There is no lack of original material as to Prevost's unsuccessful attempt on Charleston,[1088] and Lincoln's attack on Stono. Moultrie made no formal report, but the documents and bits of journals scattered through his Memoirs (i. 412-506) may well take its place. Prevost's report of his attempt was dated June 12, 1779 (London Gazette, Sept. 21-25, 1779, reprinted in Remembrancer, viii. 302). His report as to Stono is in the Gazette, as above, and also in Remembrancer viii. 300. Lincoln's version of the latter affair is contained in a letter to Moultrie (Memoirs, i. 490, and Dawson, i. 501). Moultrie also printed other letters (cf. especially one from Colonel Grimkie in Memoirs, i. 495), and an interesting journal by an unknown hand is in Remembrancer (viii. 349). Capt. John Henry, who succeeded Parker, in his reports corroborated Prevost as to the offer of neutrality on the part of some one in Charleston (London Gazette, July 10-13, 1779, and Remembrancer viii. 183). Clinton also has something to say on the campaign in general in a report to Germain (Remembrancer, viii. 297).[1089]
Lincoln has been criticised for his march into Georgia, but the movement had the unanimous support of his generals. Cf. report of the council of war in Moultrie, i. 374. He supposed rightly, as we now know (cf. Prevost's report in Remembrancer, viii. 302), that the British commander's only object was to compel his return to South Carolina. Moultrie could have offered sufficient resistance if one half of his men had not deserted. Nevertheless, Lincoln was assailed in the Charleston papers, and complained bitterly of their unfairness. Cf. letter to Moultrie in Memoirs, i. 477. With regard to Rutledge's offer of neutrality, Professor Bowen has undoubtedly gone too far in describing it as "little short of treason."[1090] Still, if, as Rutledge's friends claim, the proposition was made merely to gain time, it was not made in good faith, and was therefore highly discreditable to the governor. But there is no evidence that the proposition was made in any such spirit, except the statement in Ramsay, which was copied by Gordon. The truth seems to be that Rutledge, greatly overestimating the numbers of the enemy, sought to save his native State from pillage. He yielded too easily to his fears. Moultrie takes no pains to conceal his disgust at the offer. The younger Laurens refused to have anything to do with the matter, while Gadsden and Ferguson, two members of the Council, voted against the proposal, and Edwards, another member, wept at the thought. Unfortunately, the minutes of the Council have been lost. Cf. Johnson, Reply to Bentalou and Sparks.[1091]
SIEGE OF SAVANNAH, September-October, 1779.
Sketched from a MS. map belonging to Dr. Samuel A. Green, of Boston, found in Paris, and giving the French view.
The plans of the siege are mainly English ones. That made by Colonel Moncrieff and published by Faden is used in Stedman's American War, ii. 79, and is reduced in Lossing's Field-Book, ii. 736. Cf. also C. C. Jones's Two Journals for a fac-simile (reduced in Hist. of Georgia, vol. ii.) of a Plan of the French and American Siege of Savannah in Georgia in South America [sic] under Command of the French general Count d'Estaing. The British commander in the town was General August Prevost, 1779. It is from Hessian sources, and resembles Faden's. Also see Moore's Diary of the Amer. Rev., 1st ed., ii. 221. Carrington (p. 483) gives an eclectic map. Two contemporary MS. French maps (one measuring 28 × 16 and the other 22 × 22 inches) are in the Boston Public Library (Dufossé, Americana, no. 5,495). There are various MS. plans of Savannah and the siege among the Peter Force maps, and one in the Faden collection in the library of Congress. A good map of this region is The Coasts, Rivers, and Inlets of the Province of Georgia; surveyed by Joseph Avery and others, and published by command of Gov't by J. F. W. Des Barres, 1st Feb., 1780. Parker did not find his charts correct. Remembrancer, vii. 246.—Ed.
It is to be noted that, although there is no record of the actual presence of Indians at this siege, their absence was not due to any remissness on the part of Rutledge, who made every effort to persuade a band of "eighty Catawbas" to act with Moultrie. (Cf. the latter's Memoirs, i. pp. 397, 419, and 453.)
Siege of Savannah, 1779.—The best account of this disastrous siege is the Journal, by an unknown hand, which Col. C. C. Jones has translated, with copious notes, in his Siege of Savannah in 1779 as described in two contemporaneous journals of French officers in the fleet of Count D'Estaing, Albany, 1874, pp. 9-52. The other journal, of which he there gives a partial translation, is the well-known Extrait du Journal d'un Officier de la Marine de l'escadre de M. le Comte D'Estaing, 1782.[1092] Still another French account is in the form of an official report,[1093] and may have been the report of the commander himself. This is by no means certain, though Soulés (Troublés, iii. 217), in speaking of the numbers given in this report, says: "Le Comte d'Estaing dit dans sa relation", etc. This was first printed in the Paris Gazette, and was reprinted in the English and American papers of the time.
Prevost made an elaborate report to Germain, under date of Savannah, Nov. 1, 1779. It was accompanied by translations of the correspondence between the commanders, and was first printed in The London Gazette, Dec. 21-25, 1779.[1094] Captain John Henry also reported through the usual channel. He viewed the siege from a point different from Prevost's, and his report is therefore of interest.[1095] Hough has also reprinted in his Savannah two "journals" from English sources.[1096] Mention must also be made of a valuable Memorandum of a very critical period in the Province of South Carolina, inclosed in a letter from J. H. Cruger to H. Cruger, etc., dated Savannah, Nov. 8, 1779, in Magazine of American History, 1878, p. 489.[1097]