History
The 4th Georgia Regiment was authorized for service with the Continental Army by the Continental Congress on 1 February 1777. The unit was assigned to the Southern Department. The regiment organized in a strength of eight companies at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the summer and fall of 1777. The unit was recruited from British deserters. In early August one of its soldiers was murdered in Philadelphia and the authorities moved the regiment into camp west of the city along the Lancaster Road. Immediately, the people of Lower Merion Township began to complain of marauding by the soldiers. They reported that the troops robbed travelers, broke into houses, burned fences, chopped down trees, stole things, and killed livestock. When confronted, the soldiers threatened the inhabitants with violence. The regiment was ordered to Lancaster, Pennsylvania where the problems continued. Some soldiers robbed Colonel White of his money, his papers, and his officer's commission. They were caught and sentenced to death, but the colonel's wife asked for clemency and the men received 300 lashes instead.
On 23 December 1777, the 4th Georgia was assigned to the Georgia Brigade. In 1778, the regiment participated in the unsuccessful Florida Campaign and in the loss of Savannah. In 1779 the unit fought at the Siege of Savannah. At the Siege of Charleston the regiment was captured by the British army along with the rest of the American southern army at Charleston, South Carolina on 12 May 1780. The 4th Georgia was officially disbanded on 1 January 1781.
Read more about this topic: 4th Georgia Regiment
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“They are a sort of post-house,where the Fates
Change horses, making history change its tune,
Then spur away oer empires and oer states,
Leaving at last not much besides chronology,
Excepting the post-obits of theology.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (17881824)
“Yet poetry, though the last and finest result, is a natural fruit. As naturally as the oak bears an acorn, and the vine a gourd, man bears a poem, either spoken or done. It is the chief and most memorable success, for history is but a prose narrative of poetic deeds.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“To history therefore I must refer for answer, in which it would be an unhappy passage indeed, which should shew by what fatal indulgence of subordinate views and passions, a contest for an atom had defeated well founded prospects of giving liberty to half the globe.”
—Thomas Jefferson (17431826)