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A few days after his last conference with Congress, M. Gerard obtained permission to return to France, on account of his bad health, and was succeeded by the Chevalier de la Luzerne. Having thus brought down the proceedings of Congress to the period of the latest military operations related, we shall now revert to the situation of the two armies in the South.

CHAPTER XI.

Events of 1779 continued-The Count D'Estaing arrives on the coast of Georgia with the French fleet.-Lands his army, and is joined by General Lincoln before Savannah.-The Siege of Savannah-The Confederate Generals attempt to storm the works and are repulsed.-Count Pulaski is mortally wounded. The Siege is raised and the allied armies retreat.-Count D'Estaing sails for the West Indies.-Extraordinary enterprise of Colonel White.-Expedition of Colonel Clarke against Lieutenant Governour Hamilton.-Of Colonel Goose Van Schaick.General Sullivan sent against the Six Nations-Attacks the Indians and Tories at Newtown, and suffers them to escape.Lays waste the Indian Country, and returns to Head Quarters.-Resigns his commission.-Brandt destroys the Minisink Settlements. Captain McDonald captures Freland's FortExpedition of General Williams against the Creeks.-Spain declares War against England-Expedition of the Spanish Governour of Louisiana, and his recognition of American Independence.

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We have shown that the British General Prevost, after having marched almost without opposition from Savannah to the metropolis of South Carolina, and refusing the most advantageous treaty of neutrality offered by its inhabitants, withdrew his forces without venturing an assault and retired to his possessions in Georgia. The intense heat of the season which immediately succeeded, put a stop to all active operations in both armies, and for several months, General Lincoln had full leisure to prepare for the renewal of the campaign. Knowing from the situation of Washington, that it was not in his power to spare any considerable reinforcements from his army, and being convinced from the feeble condition of the enemy,

that a small auxiliary force would enable him to compel General Prevost to relinquish his conquest in the South, General Lincoln, in concert with Governour Rutledge and the French Consul at Charleston, wrote to the Count D'Estaing, who still remained with his fleet in the West Indies, urging him to join in the proposed enterprise. The Count, always ready to obey the calls of duty or of honour, instantly prepared to set sail for the American coast, where he arrived on the 1st of September with forty-one sail, having on board ten regiments, amounting to about 6000 men. Two ships of the line and three frigates, having on board Major General Fontanges, were sent in advance to Charleston, to announce his approach, and to afford an opportunity for the Governour and General Lincoln to concert a plan of operations with the French General.

The unexpected appearance of the French fleet produced no little alarm to the British naval force on the Georgia station. Three of their ships, ignorant of the Count's approach until too late to escape, fell into his hands; and the rest sought their safety by running up the Savannah river. Governour Rutledge took the most prompt and active measures to collect and embody the militia, which joined the American General, by regiments, as they came in; while at the same time he afforded all the facilities in his power to the French Admiral, for landing his troops by sending off to his fleet, the shallops and small vessels that could be collected. The Count D'Estaing landed three thousand of his men at Beaulieu on the 13th of September, which were joined on the 15th by Pulaski's Legion.

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General Lincoln, in the mean time, put his army in motion, and crossed the Savannah at Zubly's ferry, on the 9th; but owing to the extensive swamps and creeks, which lay in his route, and the destruction of all the bridges by the enemy in their retreat, his progress was so interupted, that he did not effect a junction with the Count's troops until the 16th, when the united armies met before the town of Savannah. General Prevost had employed the short interval allowed him, between the unlooked for appearance of the French fleet, and the union of the two armies in front of Savannah, in making the most active and vigorous preparations of defence. Lieutenant Colonels Maitland and Cruger had been ordered in from the advanced posts which they occupied, and the naval commander having dismantled his squadron, repaired to Savannah with his guns, marines and sailors. Their engineer officer, Major Moncrieff, was assiduously engaged in strengthening the old and erecting new works, in the labour of which he was assisted by two hundred negroes; and every thing evinced a determination on the part of the British General, to meet the contest with manly resistance.

The Count D'Estaing having arrived before the town previous to the junction of the allied armies, had summoned the garrison to surrender in the name of his master alone, probably from mere inadvertence, to which the British General declined to answer, alleging truly that the Count was not combating for the French sovereign only. The summons was repeated in the appropriate style by the united Generals, and Prevost demanded a truce for twenty-four hours, that he might be allowed time to adjust the terms of surrender. His only object, however, was to pro

tract negotiation, that the unfinished work of his defences might be completed; in which General Prevost gave convincing proof that he had learned a salutary lesson from the Americans at Charleston. The Count D'Estaing unfortunately acceded to the proposition; and before the termination of the illjudged trace, Lieutenant Colonel Maitland, whose march from Beaufort had been impeded by numerous obstacles, entered the town with his corps of veteran troops. Thus did the delay enable General Prevost greatly to increase the strength of his works, to receive to his assistance one of the best officers in his army, and to add at least one third to the number of his troops.

At the close of the truce, General Prevost answered to the summons, "That he should defend himself to the last extremity ;" and on the 23d the allied army broke ground for the seige. Their préparations were carried forward with great diligence, and with a seeming resolution to make up by present activity, what had been lost in the impolicy of listening to propositions for delay. In ten days from the time of breaking ground, 53 pieces of battering cannon, and 14 mortars were mounted, from which a tremendous fire was opened upon the town on the morning of the 4th of October. Opposed to these, the batteries of the enemy displayed a face of nearly one hundred pieces of all sizes, which seemed to promise a terrible conflict. General Prevost, previous to the commencement of the American fire, had solicited further time to remove the aged, the women and the children to a place of safety; but as he had chosen to neglect the abundant time which had been already allowed him, the request was regarded as a mere ruse deguerre and very properly rejected, though the rejection

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