Oglethorpe arrives in England—Trustees petition the King for military aid to the new Colony—A regiment granted—Oglethorpe appointed Commander in Chief of South Carolina and Georgia—Part of the regiment sent out—Oglethorpe embarks for Georgia the third time—Remainder of the regiment arrive—And two companies from Gibraltar—Prospect of war with Spain—Military preparations at St. Augustine—Oglethorpe makes arrangements for defence—Treason in the Camp—Mutiny, and personal assault on the General.

"At a meeting of the Trustees of Georgia, Wednesday, January 19th, 1737, Mr. Oglethorpe, newly returned hither, had the unanimous thanks of the board. He informed them that Savannah had greatly increased in building, and that three other towns had been founded within a year; namely, Augusta, Darien, and Frederica; that a new town, called Ebenezer, had been laid out for the Saltzburgers; and that there were several villages settled by gentlemen at their own expense. He gave them the pleasing intelligence that the remoter Creek nation acknowledged his Majesty's authority, and traded with the new settlers; and that the Spanish Governor-General and Council of War of Florida had signed a treaty with the Colony."[1] He added, however, that notwithstanding these seeming auspicious circumstances, the people on the frontiers were in constant apprehensions of an invasion, and that he had strong suspicions that the treaty would not be regarded; that the Spanish government at Cuba was wholly opposed to it; and that the indignant demand of the commissioner from Havana, and the threat which followed, implied an infraction, and would lead to consequences against which it was necessary to provide.

[Footnote 1: Extract from the Record of the Trustees, published in the Gentleman's Magazine, for 1737, Vol. XII. p. 59.]

Upon this communication some able remarks were made in the London Post. They were introduced by a statement of the benefits likely to accrue to the English nation from settling the colony of Georgia; and go on to mention that the colony was in the most thriving condition in consequence of royal patronage and parliamentary aid, seconded by the generosity of contributors, "whose laudable zeal will eternize their names in the British annals; and, carried into effect under the conduct of a gentleman, whose judgment, courage, and indefatigable diligence in the service of his country, have shewn him every way equal to so great and valuable a design. In the furtherance of this noble enterprise, that public spirited and magnanimous man has acted like a vigilant and faithful guardian, at the expense of his repose, and to the utmost hazard of his life. And now, the jealousy of the Spanish is excited, and we are told that that court has the modesty to demand from England that he shall not he any longer employed. If this be the fact, as there is no doubt it is, we have a most undeniable proof that the Spaniards dread the abilities of Mr. Oglethorpe. It is, of course, a glorious testimony to his merit, and a certificate of his patriotism, that ought to endear him to every honest Briton."[1]

[Footnote 1: Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. VII. p. 500. See, also, History of the British Provinces, 4to. p. 158.]

Reference is here made to the memorial of Don Thomas Geraldino, the Spanish ambassador at the British Court, in which, among other demands, he insisted that no troops should be sent over to Georgia, and particularly remonstrated against the return of Oglethorpe.

About the same time intelligence reached England that the Spaniards at St. Augustine had ordered the English merchants to depart, and were setting up barracks for troops that were daily expected; that an embarkation was preparing at Havana, in which two thousand five hundred soldiers were to be shipped in three large men-of-war, and eight transports; and that great quantities of provisions had been laid in for them. Upon this, and other hostile indications, of which the Trustees were apprised, they petitioned his Majesty that a regiment might be raised for the defence and protection of the Colony. This was granted. Oglethorpe was appointed General and Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's forces in Carolina and Georgia; and commissioned to raise a regiment for the service and defence of those two Colonies, to consist of six companies of one hundred men each, exclusive of non-commissioned officers and drums; to which a company of grenadiers was afterwards added. "This regiment he raised in a very short time, as he disdained to make a market of the service of his country, by selling commissions, but got such officers appointed as were gentlemen of family and character in their respective counties; and, as he was sensible what an advantage it was to the troops of any nation to have in every company a certain number of such soldiers as had been bred up in the character of gentlemen, he engaged about twenty young gentlemen of no fortune, to serve as cadets in his regiment, all of whom he afterwards advanced by degrees to be officers, as vacancies happened; and was so far from taking any money for the favor, that to some of them, he gave, upon their advancement, what was necessary to pay the fees of their commissions, and to provide themselves for appearing as officers."[1]

[Footnote 1: London Magazine, for 1757, p. 546.]

