Georgia Genealogy Trails "Where your Journey Begins"

Oglethorpe County  SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GENERAL JAMES OGLETHORPE. PRESENTED TO THE GEORGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, BY THOMAS SPALDING, ESQ., LIFE OF OGLETHORPE. James Oglethorpe was born in London in December, 1698. His family had been an old and respectable one, established for centuries in the county of Surrey. He was the youngest son of Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe, who was an officer in the Duke of York's own regiment, before the Duke ascended the throne as James II., and whose family had been during the civil war, and at all times, devoted to the House of Stuart. William III. was too politic a Prince, and too much afraid of the army, to persecute Sir Theophilus or his family for such opinions. But he could do worse — he could neglect them. By a high-minded man persecution can be borne. He steels himself to resistance —he stands erect to receive it— and he may break before the storm, but he will not bend to it. Neglect, whether it comes from the one or the many in power, descends upon a generous mind like the cold autumnal dew, withering all hope and blighting every energy of intellect. Such was the position of General Oglethorpe's family with the government at his birth— such was his own condition to his grave. But he availed himself to every opportunity, however transient, to strive after fame, and to labor for a name of renown among men. In 1711, when Oxford and St. John were the ministers of Queen Anne, although but thirteen years of age, he entered the army, as an Ensign, and was afterwards promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in the Guards of Queen Arne, who, as is well known, was laboring at the close of her life to collect around her person and her throne the friends of her unhappy brother. The Queen died in August, 1714, hurried to her grave by the idle disputes between her ministers Oxford and Bohngbroke; and George I. ascended the throne of England, against the wishes of the British Empire, at the call of a faction, that controlled the army and navy at that eventful period. From this faction young Oglethorpe had nothing to hope, and he therefore soon afterwards withdrew from the British army, passed over to the continent, when he was between seventeen and eighteen years of age, and took service with Prince Eugene, in his war against the Turks, and elsewhere. He was with Prince Eugene when he crossed the Danube, and defeated the Grand Vizier Ali, at Peterwaradin in the year 1716, and also the year following, (1717,) when Eugene besieged and took Belgrade, again defeating the Turks with great slaughter, storming their camp, and completely routing their army. In this gigantic war, where two great empires were struggling for life, for law, and for religion, every power, and passion, of the human mind, was called forth, and the young soldier, by his gallantry, enterprise, and capacity, won the favor of Prince Eugene, who received him into his family, attached him to his staff, and in this school and under this great captain he learned the art of war. The spring of 1719 brought peace to all Europe. Weak kings or corrupt ministers so entangled affairs at home that it required the whole attention of the ruling powers to keep the rickety machine of government in motion. Law, with his Mississippi scheme in France, and Sir John Blount, with his South Sea scheme in England, made the year 1720 one of the most memorably miserable that either country had ever known. Young Oglethorpe, however, then twenty-one years of age, had returned to England ; and in the calm of Oxford was schooling himself for other duties. His early education had been interrupted by his military pursuits, and it was necessary that some portion of his manhood should be given to the acquirement of that knowledge, which, if acquired at all, is generally mastered at an earlier period. In 1727 died George L, who was succeeded by George II. Let us hear what a distinguished whig historian (Russell) says on this occasion. "The administration was wisely continued in the hands of the whigs, the only true friends of the Protestant succession, on the principle of the revolution. If the heads of opposition cannot be taught silence or induced to change sides, the king must either resign his minister, or that minister must secure a majority by some other means. No minister ever understood those means better than Sir Robert Walpole. " Possessed of extraordinary abilities, and utterly destitute of principle, he made no scruple of employing the money voted by parliament, in order to corrupt its members. He discovered that almost every man had his price. He bought many, and to gain more, he let loose the wealth of the treasury at elections." And yet Mr. Russell says, that it was wisely done, to continue this man in power. The high reputation Mr. Oglethorpe had acquired abroad, as a soldier, and the scarcely less high reputation he had acquired at Oxford, as a scholar, drew upon him the attention of that party, who had for years been resisting the violence and waste, which the faction in power, under the wild cry of Popery and the Pretender, had been indulging in — and in 1722, at the early age of twenty-four, he was brought into parliament, from Haslemere in Surrey. Mr. Oglethorpe knew when he went into parliament, that the eyes of the public were upon him, and that his every step should be marked with caution and judgment ; for his mother had been at one time the medium through which Oxford and Bolingbroke, and Queen Anne herself, communicated with the exiled family. And his sister was domesticated with them. He soon became an active member, usefully directing his views to ameliorating the