The year 1779 commenced by a new issue of paper money, to the amount of ten millions, and additional bills to about the same amount, at various times before the month of June. Under this rapid issue, Hildreth tells us, increased depreciation took place, together with a spirit of speculation and fraud on the one side, and unfounded jealousies and suspicion on the other. Prices rose enormously, and while it was remarked that Tories and speculators grew rapidly rich, honest men and patriots were reduced to poverty.
But spring was now coming on, and it was necessary to organise the army for operation. Exclusive of the few troops in the south, the American army, at the commencement of the campaign of the year, amounted barely to 16,000. Three thousand of these were with Gates at Providence; 7,000 in the neighbourhood of Middlebrook, the winter-quarters of Washington; of the remaining 6,000, part were in the Highlands completing the defences of West Point, under M‘Dougall, and the remainder under Israel Putnam, on the east side of the Hudson. As the British had 11,000 men at New York, and 5,000 at Newport, Washington did not deem it prudent to attack either of these places.
We now return to the South. When Colonel Campbell was despatched to Georgia, orders were sent to General Prevost in East Florida, to march his troops to his aid and to assume command. In this march along the uninhabited coast, which at that time lay between Florida and Georgia, his soldiers suffered greatly, having frequently no other provisions than oysters. Sunbury, a fort garrisoned by 200 provincials, Savannah being at that time in the hands of the British, surrendered with but little show of resistance. Arrived at Savannah, General Prevost assumed command, and then despatched Colonel Campbell against Augusta, which also surrendered, the garrison and the more patriotic inhabitants escaping across the river Savannah into South Carolina. The whole of Georgia was thus in the hands of the British.
When the news of this easy conquest reached Charleston, the South Carolina militia were called out, but the call was reluctantly obeyed. The American forces under General Lincoln, principally consisting of North Carolina militia, amounted to about 1,400, and these were stationed to guard the passages of the Savannah river, which formed the boundary between Georgia and South Carolina. Although the troops of Prevost amounted to a much larger number, he hesitated to attack Charleston, but sent an expedition against Port Royal, which was so bravely defended by General Moultrie, that they were defeated with considerable loss.
The population of the three southern provinces, Georgia and the two Carolinas, was of a mixed character, without any bond of religion or interest, very different indeed to that of the north. The wealthy planters along the sea-coast were mostly Whigs, but the excess of slave population left the country without soldiers. The interior of the country was occupied by scattered settlements of Dutch, Germans, Quakers, Irish Presbyterians and Scotch Highlanders, who held little intercourse with each other. The Quakers, Dutch and Germans, meddling little with politics, inclined to submit to the British army for the sake of peace and quietness. The Irish Presbyterians were Whigs, the Scotch Highlanders Tories, as were the so-called Regulators of North Carolina, and the Scotch and British traders of the interior.[[24]]
The success of the British in Georgia encouraged the loyalists of these remote regions to rise. They were many of them men to whom excitement of any kind was welcome. Hardy and desperate in their lives, they are described by a writer of those days as having long been in the condition of outlaws, ready to attach themselves to the Indians or any others for incursions on the frontiers. The nature and remoteness of the country enabled them to keep up a free intercourse with their old friends, like-minded with themselves, who had however, for the sake of remaining quiet, submitted to the present government. From these circumstances, and the cast of mind acquired by their constant intercourse with the savages, they were ever ready to take up arms, and many of those who continued in the occupation of their farms and had the character of peaceable men, occasionally joined those parties which were openly in arms on the frontiers, and bore a share in all the devastation they committed.[[25]]
About 700 of these people therefore embodied themselves, and set out towards Augusta, intending there to join the royal troops, and committing great devastation and many cruelties by the way. They were, however, attacked by a body of South Carolina militia, under Colonel Pickens, when very near the end of their march; their leader, Colonel Boyd, was slain; 400 of their number killed or taken prisoners, seventy of whom, being put on trial for treason, were found guilty, but five only of the most influential executed; the remaining 300 reached Augusta.
The most terrible feature of the war in the south was the rancorous party-spirit which prevailed in it. Four battalions of Carolina loyalists had already joined the British army in Georgia, one of which was commanded by a Colonel Brown, originally a trader. This man who had formerly been tarred and feathered by the Whigs now pursued them with implacable hatred, and, following the example set at Augusta, hung all his Whig prisoners.
General Lincoln being reinforced by accessions of militia which had arrived for the protection of South Carolina, was stationed at Purysburg, on the north bank of the Savannah, about twenty miles above the city of that name, and now despatched General Ashe, with about 2,000 men of the Georgia and Carolina militia, to take up a position nearly opposite Augusta. On this movement General Prevost recalled the British force from that place, with orders to take up their post at Hudson’s Ferry, lower down the river. On the retreat of the British, Lincoln, whose intention it was to retake Georgia and confine Prevost to the coast, ordered General Ashe to leave his baggage behind, to cross over into Georgia and take up his position at Briar Creek, a very strong situation. This was done; Briar Creek, which was too deep to be forded, covered his front, the river Savannah and a deep morass covered his left, and 200 horse guarded his right. No attack was suspected; General Prevost manœuvred on the banks of the river between Ebenezer and Savannah, and Lincoln kept himself on the alert, expecting that the danger lay in that quarter. In the meantime a detachment was proceeding by a circuitous march to attack Ashe’s rear, while another detachment advanced as if to attack Lincoln in front, where he was unassailable, but in fact merely to divert his attention. The feint was entirely successful. The rear, totally unprepared for attack, was surprised in open daylight, and throwing down their arms without firing a shot, whole regiments of militia fled. The deep creek and the marsh, otherwise their security, became thus the means of their destruction. Stupified by terror, great numbers were drowned in the one and swallowed up in the other. A few officers and one North Carolina regiment endeavoured to retrieve the fortunes of the day by a brave but ineffectual defence; but the chances were all against them. About 400 were killed and made prisoners, among the latter of whom was Brigadier-General Elbert, a brave man and the second in command; the numbers who perished in the river and the swamp are unknown; 450 were all who rejoined Lincoln’s army. Seven pieces of cannon, almost all their arms and ammunition, and such baggage as they had with them, fell into the hands of the British, whose loss only amounted to five killed and eleven wounded.
This disastrous and disgraceful defeat enabled the British to reoccupy Augusta, and gave them once more undisputed possession of Georgia. Such being the case, Prevost secured the co-operation of the loyalists, by proclaiming Sir James Wright governor and reestablishing a royal legislature, as it existed before 1775.