Chapter XXVII (1)

HE rail-way journey from Orangeburg to Augusta was extremely monotonous in scenery and incident. At Branchville, on the banks of the Edisto, where the rail-way from Charleston connects, the immobility into which the passengers were subsiding was disturbed by the advent among us of a "turban'd Turk," in full Oriental costume. His swarthy complexion, keen eye, flowing black beard, broad turban, tunic, and trowsers, made him the "observed of all observers," and kept the passengers awake for an hour, for "Yankee curiosity" was too busy to allow drowsiness. "Whence I came, and whither I go, ye know not," were as plain as a written phylactery upon his imperturbable features, and I presume the crowd who gathered around him in the street at Augusta knew as little of his history and destiny as we. It is pleasant sometimes to see curiosity foiled, even though=

```"It came from heaven--it reigned in Eden's shades--

```It roves on earth, and every walk invades:

```Childhood and age alike its influence own;

```It haunts the beggar's nook, the monarch's throne;

```Hangs o'er the cradle, leans above the bier,

```Gazed on old Babel's tower--and lingers here."

`````--Charles Sprague.=

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, * 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.' 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.

Early on the following morning we rode over to Hamburg, and ascended to the summit of Liberty Hill, a lofty sand bluff, three fourths of a mile from the river. Flowers were blooming in the gardens on its brow; and over its broad acres green grass and innumerable cacti were spread. The view from this eminence was charming. At our feet lay the little village of Hamburg, and across the shining Savannah was spread out in panoramic beauty the city of Augusta--the queen of the inland towns of the South. Like a sea in repose, the level country extended in all directions; and city, river, forest, and plain were bathed in the golden haziness which characterizes our Indian summer at the North. From that point the eye could survey the whole historic arena around Augusta, where Royalists and Republicans battled, failed, and triumphed during our war for independence. While the spirit is charmed with associations awakened by the gleanings of sensuous vision, let us for a moment open the tome of history, and give inquiring thought free wing.

* For an account of the capture of Fort Galphin or Dreadnought, at Silver Bluff, see page 690.

** 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 715.

[[[Local History of Augusta.--Growth of Democratic Principles.--Republican Legislature and Governor.]]]

{710}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. *

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), ** 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. ***

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

* At about mid-summer in 1775, Thomas Brown and William Thompson having openly reviled the cause of the Whigs, and at a dinner-party gave toasts in which the friends of that cause were ridiculed, the Parish Committee of Safety ordered their arrest. Thompson escaped into South Carolina, but Brown, who attempted to flee with him, was captured and brought back. He was tried, and sentenced to be tarred and feathered, and publicly exposed in a cart, to be drawn three miles, or until he was willing to confess his error, and take his oath that he would espouse the cause of the Republicans. He chose the latter course; but he was not a very warm Republican long. His course illustrated the fact that

"He who's convinced against his will,
Remains to be convinced still."

for he joined the British army, was made lieutenant colonel, and afterward, while commandant of Augusta, fiercely retaliated upon the Whigs.

** John Adam Trueitlen was chosen the first governor under the new Constitution. He was succeeded in 1778, by John Houstoun; and after the fall of Savannah, Sir James Wright, the last of the royal governors, re-established British rule in the state.

*** A curious legislative act occurred during this session. A resolution was passed censuring Governor Walton for having transmitted a letter to the President of Congress, "containing unjust and illiberal representations respecting General M'Intosh." The attorney general was ordered to prosecute the governor. On the day preceding the passage of these resolutions, the same Legislature had elected Governor Walton chief justice of Georgia. He was thereby made president of the only tribunal competent to try him! To have condemned himself would have been an exercise of "Roman virtue" hardly to be expected.

[[[Tories under Colonel Boyd.--Augusta in possession of the British.--Partisan Skirmishes.--General Elbert.]]]

{711}the siege of that city, was ordered by General Prévost to advance with about two thousand regulars and Loyalists,[[Jan. 1779]] upon Augusta.' 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 ** 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,

* General Prévost had come from St. Augustine, captured the fort at Sunbury on the way, and, with Campbell's troops, had a force of about three thousand regulars and one thousand militia.

