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.