Oglethorpe pays particular attention to internal Improvements—Meets with many annoyances—The Creeks, under Toonahowi, make an incursion into Florida—The Spanish form a design upon Georgia—Some of their fleet appear on the coast—Oglethorpe prepares for defence—Applies to South Carolina for assistance—Spaniards attack Fort William—Dangerous situation of Oglethorpe—Spanish fleet enter the harbor and land on St. Simons—In three successive engagements they are defeated—A successful stratagem—Enemy defeated at Bloody Marsh— Retire and attack Fort William, which is bravely defended by Ensign Stewart—Spanish forces, repulsed in all their assaults, abandon the invasion in dismay, and return to St. Augustine and to Cuba.

Of the year 1741 but few memorials are to be found. Oglethorpe resided principally at Frederica; but occasionally visited Savannah; and, every where, and at all times, actively exerted his powers of persuasion, his personal influence, or his delegated authority to reconcile the jarring contests and restore the social accordance and peace of the community, while with vigilance and precaution he concerted measures to guard the Colony against the threatening purposes of the Spaniards. In reference to his peculiar trials and vexatious annoyances, are the following remarks, copied from a letter of a gentleman at Savannah, deeply read in the early history of the Colony.[1]

[Footnote 1: WILLIAM B. STEVENS, M.D., letter, October 19,1840.]

"The difficulties with which General Oglethorpe had to contend, were peculiarly onerous and perplexing, not only with the Spanish foes,—with the restless Indians,—with the clamorous settlement,—with discontented troops,—with meagre supplies,—with the defection of Carolina,—with the protest of his bills, and with the refusal of a just naval protection;—but the officers of his regiment were at enmity with him and with each other, and crimination and recrimination followed, disturbing the peace, and weakening the efficiency of the military corps. At a Court Martial, held in the early part of January, 1739, composed of thirteen officers, they, in their letter, dated 12th of January, to the General speak thus—'2d. That we have observed a great spirit of mutiny among the soldiers, particularly those of Lieutenant Colonel Cochran's company,' and '3d. That by evidence given in Court, it appears to us that Lieutenant Colonel James Cochran was in the knowledge of, and concealed a mutiny.' The wonder is, that, with such opposing influences, and such discordant materials, he effected any thing. That he achieved so much, under such adverse circumstances, proves him to have been a firm, bold, intrepid, and sagacious man; to have possessed the most eminent military qualifications, and those sterling virtues which mock at the petty malice of the envious, and triumph over the machinations of malignity."

He was, also, fully aware that, as the Spanish of Florida and Cuba entertained no good will towards him, they would seek an opportunity to retaliate his "assault and battery," which, though it had proved on his part a failure, had been to them a grievous annoyance. He, therefore, kept scout-boats continually on the look out, to give notice of the approach to the coast of any armed vessel. On the 16th of August advice was conveyed to him that a large ship had come to anchor off the bar. He immediately sent out the boat to ascertain what it was; and it was perceived to be manned with Spaniards, with evidently hostile purpose. Whereupon he went on board the guard sloop to go in search of her; took, also, the sloop Falcon, which was in the service of the Province; and hired the schooner Norfolk, Captain Davis, to join the expedition. These vessels were manned by a detachment of his regiment under the following officers: viz.: Major Alexander Heron, Captain Desbrisay, Lieutenant Mackay, Lieutenant Tamser, Ensign Hogan, Ensign Sterling, and Ensigns Wemyss and Howarth, and Adjutant Maxwell; Thomas Eyre, Surgeon and Mate; six sergeants, six corporals, five drummers, and one hundred and twenty-five privates. Before they could get down to the bar, a sudden squall of wind and storm of thunder and rain came on; and when it cleared up the vessel was out of sight.

