Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Round Table and Corps of Discovery
Sponsored by SCAR and GARPA
New Ebenezer Retreat Center, Georgia
February 20-21, 2016
Schedule [as of 2-16-2016]
Saturday, February 20, 2016 – Round Table and Corps of Discovery
10:00 am to 11:50 am – indoors Roundtable presentations at the New Ebenezer Retreat Center Cafeteria. Start with Welcome and Self Introductions.
1. Kim Stacy – Facts & Myths of Light Artillery (or the Light Six pounder or Dummies)
2. Bob Davis – The Lost History of the People who lived in the Briar Creek area at the time of the Battle
3. Dan Johnson – Lachlan McIntosh’s Family in the Siege of Savannah
4. Conner Runyan – The Battle of Cedar Spring – July 12, 1780?
5. Leon Harris – The Virginia Continentals Size Rolls
11:55 am – break for lunch – New Ebenezer Retreat Center Cafeteria ($10 each) – names for lunch in the pot: Charles Baxley, David Reuwer, Steve Rauch, Greg Brooking, Mary Jane and Leon Harris, Dan Battle, Dan Elliott, Kim Stacy, Bob Davis, Conner Runyan, Dan Johnson, Rod Lenahan, Bob Thompson, Fritz and Jane Hamer, Ed & Mrs. Rigel, Sr., and John Allison – 19 SCAR thus far + 6 GARPA.
1:00 pm to 3:00 pm – walking tour of the British fortifications, earthworks, the Old Augusta Road, cemetery, extant colonial era Jerusalem Lutheran Church, and colonial history of Ebenezer, Ga. with archaeologist Dan Elliott.
– Dan Elliott on the 1779 British invasion and capture of Purysburg – British troops – 71st Rgt. and Provincial Light Infantry – embark boats at Abercorn, Ga. and made a successful April 29, 1779 attack
– Charles Baxley on British Gen. James Patterson’s 1780 march to Charleston (camped at Ebenezer on March 6-9, 1780 and marched to Two Sisters over flooded causeway)
3:00 pm – carpool to site of British Redoubt #6 at Ebenezer Creek; tour old Augusta Road segment and earthworks on private property
– Steve Rauch – site of mass drownings of Freedmen following the XIV Corps of Sherman’s Army in December 1864.
6:30 pm – Saturday Evening – gather with your friends at a local restaurant (TBA) for informal “Dutch Treat” dinner and fellowship
Sunday, February 21, 2016 – Corps of Discovery – car-pooled tour following segments of the 18th c. Savannah to Augusta Road north – the route of British Lt. Col. Archibald Campbell’s invasion of the Georgia backcountry.
9:00 am – gather at New Ebenezer Retreat Center parking lot and car pool for trip to drive extant Old Augusta Road segments north towards Briar Creek
– At Ebenezer – Steve Rauch – British Lt. Col. Archibald Campbell’s plans and preparations for the March to Augusta (who, what, when, where, how, why). Include the larger British posting of forces at the various sites around Savannah – the military securing the Savannah area. Also the order of battle of the troops he takes with him and the various units.
Stop #1 – at site of the Two Sisters Ferry
– Steve Rauch on events on Campbell’s march towards Augusta –
– David Reuwer on Ga. Gov. John Adam Treutlen – colonial Effingham militia
– Effingham County militia
– Charles Baxley on Gen. Augustine Prevost’s April 30-May 1, 1779 invasion of SC
– Charles Baxley on British Gen. James Patterson’s 1780 march to Charleston (camped on March 9, 1780 and crossed river)
Stop #2 – at site of the Tuckasee King Ferry (bathroom)
– Steve Rauch on events on Campbell’s march towards Augusta –
– Dan Elliott on Mt. Pleasant and the Yuchi Indians
– Charles Baxley on British Gen. James Patterson’s 1780 march to Charleston (American Volunteers and British Legion infantry camped on March 10-11, 1780 and crossed river)
Stop #3 – at site of Hudson’s Ferry, main British post
– Steve Rauch on events on Campbell’s march towards Augusta – January 25, 1779
– Dan Elliott on the British Post at Hudson’s Ferry – redoubt and firing trenches
– Screven County militia
– July 27, 1781 – skirmish between Americans, led by Col. Isaac Shelby vs. Georgia Loyalists
11:30 am – Sunday buffet lunch at R & Ds Restaurant on US 301 near Sylvania, Ga. “Dutch Treat”
1:00 pm – Arrive at Briar Creek battlefield for tour with archaeologist Dan Battle
Stop #4 – Briar Creek at Brannon Bridge monuments
– American picket stations
– British approach from Paris Mill (now Millhaven)
Stop #5 – Miller-Freeman (burnt) Bridge
– Site features – bridge, fortified house and redan
– Skirmishes at this bridge on January 25, 1779 and January 26, 1779
– British positions south of the creek and Campbell’s pin & flank strategy – March 3, 1779
– 2 American camps
– American battle lines
Stop #6 – Main battlefield – battle action on March 3, 1779
Stop #7 – Colonial road north towards Augusta, new cut road to Savannah River and to American Army at Mathews (Cohens) Bluff, SC
4:00 pm – tour ends
Mister Soapstone 