GA, USA
First Battle of Augusta — Clarke's Failed Assault
September 14, 1780
On September 14, 1780, Colonel Elijah Clarke led approximately 600 Georgia and South Carolina militia in a surprise assault on the British garrison at Augusta. The attack initially succeeded in driving Brown's forces from the town into a fortified stone building, where Brown held out for eleven days under siege. When British and Loyalist relief forces arrived from Ninety Six, Clarke was forced to abandon the siege and retreat — and his retreat became a desperate march through Cherokee territory into North Carolina, carrying his wounded and their families.
The failed assault demonstrated both the depth of Patriot motivation in the Georgia backcountry and the limitations of militia forces operating without Continental support. Clarke had come close. The knowledge that the garrison was vulnerable made the 1781 operation possible.
People Involved
Georgia frontier militia leader who mounted two major assaults on British Augusta — a failed attempt in September 1780 and the successful 1781 siege with Pickens and Lee. His men formed the backbone of Georgia Patriot resistance during the British occupation.
British Loyalist officer known as "Burnfoot Brown" after Patriots burned his feet in 1775. Commanded the British garrison at Augusta from 1780 until the June 1781 surrender of Fort Cornwallis to Pickens and Lee. His use of Cherokee and Creek allies made the Augusta theater particularly brutal.