[patriotic fife and drum music] ♪ [mortar fire booming] ♪ [musket fire popping] ♪ [mortar fire booming] ♪ [mortar fire booming] ♪ Dr.

Lumpkin> With the war stalemated in the north.

And Canada safe from American attack.

The British High Command now determined that major operations should take place in the southern theater, where Loyalist elements were known to be or believed to be very strong indeed.

November of 1778, Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell, commanding a picked force of 3,000 crack troops attacked and completely routed American defense forces below Savannah and captured the city, the major city of the Colony of Georgia, without very much trouble.

Thus, establishing a major British operating base in the South.

♪ The French Alliance, which was consummated on February 6th, 1778, now finally became productive.

Admiral d'Estaing who had supported the capture of Grenada and Saint Vincent in the West Indies.

And defeated in a naval engagement the British Admiral Byron in the summer of 1779, now arrived off the South Carolina coast with a powerful fleet and 4,000 French troops.

Governor John Rutledge of South Carolina, the American Commander in Charleston, Benjamin Lincoln, and the French Consul a Monsieur Plombard, had written several letters to Admiral d'Estaing in the West Indies requesting his support in the attack on Georgia.

About the First of September, 1779, an officer, a French officer, came to Charleston from the French fleet, then off the Charleston bar.

This officer informed General Benjamin Lincoln that the Comte d'Estaing was ready to support an attack on Savannah, but urged haste, as it was dangerous for the French fleet to remain off the coast during the hurricane season.

The British, on the other hand, did not know of d'Estaing's arrival until the Fourth of September, when British scout vessels sighted the French fleet of 41 sail, including transports, south of Tybee.

Major General Augustine Prevost was informed immediately, and efforts began to put Savannah in a proper state of defense against a combined Franco-American amphibious assault.

Lieutenant Colonel John Harris Cruger was ordered to bring his garrison up from Sunbury.

Lietenant Colonel John Maitland, holding Beaufort and Captain Christian of the Royal Navy with his ships and galleys, were ordered to fall back in support of Savannah from Beaufort.

The guns were landed from the small British squadron stationed at Savannah- The sea guns, the ship's guns, and placed in the fortifications.

While several ships were sunk across the channel below the town and a boom laid across the river to prevent fire ships from being sent down, one armed vessel remained in the river above the sunken vessels.

On September the 5th, Benjamin Lincoln gave orders for all officers and soldiers to rejoin their regiments.

He took command at sheldon on September the 12th, and William Moultrie was designated as commander in Charleston, during his absence.

The French fleet anchored off Savannah Bar.

On September 9th, the large line of battleships, the two and three deckers could not approach the shore with the water shallowed.

Small boats therefore were used, and these had to be sent from Charleston.

It was not until the 12th, that 3,000 of Admiral the Comte d'Estaing troops were put ashore of necessity at Beaulieu on ausable sound, a few miles south of Savannah.

D'estaing promptly moved on Savannah without waiting for Benjamin Lincoln, or the American Army to join him, and on the 16th of September he invested Savannah and demanded the Major General Prevost surrender in the name of his most Christian Majesty, the King of France.

The summons was presented without any reference to Admiral d'Estaing's American allies.

The French Admiral also boarded with considerable arrogance, his successful capture of Grenada, and threatened to hold Augustine Prevost personally responsible for a useless prolongation of the matter.

This conduct naturally aroused considerable suspicion among the Americans, who resented such uncalled for rudeness.

Suppose Admiral d'Esataing captured Savannah and then held it in the name of Louis, 16th.

Benjamin Lincoln protested, and d'Estaing apparently made an adequate explanation, but suspicion still persisted.

Major General Prevost answered the summons to surrender most correctly, according to European 18th century usage, and asked for 24 hours to consider terms, under which a submission might be made.

This... somewhat stupidly, Admiral d'Estaing granted since he could have taken Savannah by storm at this time without any American assistance.

The delay gave Augustine Prevost the time he needed to complete his fortifications and bring Lieutenant John Maitland and Captain Christian from Beaufort as much needed reinforcements.

John Maitland was seriously ill with fever.

It was to kill him, shortly after the battle for Savannah.

A very able officer, John Maitland, who'd beaten back Lincoln at the Stono River during a hot retreating action- He now push toward Savannah.

The French held the lower river, so John Maitland and his men cut through the marshes for two miles, dragging the boats through the deep... mud and shallow creeks, and anyone who's not done this, and I have in my younger days does not know what it means.

