The Revolution Comes to Savannah

Anthony Wayne was very colorful in his use of language to describe events and people in the war.  One of the men who served under him, Jemy, became known as the Commodore, because of his wandering habits, but Anthony trusted Jemy the Rover.  He called Fort Ticonderoga, Golgotha. He served there from July 1776 - May 1777, a stretch of time that covered one of the darkest periods of the war and one of the most dreary periods of his life. Benedict Arnold served there at this time also. Wayne and Arnold had taken each others measure as they shook hands on the retreat of the Three Rivers Campaign in Canada where they first met up with Col. Carleton. Neither could know that one would die as Commander-In-Chief of the United States Army and the other to be forever known as a Traitor to his Country.

General Wayne learned a great deal from his first command at old Ti. He watched many men suffer and die not at the enemies hand, but by the hand of starvation and disease. He saw determination, honor and dishonor among his men. He handled a mutiny and learned of politics. It was here that he learned the lesson of drilling and training of his men. It kept them ready and the boredom of winter at bay. Old Ti would always be remembered.

General Wayne's enthusiasm and confidence made him a great leader. General Washington often mistook his courage and enthusiasm for reckless abandon. But throughout the many battles General Washington learned that General Wayne was a true Patriot that fought vigorously with his every might for Glory.

The Battle of Stony Point was a major victory for Wayne and the Patriots and it won Wayne fame and accolades of Honor that crossed the Ocean to Brittan. It is with this Honor that Washington chose Wayne to finish up the loose ends in the South.

Washington and Wayne knew that the taking of Savannah was not just to  drive the British from our soil, but most importantly  in convincing the populace that the American victors had come to establish peace in what had been chaos. The Tories had to be run out or converted. Law and order had to be re-established there. And above all the confidence of the people had to be won over.

Heading South

Anthony was sorely due a leave of absence after the last battle of Yorktown. He still suffered from his leg wound he had received at the hands of his own men. An accident, but one that would prove fatal in years down the road.

He longed to see Polly, and his daughter Margarita, his son Isaac, but his request for extended leave was denied. Washington was in a hurry to finish the job of total defeat. After all they had been in this war now for over 6 years. I am sure they were more than battle weary to say the least.

Wayne took a few days to take care of some personal business and then rode south with his staff toward Petersburg, where they crossed the Appomattox to Spencer Inn. He lodged there overnight. He was now in the red clay district of the midlands, where the roads were hard and rough. His wound caused him severe pain and the roughness of the ride made it the more so. At Guilford Court House, the scene of General Greene's engagement, marks yet remained that testified to the intensity of the battle. There were musket butts in the field, remnants or torn equipment.

He pressed ahead to South Carolina, among the lands of the Catawba Indians. At Christmas he came to Camden, where Le Conte, the richest Planter of the area invited him to a fine dinner. He richly enjoyed the meal for it was to be his last real comfort for a while.

The scenery changed dramatically, he traveled through marshes so soft that often he had to dismount and lead his horse in water up to his chest at times. On New Years day, 1782, he started off at sunrise through wilderness wading through many creeks to make camp on land surrounded by water. Then at last crossing the Edisto River on January 4, he joined General Greene.

Charleston and Savannah were both in the hands of the British. General St. Clair would take the Pennsylvania Line and draw a ring around Charleston, and Wayne with about 100 Dragoons, some artillery, and 500 soldiers headed off to Savannah. Waiting for him were 1000 British regulars, 500 Tory militiamen and an indeterminate amount of Indians. Wayne had an independent command and for the first time in his career, there were no Pennsylvanians under his command.

The Last Battle

The state treasury was empty, the Government could not collect taxes, and the state had no credit. Georgia ceased to be democratic at this time. On January 19, 1782 when General Wayne arrived the state was almost in total anarchy. With true southern hospitality everyone welcomed Wayne. A long forgotten cousin, William, son of Uncle Gabriel, offered to put Wayne up and told Anthony of his small son he named in his honor. Governor John Martin assured him that Georgia was happy to have him there, but there was neither food nor munitions in the state. At this time Anthony replied "I find this county a perfect desert."

He encamped at Ebenezer, twenty five miles from Savannah, among swamps, mosquitoes, fever and poisonous snakes. The town itself was pleasant but the land seemed barren by all accounts of Wayne. Almost at once Georgia proved to be a source of constant action. About 500 British rode out to reconnoiter Wayne's forces, they encamped at nearby Mulberry Grove. A plantation that once grew rice, silk and cotton twelve miles from the city. Little did Wayne know that he would soon own this plantation.

