Battle of Beaufort

Date	February 3, 1779
Location	Port Royal Island, South Carolina 32°30′1″N 80°44′37″W / 32.50028°N 80.74361°W / 32.50028; -80.74361Coordinates: 32°30′1″N 80°44′37″W / 32.50028°N 80.74361°W / 32.50028; -80.74361
Result	American Victory

Belligerents

Commanders and leaders

William Gardner

Strength

300 militia
20 infantry
3 artillery pieces

Casualties and losses

40 killed or wounded
7–12 captured

8 killed
22 wounded

The Battle of Beaufort, also known as the Battle of Port Royal Island, was fought on February 3, 1779, near Beaufort, South Carolina, during the American Revolutionary War. The battle took place not long after British forces consolidated control around Savannah, Georgia, which they had captured in December 1778.

Brigadier General Augustine Prevost sent 200 British regulars to seize Port Royal Island at the mouth of the Broad River in South Carolina in late January 1779. Major General Benjamin Lincoln, the American commander in the south, sent South Carolina Brigadier General William Moultrie from Purrysburg, South Carolina with a mixed force composed mainly of militia, but with a few Continental Army men, to meet the British advance. The battle was inconclusive, but the British withdrew first and suffered heavier casualties than the Americans.

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. Remnants of Savannah's defenders combined with South Carolina militia under Major General Benjamin Lincoln at an encampment at Purrysburg, South Carolina to oppose the British.