Savannah Besieged

For most of the Revolutionary War, Savannah was an armed camp. In the fall of 1779, as an allied French and American army approached, the British defenders of Savannah improved and built fourteen redoubts outside the town and a similar number of cannon emplacements to defend the British-controlled royal capital of Georgia. The earth walls protected the men inside, while musket and cannon fire made the ground between the redoubts deadly to attackers, and if any breakthrough occurred, hundreds of combat-hardened British infantry positioned to the rear would charge and drive the attackers back. Around the Spring Hill redoubt, five attacking columns advanced and were beaten back one after another in vicious hand-to-hand fighting on the walls, as artillery and small arms fire cut them down and the dead and wounded covered the ground leading up to the position. Approximately 800 soldiers were killed or wounded. When news of the victory reached England, London rejoiced, and the war continued another four years.

Savannah, Georgia · United States