Samuel Elbert

Samuel Elbert (1740 – November 1, 1788) was an American merchant, military officer and politician from Savannah, Georgia. During the Revolutionary War, Elbert rose to the rank of major general in the Georgia militia and colonel in the Continental Army, commanding the victorious 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 was brevetted a brigadier general after the end of the war.

Elbert was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of Georgia and 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. 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 later served a term as the Governor of Georgia.