** Samuel Elbert was born in South Carolina in 1740. He became an orphan at an early age, went to Savannah, and there subsequently engaged in commercial pursuits. He joined the Continental army in Georgia early in 1776, as lieutenant colonel, having been a few months previously a member of the Savannah Committee of Safety. He was promoted to colonel in the autumn of 1776, and in May, 1777, commanded an expedition against the British in East Florida. In the following year he was actively engaged in the neighborhood of Savannah, and behaved bravely when it was attacked by Campbell at the close of December. He was promoted to brigadier, and was with Colonel Ashe at Brier Creek, where he was made prisoner. After his exchange, he went to the North, joined the army under Washington, and was at the capture of Cornwallis at Yorktown. At the close of the war, he was commissioned a major general. He was elected governor of the state in 1785. General Elbert died at Savannah, on the second of November, 1788, at the age of forty-five years. His remains were buried in the family cemetery on the mount, at Rae's Hall, five miles above Savannah. Elbert county, in Georgia, was named in honor of the general.

[[[Dispersion of Boyd's Tories.--Alarm of Campbell.--Ashe ordered to Brier Creek.--General Williamson.]]]

{712}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 * 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. ** This was one of the severest blows which Toryism in the South had yet received.

Encouraged by this success, General Lincoln, then in command of the Southern army, determined to drive the British from their posts in the interior, back to Savannah. He formed encampments at Black Swamp, and nearly opposite Augusta, while small detachments of militia took post at various points on the Savannah, above Augusta. Lincoln ordered General John Ashe, then in the neighborhood of Purysburg, to march up the easterly side of the Savannah with about fifteen hundred North Carolina militia, and the remains of the Georgia Continentals, to re-enforce General Williamson opposite Augusta. Ashe arrived at Williamson's camp on the evening before the defeat of Boyd.[[Feb. 13, 1779]] This imposing display opposite Augusta, and intelligence of the close pursuit of Boyd, alarmed Campbell, and he speedily decamped that same night with all his force, and hastened toward the sea-coast. He left behind him a considerable quantity of provisions, ammunition, and some arms. At Hudson's Ferry, fifty miles below Augusta, Lieutenant-colonel Prevost had constructed a fortified camp and mounted some light artillery. There Campbell halted, with the determination to attempt to regain the advantage he had just lost, but finally continued his retreat to Savannah.

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, *** with twelve hundred men, was opposite

* Colonel John Dooly entered the Continental army in Georgia, as captain, in 1776, and, rising to the rank of colonel, was very active in the neighborhood of the Savannah, until 1780, when a party of Tories, sent out from Augusta by Colonel Brown, entered his house, in Wilkes county, at midnight, and barbarously murdered him in the presence of his wife and children.--M'Call, ii., 306.

** See M'Call's History of Georgia, i., 190-203.

*** We have already noticed the services of this gentleman while colonel of militia in the District of Ninety-Six, against the Indians. (See page 647.) Andrew Williamson was born in Scotland, and when young was taken by his parents to Ninety-Six, in South Carolina. He was a very active lad, and it is believed that he attended Montgomery in his expedition against the Indians in 1760. He was with Colonel Grant in a similar expedition in 1761. He early espoused the Whig cause, and, as we have seen, was active in opposition to the Cunninghams and other Tories. He was promoted to brigadier, and in that capacity was employed in opposing the inroads of Prévost from Florida into Georgia. After the fall of Savannah, he was engaged in watching the movements of the enemy upon the Savannah River. He took possession of Augusta when Campbell retreated from it, and was for some time engaged against the Tories in that vicinity, in co-operation with General Elbert. He was afterward engaged in the battle at Stono Ferry, below Charleston, and was at the siege of Savannah when D'Estaing aided the Americans. After that, his conduct awakened suspicions that he was becoming unfriendly to the American cause. When Lincoln was besieged in Charleston, he withheld efficient aid; and when that city surrendered, he accepted a British protection. Williamson was called the "Arnold of the South," in miniature. It is generally conceded that he was a double traitor; for while he was with the British in Charleston, he communicated valuable information to General Greene. The time and place of his death is not certainly known. He lived in obscurity and poverty after the war.--See Johnson's Traditions and Reminiscences of the Revolution, 144: Charleston, 1851.

[[[The Americans at Brier Creek.--Preparations for Battle.--The Attack.--Retreat of the Carolinians.]]]

{713}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. * 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

* M'Call and others censure General Ashe for not having the soldiers served with cartridges much sooner. Ashe in his letter to Governor Caswell on the seventeenth of March, says, that "prudence forbade a distribution of cartridges until they were wanted; for, lacking cartouch-boxes, the men had already lost a great many." He says that when they marched to meet the enemy, some carried their cartridges "under their arms; others in the bosoms of their shirts; and some tied up in the corner of their hunting-shirts."--MS. Letter of General Ashe to Governor Caswell.

