Fighting in
Liberty County – November 1778 -- January 1779
Liberty County -
Located on the Georgia coast,
Liberty County is one of the eight original counties created from colonial
parishes on
February 5,
1777. Seven
were named for British political figures sympathetic to the cause of American
liberty, and Liberty County was named to honor the early zeal
for independence of
the
settlers of
St. John's Parish.
In March of 1775,
Liberty County
citizens gathered in the Congregational Church at Midway, where they elected
Dr. Lyman Hall, a Midway Church member, to represent them in the
Continental Congress in Philadelphia,
Georgia’s only representative. They also sent several wagonloads of rice to
feed the Continental troops surrounding Boston. A year later, Lyman Hall and
another St. John's Parish resident, Button Gwinnett, signed the
Declaration of
Independence in Philadelphia.
British Southern
Strategy -
Prime Minister, Lord North and the Secretary of
State for the American Department, Lord Germain were under intense pressure to
achieve a military breakthrough and subdue the rebellious colonies. The
anti-war members of Parliament were demanding a new strategy to break the
stalemate.
In March 1778, Sir Henry
Clinton became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in America. He believed
that Loyalists were capable of taking a leading role in overwhelming the
rebels. Germain had what he needed -- a new strategy
for a breakthrough in the stalemate. He sent a secret letter to Sir Henry
Clinton in March 1778 outlining this new strategy and stating that the King
considered the conquest of the south to be "…an object of great importance in
the scale of the war." Germain told Clinton that the capture of Georgia,
Virginia, and the Carolinas would destroy the rebel's economy as they would no
longer be able to export rice, tobacco, and indigo to obtain funds to buy war
supplies in Europe.
Germain's
strategy also urged Clinton to take Savannah first as it required fewer
troops. Once Savannah was taken and contact was made with the Loyalists in the
backcountry rebels on the coast would be isolated. When more troops were
available Charleston would be taken. Clinton was also urged to have Indians
attack the backcountry in Virginia so they could not send troops to aid South
Carolina and Georgia. Finally Germain suggested that Clinton begin his
campaign in the winter as the climate in the south made operations there
easier during that time of year and troops in the north would not be used in
the winter.
In November
1778, Col. Archibald Campbell with 3,500 men on a naval contingent of war
ships set sail for Savannah dropping anchor off Tybee Island, Georgia at the
mouth of the Savannah River on December 23rd. Although Campbell was to wait
for General Prevost to move up from Florida, after hearing the small size of
Howe's force he decided to attack without waiting for Prevost, and quickly
captured Savannah.
A British deserter jumped
ship and swam ashore providing the General Robert Howe of the Continental Army
with the British plan to attack Savannah. Governor John Houstoun, a
27-year-old attorney is informed of this plan, but he and his council do
nothing to prepare. On November 19th John Laurens had written Houstoun from
Philadelphia also telling him, "The British are coming!" Howe warns Houstoun
of impending disaster if something is not done. He begs for troops and
materials. Houstoun refuses to communicate with Howe preferring to only
communicate with Lincoln who is in Charleston. Finally Houstoun sends Howe 100
Georgia Militia.
British
Expedition from St. Augustine -
As the implementation of British “Southern Strategy” was being organized,
British Gen. Augustin Prevost sent his younger brother, LtCol. Mark Prevost,
on a forging expedition against the Liberty County settlements. He also
directed Col. Lewis Valentine Fuser through the inland waterways to capture
Sunbury, the second largest town in Georgia. On November 19, 1778, Prevost
crossed the Altamaha River with 750 men and ravaged the plantations, killing
or capturing the male
citizens.
Skirmish at
Bulltown Swamp –
In November 1778, British
Lt.Col Mark Prevost with 100 British Regulars, Lt. Cols. Thomas Brown with
Florida King’s Rangers and Daniel McGirth with 300 Refugees and Indians
crossed the Altamaha River into Liberty County. Colonel John Baker's Mounted
Georgia Militia met and fought a delaying action.at Bulltown Swamp and North
Newport.
