The scenery by the way-side alternated between oozy swamps embellished with cypresses, cultivated fields, and extensive forests of oak and pine, garnished occasionally by a tall broad-leaved magnolia. The country was perfectly level through Barnwell District, until we passed Aiken into Edgefield, and turned toward Silver Bluff, on the Savannah River, 1 when we encountered the sand hills of that region. These continued until we reached the termination of the road at Hamburg, on the northern bank of the Savannah, opposite Augusta. 2 There we were packed into huge omnibuses, and conveyed to the city across Schultz’s bridge [January 24, 1849.]. It was sunset – a glorious sunset, like those at the north in September – when we reined up at the United States. A stroll about the city by moon-light that evening, with a Northern friend residing there, was really delightful; for the air was balmy and dry, and the moon and stars had nothing of the crisp, piercing, and glittering aspect which they assume in a clear January night in New England.

Augusta has a history anterior to the Revolution. Her local historians have preserved but little of it which is of general interest, and its records do not bear date back to that period. It was founded in 1735, under the auspices of Oglethorpe; and in 1736, a small garrison was stationed there, in a stockade fort, as a protection for the settlers against any enemy that might appear. Warehouses were built, and quite an extensive trade was opened with the friendly Indians upon the Savannah and its tributaries. Fort Augusta became a general resort for the Indian traders; and there, and at Fort Moore, on the bluff near Sand-bar Ferry, all the Indian treaties were held, down to the year 1750. In 1751, several Quaker families settled there and at a place called Quaker Springs. When French emissaries, about 1754, stirred up the Indian tribes against the English, the fort was strengthened, its magazine was well supplied, and the men were "mustered and drilled for service." Nothing of importance occurred to disturb the quiet of the people, and the settlement flourished. Living in almost unrestrained freedom, far away from the sea-board and its varieties, the agitations wrought throughout the colonies by the Stamp Act and kindred measures, scarcely elicited a thought from the quiet people of this region; but when, month after month, intelligence arrived that chains were forging to fetter their free spirits, they were aroused, and all through the region between the Alatamaha and Savannah Rivers, and especially in the vicinity of Augusta, the Tree of Liberty budded and blossomed, green, vigorous, and beautiful as the native magnolia. Although Georgia was not represented in the first Continental Congress, yet her children were not less alive to the teachings of the spirit of liberty; and the American Association was early approved, and its operations efficiently established. The lines between Whigs and Tories were distinctly drawn, and the requirements of the association were promptly enforced. 3

When the British attacked Savannah, in March, 1776, the Legislature, a majority of which was inimical to the royal government, adjourned to Augusta, where the people were generally friendly. On the fall of Savannah, in 1779, the Legislature was dispersed. John Wereat, then president of the executive council, issued a proclamation, ordering an election of legislators, who were to assemble at Augusta. That town now became the center of Republican power in Georgia, and thither the most active friends of the patriot cause at Savannah fled. George Walton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was chosen governor under the Constitution (adopted in 1777), 4 notwithstanding Sir James Wright had now [1779.] re-established royal rule in the province. William Glascock was chosen speaker, and the Legislature transacted business without reference to the existence of any other power in the state. 5

For the encouragement and support of the Loyalists in the interior, and to awe the Republicans in that quarter after the fall of Savannah, Colonel Campbell, who commanded at the siege of that city, was ordered by General Prevost to advance with about two thousand regulars and Loyalists [Jan., 1779.], upon Augusta. 6 Already he had sent emissaries among the South Carolina Tories to encourage them to make a general insurrection; and he assured them that, if they would cross the Savannah and join him at Augusta, the Republicans might be easily crushed, and the whole South freed from their pestilential influence. Thus encouraged, about eight hundred Loyalists of North and South Carolina assembled westward of the Broad River, under Colonel Boyd, and marched along the frontier of South Carolina, toward the Savannah. Like a plundering banditti, they appropriated every species of property to their own use, abused the inhabitants, and wantonly butchered several who opposed their rapacious demands.

While these depredators were organizing, and Campbell was proceeding toward Augusta, General Elbert 7 crossed the Savannah, joined Colonels Twiggs and Few, and skirmished with the British van-guard at Brier Creek and other places, to impede their progress. They effected but little, and on the twenty-ninth of January [1779.] Campbell took possession of Augusta, and placed the garrison under Lieutenant-colonel Brown, the Loyalist just mentioned, who, with Lieutenant-colonel M‘Girth, had preceded him thither. Campbell then proceeded to establish military posts in other parts of Western Georgia. The Whigs who could leave with their families crossed the Savannah into Carolina. The oath of allegiance was every where administered; the habitations of those who had fled into Carolina were consumed; and Georgia seemed, for the moment, permanently prostrate at the feet of the invaders. The quiet that ensued was only the calm before a gathering storm. Colonel John Dooly collected a body of active militia on the Carolina shore, thirty miles above Augusta, while Colonel M‘Girth, with three hundred Loyalists, was watching him on the other side. Dooly crossed over into Georgia, and these partisans had several skirmishes. Finally, Major Hamilton, an active officer under M‘Girth, drove Dooly across the Savannah, a short distance below the mouth of Broad River, and encamped at Waters’s plantation, about three miles below the present town of Petersburg, in Elbert county. Dooly took post opposite to Hamilton, where he was joined by Colonel Pickens. Their united forces amounted to about three hundred and fifty men.

Colonel Pickens, who was the senior officer, assumed the command of the whole, and with Dooly crossed the river at Cowen’s Ferry, to attack Hamilton [Feb. 10, 1779.]. That officer had broken up his encampment and marched to Carr’s Fort, not far distant, to examine its condition and administer the oath of allegiance to the surrounding inhabitants. The Americans besieged the fort, and were confident of capturing it, having cut off the supply of water for the garrison, when, at ten o’clock at night, a message came to Colonel Pickens, from his brother, informing him of the march of Boyd and his banditti through the district of Ninety-Six. Unwilling to distress the families who had taken shelter within the fort, Pickens declined a proposition to burn it, and raising the siege, he hastened to confront Boyd, the more important foe. He crossed the Savannah near Fort Charlotte, when Boyd, hearing of his approach, hastened toward the Cherokee Ford. At that ford was a redoubt, garrisoned by eight men, with two swivels. They successfully disputed the passage of Boyd, and he marched five miles up the river, crossed on rafts, and pushed on toward Augusta. He was pursued by a detachment of Americans, under Captain Anderson, who attacked him in a cane-brake. A severe skirmish ensued. Boyd lost one hundred men in killed, wounded, and missing; the Americans lost sixteen killed, and the same number taken prisoners. Boyd hastened forward, and on the morning of the thirteenth [Feb., 1779.] crossed the Broad River, near the fork, in Oglethorpe county, closely pursued by Pickens, with about three hundred militia. The latter marched in battle order. Colonel Dooly 8 commanded the right wing; Lieutenant-colonel Clark the left; and Colonel Pickens the center. Boyd, ignorant of the proximity of his pursuers, halted on the north side of Kettle Creek, turned his horses out to forage upon the reeds of a neighboring swamp, and proceeded to slaughter cattle for his army. In this condition he was attacked [Feb. 14.] by the Americans. The Tory pickets fired, and fled to the camp. The utmost confusion prevailed, and Boyd and his followers began to retreat in great disorder, while skirmishing with the assailants. The contest lasted almost two hours. About seventy of the Tories were killed, and seventy-five were made prisoners. The Americans lost nine killed and twenty-three mortally wounded. Colonel Boyd was severely wounded, and expired that night. His whole force was scattered to the winds. The seventy prisoners were taken to South Carolina, tried for high treason, and condemned to death. Five of the most active ones were hanged, the remainder were pardoned. 9 This was one of the severest blows which Toryism in the South had yet received.