Unwilling, however, to lose the object of this equipment, on the next day he sailed directly towards St. Augustine in pursuit of the ship. On the 19th the Falcon sloop, being disabled, was sent back, with seventeen men of the regiment; and the General proceeded with the guard sloop and schooner. On the 21st, by day-break, they discovered a ship and a sloop at anchor, about four or five leagues distant; and, it being a dead calm, they rowed, till they came up to them, about noon, when they found one to be the black Spanish privateer sloop, commanded by a French officer, Captain Destrade, who had made several prizes to the northward; and the other to be a three-mast ship; both lying at anchor outside of the bar of St. Augustine. The General issued orders to board them, when the wind freshing up, and the English bearing down upon them, they began firing with great and small arms, and the English returning the fire, they immediately left their anchors, and run over the bar. The sloop and schooner pursuing them; and, though they engaged them for an hour and a quarter, they could not get on board. The Spanish vessels then run up towards the town; and as they were hulled, and seemed disabled, six half-galleys came down, and kept firing nine-pounders, but, by reason of the distance, the shot did not reach the sloop or schooner. That night the General came to anchor within sight of the castle of St. Augustine, and the next day sailed for the Matanzas; but, finding no vessel there, cruised off the bar of St. Augustine, and nothing coming out, the whole coast being thus alarmed, he returned to Frederica.

There were three ships, and one two-mast vessel lying within the harbor at the time that the English engaged the sloop and ship.[1]

[Footnote 1: Annals of Europe, page 404.]

This summer one of the Georgia boats off Tybee saved a three-mast vessel which the Spaniards had abandoned, leaving eighteen Englishmen on board, after having barbarously scuttled her, and choked the pumps, that the men might sink with the ship; but the boat's men, getting on board in good time, saved the men and the ship.

It seems that the Creeks, in retaliation of some predatory and murderous outrages of the Florida outposts, made a descent upon them in return. This is referred to in the following extract from a letter of General Oglethorpe to the Duke of Newcastle, dated

Frederica, 12th of December, 1741.

My Lord,

"Toonahowi, the Indian who had the honor of your Grace's protection in England, with a party of Creek Indians, returned hither from making an incursion up to the walls of Augustine; near which they took Don Romualdo Ruiz del Moral, Lieutenant of Spanish horse, and nephew to the late Governor, and delivered him to me.

"The Governor of Augustine has sent the enclosed letter to me by some English prisoners; and, the prisoners there, the enclosed petition. On which I fitted out the vessels, and am going myself, with a detachment of the regiment, off the bar of Augustine, to demand the prisoners, and restrain the privateers."

In the early part of the year 1742, the Spaniards formed a design upon Georgia, on which, from the time of its settlement, they had looked with a jealous eye.[1] For this end, in May, they fitted out an armament at Havanna, consisting of fifty-six sail, and seven or eight thousand men; but the fleet, being dispersed by a storm, did not all arrive at St. Augustine, the place of their destination. Don Manuel de Monteano, Governor of that fortress, and of the town and region it protected, had the command of the expedition.

[Footnote 1: Appendix, No. XXV.]

About the end of May, or beginning of June, the schooner, which had been sent out on a cruise by General Oglethorpe, returned with the information that there were two Spanish men of war, with twenty guns each, besides two very large privateers, and a great number of small vessels, full of troops, lying at anchor off the bar of St. Augustine. This intelligence was soon after confirmed by Captain Haymer, of the Flamborough man of war, who had fallen in with part of the Spanish fleet on the coast of Florida, and drove some vessels on shore.

Having been apprized of this, the General, apprehending that the Spaniards had in view some formidable expedition against Georgia or Carolina, or perhaps both, wrote to the Commander of his Majesty's ships, in the harbor of Charlestown, urging him to come to his assistance. Lieutenant Maxwell, the bearer, arrived and delivered the letter on the 12th of June. Directly afterwards he sent Lieutenant Mackay to Governor Glenn, of South Carolina, requesting his military aid with all expedition; and this despatch reached him on the 20th. He then laid an embargo upon all the shipping in Georgia; and sent messages to his faithful Indian allies, who gathered to his assistance with all readiness.

And now the design of the Spaniards was manifest. On the 21st of June the fleet appeared on the coast; and nine sail of vessels made an attempt on Amelia Island, but were so warmly received by the cannon from Fort William, and the guard-schooner of fourteen guns and ninety men, commanded by Captain Dunbar, that they sheered off. When the General was informed of this attack, he resolved to support the fortifications on Cumberland Island; and set out with a detachment of the regiment in three boats; but was obliged to make his way through fourteen sail of vessels. This was very venturesome, and, indeed, was considered as presumptuously hazardous. For, had a shot from one of the galleys struck the boat in which he was, so as to disable or sink it, or had he been overtaken by a gun-boat from the enemy, the colonial forces would have become the weakly resisting victims of Spanish exasperated revenge. But by keeping to the leeward, and thus taking advantage of the smoke, he escaped the firing and arrived in safety.

