Battle of Brier Creek The Battle of Brier Creek was an American Revolutionary War battle fought on March 3 , 1779 near the confluence of Brier Creek with the Savannah River in eastern Georgia . A Patriot force consisting principally of militia from North Carolina and Georgia was surprised , suffering significant casualties . The battle occurred only a few weeks after a resounding American Patriot victory over the British at Kettle Creek , north of Augusta , reversing its effect on morale . Background . Following the entry of France into the American Revolutionary War in 1778 , the British focused their attention on the American South , which they had not paid great attention to in the early years of the war . The British began their " southern strategy " by sending expeditions from New York City and Saint Augustine , East Florida to capture Savannah , Georgia late in 1778 . The New York expedition , under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell , arrived first , and successfully captured the town on December 29 , 1778 . British occupation of Augusta . When Brigadier General Augustine Prevost arrived from Saint Augustine in mid - January , he assumed command of the garrison there , and sent a force under Campbell to take control of Augusta and raise Loyalist militia companies . Leaving Savannah on January 24 , Campbell and more than 1 , 000 men arrived near Augusta a week later , with only minimal harassment from Georgia Patriot militia on the way . Augusta had been defended by South Carolina General Andrew Williamson leading about 1 , 000 militia from Georgia and South Carolina , but he withdrew most of his men when Campbell approached . This rear guard skirmished with Campbell ' s men before withdrawing across the Savannah River into South Carolina . Campbell then began recruiting Loyalists . About 1 , 100 men signed up , but relatively few actually formed militia companies . Campbell then began requiring oaths of loyalty , on pain of forfeiture of property ; many took this oath insincerely , quickly letting Williamson know their true feelings . Campbell also anticipated but did not receive Indian support while at Augusta , and was concerned that a recruiting expedition into the Carolinas by Loyalist John Boyd , might not succeed in raising a large supporting force . The arrival of more than 1 , 000 North Carolina Patriot militia under General John Ashe in Williamson ' s camp prompted Campbell to decide on February 12 to abandon Augusta . Two days later , the same day that Boyd ' s force of 600 – 700 was defeated in the Battle of Kettle Creek , Campbell withdrew from Augusta and began marching back toward Savannah . Campbell leaves Augusta . Campbell did not find out about the Kettle Creek battle until after he had already left Augusta . During the occupation of Augusta , he had suffered only a single casualty , but the means of that loss was cause for anger among his regulars . One of the 71st Regiment men had been assigned as a " safeguard " in a private residence , a position normally out of bounds to attack in European warfare . This soldier had been killed by Patriot partisans , and neither Williamson or Lincoln wanted to prosecute them for the violation . Campbell led the troops south until they reached Ebenezer , burning the bridge across Brier Creek on the way . At Ebenezer he turned command of the column over to General Prevost ' s younger brother , Lieutenant Colonel Mark Prevost , and headed down the river to return to England . General Ashe trailed after Campbell , and on February 26 camped near the confluence of Brier Creek and the Savannah River , about to the north . Ashe set his men to repairing the bridge . While encamped there , he was joined by about 200 light cavalry and some additional light infantry units , swelling his force to about 1 , 300 men . Geography . Brier Creek itself is a riverine watercourse traversing much of eastern Georgia between the Ogeechee River and the Savannah River . It arises between Warrenton in Warren County and Thomson in McDuffie County in the lower portion of the Piedmont . The upper portion of the creek is surrounded by open pit kaolin mines as it passes through the fall line . From there it enters the upper coastal plain and courses down past towns like Wrens and Waynesboro before joining the Savannah River in eastern Screven County near Sylvania . This waterway has a length of approximately 80 miles ( 130 kilometers ) . In many places along the length of its course it is 30 to 50 feet ( 9 to 16 meters ) in width . Near its mouth it is sometimes as broad as 80 feet ( 25 meters ) . Much of the lowest portion of the creek is bordered by the Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area , which contains a significant portion of the battlefield . The joining of Brier Creek with the Savannah River forms a significant geographic constraint upon movement in that area between the forks formed by the creek and river . The land surrounding the creek and river is often swampy , and movement across both waterways is greatly constrained . This lay of the land contributed to the location and consequences of the battle . Prelude . The site at which Ashe made his camp has been criticized by contemporary sources and modern historians . With its back to the creek and swampy lands , its front presented no particular opportunities for defense . Ashe ' s adjutant , William Bryan recognized some of these problems , and after Ashe left camp on February 28 to attend a war council at Purrysburg , Bryan moved the camp about one mile ( 1 . 