condition of the unhappy, in every form within his power. In the session of 1728, says Smollet,* Mr. Oglethorpe, having been informed of shocking cruelty and oppression exercised by jailors upon their prisoners, moved for an examination into these practices, and was chosen chairman of a committee, appointed to inquire into the state of the jails of the kingdom. They began with the Fleet Prison, which they visited in a body ; there they found Sir William Rich, baronet, loaded with irons, by order of Bainbridge, the warden, to whom he had given some slight cause of offence. Bainbridge and others were punished by act of parliament, and disqualij5ed from holding place, &c. and the law regulating jails amended. It is known to reading men, that no short-hand writer was ever admitted to the gallery of the house of commons, be-fore 1780. Before that time we have nothing but fragments of debates, such as the memory could carry away from a single hearing. When the mother of the first Pitt, in her maternal pride and fondness, desired to hear her son, she had to go into the gallery in male clothing. When the younger Pitt was asked, what of all lost works he most desired to draw from oblivion, he replied, " a single speech of Lord Bolingbroke." The writer of this notice has read many of the speeches of General Oglethorpe in this imperfect form, and will present three or four, to show his thoughts, if not his words. In 1731, the opposition to the court measures appears to have been uncommonly spirited. Says Smollet, "On ' motion of thanks to the king, for a treaty with Spain, Mr. Pulteney resisted ; Sir WiUiam Windham spoke to the same purpose as Mr. Pulteney. "Mr. Oglethorpe, a gendeman of unblemished character, brave, generous, and humane, affirmed, that many other things related more nearly to the honor of the nation, than did the boasted guarantee of the pragmatic sancdon. He said he wished to have heard that the new works of Dunkirk had been entirely razed and destroyed — that the nadon had received full and complete satisfaction for the depredations committed by the natives of Spain upon British commerce. That more care was taken in disciplining the militia, on whose valor the nation must chiefly depend in case of an invasion ; and that some regard had been shown to the oppressed Protestants in Germany. He expressed his satisfaction to find that the English were not so closely united to France as they had been for some years past, for he had observed that when two dogs w^ere in a leash together, the stronger generally ran away with the weaker ; and this he was afraid had been the case between France and Great Britain, He was replied to by Mr. Pelham and Mr. H. Walpole." Wishing to give the color of General Oglethorpe's opinion upon what should have been the policy of England in her foreign relations, I have extracted a speech from Smollet, (though there is a fuller report of the same in the Gendeman's Magazine, of London,) and to understand it, it is necessary to remember that from the time the Duke of Orleans became Regent of France, a very close connection had taken place between himself and his kinsmen, George I. and George II. of England, both of them having descended from Elizabeth, queen of Bohemia, the daughter of James I. Again, to understand his opinions in relation to the colonial and domestic policy of England, two or three short speeches will be given from the Gentleman's Magazine. In September 1732, upon a petition from the sugar colonies, praying for some exclusive benefits to themselves and restrictions upon their continental brethren, Mr. Oglethorpe spoke as follows "Mr. Speaker, in all cases, that come before this house, where there seems a clashing of interests, we ought to have no regard to the particular interests of any party, or set of people, but to the good of the whole. Our colonies are a part of our dominions—the people in them our own people ; and we ought to shew all equal respect. I remember, there was once a petition presented to this house, by one county, complaining that they were injured in their trade, as to the sale of beans by another, modestly praying, that the other should be prohibited selling beans. If it should appear, that all our plantations upon the continent of America, are against that which is desired by the sugar colonies ; we are to presume that the granting thereof, will be prejudicial to the trade, or particular interest of our continental settlements ; and surely, the danger of hurting so considerable a part of our dominions, — a part which reaches from the 30th, to the 46th degree of north latitude, will at least, incline us to be extremely cautious in what we are about. If therefore, it shall appear that the relieving our sugar colonies, will do more harm to the other parts of our dominions, than it can do good to them, we must refuse it, and think of some other method of putting them upon an equal footing with their rivals, in any part of the trade. We may form some judgment, from the appearances, that were before us last session of parliament ; but may judge more distinctly of things from what may be brought before us now. Some concerned for our settlements on the continent, seemed last year indifferent, and to give up the affair; I believe without any good authority from their constituents. " But now, the colonies themselves have had an opportunity to consider the affair, and to transmit their opinions in a proper and authentic manner ; and until these opinions are laid before us, we cannot, or should not, make up our own. I must say, to the honor of the gendemen concerned in the board of trade, that they are as diligent, and as exact in all matters which fall under their consideration, as any board in England. They have more business than most