As the winter season of 1779–’80 drew on, and the ordinary hurricanes of the West India storm-belt indicated a very restricted use of the French navy in those waters, an effort was made to induce Count d’Estaing to support an American attack upon Savannah. He responded promptly; and besides sending five ships to Charleston to perfect details for the combined movement of both southern armies, anchored his principal squadron of twenty ships-of-the-line, two 50’s and eleven frigates, outside the bar of Tybee Island, on the eighth day of September. Six thousand French troops accompanied the fleet. Governor Rutledge of South Carolina so actively aided the enterprise, that a sufficient number of small craft were procured to land thirty-five hundred and twenty-four of these troops at Bieulien, on Ossahaw Inlet, about twelve miles from Savannah. The march was immediately begun. On the sixteenth, Count d’Estaing demanded surrender of the city. The Legislature of South Carolina adjourned. Militia replaced the regulars at Fort Moultrie, and within four days, on the eighth, quite a strong force marched for Savannah. General Lincoln left on the tenth. Meanwhile, the British General Prescott had so actively destroyed bridges and obstructed roads, that the Americans did not join the French troops until the sixteenth. Trenches were not begun until the twenty-fourth of September, and the difficulty of obtaining draught animals for hauling heavy siege-guns to their proper position, still longer delayed the movement. The enthusiasm of the American officers over the prospect of French coöperation led them to assure Count d’Estaing that his delay before Savannah would not exceed from ten to sixteen days; and upon this distinct assurance, he had thus promptly disembarked his land forces. The French West Indies had been left without naval support; and already an entire month had passed with every probability that a British fleet from New York would take advantage of the opportunity to recapture West India posts so recently captured by the French. Abandonment of the siege, or an assault, became an immediate necessity, especially as Count d’Estaing had undertaken the enterprise, urged by Lafayette, with no other authority than his general instructions as to America, and his deep interest in the struggle.