[[[Defeat of the Americans.--The Loss.--Ashe Censured.--Acquitted by Court martial.--His Public Life.]]]

{714}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. *

General Ashe" 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 *** 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

* MS. Letter of General Ashe to Governor Caswell; Ramsay, ii., 16; Gordon, ii., 415; M'Call, ii, 206.

** John Ashe was born in England in 1721. He came to America with his father in 1727, who settled on the Cape Fear River, in North Carolina. He served his district in the Colonial Legislature for several years, and was speaker of the Assembly from 1762 to 1765. He warmly opposed the Stamp Act in 1765, and, with others, announced to Governor Tryon his determination to resist its operations. Assisted by General Hugh Waddell, Ashe, then colonel of the militia of New Hanover, headed an armed force, and compelled the stamp-master to resign. He accompanied Tryon against the Regulators in 1771; but when royal rule became odious, and he saw the liberties of his country in peril, he was one of the most zealous advocates, in the North Carolina Assembly, of Republican principles. As a member of the Legislature, and of the Committee of Correspondence and of Safety at Wilmington, he was exceedingly active and vigilant. He was one of the first projectors of a Provincial Congress, and became the most aetive opponent of Governor Martin, for he was exceedingly popular as a man. With five hundred men, he destroyed Fort Johnston in 1775, and was denounced as a rebel against the crown. He was a member of the first Provincial Congress, convened that year. When he returned home, he raised and equipped a regiment at his own expense; and throughout the whole region around Wilmington, his eloquent words and energetic acts inspired the people with burning patriotism. In 1776, the Provincial Congress appointed him a brigadier of Wilmington District. He was actively engaged in military and civil duties in his district, until the close of 1778, when he joined Lincoln in South Carolina, with regiments from Halifax, Wilmington, Newbern, and Edenton. After his surprise and defeat at Brier Creek, he returned home. Wilmington became a British post in 1781, and Colonel Ashe and his family suffered much at their hands. He was made a prisoner, and suffered a long confinement, during which time he contracted the small-pox. He was released on parole while sick, and died of that disease in October, 1781, at the age of sixty years, while accompanying his family to a place of quiet, in Duplin county.

*** The other members of the court were General Rutherford, Colonels Armstrong, Pinckney, and Locke, and Edmond Hyrne, deputy adjutant general.--See Moultrie's Memoirs, i., 338.

[[[Cruelty of Brown.--Forts Cornwallis and Grierson.--March toward Augusta, of Clark and M'Call.]]]

{715}garrisoned the fort with a strong force. Brown, as we have seen (page 710), 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. * 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.

About the first of September,[[1780]] Colonel Elijah Clark, a brave partisan of Wilkes county, Georgia, and Lieutenant-colonel M'Call, made efforts to raise a sufficient force to capture the fort at Augusta, and drive the British from the interior of the state to the sea-coast. These were the brave partisans who fought at the Cowpens a few months later. Clark recruited in his own county, and M'Call went to the district of Ninety-Six and applied to Colonel Pickens for aid. He wanted five hundred men, but procured only eighty. With these he marched to Soap Creek, forty miles northwest of Augusta, where he was joined by Clark, with three hundred and fifty men. With this inadequate force they marched toward Augusta. So secret and rapid were their movements, that they reached the outposts before the garrison was apprised of their approach.[[Sep. 14, 1780]] The right was commanded by M'Call, the left by Major Samuel Taylor, and the center by Clark. The divisions approached the town separately. Near Hawk's Creek, on the west, Taylor fell in with an Indian camp, and a skirmish ensued. The Indians retreated toward the town, and Taylor pressed forward to get possession of a strong trading station called the

* Brown's authority was a letter which Cornwallis had sent to the commanders of all the British outposts, ordering that all those who had "taken part in the revolt should be punished with the utmost rigor; and also that those who would not turn out should be imprisoned, and their whole property taken from them or destroyed." Every militia-man who had borne arms in the king's service, and afterward joined the Whigs, was to be "immediately hanged." This letter was a foul stain upon the character of Cornwallis. It was a "lash of scorpions" in the hands of cruel men like Brown. "Officers, soldiers, and citizens," says M'Call (ii., 319), were brought up to the place of execution, without being informed why they had been taken out of prison. The next morning after this sanguinary order reached Augusta, five victims were taken from the jail by order of Colonel Brown, who all expired on the gibbet.