others, which will increase in proportion as our colonies increase in riches and power. It is already one of the most useful boards we have, and while the same good conduct is observed, it will be of great advantage to the trade of the British dominions." After this debate, it was resolved to address his Majesty, to give directions to the commissioners for trade and plantations, to lay before the house, copies of all representations and papers which had been laid before them, since the last session of parliament, relating to the dispute between his Majesty's sugar colonies, and northern colonies in America. In October following, in a debate upon the extending and continuing the patent of Mr. Delome, for the introduction of the silk manufacture into England, from Italy, Mr. Oglethorpe spoke as follows : — "The act for confining the king's patent, to the term of eleven years, was made in the reign of King James I. The bubbles and monopolies about that time erected, had become a public grievance. This law was to prevent setting up any such in future. The petitioner pretends to nothing, but the sole use of his own invention ; for so long, as may be a just recompense to him, for the hazard and expense he has been at in bringing it to perfection. If he can show he has not had a sufficient recompense, we are not confined by the former law, we ought to bring in a bill to prolong the term of his patent; or make him some other proper and reasonable recompense. Raw silk may be bought in this country for sixteen shillings per pound,* but when manufactured and made orgazine, sells for twenty-four shillings per pound, the eight shillings added to the price is clear gain to us, because added by the labor and industry of our own people ; therefore we must grant, that this gentleman has brought to his own country, a very useful and profitable branch of trade ; and if he can show he has not yet had a recompense by his patent, his petition ought to be referred to a committee." Mr. Oglethorpe afterwards brought in a bill to extend the time of this patent, which was carried through parliament. We will now give a speech of General Oglethorpe's at a later period, to close this subject, which is more in his manner, as I have understood from others. In reply to Henry Fox, afterwards Lord Holland, and then pay-master of the forces, upon a bill brought by the administration to punish the city of Edinburgh, in consequence of a riot, and the murder of a Captain Porteous, by a mob. " Mr. Speaker, —I have never had the happiness of being married, but I have been told, and believe, that marriage is the happiest condition for man,—and I have often heard the union between ourselves and our neighboring state, compared to marriage, and I think not improperly ; for the happiness of both parties must consist in mutual harmony and a good understanding, which can never be preserved, if the stronger shall proceed to oppress the weaker. "The Scots, when they consented to this union with us, put so absolute a confidence in our honor, that it would be ungenerous and unjust to give them the least cause to complain, or repent of what they have done. 1 shall readily own, that a most horrid riot and murder happened in the city of Edinburgh ; and that there were several obvious measures neglected, which might have prevented it, —but I think the punishment intended by the present bill, is by far too serious, both with respect to the Lord Provost, and the city itself. "As to the Lord Provost I am of opinion, that he did all that could be expected, from a man of his age or abilities and cannot see any reason why he should be singled out for punishment. And, Mr. Speaker, as gentlemen have in this affair, been pleased to quote PufTendorf and Grotius, I shall beg leave to quote the words of an author, who I am sure, most gentlemen in this house, have read twice for once that they have read either of those two authorities. The words are from a booJi which I have in my pocket, —Hdlibras, part 2d, canto 2. " Tho' nice and dark this point appear, Quoth Ralph—It may hold up, and clear, That sinners may supply the place Of suffering saints, is a plain case, Justice gives sentence many times Oa one man, for another's crimes." " These lines, sir, introduce an account of a bed-ridden weaver in New England, who was hanged for the murder of an Indian, committed by a preaching cobbler. The Indians, it seems, insisted warmly, that the murderer should be hanged ; and as they did not know his person, the saints thought it much better to hang up the bed-ridden w^eaver than the offender, who was a useful man among them by acting in the double capacity of preaching and cobbling. " I have, gendemen, to apply this bed-ridden weaver's case to the Lord Provost. I shall only observe, that from all that appears, from the evidence given in, at the bar of this house, there were others equally, if not more guilty, than the Provost. "As for the censure inflicted upon the city of Edinburgh by the present bill, I think there is something in it, that is contrary to the intention of the bill. The intention of the bill, sir, as I take it, is to punish the citizens for not suppressing an inhuman riot, and preventing a barbarous murder ; but the punishment to be inflicted upon them, is by a bill, taking away their guard, putting it out of their power, to suppress any such riot for the future. Here is a city, and here are magistrates, liable to be insulted by a mob, yet we tie up their hands from quelling this mob, and we punish them because it was not quelled. In my opinion, we cannot do a greater piece of service to the authors of Porteous's murder, than to consent, that the present bill should pass into a law ; for by it, we expose both the peace of the city and the authority of the magistrates, and