General Lincoln, who was then encamped at Purysburg, in Beaufort District, about twenty-five miles above Savannah, with three thousand men, sent orders to Colonel Ashe [Feb. 16.] to cross the Savannah, and proceed as far as Brier Creek in pursuit of Campbell. At this time, General Rutherford, of North Carolina, was encamped at Black Swamp, on the Carolina side of the Savannah, a few miles above the mouth of Ebenezer Creek, with seven hundred men; and General Williamson, 10 with twelve hundred men, was opposite Augusta. General Ashe crossed the river on the twenty-fifth, and proceeded toward Brier Creek, a considerable stream, which flows into the Savannah in Severn county, about forty-five miles below Augusta. He reached Brier Creek on Saturday morning, the twenty-seventh [Feb., 1779.], and discovered that the bridge across the stream (which is there skirted with a deep swamp three miles wide) was completely destroyed by the enemy. General Rutherford, with part of his brigade, was at Mathew’s Bluff, five miles above, on the opposite side of the Savannah; and Colonel Marbury, of the Georgia horse, lay a few miles up Brier Creek. Ashe’s force consisted of General Bryan’s brigade, Lieutenant-colonel Lyttle’s light infantry, and some Georgia Continentals; in all about twelve hundred men. His artillery consisted of one four pound brass field-piece, and two iron two pound swivels, mounted as field-pieces. Bryant and Elbert were instructed to form the camp, while Ashe crossed the river to confer with General Lincoln. A guard was dispatched to conduct the baggage across to Mathew’s Bluff, in case it was found necessary to retreat; and other guards were stationed at the fords of the creek above, while fatigue-parties were detailed to construct bridges, and to make a road to the river for the passage of Rutherford’s troops with two brass field-pieces.

Ashe returned on the evening of the third [March, 1779.], and was chagrined at not finding the bridge which Campbell had destroyed, repaired. Early the following morning workmen were employed in that duty, but it was too late, and the Americans were quite unprepared for offensive or defensive operations. While in this exposed situation, intelligence came from General Williamson, then on his march from Augusta, that the enemy, under the general command of Prevost, was within eight miles of the American camp above, approaching in full force. Already Marbury, with his dragoons, had encountered the British van, but his express to Ashe had been intercepted. Reconnoitering parties had approached the American pickets, yet they produced neither apprehension nor vigilance. That indifference proved fatal. Prevost, with about eighteen hundred men, had crossed Brier Creek, fifteen miles above Ashe’s camp, made a wide circuit, and, unperceived, had gained his rear. To retreat was now impossible. The drums immediately beat to arms; the troops were formed for action, and cartridges were distributed among them. 11 They then advanced about a quarter of a mile; General Elbert and his command, with Colonel Perkins’s regiment, forming the advance. The British formed their line when within one hundred and fifty yards of the Americans, and at the moment of their advance, Elbert and Perkins opened a severe fire upon them, The Georgians, after delivering two or three rounds, unfortunately inclined to the left, by which the fire of the advancing Newbern regiment was impeded. At the same moment, the Edenton regiment, moving to the right, left a vacancy in the line. This the enemy perceived, and pushed forward on a run, with a loud shout. The Halifax regiment on the left, panic-stricken, broke and fled, without firing a gun. The Wilmington regiment, except a small part under Lieutenant-colonel Young, advanced and delivered two or three volleys, wheeled, and retreated. The Newbern and Edenton regiments followed their example, and in a few minutes the whole of the North Carolina troops were flying to the coverts of the swamps. The Georgia Continentals maintained their ground gallantly for some time; but they, too, were finally repulsed, and General Elbert and a large number of his men were made prisoners. General Ashe tried in vain to reach the front of the fugitives and rally them. They had scattered in all directions; took shelter in the swamps; and, on reaching the Savannah, escaped across it, some by swimming, and others upon rafts. In this retreat many were drowned, and others were lost in the swamps. General Ashe reached Mathew’s Bluff in safety, and afterward collected the remnants of his little army at Zubley’s Ferry [March 16, 1779.], two miles above Purysburg. The loss of the Americans in this action was estimated at one hundred and fifty killed and drowned; twenty-seven officers, and one hundred and sixty-two non-commissioned officers and privates, were taken prisoners; and seven pieces of artillery, a quantity of ammunition, provisions, and baggage, with five hundred stand of arms, were either lost or fell into the hands of Prevost. The British lost only one commissioned officer, and fifteen privates killed and wounded. 12

General Ashe 13 was much censured by contemporary opinion and early historians; and modern compilers have repeated those censures, because he allowed himself to be surprised. Viewing the whole affair from this remote point, and in the light of calm judgment, he appears no more censurable than most other men who were losers instead of winners. Had he succeeded in becoming a victor, his alleged remissness would never have been mentioned; the unfortunate are always blamed. Conscious of having exercised both courage and vigilance, General Ashe appealed from the voice of public opinion to a court-martial, of which General Moultrie 14 was president [March 9, 1779.]. The court acquitted him of every charge of cowardice and deficiency of military skill, but gave their opinion that he did not take all necessary precautions to secure his camp and watch the movements of the enemy. It was an unfortunate affair, for it deprived Lincoln of about one third of his available force, and opened a free communication between the British, Indians, and Tories, in Florida, Western Georgia, and the Carolinas.

