Capture of Savannah

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Capture of Savannah
partof=the American Revolutionary War


caption=
date=December 29, 1778
place=Savannah, Georgia
result=British victory
combatant1=United States
combatant2=Kingdom of Great Britain
commander1=General Robert Howe
commander2=Lt. Col. Archibald Campbell
strength1=850
strength2=3,500
casualties1=83 killed
453 captured
casualties2=three killed
10 wounded

The capture of Savannah, Georgia was a skirmish between Patriot militia holding the Patriot-held city against a British invasion force of 3,500 men. By the year 1778, in the third year of the American Revolutionary War, the British, unable to mount a successful drive from Canada, and having failed in their efforts to take and hold the Middle Colonies, decided that a final attempt to crush the American rebellion would be in the Southern Colonies. This decision was influenced by the belief that a large number of Loyalists would aid them, particularly the Carolinas.

In the first step of this operation, which then moved the focus of the war to the southern states, Henry Clinton, the new commander-in-chief of the British forces based in New York City, dispatched a 3,500-strong force from New York to Savannah, Georgia to capture the town as well as the nearby coastal cities.

In late December, 1778, the British force, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell, arrived off the coast of Savannah, which was fortified by only 850 Patriot militia under the command of General Robert Howe. On December 29, 1778, the British force marched from their landing spot south of the town towards Savannah itself. Howe led his militia out of the city to engage the British. But due to the poor training of the American militia and inexperienced with warfare, broke ranks and fled as the British advanced, many of them not even bothering to fire a shot at the British troops. The British then took advantage of this to open fire on the retreating Americans, until most of them stopped and surrendered. The British took 453 prisoners, while counting 83 enemy dead on the field. Only three British soldiers were killed in the exchange of fire and around 10 wounded. Campbell was then able to march into Savannah without further incident.

The British held Savannah for the duration of the war, which they used as a base to conduct coastal raids up and down the coast from Charleston to the northern Florida coast. In the spring of 1779, General George Washington sent a detachment of Colonial Regulars to re-capture the city, aide by a French contingent, but failed (see Siege of Savannah).

References

"The Concise Illustrated History of the American Revolution"; Eastern Acorn Press, 1972.