He arrived with 800 veteran soldiers.

The remainder of the garrison, which could not be transported for lack of boats, remained with the ships and galleys under Captain Christian.

With retreat cut off, they fortified themselves on Calibogue Sound, where the French and the Americans did not try to attack them.

Savannah now was properly held, and Major General Prevost promptly sent a message of defiance to Admiral d'Estaing, the moment to attack had been lost and never was to come again.

On the 23rd of September, Benjamin Lincoln from Charleston finally joined Admiral d'Estaing before Savannah.

With the Georgian and South Carolina Continentals, plus militia troops, he had a large force which numbered some 4,000 men, and the French and the Americans the combined arms numbered over 7,000.

The British reinforced army holding Savannah was 2,500 strong.

After Lincoln arrived, it took some time to bring to land and bring up the heavy artillery from the ships.

This was difficult because of the scarcity of horses and artillery carriages.

Delayed by this, the combined armies of French and Americans broke ground for the first approach, a regular siege approach, on September the 4th.

The artillery batteries, the French and American artillery batteries, however, were not in position until the 4th of October, again a delay in operations which was to prove disastrous to the Allied Forces.

During this time, two sorties by the British garrison interrupted the work of the besiegers.

The first, led by a Major Graham of the 16th Regiment, reached the French and American lines and fooled them into utter confusion.

When the raiding party retired, it was followed so closely that the pursuers lost heavily to musket fire directed from the British works.

The second sortie under Major Archibold McArthur of the 71st Highlanders was carried out so adroitly that it produced an exchange of fire between the French and American lines.

The allies fired upon each other.

Meanwhile, the entire garrison, assisted by a large number of Black slaves, worked incessantly in the very able direction of Captain Moncrief, a military engineer.

When the French first landed there only one were about a dozen pieces of mounted artillery on the fortifications, before the siege was finished, there were more than 100 cannon in position.

On the morning of October 4th, the batteries of the besiegers opened with a fire of 53 heavy cannon and 14 mortars.

At this time, Major General Prevost requested the women and children, the women and children in this town might be permitted to leave Savannah and go on board vessels on the river.

These vessels, then would be placed under the protection of the Comte d'Estaing the women and children, to await the outcome of the siege.

This humane proposal was rejected by the French and the Americans, who apparently feared that Prevost would use the delay to strengthen his works further.

A somewhat delayed consideration.

Fortunately, the cannonade, which lasted from the 4th to the 9th of October cost few civilian or even military lives for that matter, and also did little material damage to the fortifications.

Now Savannah is situated on the southern bank of the river, and in the 18th century the town was secured on two sides- The Savannah River on its northern front and its western side was covered by a heavily wooded swamp, communicating with the river above the town.

The southern and eastern sides were open to the country, which for several miles, have been cleared of forest, and offered a level area for attack.

Augustine Prevost, by this time, by the time the attack took place, had covered the area with a line of works the right and left defended by redoubts and the center by seaman's batteries.

The works around the town were surrounded with abatis with impalement and traverses thrown up in the rear to protect the troops from enemy fire, enemy mortar fire.

There were three redoubts on the right toward the swamp.

The center redoubt was garrisoned by two companies of loyal Georgia Militia, with the North Carolina Loyalist Regiment in support under Lieutenant Colonel John Hamilton.

On the right, were Captains Byworth and Wylie.

of the South Carolina Corps of King's Rangers.

Captain Tawes with his provincial dragoons, held the left called the Spring Hill Redoubt.

And he was supported by a regiment of South Carolina Loyalists commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Brown.

The same gentleman had been tarred and feathered, and his feet held to a fire in 1775 for his loyalty to his king.

To the right to the Spring Hill Redoubt covering the river approaches, was an able battery, battery of nine pounders, supported by a company of the British Legion, a crack loyalist outfit commanded by a Captain Stuart.

Between the Center and the Spring Hill Redoubt was another naval battery under Captain Manby.

And posted behind were the grenadiers of the 16th Regiment of foot, regular British, plus the Marines from the British ships of war, all led by Lieutenant Colonel Beamsley Glazier.

The entire force on the right of the lines was led by the mortally ill Lieutenant Colonel John Maitland, the one who'd brought his troops through the swamps from Beaufort.

On the left of the lines, facing the open country were two strong redoubts constructed like Fort Moultrie at Charleston, of spongy palmetto log cribs filled with sand and mounting heavy guns.

