrived at Charleston, he found that he was to repel the inroads of the very enemy whose territory Congress had ordered him to invade. North Carolina had raised two thousand militia, to serve for five months, and they moved forward under Ashe and Rutherford. Had they not been detained ten days at Charleston for want of arms, they would have been in time to join Howe before Savannah was lost.

On the 3d of January, General Lincoln established his headquarters at Purysburg, about thirty miles from the mouth of the Savannah, where he met the remains of Howe's army. His forces numbered less than fourteen hundred, until the arrival of General Ashe, on the 31st of January, who reinforced him with eleven hundred militia, increasing his numbers to two thousand four hundred and twenty-eight rank and file. About the same time, the British received reinforcements from St. Augustine. They wished to make an attempt on South Carolina, and accordingly planned an expedition against Port Royal Island. They landed on the 3d of February, but General Moultrie, with an equal number of militia, attacked and utterly routed them. The British lost nearly all their officers, and a great number of privates.

The British now determined to establish themselves firmly in Georgia, and use their utmost endeavours to incite the Tories to a general insurrection in South Carolina. Augusta and Ebenezer were their principal posts, and their emissaries were widely scattered among the Tory settlements in South Carolina. Many of these people were induced to take up arms in the royal cause, and several hundred of them marched under Colonel Boyd along the western frontier. They had such numbers of the most infamous characters among them, that their march resembled that of a body of plundering banditti. They appropriated to their own use every kind of property they could carry off. Colonel Pickens, on receiving intelligence of their progress and rapine, collected the Whig militia of the district of Ninety-Six. They succeeded in

20

SURPRISE OF GENERAL ASHE.

engaging the Tories, in the vicinity of Kettle Creek. The engagement lasted about three-quarters of an hour, when the Tories gave way, and were totally routed. Boyd, with forty of his men, fell in the battle. Pickens lost nine killed and several wounded.

The Tories were dispersed all over the country. Some fled to North Carolina; many returned home, and cast themselves upon the mercy of the state government. They were tried in a regular manner, for violating the sedition law of South Carolina, and seventy were condemned to die; but the sentence was only executed on five principals: the rest were pardoned.

The British having extended their posts up the river, Lincoln fixed encampments at Black Swamp, and General Ashe was ordered to the upper part of the country. His force consisted of fifteen hundred North Carolina militia, and the remains of the Georgia continentals, about one hundred in number. Ashe crossed the Savannah and took post at Briar Creek; but Prevost determined to dislodge him. He accordingly made dispositions for occupying the attention of Lincoln by a feint of a march towards Charleston, and he sent a detachment to amuse Ashe with a show of attack on his front, whilst he himself, with nine hundred foot and a body of cavalry, took a circuit of fifty miles, crossed Briar Creek, fifteen miles above Ashe's encampment, and unexpectedly came down upon his rear. The continental troops commenced the action with great spirit and resolution; but the militia were so completely surprised that they fled without firing a musket. The handful of continentals, aided by one regiment of militia, maintained their ground for a short time; but they were overpowered, and compelled to surrender prisoners of war. The killed and prisoners amounted to three hundred men, whilst the victors made good their communication with the Indians, and their Tory friends. Of the militia who escaped from this battle, the greater part went home, and never returned to camp. About four hundred and fifty came back to Lincoln, who had by this movement lost the 'fourth

part

of

ATTACK ON STONO FERRY.

21

his army. He was soon after reinforced with a body of one thousand militia, and resumed his design of entering Georgia by way of Augusta.

The whole force now under Lincoln's command amounted to five thousand men. Leaving one thousand to garrison Purysburg and Black Swamp, he marched up the Savannah, with the remainder, on the 23d of April. Five days after, Prevost crossed the Savannah at Purysburg, with twenty-four hundred men and a large body of Indians. Moultrie could not oppose his progress, and therefore retreated towards Charleston, destroying all the bridges in the road. Prevost marched rapidly forward, and had he proceeded directly to Charleston, it must have fallen; but he halted a few days on his march, giving the citizens time to prepare for an attack. When he appeared before the town, negotiations for a surrender were begun, and the time was occupied with the passing of proposals until General Lincoln had nearly reached the place, when Prevost, fearful of being inclosed between two fires, crossed the Ashley, and encamped on some islands near the sca. Both armies watched each other's movements, Lincoln wishing to avoid a general battle, and cut off his opponents in detail. With this view he appeared with his army, on the 4th of June, at Stono Ferry; but he soon retired. Prevost shortly after retired towards Savannah, and it was also determined to abandon the post at Stono Ferry. Lincoln, knowing that the garrison must be much weakened, renewed his design of cutting it off, and on the 20th of June, he advanced against it with twelve hundred men. Owing to a failure of a part of his plan, the attempt was unsuccessful. The attack was made with some success, and continued for one hour and twenty minutes, when the assailants were compelled to retire, in consequence of reinforcements being received by the garrison. The Americans lost about one hundred and seventy-nine men in this affair, which caused the British army to retreat to Savannah. Lincoln took post with his army at Sheldon, near Beaufort. The military aspect of things remained unaltered here until September, when the Count D'Estaing, who had been

22

ATTACK ON SAVANNAH.

prevailed on by General Lincoln, and President Lowndes, of South Carolina, to aid in the southern campaign, appeared off the coast, and roused the whole country to action.

After having victualled and repaired his fleet at Boston, he had sailed to the West Indies, where he had taken St. Vincent and Grenada. About the beginning of the year, he had retired to Cape Français, and he afterwards sailed for the American continent. His fleet consisted of twenty sail of the line, two fifty-gun ships, and eleven frigates. As soon as his arrival was known, Lincoln marched for Savannah. The British, to prepare for their defence, had nearly their whole army employed, day and night, in strengthening and extending their lines; while the American militia, sanguine in the hope of expelling the enemy from their southern possessions, joined the army with unusual alacrity. D'Estaing had demanded a surrender, and allowed a suspension of hostilities for twenty-four hours, during which interval, Colonel Maitland, with about eight hundred men, from Beaufort, succeeded in joining the garrison. Prevost at length answered that he would defend the place to the last extremity. On the 4th of October, the batteries of the besiegers were opened with nine mortars and fifty-two cannon. Finding that a long time would be required to take the place by regular approaches, it was determined to assault the town. In pursuance of this design, on the 9th of October, while two feints were made with the militia, a real attack was made on Spring Hill battery, just as daylight appeared, with two columns, consisting of three thousand five hundred French troops, six hundred continentals, and three hundred and fifty of the inhabitants of Charleston. The allies marched boldly to the assault; but a very heavy and well-directed fire from the battery threw their front columns into confusion. They still pressed forward to a redoubt, where the conflict became fierce and desperate. A French and an American standard were for a time on the parapet; but the assailants, after sustaining the enemy's fire fifty-five minutes, were ordered to retreat. Of the French, six hundred and thirty-seven, and of the continentals and