General Wayne was very heavy in thought at what he had to accomplish here. For it was not just war itself, but he had to win over the people, the Indians and help  re-establish the government here. He changed here in this wilderness. He gained some weight, and rode off alone every morning after inspection and would stay gone for up to three hours at time.

Serving under General Wayne was a new addition, an officer named Col. James Jackson, a twenty four year old emigrant from Devonshire, England. Just two years before the war Col. Jackson had become a bank clerk in Savannah, and later after the war rose to prominence as a political figure as Congressman, Senator and Governor, and again as Senator until his death. He and Wayne became close friends during the Southern Campaign.

On May 22 Wayne learned that Brown with a force of Indians were planning an attack on Wayne and Wayne knew they had to pass on a causeway to reach their intended destination. Wayne hurriedly headed to the causeway and encamped there to wait on his foe. He arrived there in time to discover that he was heavily outnumbered. Wayne did not hesitate to give the order to go on the offensive. They charged and speedy action told the story. In the flash of a few moments the British were defeated and dispersed. They were driven without firing one grain of powder. Brown suffered 40 casualties.

The Creek chief who helped in the British cause remained to be dealt with. Chief Guristersigo had about 300 hundred warriors. The Chief learned that Brown had been routed would not reach Ogeechee where they were to join forces for the attack on Wayne. Bent on reprisal, he moved stealthily to the attack through swamps and forests. Approaching Wayne's camp at midnight on the 24th, they crawled through the high crass on their bellies and managed to kill the first sentinel before he could fire or give warning. Then they fell on the small command of Col. Thomas Posey, the Virginian who had been with Wayne at Stony Point.

The Indian attack was very frenzied and pushed Col. Posey and the artillery he guarding back. But Wayne's main body was now alarmed. Quickly the dragoons mounted and the infantry formed ranks. Defense never entered into Wayne's mind. Never did before, and perhaps this was his best quality as an officer. He quickly gave the order to mount bayonet and saber charge. He called it his cutting blade, and Wayne used it well on this day. The dragoons quickly outflanked them and those that resisted were quickly cut down. Dead on the ground was the Indian Chief, Guristersigo and nineteen warriors who had been brave enough to stand and fight with him. The Chiefs bravery lasted to the end, while on the ground, mortally wounded, with his last dying breath he took aim at General Wayne on his horse and fired. The ball struck Wayne's horse and knocked the horse from under him. Wayne captured177 pack horses loaded with pelts being taken to the British. No one knows the exact number of Indian casualty for many were taken away. Wayne's own loss amounted to four killed and eight wounded.

As Wayne moved ever closer to Savannah, General Greene wrote to Washington," How strange to tell! That the enemy are pounded with less than one-third their numbers." Finally the British withdrew from Ogeechee and held on to Savannah.

The British evacuated Savannah on July 22, 1782. Earlier that month Wayne met a group of Loyalist merchants from the town who came out in anticipation of the British departure and were anxious about their status. Wayne's own policy was " That the merchants and traders, not citizens of the United States, nor owning allegiance to the state of Georgia, shall be allowed  six months to dispose of their  effects and adjust their concerns, at the expiration of the term, they will have a flag granted, to convey themselves, and such property as they may have received in exchange or payment for their goods, to one of the nearest British posts, should they request it."

With James Jackson and John Habersham in the lead, Wayne's army occupied Savannah as the British departed. They found the city peaceful, and with the bitterness of war over, a feeling of relief. The Georgia Campaign had been most difficult for Wayne. His pain was reoccurring, gout was bothering him, fevers overtook him at times.

At the close of the Southern Campaign General Wayne wrote to Greene, " I have completed the tour of the Thirteen United States and made war in each of them and now command in the Sands and Swamps of Georgia. The duty we have done Georgia was more difficult than that imposed upon the children of Israel. They had only to make brick without straw, but we have had our army to form without men, provisions, forage and almost every apparatus of war to provide without money; boats, bridges, etc, to build without materials except those taken form the Stumps and what is itself more difficult than all, to make Whigs of Tories in opposition to every let and hindrance thrown in our way by an unprincipled lawless banditti, all of which we have effected and have wrested the country out of the hands of the enemy, except the town of Savannah."

Georgia generously recognized Wayne's contributions and devotion to Georgia, and to General Greene who commanded the Southern Department, and awarded Anthony Wayne the Mulberry Grove Estate, which was the confiscated property of the royal governor Graham. For both Generals, in normal times it would have made them both wealthy, and a place to live out the rest of their lives in retirement. But it was not to be so.