the interest of the country, to all their future insult and outrage. " In short, sir, I think the present bill is neither calculated to punish those who were negligent in suppressing the riot nor for preventing the like offence in times to come ; and I could wish 4;hat gentlemen would determine upon some other means answering both these ends." In his youth, he had striven to carve out a high destiny for himself with his sword ; but the condition of his country and of Europe forbade it; for the days of Eugene and Marlborough had passed away, while he was yet too young to gather the fruits of his valor. He had to seek another road to fame, for the unhappy condition of Europe brought clouds and darkness and disappointment across his course. Mr. Oglethorpe had gone into parliament at twenty-four years of age, and he had been laboring for ten years with zeal and ability. But England, from the death of Queen Anne, had so entangled herself with Germany, that her wealth and her fame had been wasted by ignoble means for ignoble ends. The king only looked to the security of Hanover, and his ministers only looked to the preservation of their places. Did the wise or good attempt to arrest their course, they had only to cry "Popery," and they obtained support; for if philosophers "teach" that "matter in motion" is "power," experience tells that " mind" under excitement, is like the " scorpion fire," turned upon itself to destroy. Mr. Oglethorpe became wearied with this profitless labor, and determined to seek in another clime, and in a new world, for objects upon which to employ his time, and spread his affections. He planned, in the year 1732, a colony, differing from every other undertaking that had originated among men in modern times. A paper entitled, "A true Account of a Nev/Colony, about to be established in America, by several Noblemen, Gentlemen and Merchants," will best explain the design of himself and associates. " They petitioned the King in Council for a grant of lands in South Carolina, and liberty to lay out such charities as they themselves should give, or receive from others, — in conveying over and establishing, unfortunate families in America, and that the charities collected may not terminate in the persons first relieved, but extend itself to the latest ages. They proposed to reserve certain portions of land in every township, and a certain small portion of labor, from every man within that township, and to apply the product of the reserved land and labor, in supporting the colony, in sending over, and relieving more poor families. " The petitioners undertake without any benefit to themselves, either in land or otherwise, all the toil of soliciting charities of clothing, supplying, arming, and supporting a colony of such persons, as they judge to be the most proper subjects of this charity." The King received graciously their petition, and granted a charter of incorporation to Lord Percival, James Oglethorpe, Edmund Digby, and others. The patent was dated the 9th of June, 1732, and the new colony was called Georgia. The Trustees contributed largely towards the scheme ; and to prevent fraud, determined to deposite the money in the Bank of England, and to keep a book in which the names of the contributors, as well as the sums paid by each should be entered, and to lay an account annually before the Chancellor, and other judges. Many were the papers, published in England and elsewhere, expressive of approbation and warm admiration of the benevolent intentions of the Trustees in their new scheme of colonization. Some of these papers are before the writer at this time, but he finds all so condensed and well said, in Dr. Hewatt's History of South Carolina and Georgia, that he prefers extracting from Vol. II, pages 1 7 to 22, what follows : " When this scheme of the Trustees with respect to the settlement of Georgia was made public, the well wishers of mankind, in every part of Britain, highly approved of an undertaking so humane and disinterested. To consult the public happiness, regardless of private interest, and to stretch forth a bountiful hand for the relief of distressed fellow creatures, were considered as examples of uncommon benevolence and virtue, and therefore worthy of general imitation. The ancient Romans, famous for their courage and magnanimity, ranked the planting of colonies among their noblest works, and such as added greater lustre to their empire, than their most glorious wars and victories. By the latter, old cities were plundered and destroyed ; by the former new ones were founded and established : the latter ravaged the dominions of enemies and depopulated the world —the former improved new territories, provided for unfortunate friends,' and added strength to the state. The benevolent founders of the colony of Georgia perhaps may challenge the annals of any nation to produce a design more generous and praiseworthy than that they had undertaken. They voluntarily offered their money, their labor and time for promoting what appeared to them the good of others — having themselves nothing for reward, but the inexpressible satisfaction arising from virtuous actions. Among other great ends they had also in view the conversion and civilization of Indian savages. If their public regulations were afterwards found improper and impracticable, — if their plan of setdement proved too narrow and circumscribed, praise nevertheless is due to them. Human policies at best are imperfect, but when the design appears so evidently good, and disinterested, the candid and impartial part of the world will make many allowances for them. Considering their ignorance of the country, and the many defects that cleave to all codes of laws, even when framed by the wisest legislators. "About the middle