Clarke decided that it was time to strike and that he would need a maximum force to prevail against the fortifications. He could not afford a long siege like the one the British had mounted around Charles Town, which would deplete their meager supply of ammunition and permit rescue teams to be sent in from Ninety Six and other British strongholds. His intelligence was at least equal to Brown’s concerning the innate loyalty of those militiamen who had offered their lives for independence in the past. He knew who had been paroled under oath and which men had never been captured by the British. He sent out word to carefully selected families that any Whig who failed to come to Soap Creek in Wilkes County would be put to death. To preserve some secrecy, the purpose of the assembly was not revealed until almost two hundred men had assembled in mid-September.

Easily learning of Clarke’s efforts to marshal a large force, Thomas Brown was glad when his Indian scouts reported that one thousand Creeks and Cherokees had been recruited to join him in Augusta and would be accompanied by David Taitt, the longtime deputy Indian superintendent who had spent most of his career operating out of Pensacola under the direction of John Stuart. Although many of the recruits were more interested in robbing settlements than in fighting the Georgia militia, Taitt was loved and trusted by the Creeks, and they felt that his presence was a good omen. However, when the large group was still a three-day march from Augusta, he became ill and seemed to be deranged. The Indians decided to return to Coweta Town in southwest Georgia, where they remained after Taitt died and was buried. Most of them went home, and only about 250 braves decided to report to Brown.

Clarke, who was weak from loss of blood and exhaustion but still able to remain astride his horse, harangued the assembly of Georgia militiamen and a few additional recruits from South Carolina.

“Men, we’ve got the son of a bitch where we want him now, bottled up in Augusta without any British regulars to defend him. They don’t have no idea about our strength, but seem to think we’re all cowards who have slunk off to hide. We’ll not only be riddin’ the world of Brown and Grierson, but we’ll be savin’ our own arses as well, because we’re all livin’ under a death sentence if the Tories or their savages can catch us asleep like they did John Dooly. They’s another reason for us to take Augusta, and that’s the big storehouse of guns, clothes, knives, household goods, and rum that Brown’s usin’ to pay the savages to attack our women and children. It’s all there for the takin’, and I’m sayin’ it’s time for us to go get it.