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.
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.