Samuel Elbert
American merchant, soldier, and politician
Years: 1740 - 1788
Samuel Elbert (1740 – November 1, 1788) is an American merchant, soldier, and politician from Savannah, Georgia.
Elbert fights in the Revolutionary War, commanding the victorious American colonial forces in a naval battle near St. Simons Island, Georgia on April 19, 1778.
He is wounded and captured at the Battle of Brier Creek the following year, though he regains his freedom in a prisoner exchange.
He rises to the rank of major general in the Georgia militia and colonel in the Continental Army.
He is brevetted a brigadier general after the end of the war.
In 1784, he is elected to the United States Congress, but declines to serve because he does not consider himself physically fit for the task.
He does later serve a term as the Governor of Georgia.
Elbert is a Freemason, who also serves as the last Provincial Grand Master of the first English Provincial Grand Lodge of Georgia in 1785.
