Georgia  History  Colonial Records Augusta 1780-1790

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Transcribed by E. Robertson, 



The following citations were furnished by The Georgia Historical Society
and are exerpts from the Georgia Historical Quarterly.  Transcribed by E. Robertson


Volume LVIII       Winter 1974              Number 4
Article "The Second British Occupation of Augusta....Herald Robertson, Page 422

(P428)
.........in incurring any further expence on the
Army Accounts for the Protection of Georgia."  As
the consequence, Augusta remained unfortified
throughout the summer of 1780, except for a small
stockade located near the Savannah River about
three-quarters of a mile northwest of St. Paul's
Church.  Named "Fort Grierson" in honor of Colonel
James Grierson, commander of the Loyalist militia
in St. Paul's Parish, it was too small to house
the garrison of regular provincials and was
inadequate for any serious defense of the town.
By the summer's end, the errors in Cornwallis'
thinking would become clear - especially to the
men who wore the green and crimson of the King's
Rangers.

For two months after the British reoccupation of
august, the backcountry was politically calm.
Oaths of allegiance were accepted from Loyalist as
well as former Whigs who desired to return to the
King's protection, and the loyal militia was
reactivated to assist Brown's Royal provincials in
maintaining law and order.  James Grierson was
restored to command of The Augusta Regiment of
Militia, Matthew Lyle was entrusted with the same
position in St. George's Parish, and Thomas Waters
was given the commend of the Ceded lands.  Thomas
Brown's announced intention was to maintain law
and order for the benefit of friend and former foe
alike - and with an iron hand.  Immediately upon
his arrival at Augusta, he had given public notice
that he would "hang woutout favor or distinction
any person who presumed to plunder or otherwise
disturb the peaceable inoffencive planters.", and
for the apprehension of any persons, he offered a
reward of fifty guineas. In spite of this edict,
incidents of robbery and plundering of the civil
population increased, particularly in the case of
the Whig militiamen who had been paroled to their
homes without arms and as a consequence were
presumably powerless to defend themselves against
marauders. Brown placed the blame for such crimes
upon persons who falsely posed as Loyalists, for
on June 28, he complained to Cornwallis: "As the
interior parts of this Province have been
considered for some years past as a secure retreat
for all the Villains and Murderers who have fled
from Justice from the Southern


BRITISH IN AUGUSTA, 1780-1781

429

Provinces, the principal difficulty I have
hitherto experienced has been the suppression of
plunderers and horse thieves who under the
specious pretext of Loyalty, have from time to
time daringly assembled in defiance of all law &
authority & indiscriminately ravaged the
plantations of peaceable inoffensive inhabitants
who have received protection as prisoners on
parole."

Among the more brazen of these brigands was Daniel
McGirth, who passed himself off as a Loyalist
partisan to disguise his activities as a cattle
rustler. Operating with a band of twenty or - more
mounted men, he was reported by Governor Wright as
having stolen and driven off to East Florida
upwards of a thousand head of cattle during the
summer of 1780. Another such bandit, who had Whig
rather than Tory connections, was James McKay.
According to Wright he was the leader of "a party
Some say of I 2 and others Say twenty, with which
he Robs on the Highway between [Savannah] &
Augusta & goes Frequently to the Banks of Savannah
River and has Stop't, Robbed and Plundered Several
Boats." Royal warrants for the arrest of "McGirt
and his Gang" went unserved for lack of cavalry,
and Wright's repeated pleas to Cornwallis for
fifty mounted troops to restore order in the area
between Savannah and Augusta were turned down.
Capturing robbers, it was said, was a task for
local authorities and not the enemy.29

The entire force of regulars assigned by
Cornwallis for the occupation of Georgia consisted
by August, 1780, of no more than eight hundred
men. Roughly five hundred, composed principally of
Hessian auxiliaries and Loyalists, garrisoned
Savannah, while Brown's command of regular
provincials at Augusta had shrunk to a strength of
approximately 240 men, exclusive of convalescents
and invalids. The important posts at Sunbury, on
the coast, and Dartmouth, in the Ceded Lands,
remained abandoned for lack of troops. To make
matters worse, the spheres of civil and military
authority in Georgia were not geographically
coextensive. While the jurisdiction of Wright's
restored government at Savannah extended
theoretically over the entire province, the
departmental command entrusted to Lieutenant
Colonel Alured Clarke, the ranking British officer
in Georgia and East
Florida,.........................................
......