SMITH, Charles (18th Century).
Plan of the Siege of Savannah.
Engraved map.
New York: Smith, 1796.
10" x 11" sheet.
First Map of Savannah published in America.

This rare Revolutionary War plan details the Siege of Savannah in 1779. A reduced copy of a similar map that appeared in Charles Stedman's The History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War, it was published in Charles Smith's The Monthly Military Repository (1796-97), a two-volume magazine that featured notes on military strategy, accounts of various European wars, and chronicles of the American Revolution. Much of the Revolutionary War material was culled from the writings of Baron Steuben and General Horatio Gates, military officers on the American side of the struggle. The plan was engraved by Charles Balthazar Julien Fevre de Saint-Memin, a French engraver better known for his portraits of such historical figures as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Meriwether Lewis.

In 1778, the British, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell, took Savannah. From September 16 to October 18, 1779, an alliance of American and French troops attempted to take the city back, but their siege ultimately failed. This map depicts their valiant effort, showing fortifications, troop positions, encampments, galleys, and more. The battle is notable for the contributions of more than 500 soldiers from the French colony of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) and for being where Casimir Pulaski, celebrated as "the father of the American cavalry," was killed.Phillips (Maps) p. 786; Wheat & Brun #617.