Georgia President Button Gwinnett has organized an…

May 1777 CE

Georgia President Button Gwinnett has organized an expedition against the capital of British East Florida, St. Augustine, following the raiding expedition by Loyalist Thomas Brown in February 1777 against his state.

General Robert Howe, commander of the Continental Army's Southern Department, agrees to contribute some Continental forces, and authorizes Colonel Samuel Elbert's 2nd Georgia Regiment and Brigadier General Lachlan McIntosh to participate.

McIntosh and Gwinnett are bitter political enemies, and cannot agree on issues of command and strategy.

As a consequence, Howe and the Georgia legislature give command of the operation to Colonel Elbert. (Another consequence of the disagreement between McIntosh and Gwinnett is a duel they fought on May 16; both men are wounded, and Gwinnett will die several days later.)

In addition to the three hundred Continentals from the 1st and 2nd Georgia Regiments, the expedition includes some militia cavalry led by Colonel John Baker.

Sources vary on the exact size of Baker's company; it is reported to be either about one hundred or two hundred men.

The expedition had left Sunbury on May 1.

Baker's cavalry rides overland while Elbert's Continentals sail via the inland waterway with the expectation of meeting at Sawpit Bluff, near the mouth of the Nassau River in what is now Duval County, Florida.

Baker reaches Sawpit Bluff on May 12.

The flotilla, under the command of Commodore Oliver Bowen, has been delayed by contrary winds, and will not reach Amelia Island until May 18.

Locations
Amelia City Nassau Florida United States View →

People
Button Gwinnett View → Jacques Marcus Prevost View → Lachlan McIntosh View → Patrick Tonyn View → Robert Howe View → Samuel Elbert View → Thomas Brown View →

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Chiaha View → Muscogee, or Creek, people (Amerind tribe) View → Seminole (Amerind tribe) View → Britain, Kingdom of Great View → British people View → Georgia, Province of (British Colony) View → East Florida View → West Florida View → United States of America (US, USA) (Philadelphia PA) View → Americans View →

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American Revolutionary War, or American War of Independence View → American Revolutionary War, Southern theater of the View → Thomas Creek, Battle of View →

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Domestic animals View →

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Conflict View → Mayhem View → Government View →

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