The Rice Plantation

For General Wayne’s service to Georgia in the Revolutionary War, Georgia presented Anthony Wayne a fine Plantation, and one for his friend and colleague, General Nathaniel Greene. The plantations were neighbor to one another. General Greene received Mulberry Grove, which consisted of 2,171 acres of land, a magnificent house, several outbuildings, a coach house and stables, a large out kitchen, and a poultry house that was nearly fifty feet in length by twenty feet wide, with a pigeon house on the roof, which could hold about a thousand pigeons. There were also a few small houses for the foremen’s families and many slave dwellings. The land consisted of rice plantation, vegetable gardens, and many types of fruit orchards. The plantation was previously owned by Lt. Gov. Graham of Georgia.

General Wayne’s rice plantation consisted of a beautiful main home that was richly adorned and the same outbuildings as on Mulberry Grove. It was actually two main parcels adjoined together and consisted in its entirety of  about 1600 hundred acres of land. The plantation became known as Richmond and Kew. The former owner was of English descent, Alexander Wright, son of the Governor of Georgia, a Tory. He was married (1769) to Miss Elizabeth Izard daughter of John Izard, Esquire of England. Alexander Wright lived there about three years of peace before he fled to safer ground in Savannah during the outbreak of war. Alexander was born in the Colonies under British rule and was torn between loyalties to Georgia and England. By 1778 the Royal Government had been re-established by the British victory in the siege of Savannah. In January of 1781 Alexander Wright refused to take his seat in the house of Assembly, thus showing his affection for the native country in which he was born to. Before the end of the year he moved with his family to Charleston. At the close of the war Wright was found guilty of treason and banished from Georgia. Shortly thereafter his land was confiscated and listed publicly. He later returned to the Savannah area but had lost Richmond and Kew permanently. The next owner was General Anthony Wayne. A formal gift deed was drawn up in 1786. General Wayne moved to his new Plantation in 1785. 

General Wayne was very pleased to have Nathaniel Greene as his neighbor as they had become very close friends during the War. After the war Georgia was very poor, to say the least of the rest of the country. This was not a good time to go in debt and start a new enterprise, but this is what Generals Greene and Wayne did. Both men borrowed a substantial amount of money, with Wayne even using Waynesborough as collateral to buy slaves. Anthony was deeply in debt during the war, he bought clothes and food for his men several times. Waynesborough was pretty prosperous as a tannery, but it did not provide enough income to start up a plantation and to pay his debts. General Wayne was deeply in financial debt after the war. 

Anthony was torn between selling Waynesborough, moving his family to Georgia or just trying to be an overseer of the plantation. He decided to move to Georgia and leave his family in Waynesborough just in case the plantation did not work out. He fell in love with the idea of becoming a Southern Gentleman and fancied himself as much. He set about in great vigor to make his dream of wealth come true.

He visited General Greene often and I am sure they had much discussions on the past war, politics and planting. General Greens wife, Catherine was a grand hostess and provided opportunity for Anthony to chat with a true lady.

Anthony became a citizen of Georgia and ran for a seat in Congress in 1791 against his old friend and military comrade, Col. James Jackson. He won the office but it did not last long as rumor tainted the election process. General Wayne was exonerated, but his campaign manager, Thomas Gibbons was found to be the culprit. A second election was held and through this mess, Wayne lost Richmond and Kew.

General Greene had died of heat stroke in June, 1786 and this was a real blow to Anthony. He dearly loved Greene and the loss was much to him. He felt alone in Georgia. General Wayne always loved the limelight and the ladies and when he lost his Congressional seat and his plantation it was almost more than he could bear. His affairs would not be completely satisfied until after the War of 1812.

A Famous inventor slave lived at the Greene’s whom General Wayne had occasion to meet, Eli Whitney! Anthony crossed paths with many a famous person in his day. Lewis and Clark, Franklin, Paine, Jefferson, Lafayette,  Washington, and Benedict Arnold to name a few!

General Wayne would answer his last call for his country and glory. Washington had a job to do, and he called on Wayne to do it. Wayne never failed him and this job would be the most important one yet. To settle the Indian uprising and to settle the last boundary dispute with the British.

Washington called General Wayne and asked him to become Commander in Chief of the Army. Needles to say the British viewed this appointment with considerable alarm, realizing that of all the generals proposed for the command, Anthony Wayne was the most dangerous from the point view of England’s interest.

There was little left of the plantation at the turn of the century when the Savannah Writers’ Project undertook the writing of “Savannah River Plantations”, Where I learned in detail of the Plantations History.  If only land could talk…

Source for the Plantation:

Savannah River Plantations; Mary Granger, Editor, The Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia, 1947.

 Map of Savannah, Georgia