Lieut.-General Gisborne died on the 20th of February, 1778, and King George III. conferred the colonelcy on Major-General James Robertson, from Colonel Commandant of the second battalion of the Sixtieth, who had previously performed the duties of Lieut.-Colonel of the SIXTEENTH regiment, many years, with reputation. [Sidenote: 1778] [Sidenote: 1779] Had the British revolted provinces been left unaided by European states, they would, doubtless, have been reduced to submission; but in 1778 the French monarch sent a numerous fleet and an army to their assistance; and in 1779 the court of Spain commenced hostilities against Great Britain, and this example was followed by the Dutch. Don Bernard de Galvez, governor of the Spanish province of Louisiana, assembled a numerous force, and suddenly invaded the British territories on the banks of the Mississippi; and Lieut.-Colonel Dickson, of the SIXTEENTH, who commanded the troops in that district, being unable to oppose the invading army, withdrew to _Baton Rouge_, where he caused a redoubt to be constructed, which was scarcely completed when the Spanish army advanced in force against this post, which was invested on the 12th of September. On the 21st the enemy opened a battery of heavy cannon against the works, which were so much damaged in a few hours, that Colonel Dickson was obliged to surrender. The garrison, consisting of a detachment of the SIXTEENTH, Sixtieth, and of the Waldeck regiments, was sent prisoners of war to New Orleans, and afterwards exchanged. The French armament, under the Comte d'Estaing, approached the city and port of _Savannah_ in Chatham county, in the state of Georgia, early in September, and a detachment of the SIXTEENTH regiment, commanded by Major Graham, formed part of the force under Major-General Prevost, which defended that place. The French troops landed, and were joined by an American force under General Lincoln; but they encountered a resistance which proved the determined valour of the garrison. A detachment from the SIXTEENTH was engaged in a sally on the 24th of September, under Major Graham of the regiment, and this service was performed with judgment and bravery. "Major Graham artfully drew the enemy into a snare, by which the French and Americans fired on each other, and had fifty men killed before the mistake was discovered."[7] Before daylight on the 9th of October, the French and Americans made a desperate effort to capture the place by storm; but were repulsed at every point with severe loss. They afterwards raised the siege and retired. [Sidenote: 1781]