6 km ) north , nearer the Savannah River and a small hill . Ashe returned to the camp on March 2 . Turning the American flank . Colonel Prevost decided to execute an attack plan devised by Campbell before he left . This plan involved making a large loop , crossing over Brier Creek at a bridge further north and west , and then moving south and trapping Ashe ' s men on the triangle of land where the creek and the river met . A decoy force would demonstrate at the destroyed bridge site to distract Ashe ' s men . On March 1 , the decoy force , about 500 men including regulars and militia , openly marched north until they were with three miles ( 4 . 8 km ) of the burned - out bridge , and made camp there . That night , about 900 experienced troops drawn primarily from the 71st Regiment and James Baird ' s light infantry companies and also including five field piece s and a number of experienced militia units , including members of the Florida Rangers . They made a rapid march north to the Paris Mill bridge . Arriving around 10 : 00 am the next morning , they found the bridge destroyed , and set about building a temporary bridge to get their equipment across . Concerned that they might be discovered , Prevost sent Baird ' s light infantry and a company of light dragoons to ford the river the night of March 2 . They acted as a screen against discovery of the ongoing work , and cut off Ashe ' s escape route . Prevost ' s full party had crossed the river by dawn on March 3 . While participants later disagreed on whether or not patrols from Ashe ' s camp were aware of the British movement , he took no particular action to guard against the possibility . Battle . On the afternoon of March 3 , a rider galloped into the American camp , warning of the British approach . While the exact amount of time they had to deploy is uncertain , the relatively hurried nature of their deployment was clear . The number of troops that actually formed up was about 900 , as a number of troops had been dispatched to the south for scouting , and others were on duty at the burned - out bridge . Distribution of ammunition to the men was complicated by the shortage of cartouche box es and varying musket calibers . When the American lines were finally formed , the left side was flanked by Brier Creek , but there as a large gap on the right side , between the end of the line and the river . The left was held by the North Carolina New Bern regiment , the center by a combination of Georgia militia and Continental Army units under Samuel Elbert , and the right was held primarily by the North Carolina Edenton regiment . Prevost ' s troops approached in three columns . Baird ' s light infantry were on the left , the 1st battalion of the 71st was in the center , and Carolina provincials and " rangers " formed the right . Prevost held in reserve the light dragoons and grenadiers . Both sides opened fire at long range , and then Elbert ' s men moved forward to close the range . Two things then occurred to create a gap in the American line . Elbert ' s men drifted left as they advanced , partially screening the fire from the New Bern men , and British cavalry threatened the right , drawing the Edenton men away from the center . Seeing this opening , Prevost ordered his men to fix bayonets and charge . Most of the Patriot militia did not have bayonets . Seeing the British charging at them , many broke and ran without even firing a shot . The Edenton men fired a few rounds , and then abandoned the fight . Elbert ' s Continentals held formation in the center while the militia around them fled for the swamps , and were eventually surrounded , forcing Elbert to surrender . The 200 men at the bridge came up to the battlefield late in the fighting , but quickly withdrew before getting drawn into the rout . Aftermath . The British counted five killed and eleven wounded . The carnage on the American side was never fully tallied , as many militiamen retreated all the way back to North Carolina , and an unknown number drowned in the swamps . Prevost claimed that 150 American bodies were found on the battlefield , and that 227 captives were taken , mostly from Elbert ' s Continentals . Anthony Lytle , the commander of the American light infantry , dispersed his men to avoid capture . General Ashe was seen riding after the militia companies , and was widely blamed for the disaster , often amid claims that he led the retreat . A court martial acquitted him of charges of cowardice , but did convict him of failure to secure his camp . William Moultrie , in his memoirs of the war , wrote that the loss at Brier Creek extended the war by a year and made possible the British invasion of South Carolina in 1780 .