Fight at
Spencer’s Hill -
Meanwhile, Patriot Col. John White, commander of Continental and Militia
troops at Sunbury, decided to make a stand against the British with 100 men
and two pieces of artillery at Midway. On November 24, Patriot Gen. James
Screven joined White with an additional twenty Georgia militia. They set up an
ambush about a mile and a half south of the Midway Meeting House at a location
called Spencer’s Hill.
Loyalist
LtCol. Thomas Brown, commander of the Florida Rangers, grossly overestimated
the size of the Patriot forces, and decided to establish an ambush,
coincidently at the same location chosen by Screven. The Loyalist Rangers
heard Screven and his Patriots approach, and realizing Screven’s identity, the
Rangers mortally wounded him. He was shot eleven times and died two days later
while a prisoner of the British.
Bringing up
British Regulars to reinforce the Rangers, LtCol. Mark Prevost’s horse was
killed and when he fell, the British faltered. The Patriots sensed victory,
but Prevost remounted, the British recovered and the Patriots had to retreat
toward Midway. In an effort to slow Prevost’s advance, White forged a
fictitious order from Patriot Col. Samuel Elbert for White to retreat where a
large body of cavalry would attack Prevost from the rear.
White also
detached Patriot LtCol. John McIntosh and 127 Continentals to Sunbury to
reinforce the artillery garrison at the fort.
After
Prevost found the fictitious Patriot order and
fearing
his British force was in danger of being cut off and defeated,
he burned
the Midway Meeting House to rebuke the Patriots rebellious actions. Receiving
a report that British Col. Fuser’s force had not arrived at Sunbury where they
were supposed to rendezvous, Prevost decided to return to St. Augustine,
taking with him large numbers of cattle, slaves and horses, thus leaving a
devastated Liberty County.
Siege of
Fort Morris -
Delayed by headwinds, Fuser’s
naval force
reached Sunbury after Prevost had begun his return march to St. Augustine.
Fuser’s 500 men off-loaded field pieces on Colonel’s Island and moved them to
the land side of the fort, thus occupying Sunbury without firing a shot.
Thinking Prevost in command of the area between Midway and the fort, Fuser
demanded the fort's surrender on November 25, 1778.
Patriot Lt.Col. John McIntosh,
defiantly
replied, "We, Sir, are fighting the battles of America … as to surrendering
the fort, receive this laconic reply: Come and Take it!"
Text of their correspondence follows:
Fuser’s
Demand to Surrender -
“To
Captain Thomas Morris Commander of the fort in Sunbury
November 25, 1778
Sir, You
cannot be ignorant that four armies are in motion to reduce this province; the
one is already under the guns of your fort and may be joined when I think
proper by Col. Prevost, who is by now at the Meetinghouse. The resistance you
can or intend to make will only bring destruction upon this country. On the
contrary, if you deliver me the fort which you command, lay down your arms and
remain neuter until the fate of America is determined, you shall as well as
all the inhabitants of this parish, remain in the peaceable answer, which I
expect in an hour’s time, will determine the fate of this country, whether it
is to be laid in ashes or remain as above proposed.
I am, Sir,
your most obedient, L.V. Fuser, Col. 60th Regiment and Commander of
His Majesty’s Troops in Georgia On His Majesty’s Service
P.S.
Since this letter is closed, some of your people have been firing scattering
shot about the town. I am to inform you, that if a stop is not put to such
irregular proceedings, I shall burn a house for every shot so fired.”
McIntosh’s Reply
‘Lieut.
Col. L.V. Fuser Of His Britannic Majesty’s Troops in Georgia,
Fort Morris, November 25,
1778
Sir, We
acknowledge we are not ignorant that your army is in motion to endeavor to
reduce this state. We believe it entirely chimerical that Colonel Prevost is
at the Meetinghouse; but should it be so, we are in no degree apprehensive of
danger from a junction of his army with yours. We have no property, compared
with the object we contend for, that we value a rush and would rather perish
in a vigorous defence than accept of your proposals.