of July 1732, the Trustees for Georgia held their first general meeting, when Lord Percival was chosen president of the corporation. After all the members had qualified themselves, agreeably to the charter, for the faithful discharge of the trust, a common seal was ordered to be made. The devise was, on one side, two figures resting upon urns, representing the rivers Altamaha and Savannah, the boundaries of the province; between. them the Genius of the colony seated with a cap of liberty on his head, a spear in one hand, and a cornucopia in the other, with the inscription " Colonia Georgia, Augt." On the other side was a representation of silk worms, some beginning, and others having finished their web, with the motto " non sibi sed aliis," a very proper emblem, signifying that the nature of the establishment was such, that neither the first Trustees, nor their successors could have any views of interest, it being entirely designed for the benefit and happiness of others. "In November following, one hundred and sixteen settlers embarked at Gravesend for Georgia, having their passages paid, and every thing requisite for building and cultivation furnished them by the corporation. They could not be called adventurers, as they ran no risk but what arose from the change of climate, and as they were to be maintained until by their industry they were able to support themselves. " James Oglethorpe, one of the Trustees, embarked along with them, and proved a zealous and active promoter of the settlement. " In the beginning of the year following Oglethorpe arrived in Charleston, where he was received by the Governor and Council in the kindest manner, and treated with every mark of civility and respect. "Governor Johnstone, sensible of the great advantage that must accrue to Carolina from this new colony, gave all the encouragement and assistance in his power to forward the settlement. Many of the Carolinians sent them provisions, and hogs and cows to begin their stock. " William Bull, a man of knowledge and experience, agreed to accompany Mr. Oglethorpe—and the rangers and the scout boats were ordered to attend him to Georgia. After their arrival at Yamacraw, Oglethorpe and Bull explored the country, and having found a high and pleasant . spot of ground, situated on a navigable river, they fixed on this place as the most convenient and healthy situation for the settlers. "On this hill they marked out a town, and from the Indian name of the river which ran past it, called it Savannah. "A small fort was erected on the banks of it, as a place of refuge, and some guns were mounted on it for the defence of the colony. The people were set to w^ork in felling ti-ees, and building huts for themselves, and Oglethorpe animated and encouraged them by exposing himself to all the hardships, which the poor objects of his compassion endured. "He formed them into a company of militia, appointed officers from among themselves, and furnished them with arms and ammunition. " To show the Indians how expert they were in the use of arms, he frequently exercised them, and as they had been trained before-hand by the Serjeants of the Guards, in London, they performed their various parts, in a manner little inferior to regular troops. Having thus put his colony in as good a situation as possible, the next object of his at ten tion was to treat with the Indians for a share of their possessions. " The principal tribes that at this time occupied the territory were the upper and the lower Creeks : the former were numerous and strong ; the latter, by disease and war were reduced to a smaller number. Both tribes together were computed to amount to about twenty-five thousand, men, women and children. These Indians, according to a treaty formerly made with Governor Nicholson, laid claim to the lands lying south-west of Savannah river, and to procure their friendship for this infant colony, was an object of the highest consequence. But as the tribe of Indians settled at Yamacraw was inconsiderable, Oglethorpe judged it necessary to have the other tribes also, to join with them in the treaty. "To accomplish this he found an Indian woman named Mary, who had married a trader from Carolina, and who could speak both the English and Creek language, and perceiving that she had great influence among the Indians, and might be made useful as an interpreter in forming treaties of alliance with them, he therefore first purchased her friendship with presents, and afterwards settled a hundred pounds yearly on her as a reward for her services. " By her assistance he summoned a general meeting of the chiefs, to hold a congress with him at Savannah, in order to procure their consent to the peaceable setdement of his colony. "At this congress fifty chieftains were present, when Oglethorpe represented to them the great power, wisdom, and wealth of the English nation —and the many advantages that would accrue to the Indians in general from a connection and friendship with them, — and as they had plenty of lands, he hoped they would freely resign a share of them to his people, who were come for their benefit and instruction, to setde among them. After having distributed some presents among them, which must always attend every proposal of friendship and peace, an agreement was made ; and then Tomachichi, in the name of the Creek warriors, addressed him in the following manner "Here is a litde present, and giving him a buffalo skin adorned on the inside with the head and feathers of an eagle, desired him to accept it— because the eagle was an emblem of speed, and the buffalo of strength. He told him that the English were as swift as the bird, and as strong as the beast—since like the former they flew over vast seas, to the uttermost parts of the earth, and like the