After having withdrawn the command from St. Andrews, and removed the stores and artillery that were there, and reinforced Fort William,[1] where he left one of the boats, he returned to St. Simons.

[Footnote 1: These two Forts were on Cumberland Island.]

He now sent another express to the Governor of South Carolina, by Mr. Malryne, informing him of his situation, and urging the necessity of a reinforcement. This application was not promptly complied with, in consequence of an unfortunate prejudice arising from the failure of his attempt upon St. Augustine. But as Georgia had been a great barrier against the Spaniards, whose conquest of it would be hazardous to the peace and prosperity of South Carolina, "it was thought expedient to fit out some vessels to cruise down the coast, and see what could be done for its relief."[1]

[Footnote 1: WILLIAMS's History of Florida, p. 185.]

In the perilous emergency to which he was reduced, Oglethorpe took, for the King's service, the merchant ship of twenty guns, called the Success,—a name of auspicious omen,—commanded by Captain Thompson, and manned it from the small vessels which were of no force. He also called in the Highland company from Darien, commanded by Captain McIntosh; the company of rangers; and Captain Carr's company of marines.

On the 28th of June the Spanish fleet appeared off the bar below St. Simons; but from their precaution for taking the soundings and ascertaining the channel, was delayed coming in, or landing any of the troops, for several days; in which time "the General raised another troop of rangers; and, by rewarding those who did extraordinary duty, and offering advancement to such as should signalize themselves on this occasion, he kept up the spirits of the people, and increased the number of enlistments."[1] He was placed, indeed, in a most critical situation; but he bore himself with great presence of mind, and summoned to the emergency a resolution which difficulties could not shake, and brought into exercise energies which gathered vigor from hindrance, and rendered him insensible to fatigue, and unappalled by danger. This self-collected and firm state of mind, made apparent in his deportment and measures, produced a corresponding intrepidity in all around him; inspired them with confidence in their leader; and roused the determined purpose with united efforts to repel their invaders.

[Footnote 1: The passages distinguished by inverted commas, without direct marginal reference, are from the official account.]

At this critical juncture, his own services were multiplied and arduous; for Lieutenant Colonel Cook, who was Engineer, having gone to Charlestown, on his way to London,[1] the General was obliged to execute that office himself, sometimes on ship-board, and sometimes at the batteries. He therefore found himself under the necessity of assigning the command to some one on station, during his occasional absences; and accordingly appointed Major Alexander Heron; raising him to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

[Footnote 1: We shall see, in the sequel, that the absence of this officer, whatever its pretence, was with treacherous purpose, as may be surmised by the following extract from a letter to the Duke of Newcastle, dated 30th of July, 1741; where, mentioning the despatches sent to Governor Glen, earnestly requesting some military aid, the General informs his Grace that "Lieutenant Colonel Cook, who was engineer, and was then at Charlestown, hastened away to England; and his son-in-law, Ensign Erye, sub-engineer, was also in Charlestown, and did not arrive here till the action was over; so, for want of help, I was obliged to do the duty of an engineer."]

On Monday, the 5th of July, with a leading gale and the flood of tide, a Spanish fleet of thirty-six sail, consisting of three ships of twenty guns, two large snows, three schooners, four sloops, and the rest half-galleys, with landsmen on board, entered the harbor; and, after exchanging a brisk fire with the fort, for four hours, passed all the batteries and shipping, proceeded up the river. The same evening the forces were landed upon the island, a little below Gascoigne's plantation. A red flag was hoisted on the mizzen-top of the Admiral's ship, and a battery was erected on the shore, in which were planted twenty eighteen-pounders. On this, the General, having done all he could to annoy the enemy, and prevent their landing, and finding that the Fort at St. Simons had become indefensible, held a council of war at the head of his regiment; and it was the opinion of the whole that the fort should be dismantled, the guns spiked up, the cohorns burst, and that the troops there stationed should immediately repair to Frederica, for its defence. He accordingly gave orders for them to march, and sent for all the troops that were on board the vessels to come on shore.

