The Capture of Savannah (also known as the First Battle of Savannah and the Battle of Brewton Hill) was a battle of the American Revolutionary War fought on December 29, 1778. It pitted an American garrison of Continental Army and militia units against a British invasion force commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell. The capture of the city led to an extended occupation and was the opening move in the British southern strategy to regain control of the rebellious Southern Colonies by appealing to the relatively strong Loyalist sentiment there.

General Sir Henry Clinton, the Commander-in-Chief, North America, dispatched Campbell and a 3,100-strong force from New York City to capture Savannah, and begin the process of returning Georgia to British control. He was to be assisted by troops under the command of Brigadier-General Augustine Prévost that were marching up from Saint Augustine, Florida. After landing near Savannah on December 23, Campbell assessed the American defenses, which were comparatively weak, and decided to attack without waiting for Prévost. Taking advantage of local assistance he flanked the American position outside the city, captured a large portion of Major-General Robert Howe's army, and drove the remnants to retreat into South Carolina.

Campbell and Prévost followed up the victory with the capture of Sunbury and an expedition to Augusta. The latter was occupied by Campbell only for a few weeks before he retreated to Savannah, citing insufficient Loyalist and Native American support and the threat of Patriot forces across the Savannah River in South Carolina. The British held off a Franco-American siege in 1779, and held the city until late in the war.

In March 1778, following the capture of a British army at Saratoga and the consequent entry of France into the American Revolutionary War on the American side, George Germain, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, wrote to General Sir Henry Clinton that capturing the Southern Colonies was "considered by the King as an object of great importance in the scale of the war". Germain's instructions to Clinton, framed as recommendations, were that he should abandon Philadelphia and then embark upon operations to recover Georgia and the Carolinas; whilst making diversionary attacks against Virginia and Maryland.

From June to July 1778, Clinton moved his troops from Philadelphia back to New York. In November, after dealing with the threat of a French fleet off New York and Newport, Rhode Island, Clinton turned his attention to the South. He organized a force of about 3,000 men in New York and sent orders to Saint Augustine, Florida, where Brigadier-General Augustine Prévost was to organize all available men and Indian agent John Stuart was to rally the local Muscogee and Cherokee warriors to assist in operations against Georgia. Clinton's basic plan, first proposed by Thomas Brown in 1776, began with the capture of the capital of Georgia, Savannah.

Clinton gave command of the detachment from New York to Lieutenant-colonel Archibald Campbell. The force consisted of the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 71st Regiment of Foot, Hessian troops of von Wöllwarth's Grenadier Regiment and von Wissenbach's Garrison Regiment, and several Loyalist units which included a battalion of New York Volunteers, two battalions of DeLancey's Brigade, and one battalion from the New Jersey Volunteers. Campbell sailed from New York on November 26 and arrived off Tybee Island, near the mouth of the Savannah River, on December 23.

Georgia was defended by two separate forces. Local Continental Army troops were under the command of Major-General Robert Howe, who was responsible for the defense of the entire South, and the state's militiamen were under the overall command of Governor John Houstoun. Howe and Georgia officials had previously squabbled over control of military expeditions against East Florida, which had resulted in failure. These failures led the Continental Congress to decide in September 1778 to replace Howe with Major-General Benjamin Lincoln, who had been involved in militia participation in the Saratoga campaign. Lincoln had not yet arrived when word reached Howe that Clinton was sending troops to Georgia.

In November 1778, British incursions into Georgia became more and more threatening to the state's population centers. Despite the urgency of the situation, Houstoun refused to allow Howe to direct the movements of the Georgia Militia. On November 18, Howe began marching south from Charleston, South Carolina with 550 Continental Army troops, arriving in Savannah late that month. He learned that Campbell had sailed from New York on December 6. On December 23, sails were spotted off Tybee Island. On the next day, Houstoun assigned 100 militiamen to Howe.