latter they were so strong that nothing could withstand them. "He said the feathers of the eagle were soft, and signified love— the buffalo skin was warm and signified protection — and therefore he hoped the English would love and protect their little families. " Oglethorpe accordingly accepted the present, and after concluding this treaty of friendship with the Indians, and placing his colony in the best posture of defence, he returned to Britain, carrying with him Tomachichi, his queen, and some more Indians. " On their arrival in London, these Indian chiefs were introduced to his Majesty, while many of the nobility were present. When Tomachichi, struck with astonishment at the grandeur of the British court, addressed the king in the following words "This day I see the majesty of your face, the grandeur of your house, and the number of your people. I am come in my old days, though I cannot expect to see any advantage to myself, I am come for the good of the children of all the nations of the lower and upper Creeks, that they may be instructed in the knowledge of the English. " These are the feathers of the eagle, which is the swiftest of birds, and which flyeth round our nations. These are a sign of peace in our land, and have been carried from town to town there. We have brought them over to leave them with you, O great king, as a token of everlasting peace. " O great king, whatever words you shall say unto me, I will faithfully tell them to all the kings of the Creek nations." " To which his Majesty replied. ' I am glad of this opportunity of assuring you of my regard for the people from whom you come, and I am extremely well pleased with the assurances you have brought from them, and accept very gratefully of this present — an indication of their good disposition to me and my people. I shall always be ready to cultivate a good correspondence between the Creeks and my subjects, and shall be glad on any occasion to shew you a mark of my particular friendship.' "During the whole time these Indians were in England nothing was neglected that might serve to engage their affections, and fill them with just notions of the greatness and power of the British nation. After staying four months and seeing the grandeur of the English sovereign, they were carried to Gravesend and embarked for Georgia ; highly pleased with the generosity of the nation, and promising eternal fidelity to its interests." " This generosity and kind method of treating barbarians, was better policy than that of overawing them by force, and was attended, as might have been expected, with the happiest consequences. "To strengthen the frontier of Carolina, and promote the colony of Georgia, nothing could have been conceived more useful and effectual than a friendly intercourse with these savages in the neighborhood. "The most proper method of managing them was to secure the friendship of the leading men among them, whose influence however hmited by the nature of their government, was nevertheless great, as they always directed the public councils in all affairs relative to peace and war."* We have thus seen brought to a close the first act of Mr. Oglethorpe's American drama. He had appeared, played his part, and had retired. Every movement evinced the justice, magnanimity, and wisdom of his actions. Who has not read in an hundred volumes, tributes of praise to the honor and humanity of William Penn ? Who has not heard his conduct in the first settlement of Pennsylvania, contrasted with the conduct of the first settlers of every other colony ? And surely in some instances very unjustly has this contrast been drawn ; for Penn had but followed the example of Lord Baltimore at an earlier period, as well in his purchase from the Indians, of the right of soil, as in his treatment of them afterw^ards. But how will either of them stand, when placed in position with Mr. Oglethorpe? They had obtained grants to themselves, and heirs, from their sovereign, of immense landed estates ; and in calming Indian jealousy at their settlement, or preserving peace with them afterwards, they were but pursuing the most obvious and simple mode of making those estates profitable ; and Mr. Penn took care before he left England, to extend the bounds of his territory by every means. Mr. Oglethorpe and his associates tied themselves up, from every possible return for money or time expended, for dangers encountered, or even reputation risked. Penn's territory was flanked by the strong colonies of New York and Maryland, long since established. Mr. Oglethorpe placed himself in the front of danger with nothing behind him but the weak and divided colony of Carolina. He placed himself before the old and strong military colonies of Spain and France ; and that too, just as Spain and France were awakening from a lethargy of twenty years, and in their family compact, determined to make one great struggle for dictation over the maritime nations of Europe. Against these fearful odds, Mr. Oglethorpe took his post, reposing upon the resources of his own mind. Calm in the conviction that to wisdom, time brings opportunity. And we will see in the sequel how he availed himself of this opportunity. Did Penn persuade the Indians to cede to him a small portion of land and to remain in peace with his colony ? — Oglethorpe procured from them willingly, all the land he desired ; but he so won upon their affections, that the tribes congregated from hundred of miles around to pledge with him peace, to enter into alliances with him, to tender him the command over them, offering to follow him to war, wheresoever he wished, whether against white or red men. And if we had no other evidence of the great abilities of Mr. Oglethorpe, but what is offered by this devotion of the Indian tribes to