One of these was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Harris Cruger of the New York Loyalists, the other by Major James Wright, the son of the royal Governor of Georgia and grandson of Chief Justice Wright of South Carolina.

He was leading Georgia Loyalists.

The center of the works protected by impalements, and traverses- Internal fortifications thrown up to protect the troops from arching fire were two battalions of the 71st Regiment, the Highlanders, two regiments of Hessians, the New York Volunteers, a battalion of DeLancey's foot, and the light infantry of the Army.

These all were placed under Major Graham, A Major Graham, to support quickly any part of the lines heavily attacked.

As so often happened in the southern fighting, more than half of the defenders were Americans loyal to their king, opposed to Americans and the new French allies.

A very ironic commentary on the fighting and the assault, which now was to take place.

The five-day cannonade October 4 to 9, and the bombardment had not dislodged the defenders nor destroyed their works.

[mortar fire booming] Comte d'Estaing already had spent a month in front of Savannah.

[mortar fire booming] He'd estimated the operation would only last 10 or 12 days.

[mortar fire booming] Before the arrival of Maitland and the completion of the fortifications, the town could have been taken by a direct assault if the Americans and French had attacked together, when the former marched in on the 17th of September, Savannah still might have been stormed, but the delays had been fatal to the Allied plans.

Augustine Prevost, the British General commanding, now was ready to repel any attack, that came.

Also, the hurricane season was advanced and the Count d'Estaing with his senior officers was concerned about the safety of his fleet.

Now was as well, the possibility of the arrival of a powerful British fleet from the north always present, and Admiral d'Estaing therefore informed Benjamin Lincoln, that the siege must be raised or the town stormed forthwith.

There was absolutely nothing that Benjamin Lincoln could do but agree or lose his French allies.

On the morning of 8th October, a French Major named L'Enfant with five volunteers tried to burn the abatis- The thorn work, of pointed stakes thrust out in front of the fortifications.

A heavy fire by the defenders, the greenness of the wood, and the damp morning frustrated the attempt.

A morass on the British right, which covered a quarter of the town, presented an approach to the town from a sink, a gully which ran along the margin of the swamp and the dry land.

Using this, the attackers could move along the swamp, [mortar fire booming] under this cover and attack, with only a short distance exposed to enemy fire before the works were reached.

Major General Prevost had seen this and dotted the area with his best troops.

Benjamin Lincoln and Admiral d'Estaing also were aware of the possibilities of this sink, this gully along the swamp edge.

And General Lincoln, on the evening of the eighth established his order of battle.

The infantry assigned to carry out the assault were divided into two groups.

The first was composed of light troops drawn from companies attached to the continental regiments and commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens of South Carolina.

The second consisted of the continental battalions, with the First Battalion of the Charleston Militia.

The entire force was ordered to parade at one in the morning of the 9th of October, and the invalids, the sick were assigned to guard the camps and keep the campfires burning as usual, to decoy the enemy into thinking no attack would take place.

The American cavalry were to parade at the same time, and were instructed to follow the left column of the French assault troops and precede the American light troops, with orders to try and penetrate the enemy lines toward the river.

[mortar fire booming] The American field artillery would follow the French guns.

A militia of the first and second brigades followed General Andrew Williamson.

The Second Battalion of the Charleston Militia was led by General Isaac Huger.

500 of these men were to be part of a secondary assault force, and 500 remained on the advanced parallel and awaited orders.

The 500 led by Isaac Huger, were to move to the left of the enemy lines and remain there until 4 A.M.

At which time they would advance to the assault.

Isaac Huger was to attack as near to the river as possible.

[mortar fire booming] This would be a feint, but if the opportunity presented itself, Huger was to wash the works.

Again, the same delays which dogged the entire unhappy operation prevailed, and the assault plan for pre-dawn did not take place until daylight.

Thus all surprise was lost.

[mortar fire booming] Adequate reconnaissance very clearly had not been conducted.

Isaac Huger found a flooded rice field, such as that- Boring his way through which his men had to wade, when he emerged, he was met with a blast of artillery and musket fire, and his militia retreated faster I fear then they ever had advanced.

Count Dillon's column lost its way in the swamp during the pre-dawn darkness.

An easy thing for anyone to do, as anyone can tell you, it's harder to fish than South Carolina and Georgia swamps.

This column did not emerge until broad daylight and promptly came under a hot and well-directed artillery and musket fire.

It was unable to form and fell back into the swamp woods for protection.

