With victory at Brier Creek having secured British control of Georgia, General Prevost turned his attention to Charlestown.  He stationed Lt. Col. Campbell and the New York Loyalist regiments in Beaufort on the Carolina coast north of Savannah and south of Charlestown.  A few units remained to secure Savannah and Prevost took the remainder of the army north to campaign in South Carolina.  They were accompanied by a large contingent of Creek Indians, the 71st Foot Highlanders, some loyalist militia, and a Hessian Regiment under Von Trumbach.  A total invading force of 2,000.

On May 11, Prevost arrived outside of Charlestown and sent an ultimatum for surrender in order to avoid bloodshed.  The colonials refused surrender as Prevost learned General Lincoln (now in command of all Southern rebel forces) would be in Charlestown shortly with total reinforcements of 4,000 men.  The British were now badly outnumbered and not in good defensive positions.  Prevost made the decision to withdraw back to Georgia.  He left the Highlanders and a Hessian unit behind to cover the withdrawal.  Some advance units from Lincoln’s army stumbled upon the positions and a brief but bloody fight ensued.  The colonists were unprepared for the assault and a few well-placed Scots under Colonel Maitland (a veteran of the French & Indian War) held firm killing 150 and discouraging another 155 into desertion.  The battle took place on June 20 and was of little consequence other than allowing the remainder of Prevost’s invading force to retreat back to Beaufort.

The weather grew humid and hot in July and the British turned their attention to consolidating the hold on Savannah.  French forces operating in the Caribbean had given the British reason to worry about the need to maintain a strong base of operations for the next battle season.  In 18th century America war had definite seasons.  In the Northern colonies, armies spent winter in New York or Philadelphia waiting out the snowmelt.  But for the south, seasons were vastly different.  Late summer brought frequent malaria or other fevers often referred to as ‘bilious fevers’.  People in coastal areas were most prone to annual bouts of sickness.  Particularly if the people involved were not accustomed to the weather.

Sergeant Dusenbury and most of the New York Volunteers came down with fever and reported great suffering in what would be their first summer season in the south.  They moved down the coast to stay in Savannah with General Prevost and tried to maintain sufficient strength for foraging and patrolling the surrounding areas.   

elijahchapman American History, American Revolution, General History

Early in 1779 the British army in Savannah started to expand.  Overall command in the theater fell to General Prevost who sent Colonel Campbell and the Volunteers to Augusta as part of a 1700 man force aimed at controlling the inland areas of the Georgia colony.  The British issued a proclamation that all persons were invited to sign a loyalty oath and stand on the side of his majesty.  Tory units started to form as a majority of colonists in Georgia signed the oath.  In Wilkes County, a group under Col. James Boyd swelled to 750 men and started marching toward Augusta to link up with Campbell.  

As the British force advanced deeper into the colony resistance started forming.  Colonels Andrew Pickens, Elijah Clarke, and John Dooley commanded rebel militia units moving in the Georgia countryside.  Col. Pickens commanded a brigade from Ninety-Six who enjoyed a reputation as strong experienced fighters.  The Presbyterian elder would become one of the most famous and successful of South Carolina’s partisan leaders.  With a combined force of 340 militia, the three colonels attacked Boyd’s loyalist troops near Washington, Georgia.  Advancing slowly but steadily through wooded areas, the backwoodsmen under Picken’s overall command kept up steady fire on three sides of Boyd’s camp.  The Tory militia held firm until a pair of well-aimed rifle balls struck Colonel Boyd in the body.  With the sudden loss of their commander, the loyalists fell apart and ran from the field in disorder.  21 were killed and another 25 captured.   Pickens knew Boyd and visited him while dying on the field.  Boyd’s request for two Loyalists to wait and bury his body was granted along with a promise to deliver Boyd’s watch to his widow.  Pickens later wrote that she reacted with outright denial stating “No damned rebel has killed my husband!” 

Other units from South Carolina under General Andrew Williamson had moved into Augusta to defend the town.  However, a couple of early skirmishes failed to slow the British advance and Williamson took his units back to garrison at Ninety-Six.  Of the retreat from Augusta without firing a shot, Pickens would later accuse Williamson of having been ‘corrupted’.  Campbell led the loyalist regiments (including Dusenberry and the Volunteers) into Augusta.  Their stay was short.  As word arrived on February 14 of the Kettle Creek debacle, Campbell moved his forces back toward Savannah.
The British fanned into the countryside administering loyalty oaths (or punishment to those who refused) to the people.  They plundered Whig farms and freed the slaves from plantations.  They halted to join General Prevost at Hudson’s ferry near place Brier Creek feeds into the Savannah River. 

General Ashe was given command of the rebel forces in the area below the Savannah.  His group had pursued Campbell through marshy areas along the river for several days when the groups camped on either side of Brier Creek.  Ashe protected his right flank by burning the bridge at Paris’s Mill 15 miles north of the camp.  His left flank was to the River.  The arrangement would prove ill advised.

On the night of March 2, 1779 Lt. Colonel Mark Prevost (brother to the general) led 1,000 men up the back road to Augusta to a place just across Brier Creek near the burned bridge at Paris Mill.  A few rebel mounted infantry guarded the crossing but turned and quickly ran as Sgt. Dusenberry and the New York Volunteers slugged deliberately toward them across the shallow stream.  

Lt. Col Prevost advanced toward Ashe’s position steadily throughout the morning and arrived around 1PM on the 3rd.  Even though warned by riders from Paris Mill hours earlier, Ashe failed to form his men or improve the defense of his camp.  About 100 Georgia Continentals commanded by Col. Elbert quickly formed to face the Loyalist lines.   Militia units started taking up positions on either side but threw down their arms and ran for the swamps along the Savannah on the first British volley.

A hole opened in the center of the line allowing British (and Loyalist) infantry to advance into the breach.  A brief but furious battle with bayonets and musket butts resulted.  The rest of the militia ran for the swamps leaving Col. Elbert and his remaining men surrounded with no choice but surrender.  All in all, about 200 rebel forces were killed and another 200 captured to include Elbert and another 14 officers.  In addition, a number of colonial militia men drowned or were lost in the swamps trying to cross the Savannah River to South Carolina.

The disaster at Brier Creek caused the total loss of Georgia as all colonial forces retreated into South Carolina.  To make matters worse, word started to spread that Tory soldiers captured a month before at Kettle Creek were being tried as war criminals.  South Carolina’s Gov. Rutledge presided over a tribunal at Ninety-Six that sentenced the 25 Tory prisoners to hang for plundering the countryside.  They were judged criminals and denied status as prisoners of war.  Even though only 7 were hung and the rest paroled, Stephen Dusenbury and the other loyalist soldiers understood capture could easily mean death.  The incredibly brutal tone of civil war combat in the southern theater had begun.

elijahchapman American History, American Revolution, General History