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ton, the English commander of that quarter. This decisive measure put an end to Indian barbarities in that region.

Similar incursions took place at the south. A body of refugees from Florida entered Georgia, and summoned Colonel McIntosh, commandant of the fort at Sunbury, to surrender; but on receiving his answer to come and take him, they hastily retired. Another party from the same place, after laying waste a large tract of country, and carrying off all the negroes, horses, cattle and plate, belonging to the planters, and burning the town of Midway, retired into Florida. General Robert Howe determined to retaliate these attacks, and marched against St. Augustine with two thousand troops, but sickness obliged him to retreat.

The British commander-in-chief now concerted a plan for obtaining possession of Georgia, by invading it with two separate bodies of troops. For this purpose, Major-general Prevost was to march from St. Augustine, with his whole force, and invade the south, whilst Lieutenant-colonel Campbell, with two thousand five hundred men from New York, invested Savannah. On the 23d of December, the latter appeared in the river, and effected à landing, without much opposition. To defend the state, General Robert Howe had about

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six hundred continental soldiers, and two hundred and fifty militia, and with this force he had taken a very advantageous position, surrounded, except in front, by a swamp, river, and morass; and the nature of the place was such, that had he been attacked in front, he could have easily defended himself. A negro, however, being aware of a small private path, through the morass, which led to the rear of the American army, conducted a detachment of light-infantry, under Sir James Baird, upon the rear, while an attack was made in front. Thus the Americans were completely entrapped. Although they fought desperately, upwards of one hundred were killed, and four hundred and fifty-three prisoners, forty-eight pieces of cannon, twenty-three mortars, the fort, the shipping in the river, and a large quantity of provisions, fell into the hands of the conquerors. The remainder of the American army retreated into South Carolina. Augusta and Sunbury fell into the hands of the British, who now had the command of all Georgia.

After this time, all the attempts of the British at conquest were

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directed from the southern towards the middle states; and Clinton determined to commence the campaign of 1779, by an attempt to plant the royal standard in the fortresses of the Carolinas.

Meanwhile the American navy, which was soon to dispute successfully with the mistress of the sea, had already begun to distinguish itself. Vast numbers of British merchantmen and West India ships were captured by privateers. One of the most successful naval officers of the time was Captain Nicholas Biddle, of Philadelphia. After many brilliant achievements, he sailed from Charleston, March, 1778, in the Randolph, of thirty-six guns and three hundred and fifteen men. Accompanying him were the General Moultrie, the Polly, the Fair American, and the Notre Dame. On the night of March 7, he encountered the Yarmouth, of sixty-four guns, and engaged her without knowing the disparity of force. In the early part of the action he was wounded, but causing a chair to be brought, he remained with his men for about twenty minutes, when the Randolph blew up, carrying with her the gallant Biddle, and all his crew save four. The remaining part of the squadron escaped, the Yarmouth being too much crippled to give chase.

In this year, the celebrated John Paul Jones resolved to take advantage of the unprotected state in which the British were in the habit of leaving their own coast. Accordingly, he sailed in the Ranger of eighteen guns, around the coasts of Scotland and Ireland, and finally, after taking several prizes, he was attacked by the Drake, a twenty gun ship, the captain of which, after hearing of a descent which Jones had made on White Haven, sailed out of the harbour of Carrickfergus with many more than his usual complement of men, whilst Jones had lost nearly half of the men which he had in the Ranger when he first set sail. The remainder had been se

away in prizes. The two vessels engaged within pistol-shot, and after sixty-five minutes close fighting, the captain and first-lieutenant of the Drake were both dead, and the vessel was compelled to strike her colours. Besides these two brave officers, the enemy lost upwards of forty men in the action. Jones sailed for Brest in his prize, where he anchored on the 7th of May, after an absence of twentyeight days, during which time he had taken two hundred prisoners. Of one hundred and twenty-three men with him when he sailed, only two were with him when he anchored at Brest, the remainder having been distributed among his many prizes. Jones's chief object in this cruise was to capture as many prisoners as possible, in order, by exchanging, to obtain the release of the American prisoners in England and America, of which the number was large. In this object he completely succeeded.

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Great, and had joined the American standard in December, 1777. His exact discipline contributed largely to the ultimate success of the war.

The attention of Congress and of the commander-in-chief was now called to plans for the campaign of 1779. The former, looking to their previous successes, and the powerful co-operation of France,

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