|
Samuel Elbert (1740November 1, 1788) was an American merchant, soldier, and politician from Savannah, Georgia. Elbert fought in the Revolutionary War, commanding the victorious American colonial forces in a naval battle near St. Simons Island, Georgia on April 19, 1778. He was wounded and captured at the Battle of Brier Creek the following year, though he regained his freedom in a prisoner exchange. He rose to the rank of major general in the Georgia militia〔Smith, p. 285〕 and colonel in the Continental Army. He was brevetted a brigadier general after the end of the war. In 1784, he was elected to the United States Congress, but declined to serve because he did not consider himself physically fit for the task. He did later serve a term as the 18th Governor of Georgia. Elbert was a Freemason. His name appears on the 1779 Masonic membership roles of Solomon's Lodge No. 1 at Savannah along with James Jackson, Governor John A. Treutlen, and Archibald Bulloch. Elbert also served as the last Provincial Grand Master of the first English Provincial Grand Lodge of Georgia in 1785. ==Life== Born in 1740 in Savannah, in the British Province of Georgia,〔Purcell 1951, p.1.〕〔Georgia Colonial Records, Vol. V, p.655.〕〔Georgia Colonial Records, Vol. X, p.907.〕 Samuel Elbert was the son of Baptist minister William Elbert and his wife, Sarah Greenfield. Elbert’s parents died in South Carolina when he was fourteen. He traveled back to Savannah. Elbert was employed by a prosperous planter named John Rae, an important man in both commerce and government. Rae had built a beautiful home on his land near Savannah known as Rae’s Hall. It was through Rae's influence that Elbert was commissioned to go into Indian country as a trader. He had great success in his dealings with the Indians, mostly because of his kind regard for them. On one occasion, Elbert had been called upon to escort and protect a party of Indians, who had come to Savannah in an effort to redress a great wrong – the murder of a Creek chief called Mad Turkey by Thomas Fee. The incident turned into an issue, and in 1774, feelings ran high between the whites and the Indians. Fee was convicted and jailed. In 1785, Elbert wrote in a letter to George Walton, "It is a pity that the people on our Frontiers will behave so cruelly toward those poor savages; not contented with having the lands, but to rob, beat and abuse them likewise is enough to bring down Divine vengeance on their heads."〔Purcell 1951, p.90.〕 He became engaged to Rae's daughter, Elizabeth. In 1769, they were married at Rae’s Hall, a union which, according to historian Charles C. Jones, "confirmed Elbert’s social position and influence."〔Jones 1886〕 Elbert became a captain of a grenadier company of Savannah’s First Regiment of Militia in June 1772 and signed a pledge of allegiance to the King of Great Britain as a prerequisite to being commissioned as an officer. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Samuel Elbert」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|