During the War of 1812, Georgia settlers invaded Spanish East Florida in an effort to weaken Spanish control and keep British forces from using the region as a military staging ground in the conflict known as the Patriot War. In March 1813, American forces encamped on Eleazar Waterman's plantation because its commanding views of the Bells and Jolly rivers made it strategically valuable, and they remained through the spring and summer, living off Waterman's crops and livestock. On August 8, 1813, Spanish loyalists coming by boat from Amelia Island and over land attacked the American camp. Buckner Harris, the American commander, had thirty men well concealed in preparation, and they turned back both Spanish assaults because of their superior position and their use of Spanish tactical mistakes. The battle lasted less than twenty minutes and caused eighteen Spanish casualties, with six dead and twelve wounded. Harris's victory at Waterman's Bluff enabled American forces to launch further raids on the Fernandina region, but shifting politics in 1814 reduced support for the Patriot War and forced the Americans to abandon Spanish East Florida.