The Battle of Fort Point Peter was a successful attack in early 1815 by a British force on a smaller American force on the

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

side of the St. Marys River near St. Marys, Georgia. The river was then part of the international border between the United States and British-allied Spanish Florida; it now forms part of the boundary between Georgia and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Occupying coastal Camden County allowed the British to blockade American transportation on the

Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following t ...

. The attack on Forts St. Tammany and Peter occurred in January 1815, after the signing of the

Treaty of Ghent The Treaty of Ghent () was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom. It took effect in February 1815. Both sides signed it on December 24, 1814, in the city of Ghent, United Netherlands (now in ...

, which would end the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

, but before the treaty's ratification. The attack occurred at the same time as the siege of Fort St. Philip in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

and was part of the British occupation of St. Marys and

Cumberland Island Cumberland Island, in the southeastern United States, is the largest of the Sea Islands of Georgia. The long-staple Sea Island cotton was first grown here by a local family, the Millers, who helped Eli Whitney develop the cotton gin. With its ...

Forts at St. Marys

Point Peter is the first landing site on the Georgia side of the St. Marys River. It is a peninsula between the North River and Point Peter Creek, which flow into the St. Marys River. James Seagrove and Jacob Weed received land grants nearby in 1787, and a military post was established on Point Peter around that time. In July 1794 Paul Hyacinth Perrault was commissioned to build a fort in St. Marys, probably Ft. St. Tammany. The following year, costs exceeded $1,400. The War Department approved payments relating to the fort in 1797 and 1800. The garrison eventually included a fort, battery, and a mooring for naval vessels, and may also have been known as Fort Gunn in 1794. United States military posted at Point Peter were responsible for enforcing tariffs and protecting the nation's southern border with Spanish Florida. The fort became involved in the

Quasi-War The Quasi-War (french: Quasi-guerre) was an undeclared naval war fought from 1798 to 1800 between the United States and the French First Republic, primarily in the Caribbean and off the East Coast of the United States. The ability of Congress ...

in 1798. Between 1793 and 1805, United States military manned the fort, and $16,000 dollars were spent on the Point Peter garrison. However, by 1806 the fort was at least partially dismantled, and defenses relied instead solely on gunboats and a fixed battery, which might have contributed to the July 1805 St. Marys River incident involving British naval personnel and successive French and Spanish privateers. In 1809, the block house and battery that formed the new American fort were approved.

1810–1814

In 1811, eleven of the United States Navy's 165 gunboats were stationed at St. Marys, making it the third-largest naval station in the United States prior to the War of 1812. The gunboats were powered by lateen sails and oars, and mounted heavy guns. In 1811, the commander of Fort Point Peter, Lt. Col. Thomas Adam Smith, and his junior officers, Captain Abraham Massias, Captain Joseph Woodruff, Lieutenant Daniel Appling, Captain Fiedler Ridgeway, and Lieutenant Elias Stallings, received orders to assist an American takeover of Spanish Florida if a rebellion or invasion took place. However, few officers became involved in the Patriot War of East Florida over the next few years. President Madison and Secretary of State Monroe never gave direct orders to the Point Peter garrison to act in that conflict, unlike the later orders in the War of 1812. In the fall of 1812, the Camden County Battalion was raised at Point Peter. It served in the 1st Brigade of General John Floyd's army division, which participated in the Creek Wars.

Battle of Fort Point Peter 1815

On January 10, 1815, British forces under the command of Admiral Sir George Cockburn landed on

off the Georgia coast. The British force consisted of the three Royal Marines Battalions (560 men in the 1st & 2nd, plus the six companies of the 3rd), ships' detachments of Royal Marines from the squadron (120 men), and two companies from the

2nd West India Regiment The West India Regiments (WIR) were infantry units of the British Army recruited from and normally stationed in the British colonies of the Caribbean between 1795 and 1927. In 1888 the two West India Regiments then in existence were reduced t ...

