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1778] The campaign in the south. 219 Savannah ; while General Prevost, the governor of East Florida, was to co-operate from the south. An American force under General Robert Howe covered Savannah. The swampy nature of the ground gave great advantages to the defensive, but it made the American commander over-confident. A British detachment, guided by a negro along a path through a rice-swamp, fell on his flank, while at the same time the British artillery secured a post of vantage ; and the action resulted in the total defeat of Howe and the capture of Savannah with large stores. So expeditious were Campbell's movements that the victory was won before Prevost reached the scene of action. The whole of the southern bank of the river was secured as far as Augusta, a hundred and fifty miles above Savannah; and the bulk of the inhabitants readily took the oath of loyalty and were formed into companies for the defence of the country. Congress soon took steps to retrieve these defeats. A force was raised in the Carolinas and placed under the command of Lincoln, a general who had acquired some reputation in the campaign against Burgoyne. The British force was too small to guard a line of a hundred and fifty miles against the attack of a regular army; and accordingly Augusta was abandoned. Lincoln, however, in his advance on Augusta, imprudently divided his force, with the result that Colonel Prevost, a brother of the general, with 900 men fell upon a detachment numbering about 2000 and utterly routed them, capturing arms, ammunition, and baggage, and driving those who escaped across the river, in which many perished. Lincoln was soon reinforced, and renewed his project of invading Georgia. General Prevost, instead of remaining on the defen- sive, at once replied by a counter-invasion of South Carolina. By threatening Charleston he succeeded in drawing off Lincoln from Georgia. Prevost however was not strong enough, either in men or artillery, to hazard an attack on Charleston; and, after some un- important operations along the coast, he withdrew to Savannah, leaving a detachment established at Beaufort on the coast of South Carolina. The security of the British alike at Savannah and Beaufort depended on the command of the sea. Accordingly the governor of South Carolina invited d'Estaing, who had just obtained some success in the West Indies, to co-operate with Lincoln against Savannah. Prevost, on hearing of the intended attack, at once blocked the river by sinking six vessels, and called in his detachment at Beaufort. This force, under the command of Colonel Maitland, succeeded by great energy in evading the French and making its way through swamps and shoals to Savannah. The French landed 5000 men, and were joined by Lincoln with as many more; whereupon the combined force laid siege to Savannah. Here, however, as at Rhode Island, jealousy and ill-feeling prevented hearty co-operation ; and after an assault, courageously repulsed, the siege was abandoned. CH. VII.