Siege of Savannah

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Siege of Savannah

Date	September 16-October 18, 1779
Location	Savannah, Georgia
Result	British victory

Combatants

United States
France

Britain

Commanders

General Benjamin Lincoln, and Admiral Comte d'Estaing

General Augustin Prevost

Strength

1,550 American troops; 3,500 French troops and sailors

3,200 troops

Casualties

Total Allied:
800 killed
1200 wounded

40 killed
63 wounded

Southern theater, 1775–1783
Gunpowder Incident – Great Bridge – Moore's Creek Bridge – Rice Boats – Alligator Bridge – Beaufort – Kettle Creek – Briar Creek – Stono Ferry – Savannah – Charleston – Camden – Kings Mountain – Cowpens – Guilford Court House – Hobkirk's Hill – Eutaw Springs – Yorktown

The Siege of Savannah was a battle 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 Pułaski, 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.

The battle is much remembered in Haitian history; a legion of over 500 gens de couleur—free men of color from Saint-Domingue—fought on the French side. Henri Christophe, who later became king of independent Haiti, is thought to have been among these troops.

In 2006 archaeologists with the Coastal Heritage Society and the LAMAR Institute discovered portions of the fortifications at Spring Hill. The brunt of the British attack on October 9, 1779, was focused at that point. The find represents the first tangible remains of the battlefield.