We, Sir, are
fighting the battle of America, and therefore disdain to remain neuter till
its fate is determined—As to surrendering the fort, receive this laconic reply
--- Come and Take It. Major Lane, whom
I send with this letter, is directed to satisfy you with respect to the
irregular loose firing mentioned on the back of your letter.
I have the
honour to be, Sir, your most obedient, John McIntosh, Lieutenant Colonel to
the Continental Troops.
Major Lane’s
response, As soon as he burnt a house at one end of the town they would apply
a torch to the other and let the flames meet in the center by a mutual
conflagration.”
************
Fuser, whose mission was to divert attention from Prevost’s actions, refused
to attack and
returned with his flotilla to British East Florida.
Previously unnamed, the fort was then called Fort Morris in honor of Capt.
Thomas Morris, a Virginian and the garrison's Commander of Artillery.
Surrender of Fort Morris
- On December 29,
1778, a three thousand man British army led by
LtCol. Campbell
captured Savannah. Realizing that he could not hold Georgia,
Continental Gen. Robert Howe ordered Patriot Maj.
Joseph Lane to evacuate Fort Morris. Unfamiliar with the area, Lane requested
a guide to assist in the garrison's removal. The citizens of Sunbury persuaded
him to stay.
Lane maintained contact with
the captains of the Patriot galleys Bulloch and Washington and
the sloop Rebecca, but his designs for an escape by boat came too late.
In January of 1779, after failing to comply with Howe’s order to evacuate the
fort, Lane found both Fort Morris and Sunbury surrounded by over 2,000 British
Regulars, Loyalists and Indians. A
cannon ball hit the powder magazine and destroyed the nearby officer’s
barrack. The On January 9, 1779, after a three day
siege and a brief heavy bombardment,
Lane surrendered Fort Morris
with 24 cannons and large quantities of provisions. The Patriots lost four
killed, seven wounded and about 200 captured, and the British lost one killed
and four wounded.
Having seized the fort,
British Gen. Prevost renamed it Fort George in honor of George III, and
Sunbury became a camp for paroled Patriot officers captured during the Battle
of Savannah. These included Col. George Walton, one of Georgia’s signers of
the Declaration of Independence; Mordecai Sheftall, Continental Deputy
Commissary officer; Capt. Thomas Morris and Maj. Joseph Lane.
The British
dismantled the fort when they evacuated to Savannah in late 1779. Under the
name of Fort Defiance, the bulwark was re-configured and once again manned
against the British during the War of 1812. Fort
Morris State Historic Site is operated by the Georgia Department of Natural
Resources and is Georgia’s only Revolutionary Historic Site with earthworks.
Midway Historic
District
The Midway Historic
District, at the junction of US Highway 17 and Georgia Highway 38, thirty
miles south of Savannah, was once an influential center for political,
economic, and religious life. The town was founded by New England Puritans in
1752, who built a crude log hut church in 1754. These colonists were strongly
for independence from Great Britain, and as a consequence, during the
Revolution, the British burned the church and most of the buildings in 1778.
In 1778, as part of the
British plan to take Georgia via Savannah. The British General Augustine
Prevost in St. Augustine committed an army of 100 British regulars and 300
Indians and Scopholites (named for the South Carolina Tory named Scophol)
under Lt. Colonel Mark Prevost and 500 men by water under Lt. Colonel L. V.
Fuser. Prevost landed on the Altamaha River and swept up to Midway.
Colonel John White posted
about one hundred Continentals with two pieces of light artillery at the
Midway Church and constructed a breastwork just south of it, hoping to hold
off Prevost until help arrived from Savannah. When General James Screven
arrived with some twenty militiamen, the Americans moved their position 1.5
miles south of the church. A fierce engagement to drive the British back
ensued, in which General James Screven was wounded and captured; he died while
in the hands of the enemy. Before leaving Midway, the meeting House was
burned by Prevost’s troops.
