But the possession of Georgia was not only important to the British, as furnishing an abundant supply of its staple commodity, rice, and its other numerous products, but as enabling East Florida to join her forces, and thus to form an aggregate establishment in the south, which might greatly influence the ultimate fortunes of the war; besides which, a door would thus be opened into South Carolina. The commander of the American forces in the southern department was at this time Major-General Robert Howe, who, however, not having given satisfaction to congress, was about to be superseded by General Lincoln, when, on the 23rd of December, the British fleet arrived at the island of Tybee, near the mouth of the river Savannah. The Americans were wholly unprepared for the removal of the scene of war from the north to the south, and no measures of defence had been taken to secure Savannah. Though Howe was there with the whole regular force of the southern department, consisting of six South Carolina and the one Georgia regiments, the whole force did not amount to 800 men; while the batteries which had been constructed for the defence of the river had been suffered to fall into decay. The capture of Savannah was very easy. On the 28th, the enemy landed just below the town, Major-General Howe having drawn up his forces about half a mile to the east, his left resting on the river, and his right and rear covered by rice-swamps, across which he believed there was but one road. “Fortune, however,” says the British report of this enterprise, “whose favours no prudent officer will ever deny, threw a negro into the hands of the commander, whose intelligence turned to the happiest account.” This man led a British detachment, by a private road known to himself, to the back of Howe’s force, and the Americans, thus at once attacked in front and rear, were completely routed. The British loss was less than thirty; of the Americans 450, while several commissioned officers were taken prisoners; and Savannah, with its artillery, shipping and stores, fell into the hands of the British. The remains of Howe’s army fled into South Carolina. This was the greatest acquisition made by the British in the present year. Washington had gone into winter-quarters at Middlebrook. The two hostile armies of the north were now, at the close of 1778, after two years’ struggles and manœuvres, in very nearly the same relative position as at the close of 1776. The British, driven from the mainland, were now again entrenched on New York Island; and Washington, speaking of the present state of affairs, nobly remarked: “The hand of Providence had been so conspicuous in all this, that he who lacked faith must have been worse than an infidel, and he more than wicked who had no gratitude to acknowledge his obligations.” CHAPTER VIII. REVOLUTIONARY WAR (_continued_), 1779.