Fort Tonyn, named for General

Patrick Tonyn Patrick Tonyn (1725–1804) was a British General who served as the last British governor of East Florida, from 1774 to 1783. His governorship lasted the span of the American Revolution. East Florida was a Loyalist colony during the war. Ear ...

(

East Florida East Florida ( es, Florida Oriental) was a colony of Great Britain from 1763 to 1783 and a province of Spanish Florida from 1783 to 1821. Great Britain gained control of the long-established Spanish colony of ''La Florida'' in 1763 as part of ...

's Royal Governor at the time of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

), was located in present-day

Nassau County, Florida Nassau County is the northeasternmost county of the U.S. state of Florida. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county's population was 90,352. The county seat and the largest incorporated city is Fernandina Beach. Nassau County is ...

, near the hamlet of Mills's Ferry, about 25 miles up the St. Marys River. The fort was unremarkable in its day, seeing little action, and apparently was not even recognized as a fort by the British; the name appears to have been used by the Americans for this British outpost. It is remembered chiefly because it served as a way station in the only substantial campaign Florida saw during the Revolution. General Robert Howe camped near the fort with some 400 men on June 28, 1778, forcing the withdrawal of Lieutenant Thomas Brown and his loyalist East Florida Rangers, who were stationed there as the front line of defense for British

. They burned the fort and retreated into Cabbage Swamp. These events occurred just prior to Colonel

Elijah Clarke Elijah Clarke (1742 – December 15, 1799) was an American military officer and Georgia legislator. Career Elijah Clarke was born near Tarboro in Edgecombe County, Province of North Carolina, the son of John Clarke of Anson County, North Caro ...

leading his

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

troops to defeat at the Battle of Alligator Bridge on June 30, the only major engagement in an unsuccessful campaign to conquer British East Florida during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. A fort is believed to have existed at the site as late as the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

Notes

References

* Tonyn Pre-statehood history of Florida Buildings and structures in Nassau County, Florida Florida in the American Revolution {{NassauCountyFL-geo-stub