CAPTURE OF SAVANNAH BY THE BRITISH.
During this year, soon after the return of the commissioners to England, an important operation took place on the side of Georgia, and the complete success of which gave a hope that the war, if transferred to the south, might prove more successful than it had hitherto been. Some of the southern colonies were in a state of utter confusion—royalists being arrayed against revolutionists, and province against province. Thus, between the people of East Florida, who remained under the British government, and the people of Georgia, who had joined the cause of congress, there existed an irreconcilable hatred. These provinces had but recently been at war with each other, when Georgia was successfully invaded by the British. Sir Henry Clinton despatched Colonel Campbell thither with 3500 men, by sea, under convoy of Admiral Parker, and on his arrival his first object was the reduction of the city of Savannah, the capital of Georgia, which was defended by the American General Robert How. The whole country between Savannah and the sea was impassable to troops, being low, marshy, and intersected by creeks and artificial watercourses. The city stood on the southern bank of the Savannah River, about fifteen miles from the sea; and Parker therefore conveyed the troops up that river, and after surmounting some difficulties he succeeded in landing them at a plantation about three miles below the city. Some Highlanders, commanded by a Cameron, first moved from the river bank along a narrow causeway, with some high ground at the end of it where the Americans were posted. As they approached the Americans opened a fire upon them, and Cameron and two of his company were slain. The loss of their leader, however, urged the clansmen on to desperate enterprise. They rushed upon the enemy with a fierce cry for revenge, and drove them back into some woods nearer the town. When Campbell arrived on the scene of action he found the American general posted outside the town, having swamps, woods, trenches, and deep rice-fields all around him. He discovered a private path leading through the swamp, which covered the enemy’s right flank, and having sent some of his Highlanders’ light infantry and New York volunteers round by that path, he surprised the enemy in the rear. They fled for their lives through the town of Savannah, four hundred and fifty of them being captured in their flight; and the town and fort, with an abundance of stores, became the prize of the conquerors. In a few days the remnant of How’s army was driven across the Savannah River into South Carolina, and then the inhabitants flocked to Colonel Campbell to take the oath of allegiance to the British monarch. The provincials were greatly conciliated by his lenity and moderation; and even some of the hot preachers, who had excited the Georgians into insurrection and republicanism, now turned royalists. The whole of Georgia was in the hands of the royalists except the town of Sunbury, and this place was soon after reduced by General Prevost, who was sent to Savannah to take the chief command. He was joined here by many suffering royalists from South Carolina and Virginia, while others repaired to head-quarters at New York.