To Arms

On the foggy morning of October 9, 1779, about 800 soldiers were killed or wounded in Savannah as French and American allies attacked fortified British positions. Their forces advanced in five columns, each arranged with ten soldiers across, in an attempt to strike simultaneously and overwhelm the defenders. One of the 14 British earth fortifications surrounding Savannah was the Spring Hill redoubt, where thousands in the French and other allied American columns tried to break through hundreds of British and loyalists defending the area. Poor communications caused the allied columns to arrive separately, disoriented and tired after hours of marching through dark woods. Led by volunteers and attacking with fixed bayonets up the foggy slopes, they came under artillery and small arms crossfire that killed and maimed commanders and private soldiers alike. The fighting at the redoubt turned into hand-to-hand combat with clashing swords and bayonets, and families from Virginia to the Carolinas, from Poland to Scotland, from France to Haiti, and from Germany to England mourned those who lost their lives or suffered there during the Revolutionary struggle.

Savannah, Georgia · United States