him, and to his memory, for fifty years afterwards —it is all-sufficient, for it is only master minds that acquire this deep and lasting influence over other men. Mr. Oglethorpe returned to England in the spring of 1734, having left his people at Savannah, in possession of every thing that was necessary for their comfort, and in the best possible understanding with the Indian settlements around them. From that time until the end of the year 1735, he was engaged in collecting additional means for extending and strengthening his colony of Georgia. One hundred and thirty Highlanders were sent out under their chief, and settled at New Inverness, near Darien, upon the Alatamaha, and eighty additional Saltzburghers were established with their friends at Ebenezer, upon the Savannah river. Having made every arrangement within his power, and having collected during the year thirty thousand pounds sterling, he embarked again for Georgia ; and arrived at Tybee on the 5th of February, bringing with him three hundred additional settlers, and a number of guns for the forts, that had and were to be built. To show his unwearied diligence in all his operations I will here give a journal of his movements for a few days, published at the time. "Mr. Oglethorpe passed the bar of Tybee on the 5ih, and came to anchor in the road on the 6th. He went to Savannah town, where he ordered a new church to be built, and a wharf for the landing of goods. "Tomachichi and Tonohowi came to welcome him, and said that the chiefs of the upper and lower Creeks wei e coming upon the same errand. " On the 9th he went to Ebenezer where the Saltzburghers were settled ; he arrived that night at Purysburgh, and lay at Col. Pury's house. He went afterwards to the Alatamaha river where the Highlanders are settled, and was in a Highland dress. Here a good bed was provided for him, but he declined it, and lay in the woods with Captain Dunbar. , "He the next day went down to St. Simon's island, and laid out a fort with four bastions, which he called Frederica and commenced building it in such a situation that a canoe could not pass without being discovered ; and designed and planned a new town behind the fort. He has ordered another fort to be built seven miles distant, at the sea point of the same island. " The Spaniards having sent to complain that the Indians fell upon them from all quarters, Mr. Oglethorpe sent two boats to patrol on the river St. Johns to prevent further mischief ; and ordered Major Richards to St. Augustine to settle the boundaries with the Spanish Governor." This frank and prompt mode of acting on the part of Mr. Oglethorpe lead at length to a treaty between himself and the Governor of St. Augustine, of the most satisfactory character, which was signed at St. Augustine on the 26th October, 1736. Mr. Oglethorpe, had in despite of the recognition going on and even concluded, been most diligently employed during the summer, in completing the fortifications at St. Simons island, with the limited means within his control, and without the aid of any military science, except what he himself brought into operation. The fort at Frederica was built of tabby, and was situated at the upper end of a reach of the river, about a quarter of a mile in length. A water battery separated it from the river. Two strong bastions were on the land side —-and it was surrounded by a deep mtrenchment which admitted the tide. The review ground occupied about one half of the front of the bluff to the east, and the rest of the bluff was covered by a dense oak wood. In front of the centre of this wood a water battery of twelve heavy guns was placed. In approaching Frederica every ship would have to run down for three quarters of a mile, stem on, upon this water battery, while she would receive an oblique fire from the batteries of this fort. The wood to the east end of the town covered it, and the fort too, from all fire from approaching ships — while the water battery in front of the wood, was too low to receive injury from the fire across the marsh. The wood itself was covered in its whole extent by a deep creek, bordered by a miry marsh of three hundred yards width. I have been thus particular in describing these works, because it was there I was born —and upon them in my childhood I have sported —and because time, and the elements, and men in pursuit of other objects, have scarcely left a wreck behind. The wood has been transformed into a cotton field The river, driven on by hurricanes has swallowed up the water batteries, and much of the fort. The bricks too, have been taken away by spoilers, and the very tabby has been sawn into blocks to erect other buildings. When in the course of time the writer of this paper has seen many of the defences, provided for other positions by men of great name, his memory has recurred to the recollections of his youth, and in pondering upon the scene, he proudly felt that nowhere, nowhere, had mind, with the limited means under its control, more strongly evinced its power. And it will be seen hereafter, that it was to the great ability shown in the disposition of these works, that not Georgia only, but Carolina owed their preservation ; for St. Simons was destined soon to become the Thermopylae of the southern Anglo American provinces. General Oglethorpe had scarcely concluded his treaty with the governor of St. Augustine, when he received a message from him saying, that a commissioner from the captain general of Cuba, his superior, had arrived there to make certain demands of him, and would proceed to Frederica, which had now become the head quarters of General Oglethorpe. He also learned that the garrison at St. Augustine had been reinforced by additional troops. General Oglethorpe saw that the storm he had anticipated