When the colonies had declared their independence of Great Britain and the aid of France was eagerly invoked the Irish troops in the French army pressed their request on the war office in Paris that they should be sent to America to fight the British, who were, they declared, their hereditary enemies. A copy of the French original of this document may be seen in the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. In 1779 several Irish regiments were embarked in the French fleets for service against the English forces in the West Indies and on the American coast. Included in this contingent were the regiments of Dillon, Walsh, Berwick and Fermoy. These regiments being so designated in compliment to the colonel in command as the “Colonel Proprietaire.” In the fleet of the Count d’Estaing there was carried a considerable land force—mostly of the Irish brigade. Count Dillon was second in command to the admiral and at the siege of Savannah, then held by the British, he led his own regiment in the attack on the defenses.
There was, also, on the land side, an American co-operating force commanded by General Lincoln. The assault ended disastrously for both the French and Americans with severe loss in killed and wounded. Upward of 1,200 of the assaulting columns fell in the space of fifty minutes; of these 821 were of the French forces and the rest of the American. The utmost bravery was shown, both in the attack and in the defense, but the storming column, led by Count d’Estaing and Dillon, could not withstand the terrific fire of the batteries and were forced to abandon the assault.
D’Estaing was wounded and carried off the field. The gallant Pole, Count Pulaski, who served with the American forces, was killed. He was in command of a small force of regular cavalry of lancers. Among the list of the killed and wounded of the French attacking column I find the names of Brow, major in Dillon’s regiment; Moran and O’Neill, captains; Tauffe, lieutenant, and many other familiar Irish names; officers and subofficers of the brigade. The names of the rank and file are not given, but it is not difficult to surmise what must have been the gallantry of the assault when we see the heavy list of the killed and wounded.
The particulars of the memorable attack on Savannah are given with great fullness in a publication issued many years ago by the Georgia Historical Society, compiled from original sources. The gallantry of Sergeant Jasper, an Irishman, at the siege and his heroic death on the battlements while attempting to raise thereon the flag of his regiment, has immortalized his name and his bravery. A statue of Jasper in one of the public squares of Savannah fittingly commemorates the deed and memory of the gallant patriot.
Following the abandonment of the siege the French fleet withdrew and undertook the reduction of several of the English possessions in the West Indies. It is not my purpose to follow the subsequent career and fortunes of the fleet and forces under d’Estaing except to remark that the diversion made by these attacks on the islands under the British flag were naturally important aids to the cause of the colonies, since the English forces employed in their defense would otherwise have been in service, doubtless, in the attempt to subdue the colonies.
I am tempted to relate another incident in Count Dillon’s career of glory in the expeditions that followed the failure at Savannah. He had part in the attempts made by the French fleet and forces on several of the English possessions, notably in the attack made on the Island of St. Eustache.
The frigates being unable to approach sufficiently near to the fortifications to land aid, Dillon, with only 377 men, landed and in person led the assault. The Irish were at the head of the column, and such was the impetuosity of the attacking force that 840 regular troops of the English army laid down their arms and were made prisoners of war by less than half their number! Later on the Dillon regiment was employed in the siege of the important fortress and Island of St. Christopher, and the place was finally carried, Count Dillon remaining in command of the island as governor.