City and county-seat of
Richmond county, Ga.; on the
Savannah River at the head of steamboat navigation; 120 miles northwest of
Savannah.
It is one of the largest and most progressive manufacturing cities in the
South.
It was founded by English settlers under
Oglethorpe, and received the name of an English princess.
In 1817 it was incorporated
[
236]
a city, and was for many years the most important inland place in the
State.
The population in 1890 was 33,300; in 1900, 39,441.
When Cornwallis proceeded to subjugate
South Carolina, he sent
Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, a Tory leader, to hold
Augusta.
Over this garrison
Pickens and
Clarke had kept watch, and when, on May 20, 1781, they were joined by
Lee and his legion, they proceeded to invest the fort there.
They took Fort Galphin, 12 miles below, on the 21st, and then an officer was sent to demand the surrender of
Augusta.
Lieutenant-Colonel Brown was one of the most cruel of the Tories in that region, and the partisans were anxious to make him a prisoner.
He refused to surrender.
A regular siege began May 23, and continued until June 4, when a general assault was agreed upon.
Hearing of this,
Brown proposed to surrender, and the town was given up the next day. In this siege the
Americans lost fifty-one men killed and wounded; and the
British lost fifty-two killed, and 334, including the wounded, were made prisoners.
For several years after the war it was the capital of
Georgia.
It was garrisoned by Confederate troops during the
Civil War, and was twice threatened by
Sherman in his marches from
Atlanta to the sea and through
South Carolina.