We have observed that after the fall of Charleston [May 12, 1780.], and the dispersion of Lincoln’s army, royal power in South Carolina and Georgia was fully established. The Republican governor of Georgia and part of his council fled into North Carolina, and narrowly escaped being captured on the way. Lieutenant-colonel Thomas Brown, whom Campbell placed in command of Augusta early in 1779, now proceeded to that place and garrisoned the fort with a strong force. Brown, as we have seen (page 504), was an early victim of Whig indignation at Augusta, his native place, and he used his power, while in command there, with a fierceness commensurate with his wrath. He sent out detachments to burn the dwellings of patriots in his vicinity, and dispatched emissaries among the Indians to incite them to murder the inhabitants on the frontier. 15 His command at Augusta consisted of two hundred and fifty men, of several corps, principally of Florida rangers; two hundred and fifty Creek and fifty Cherokee Indians; in all, five hundred and fifty. The defenses consisted of a strong fort, situated on the northwest side of the town, upon a bank about one hundred yards from the river. This was the main work, and was called Fort Cornwallis. A little less than half a mile westward of Fort Cornwallis, was a swampy ravine extending up from the river, with a stream running through it. On the western margin of this lagoon, between the present Upper Market and the river, was a smaller work called Fort Grierson, so named in honor of the militia colonel who commanded its garrison.

VIEW FROM THE SITE OF FORT CORNWALLIS. 16

The British remained in possession of Augusta until the spring and summer of 1781, when their repose was disturbed. After the battle at Guilford Court House, and when the determination of Greene to march into South Carolina was made known, Clark and M‘Call proceeded to co-operate with him by annoying the British posts in Georgia. M‘Call soon afterward died of the small-pox, and Clark suffered from the same disease. After his recovery, he, with several other partisans, was actively engaged at various points between Savannah and Augusta, and had frequent skirmishes with the British and Tory scouts. In an engagement near Coosawhatchie, in Beaufort District, South Carolina, where Colonel Brown then commanded, the Americans were defeated; and several who were taken prisoners were hanged, and their bodies given to the Indians to scalp and otherwise mutilate. 17 This was Brown’s common practice, and made his name as hateful at the South as that of "Bloody Bill Cunningham."

On the sixteenth of April [1781.], the Georgia militia, under Colonels Williams, Baker, and Hammond, Major James Jackson (afterward governor of the state), and other officers, assembled near Augusta, and placed the garrison in a state of siege. Williams, who had the general command during Clark’s sickness, encamped within twelve hundred yards of Forts Cornwallis and Grierson, and fortified his camp. Colonel Brown, who was again in command at Augusta, deceived respecting the numbers of the Americans, dared not attack them; and in this position the respective forces remained until the middle of May, when Clark came with one hundred new recruits and resumed the command. About that time, Major Dill approached Augusta with a party of Loyalists to force the Americans to raise the siege. A detachment of Carolina mountaineers and Georgians, under Shelby and Carr, sent by Clark, met them at Walker’s bridge, on Brier Creek, killed and wounded several, and dispersed the rest. Other little successes made the Americans at Augusta feel so strong that Clark determined to attempt an assault. An old iron five pounder, which he had picked up, was mounted within four hundred yards of Fort Grierson, and other dispositions for an attack were made. Powder was scarce, and he sent a message to Colonel Pickens, 18 who was maneuvering between Augusta and Fort Ninety-Six, asking for a supply, and also a re-enforcement of men.

Pickens could not immediately comply, for the Indians having recommenced hostilities on the frontiers of Georgia and Carolina, he had sent part of his force in that direction. Perceiving the importance of seizing Augusta, Pickens informed Greene of the situation of affairs there. That general, then advancing upon Ninety-Six, immediately ordered Lieutenant-colonel Lee, with his legion, to join Pickens and Clark in besieging Augusta. The rapid march of Lee, the capture of Fort Galphin and its stores, and his arrival at Augusta, have been noticed on page 485.

Eggleston, on his arrival, summoned Brown to surrender, at the same time informing him of the approach of a strong force from General Greene’s army. Brown did not credit the information, treated the flag with contempt, and declined giving a written answer. Lee had now arrived, and an immediate assault on Fort Grierson was determined upon. The first measure attempted was to cut off his retreat to Fort Cornwallis. Pickens and Clark were to attack Fort Grierson on the northwest, with the militia; Major Eaton’s battalions and some Georgia militia, under Major Jackson, were to pass down the river and attack it on the northeast; while Lee, with his infantry, took a position south of the fort, so as to support Eaton, or check Brown if he should make a sortie in favor of Grierson. In the skirt of the woods south of Lee, Eggleston, with the cavalry, was stationed. When Brown discovered the peril of Grierson, he made a sortie with two field-pieces, but was soon checked by Lee. Grierson, at the same time, endeavored to evacuate his redoubt, and attempt to throw his command into Fort Cornwallis. Passing down the ravine on the margin of the lagoon, some of the garrison effected their purpose; but thirty of them were slain, and forty five were wounded and taken prisoners. Grierson was captured, but was instantly killed by a Georgia rifleman, who, on account of cruelties inflicted upon his family by his victim, could not be restrained from dealing a blow of vengeance. 19 In this assault Major Eaton was slain.

The Americans now turned their attention to Fort Cornwallis. They were without artillery except the old iron piece in possession of Clark, and Finley’s grasshopper; and their rifles had but little effect upon the fort. Lee suggested the erection of a Mayham tower, which was used so efficiently at Fort Watson and Ninety-Six. This was done, under cover of an old frame house which stood directly in front of the present Episcopal church. This procedure made Brown uneasy, and on the night of the twenty-eighth he sent out a detachment to drive the Americans from their labor. After a severe skirmish, the enemy were driven into the fort at the point of the bayonet. On the succeeding night, a similar attempt was made, with the same result. The tower was completed on the first of June, and for its destruction Brown used every effort in his power. Sallies were made under cover of night, and some severe conflicts ensued. He tried stratagem, 20 and failed in that.

On the thirty-first of May, Brown was summoned to surrender. He refused, and that night a six pounder, brought from Fort Grierson, was placed in battery on the tower. Toward noon, riflemen stationed upon it opened a galling fire upon the garrison, which was continued throughout the day. The guns were soon unmanned by the rifle balls, and the six pounder dismounted them. The garrison dug vaults within the fort to save themselves from the murderous fire of the assailants, and thus the siege went on until the morning of the fourth [June, 1781.], when a general assault was agreed upon. While the Americans were forming for attack, Brown, perceiving the maintenance of his post to be impossible, sent out a flag and offered to make a conditional surrender to Pickens and Lee. The day was spent in negotiations, and early the next morning the fort was surrendered to Captain Rudulph, who was appointed to take possession. The garrison marched out and laid down their arms, and Brown and his fellow-prisoners were paroled to Savannah under a sufficient guard, who marched down the river on the Carolina side. 21 Pickins and Lee soon hastened to the aid of Greene, then investing Ninety-Six. In this siege of Augusta, the Americans had sixteen killed and thirty-five wounded; seven of them mortally. The loss of the British was fifty-two killed; and three hundred and thirty-four, including the wounded, were made prisoners of war. 22 The British never had possession of Augusta after this event.

