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Relic of the Battle of Savannah, 1778-79.

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:60.00 USD Estimated At:120.00 - 150.00 USD
Relic of the Battle of Savannah, 1778-79.
Small, heavy iron component of "saluting cannon" found at the key Spring Hill, Ga. site of the Battle of Savannah's ill-fated Franco-American debacle, seeing the death of George Washington's "Commander of the Horse," Pulaski. Pencil-stand-shape, 1 1/4" square, 3" high, hole in one end. When strapped to wood or other material, these were used for signaling, saluting, and powder testing; a mixture, typically of sulfur, saltpetre, and charcoal, would be placed into recess, and lit through the touch hole. Just days after Christmas 1778, the British captured Savannah, losing just 3 men to the Americans' 83. Fortified by the French the following Fall, the Americans returned, Spring Hill becoming a fierce point of contention. The British built "a strong redoubt" (Boatner) on Spring Hill; a 4 A.M. march by d'Estaing's French was uncoordinated, and "badly shot up by grape as they moved across the open space...The second and third French columns shared successively the same fate, having the additional discouragement of seeing, as they marched to the attack, the repulse and loss of their comrades who had preceded them." Francis Marion's 2nd South Carolina Continentals "spearheaded the attack...and planted the Crescent Flag of the 2nd S.C. and the French flag on the parapet of the Spring Hill redoubt...While this fighting was going on, Pulaski was trying to force his way between Spring Hill and the works to its west...McIntosh arrived to meet a scene of bloody confusion...." One historian believes that as many as half of all allied troops at Spring Hill were lost. "d'Estaing had now failed the Americans at New York, Newport, and Savannah...Clinton greeted news of d'Estaing's failure as 'the greatest event that has happened in the whole war'...." Uniform tortoise-shell surface rust, else fine. Considerable literature may be found on Spring Hill and the Battle of Savannah.