Fort Tonyn And Alligator Creek Bridge

On June 30, 1778, forces clashed at Alligator Bridge, marking the sole significant fight in a failed effort to seize British East Florida amid the American Revolutionary War. General James Screven led a detachment of Georgia militiamen in pursuit of Thomas Brown's Loyalist company, only to run into a substantial force of British regulars that Major Mark Prevost had positioned there, and the militiamen were repelled.

Prelude

Only after considerable hesitation did General Howe give his backing to the campaign, and by early April Georgia had put 400 Continental soldiers on the road south, who took up positions at the former Fort Howe on April 14. Reinforcements trickled in across the following weeks, as Georgia's militia and Continentals from South Carolina joined the ranks, pushing total numbers to roughly 1,300 by the start of May. On May 10, General Howe reached Fort Howe himself and set about arranging the southward push. Camp life proved miserable, with soaring temperatures and a steady stream of men slipping away, a problem severe enough that at least 11 deserters were put to death. It took until May 28 for the force to finally start fording the Altamaha River, and progress afterward remained sluggish, with the Satilla not crossed until June 21 and the St. Marys not reached until June 26.

Meanwhile, both Governor Tonyn and General Prevost had been tracking the Americans' advance. Brown, together with allied Indian fighters, kept up reconnaissance efforts, clashing intermittently with the advancing troops and probing for weaknesses in their encampments. In response, General Prevost pushed part of his command forward, concentrating the bulk of it along the principal road leading to St. Augustine.

It was at this juncture that the whole venture nearly collapsed, as General Howe and Governor Houstoun found themselves unable to settle on a shared plan. Houstoun favored pressing straight on toward St. Augustine to draw out the main British force, whereas Howe insisted that Fort Tonyn had to fall first. Unable to resolve their disagreement, Howe sent the troops under his own authority toward Fort Tonyn, while Houstoun's Georgia militia remained in place. Learning of the approaching soldiers, Brown set the fort ablaze and pulled back through the swamps in the direction of the Nassau River. By June 29, Howe's men held what was left of the burned fort. From there, the southern road stretched about 14 miles (23 km) to a crossing over Alligator Creek, a tributary of the Nassau, where Prevost had stationed detachments from the 16th and 60th Regiments alongside Loyalist rangers under Daniel McGirth. The defenders had thrown up a log and brush redoubt to guard the crossing. Command of this roughly 200 man force fell to Major James Marcus Prevost, the younger brother of General Prevost.

Battle

On the thirtieth of June, Howe dispatched brigadier general James Screven with a hundred horsemen to track down Brown's whereabouts to the south. In response, Brown divided his forces, sending one company to swing around behind the approaching cavalry while positioning the remainder of his men in concealment along the southward road from the fort. Deserters gave away the plan, however, and the company assigned to strike the Continentals from behind fell into an ambush that left most of them dead or captured. Meanwhile Brown pressed on toward Alligator Bridge, only to have Screven's cavalry catch up with him just short of his destination, driving his men straight into the waiting British defenses there.

At first, chaos reigned on the field since neither Screven's nor Brown's troops wore standard military dress, leading the British regulars to assume that everyone approaching belonged to Brown's contingent. This misunderstanding did not last, and gunfire soon erupted between the two sides. Prevost's regulars swiftly established firing positions against Screven's men, even as a portion of Brown's force maneuvered to strike their flank. The battle that followed claimed casualties on both sides, Screven himself suffered a wound, and part of the Patriot militia came close to being surrounded before Screven finally gave the command to withdraw.

Aftermath

On the following day, Major Prevost set out with his own troops alongside those of Brown and McGirth, catching a Patriot work party off guard as it labored to repair a bridge. Instead of pressing forward, his force pulled back, chopping down trees behind them to block the road as they withdrew. Meanwhile, discord within the American ranks made any further push impossible. Having run out of rice, the Continental troops turned to the Georgia militia in hopes of resupply. That militia did not cross the Saint Marys until July 6, and though it brought some reinforcement, the Continental contingent had already dwindled to just 400 fit soldiers because of illness and men slipping away. Between the lack of provisions and persistent quarrels among the commanders, the campaign was doomed, and withdrawal began on July 14. With that, Georgia's hopes of seizing East Florida effectively collapsed. Later, in November 1778, James Screven lost his life in an ambush orchestrated by Thomas Brown.

For a long time people believed the bridge once stood in what is now central Callahan, a spot now marked by a historical marker, though some historians argue the true location lay somewhat further to the east.