It was toward noon when we descended Liberty Hill, looked in upon the slave-market at Hamburg (the first and last I ever saw), and crossed Shultz’s bridge to Augusta. After dinner I visited the site of Fort Cornwallis, and made the sketch on page 509; also the site of Fort Grierson, of which no vestiges remain. The rivulet is still there, and the marshy lagoon on the brink of the river; but the "gulley" mentioned in the local histories was filled, and houses and gardens covered the site of the redoubt and its ravelins. At the office of the mayor, I saw (and was permitted to copy) a sketch of the proposed monument to be erected in the middle of the broad and beautifully shaded Greene Street, directly in front of the City Hall, in honor of the Georgia Signers of the Declaration of Independence. It is to be a granite obelisk, forty-five feet in height, composed of square blocks of stone. The base of the obelisk will be six feet eight inches square at the bottom, and gradually tapered to the top. It will rest upon a base twelve feet eight inches square, elevated two feet above the ground. The corner-stone is already laid, and it is to be hoped that another will soon be added to the few monuments already erected to the memory of Revolutionary patriots.

I left Augusta on the evening of the twenty-fifth [Jan., 1849.] with real regret, for the beauty of the city, ornamented with water-oaks, wild olives, holly, palmettoes, magnolias, and other evergreens; the gardens blooming; the orange-trees budding in the bland air, and the courtesy of the citizens whom I met, wooed me to a longer tarry. But "home, sweet home," beckoned me away, and at eight o’clock I entered a mail-coach, with a single fellow-passenger, for a ride of fifty-two miles to the "Ninety-mile Station," on the Great Central Railway. I had a pleasant companion while he kept awake, and we whiled away the tedious night hours by agreeable conversation until we reached Waynesborough, 23 where we exchanged horses and the mails. After leaving the village, I endeavored to sleep. My companion complained that he never could slumber in a coach; and I presume his loud snoring always keeps him awake, for in ten minutes after leaving the post-office his nasal pipes were chanting bass to the alto of the coach-wheels.

We breakfasted at sunrise at a log-house in the forest, and arrived at the rail-way, on the upper border of Severn county, near the banks of the Great Ogeeche, at eleven o’clock, where we dined, and at one departed for Savannah. Swamps, plantations, and forests, with scarcely a hill, or even an undulation, compose the monotonous scenery. While enjoying the pleasing anticipation of an early arrival in Savannah, our locomotive became disabled by the breaking of a piston-rod. We were yet forty miles from our goal, in the midst of a vast swamp, ten miles from any habitation, near the road. The sun went down; the twilight faded away, and yet we were immovable. At intervals the engineer managed to start his steed and travel a short distance, and then stop. Thus we crawled along, and at eleven o’clock at night we reached the thirty mile station, where we supped at the expense of the railway company. At our haltings we started light-wood fires, whose blaze amid the tall trees draped with moss, the green cane-brakes, and the dry oases, garnished with dwarf palmettoes, produced the most picturesque effects. A hand-car was sent down to Savannah for another engine, and at six o’clock in the morning we entered that city. I breakfasted at the Pulaski House, a large building fronting upon Johnson Square, amid whose noble trees stands a monument erected by the citizens of Savannah to the memory of General Greene and the Count Pulaski. 24

We have already considered the events which led to the settlement of the Carolinas, within whose charter limits Georgia was originally included, and we will here refer only to the single circumstance connected with the earlier efforts at settlement, which some believe to be well authenticated, namely, that Sir Walter Raleigh, when on his way to the Orinoco, in South America, entered the Savannah River. and upon the bluff where the city now stands stood and talked with the Indian king. 25 There are reasonable doubts of the truth of this statement.

As late as 1730, the territory lying between the Savannah and Alatamaha Rivers was entirely uninhabited by white people. On the south the Spaniards held possession, and on the west the French had Louisiana, while the region under consideration, partially filled with powerful Indian tribes, was claimed by Great Britain. To prevent France and Spain from occupying it (for the latter already began to claim territory even north of the Savannah), and as a protection to the Carolina planters against the encroachments of their hostile neighbors, various schemes of emigration thither were proposed, but without being effected. Finally, in 1729, General James Oglethorpe, a valorous soldier and humane Christian, then a member of Parliament, made a proposition in that body for the founding of a colony to be composed of poor persons who were confined for debt and minor offenses in the prisons of England. 26 He instituted an inquiry into their condition, which resulted in the conviction that their situation would be more tolerable in the position of a military colony, acting as a barrier between the Carolinians and their troublesome neighbors, than in the moral contamination and physical miseries of prison life. The class of persons whom he designed to transplant to America were not wicked criminals, but chiefly insolvent debtors. Oglethorpe also proposed to make the new colony an asylum for the persecuted Protestants of Germany and other Continental states, and in this religious idea he included the pious thought of spiritual benefit to the Indian tribes. The Earl of Shaftesbury (the fourth bearing that title) and other influential men warmly espoused the scheme, and a general enthusiasm upon the subject soon pervaded the nation. A royal charter was obtained in 1732 for twenty-one years; 27 large sums were subscribed by individuals; and in the course of two years, Parliament voted one hundred and eighty thousand dollars in support of the scheme. 28

GENERAL OGLETHORPE. 29

Oglethorpe volunteered to act as governor of the new colony, and to accompany the settlers to their destination. Accordingly, in November, 1732, he embarked with one hundred and twenty emigrants, and in fifty-seven days arrived off the bar of Charleston. He was warmly welcomed by the Carolinians, and on the thirteenth of January he sailed for Port Royal. While the colonists were landing, Oglethorpe, with a few followers, proceeded southward, ascended the Savannah River to the high bluff, and there selected a spot for a city, the capital of the future state. With the Yamacraw Indians, half a mile from this bluff, dwelt Tomo Chichi, the grand sachem of the Indian confederacy of that region. Oglethorpe and the chief both desired friendly relations; and when the former invited the latter to his tent, Tomo Chichi came, bearing in his hand a small buffalo skin, appropriately ornamented, and addressed Oglethorpe in eloquent and conciliatory terms. 30 Friendly relations were established, and on the twelfth of February [1732.] the little band of settlers came from Port Royal and landed at the site of the future city of Savannah.

Within eight years after the founding of Savannah, twenty-five hundred emigrants had been sent out to Georgia, at an expense of four hundred thousand dollars. 31 Among these were one hundred and fifty Highlanders, well disciplined in military tactics, who were of essential service to Oglethorpe. Very strict moral regulations were adopted; 32 lots of land, twenty-five acres each, were granted to men for military services, and every care was exercised to make the settlers comfortable. Yet discontent soon prevailed, for they saw the Carolinians growing rich by traffic in negroes; they also saw them prosper commercially by trade with the West Indies. They complained of the Wesleyans as too rigid, and these pious Methodists left the colony and returned home. Still, prosperity did not smile upon the settlers, and a failure of the scheme was anticipated.

