Tybee Island

Tybee Island was named by the Indians who came from the interior to hunt and fish. Settled since the beginning of the colony of Georgia, it was the scene in 1775 of the first capture by the first Provincial vessel commissioned by any Congress in America for naval warfare in the Revolution, when a Georgia schooner captured an armed British vessel laden with military stores. In 1776 the royal Governor, Sir James Wright, broke his parol and escaped to a British man of war in Tybee Roads. The Council of Safety ordered all Tybee houses sheltering British officers and Tories destroyed and a raid on the Island by the Patriot forces accomplished this purpose. In 1779 a large French fleet under Count d'Estaing anchored off Tybee for two months during the siege of Savannah by the French and American forces. In the War Between the States, Federal troops erected batteries here for the reduction of nearby Fort Pulaski. Troops were trained on Tybee Island during both World Wars.