Patriot Momentum Keeps Growing in SC
So Marion has Georgetown on his mind since only 80 are garrisoned there but waits for approval from Green. Green is going after Ninety-Six and does noot want Marion tied up should he need him.
1) May 26 Marion receives a conditional "yes" (as long as Sumter would not be exposed and Rawdon did not move on Ninety-Six) and moved on Georgetown and laid siege leaning from Fort Watson and Fort Motte. Again he was without cannon but that did not keep him from using black painted peeled logs! The Brit leadership had already been given permission to exit should they be pressed and so on the same day the siege started the Brits spiked their cannons, boarded their ships and left the city. They lingered in the bay a few days and then sailed for Charleston.
2) With Georgetown supply line to the Tories gone, they asked for a three month truce later extended to one year and even offered to return captured slaves and plundered items. In the middle of all this good news, Francis' last brother Issac passed away in Georgetown that same week.
3) Marion was now directed to check Rowden at Monck's Corner to ensure those Brit forces would not be a factor elsewhere as well as to find out about the rumor of 2000 new Brit troops from Ireland that landed in Charleston.
4) Ninety-Six lay in the middle of Tory country and so a siege was tough sledding. It should never had taken place except the orders from Rawdon to Cruger (commander at 96) to leave Ninety-Six for Augusta was intercepted by the rebels and never delivered. The fortification was intense and artillery consisted of three three-pounders and 550 motivated soldiers knowing that this was the last significant outpost in the interior of SC. All three innovations were attempted, Mahem's tower, flaming arrows and even a tunnel but all were compensated for by the Brits. With Rawdon advancing on Ninety-Six in spite of militia on their heels, Greene with Lee and Pickens just back from Augusta attempted an assault but was turned back and the longest siege of the Revolutionary War at 28 days ended.
5) Post defeat reflection on why the militia was not a factor included Sumter assuming Rawdon was going to another fort and not Ninety-Six at first and him giving Marion orders that conflicted each other (halt, resume march, halt, etc). Marion also mentioned that there were crops to be protected for Greene's provisions as well as a growing presence at Monck'S Corner. Unstated was the primary reason, Marion's men refused to travel so far from their homes. Greene issued a scathing report of how the militia failed him yet again (and added that the Virginia militia did not show up either thanks to Thomas Jefferson). Greene failed to look in the mirror as his inexperience in the ways of sieges had his troops not discover the water source for Ninety-Six fortification that could have made that fortification fall in less than two weeks instead of almost a month. Marion never responded to this letter but I am sure he had words ready for that opportunity should he see Greene again face-to-face.
6) Two weeks after the siege and assault failed, the British left Ninety-Six and they tried to go after Greene but the Irish in wool uniforms and 100F heat were not holding up well and 50 died from heat-stroke. Returning to Ninety-Six briefly, Rawdon saw that it could not be held as the troops could not be provisioned there and battles won made little difference if the troops were starving. The loyalists in the area (non-military) left with Rawdon and Cruger as their protection and safe passage for Charleston.
7) Greene had actually won by losing at this point in the conflict. He called together Sumter, Lee and Marion to take advantage of the momentum offered. Orangeburg was a likely target but 26-year old Rawson saw a fight as pointless and returned to Charleston, left on a ship to England on August 21 to recuperate but was seized by privateers, handed off to the French and then traded for an American officer. Again considering Orangeburg Greene concluded that the American forces were weekend by the heat as well and the men from Virginia and northward could not survive on the rice in the region and needed bread again. With no beef they resorted to frogs and alligators, cause they taste like chicken. Greene then moved his troops to the High Hills of the Santee for the summer.
The writing seems to be on the wall, however, the war is a long way from over.
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