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272 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
Maj. James Jackson first came to the front at the battle of Cowpens.
During the last years of the war he commanded an independent legion
similar to the partisan bands which were led by General Clarke and
General Twiggs; and he aided in the recapture of the two principal
strongholds of the state: Augusta and Savannah. In 1780 he met
Lieutenant-Grovernor Wells on the field of honor, inflicting mortal
wounds, but receiving no serious hurt; and at the siege of Augusta he
barely escaped assassination at the hands of an insubordinate British
deserter who belonged to the legion. Perhaps not one of the Revolution
ary patriots experienced more hairbreadth escapes that the adventurous
young officer who was destined to attain to the very highest civic honors,
and to link an already glorious name with the expurgation of the Yazoo
fraud.
Like the heroes of faith, the brave men who illustrated Georgia in
the dark days of the Revolution are too numerous even to be catalogued;
but, among the gallant host of true and tried Georgians whose names
appear on the bloody scroll are: Col. John Dooly, Col. Thomas Dooly,
Maj. John Berrien, Col. William Glascock, Capt. John Baker, Ignatius
and Benjamin Few, Stephen Heard, Thomas Glascock, John Mclntosh
and David Emanuel.
It is only fair to the martial prowess of the brave troops who guarded
the home soil to say that Georgia, in the fore part of the struggle for
independence, was the victim of incompetent generalship on the part of
the commanding officers who were put in charge of the Southern depart
ment. To possess St. Augustine had been Georgia's darling ambition
since the first outbreak of hostilities. The Florida border had always
been a thorn in the side of the colony; and, between the outlaws and the
savages, it was destined to furnish additional complications. In the
hands of the English, St. Augustine proved an almost invincible base
of operations, but the town could easily have been taken by an early
assault. Gen. Charles Lee recognized the strategic importance of pos
sessing St. Augustine, but he was called to New York before the cam
paign could be undertaken. General Howc sent an. expedition against
the stronghold, but it was wholly inadequate and disaster followed.
General Howe also committed fatal blunders in the defense of Savannah,
which was both defectively and insufficiently garrisoned; and he barely
escaped being eourtmartialed for the, slaughterhouse tragedy which
opened the sea-gates of Georgia to the British invaders and inaugurated
the bloody carnival whose butcheries were to redden the farthest hills.
Of course, Georgia will always be grateful to Gen. Benjamin Lincoln
for the gallant defense which he made of the state, especially in the ever-
memorable siege of Savannah, in which Count Pulaski and Sergeant
Jasper fell mortally wounded. But he was largely to blame for the igno
minious defeat of General Ashe at Briar Creek, and it was not until
Gen. Nathanael Greene was put in charge of the Southern department
that the British were finally expelled from Georgia soil. He sent Gen.
Light-Horse Harry Lee and Gen. Andrew Pickens to aid Clarke and
Twiggs and Jackson in the recapture of Augusta, and Gen. Anthony
Wayne to take charge of the operations around Savannah. They came
in good time to the relief of the well-nigh drenched and exhausted state
whose overpowered defenders were still bravely fighting the combined
,.*!