As his only measures must be on the defensive, "he sent scouting parties in every direction to watch the motions of the enemy; while the main body were employed in working at the fortifications, making them as strong as circumstances would admit."[1]

[Footnote 1: McCALL, I. 179.]

The Creek Indians brought in five Spanish prisoners, from whom was
obtained information that Don Manuel de Monteano, the Governor of
St. Augustine, commanded in chief; that Adjutant General Antonio de
Rodondo, chief engineer, and two brigades, came with the forces from
Cuba; and that their whole number amounted to about five thousand men.

Detachments of the Spaniards made several attempts to pierce through the woods, with a view to attack the fort; but were repulsed by lurking Indians. The only access to the town was what had been cut through a dense oak wood, and then led on the skirt of the forest along the border of the eastern marsh that bounded the island eastward. This was a defile so narrow, that the enemy could take no cannon with them, nor baggage, and could only proceed two abreast. Moreover, the Spanish battalions met with such obstruction from the deep morasses on one side, and the dark and tangled thickets on the other, and such opposition from the Indians and ambushed Highlanders, that every effort failed, with considerable loss.

On the morning of the 7th of July, Captain Noble Jones, with a small detachment of regulars and Indians, being on a scouting party, fell in with a number of Spaniards, who had been sent to reconnoitre the route, and see if the way was clear, surprised and made prisoners of them. From these, information was received that the main army was on the march. This intelligence was immediately communicated, by an Indian runner, to the General, who detached Captain Dunbar with a company of grenadiers, to join the regulars; with orders to harass the enemy on their way. Perceiving that the most vigorous resistance was called for, with his usual promptitude he took with him the Highland company, then under arms, and the Indians, and ordered four platoons of the regiment to follow. They came up with the vanguard of the enemy about two miles from the town, as they entered the savannah, and attacked them so briskly that they were soon defeated, and most of their party, which consisted of one hundred and twenty of their best woodsmen and forty Florida Indians were killed or taken prisoners. The General took two prisoners with his own hands; and Lieutenant Scroggs, of the rangers, took Captain Sebastian Sachio, who commanded the party. During the action Toonahowi, the nephew of Tomo Chichi, who had command of one hundred Indians, was shot through the right arm by Captain Mageleto, which, so far from dismaying the young warrior, only fired his revenge. He ran up to the Captain, drew his pistol with his left hand, shot him through the head, and, leaving him dead on the spot, returned to his company.[1]

[Footnote 1: Gentleman's Magazine, XII. 497.]

The General pursued the fugitives more than a mile, and then halted on an advantageous piece of ground, for the rest of the troops to come up, when he posted them, with the Highlanders, in a wood fronting the road through the plain by which the main body of the Spaniards, who were advancing, must necessarily pass. After which he returned, with all speed, to Frederica, and ordered the rangers and boat-men to make ready, and all to use their utmost endeavors to resist the invaders.

During his temporary absence on this pressing emergency, Captain Antonio Barba, and two other Captains with one hundred grenadiers, and two hundred foot, besides Indians and negroes, advanced from the Spanish camp into the savannah with drums and huzzas, and halted within an hundred paces of the position where the troops left by Oglethorpe lay in ambuscade. They immediately stacked their arms, made fires, and were preparing their kettles for cooking, when a horse observed some of the concealed party, and, frightened at the uniform of the regulars, began to snort. This gave the alarm. The Spaniards ran to their arms, but were shot down in great numbers by their invisible assailants; and, after repeated attempts to form, in which some of their principal officers fell, they decamped with the utmost precipitation, leaving the camp equipage on the field. So complete was the surprise, that many fled without their arms; others, in a rapid retreat, discharged their muskets over their shoulders at their pursuers; and many were killed by the loaded muskets that had been left on the ground. Generally the Spaniards fired so much at random, that the trees were pruned by the balls from their muskets.[1]

[Footnote 1: McCALL's History, I. 185.]