Oglethorpe, who went to England in 1734, returned in 1736, with three hundred emigrants. A storm was gathering upon the southern frontier of his domain. The Spaniards at St. Augustine regarded the rising state with jealousy, and as a war between England and Spain was anticipated, vigilance was necessary. Oglethorpe resolved to maintain the claim of Great Britain south to the banks of the St. John’s, and the Highlanders, settled at Darien, volunteered to aid him. With a few followers, he hastened in a scout-boat to St. Simon’s Island, where he laid the foundations of Frederica, and upon the bluff near by he constructed a fort of tabby, 33 the ruins of which may still be seen there. He also caused forts to be erected at Augusta, Darien, on Cumberland Island, and near the mouth of the St. Mary’s and St. John’s. Perceiving these hostile preparations, the Spanish authorities at St. Augustine sent commissioners to confer with Oglethorpe.

RUINS OF OGLETHORPE’S BARRACKS AT FREDERICA. 34

After ten years of service in and for the colony of Georgia, Oglethorpe returned to England, and his feet never again pressed the soil of America. His rule had been chiefly military. A civil government was now established [1743.], under the control of a president and council, who were instructed to administer it as the trustees should dictate. Prosperity did not yet gladden the settlers, and the colony had a sickly existence. At length the moral and commercial restrictions began to be evaded; slaves were brought from Carolina, and hired first for a few years, and then for a hundred years, or during life. This was equivalent to a purchase, and was so considered by the parties; for a sum, equal to the value of the slave, was paid in advance. Finally, slave ships came directly to Savannah from Africa; slave labor was generally introduced, and Georgia, like Carolina, became a planting state. In 1752, the trustees, wearied with the complaints of the colonists, resigned the charter into the hands of the king, and from that period until the war of the Revolution, Georgia was a royal province. 35 When the treaty of Paris in 1763 guarantied, as far as possible, general peace in America, the province, for the first time, began to flourish and take an important place among the Anglo-American colonies; and in the hostilities against the Indians on the frontiers, its people performed their part well in furnishing provisions and men for the armies.

The inhabitants of Georgia first began to feel the hand of British taxation, when, in 1767, Governor Wright communicated his instructions from the king to require implicit obedience to the Mutiny Act. 36 They were compelled to acquiesce, but it was with reluctance. They had not realized the practical iniquity of the Stamp Act; and when, in 1768, the Assembly at Savannah appointed Dr. Franklin an agent to attend to the interests of the colony in Great Britain, they had no formal special complaint to make, nor difficulties with government for him to adjust. They generally instructed him to use efforts to have the acts of Parliament repealed, which were offensive to all the colonies. To a circular letter from the speaker of the Massachusetts Assembly [1768.], proposing a union of the colonies, an answer of approval was returned. In 1770 [Feb., 1770.], the Legislature spoke out boldly against the oppressive acts of the mother country, by publishing a Declaration of Rights, similar in sentiment to that of the "Stamp Act congress" at New York. Governor Wright was displeased, and viewing the progress of revolutionary principles within his province with concern, he went to England [1771.] to confer with ministers. He remained there about a year and a half. During his absence, James Habersham, president of the council, exercised executive functions.

On the fourteenth of July [1774.], the Sons of Liberty were requested to assemble at the "liberty pole at Tondee’s tavern, 37 in Savannah, on Wednesday, the twenty-seventh instant, in order that public matters may be taken under consideration, and such other constitutional measures pursued as may then appear most eligible." 38 The call was signed by Noble W. Jones (who in 1780 was a prisoner in Charleston), Archibald Bullock, John Houstoun, and George Walton. A meeting was accordingly held at the watch-house in Savannah [July 27, 1774.], where letters from Northern committees were read, and a committee to draft resolutions was appointed. 39 These proceedings were published, and the governor, alarmed at the progress of rebellion around him, issued a countervailing proclamation [August.]. He called upon the people to discountenance these seditious men and measures, and menaced the disobedient with the penalties of stern British law.

On the tenth of August another meeting was held, when it was resolved to concur with their sister colonies in acts of resistance to oppression. After strongly condemning the Boston Port Bill, they appointed a committee to receive subscriptions for the suffering people of that city, and within a few hours after the adjournment of the meeting, five hundred and seventy-five barrels of rice were contributed and shipped for Massachusetts. The governor assembled his friends at the court-house a few days afterward, and their disapprobation of the conduct of the Republicans was expressed in strong terms. Agents were sent throughout the province to obtain the signatures of the people to a printed denunciation of the Whigs; and, by means of menaces and promises, an apparent majority of the inhabitants declared in favor of royal rule. 40 So powerfully did the tide of opposition against the Whigs flow for a while, that they did not appoint delegates to the Continental Congress, which convened in Philadelphia in September, and Georgia was not represented in that first Federal Republican council, 41 yet they heartily approved of the measure, and by words and actions nobly responded to that first great resolution, adopted by the Continental Congress on the eighth of October, 1774, 42 which approved of the resistance of Massachusetts.

The Republicans continued to assemble during the winter of 1774-5, and in May following they determined to anticipate an act on the part of Governor Wright similar to that of Gage at Boston. Accordingly, on the night of the eleventh of May [1775.], six of the members of the Council of Safety, 43 and others, broke open the magazine, 44 took out the powder, sent a portion of it to Beaufort, South Carolina, and concealed the remainder in their garrets and cellars. The governor offered a reward of one hundred and fifty pounds sterling for the apprehension of the offenders, but the secret was never revealed till the patriots used the powder in defense of their liberties.

On the first of June, Governor Wright and the Loyalists of Savannah prepared to celebrate the king’s birth-day. On the night of the second, some of the leading Whigs spiked the cannon on the battery, and hurled them to the bottom of the bluff. Nineteen days afterward, a meeting was called for the purpose of choosing a committee to enforce the requirements of the American Association, put forth by the Congress of 1774. 45 The first victim to his temerity in opposing the operations of the committee was a man named Hopkins. He ridiculed the Whigs, and they, in turn, gave him a coat of tar and feathers, and paraded him in a cart through the town for four or five hours. About this time, a letter from Governor Wright to General Gage was intercepted by the vigilant Whigs of Charleston. It contained a request for Gage to send some British troops to suppress the rebellious spirit of the Georgians. 46

The Republicans were exceedingly indignant; and when, a day or two afterward, it was known that Captain Maitland had arrived at Tybee Island, at the mouth of the Savannah, with thirteen thousand pounds of powder and other articles for the British and Indians, it was determined to seize the vessel. The Georgia Assembly was then in session. 47 The leading Whigs approved of the enterprise, and on the night of the tenth of July, thirty volunteers, under commodore Bowen and Colonel Joseph Habersham, embarked in two boats, took possession of the ship, discharged the crew, and placed the powder in the magazine in Savannah, except five thousand pounds, which they sent to the army then investing Boston, under General Washington. 48 The Indian hostilities, which occurred at this time on the western frontiers, we have considered in preceding chapters.