** Fort Cornwallis occupied the ground in the rear of the Episcopal church, now a grave-yard. This view is from within the inclosure, looking northeast, and includes a portion of Schultz's bridge, the Savannah River, and Hamburg upon the opposite bank. In the foreground is seen portions of the church-yard wall, and upon the brink of the river below are negroes employed in placing bales of cotton upon the wharves for transportation, to the sea-coast. The wharves are two stories in height, one to be used at low water, the other when the river is "up." There were remains of the ditch and embankments of the fort within the grave-yard when I was there; and the trench leading to the water-gate, where the "Pride-of-India" tree is seen, was very visible.

[[[Skirmish at the White House.--Brown wounded.--Defeat of the Americans. Fate of Prisoners.]]]

{716}White House, a mile and a half west of the town. The Indians reached it first, and were joined by a company of King's Rangers, under Captain Johnson. Ignorant of the approach of other parties, Brown and Grierson went to the aid of Johnson and the Indians. While absent, the few men left in garrison were surprised by Clark and M'Call, and Forts Cornwallis and Grierson fell into their hands. A guard was left to take charge of the prisoners and effects in the fort, and Clark, with the remainder, hastened to the assistance of Taylor. Brown and Grierson, perceiving their peril, took shelter in the _White House_. The Americans tried in vain to dislodge them. A desultory fire was kept up from eleven o'clock in the morning until dark, when hostilities ceased. During the night the besieged cast up a slight breast-work around the house, made loop-holes in the building for musketry, and thus materially strengthened their position. Early in the morning,[[Sept. 15]] Clark ordered field-pieces to be brought from Grierson's redoubt, to be placed in a position to cannonade the _White House_. They were of little service, for Captain Martin, of South Carolina, the only artillerist among the besiegers, was killed soon after the pieces were brought to bear upon the building.

No impression was made upon the enemy during the fifteenth. On that morning, before daylight, the Americans drove a body of Indians from the river bank, and thus cut off the supply of water for those in the house. Colonel Brown and others had been severely wounded, and now suffered great agony from thirst. On the night of the fifteenth, fifty Cherokee Indians, well armed, crossed the river to re-enforce Brown, but were soon repulsed. Little was done on the sixteenth, and on the seventeenth Clark summoned Brown to surrender. He promptly refused; for, having sent a messenger to Colonel Cruger at Ninety-Six, on the morning when the Americans appeared before Augusta, Brown confidently expected relief from that quarter. Nor was he disappointed. On the night of the seventeenth, Clark's scouts informed him of the approach of Colonel Cruger with five hundred British regulars and Loyalists, and on the morning of the eighteenth this force appeared upon the opposite side of the river. Clark's little army was greatly diminished by the loss of men who had been killed and wounded, and the desertion of many with plunder found in the forts. At ten o'clock he raised the siege, and departed toward the mountains. The American loss on this occasion was about sixty killed and wounded; that of the British is not known. Twenty of the Indians were killed. Captain Ashby and twenty-eight others were made prisoners. Upon these Brown and his Indian allies glutted their thirst for revenge. Captain Ashby and twelve of the wounded were hanged upon the stair-way of the _White House_, so that the commandant might have the satisfaction of seeing their sufferings. Others were given up to the Indians to torture, scalp, and slay. Terrible were the demoniac acts at Augusta on that beautiful autumnal day, when the white and the red savage contended for the meed of cruelty!

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, were 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. *

* Among the prisoners taken on this occasion was a young man named M'Koy, the son of a widow, who, with her family, had fled from Darien, in Georgia, into South Carolina. She went to Brown and implored the life of her son, who was only seventeen years of age. The miscreant's heart was unmoved, and the lad was not only hanged, but his body was delivered to the Indians to mutilate by scalping and otherwise. All this occurred in the presence of the mother. Afterward, when Brown, as a prisoner, passed where Mrs. M'Koy resided, she called to his remembrance his cruelty, and said, "As you are now a prisoner to the leaders of my country, for the present I lay aside all thoughts of revenge, but if you resume your sword, I will go five hundred miles to demand satisfaction at the point of it for the murder of my son.--See M'Call's Georgia, ii., 365; Garden's Anecdotes.

[[[Siege of Augusta.--Colonel Pickens.]]]

{717}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 did 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.

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 Lientenant-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 691.

The capture of Fort Galphin[[May 21, 1781]] was an important prelude to the siege of Augusta. 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,* who was maneuvering between Augusta and Fort Ninety-Six, asking for a supply.

