Stinging Defeat in the Woods and Swamps

Fought along the banks of Brier Creek, where it meets the Savannah River, near Sylvania, Georgia, the Battle of Brier Creek was an early British victory in the Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution. The change in British strategy to focus their attention on the war in the South was twofold: to gain the upper hand before France could bring her full weight to bear as an American ally and to tap into strong loyalist sentiment in the region.

Augusta, Georgia, was the first objective for the British, and it fell to British forces on December 29, 1778. British troops dispatched from New York and Saint Augustine in East Florida coordinated with one another to secure Augusta’s capitulation. In January 1779, Brigadier General Augustine Prevost was appointed the British commander of Augusta and directed Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell to begin organizing loyalist militia units.

On February 14, Patriot forces had secured a splendid victory at Kettle Creek, near Augusta, although the significant number of American casualties undermined the boost in Patriot morale. Those losses stood in stark contrast to Cambell, who had lost only a single soldier during his occupation of Savannah, albeit a death shrouded in controversy. One of his regulars sought sanctuary under the warfare terms of “safeguard” in a private home, a status that, in Europe, would have rendered him off-limits. But in America, he was killed by militia, and their commanders refused to press charges, sparking outrage.

Campbell pulled his troops back and headed south. When his forces reached Ebenezer, they put the bridge across Brier Creek to the torch. Hot on their heels were the Americans, led by General John Ashe of North Carolina. Upon reaching Ebenezer, he put his men to work repairing the bridge and went into encampment on the banks of Brier Creek. His arrangement of troops was costly and haphazard as they had their backs to the creek and against a swamp.

At this juncture, Campbell, having determined to return to Britain, turned command of his detachment over to Lieutenant Colonel Mark Prevost, the younger brother of General Prevost. Before Campbell’s departure, the pair had devised a plan of attack, which Prevost executed flawlessly on the afternoon of March 3, 1779. They feinted at the bridge site but swung the bulk of their forces north and west of the bridge. They planned to exploit Ashe’s position, which was arranged in a triangle at the confluence of the creek and the river.

Ashe had been warned about the British troops bearing down on his position, but his battle lines were disorganized, and the troops confused: Cartridge boxes were short, and the men had muskets of different calibers. While the American left formed against the creek, their right did not reach the river and was left exposed.

The British three-pronged attack was also supported by light artillery. As the fighting ensued, another gap appeared in American lines in the confusion. British cavalry exploited the gap on the American right and British Regulars with fixed bayonets plunged into breach.

Panic engulfed the Americans, who did not have bayonets, and many broke and ran. A rout was underway. The American militia from North Carolina and Georgia failed to perform, while the Continental units posted in the center held firm until their position became threatened and they were forced to surrender as the militiamen melted into the forests and swamps, fleeing for their lives.

It was a stinging defeat for the Americans, who lost both men and material. While the British lost only five men killed and 11 wounded, American casualties were close to 400, with a fair number of them drowning in the swamps as they fled. More than 200 of the Continentals were captured. Witnesses claim that Ashe fled on horseback; although a court-martial acquitted him of cowardice, he was convicted for failing to make his camp secure.

Writing after the war, Patriot leader William Moultrie argued that the American defeat prolonged the war by at least a year and opened the floodgates for a British invasion of the Carolinas.