* Major André wrote a humorous account, in rhyme, of this affair, in eighteen stanzas. Bernard Elliott was the second of Gadsden, and General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of Howe. The duel occurred on the thirteenth of August, 1778. After this affair, Howe and Gadsden were warm friends.
March toward Florida.—Divided Commands.—Failure of the Expedition.—Minor Expeditions.
dition had alarmed the Tories of East Florida. His enterprise was exceedingly popular, and the sympathy of the whole Southern people, who were favorable to Republicanism, was with him. With scanty supplies, he pushed forward in the midst of many difficulties, to Fort Tonyn, on the St. Mary's,June, 1778 which the enemy abandoned and partly demolished on his approach. Here he ordered a general rendezvous of all the troops, and of the galleys, under Commodore Bowen, preparatory to making an assault upon St. Augustine.
On the day of his arrival at Fort Tonyn, Howe was informed that twelve hundred men had marched from St. Augustine for the St. John's, and that two galleys, laden with twenty-four pounders, had been sent to the mouth of that river, to co-operate with the land force in opposing the Americans. He was also informed by a deserter that the whole force of the enemy was about fifteen hundred men fit for duty. Sudden, united, and energetic action was now necessary, but Howe experienced the contrary on the part of his compatriots. The governor of Georgia was at the head of his own militia, and refused to be commanded by Howe; Colonel Williamson (the imputed traitor) look the same course with his volunteers; and Commodore Bowen would not be governed by any land officer. The necessary consequence was tardy, divided, and inefficient operations.
Sickness soon prostrated almost one half of the troops, for, unprovided with sufficient tents, they slept exposed to the deadly malaria of the night air among the swamps; and Howe clearly perceived that failure must result in future movements unless the forces could be united under one commander. He called a council of war, and ascertained that Houstoun would not be governed by another, and that the army was rapidly melting away. A retreat was unanimously agreed upon. Pinckney and the remains of his command returned by water to Charleston, while Howe, with the remnants of his force, reduced by sickness and death from eleven hundred to three hundred and fifty, returned to Savannah by land. Thus ended an expedition upon which the South had placed great reliance. Howe was much censured, but the blame should properly rest upon those who, by proud assumption of separate commands, retarded his movements and weakened his power. No expedition was ever successful with several commanders.
The British, emboldened by this second failure of the Americans to invade Florida, and counting largely upon the depressing influence it would have upon the patriots, hastened to invade Georgia in turn. Savannah was the chief point of attack. It was arranged that a naval force, with land troops from the North, should enter the river and invest the city; while General Prevost, who commanded in East Florida, should march toward the same point from St. Augustine, with his whole motley band of regulars, Tories, and Indians, to awe the people in that direction, and by preliminary expeditions weaken the Americans. * Hitherto the British arms had been chiefly directed against the Northern and Middle States, but with little effect. The patriots had steadily maintained their ground, and the area actually out of possession of the Americans was very small. Sir Henry Clinton was master of New York city, but almost every where else the Americans held possession. To the South he looked for easier and more extensive conquests; and against Savannah, the apparently weakest point he directed his first operations. Lieutenant-colonel Campbell,
* Soon after the return of Howe, some regulars and Loyalists had made a rapid incursion into Georgia, and menaced the fort at Sunbury, at the mouth of the Midway River. The little garrison was commanded bv Lieutenant-colonel John M'Intosh (a brother of General Mflntosh). The enemy approached in two divisions, one with artillery, in boats, under Lieutenant-colonel Fuser; the other by land, under Lieutenant-colonel Mark Prévost, consisting of six hundred regulars. Fuser approached the fort and demanded its surrender. M'Intosh replied, "Come and take it!" The promptness and brevity of the reply indicated security, and Fuser withdrew, although he could easily have captured the fort. In the mean while, General Seriven, with others, were skirmishing with Colonel Prevost, who had been joined by a band of Tories, under M'Girth, in one of which the latter was mortally wounded. The invaders pressed forward until within three miles of Ogeechee Ferry, where they were confronted by Colonel Elbert and two hundred Continentals, at a breast-work thrown up by a planter named Savage. Unable to proceed further, they retraced their steps toward the Alatamaha, plundering and burning houses, and laying the whole country waste. Midway church was destroyed, rice barns were burned, and the people were made houseless.
British Expedition against Savannah.—Preparations to receive them.—Landing of the British.
an efficient and reliable officer, sailed from Sandy Hook on the twenty-seventh of November,1778 with more than two thousand land troops, * covered by a small squadron, under Commodore Parker. The fleet arrived at Tybee Island (see map, page 726), near the mouth of the Savannah, on the twenty-third of December. Six days afterward, the vessels and transports had crossed the bar, and the troops were landed at daybreakDec. 29 without much opposition, three miles below the town, above Five-fathom Hole, opposite Brewton's Hill. **
General Howe, whose army was now augmented to a little less than seven hundred men, was at Sunbury when intelligence was received at Savannah of the approach of the British fleet. Governor Houstoun immediately sent an express to Howe with the information. At the same time, another messenger arrived at Sunbury from the South, informing Howe that General Prevost, with all his force, was on his way from St. Augustine to invade Georgia. All was alarm and confusion when the latter intelligence reached Savannah. The governor sent the public records to Purysburg for safety, from whence they were afterward carried to Charleston. The small battery on the eastern extremity of the city was strengthened, and the people aided the soldiers in casting up intrenchments. ***