Attack on British Lines October 9, 1779 - Savannah, GA
N 32° 04.577 W 081° 05.964
17S E 490618 N 3548895
The Attack on British Lines October 9, 1779 Historical Marker is located in the visitors center parking lot at Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and Liberty St in Savannah, GA.
Waymark Code: WM4EXC
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 08/14/2008
Views: 86
The marker reads:
"Attack on British lines
October 9, 1779 |
Over this ground, hallowed by the valor and the sacrifices of the soldiery of America and of France, was fought, October 9, 1779, one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolution when Savannah, which the British had possessed for several months, was attacked by the combined American and French forces.
A short distance west of this marker stood the famous Spring Hill Redoubt and along here ran the line of entrenchments built by the British around Savannah. After a three weeks' siege, the Allies stormed the enemy works in this area early on October 9th.
Arrayed in the opposing armies that day were soldiers of many lands - American Continentals, Grenadiers of Old France, Irishmen in the service of King Louis XVI, Polish Lancers, French Creoles, and Negro volunteers from Haiti, fighting for American Independence against English Redcoats, Scottish Highlanders, Hessians, Royalist provincials from New York, Tory militia, armed slaves, and Cherokee Indians.
After an heroic effort to dislodge the British the Allies retired with heavy losses. Thus the siege was lifted, and the French fleet sailed from Georgia, ending an episode of far-reaching significance in the American Revolution.
| 025-10 | Georgia Historical Commission | 1952" | |
From Wikipedia:
"The Siege of Savannah was an encounter of the American Revolutionary War in 1779. The year before, the city of Savannah, Georgia had been captured by a British expeditionary corps under Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell. The siege itself consisted of a joint Franco-American attempt to retake Savannah from September 16, 1779 to October 18, 1779. On October 9, 1779, a major assault against the British siege works failed. During the attack, Polish Count Kazimierz Pulaski, fighting on the American side, was mortally wounded. With the failure of the joint American-French attack, the siege failed, and the British remained in control of Georgia until July 1782, close to the end of the war."