 Complete the following phrase:  British warships that arrived in the Savannah River in January 1776 caused the first crisis in Savannah. The Council of Safety, convinced that Savannah was to be the object of a British attack, placed Governor Wright under house arrest and instructed Colonel Lachlan McIntosh to take charge of the defense of the city. There followed the so-called Battle of the Rice Boats on March 23, 1776, when British marines seized rice-laden merchant ships in the Savannah harbor, some of which the militia burned. In fact, the object of the British fleet was the acquisition of provisions for the beleaguered army 