194

THE FORCE EMPLOYED BY THE SPANIARDS.

place was so bravely defended by Lieutenant Alexander Stuart, that they were driven off, and ran out to sea, to join the twelve other sail of Spanish vessels which had lain at anchor outside the bar during the attack without stirring; but the gallies being chased out, they all set sail, and stood to the southward. Oglethorpe followed them, with the boats, to Fort William,. and thence sent out the rangers, and some boats, who followed them to St. John's; but they went off, rowing and sailing, to St. Augustine.

Thus, the vigilance of Oglethorpe, the skilfulness of his plans, the activity of his operations, the determined spirit of resistance, the carnage of Bloody Marsh, the havoc done to the enemy's ships, and his ingenious stratagem to defeat the designs of the French deserter, saved Georgia and Carolina. from falling into the hands of the Spaniards.

The force employed by the Spaniards in this invasion comprised one regiment of dismounted dragoons, a Havana battalion, consisting of ten companies of fifty men each, ten companies of one hundred men each, of Havana militia, one regiment of artillery, one of St. Augustine militia, one of negroes, officered by negroes, one battalion of mulattoes, ninety Indians, six hundred marines, and one thousand seamen; making in all a force of over five thousand men, commanded by Montiano, Governor of St. Augustine, and brought to Georgia in fifty-six vessels. The command of Oglethorpe consisted of only six hundred and fifty-two men, including Indians and militia.

The triumph of Oglethorpe was complete. For fifteen days, with only two ships and six hundred men he had baffled the Spanish general, with fifty-six vessels and five thousand men, and at last compelled him to

ADVANCE OF OGLETHORPE TO ST. AUGUSTINE. 197

at his command, and the unintimidated spirit of the English officers.

Rumours of a new invasion, by the joint co-operation of the French and Spanish, were now rife; and an offer from the Governor of Cuba to invade Georgia and Carolina with ten thousand men, most of whom were already at Havana, was intercepted by an English frigate. Oglethorpe, with his bills protested, Carolina disaffected, and his force reduced, was left to bear alone the onerous labours of preparing for a new defence of Georgia, and new efforts for the preservation of the North American colonies. Finding the Spaniards resolved to extend their territories, he determined to oppose their incipient measures, and dispute with them the field before their garrison was reinforced from Cuba. Accordingly, on Saturday, February 26th, 1743,13 the detachment destined for Florida, consisting of a portion of the Highlanders, rangers, and regulars, appeared under arms at Frederica, and on the 9th of March they landed in Florida; and the Indians attacked a party of Spaniards with such success, that they killed over forty of them. Advancing towards St. Augustine, the general posted his troops in a most advantageous position near that city, and endeavoured, by going personally with a few men near the walls, to decoy them into the ambush so felicitously planned; "but they were so meek, there was no provoking them, and they kept close within their walls." As the general had no cannon nor entrenching tools, and his only purpose by these strategic operations being to cut off detachments and lay waste the country, he countermarched to the St. John's; and after a short cruise off the bar of St.

13 State Paper Office, ii. 127. Most of the despatches of Oglethorpe may

be found in these documents from the State Paper Office.

198

UNPROTECTED CONDITION OF GEORGIA.

Augustine and Matanzas Inlet, returned to Frederica, without the loss of a man.14 This expedition was attended with vast toil, fatigue, and privation; but they were borne with cheerfulness, and the duties of the camp were performed with alacrity, because their general shared their labours, "partaking the same fatigue as the meanest soldiers."

A few slight eruptive efforts were subsequently made; but each party kept its own borders; and the war with Spain, which now, in spite of the pacific counsels of Fleury, drew in France also, was transferred to other fields, of greater carnage. "The little

conflicts in America were lost in the universal conflagration of Europe." Oglethorpe still felt the importance of keeping up the defences of Georgia, and maintaining an interest with the friendly Indians; especially, as the Yamassees on the south, and the Florida Indians on the borders of the Gulf, might otherwise descend upon the unprotected colonists, and burn their villages, lay waste their fields, and massacre their inhabitants. He therefore continued to press upon the Trustees and Parliament the necessity of protecting Georgia, as the key of the southern provinces, and the bulwark between them and the Florida and Spanish powers on its borders. In this respect, Georgia, the weakest of the thirteen colonies, was the least protected, and the most exposed, having an extensive line of undefended sea

14 "A Relation or Journal of a late Expedition to the gates of St. Augustine in Florida, conducted by the Hon. General Oglethorpe, with a detachment of his regiment, &c., from Georgia, &c., by a Gentleman Volunteer in said Expedition," (G. L. Campbell,) London, 8vo, 1744. I am indebted to

the kindness of Professor Mackenzie of Edinburgh for a manuscript copy of this rare work, transcribed from the one in the British Museum. From this Journal and Oglethorpe's Letters in State Paper Office, ii., the narrative of the text is drawn.

PRAISE DUE TO OGLETHORPE.

199

board, a larger number of Indians in its borders than any other province, an unprotected frontier of several hundred miles, and hostile Indians, and inimical French, and threatening Spaniards, all around. And though we may not be enabled to point out any brilliant achievement which shall give prominence to the prowess, or stamp the generalship of Oglethorpe, yet the single fact, that he preserved a province thus situated, amidst repeated invasions, with such small forces, and under such vast discouragements, so that its integrity was preserved, its colonization advanced, and its border rights sustained, is proof sufficient that the blended talents of the warrior and statesman met in his character, giving to him, not that applause which is mutable as the fickle wind, and as vanishing as the breath which proclaims it, but rather that steady praise which outlives the boisterous huzzas, and that quenchless light of honour, which burns brighter and clearer with advancing years.

CHAPTER VI.

SKETCH OF OGLETHORPE AFTER LEAVING GEORGIA.

FROM the period of the unfortunate siege of St. Augustine, misunderstanding and disputes had arisen between Oglethorpe and the province of South Carolina.' The charges preferred against that colony by Oglethorpe, were of a grave character, such as evinced unskilful advisers, impolitic measures, and deep ingratitude, as well as want of military discipline and courage; while they, on the other hand, retaliated against him charges of incapacity, weakness, and lack of military abilities highly disadvantageous to Georgia. But these were the sentiments of only a portion of the Carolinians, and the sentiments themselves changed with the passing away of the irritating causes which evoked them; so that all came to regard him at last as the deliverer of the southern provinces of America.

The views of Oglethorpe's enemies in Carolina gave

1 These controversies were carried on with much acrimony and bitterness. A number of pamphlets were published on each side, the most important of which were, "An Impartial Account of the late Expedition against St. Augustine, under General Oglethorpe," 8vo, 1742; "The Spanish Hireling Detected, being a Refutation

of the Several Calumnies and Falsehoods" in the above," by George Cadogan, Lieutenant in General Oglethorpe's Regiment," London, 8vo, p. 68, 1743, (I quote from the second edition;)" A Full Reply to Lieutenant Cadogan's 'Spanish Hireling Detected,' &c.," 8vo, 1743.