The
church, rebuilt in 1792, is a clapboard church built of cypress timber.
Inside there is a high pulpit and elevated galleries for the slaves from the
plantations in the area.
Also remaining from the
colonial era are the historic 1756 cemetery and a segment of the historic "Old
Sunbury Road" (now Georgia highway 38). The Midway Museum, a raised cottage
style house typical of those built on the coast in the 18th century, features
exhibits, documents, and furnishings commemorating 18th and early 19th century
life. The museum house was specifically designed to show a typical plantation
house, modeled after the houses that once stood in Midway near the church.
On
the grounds are historical markers devoted to three influential men of the
area. Nathan Brownson was a Georgia colonial governor and served in the . He
was born in Connecticut in 1742, and was a graduate of Yale College where he
studied medicine. He moved to Liberty County, where he died here in 1796.
Lyman Hall, one of Georgia’s three signers of the Declaration of Independence,
was also a governor of Georgia (1783-1784). He too was born in Connecticut in
1724, but moved to Georgia where he purchased Hall's Knoll Plantation in
Liberty County. He was a physician, and died in 1790. Another signer of the
Declaration of Independence, Button Gwinnett was born in Gloucestershire,
England in 1735. He came to Georgia in 1765 where he purchased St.
Catherine's Island in Liberty County. He died in a duel with Lachlan McIntosh
held on the outskirts of Savannah. Both Button Gwinnett and Lyman Hall
attended Midway Church.
Fort Morris State
Historic Site
The
Fort Morris site was originally a Guale Indian village, closely tied to the
settlements and Spanish missions on nearby St. Catherine's Island. It was
here, on February 21, 1734, that General James Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia,
held the first Masonic meeting in the new British colony.
The American Revolution
brought considerable changes to the region. In 1776, delegates attending the
Continental Congress recognized the strategic importance of having a fort to
protect Georgia's middle coast from attack by the English navy. On a low bluff
of the Medway River, adjacent to the important colonial seaport of Sunbury, a
fort was constructed and garrisoned by 200 patriots.
Fort Morris,
an irregular star-shaped fort with earthen palisades and four bastions, was
located 350 yards south east of Sunbury on the
Medway River. Both the fort and town were surrounded by
earthworks and deep entrenchments. The fort
had a good location because the Midway River makes a sharp turn to the right
in front of the fort. Attacking ships would have had to tack their ship
directly in front of the fort, making them excellent targets for the gunners
(especially so, since there were range markers placed in the river).
Built in 1776, the fort
held 24 pieces of ordnance and included a two-storied brick barrack. The
Georgia Navy galleys frequented docked and replenished at Sunbury.
Fort Morris served as the base for three
unsuccessful expeditions against British East Florida between 1776 and 1778.
On January 9, 1779, an artillery bombardment hit the powder magazine
and destroyed the nearby officer’s barrack. The British dismantled the fort
when they evacuated to Savannah in late 1779.
Three Expeditions into
British East Florida -
In April 1776 the H.M.S. Hinchinbrook sailed up the Medway River and
burned a lumber loaded brigantine and a privateer being outfitted near
Sunbury. Sunbury served as a staging point for military action against British
East Florida. Three separate attempts were made to capture Florida from the
British.
Button Gwinnett, a signer
of the Declaration of Independence, became Commander of the Georgia Militia,
and in 1777, decided to capture St. Augustine, conquer Florida and annex it to
Georgia. He also wanted to punish the Florida Rangers for capturing Fort
McIntosh on the Satilla River and threatening Fort Howe on the Altamaha.
Troops from Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina met at Sunbury for a
planned invasion of Florida. But the commanders of the expedition, Button
Gwinnett and Lachlan McIntosh, quarreled before the expedition even got
underway. The quarrel led to a duel, held May 19, 1777, after which Gwinnett
died from wounds suffered in the duel.