"He carried with him, also," says a writer of that day, "forty supernumeraries, at his own expense; a circumstance very extraordinary in our armies, especially in our plantations."

With a view to create in the troops a personal interest in the Colony which they had enlisted to defend, and to induce them eventually to become actual settlers, every man was allowed to take with him a wife; for the support of whom some additional pay and rations, were offered.[1] In reference to this, Governor Belcher, of Massachusetts, in writing to Lord Egmont, respecting the settlement of Georgia, has these remarks; "Plantations labor with great difficulties; and must expect to creep before they can go. I see great numbers of people who would be welcome in that settlement; and have, therefore, the honor to think, with Mr. Oglethorpe, that the soldiers sent thither should all be married men[2]."

[Footnote 1: Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. VIII. p. 164.]

[Footnote 2: Manuscript Letter Book of Governor Belcher, in the archives of the Massachusetts Historical Society.]

Early in the spring of 1738, some part of the regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Cochran, embarked for Georgia, and arrived at Charlestown, South Carolina, on the 3d of May. They immediately proceeded to their destined rendezvous by land; as the General had taken care, on his former expedition, to have the rout surveyed, and a road laid out and made passable from Port Royal to Darien, or rather Frederica itself; and there were a sufficient number of boats provided for passing the rivers.

As soon as Oglethorpe obtained the proper stores of arms, ammunition, military equipments, and provisions, he embarked for Georgia, the third time, with six hundred men, women, and children, including the complement of the new raised regiment, on the 5th of July, in the Hector and Blandford, men-of-war; accompanied by five transports. They arrived at St. Simons on the 9th of September, where their landing at the soldier's fort, was announced by a discharge of artillery, and cheered by the garrison. The General encamped near the fort, and staid till the 21st, to forward the disembarkation, and give out necessary orders.[1]

[Footnote 1: Letter from Frederica, in Georgia, dated October 8th, 1738, in the Gentleman's Magazine, for January, 1739, p. 22.]

He then went to Frederica, and was saluted by fifteen pieces of cannon at the fort. The magistrates and townsmen waited on him in a body, to congratulate him on his return.

On the 25th the inhabitants of the town went out with the General, and cut a road through the woods down to the soldiers-fort, in a strait line; so that there is an open communication between them. This work was performed in three days, though it is a distance of three miles.

Several Indians came to greet the General. They hunted in the vicinity, and brought venison every day to the camp. They reported that the chiefs from every town of the Upper and Lower Creek nation would set out to visit him as soon as they received notice of his return.

The arrival of the regiment, so complete and in so good order, was a great relief to the people of Frederica, as they had been often, during the summer, apprehensive of an attack by the Spaniards, who had sent large reinforcements of troops to St. Augustine, and were understood to be providing a formidable embarkation at the Havana, notwithstanding the treaty which had been so lately concluded with Oglethorpe. Nay, the Floridians had actually attacked one of the Creek towns that was next to them; but, though the assault was made by surprise, they were repulsed with loss; and then they pretended that it was done by their Indians, without their orders.

Under circumstances of so much jeopardy, the people were so often diverted from their daily labor, that their culture and husbandry had been greatly neglected; and there was the appearance of such a scarcity, that many would be reduced to actual want before the next crop could be got in. But, in consequence of the measures now taking for their security, and of some supplies which were brought, in addition to the military stores, and of more that would be sent for, the anxiety was removed, and they resumed their labors.

