Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-06
was that of Charleston, where Pulaski Is
credited with having driven the British from
the city.

THE seige OF Savannah, lasting nearly a
~ month and eliminating in the storming of
the city october 8, 1879, has never had the
importance in American history it deserves.
On the contrary, there has been a tendency
to ignore 1t. Only limited space is accorded
by most historians, and some fail to mention
it at all, SO that the siege Of Savannah is OBJ
Scure except to those who would search for it.
Perhaps, had not the American cause lost
one of It's most intrepid and valuable supporters
In Count Pulaski posterity would have been
left in almost complete ignorance of this i'm
pOrtant battle.
Whether this is due to the decided defeat of
the French and American forces by inferior
numbers in the beseged city or whether 1t is
because of the highly contradictory stories told
by the combatants is something that would
require additional research to determine.
Yet approximately 5000 French and Ameri-
can troops engaged something like $500 British
defenders lntrenched behind some very for
mdaEle redoubts-not an insignificant force,
measured in Revolutionary figures especially
when so far removed from the arena of mill
tary operations hitherto conducted in the North
Also 1t was the success of the British at
Savannah, following some decided repulses in
the North that determined the shift of their
operations to the South fnd which finally led
to the cornering of CORVALLIS at Yorktown.
It would SEEM then, that the after effects,
together with the number of troops engaged,
the number killed and the ferceness of the
fighting would entitle Savannah to a larger
place in the history of our country.
This would leave only the difficulty Of sift-
Ing out an accurate account of the battle from
the many differing versions, and the reluctance
of some historians to relate disastrous occur
rences or anything rejecting upon the courage
or military precocity of our Colonial forbears,
as only possible reasons for consigning such
an in n0kan' engagement to obscurity.
An in66eA ion of the conflict in testimony
regarding the battle itself is seen in the
description of the death of Pulaski. He was
felled with one shot, but that shot has been
described as no less than six different kinds
of shell, ranging from a musket shot to a
cannon ball. Then too, for long time there
was dispute about the burial place of the
famous Pole 1t is generally conceded now,
however, that he was buried at sea-
THE actual siege Of Savannah began on Sep
TENDER Is, l779. Gen Benjamin Lincoln,
with force approaching $500 men, had adj
vanced from Charleston. where he had been
successful in a brush with the enemy. Comte
DEStaing with French fleet numbering 20
ships of the line, II frigates and strong land
ing force with an available fighting strength of
about 1900 men, had approached from the sea
after besting an English fleet under Byron.
DEstaing and Lincoln made contact on the
twelfth, and the sixteenth the French officer de-
manded the surrender of Savannah to the King
of France. Provost, the British officer in charge,
demurred and asked for "a hours consideration.
The granting of that repreve was fatal
error for the attacking forces. Under cover
OF fog, 800 reinforcements crept into the city
and Provost put more than 1000 men, white
and colored, to work on double time, improving
the Notifications.
The expiration of the time limit found IA
redoubts and 80 mounted cannon that had not
been there the day before. The allied forces
then spent two weeks preparing for the assault
against the added hazard.
DEstaing, harassed by the fear of a rejuven-
alton and return of Byron's defeated English
fleet, finally pressed for immediate action or
abandonment of the enterprise.
The battle plan was made for the morning
of October 9. On the preceding night, James
Curry sergeant major of the Charleston
Grenadiers with complete information of the
plan Of attack, deserted to the enemy. He APP
prised the English Of the exact point of a
planned feint, and told where the allied armies
intended to concentrate their forces. With this
information, Gen. Provost was able to disregard
the feint and mass his strength at the heart
OF the proposed attack.
VARIOUS descriptions of the battle are con-
" fusing, but all chroniclers agree that con-
fusion reigned supreme among the attacking
troops
One description compiled from the journals
OF two French officers in the conflict is far from
complimentary to the American participants.
THE American column advanced in good
order to the attack" according to this account.
"At the first discharge of gum o-thirds of
the Virginia Militia detached themselves from
it. Only 300 men Of the regular regiments and
Pulaski's dragons remained, and although re-
pulsed with severe loss, returned repeatedly to
the assault"
different story is told by Mai Thomas
Pinckney, an American who participated In
the 6nhfinn Moi Ili,,nlr