CHAP. XV. 1779. dable spirit and bravery; but they finally separated without victory on either. Yet the proud and gallant Britons, whose island has long affumed the haughty style of mistress of the seas, who have justly boasted their fuperiority in na. val engagements, could not forbear to claim the advantage in this doubtful conflict. But it is certain the wounded fleets under the admirals Barrington and Byron, found some difficulty in reaching St. Christophers, without some of their ships falling into the hands of their enemy. The count de Estaing returned to Grenada; and the lillies of France waved for a short time in the West Indies; and the English admirals were infulted in their turn, by the parade of the French fleet before St. Chriftophers, in the fame manner lord Barrington had before manœuvred in vain at Martinico, without provoking the Frenchmen to engage. After these partial fuccesses, the count de Estaing foon left the tropical feas, and repaired again to the American continent, where the assistance of a naval force was by this time exceedingly wanted, to aid the operations of the Americans. The fouthern campaign had been opened the preceding year, by the seizure of the capital of Georgia. Sir Henry Clinton, late in the autumn of one thousand seven hundred and feventy-eight, had ordered a large detachment of Hessian, British and provincial troops, under the command of lieutenant colonel Campbell, to Savannah, to afsist major general Prevost in further profecuting some unexpected advantages he had already gained. They were escorted by a small squadron under the command of commodore Parker, and arrived in the Savannah the twenty-feventh of December. The state of Georgia was at this time in a very weak and defenceless situation. Their frontiers were exposed to the depredations of the savages; and the rude incursions of the wild borderers who mixed with them, had often been so troublesome, as to require the call of the fouthern militia to check their outrages. Colonel Campbell landed his troops immediately on his arrival in the river, and by feveral spirited and judicious movements, poffefsed himself of the town of Savannah, the capital of the state, with little or no lofs, and obliged general Robert Howe, a gentleman of North Carolina, who commanded a party of about eight hundred militia, to retreat with precipitation. Orders had been previously given by fir Henry Clinton to major general Prevost, the commander in chief in East Florida, to repair with all possible expedition, to aid the invasion and reduction of Georgia. This active officer immediately collected his remote cantonments, and with dispatch and perfeverance, pushed CHAP. XV. 1779. CHAP. XV. 1779. his march through a hot and barren country of great extent. Surmounting innumerable difficulties and fatigue, he reached Sunbury, and took poffeffion of the town and garrison, before Campbell had poffefsed himself of Savannah. Both military skill and a great degree of humanity, marked this first important enterprise in the fouth. The British commander forbid that the inhabitants not in arms should be either molested or plundered; and by promises and proclamations, encouraged them to submit quietly to the authority of the parent state. Some acquiefced by inclination, and many impelled by neceffity, appeared ready to enlist under the British standard; others, of more bold and independent sentiments, made their escape across the river, with the hope of an afylum in South Carolina. These fucceffes again encouraged the disaffect ed and disorderly people, who had long infefted the back parts of North Carolina, to renew their incursions. Those insurgents had been apparently fubdued, their leaders cut off, and their spirits broken, in the beginning of the American convulfions; but their aversion to the reigning powers in that state, ftill rankled in their breasts: they had impatiently waited an opportunity of displaying it, in all the fierce and cruel modes of savage war, in conjunction with the neighbouring Indians, to whom they CHAP. XV. had attached themselves. They confidered this a favorable crisis, and again left their rural occupations. They united with fome scattering parties of the fame defcription, on the borders of South Carolina and Georgia, embodied themselves, and in their progress committed every outrage, that might be expected from an armed banditti. But on an attempt to join general Prevost, their main body was attacked by the provincial militia, many of them cut off, and others taken prifoners; the remainder fled to the frontiers of Georgia, where, with their old associates of the wilderness, and all others who could be collected in the back fettlements, they united to aid general Prevost in his future operations. The hazardous situation of Georgia, and the imminent danger of the wealthy state of South Carolina, had spread an alarm that awakened to immediate exertion for the recovery of the one, and the security of the other. General Lincoln had feafonably been fent forward to take the command in the fouthern department. He reached Savannah a short time after colonel Campbell's arrival there; but he found himself not in fo eligible a situation as might have been wished. The number of troops under his command fell far short of expectation: the artillery and stores were infufficient; and every 1779. CHAP. XV. 1779. difficulty was enhanced by the want of order and difcipline in the militia, who refused to fubmit to the necessary subordination of armies : they left their pofts and retired at pleasure. General Lincoln however, consistent with his usual disposition on all occasions, endeavoured to make the best of his situation. He continued himself at Purisburgh, with the main body of his army, and ordered general Afhe, with a detachment of two thousand men, to take a strong poft at a place called Briar Creek. His design was to fecure the upper part of the country against the loyalists, who were every where collecting their strength. Soon after general Ashe had taken poffeffion of the advantageous post, that in the opinion of the principal officers, promifed perfect security, general Prevost formed and executed the design of surprising him there. To facilitate this judicious measure, he made fuch arrangements on the banks of the Savannah, as took off the attention of general Lincoln: at the fame time, he ordered his brother, colonel Prevost, by a circuitous march of fifty miles, to fall unexpectedly on Ashe's party at the creek. The fuccefs of the enterprise juftified the defign; the whole detachment was routed, many of them killed or captured; and thus the way was opened for the loyalists, and their copper-colored allies in the back country, to join Prevost |