Prevost, on the first rumour of the danger which awaited him, summoned to Savannah the greater part of the British forces from Port Royal and other places; and removing the shipping higher up the river, destroyed the batteries on the island of Tybee, and put the city in a rapid state of defence. In reply to D’Estaing’s summons of surrender, Prevost, whose expected reinforcements had not yet arrived, requested a suspension of hostilities for four-and-twenty hours, to which D’Estaing agreed, who not having, as yet, formed a junction with the American forces under Lincoln, knew not the importance and necessity of an immediate attack. Within the four-and twenty hours the reinforcements arrived. Three cheers, which rung from one end of the town to the other, welcomed them, and Prevost notified D’Estaing the following day that he would defend the place. Pulaski with his legion, and Lincoln with 3,000 men, proceeded to besiege the town, with regular approaches. On the 24th of September the siege commenced; D’Estaing grew impatient of these operations, and at midnight, between the 3rd and 4th of October, a heavy bombardment, which lasted for five days, was commenced. The effect of this fell mostly upon the town, where, besides the destruction of houses and people, women, children and negroes were the greatest sufferers. Prevost, touched by the sufferings of these defenceless people, whose distress and danger were increased by the number of burning houses, wrote a letter to D’Estaing, requesting permission to send them down the river in vessels intrusted to the care of the French, there to await the result of the siege, acquainting him that his own wife and family should be the first to profit by this permission. For three hours the discharge of cannon and shells was continued, and then a refusal, signed both by Lincoln and D’Estaing, was returned. The siege promised to be tedious, and D’Estaing’s patience was worn out. The obstructions in the narrow part of the channel prevented his fleet from approaching the shore; and he now became afraid that one of those hurricanes common to this season might drive it out to sea, or it might be attacked by the British while so many of his guns and troops were otherwise employed. Full of impatient fears, he insisted upon the town being carried by assault; and on the 9th of October, two columns, the picked men of both armies, were led to the assault by D’Estaing and Lincoln. It was a fatal step; by a strange mistake, the attack that was to be made at four in the morning was delayed till broad daylight; and the garrison directed their guns with fatal aim upon the advancing assailants. Some of the outer works were taken, but the most fearful carnage marked every step. At length, Pulaski, at the head of his legion, was mortally wounded, and the Americans fled; D’Estaing received two wounds, and the French were repulsed with great slaughter.