* Andrew Pickens was born in Paxton township, Pennsylvania, on the nineteenth of September, 1739. His parents were from Ireland. In 1752, he removed, with his father, to the Waxhaw settlement, in South Carolina. He served as a volunteer in Grant's expedition against the Cherokees, in which he took his first lessons in the art of war. He beeame a warm Republican when the Revolution broke out, and, as we have seen in preceding pages of this work, he was one of the most active of the military partisans of the South. From the close of the war until 1794, he was a member of the South Carolina Legislature, when he was elected to a seat in Congress. He was commissioned major general of the South Carolina militia in 1795, and was often a commissioner to treat with the Indians. President Washington offered him a brigade of light troops under General Wayne, to serve against the Indians in the northwest, but he declined the honor. He died at his seal in Pendleton District, South Carolina--the scene of his earliest battles--on the seventeenth of August, 1817, at the age of seventy-eight years. His remains lie by the side of his wife (who died two years before), in the grave-yard of the "Old Stone Meeting-house" in Pendleton. In 1765, he married Rebecca Calhoun, aunt of the late John C. Calhoun, one of the most beautiful young ladies of the South. Mrs. Ellet, in her Women of the Revolution (iii., 302), gives some interesting sketches of this lady and her life during the Revolution. Her relatives and friends were very numerous, and her marriage was attended by a great number. "Rebecca Calhoun's wedding" was an epoch in the social history of the district in which she resided, and old people used it as a point to reckon from.

[[[Junction of American Troops before Augusta.--Plan of Attack.--Maykam Tower.--The Garrison subdued.]]]

{718}Colonel Brown was deprived of a considerable body of reserved troops and of valuable stores.

The latter were of great importance to Greene, then approaching Ninety-Six. After the capture of this redoubt, Lee allowed his troops to repose a few hours, and then ordered Major Eggleston, with Captains O'Neal and Armstrong, to cross the Savannah with the cavalry, a little below Augusta, and join Pickens and Clark. On the same evening, Lee, with the field-piece of Captain Finley, crossed the river, and on the morning of the twenty-third joined the besiegers.

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. * 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, ** 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 tor attack, Brown, perceiving the maintenance ot his post to be im-

* This rifleman was Captain Samuel Alexander, whose aged father had been a prisoner in Fort Cornwallis for some time, and was cruelly treated by both Brown and Grierson. The son was the deliverer of his father soon after he dispatched Grierson.

** Brown opened a communication with a house in front of the tower, and placed a quantity of powder in it. He then sent a Scotchman, under the cloak of a deserter, who advised the Americans to burn that old house, as it stood in their way. Had they done so, the explosion of the powder might have destroyed the tower. Lee suspected the man, and had him confined. Brown finally applied a slow match and blew up the house, but the tower was unharmed.

[[[Surrender of the Forts at Augusta.--Liberty Hill.--Departure for Savannah.--A Night Journey.]]]

{719}possible, 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. * 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. ** The British never had possession of Augusta after this event.

Let us close the chronicle for a while.

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 715; 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, *** 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

* The brother of young M'Koy, who was hanged and scalped by Brown's orders, and who, thirsting for revenge, had joined Clark before Augusta, endeavored to kill Brown, but was prevented by the guard. It was during this march to Savannah, when at Silver Bluff, that Brown encountered Mrs. M'Koy, as related on page 716.

** M'Call, ii., 370; Lee, 238; Ramsay, ii., 238.

*** Waynesborough is the capital of Burke county. It is upon a branch of Brier Creek, about thirty-five miles above the place of General Ashe's defeat.

[[[Detention in a Swamp.--Picturesque Scenery.--Savannah.--Greene and Pulaski Monument]]]

{720}o'clock at night we reached the thirty mile station, where we supped at the expense of the rail way 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. *

Savannah is pleasantly situated upon a sand-bluff, some forty feet above low-water-mark, sloping toward swamps and savannahs, at a lower altitude in the interior. It is upon the south side of the river, about eighteen miles from the ocean. The city is laid out in rectangles, and has ten public squares. The streets are generally broad and well shaded, some of them with four rows of Pride-of-India trees, which, in summer, add greatly to the beauty of the city and comfort of the inhabitants. With interest in Savannah and suburbs, let us open the interesting pages of its history, and note their teachings respecting Georgia in general, and of the capital in particular, whose foundations were laid by General Oglethorpe.

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. ** 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