Background
Samuel Elbert was born in Prince William Parish, South Carolina, the son of a Baptist clergyman.
Samuel Elbert was born in Prince William Parish, South Carolina, the son of a Baptist clergyman.
Deprived of both parents in his early youth, he emigrated to Georgia, prospered exceedingly as a merchant and Indian trader, and attained position and influence in Savannah. At the outbreak of the Revolution he was among the Sons of Liberty and a member of the first Georgia Council of Safety (June 1775).
A delegate to the Provincial Congress that met at Savannah in July, he was elected by that body to the Council of Safety, which had charge of public affairs, and was a member of the committee on militia and of the committee appointed to supply the province with arms and ammunition.
He then entered the Continental service as lieutenant-colonel (January 1776) and a few months later was promoted to colonel.
Elbert landed on Amelia Island, but finding the enemy prepared and a surprise attack impossible, the heat intense, and his stock of provisions low, he made no attempt to conquer the mainland.
His presence, however, so frightened Patrick Tonyn, Royal Governor of East Florida, that he summoned the Creeks and sought to dispatch Chcrokecs into South Carolina or Georgia.
Returning to Savannah, Elbert succeeded to the command of the Continental forces in Georgia after the departure of Brigadier-General Lachlan McIntosh for Washington’s headquarters.
Threatened with an invasion of Georgia by Brigadier-General Augustin Prevost, Major-General Robert Howe moved southward, intending to strike a blow against East Florida.
At Frederica (April 19, 1778), with 300 men and three galleys, Elbert captured the brigantine Hinchenbrooke, the sloop Rebecca, and a prize brig. While the Howe expedition failed, it had the merit of retarding Prevost’s efforts.
In the fall of 1778 Collonel Archibald Campbell arrived from New York intending to attack Savannah while Prevost marched northward from Florida to join him.
Realizing that Girardeau’s Bluff (now Brewton Hill) was the key to Savannah, Elbert urged that it be occupied in force.
Howe’s refusal was followed by the disastrous battle of December 29, 1778.
Sunbury having fallen and southern Georgia being occupied by the British, Elbert was unable to assemble sufficient troops to offer effective resistance to Campbell’s march upon Augusta. Joining Brigadier-General John Ashe, he commanded the left wing in the battle at Briar Creek, March 3, 1779.
The militia fled, but Elbert and his Continental troops fought so bravely that Lieutenant-Collonel J. M. Prevost was compelled to order up reserves.
He then captured Elbert and his remaining troops. Elbert was exchanged in June 1781, commanded a brigade during the siege of Yorktown, and was brevetted brigadier-general (1783).
He was one of the commissioners elected (January 22, 1783) to negotiate with the Creeks and Cherokees and later declined an election to the Continental Congress (1784).
He emigrated to Georgia, prospered exceedingly as a merchant and Indian trader, and attained position and influence in Savannah. Elected governor of Georgia in July 1783, he at once took firm measures to put down the band of freebooters inhabiting the district between the St. Mary and Satilla rivers and sought to pacify the Indians on the northern frontier, who were being stirred up by “disaffected and mercenary persons. ”
He was afterward sheriff of Chatham County, vice-president of the Society of the Cincinnati, and Grand Master of the Masonic order in Georgia.
member of the first Georgia Council of Safety (June 1775)
member of the committee on militia and of the committee appointed to supply the province with arms and ammunition
vice-president of the Society of the Cincinnati, and Grand Master of the Masonic order in Georgia
He died at Savannah survived by his wife, Elizabeth (Rae) Elbert, and six children.