The spirit of resistance waxed stronger and stronger during the autumn of 1775. In January, 1776, it assumed a form of strength and determination hitherto unknown in Georgia. On the eighteenth of that month, Colonel Joseph Habersham, 49 who was a member of the Assembly, raised a party of volunteers, took Governor Wright a prisoner, and paroled him to his own house, 50 before which a sentinel was placed, and forbid all intercourse between him and persons inimical to the Republican cause. On the night of the eleventh of February [1776.], during a storm, the governor escaped from a back window of his house, with John Muloyne, and went down the river five miles, to Bonaventure, the residence of that gentleman. There a boat and crew were waiting for him, and he was conveyed to Tybee Sound, and took shelter on board the armed ship Scarborough.

Royal rule had now actually ceased in Georgia, and the Assembly assumed governmental powers. They elected new delegates to the Continental Congress [1776.]; 51 passed a resolution to raise a battalion of Continental troops [Feb. 4.]; 52 and issued bills of credit in the form of certificates, and ordered them to be received at par in payment of debts and for merchandise.

The breach between the Whigs and Tories was now too wide to be closed, and the line was very distinctly drawn by stringent measures on the part of the former. 53 These tended to winnow the chaff from the wheat, and many Tories, possessed of no property, left Georgia and took refuge in East Florida, where Governor Tonyn was actively engaged in fitting out privateers to prey upon the infant commerce of the Southern colonists, and to ravage their coasts. The Tories there organized under the title of the Florida Rangers, and were led by Thomas Brown, the Augusta Loyalist, who afterward commanded the garrison at that place. A fort built by Governor Wright’s brother, on the St. Mary’s, was their place of rendezvous, whence they went out and levied terrible contributions, in the way of plunder, upon the people of Southern Georgia, who were thinly scattered over the country.

The war had now fairly commenced, and the flame of patriotism which burned so brightly at the North was not less intense in Georgia. The Declaration of Independence was received in Savannah [August 10, 1776.] with great joy. 54 Pursuant to the recommendation of the Continental Congress, the people turned their attention to the organization of civil government, upon the basis of independence, and in strengthening their military power. To weaken the British and Tories in the South, an expedition against St. Augustine (then in possession of the English) was planned, and General Charles Lee, then at Charleston, was invited to take the command of troops that might be sent. Lee perceived the advantages to be derived from such a measure, and acquiescing, he immediately ordered Brigadier Robert Howe to proceed to Savannah with troops. Howe had marched as far as Sunbury, at the mouth of the Midway River [August, 1776.], when sickness, want of artillery and other necessaries for the campaign, caused Lee to abandon the enterprise. The effect of this movement was disastrous to the Whigs. The Tories gained confidence; and on the seventh day of February, 1777, they attacked Fort M‘Intosh. 55 The garrison was commanded by Captain Richard Winn, of South Carolina. After holding out for two days, he was obliged to surrender. The officers and privates of the garrison were all paroled except two young officers, who were taken to St. Augustine and kept as hostages.

During the autumn of 1776, a convention was held in Savannah to form a state Constitution. It was adopted on the 5th of February following [1777.], and Button Gwinnett, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was chosen president of the council, an office equivalent in its functions to that of governor. In consequence of military rivalry, a serious difficulty arose between Gwinnett and Colonel M‘Intosh, 56 who had just been elected brigadier general of the Georgia Continental troops. A duel ensued, when both were wounded, each with a bullet in the thigh. M‘Intosh recovered; Gwinnett died. M‘Intosh was tried for murder, at the instance of Gwinnett’s friends, and was acquitted. This quarrel produced a serious local agitation, which at one time menaced the Republican stability of Georgia, and the true friends of the cause were alarmed. To allay party feeling, General M‘Intosh consented to accept of a station at the North; and Washington appointed him commander-in-chief of the Western Department, with his head-quarters at Pittsburg, where we have already met him. (See page 294.)

During the winter and spring of 1778, the opponents of the new government became formidable, and indications of an invasion of Georgia, from Florida and from the Indian territory in the West, was perceived. Tories gathered at Ninety-Six, and crossed the Savannah, while those of Florida, joined by the Indians, continued to scatter desolation along the southern frontier. Robert Howe, 57 of North Carolina, now promoted to the rank of major general, was in the chief command of the Southern army, and favored the yet cherished design to march into Florida and disperse the Loyalists. In fact, this measure had become a chief desideratum, for the gathering storm on the frontier of that state was pregnant with evil omens for the whole South. The Loyalists were gaining strength on the St. Mary’s, St. John’s, and at Pensacola, and re-enforcements of British troops were expected at St. Augustine [April, 1778.]. Howe moved his head-quarters from Charleston to Savannah. His regulars, who were in a condition to take the field, did not exceed five hundred and fifty men. These were joined by the commands of Colonels C. C. Pinckney, Bull, and Williamson.

Governor Houstoun, of Georgia, who was requested to furnish three hundred and fifty militia, cheerfully complied. Thus prepared, Howe marched toward the Alatamaha, when he was informed that a body of British regulars, under General Augustine Prevost, a large force of Loyalists, under Colonel Brown, and numerous Indians, were moving toward the St. Mary’s for the purpose of invading Georgia. Already Colonel Elbert had been victorious at Frederica, 58 and Howe felt certain of success, when, on the twentieth of May [1778.], he reached the Alatamaha, and learned how rumors of his expedition had alarmed the Tories of East Florida. His enterprise was exceedingly popular, and the sympathy of the whole Southern people, who were favorable to Republicanism, was with him. With scanty supplies, he pushed forward in the midst of many difficulties, to Fort Tonyn, on the St. Mary’s [June, 1778.], which the enemy abandoned and partly demolished on his approach. Here he ordered a general rendezvous of all the troops, and of the galleys, under Commodore Bowen, preparatory to making an assault upon St. Augustine.