The General, returning with all expedition, heard the report of the musketry, and rode towards it; and, near two miles from the place of action, met some platoons, who, in the heat of the fight, the air being so darkened by the smoke that they could not see where to direct their fire, and a heavy shower of rain falling, had retired in disorder. He ordered them to rally and follow him, apprehending that immediate relief might be wanting. He arrived just as the battle ceased; and found that Lieutenant Sutherland, with his platoon, and Lieutenant Charles Mackay, had entirely defeated the enemy.

In this action Don Antonio de Barba, their leader, was made a prisoner, but mortally wounded. "In both actions, the Spaniards lost four captains, one Lieutenant, two sergeants, two drummers, and more than an hundred and fifty privates. One captain, one corporal, and twenty men were taken prisoners. The rest fled to the woods, where many of them were killed by the Indians, who brought in their scalps."[1]

[Footnote 1: From the great slaughter, the scene of this action has ever since been called "the bloody marsh."]

Captain Demerey and ensign Gibbon being arrived, with the men they had rallied, Lieutenant Cadogan with the advanced party of the regiment, and soon after the whole regiment, Indians and rangers, the General marched down to a causeway over a marsh, very near the Spanish camp, over which all were obliged now to pass; and thereby stopped those who had been dispersed in the fight, from getting back to the Spanish camp. Having passed the night there, the Indian scouts in the morning got so near the Spanish place of encampment, as to ascertain that they had all retired into the ruins of the fort, and were making intrenchments under shelter of the cannon of the ships. Not deeming it prudent to attack them while thus defended, he marched back to Frederica, to refresh the soldiers; and sent out parties of Indians and rangers to harass the enemy. He now, at a general staff, appointed Lieutenant Hugh Mackay and Lieutenant Maxwell, Aids de camp, and Lieutenant Sutherland, Brigade Major.

While signal instances of heroism were thus honored, he warned the troops of the necessity of union and vigilance, of prompt attention to orders, and of maintaining an unflinching firmness in every emergency; for in these, under God, depended their safety.

Although he thus encouraged others, he was himself filled with perplexity. He began to despair of any help from Carolina. His provisions were bad and scarce, and, while the enemy commanded the river and the harbor, no supplies could be expected. Of all this, however, he gave no intimation, but, firm and self-possessed, submitted to the same fare with the meanest soldier, exposed himself to as great fatigue, and often underwent greater privations. At the same time his fixed resolution and irrepressible zeal in the defence and protection of his people, nerved him to further and even greater exertions.

On the 11th the great galley and two small ones, approached within gun-shot of the town; but they were repulsed by guns and bombs from the fort, and the General followed them in his cutter, with attendant boats, well manned, till he got under the cannon of their ships, which lay in the sound.

This naval approach, as appeared afterwards, was in consequence of a concerted plot. It seems that, at the commencement of the siege of St. Augustine, a Spanish officer quitted one of the outer forts and surrendered himself to Oglethorpe, who detained him prisoner of war. He was readily communicative, and gave what was supposed important information. After the close of the war, he might have been exchanged; but he chose to remain, pretending that the Spaniards looked upon him as a traitor. He, at length, so artfully insinuated himself into favor with the magnanimous Oglethorpe, that he was treated with great courtesy. On this invasion he begged permission to retire into the northern colonies of the English, saying that he apprehended that if he should fall into the hands of the Spaniards, they would deal rigorously with him. The General, not being aware of any treacherous design, gave him a canoe to go up the river till he was out of danger; whence he might proceed by land to some back settlement. Some days past and he came back to Frederica, pretending that he could not make his way through, nor by, the fleet without being discovered and captured. Most fortunately, some days after his return, an English prisoner, who had escaped from one of the ships of war, acquainted the General with the treachery of this officer, assuring him that he had been aboard at such a time, and talked over his insidious project of setting fire to the arsenal which contained all the powder and military stores, and that its explosion should be the signal to the Spanish galleys to approach, and, in the confusion of the occasion, make an assault upon the fort. This disclosure confirmed suspicions which had been excited by some of his management since his return; and he was put under guard. In consequence of this precaution, the concerted signal could not be given; and the ruinous project was most happily defeated.[1]

[Footnote 1: URLSPURGER, IV. p. 1260.]