The Second Florida
Expedition, June 1777, was commanded by Colonel Samuel Ebert and was launched
from Sunbury. Two separate forces were to rendezvous on Sawpit Bluff on the
St. Johns River. Unfortunately, the forces did not coordinate. Colonel John
Barker went overland to Sawpit Bluff, but he was defeated near Thomas Creek.
Upon hearing of the defeat, Ebert returned to Sunbury.
The third invasion in
1778, involved 2,600 troops in four separate commands. There was dissension
among the commanders and illness among the troops and the invasion failed in a
battle near the Alligator Creek Bridge. Governor John Houston led the Georgia
Militia; Georgia and Carolina Continentals were under General Robert Howe;
The South Carolina Militia was commanded by Colonel Andrew Williamson; and
Naval units were under the command of Commodore Oliver Bowen.
British
Expedition from St. Augustine -
In November
1778, British Gen. Augustin Prevost sent his younger brother, LtCol. Mark
Prevost, on a forging expedition against the Liberty County settlements. He
also directed Col. Lewis Valentine Fuser through the inland waterways to
capture Sunbury, the second largest town in Georgia. Delayed by headwinds,
Fuser’s
naval force
reached Sunbury after Prevost had begun his return march to St. Augustine.
Fuser’s 500 men off-loaded field pieces on Colonel’s Island and moved them to
the land side of the fort, thus occupying Sunbury without firing a shot.
Thinking Prevost in command of the area between Midway and the fort, Fuser
demanded the fort's surrender on November 25, 1778.
Patriot Lt.Col. John McIntosh,
defiantly
replied, "We, Sir, are fighting the battles of America … as to surrendering
the fort, receive this laconic reply: Come and Take it!"
Fuser, whose mission was to divert attention from Prevost’s actions, refused
to attack and
returned with his flotilla to British East Florida.
Previously unnamed, the fort was then called Fort Morris in honor of Capt.
Thomas Morris, a Virginian and the garrison's Commander of Artillery.
In December of 1778,
American forces under General Robert Howe at Savannah were surprised by a
British invasion and they were forced to evacuate the town. Howe told Sunbury
and Augusta to follow suit. They did not. In January 1779 Prevost with 2,000
men laid siege to Sunbury, the fort fell and was renamed Fort George.
Sunbury, having suffered
devastations at the hands of the British and the forces of nature brought by a
hurricane a few years later, subsided in influence. In 1797, Riceborough
superseded it as county seat and Sunbury became not much more than a memory.
Fort Morris defended
Georgia against the British again during the War of 1812, when it was known as
Fort Defiance. On January 13, 1815 Admiral George Cockburn captured St.
Marys, Georgia. He headed then for Darien. The British received word of the
war's end and so they returned to their ships.
The fort looks most like
it would have during the War of 1812. There is an opening in the embankments.
Here there would have been the sally port with a wooden gate.
Sunbury,
established in 1758
by the founders of Midway, not far away,
was located in St. John’s Parish between the Medway and Newport Rivers. The
town
contained 496 lots and embraced three squares - King's, Church and Meeting.
After becoming
a port of entry in 1762,
the
Continental Congress decided to build a fort for its defense in 1776.
Wm Bartram: "After
resting, and a little recreation for a few days in Savanna, ... I sat off
early in the morning for Sunbury, a sea- port town, beautifully situated on
the main, between Medway and Newport rivers, about 15 miles south of great
Ogeeche river."
In November of 1778, Lt.
Colonel L. V. Fuser landed 500 men near Sunbury and demanded the surrender of
Colonel John McIntosh and his 200 men. McIntosh responded "Come and take it."
Later McIntosh was awarded a sword with his defiant words inscribed upon it.
In December of 1778,
American forces under General Robert Howe at Savannah were surprised by a
British invasion and they were forced to evacuate the town. Howe told Sunbury
and Augusta to follow suit. They did not. In January 1779 Prevost with 2,000
men laid siege to Sunbury, the fort fell and was renamed Fort George.