The British, emboldened by this second failure of the Americans to invade Florida, and counting largely upon the depressing influence it would have upon the patriots, hastened to invade Georgia in turn. Savannah was the chief point of attack. It was arranged that a naval force, with land troops from the North, should enter the river and invest the city; while General Prevost, who commanded in East Florida, should march toward the same point from St. Augustine, with his whole motley band of regulars, Tories, and Indians, to awe the people in that direction, and by preliminary expeditions weaken the Americans. 59 Hitherto the British arms had been chiefly directed against the Northern and Middle States, but with little effect. The patriots had steadily maintained their ground, and the area actually out of possession of the Americans was very small. Sir Henry Clinton was master of New York city, but almost every where else the Americans held possession. To the South he looked for easier and more extensive conquests; and against Savannah, the apparently weakest point, he directed his first operations. Lieutenant-colonel Campbell, an efficient and reliable officer, sailed from Sandy Hook on the twenty-seventh of November [1778.], with more than two thousand land troops, 60 covered by a small squadron, under Commodore Parker. The fleet arrived at Tybee Island (see map, page 520), near the mouth of the Savannah, on the twenty-third of December. Six days afterward, the vessels and transports had crossed the bar, and the troops were landed at daybreak [Dec. 29.], without much opposition, three miles below the town, above Five-fathom Hole, opposite Brewton’s Hill. 61

General Howe, whose army was now augmented to a little less than seven hundred men, was at Sunbury when intelligence was received at Savannah of the approach of the British fleet. Governor Houstoun immediately sent an express to Howe with the information. At the same time, another messenger arrived at Sunbury from the South, informing Howe that General Prevost, with all his force, was on his way from St. Augustine to invade Georgia. All was alarm and confusion when the latter intelligence reached Savannah. The governor sent the public records to Purysburg for safety, from whence they were afterward carried to Charleston. The small battery on the eastern extremity of the city was strengthened, and the people aided the soldiers in casting up intrenchments. 62

After Campbell had formed his army on Brewton’s Hill, he moved forward, and took a position within eight hundred yards of the American front, where he maneuvered in a manner to excite the belief that he intended to attack the center and left. This was at three o’clock in the afternoon. This movement was only a diversion in favor of a body of infantry and New York volunteers, commanded by Sir James Baird, who, under the guidance of an old negro named Quamino Dolly, withdrew unperceived, and by a by-path through the swamp at the South, were gaining the American rear. To this by-path Walton had called Howe’s attention in the morning, but knowing its obscurity, the general did not think it worthy of regard. Sir James and his party reached the White Bluff road unperceived. and, pressing forward, attacked Walton’s Georgia brigade on flank and rear. Walton was wounded and taken prisoner, and such was the fate of a large portion of his command. At the same moment Campbell moved forward and attacked the Americans in front. The patriot line was soon broken, and, perceiving the growing panic and confusion, Howe ordered a retreat over the causeway across Musgrove’s Swamp, west of the town. To that point Colonel Roberts, in obedience to early orders, if the contingency should occur, hastened with the artillery, to cover the retreat. Already the enemy was there in force to dispute the passage. By great exertions, the American center gained the causeway and escaped without loss. The right flank also retreated across, but suffered from an oblique enfilading fire; while to Colonel Elbert, with the left, the passage was closed after a severe conflict. He and his troops attempted to escape by the rice-fields, but it being high water in the creek, none but those who could swim succeeded, and these lost their guns and accoutrements. Many were drowned, and the remainder were taken prisoners. While the British were pursuing the Americans through the town toward Musgrove’s Creek, many citizens, some of whom had not been in the battle, were bayoneted in the streets; but when the action was over, life and property were spared. Campbell’s humanity and generosity as a man were equal to his skill and bravery as a soldier, and the active terrors of war in the city ceased with the battle. 63 Yet deep sadness brooded over Savannah that night, for many bereaved ones wept in bitter anguish over relatives, slain or mortally wounded. 64 Those few who escaped across Musgrove’s Swamp, retreated up the Savannah and joined Howe, who, with the center, fled as far as Cherokee Hill, eight miles distant, and halted. The whole fugitive force then pushed up the Savannah to Zubley’s Ferry, where they crossed into South Carolina. Howe saved three field-pieces in his flight. 65

The fall of Sunbury was the death-blow to Republican power in East Georgia, and the conquest of the whole state now appeared an easy thing. The march of Campbell to Augusta, under the direction of Prevost, who proceeded from Sunbury to Savannah; the establishment of military posts in the interior; Campbell’s sudden retreat from Augusta, and the subsequent battle at Brier Creek, we have already considered. Previous to these events, and soon after the failure of Howe’s summer campaign against East Florida, General Lincoln 66 had been appointed to the command in the Southern department [September 26, 1778.], and Howe was ordered to the North, where we find him in the summer of 1779, at Verplanck’s Point. 67

Several minor expeditions were planned and executed both by Prevost and Lincoln, but they had little effect. The latter arrived at Purysburg, upon the Savannah, on the third of January, 1779, and established his head-quarters there. His force consisted of about twenty-five hundred effective men, and it continually augmented by recruits from the militia. The marches and counter marches of these generals in attempts to foil each other will be noticed while considering the attack upon Charleston in May following, and its immediate antecedent events. 68

Lincoln marched from Charleston to Zubley’s Ferry, where he concentrated his troops on the twelfth of September. Count Pulaski, 69 with his legion, and General M‘Intosh, with his command, were dispatched toward Savannah, a little in advance of the main army, to attack the British outposts. Both parties had several skirmishes with the enemy before they reached the French army, already landed at Beaulieu, or Beuley. This junction effected, M‘Intosh returned to Miller’s plantation, three miles from Savannah, where Lincoln, with the main army, arrived on the sixteenth, and made his head-quarters. While Lincoln and his force were approaching, the French effected a landing at Beuley and Thunderbolt, without opposition. M‘Intosh urged D’Estaing to make an immediate attack upon the British works. D’Estaing would not listen, but advanced within three miles of Savannah [Sept. 16, 1779.], and demanded an unconditional surrender to the King of France. Prevost refused to listen to any summons which did not contain definite provisions, and asked for a truce until the next day to consider the subject. This was granted by D’Estaing, and, in the mean while twelve hundred white men and negroes were employed in strengthening the fortifications, and mounting additional ordnance. This truce Lincoln at once perceived was fatal to the success of the besiegers, for he had ascertained that Maitland, with eight hundred men, was on his way from Beaufort, to re-enforce Prevost, and that his arrival within twenty-four hours was the object hoped to be gained by a truce for that length of time. Such proved to be the fact; Maitland, under cover of a fog, eluded the vigilance of the French cruisers, and entered the town on the afternoon of the seventeenth. 70 His arrival gave Prevost courage, and toward evening he sent a note to D’Estaing bearing a positive refusal to capitulate. The golden opportunity was now lost to the combined armies. 71

