The Project Gutenberg EBook of How the Black St. Domingo Legion Saved the
Patriot Army in the Siege of Savannah, 1779, by T. G. Steward

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: How the Black St. Domingo Legion Saved the Patriot Army in the Siege of Savannah, 1779
The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers No. 5

Author: T. G. Steward

Release Date: February 12, 2010 [EBook #31256]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK ST. DOMINGO LEGION ***

Produced by Suzanne Shell, Stephanie Eason, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.

OCCASIONAL PAPERS, No. 5.

The American Negro Academy,

Rev. ALEXANDER CRUMMELL, Founder.

HOW THE
Black St. Domingo Legion
SAVED THE PATRIOT ARMY
IN THE
Siege of Savannah, 1779,

BY T. G. STEWARD, U. S. A.

Price, Fifteen Cents.

WASHINGTON, D. C.
Published by the Academy.
1899.

How the Black St. Domingo Legion Saved the Patriot Army in the Siege of
Savannah, 1779.

The siege and attempted reduction of Savannah by the combined French and
American forces is one of the events of our revolutionary war, upon
which our historians care little to dwell. Because it reflects but
little glory upon the American arms, and resulted so disastrously to the
American cause, its important historic character and connections have
been allowed to fade from general sight; and it stands in the ordinary
school text-books, much as an affair of shame. The following, quoted
from Barnes' History, is a fair sample of the way in which it is
treated:

"French-American Attack on Savannah.--In September, D'Estaing joined
Lincoln in besieging that city. After a severe bombardment, an
unsuccessful assault was made, in which a thousand lives were lost.
Count Pulaski was mortally wounded. The simple-hearted Sergeant Jasper
died grasping the banner[1] presented to his regiment at Fort Moultrie.
D'Estaing refused to give further aid; thus again deserting the
Americans when help was most needed."

From this brief sketch the reader is at liberty to infer that the attack
was unwise if not fool-hardy; that the battle was unimportant; and t