By May 1781 the British held only a few outposts in the deep South: Augusta and Savannah, Georgia; and Ninety-Six and Charleston, South Carolina. The Continental general Nathanael Greene--who had headed south after the Battle of Guilford Courthouse (March 15, 1781) while the British commander Lord Cornwallis marched north to Virginia--sought to regain control of South Carolina and Georgia. He dispatched Lieutenant Colonel Henry Lee with his cavalry legion to join militia units under General Andrew Pickens and Colonel Elijah Clarke to capture Augusta. Defending the town was a force of about 400 Loyalist rangers under Colonel Thomas Brown, stationed in three forts--Fort Galphin, Fort Grierson, and Fort Cornwallis.

The Revolutionaries began by capturing the weakest post first. On May 21, Lee ordered the militia to attack Fort Galphin and then feign a retreat. This plan worked, and revolutionary forces overwhelmed the Loyalists who were in pursuit and seized the fort and supplies destined for Native Americans. Without capturing these supplies, the rest of the siege would have never taken place. A few days later, on May 23, the Revolutionaries captured Fort Grierson, defended by only 80 men, by concentrating their fire on the fort. Brown attempted to come to the rescue of his comrades but was beaten back. However, many of the Loyalist defenders, including the commander, Colonel James Grierson, managed to fight their way to Brown at Fort Cornwallis.

The Revolutionaries had a harder time with Fort Cornwallis and its 320 defenders supported by about 200 African Americans. Lee and Pickens had their men dig trenches and build a tower for cannon and riflemen. By June 4 the Revolutionaries were in a position to launch an all-out assault on the fort from the tower and trenches. A six-pound cannon on the tower had silenced the Loyalist artillery and could strike at almost any point the inside of the fort. Vastly outnumbered, Brown had tried every ruse he could to destroy the tower and delay the attack. After repeatedly refusing to surrender, he agreed to terms that would protect him and his men. Delays in the negotiations meant that Brown surrendered on June 5, rather than on the king's birthday (June 4). Loyalists would have viewed surrender on the king's birthday as an affront to their monarch.

Lee went to extraordinary lengths to protect Brown, whose life was in danger from vengeful militia. Brown was saved by being sent away under protective custody of a Continental army officer. Other Loyalists were not so lucky. Almost as soon as Lee left Augusta after the victory, Colonel Grierson was killed in his own home by vindictive Revolutionaries angered over reported Loyalist atrocities.

Bibliography:

1) Edward J. Cashin, The King's Ranger: Thomas Brown and the American Revolution on the Southern Frontier (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1989)

2) David Lee Russell, The American Revolution in the Southern Colonies (1943; reprint, Jefferson, N.C.,: McFarland and Co., 2000)

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