Frederica naval action

During the American Revolutionary War, a clash of ships near Frederica ended with Georgia's state navy gaining the upper hand over British forces. Three galleys belonging to that navy managed to seize a raiding party sent by the British, catching them off the Georgia coastline. This encounter took place on April 19, 1778.

Battle

On the morning of April 19, Elbert moved his galleys downriver toward the British vessels, which had already taken up their fighting positions. The assault likely began just after daybreak, around 5:30, with the galleys turning their guns on Hinchinbrook, Rebecca, and Hatter. By nature, galleys are slight, oar-driven craft, fragile in construction and poorly suited to standing against sturdier sailing ships in a straight fight. Yet in calm or confined waters, this same design gives them an edge over vessels dependent on wind. Whether through luck or shrewd foresight, the falling tide and stillness of the air worked together in the Americans' favor that day. With no breeze to fill their sails, the British ships could not close in to board, and they sat motionless in the water. The galleys took advantage, first loosing a scattering of shots before dropping anchor out of range and settling into a sustained bombardment.

Armed only with four-pounders, Hinchinbrook and Rebecca were outgunned by the galleys' heavier cannon, and so they attempted to retreat downstream, hoping open water and a stray wind might offer room to maneuver. Believing the channel beneath them ran deep, they pressed on, but near ten o'clock Rebecca ran fast aground at a spot known as Raccoon Gut. Hinchinbrook and Hatter met the same misfortune soon after. With the American galleys closing the distance, the British crews chose to give up their ships. Most officers and sailors crammed into small boats and made for Galatea, still riding at anchor in the sound, though a handful of Hinchinbrook's men were left stranded behind.

Aftermath

Small as this engagement was in scale, it stirred something powerful in the people of Georgia. Two vessels that had been preying on American merchant shipping along the South Carolina and Georgia coasts were put out of action, and this alone gave the local population reason to take heart. Beyond that immediate effect, the fight pushed back a British attempt to seize Fort Morris and Sunbury by more than eight months. The engagement also proved something tactically significant: galleys carrying heavy armament could fight to great effect when confined to narrow waterways.

Elbert himself came away deeply moved by what his forces had accomplished. In a letter to General Robert Howe, he confessed that words could hardly capture the emotion of watching three small American vessels bear down on the three ships that had been terrorizing the coast, ships arranged in battle formation no less. Yet, he wrote, the firepower his side brought to bear quickly broke the nerve of those "heroes," who fled to their boats, leaving behind their vessels and everything stored within them, all of which fell immediately into American hands. He marveled, too, that not a single man on his side had been wounded in the exchange.

That triumph at Frederica marked the high point before Elbert's fortunes turned. Later that same year, he would lead the ill-fated Third Florida Expedition.