VIEW OF THE REMAINS OF THE FRENCH WORKS. 72

Just before dawn on the morning of the ninth, about four thousand five hundred men of the combined armies moved to the assault in the midst of a dense fog, and under cover of a heavy fire from all the batteries. 73 They advanced in three columns, the principal one commanded by D’Estaing in person, assisted by General Lincoln; another main column by Count Dillon. The first was directed against the Spring Hill redoubt 74 (between 11 and 12 on the right side of the map); the second was to move silently along the edge of a swamp, pass the redoubts and batteries, and assail the rear and weakest point of the British lines, toward the river on the east; the third column, under General Isaac Huger, was to make a feigned attack in front, to attract attention from the other two. Fog and darkness allowed D’Estaing and Lincoln to approach very near the Spring Hill redoubt before they were discovered. Terrible was the conflict at this point just as the day dawned. The French column- led to the assault, and were confronted by a blaze of musketry from the redoubt and by a cross-fire from the adjoining batteries. Whole ranks were mowed down like grass before the scythe. D’Estaing was wounded in the arm and thigh early in the action, and was carried to his camp. The Americans pressed forward: Lieutenant-colonel Laurens led the light troops on the left of the French, while General M‘Intosh, with another column, passed the abatis, and entered the ditch north of the Spring Hill redoubt. Regardless of the destructive storm, the gallant troops leaped the ditch, and planted the crescent 75 and the lily upon the parapet. The gallant and accomplished Maitland commanded this right wing of the besieged, and was prepared for a vigorous assault. 76 His practiced eye at once perceived the peril of the garrison, if this lodgment should be sustained. He united the grenadiers and marines nearest the point of attack, and ordered Lieutenant-colonel Glazier to lead them to a recovery of the lost ground. Within five minutes after receiving this order, Glazier, at the head of his men, rushed to the parapet, and made a furious charge with the bayonet upon the worried ranks of the assailants. This blow by fresh and vigorous men, could not be withstood. The standards of France and of our Carolina were torn down, and the gallant men who had assisted in planting them there were pressed from the parapet into the ditch, and driven through the abatis.

While the carnage was occurring at the Spring Hill redoubt, Huger and Pulaski were endeavoring to force the enemy’s works on different sides of the town; Huger, with his party, waded almost half a mile through rice-fields, and assailed the works on the east. They were received with a sharp fire of cannon and musketry, and, after losing twenty-eight men, retreated. Pulaski, at the same time, with about two hundred horsemen, endeavored to force his way into the town a little eastward of the Spring Hill redoubt. At the head of his troops he had passed the abatis, banner in hand, and was pressing forward, when a small cannon shot struck him in the groin, and he fell to the ground. His first lieutenant seized the banner, and for a few minutes kept the troops in action; but the iron hail from the seamen’s batteries and the field artillery, traversing the columns of the assailants in all directions, compelled the whole force of the combined armies to yield, and they retreated to the camp. Back through the smoke, and over the bodies of the dead and dying, some of Pulaski’s soldiers returned, found the expiring hero, and bore him from the field. Already the French had withdrawn, and the Continentals, under Lincoln, were retreating. At ten o’clock, after about five hours’ hard fighting, the combined armies displayed a white flag, and asked a truce in order to bury the dead. Prevost granted four hours, and during that interval D’Estaing and Lincoln consulted in relation to further operations. The latter, although his force was greatly diminished by the action just closed, wished to continue the siege; but D’Estaing, whose loss had been heavy, resolved on immediate departure. 77 The siege was raised, and on the evening of the eighteenth [Oct., 1779.] the combined armies withdrew; the Americans to Zubley’s Ferry, and the French to Caustin’s Bluff, whence they repaired to their ships at Tybee [Oct. 20.]. Lincoln and his little army hastened to Charleston, where we shall meet them again, besieged and made prisoners of war. These events closed the campaigns in the South for that year. 78

The result of the siege was a death-blow to the hopes of the South, and never since the beginning of hostilities had such gloom gathered over the prospects of the future, or so much real distress prevailed in Georgia. 79 Toward the sea-board every semblance of opposition to royal power was crushed, and only in the interior did the spirit of armed resistance appear. This increased during the following winter and spring, and at last disturbed the quiet of the royal forces in Savannah. These events, sometimes trivial in themselves, but important in the great chain of circumstances, are related in detail by M‘Call, Stevens, White, and other chroniclers of the state. The most important we have already considered; let us now glance at the closing events of the war in Georgia.

When General Greene raised the siege of Ninety-Six, Major James Jackson 80 was appointed to the command of the garrison at Augusta. Greene also ordered a legionary corps (composed of part cavalry and part infantry) to be raised in Georgia, and appointed Major Jackson its colonel. As soon as it was organized, Jackson went out with it upon active service.

His force was inferior to that of the British in Savannah, then commanded by Brigadier-general Alured Clarke, 81 and he was obliged to content himself with petty warfare upon outposts and foraging parties, while watching an opportunity to attack Savannah at night. Fearing this, Clarke summoned his detachments to the city, to man the extensive fortifications. They came with provisions plundered from the inhabitants, and applying the torch on the way, left a broad track of desolation behind them.

Early in 1782, the British Parliament, perceiving the futility of attempts hitherto to subdue the Americans, now began to listen to the voice of reason and of humanity, and steps were taken toward the establishment of peace, between the United States and Great Britain, upon the basis of the independence of the former. On the fourth of March [1782.], the House of Commons passed a resolution in favor of peace, and active hostilities ceased. Preparations were now made for the evacuation of Savannah, and on the eleventh of July the British army evacuated it, after an occupation of three years and a half. Wayne, in consideration of the services of Colonel James Jackson, appointed him to "receive the keys of Savannah from a committee of British officers." He performed the service with dignity, and on the same day the American army entered Savannah, when royal power ceased in Georgia forever. 82 A few days afterward, Colonel Posey, with the main body of the Americans, marched to join Greene in South Carolina. Wayne soon followed with the remainder; hostilities ceased, 83 and the beams of peace shed their mild radiance over the desolated state, and gave promise of that glorious day of prosperity and repose which speedily followed.

DWELLING OF GENERAL M‘INTOSH. 84

Governor Martin called a special meeting of the Legislature in Savannah [Aug., 1782.], about three weeks after the evacuation. They assembled in the house of General M‘Intosh, which is yet (1852) standing on South Broad Street, between Drayton and Abercorn Streets. The session was short, but marked by decision and energy. On the first Monday in January following, the constitutional session commenced at the same place. Every branch of the new government was speedily organized, and the free and independent State of Georgia began its career. 85

1 For an account of the capture of Fort Galphin or Dreadnought, at Silver Bluff, see page 484.

2 This village was projected by a German named Schultz, who called it Hamburg, in honor of the "free city" of that name in his native land. He also built the noble bridge across the Savannah at that place, delineated on page 509.