July 12th, two English prisoners who had effected an escape, one from the fleet, and one from the camp, informed the General that the Spaniards, not having anticipated such vigorous resistance, had become restless and dispirited, especially since they had ascertained by their roll how great was their loss of men; and that the state of the wounded was distressing. They added that these discomfitures were increased by the want of water on board the ships, which was so great that the troops were put upon half allowance, which, in this hot weather was a grievous deprivation, and that several, from the effect of the climate, were sick and unfit for service. They apprized him, also, that they had holden a council of war, in which there were great divisions, insomuch that the troops of Cuba separated from those of Augustine, and encamped at a distance near the woods.

This latter circumstance suggested the idea of attacking them while divided; and his perfect knowledge of the woods favored the project of surprising one of their encampments. In furtherance of this design, he drew out three hundred regular troops, the Highland company, the rangers, and Indians, and marched in the night, unobserved within a mile and a half of the Spanish camp. There his troops halted, and he advanced at the head of a select corps to reconnoitre the enemy. While he was using the utmost circumspection to obtain the necessary information without being discovered, an occurrence of the most villanous nature, disconcerted the project. As the particulars of this have been variously narrated, I am happy in being enabled to give the General's own account of the affair.[1] In his official despatch to the Duke of Newcastle, dated at Frederica, in Georgia, 30th of July, 1742, he says,—"A Frenchman who, without my knowledge was come down among the volunteers, fired his gun, and deserted. Our Indians in vain pursued, but could not take him. Upon this, concluding that we should be discovered, I divided the drums into different parts, and they beat the Grenadier's march for about half an hour; then ceased, and we marched back in silence. The next day I prevailed with a prisoner, and gave him a sum of money to carry a letter privately, and deliver it to that Frenchman who had deserted. This letter was written in French, as if from a friend of his, telling him he had received the money; that he should try to make the Spaniards believe the English were weak; that he should undertake to pilot up their boats and galleys, and then bring them under the woods, where he knew the hidden batteries were; that if he could bring that about he should have double the reward he had already received; and that the French deserters should have all that had been promised to them. The Spanish prisoner got into their camp, and was immediately carried before the General, Don Manuel de Monteano. He was asked how he escaped, and whether he had any letters; but denying he had any, was strictly searched, and the letter found, and he, upon being pardoned, confessed that he had received money to deliver it to the Frenchman, (for the letter was not directed.) The Frenchman denied his knowing any thing of the contents of the letter, or having received any money, or correspondence with me. Notwithstanding which, a council of war was held, and they decreed the Frenchman to be a double spy; but General Monteano would not suffer him to be executed, having been employed by him. However they embarked all their troops with such precipitation that they left behind their cannon, &c., and those dead of their wounds, unburied."

[Footnote 1: Transcribed from the Georgia Historical documents, by my excellent friend T.K. TEFFT, Esq., of Savannah. The particulars of this singularly interesting ruse de guerre are detailed in all the accounts of the Spanish invasion; and in each with some variation, and in all rather more circumstantially than the above. See Gentleman's Magazine for 1742, p. 695; London Magazine for 1758, p. 80; HEWATT'S History of South Carolina, Vol. II. p. 117; McCALL'S History of Georgia, I. p. 184; RAMSAY'S History of the United States, I. 167, and MARSHALL'S History of the Colonies, p. 289.]

The Spanish General now deemed it expedient to relinquish a plan of conquest attended with so many difficulties, and the further prosecution of which would put to hazard the loss of both army and fleet, and perhaps of the whole Province of Florida.

"On the 14th of July the Spaniards burned all the works and houses on the south end of St. Simons and Jekyl islands.

"On the 15th the large vessels, with the Cuba forces on board, stood out to sea; and the Governor and troops from St. Augustine embarked in the galleys and small vessels, and took the inland passage, and encamped on the north end of Cumberland island, at Fort St. Andrews.