Sunbury, having suffered
devastations at the hands of the British and the forces of nature brought by a
hurricane a few years later, subsided in influence. In 1797, Riceborough
superseded it as county seat and Sunbury became not much more than a memory.
Fort Morris defended
Georgia against the British again during the War of 1812, when it was known as
Fort Defiance. On January 13, 1815 Admiral George Cockburn captured St.
Marys, Georgia. He headed then for Darien. The British received word of the
war's end and so they returned to their ships. The fort looks most like it
would have during the War of 1812. There is an opening in the embankments.
Here there would have been the sally port with a wooden gate.
In August 1861 the Liberty
Independent Troop mustered into service at Sunbury. In June 1861 the Savannah
Mounted Rifles under Captain Charles Lamar set up camp in Sunbury. The fort
was garrisoned throughout the war.
On the bulletin board was
a report entitled the "Rape of Liberty County" dealing with Sherman's “March
to the Sea.” Sherman came through the area in December 1864. General Judson
Kilpatrick and the Union Cavalry was sent down the coast to raid the area
south of Savannah. He headed for Sunbury. While approaching the town of
Dorchester, a skirmish took place between Confederate cavalry and a Kentucky
cavalry unit, and the southerners were forced to flee.
The federal troops went to
Sunbury. They burned Sunbury Baptist Church as a signal to the Federal troops
on Bryan Neck that the town had been secured. They then proceeded to nearby
Midway, Georgia. Union Calvary set up around Midway Church. The high brick
walls of the cemetery made an ideal corral to contain the confiscated
livestock. From Midway the federal troops raided the surrounding area.
Never recovering from the
burning of the town by the British during the Revolutionary War, many families
relocated to the newly opened frontier of Georgia. Sunbury suffered major
damage by a hurricane in 1824, a yellow fever epidemic and the shift of the
Liberty County courthouse to Riceboro. Today, the only remaining trace of the
once thriving port is the Sunbury Cemetery.
General Officers in the
Fighting of Liberty County
Augustine
Prevost
- Born in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1720, first entered the Dutch army during
the War of Austrian Succession. The outbreak of the Seven Years War (French &
Indian War) found him a British Major in the Royal Americans. Severely
wounded at Quebec in 1758, Prevost continued in the military throughout the
1760s and early 1770s. During the first three years of the American
Revolution, Prevost served in command of St. Augustine, and directed the
British response to the Patriot Florida Expeditions of 1777 and 1778.
Robert
Howe--Born
to a prominent farmer in
North Carolina,
Howe was educated in
England
and, upon his return, was elected to the colonial assembly in 1764. Serving in
the
North Carolina
militia,
Howe fought in the expeditions against the Regulators in1768 and 1771.
Following the defeat of
Lord Dunmore,
the Royal Governor of Virginia, at the
Battle of Great Bridge,
Howe was promoted to Brigadier General of the Continental Army on
March 1,
1776,
and assigned to command of the Southern Department of the Continental Army.
Howe was
promoted to major general and led the Continental forces in the Third Florida
Expedition in 1778. Since he had no authority over either the Georgia or South
Carolina militias, the Expedition failed and he was forced to retreat.
After the
failure of the Third Florida Expeditions, Howe was replaced as commander of
the Southern Department by Gen.
Benjamin Lincoln in
September. However, before Lincoln could
arrive, over Christmas 1778, Howe was forced to try to defend but had to
abandon
Savannah, Georgia,
on
December 29
after a brief battle with British forces led by Lt. Colonel
Archibald Campbell.
Again, Howe did not have authority over the militia until very late in the
campaign and was acquitted in a
court martial
exonerating Howe from blame of Savannah's capture.
Prepared by
Bill Ramsaur, Marshes of Glynn Chapter, Georgia Society Sons of the American
Revolution
