The British captured Savannah on December 29, 1778. In the fall of 1779, American forces under General Benjamin Lincoln and a French fleet and army under the Comte d'Estaing besieged the city to take it back. On the foggy morning of October 9, 1779, the allies attacked the Spring Hill Redoubt, an earthen fort on the city's western edge. d'Estaing chose it believing it was lightly held by Loyalist militia, but battle-hardened British regulars stood behind them. Troops lost their way in the swamps, and when the fog lifted the attackers were caught in withering fire.

Within about an hour the attack was over. The allies lost roughly 1,000 men killed or wounded and the British about 150, making it one of the bloodiest single hours of the Revolution. d'Estaing was wounded twice. The Polish cavalry commander Casimir Pulaski was mortally wounded leading his horsemen toward a breach and died two days later. Sergeant William Jasper, a hero of Fort Moultrie, was also killed. The siege was lifted on October 18, and Savannah stayed in British hands until the end of the war.

In 2005, Coastal Heritage Society archaeologists found portions of the original redoubt. Battlefield Memorial Park opened in 2006 beside the Savannah History Museum, with a reconstructed redoubt and memorials to those who fought and died. It is open to the public.