"The utmost care was taken by the General, that in all the frontier places the fortifications should be put in the best state of defence; and he distributed the forces in the properest manner for the protection and defence of the Colony; assigning different corps for different services; some stationary at their respective forts; some on the alert, for ranging the woods; others, light-armed, for sudden expeditions. He likewise provided vessels, and boats for scouring the sea-coast, and for giving intelligence of the approach of any armed vessels. He went from one military station to another, superintending and actually assisting every operation; and endured hardness as a good soldier, by lying in tents, though all the officers and soldiers had houses and huts where they could have fires when they desired; and indeed they often had need, for the weather was severe. In all which services, it was declared that he gave at the same time his orders and his example; there being nothing which he did not, that he directed others to do; so that, if he was the first man in the Colony, his preeminence was founded upon old Homer's maxims, 'He was the most fatigued, the first in danger, distinguished by his cares and his labors, and not by any exterior marks of grandeur, more easily dispensed with, since they were certainly useless.'"[1]

[Footnote 1: HARRIS'S Voyages, II. p. 332.]

But there was treachery lurking in the camp, which, though for some time suspected, had been so vigilantly watched and guarded against, that the conspirators found no opportunity for carrying into effect their insidious purpose.

It seems that among the troops lately sent over, there was one soldier who had been in the Spanish service, and two others who were Roman Catholics and disclaimed allegiance to the British Government, who had enlisted as spies, and been bribed to excite a mutiny in the corps, or persuade those among whom they were stationed to desert the service.[1]

[Footnote 1: Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. IX. 739, p. 22.]

Their attempts, however, to gain over accomplices, were unavailing; for those with whom they tampered had the fealty to reject their overtures, and the honesty to make a discovery of their insidious machinations. Upon this the traitors were seized, convicted, and, on the beginning of October, 1738, sentenced to be whipt and drummed out of the regiment.[1]

[Footnote 1: Appendix, No. XX.]

Hardly had this secret plot been defeated, when an affray took place at Fort St. Andrews, in which an attempt was made to assassinate the General, who was there on a visit.

Some of the soldiers who came from Gibraltar had been granted six months provisions from the King's stores, in addition to their pay. When these rations were expended, about the middle of November, one of the murmurers had the presumption to go up to the General, who was standing at the door with Captain Mackay, and demanded of him a continuance of the supply. To this unceremonious and disrespectful requisition the General replied, that the terms of their enlistment had been complied with; that their pay was going on; that they had no special favor to expect, and certainly were not in the way to obtain any by such a rude manner of application. As the fellow became outrageously insolent, the Captain drew his sword, which the desperado snatched out of his hand, broke in two pieces, threw the hilt at him, and made off for the barrack, where, taking his gun, which was loaded, and crying out "One and all!" five others, with their guns, rushed out, and, at the distance of about ten yards, the ringleader shot at the General. The ball whizzed above his shoulder, and the powder burnt his face and scorched his clothes. Another flashed his piece twice, but the gun did not go off. The General and Captain were immediately surrounded by protectors; and the culprits were apprehended, tried at a Court-Martial, and, on the first week in October, received sentence of death. The letter which gives a circumstantial account of this affair, written from Frederica, and dated December 26th, adds, "Some of the officers are not very easy, and perhaps will not be till the mutineers are punished, in terrorem; which has been delayed by the General's forbearance[1]." I quote, with pleasure, this testimony to his lenity, given by one who must have intimately known all the aggravating circumstances, because some accounts state that he took summary vengeance.

[Footnote 1: Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. IX. p. 215.]

By the defeat of insidious plottings to induce the desertion of the frontier garrison, and the suppression of the insurgent mutiny, the spirit of insubordination was entirely quelled; and the people of the Colony were relieved from their apprehensions of an attack from the Spaniards, "as they had Oglethorpe among them, in whom they and the Indians had great confidence."