Fort Tonyn, named for General Patrick Tonyn (

East Florida East Florida () was a colony of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain from 1763 to 1783 and a province of the Spanish Empire from 1783 to 1821. The British gained control over Spanish Florida in 1763 as part of the Treaty of Paris (1763), Tre ...

's Royal Governor at the time of the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

), was located in present-day

Nassau County, Florida Nassau County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the northeasternmost county in the state. The county seat is Fernandina Beach. The population was 90,352 at the 2020 census. Nassau County is a constituent of the Jackso ...

, 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 ...

leading his

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

troops to defeat at the Battle of Alligator Creek 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 the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

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

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

Notes

References

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