"The next day the General pursued the enemy, and, landing where they had encamped, sent an express in the night to Ensign Alexander Stewart, who commanded at Fort William, directing him, in case of an attack, to defend the place to the last extremity; and that he would reinforce him early the next day. At day-light twenty-eight sail of the Spanish line appeared off Fort William, fourteen of which came into the harbor, and demanded a surrender of the garrison. Stewart replied that it should not be surrendered, and could not be taken. They attacked the works from their galleys and other vessels, and attempted to land; but were repulsed by a party of rangers, who had arrived by a forced march down the island. Stewart, with only sixty men, defended the fort with such bravery, that, after an assault of three hours, the enemy discovering the approach of Oglethorpe, put to sea, with considerable loss. Two galleys were disabled and abandoned; and the Governor of St. Augustine proceeded with his troops by the inward passage. Ensign Stewart was rewarded, by promotion, for the bravery of his defence."[1]

[Footnote 1: McCall, Vol. I. p.188.]

"On the 20th, General Oglethorpe sent his boats and rangers as far as the river St. John. They returned the next day with the information that the enemy were quite gone."

A few days after, the armed ships from South Carolina came to St. Simons; but the need of them was then over; and even of the British men of war upon the American station, though they had a month's notice, none appeared upon the coast of Georgia until after the Spanish troops were all embarked, and their fleet was upon its return to Havana and to St. Augustine.

In the account of the Spanish invasion, by the Saltzburg preachers at Ebenezer, are these very just reflections: "Cheering was the intelligence that the Spaniards, with all their ships of war and numerous military force, had raised the siege in shame and disgrace, and retired to Augustine! Doubtless they feared lest English ships of war should approach and draw them into a naval combat, for which they could have no desire. Nay, they feared, no doubt, that their own Augustine would suffer from it."

Devoutly acknowledging the protecting and favoring providence of God in this wonderful deliverance from a most formidable invading foe, General Oglethorpe appointed a day of Thanksgiving to be observed by the inhabitants of the Colony.[1]

[Footnote 1: Appendix, No. XXVI.]

Thus was the Province of Georgia delivered, when brought to the very brink of destruction by a formidable enemy. Don Manuel de Monteano had been fifteen days on the small island of St. Simons, without gaining the least advantage over a handful of men; and, in the several skirmishes, had lost a considerable number of his best troops, while Oglethorpe's loss was very inconsiderable.[1]

[Footnote 1: McCALL, I. 188.]

The writer of a letter from Charlestown, South Carolina, has this remark; "that nearly five thousand men, under the command of so good an officer as the Governor of St. Augustine, should fly before six or seven hundred men, and about one hundred Indians, is matter of astonishment to all."[1]

[Footnote 1: Gentleman's Magazine for 1742, p. 895. See also Appendix,
No. XXVII. for an account of the forces.]

The Rev. Mr. Whitefield, in a letter to a noble Lord, says, "The deliverance of Georgia from the Spaniards, one of my friends writes me, is such as cannot be paralleled but by some instances out of the Old Testament. I find that the Spaniards had cast lots, and determined to give no quarter. They intended to have attacked Carolina, but, wanting water, they put into Georgia, and so would take that Colony on their way. But the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. Providence ruleth all things. They were wonderfully repelled and sent away before our ships were seen."[1] "A little band chased a thousand; and a small one overcome a large people."

[Footnote 1: Letters, V.I. let. CCCCLXXXIX. p. 467.]

The writer of the History of the rise, progress, and settlement of the Colony of Georgia, so often quoted in this chapter, closes his account of this invasion with the following remark: "Instead of raising and heightening their success, to do honor to the General's character; we ought rather to lessen or diminish some of the circumstances, to render it, in such an age as this, more credible. But we have taken no liberties at all. The facts are represented, step by step, as they happened; and the reader left to make his own inferences, estimate, and opinion."[1]

[Footnote 1: HARRIS's Voyages, II. 345.]

The Governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, addressed letters to Oglethorpe, "congratulating him upon the important services rendered to the Colonies; and assuring him of the interest which they felt in the honor he had acquired by his indefatigable exertions, constant exposure, extraordinary courage, and unequalled military conduct; and offering their humble thanks to the Supreme Governor of nations for placing the fate of the Southern Colonies under the direction of a General so well qualified for the important trust."[1]

[Footnote 1: For some of the letters see the work last quoted.]