Battle of Thomas Creek

Battle of Thomas Creek
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Date May 17, 1777 Location Duval County, near present-day Callahan, Florida 30°30′24″N 81°47′32″W / 30.506800°N 81.792117°W / 30.506800; -81.792117 (marker location) Result British victory
Belligerents
United States	Great Britain Muscogee
Commanders and leaders
John Baker	Mark Prevost Thomas Brown
Strength
100–200 militia[1][2]	250 infantry, militia, and Indian warriors
Casualties and losses
4–8 killed 9 wounded 31–34 captives (of whom many were later killed)	None reported

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 mouth of Thomas Creek in northern East Florida. The encounter was the only major engagement in the second of three failed attempts by American forces to invade East Florida in the early years of the American Revolutionary War.

The invasion attempt consisted of a naval flotilla carrying Continental Army troops and a company of militia cavalry traveling overland. The flotilla was delayed in reaching the rendezvous point, and British intelligence had learned of the expedition and located the cavalry. The British established an ambush, which broke up and scattered the cavalry, taking more than 30 prisoners. The Muscogee were reported to kill a number of the captives in cold blood afterward, in revenge for the death of a member of their own tribe in an earlier skirmish.

Colonel Samuel Elbert, the invasion commander, abandoned the expedition when his flotilla was confronted by narrow channels and prepared British defenses. A 1778 expedition against East Florida failed due to leadership disagreements, although there was a skirmish at Alligator Bridge