Georgia Genealogy & History

Editor: Jeannette Holland Austin

www.georgiapioneers.com Volume No. 2 Issue No. 5 May 2006

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Georgia Heroes of the Revolutionary War: Battle of Savannah. December 1778

The first skirmish in Savannah occurred in January of 1776 on the Savannah River. The Council of Safety immediately placed Governor Wright under house arrest and instructed Colonel Lachlan McIntosh to take charge of the defense of the city. For several days during the first of March, British warships were discovered capturing merchant ships carrying rice into the Savannah harbor. The British fleet did not linger, Instead, it sailed with the rice contraband and Governor Wright. Governor Sir James Wright immediately informed Lord George Germain (the American

Gov. James Wright

Secretary in Britain) that hundreds of loyalists were hiding in the backcountry waiting for the king’s troops, General Sir Henry Clinton ordered Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell to invade Georgia with 3,000 troops. Before Campbell’s attack, however, General Augustine Prevost harassed Georgians with cattle raids. While this occurred, Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Fuser demanded the surrender of Ft. Morris. This fort was located on the Medway River in Liberty County adjacent to the resort town of Sunbury.. The commander of the fort was Lieutenant Colonel John McIntosh, a relative of General Lachlan McIntosh of Savannah. “Come and take it!” McIntosh answered. Although Fuser withdrew, he took some prisoners with him. Pvt. Henry Smith was seized and put onboard a prison shipwhere he remained for 6 months and 9 days. While there, fearing the cruel treatment of the British, he decided to enlist in the British Army with the intent of later deserting, which he did in September of 1779. From there he made his way to the Peedee District of South Carolina where he enlisted again was discharged just before the siege of Charleston. Dempsey Jordan of Perquimans Co., N. C., was one of those soldiers at Fort Morris before serving two years in Savannah. Later he went with Captain Dooly and General Pickens to fight the Cherokee Indians. Pvt. Samuel Jordan of the Georgia Militia, Dempsey’s brother, served under Colonel McIntosh in 1776, and again re-enlisted in April of 1778 under Colonel George Wells. A monument was erected by the DAR to the memory of Dempsey and Samuel Jordan for fighting at the Battle of Kettle Creek. The brothers were sons of Charles Jordan, Captain of the Georgia Militia who was at Ft. Wells (Wilkes County) until it was destroyed by Tories in September of 1778. A few months later, both brothers fought in the battle of Savannah

General Robert Howe

On December 28, 1778, Campbell’s army landed on a bluff below Savannah and advanced his troops through a swampy path to Savannah where they surprised and overwhelmed General Robert Howe’s Continentals and untrained militia. Among its losing defenders were Pvt. John Perkins under Captain Samuel Beckham’s Georgia Troops; John Sharp serving under General Lachlan McIntosh and Pvt. John Jordan of the Continental Army under Captains Francis Moore and Colonel Elbert. Perkins was taken prisoner and put onboard a prison ship until he was exchanged three months’ later. Jordan was described as being a man “under the middle statue as to height stout or square built, fair complexion, red hair, eyes blue, by some might be called gray.” Another captured soldier was Pvt. Daniel Dampier of the 4^th Georgia Battalion who was captured while on wagon guard and onboard a British prison ship for seventeen days until exchanged. Pvt. Job Smith, who had been fighting Indians on the frontier, was residing with Capt. John Dooly in Savannah when the siege occurred and was substituted for Colonel Leroy Hammond. He’d been sent there by his father after his mother died.

McIntosh County Plantation Owners:

Henry S. Atwood (1795-1864) cultivated the McIntosh Plantation in Cedar Point, McIntosh County. He was a Justice of the Peace and elder in the Darien Presbyterian Church. In 1860 he removed to Putnam County after acquiring a cotton mill, “Curtwright Factory” which was located on the Oconee River 14 miles from Eatonton. His wife was Ann Margaret McIntosh.

James Smith (1766-1854)owned large tracts of acreage in the tidewater and Riceland areas.

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Recent Genealogies Traced for Subscribers: Register of Laurens Co., Richardson of Upson & Fulton Counties.

Probate Records: Cobb County Wills abstracted 1866-1904. Includes some digital copies.

Quakers: Wrightsboro Meeting. Includes Minutes and Marriages. Names: Angely, Anglin, Atkinson, Barns, Batton, Beck, Benson, Brooks, Brown, Buffington, Bunting, Butler, Carl, Carson, Cloud, Conner, Cooper, Cox, Crew, Davis, Day, Dixon, Dunn, Edwards, Embree, Farmer, Galbreath, Green, Guest, Haines, Hall, Hart, Hathborn, Hickson, Hodgin, Hoge, Holliman, Hollingsworth, Jackson, King, Lacy Lay, McCowen, McGinty, McMun, Maddock, Mendenhall, Middleton, Mooney, Moore, Moorman, Morgan, Mote, Nipper, Nordyke, Pattan, Phelan, Pinson, Pugh, Rickeson, Sanders, Schofield, Sell, Sidwell, Sims, Stanley, Stuart, Stubbs.

Butts County Paupers Farm Cemetery (1880's-1890's), located in Stark, Georgia, located on a farm now part of the Stark Airport. Death Dates Only: Mrs. C. Brown C. Floyd ; C. Powel; Easby Britton; Elizabeth Shields; Sarah Moore; Bill Jester; Jane Mitchell ; Burel Ingram; Miles J. Turner; Caroline Greer; Richard Greer; Felix Harkness ; Mary Ann Clark; Bertha Johnson; Steve Jester; Mary Ann Pye; Anna Jenkins; Mary Hausford; Mark Higgins; Cap Nutting.

Miscellaneous Deed Records are Included in “Genealogy Notes”.

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