CHAP. I. were under the necessity of running across a 1779. plain, in front of the corps which had been

led into their rear by sir James Baird, who attacked their flanks with great impetuosity, and considerable execution. Those who escaped retreated up the Savannah, and crossing that river at Zubly's ferry, took refuge in South Carolina.*

This victory was complete, and decisive in its consequences. About one hundred of the Americans were either killed in the field, or drowned in attempting to escape through a deep swamp in their way. Thirty-eight officers, and four hundred and fifteen privates were taken. Forty-eight pieces of cannon, twentythree mortars, the fort with all its military stores, a large quantity of provisions collected for the use of the southern army, and the ca pital of Georgia, fell on the day of the action into the hands of the enemy. These advantages were obtained at no other expense than the loss of seven killed, and nineteen wounded.

No military force now remaining in Georgia except the garrison of Sunbury, whose retreat to South Carolina was entirely cut off, all the lower part of that state fell into the hands of the enemy, who adopted measures to preserve the

* At a late period of the war, a court of inquiry was ordered on general Howe, who acquitted him of all blame.

conquest they had made. A degree of lenity, seldom experienced in the course of the war by the vanquished, was used towards the inhabitants generally. Their property was spared, and their persons protected. To make the best use of the victory which had been obtained, and of the favourable impression produced by the moderation displayed after that victory, a proclamation was issued inviting the inhabitants to repair to the British standard, and offering protection to those who would return to their allegiance. This proclamation enlarged on those topics which were calculated to promote the British interest with the mass of the people, and with it were also published forms of the oath to be administered, and of the certificate to be given to those who should accept the proffered terms.

The effects of these measures, did not disappoint those who adopted them. The inhabitants in great numbers flocked in to the royal standard. Military corps for the protection of the country were formed, and posts were established for a considerable distance up the river.

CHAP. I.

1779.

The northern frontier of Georgia being supposed to be settled into a state of quiet, and such a disposition made of the troops as was thought best calculated to shut up all the avenues leading from South Carolina, colonel Sunbury Campbell turned his attention towards Sun- to general bury, and was about proceeding against that

surrenders

Prevost.

CHAP. I. place, when he received the intelligence of its 1779. having surrendered to general Prevost.

The state

of Georgia reduced.

Sir Henry Clinton, when he planned the southern expedition, had ordered general Prevost to co-operate from East Florida with colonel Campbell. That officer immediately collected all the force which could be spared from the defence of St. Augustine, and on hearing that the troops from the north were off the coast, he immediately entered the southern frontier of Georgia, and invested Sunbury, which, after a slight resistance, surrendered at discretion. Having placed a garrison in this fort, he proceeded to Savannah, and took command of the army from New York, to which was now added the force he had conducted from East Florida. Colonel Campbell was immediately detached with about eight hundred regulars and a few provincials to Augusta, of which place he took possession without any difficulty, and thus the whole state of Georgia was reduced.

While the expedition conducted by colonel Campbell against the southern states was preparing in New York, congress was meditating the conquest of East Florida.

The delegates of South Carolina and Georgia, anxious that a general of more experience than Howe should command in the southern department, had earnestly pressed that he should be recalled, and that general Lincoln, who had

1779.

coln takes the

the southern

been second in command in the army which CHAP. I. captured Burgoyne, and whose military reputation was high, should be appointed to succeed him. In compliance with their solicitations, Howe was ordered in September 1778, General Linto repair to the head quarters of general Wash- command of ington, and Lincoln was directed to proceed immediately to Charleston in South Carolina, in order to take command in the southern department. On the same day, congress passed a resolution requesting the executive powers of Virginia and North Carolina, to give all possible aid to South Carolina and Georgia. Soon after the passage of the resolution, general Lincoln set out for Charleston, where he found the military affairs of the country in a state of utter derangement. Congress had been so remiss, or had so misjudged on the public interests, as to have established no continental military chest in the southern department. The effect of this omission was a dependence on the civil authority of the state for supplies which should enable the army to move on any emergency, and a subjection in a great degree, of the troops in continental service, to the control of the state government. The militia, though taken into continental pay, considered themselves as subject only to the military code of the state. These regulations threatened to embarrass the movements in the field, and to embroil the military with the civil authority.

CHAP. I.

While general Lincoln was labouring to

1779. make arrangements for the ensuing campaign, he received intelligence of the appearance of the enemy off the coast. So promptly was the requisition of congress on Virginia and North Carolina complied with by the latter of those states, that two thousand men raised by her in conformity therewith, had marched under generals Ash, and Rutherford, and had reached Charleston before the appearance of commodore Parker on the coast.

But unfortunately, the state of North Carolina had taken no measures to provide her militia with arms; and congress had been unable to lay up magazines in this division of the union. The troops under Ash and Rutherford were, therefore, entirely dependent on South Carolina for every military equipment. That state being more exposed to invasion, had been more provident in preparing to meet it. Her supplies however, were not so abundant as to exceed her own probable demands, and this circumstance, added perhaps to a wish that the reenforcement from North Carolina should remain in the neighbourhood of Charleston, until it should be apparent that the operations of the enemy were directed against some other object, induced the executive of the state to withhold the delivery of the arms, until it was too late to save the capital of Georgia.

So soon, however, as it was ascertained that the British fleet had entered the Savannah river,