SAMUEL ELBERT.
Samuel Elbert, born in Prince William parish, South Carolina, in 1743, was left an orphan at an early age, and going to Savannah, engaged in commercial pursuits. In June, 1774, he was elected captain of a company of grenadiers, and later was a member of the local Committee of Safety. In February, 1776, he entered the Continental army as lieutenant-colonel of Lachlan McIntosh’s brigade, and was promoted to colonel during the ensuing September. In May of the year following, he was intrusted with the command of an expedition against the British in East Florida, and captured Fort Oglethorpe in that State in April of 1778. Ordered to Georgia, he behaved with great gallantry when an attack was made on Savannah by Col. Archibald Campbell in December of the same year. In 1779, after distinguishing himself at Brier Creek, he was taken prisoner, and when exchanged joined the army under Washington, and was present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. On the 3d of November, 1783, Congress brevetted him brigadier-general, and in 1785 he was elected Governor of Georgia. In further acknowledgment of his services in her behalf, that State subsequently appointed him major-general of her militia, and named a county in his honor. He died in Savannah on the 2d of November, 1788.