Part 10 – First Look at Charles Town
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.
Elijah
Hello Elijah. I also have an ancestor who served in the NYV – John Colwell. In fact Stephen Dusenberry and John Colwell served together in John Coffin’s troop of dragoons in SC from Sept lf 1780 until the end of the war. John Colwell was recruited into one of the original two companies, Alexander Grant’s, sometime in 1776. His discharge comment at the disbanding in Saint John, NB in Oct 1783 states that he served seven years.
Despite years of research into Colwell families in the NYC city area before the war I have not been able to directly connect him with any of the half dozen candidate families. It is very possible though that my Colwells and your Dusenberrys were neighbors in Westchester Co.
My family moved to the states in 1957 (DC area) and then to Greenville, SC in 1978. My father died in SC without ever knowing that his loyalist ancestor had ridden the SC backcountry as a cavalryman 200 years before.
Would love to correspond.