 signaled by waving his hat, and Campbell ordered the regulars to charge.
The first sounds of battle Howe heard were musket fire from the barracks, but these were rapidly followed by cannon fire and the appearance of charging British and German troops on his front. He ordered an immediate retreat, but it rapidly turned into a rout.
His untried troops hardly bothered to return fire, some throwing down their weapons before attempting to run away through the swampy terrain. Campbell reported that "It was scarcely possible to come up with them, their retreat was rapid beyond Conception."
The light infantry in the Continental rear cut off the road to Augusta, the only significant escape route, forcing a mad scramble of retreating troops into the city itself. The Georgia soldiers on the right attempted to find a safe crossing of Musgrove Creek, but one did not exist, and many of the troops were taken prisoner.
Soldiers who did not immediately surrender were sometimes bayoneted. Huger managed to form a rear-guard to cover the escape of a number of the Continentals. Some of Howe's men managed to escape to the north before the British closed off the city, but others were forced to attempt swimming across Yamacraw Creek; an unknown number drowned in the attempt.
When Howe's retreat ended at Purrysburg, South Carolina, he had 342 men left, less than half his original army. Howe would receive much of the blame for the disaster, with Brigadier General William Moultrie arguing that he should have either disputed the landing site in force or retreated without battle to keep his army intact. He was exonerated in a court martial that inquired into the event, although the tribunal pointed out that Howe should have made a stand at the bluffs or more directly opposed the landing.
Prevost arrived from East Florida in mid-January, and shortly after sent Campbell with 1,000 men to take Augusta. Campbell occupied the frontier town against minimal opposition, but by then Major General Benjamin Lincoln had begun to rally support in South Carolina to oppose the British.
On February 14, Campbell abandoned Augusta, the same day a Loyalist force en route to meet him was defeated in the Battle of Kettle Creek. Although Patriot forces following the British were ambushed in the March 3 Battle of Brier Creek, the Georgia backcountry remained in Patriot hands.
Campbell wrote that he would be "the first British officer to [rend] a star and stripe from the flag of Congress". Savannah was used as a base to conduct coastal raids which targeted areas from Charleston, South Carolina to the Florida coast. In the fall of 1779, a combined French and American siege to recapture Savannah failed with significant casualties.
Control of Georgia was formally returned to its royal governor, James Wright, in July 1779, but the backcountry would not come under British control until after the 1780 Siege of Charleston. Patriot forces recovered Augusta by siege in 1781, but Savannah remained in British hands until July 11, 1782.