|
The Battle of Alligator Bridge took place on June 30, 1778, and was the only major engagement in an unsuccessful campaign to conquer British East Florida during the American Revolutionary War. A detachment of Georgia militiamen under the command of General James Screven chased Thomas Brown's Loyalist company into a large position of British regulars established by British Major Mark Prevost and were turned back. ==Background== (詳細はGeorgia and the Loyal British province of East Florida was for the first three years of the American Revolutionary War the scene of ongoing raiding. Political and military leaders in Georgia believed that East Florida's capital, St. Augustine, was vulnerable, and repeatedly promoted expeditions to capture it. The first, in 1776, fell apart when Continental Army General Charles Lee was called north shortly after it got underway. The second, in 1777, had command, supply, and logistical issues; only a company of cavalry actually entered East Florida, only to be ambushed in the Battle of Thomas Creek. Following that failure, the Georgians abandoned all their military posts south of the Satilla River. The southernmost post in Georgia was Fort Howe (previously known as Fort Barrington), on the banks of the Altamaha River, and the northernmost Florida outpost was at Fort Tonyn, in present-day Nassau County, Florida. East Florida Governor Patrick Tonyn had under his command a regiment of rangers led by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Brown, and several hundred British Army troops under the command of Major General Augustine Prevost. Tonyn and Prevost squabbled over control of Brown's regiment, and disagreed on how the province should be defended against the recurring forays from Georgia. Prevost was under orders to stay on the defensive, while Tonyn sought a more vigorous defense. To that end Tonyn deployed Brown's force along the St. Marys River, which (then as now) formed the border. Brown and his men, sometimes with support from Creeks and Seminoles, engaged in regular raids into southern Georgia, harassing the defenders and raiding plantations for cattle to supply some of the province's food needs. In February 1778 Georgia's assembly authorized Governor John Houstoun to organize a third expedition against East Florida. He was opposed in this idea by the Continental Army's Southern Department commander, General Robert Howe, who (like his counterpart Prevost) sought a more defensive posture. Plans for began to take shape in March, taking on some urgency after Brown's rangers captured and burned Fort Howe in a surprise attack. After this event the Loyalists ranged freely throughout Georgia's backcountry, and began recruiting in the upcountry of Georgia and the Carolinas. These actions led Georgia's leadership to conclude that a British invasion of the state was being planned, and military preparations began to accelerate. In addition to land forces, both sides had coastal naval forces to marshal. Governor Tonyn deployed several ships in the Frederica River, separating Saint Simons Island from the mainland, seeking to neutralize several row galleys in the Georgia arsenal. On April 15 Colonel Samuel Elbert decided to launch an attack against three of them that were anchored near Fort Frederica, a relic of the 1740s War of Jenkins' Ear. In a naval action on April 19, Elbert and the row galleys came upon the becalmed ships, and captured or destroyed four of them. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Alligator Bridge」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|