Benjamin Lincoln and d'Estaing, covered by darkness on the swamp edge sink, which the British... while the British were occupied with Isaac Huger and Count Dillon approached closely to the Spring Hill Redoubt before they were discovered.

And here, the main battle was fought.

D'Estaing, with 3,500 French assault troops and Benjamin Lincoln leading 600 South Carolina Continentals and 350 Charleston Militia tried to storm the works by direct frontal assault, by direct frontal attack.

They were met by a withering crossfire, the South Carolina Continentals, led by Lachlan McIntosh, actually forced the abatis.

The gallant South Carolina Loyalist Captain Tawes fell here defending the gate of the redoubt.

His sword through the body of the third fellow South Carolinian he had killed that day.

The parapet was actually reached by the French and South Carolina assault troops, who planted their standards on the redoubt.

The Second South Carolina Continental Regiment, led by Colonel Francis Marion, Lieutenant Colonel Francis Marion, had been presented a beautiful pair of colors by Mrs.

Barnard Elliot of Charleston in 1776, as a reward for their great gallantry at Fort... now Fort Moultrie.

She had said, "Gentlemen, soldiers, your gallant behavior in defense of your country entitles you to the highest honors, accept these two standards, as a reward, justly due to your regiment."

Both these colors were placed on the ramparts, and both color-bearers were killed in doing so.

One of them being the Sergeant Jasper.

The famous Sergeant Jasper, who'd raised the colors on the sponger staff of Fort Sullivan.

Jasper, when mortally wounded handed the colors to the already wounded Lieutenant Bush, who fell with the colors under him when they were captured by the defenders.

Lieutenant Gray, who carried the other color, also was mortally wounded, but a Sergeant McDonnell planted them on the redoubt and fought their and carried them back to safety when the retreat finally was ordered.

This was the climax of the attack, with French and American colors planted on the ramparts and the assault columns pressing forward across their own dead.

Caught in a vicious point blank fire, the British and Loyalists could lose Savannah only if the attack was not halted.

At this crucial moment, Lieutenant Colonel Maitland, placed in reserve for this very purpose, sent in Lieutenant Colonel Glazier with the Grenadiers of the 16th Regiment and the Royal Marines, and they came in with a bayonet, thrust the Americans out of the breach and into the ditch, while huddled and helpless, unable to retreat or advance, they were slaughtered unmercifully by point blank artillery, grapeshot and musket fire.

At the same time that Maitland drove out the assault group from the parapet, that gallant Polish volunteer cavalry leader Count Casimir Pulaski, leading 200 horsemen, tried to charge between the redoubts and get behind the defenders.

Strangely, one of those odd accidents of war apparently a shot from an armed vessel firing from the river mortally wounded Pulaski.

He fell and his cavalry, disorganized, retreated.

[mortar fire booming] After standing to the defenders fire for 55 minutes, [mortar fire booming] Admiral d'Estaing and Benjamin Lincoln pulled back their shattered troops.

The French lost and killed and wounded 337 men, and Count d'Estaing, personally leading his troops, was wounded twice.

The South Carolina Continentals lost 250 men out of 600 engaged, and the South Carolina Militia lost only one killed and six wounded.

After the repulse, an attempt was made to take the city by siege.

This was begun again, but the French naval officers pressed on Count d'Estaing the necessity of taking the fleet to sea.

There also was much disaffection between allies.

The French behaved with extreme arrogance, extreme arrogance to their American allies, referring to them as insurgents, and even informed Prevost with apologies that the Americans were to blame for not permitting the women and children to retire to safety on the ships.

This, the Americans, since it was not true, again resented deeply, D'Estaing then reembarked his army and sailed away, returning with part of his fleet to France, the remainder going south to the West Indies.

On the 19th of October, Benjamin Lincoln retreated as far as Ebenezer Heights and then proceeded to Charleston, where smallpox broke out, and the militia, disheartened and defeated, dispersed to their homes.

Thus, ended the Siege of Savannah in defeat, heavy loss, shame, and altercation with an ally.

The British now held Georgia, and the scene was set for the fall of Charleston and the British occupation of key towns and areas in South Carolina.

The British campaign in the South had begun with victory for them and their loyalist allies.

The French alliance, the French alliance, so hopeful, had failed in its first test and civil war in the South, was about to increase with savage and vindictive fury.

♪ With the British capture and later successful defense of Savannah, Georgia.

The campaign to conquer the South now begins.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