When the Revolutionary War crossed Georgia's borders, Savannah fell into the hands of the British.

But this wasn't just a war between distant lands, it was a divide that impacted families and communities.

(gentle music) Allegiances were split in Georgia, and the British had the upper hand.

Many colonists, especially those along Georgia's coast, remained loyal to the British, who had helped make them wealthy.

These colonists were known as Loyalists.

Those who lived further inland typically supported American independence.

They were known as Patriots.

Patriots, along with the help of their French allies, made several attempts to recapture British claims, but they often failed, quite tragically too.

In fact, one of the bloodiest battles of the entire Revolutionary War was fought right here in Georgia.

It lasted for three weeks.

That battle was known as the Siege of Savannah.

In the fall of 1779, 2,000 British soldiers fought to keep the city of Savannah from the American Patriots and their French allies.

Let's take a look at the hardship and heroism that took place all those years ago.

(rousing marching music) [Narrator] September 1779, the city of Savannah.

Inside the city, there are 2,000 British redcoats trying to keep the port city from the American Patriots.

The Americans want the city back.

With their allies the French, they have surrounded the town with an army of men and cannon.

For three weeks, the allies fire on the city, trying to convince the British to surrender.

- 200 years ago, it was much more common to surround a town with a bunch of cannon and just basically try and bombard it out of existence and starve the defenders out by cutting them off and just putting them under a cannonball attack, which they did.

Something like it's estimated 1,000 cannonballs came roaring into the little town of Savannah.

Nearly every house was hit.

Now, cannon fire was very, very inaccurate back then, and they didn't have explosive shots.

They just had solid shots, which just tore holes in things.

(cannons booming) [Narrator] It didn't work.

The cannonballs killed a number of women and children, but only one British soldier.

So on the morning of October 9th, the Americans and the French decided to attack.

(cannons booming) This is Martin Luther King Jr.

Boulevard on the west side of Savannah, but 200 years ago, it was a wilderness, and on the edge of one sloping field called Spring Hill, the British had built a mound of dirt and logs called a redoubt, the Spring Hill Redoubt.

That's where the Patriot army would make their charge.

(soldiers shouting) (guns booming) The attack was supposed to be a surprise, but a deserter had tipped off the British that the attack was coming.

It was supposed to begin in the dark, but by the time the allies, the French and the Americans, found their way through the marshes, the sun was already up.

The British were supposed to be greatly outnumbered, but because the allies took so long to get organized that morning, the British had time to bring in reinforcements.

- And every minute the battle lasted, there were more British muskets on this side, and you had the Spring Hill Redoubt with infantrymen and artillery position next to it.

In the Musgrove Creek over in this direction, there was a galley, and its cannons, a galley's a small ship, its cannons could fire down the creek.

And the troops were attacking in lines like this, and that ship's cannon fire was just sweeping down those lines.

That's called enfilade, and it means you just caught 'em on the edge and you can tumble five or six guys with one shot, and that was happening.

So the attack was, the attackers were at a tremendous disadvantage.

Their advantage of surprise was gone, the advantage of darkness was gone, the advantage of superior numbers was gone, but they kept plugging at it.

[Narrator] And they kept dying.

The leader of the Polish cavalry helping the Americans, General Casimir Pulaski, was shot in the side and later died.

The commander of the French forces, Count D'Estaing, was wounded twice.

And there was another hero that morning, Sergeant William Jasper from South Carolina.

He charged forward toward the British lines, carrying the flag of his regiment.

- He's a hero in my eyes.

The way I see it, any man who is willing to put his life on the line, not just on the line, but just literally know that he's gonna die.

I mean, he's looking at 1,000 muskets firing at him.

And he sees a point that he wants to get, and once he gets to that point, his sole object is to plant that flag and to prove to the world that his regiment lives and his ideals live.

He doesn't care what happens to him.

And he gets to that point and he does it and he's shot down in the midst of doing that act.

A greater hero doesn't live.

(guns booming) [Narrator] The fighting was desperate and heroic.

There's one story about a company of grenadiers fighting on the side of the Patriots.

Their commander was an Irishman named Arthur Dillon.

- So Arthur Dillon says, "A gold coin to the first man who gets on top of that earthwork."

And he says, "Come on," and nobody moves.

And he's going, "What are you, scoundrels and cowards?"

And the grenadier sergeant steps out and says, "You insult us with your gold.

It is our duty to attack."

And then the grenadier sergeant said, "Follow me," and they all went.

About 140 men went up, less than half came back.

- Less than half?

- Less than half.

[Narrator] The British lost 55 men, but there were over 750 allied casualties, men either killed or wounded, and even more would've died, hundreds more, in fact, the whole Patriot army might well have been captured, had it not been for another regiment of brave men.

This is a diorama of the battle on display at the Savannah History Museum, and these are our heroes, Black soldiers called Chasseurs.

They came from an island in the Caribbean we now call Haiti.

During the battle, 800 of them held off the British so the Patriot army, or what was left of it, could get away.

- And as the Americans and the French were retreating and still taking horrible loss, and the British decided to come out of their trenches and just completely wipe 'em out with bayonets.

They were just gonna track 'em down and just kill 'em all, whatever was left.

- Imagine a battlefield now where the Colonials are now laying sprawled all over the battlefield, blood everywhere, they're crawling and they're trying to get away.

Their heroes have been shot down, Casimir Pulaski and William Jasper, their leaders are now dead, dying, or wounded all over the battlefield.

And the British, who have suffered very little casualties to this point, now the command is given, "Fix bayonets!"

- And an all-out massacre was about to ensue as they forced their way across, but they didn't know who was waiting in the reserve: the Chasseurs.

- They were highly polished, highly disciplined Black soldiers.

And now was their moment in glory, now was their opportunity to prove what type of men that they were.

And they stood shoulder to shoulder firing their smooth-bore muskets into the British, volley after volley after volley after volley; constantly reloading, taking hits also, but standing fast, not running and retreating, 'cause they knew what their mission was at that point.

They knew that if they fell apart, they knew that if they ran off the battlefield, they knew that the allies would suffer heavier casualties, more loss of life than what they had suffered at that point, and they knew that their pride, and they knew that because they were men of color they had to make their stand right there, and that's exactly what they did.

- The Siege of Savannah was a hard-fought battle and a big loss for the Patriots, but they would eventually win the Revolutionary War in 1783.

Because of all of those people who fought and died hundreds of years ago, including those involved in the Siege of Savannah, we won the right to say the United States of America is a free nation, no longer subject to a king.

(logo humming)