CHAPTER number were taken prisoners; but some three hundred ΧΧΧΙΧ. kept together, and reached Augusta. Seventy of the pris1779. oners were put on trial for treason, found guilty, and sentenced to death; and five, the most influential and active, were hanged.

Feb.

Among the British troops in Georgia were four battalions of Carolina refugees, one of them commanded by Colonel Brown, originally a trader, whom the ardent Whigs, at the commencement of the contest, had tarred and feathered, and otherwise tortured. Brown's revenge was implacable. In command at Augusta, he eagerly followed the example lately set by hanging Whig prisThus began a system of cruelties on both sides which gave to the contest in the three Southern states a character of bitter ferocity quite beyond any thing exhibited at the North.

oners.

On

Lincoln's force being considerably increased by accessions of militia, he detached General Ashe with fourteen hundred men to occupy a post opposite Augusta. the approach of this force the British evacuated that town, and retired down the river; Ashe crossed in pursuit, and followed as far as Brier Creek, about half way to Savannah, on which stream he took up a position quite unassailable in front. By a maneuver similar to March. that so successful before Savannah, the British threw a

detachment into his rear; Ashe's militia, at the first attack, threw down their arms and fled; some four hundred were killed or made prisoners; and of the whole detachment, not more than four hundred and fifty rejoined Lincoln. Seven pieces of cannon and all the baggage fell into the hands of the British, whose loss in the action was only five killed and eleven wounded.

This victory enabled the British to reoccupy Augusta, and to reopen a communication with the Cherokees and

Carolina Loyalists.

XXXIX.

Secured now in the quiet possession CHAPTER of Georgia, Prevost issued a proclamation reinstating Sir James Wright as governor, and re-establishing the 1779. administration and laws as they had been prior to 1775.

Alarmed at the threatening position of the British, the State of South Carolina made every effort to re-enforce Lincoln's army. John Rutledge was induced to accept again the office of chief magistrate, and was invested with extraordinary powers. The Assembly also passed a new and more stringent militia law, under which some additional forces were organized.

Thus re-enforced, Lincoln, in hopes to recover the upper part of Georgia, so as to give the Legislature of that state a chance to assemble, marched toward Augusta, April. leaving Moultrie, with a thousand militia, to guard the passes of the Lower Savannah. Prevost took advantage of Lincoln's departure to cross the Savannah with three thousand men. Moultrie's militia offered but little resistance, and retreated before him. Information was sent to Lincoln of this movement; but he was already well on his way to Augusta. Content with detaching a battalion to re-enforce Moultrie, he crossed the Savannah, and marched down on the other side, with the double purpose of drawing Prevost back, and of giving encouragement and support to the American party among the inhabitants. At first, Prevost had no intention of marching upon Charleston; but the terror he inspired, and the invitations and assurances of those who flocked to his standard, determined him to do so. Information of this movement being sent to Lincoln by express, the American army recrossed the river, and hastened to the relief of Charleston; but, as Prevost had the advantage of several days' march, the position of that city, wholly without defenses on the land side, became very critical.

XXXIX.

CHAPTER Rutledge was at Orangeburg, trying to assemble the country militia. Had Prevost marched forward with1779. out stopping, he might have entered the town almost without resistance. While he delayed to collect information and arrange his plans, the townspeople were diligently employed in throwing up fortifications, in which every body, bond and free, was alike called upon to assist. Moultrie arrived with his militia, as did also the battalion detached by Lincoln; Rutledge also marched into the town with some additional militia; and, just as the British army approached, Pulaski, detached with his legion for service in the southern department, also made his appearance.

May 11.

When summoned to surrender, Rutledge offered to stipulate the neutrality of South Carolina during the war, leaving it to be decided at the peace to whom it should belong. This did not meet the views of the British, who wanted South Carolina as a standing ground whence to operate against the more northern colonies. An assault was expected. But the works were now strong; Lincoln was approaching; and the British army, after foraging for some days among the plantations in the vicinity of Charleston, retired into the island of St. John's, carrying off with them as plunder some three or four thousand slaves.

From the main land to the island of St. John's, across Stono River, a sort of bridge was made of sloops, schooners, and other small vessels, to cover which a redoubt was constructed on the main land. Lincoln having arrived encamped on Charleston Neck. Presently he appeared

June 20. before this redoubt, and ordered an attack, in which, after a severe struggle, the assailants were repulsed, with the loss of two hundred men. But Prevost had already determined to retire, and he withdrew first to Beaufort on

XXXIX.

Port Royal Inlet, where he left a garrison, and presently, CHAPTER with the main body of his forces, into Georgia. The weather had become very hot; the troops on both sides 1779. began to suffer from fever. The militia disbanded, and active operations were suspended for the present.

While Prevost was plundering in South Carolina, General Matthews, detached from New York with two thousand five hundred men, was carrying on a similar operation in Virginia. The squadron which escorted these troops having entered the Chesapeake, passed up Eliza- May 8. beth River, and took the fort and town at Portsmouth with very little opposition. Norfolk, somewhat revived from its ruins, fell also into the hands of the British. These two towns, on opposite sides of the river, were chief places of deposit for the produce of Virginia, and chief seats of her foreign trade, which, in spite of the war, was very considerable. A little higher up, at Gosport, the State of Virginia had established a navy-yard. Not less than a hundred and thirty merchant vessels were burned or taken by the British in the James and Elizabeth Rivers. An unfinished Continental frigate at Portsmouth, and eight smaller ships of war on the stocks at Gosport, were also burned. The suddenness of the attack, the character of the country, every where intersected by navigable rivers, and the large number of slaves among the population, prevented almost the show of resistance. Matthews retired in a few days with a booty, among other things, of three thousand hogsheads of tobacco. The damages inflicted by this expedition were estimated at not less than two millions of dollars.

No sooner had this expedition returned than Clinton ascended the Hudson in person with a strong squadron and six thousand men. He landed his troops on both sides of the river, a few miles below the posts at Ver

XXXIX.

CHAPTER planck's Point and Stony Point, by which the opposite landings of King's Ferry were defended. The works at 1779. Stony Point, on the west side of the river, were unfinished, and, on the approach of the enemy, were abandoned. Cannon placed in this fort commanded the works at Verplanck's Point, and that post, invested from the land side, was obliged to surrender. It was by King's Ferry that the great road from the Eastern to the Middle States crossed the Hudson; and, in consequence of the loss of it, a tedious circuit through the Highlands became necessary. The garrisons left in the conquered posts were a great annoyance to the surrounding country, and a source of danger to the important but as yet unfinished works in the Highlands. The more effectually to cover those works, Washington changed the position of his army; a large detachment was employed in their completion, and, in the course of the summer, they were mostly finished. Shortly after Clinton's return, Tryon made an expedition up the Sound with two thousand six hundred men, in the course of which he plundered New Haven, and burned Fairfield and Norwalk. He then proceeded to Sag Harbor, at the east end of Long Island, and was preparing for a descent on New London, but was suddenly recalled in consequence of an alarm occasioned in New York by the surprise of Stony Point-an enterprise planned by Washington, and very vigorously executed by Wayne.

July 4.

July 16.

Two columns, from different points, entered the works about one in the morning; the surprise was complete; some fifty of the garrison were killed, and the remainder, to the number of four hundred and fifty, were made prisoners. Wayne's loss in killed and wounded was about one hundred. Operations were commenced against Verplanck's Point; but the British army marched out of New