from The Bahamas (190 men). On January 13 a British force first bombarded Fort Peter and then landed on Point Peter by the town of St. Marys.Jane Lucas de Grummond (ed), and George S. Gaines, Richard Terrell, Alexander C. Henderson, Andrew Jackson and Alexander Cochrane. "Platter of Glory", ''Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association'', Vol. 3, No. 4 (Autumn, 1962), pp. 316–359. The British attacked and took the fort without suffering any casualties. The British land force then headed for St. Marys. On their way, they encountered a small American force of 160 soldiers of the 43rd Infantry Regiment and the Rifle Corps under Captain Abraham A. Massias. A skirmish ensued before the Americans retreated.HSC Heritage Auctions Manuscripts Auction Catalog #6031, Heritage Auctions, Inc., Editor James L. Halperin. Massias estimated the size of the British force as 1500 men. He reported that American casualties on 13 January included 1 killed, 4 wounded, and 9 missing. Although Massias believed that British suffered numerous casualties, they reported only three men killed and five wounded in the entire expedition. On 15 January the British captured St. Marys despite Fort St. Tammany just outside the town. American reports suggest that the British looted the town's jewelry store and stole fine china and other goods from the residents. British reports are that the town's inhabitants agreed to terms under which residents gave up all public property and British troops respected all private property. British forces captured two American gunboats and 12 merchantmen, including the East Indiaman , which the American privateer ''Sabine'' had captured as ''Countess of Harcourt'' was on her way from London to Isle of France (Mauritius).– ''Lloyd's List'' — accessed 9 August 2015
Prize money for ''Countess of Harcourt'', the bark ''Maria Theresa'', goods from the ship ''Carl Gustaff'', and the schooner ''Cooler'', was paid in April 1824. The British ended their occupation of St. Marys and Fort St. Tammany after about a week. They burned Fort Point Peter, including its blockhouses and barracks, and withdrew to Cumberland Island. The officers lived at

Dungeness Dungeness () is a headland on the coast of Kent, England, formed largely of a shingle beach in the form of a cuspate foreland. It shelters a large area of low-lying land, Romney Marsh. Dungeness spans Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, the hamlet ...

, the former mansion of the widow of deceased Revolutionary war hero General

Nathanael Greene Nathanael Greene (June 19, 1786, sometimes misspelled Nathaniel) was a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. He emerged from the war with a reputation as General George Washington's most talented and dependab ...

. Most British troops were stationed at the island's south end, and the British ships anchored in Cumberland sound. At the end of February 1815, Rear Admiral Cockburn received news of the

through newspapers, but refused to accept such as official proof and continued to ship refugees away from Florida and Georgia. In all, the British freed 1485 slaves. The British departed from Cumberland Island on March 15, although a ship stuck on a sandbar and ''Albion'' remained in Cumberland Sound until March 18.

Point Peter 1815–1821

In 1818, the federal government purchased the land. In 1819, the Adams–Onís Treaty was signed, and Florida was transferred to the United States in 1821. By the Civil War, Fort Point Peter had become a ruin. In 1870, Daniel Proctor purchased the property from the United States, who sold it to Alexander Curtis.

Present day

In 1953, Georgia placed a historical marker at the Point Peter battlefield. In 2002, a planned housing development at Point Peter spurred archaeological interest in the former forts. The developer, required to survey the cultural resources being disturbed, hired Scott Butler (an archaeologist for Brockington and Associates) to conduct a study. As of 2009, archaeologists had found thousands of artifacts, including cannons, muskets, musket balls, knives, and uniform buttons. Fort St. Tammany, the fort in St. Marys, was located where Howard Gilman Memorial Waterfront Park is today. It is identified as Georgia Archaeological Site 9Cm164; to date there has been no detailed study of the ruins.(Georgia Archaeological Site Files 2002)(Elliott 4) The Cumberland Island National Seashore Museum in downtown St. Marys has opened a semi-permanent exhibit, "The Forgotten Invasion", in remembrance of the battle. The exhibit includes a recovered sunken anchor from a British warship in addition to finds from Scott Butler's excavation.

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

* Elliott, Daniel T. "Point Peter and the St. Marys River Forts". The LAMAR Institute, Vol 62. August 2002. * Waciuma, Wanjohi. ''Intervention in Spanish Florida, 1801–1813: A Study in Jeffersonian Foreign Policy''. * Cusick, James G. ''The Other War of 1812: The Patriot War and the American Invasion of Spanish East Florida''. University of Georgia Press, 2003. * Bullard, Mary R. ''Black Liberation on Cumberland Island in 1815''. (University of Georgia Press, 1983). * de Grummond, Jane Lucas(ed), and George S. Gaines, Richard Terrell, Alexander C. Henderson, Andrew Jackson and Alexander Cochrane. "Platter of Glory", ''Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association'', Vol. 3, No. 4 (Autumn, 1962), pp. 316–359.

External links

Point Peter
historical marker
Point Peter Battery and the War of 1812
historical marker {{coord missing, Georgia (U.S. state) Fort Peter Fort Peter 1815 in the United States Fort Peter History of Georgia (U.S. state) 1815 in Georgia (U.S. state) War of 1812 forts January 1815 events