Sawpit Bluff was a small settlement in

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 ...

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 ...

, on the site of a

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

at the mouth of Sawpit Creek where it discharges into

Nassau Sound Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg) ...

opposite the south end of

Amelia Island Amelia Island is a part of the Sea Islands chain that stretches along the East Coast of the United States from South Carolina to Florida; it is the southernmost of the Sea Islands, and the northernmost of the barrier islands on Florida's Atlantic ...

. It was the location of a proposed rendezvous between mounted militia from

Sunbury, Georgia Sunbury is a ghost town in Liberty County, Georgia. Established in 1758, the town was mostly abandoned by the mid-1800s. The town is located on the south bank of the Midway River, in an area that was first settled by Europeans in the 1750s. Th ...

and Continental troops under the command of Lt. Col.

Samuel Elbert Samuel Elbert (1740November 1, 1788) was an American merchant, soldier, and politician from Savannah, Georgia. Elbert fought in the American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War, commanding the victorious American colonial forces in a naval bat ...

during the second invasion of Florida in May 1777. Around 1809, Capt. James Smith (father of

Mary Martha Reid Mary Martha Reid (September 19, 1812 – June 24, 1894) is Florida's "most famous nurse and Confederate heroine." She is best known for serving as the matron of the Florida Hospital, founded in Richmond, Virginia in 1862 to treat convalescing Conf ...

, wife of

Robert R. Reid Robert Raymond Reid (September 8, 1789 – July 1, 1841) was the fourth territorial governor of Florida. Earlier in his career he was a Representative from Georgia and held several judicial positions. Robert Reid was born in Prince William Pari ...

, a territorial governor of Florida) built a plantation at Sawpit Bluff, called by the Spanish ''Barranco de Aserradero'' (roughly, "Sawmill Bluff"). The site is located at the mouth of the

Nassau River Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

in present-day

Duval County, Florida Duval County is in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 995,567, up from 864,263 in 2010. Its county seat is Jacksonville, Florida, with which the Duval County government has been conso ...

History

Second Invasion of East Florida by Georgian Patriots

Almost immediately upon the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, hostilities began between British loyalists in Florida and Patriots loyal to the new nation to the north. The British spent the remainder of 1776 deflecting Patriot raids from the Georgia side of the St. Marys. In the Spring of 1777, British forces pushed across the St. Marys River, capturing Fort McIntosh on the

Satilla River The Satilla River rises in Ben Hill County, Georgia, United States, near the town of Fitzgerald, and flows in a mostly easterly direction to the Atlantic Ocean. Along its approximately U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high- ...

, and raiding Georgia farms for some 2000 head of cattle. The American response was swift: an invasion of St. Augustine was planned, and Patriot forces began moving south. Lt. Col. Samuel Elbert and 400 Continental troops were to rendezvous with Col. John Baker and his force of about 100 Georgia cavalry militia on May 12 for the march south to St. Augustine. The expedition left Sunbury on May 1. Baker's cavalry rode overland via the King's Road while Elbert's Continentals sailed down the inland waterway with the expectation of meeting at Sawpit Bluff, near the mouth of the Nassau River. Baker crossed the St. Marys River and advanced toward Sawpit Bluff, reaching it on May 12 and finding that Elbert had not yet arrived. He and his men encamped there for the next three days, and made several raids on habitations between the Nassau and Trout Rivers. The flotilla, under the command of Commodore Oliver Bowen, had been delayed by contrary winds, and did not reach

until May 18. Having learned from a local resident that authorities had been alerted to the expedition,Jones 1883, p. 266 Baker moved west to find a more strategic location to wait, and encamped on the banks of Thomas Creek, a tributary of the Nassau River. Meanwhile, Brown's Indians and rangers had been reinforced by British regulars under the command of Major Mark Prevost, bringing their total force to about 200 men. They crossed the St. Johns and encamped at Rolfe's Sawmill on Trout Creek; their scouts located the American camp on the night of May 16–17. Brown's rangers and Indians set up an ambush ahead of Baker's route, while Prevost's regulars advanced behind Baker. When Baker's column reached the ambush around 9:00 am, Brown's men delivered a surprise volley. Baker and his men turned to flee, directly into Prevost's oncoming regulars. The Patriots were quickly overwhelmed by the large numbers of rangers and Indians appearing in the underbrush. About half of the Georgians fled at first sight of the enemy; Baker, his horse taken by one of his companions, escaped into the swamps. The superior British force defeated the Americans at the

Battle of Thomas Creek The Battle of Thomas Creek, also known as the Thomas Creek Massacre, was an ambush of a small detachment of mounted Georgia Militia by a mixed force of British soldiers, Loyalist militia, and British-allied Indians on May 17, 1777 near the mout ...

in the southernmost battle of the American Revolutionary War, and the only one fought in present-day Duval County. Colonel Baker and forty-two of his men escaped, making their way through the marsh, and across the St. Marys River to Georgia. Elbert reached East Florida with his men two days after the battle, landing on the northern end of Amelia Island.

The Revolution of East Florida

Armed parties of the so-called "Patriots of Florida" made forays from Sawpit Bluff to Talbot Island during the Revolution of East Florida, or Patriots' War, in 1812. On August 28 of that year two Spanish gunboats commanded by Capt. Tomás Llorente sailed up Two Sisters Creek to Sawpit Bluff and shelled the house of William Fitzpatrick.

References

{{Coord missing, Florida Florida in the American Revolution Populated places in Duval County, Florida Northside, Jacksonville