Prevost
asked for a delay of twenty-four hours to consider the proposal, which
delay was granted; and on that very evening, Maitland with his force
arrived at Dawfuskie. Finding the river in the possession of the
French, his course for a time seemed effectually cut off. By the
merest chance he fell in with some Negro fishermen who informed him of
a passage known as Wall's cut, through Scull's creek, navigable for
small boats. A favoring tide and a dense fog enabled him to conduct
his command unperceived by the French, through this route, and thus
arrive in Savannah on the afternoon of the 17th, before the expiration
of the twenty-four hours. General Prevost had gained his point; and
now believing himself able to resist an assault, declined the summons
to surrender. Two armed ships and four transports were sunk in the
channel of the river below the city, and a boom in the same place laid
entirely across the river; while several small boats were sunk above
the town, thus rendering it impossible for the city to be approached
by water.
On the day of the summons to surrender, although the works were
otherwise well advanced, there were not ten cannon mounted in the
lines of Savannah; but from that time until the day of assault, the
men of the garrison, with the slaves they had captured, worked day and
night to get the defences of the city in the highest state of
excellence.
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