By the general order, the assault was to be made at four o'clock in the morning; but it being delayed until clear day-light, an opportunity was afforded to the garrison of directing their fire on the advancing columns of the assailants, with full effect, by which they suffered severely, before they reached the British works. The French columns passed the abatis, crowded into the moat, and ascended to the berm, under a galling fire in front and flank: the carnage was great, without their being able to make any useful impression. Lieutenant-colonel Laurens, with the light troops, advanced by the left of the French column, and attacked Maitland's redoubt, commanded by captain Taws, and succeeded in gaining the parapet, where lieutenants Hume and Bush set the colours of the second regiment of South-Carolina: those gallant officers both fell; and lieutenant Gray supported the colours, and was mortally wounded; sergeant Jasper seeing that Gray had fallen, seized the colours, and supported them until he received a wound, which proved mortal: here the assault was lively and determined, and the resis. tance steady and resolute: general M'Intosh, at the head of the left column of the American troops, had passed the abatis and entered the ditch of the works, north of the Maitland redoubt. Count D'Estaing received a wound in the arm, early in the assault; and at this point of time re ceived a wound in the thigh, which made it necessary to bear him off the field. Count Pulaski

attempted to pass the works into the town, and received a small cannon shot in the groin, of which he fell near the abatis. Huger had waded half a mile through a rice field, and made the attack assigned to him, at the time mentioned. He was received with music, and a warm fire of cannon and musketry; and after having lost twenty-eight men, and accomplished the intended object of his orders, retreated. When the head of the American left had advanced to the moat; further impressions appeared doubtful, if not impracticable; the commanding generals ordered a retreat: major Glasier of the 60th regiment, with the British grenadiers and marines of reserve, had been ordered to support the points assailed: Glasier made a sortie at the moment the order for retreat was given, and charged the American column under M'Intosh, in flank, and pursued that and the other troops in succession to the abatis, and the assailants retreated in disorder. The attack was made and supported with spirit and раtient bravery, and the defence made with confidence and courage. The fire from the seamen's batteries, and the field artillery, traversed the assailants in all directions; in the advance, attack, and retreat; and the consequent slaughter of the combined troops was great.

On the retreat, it was recollected by his corps, that count Pulaski had been left near to the abatis: some of his men displayed great courage and per sonal attachment, in returning through the firing,

though covered by the smoke, to the place where he lay wounded, and bore him off.

The combined army sustained a loss of six hundred and thirty-seven French, and four hundred and fifty-seven continental troops and militia, in killed and wounded; among the latter was the count D'Estaing, major-general De Fontanges, the chevalier D'Ernonville,* the count Pulaski, and many other officers of distinction. The British loss, during the assault, was only fifty-five killed and wounded. Their loss during the siege is not known.

The combined force, employed against Savannah, appears to have been as follows:

Twigg's & Few's regiments, Georgia militia 232 Pulaski's dragoons,

250

Total, 4,950

* D'Ernonville was taken prisoner: his arm was broken by a ball; and if he would have submitted to an amputation, would probably have survived: when urged to the measure by general Provost, he refused; alledging, that with but one hand, he could not serve his prince in the field; and if so disabled, life was not worth preserving. He died on the 25th of December, and was buried with the honours of war: his funeral was attended by generals Provost and Leslie, and almost all the British officers in Savannah. He was from Louisiana, where many of his respectable relations now reside.

The British force consisted of two thousand eight hundred and fifty men, including one hundred and fifty militia, some Indians, and three hundred armed slaves.*

At ten o'clock a truce was desired by the combined army, for the purpose of burying the dead and removing the wounded. The truce was granted for four hours, but the indulgence of burial and removal, was only extended to those who lay at a distance from the British lines: such as were within, or near the abatis, were buried by the British. Two hundred and thirty dead bodies, and one hundred and sixteen wounded, were delivered up, on giving a receipt for the latter, to be accounted for as prisoners of war.

About one thousand shells, and twenty carcasses, were thrown into the town during the siege three or four houses were burned by the latter. When the French fleet first appeared off Savannah, the British had but twenty-three pieces of cannon mounted on the works in the town on the day of the assault there were one hundred and eighteen pieces.

A number of Georgia officers who had no command, and other private gentlemen, formed a volunteer corps under colonel Leonard Marbury, consisting of about thirty of this number, four were killed, and seven wounded. Charles Price,

To quell the consequences, which were likely to result from this impolitic union in arms, required the shedding of much of their blood. Policy forbids a narrative of the circumstances,

of Sunbury, a young attorney of promising talents, and lieutenant Bailie, were among the slain. Ma. jors Pierce Butler, and John Jones, were the aids of brigadier-general M'Intosh. Butler had been a major in the British army, of considerable promise and talents, but in the first part of the contest, resigned his commission and became a zealous advocate for the American cause. Major Jones was killed by a four pound shot, near the Spring-hill battery. Among the wounded was lieutenant Edward Lloyd, whose arm had been carried away by a cannon ball. While a surgeon was employed in dressing the remaining stump of this promising young officer's arm; major James Jackson observed to him, that his prospect was unpromising, from the heavy burden which hard fate had imposed upon him, as a young man who was just entering into life. Lloyd observed in reply, that unpromising as it was, he would not willingly exchange it for the feelings of lieutenant Stedman, who had fled at the commencement of the assault.

The conduct of sergeant Jasper, merits particular notice in the history of Georgia, and his name is entitled to a page in the history of fame, while many others, high in rank, might justly be forgotten. He was a man of strong mind, but as it had not been cultivated by education, he mo destly declined the acceptance of a commission, which was offered to him. At the commence. ment of the war, he enlisted in the second South