The attacking column now advanced boldly, under the command of D’Estaing and Lincoln, the Americans consisting of six hundred continental troops and three hundred and fifty Charleston militia, being on the left, while the centre and right were made up of the French forces.  They were met with so severe and steady a fire that the head of the column was soon thrown into confusion.  They endured this fire for fifty-five minutes, returning it as best they could, although many of the men had no opportunity to fire at all.  Two American standards and one French standard, were placed on the British works, but their bearers were instantly killed.  It being found impossible to carry any part of the works, a general retreat was ordered.  Of the six hundred continental troops, more than one-third had fallen, and about one-fifth of the French.  The Charleston militia had not suffered, although they had bravely borne their part in the assault, and it had certainly been no fault of theirs if their brethren behind the embankments had not fired upon them.  Count D’Estaing had received two wounds, one in the thigh, and being unable to move, was saved by the young naval lieutenant Truguet.  Ramsey gives the losses of the battle as follows:  French soldiers 760; officers 61; Americans 312; total 1133.

As the army began its retreat, Lieutenant-colonel Maitland with the grenadiers and marines, who were incorporated with the grenadiers, charged its rear with the purpose of accomplishing its annihilation.  It was then that there occurred the most brilliant feat of the day, and one of the bravest ever performed by foreign troops in the American cause.  In the army of D’Estaing was a legion of black and mulatto freedmen, known as Fontages Legion, commanded by Vicount de Fontages, a brave and experienced officer.  The strength of this legion is given variously from six hundred to over eight hundred men.  This legion met the fierce charge of Maitland and saved the retreating army.

In an official record prepared in Paris, now before me, are these words:  “This legion saved the army at Savannah by bravely covering its retreat.  Among the blacks who rendered signal services at that time were:  Andre, Beauvais, Rigaud, Villatte, Beauregard, Lambert, who latterly became generals under the convention, including Henri Christophe, the future king of Haiti.”  This quotation is taken from a paper secured by the Honorable Richard Rush, our minister to Paris in 1849, and is preserved in the Pennsylvania Historical Society.  Henri Christophe received a dangerous gunshot wound in Savannah.  Balch says in speaking of Fontages at Savannah:  “He commanded there a legion of mulattoes, according to my manuscript, of more than eight hundred men, and saved the army after the useless assault on the fortifications, by bravely covering the retreat.”

It was this legion that formed the connecting link between the siege of Savannah and the wide development of republican liberty on the Western continent, which followed early in the present century.  In order to show this connection and the sequences, it will be necessary to sketch in brief the history of this remarkable body of men, especially that of the prominent individuals who distinguished themselves at Savannah.