was beginning to collect, and was therefore unwilling that his designs, and his unfinished works should be exposed to the view of his enemy. The commissioner coming by sea. General Oglethorpe agreed to meet him at the anchorage in Jekyl sound; there they met, and the commissioner required that General Oglethorpe and all British subjects should immediately retire from all territory south of St. Helena sound ; as the claims of the king of Spain extended that far; and his master was determined to maintain his right to them. As his orders from the captain general were explicit, argument was unnecessary, and General Oglethorpe embarked for England as speedily as possible. The parliament of England had the previous year, voted ten thousand pounds, to aid the Trustees in fortifying the province, which had been expended upon the works at Fredeiica, and the battery at the south end of the island. But fortifications require men to defend them, and he hurried home with the hope, that as the views of France and Spain were now fully developed, the government of Great Britain would see the necessity of providing them. In this he was not disappointed, for while the Spanish commissioner from Cuba, had required him to yield the territory as far as the island of St. Helena ; the Spanish minister at the court of London, had not only required the surrender of the territory, but also the giving up of General Oglethorpe, as a trespasser upon the right of Spain ; as Sir Walter Raleigh had been demanded of Queen Elizabeth. This demand had excited the indignation of the British people, and aided him in obtaining what he required of the British government. The following is one of many publications that this demand of the Spaniards called forth. ''Daily Post, London, August 23d, 1737. "The benefit likely to accrue from the settlement of this colony, particularly by the saving of five hundred thousand pounds sent to Piedmont for raw silk, renders it so worthy of attention, that the whole nation unanimously gave into the project ; and the ministry gained credit by the warmth with which they recommended it to parliament. "The country is now in a thriving condition by parliamentary aid, by the generosity of the Trustees, and by the conduct of a gentleman, whose judgment, courage, and indefatigable diligence in the service of his country, have shown him every way equal to so great and glorious an undertaking. For this reason it seems, this public-spirited and valuable man, has now become the butt of the resentment of Spain. Because he has acted like a brave, vigilant and faithful Englishman, at the expense of his repose and his purse, and at the utmost peril of his life. " The Spanish court has demanded his recall, and that he shall be no longer employed. In this demand we have an undeniable proof that the Spaniards dread the abilities of Mr. Oglethorpe. It is a certificate of his merit, that ought to endear him to every honest Briton. "I happened to be in France when the settlement of Georgia was begun, and the uneasiness of the French at it, gave me the first idea of its value. They said the Spaniards neither could or would suffer it to go on ; and fi'om what I then heard and saw, I am persuaded this late demand of the Catholic court did not take its rise at Madrid, whatever the Spaniards may say ; it is France that has the greatest interest in the destruction of that colony." General Oglethorpe arrived in London in the beginning of January 1737, and at a meeting of the Board of Trustees on the 19th of the month, he received the thanks of the Board by unanimous vote. In reply he stated, " He had left the colony doing well, that the Indians from seven hundred miles distant had confederated with him, and acknowledged the authority of the king of England. That the Creeks and the Cherokees, and Chickasaws traded with Savannah when opportunity offered." The Creeks and Cherokees, although reconciled to each other by General Oglethorpe, had been so long enemies that when they met in coming down to trade with Savannah, small causes of offence produced hostility, and the firing of hostile guns were sometimes heard in Savannah ; but the offending parties fled from the white man's view, and the wounded were brought into town, healed and sent home. It was the firm reliance on Indian faith, that permitted General Oglethorpe to leave his infant colony so often, exposed as it was to the secret intrigues and hostilities of Spain and France. For although peace yet continued in Europe, it was only that peace which is employed in sharpening the sword and the spear, and in meditating how, and when, and where they will strike. The British ministers being at length satisfied that a war with both France and Spain was approaching, at the application of the Trustees of the province of Georgia late in August 1737, appointed Mr. Oglethorpe "Brigadier General," and directed him to raise a regiment for the protection of the colony. His military command was extended over South Carolina. General Oglethorpe was engaged from that time until the summer of 1738, in recruiting and training his men for foreign service. On the first of July, himself and regiment, seven hundred strong, embarked for Georgia. And as it is always interesting to read the journals of older times, I will extract from one that is now before me. " General Oglethorpe and the troops that came over with him were all landed at the Soldiers' Fort, at the south end of St. Simonds, On the 19th of September, and were saluted by all the cannon. The General encamped near the fort, and stayed until the 21st, to forward the disembarkation, and give necessary orders. The regiment is complete and every officer at his post. "On the 21st of September the General came up to Frederica and was saluted by fifteen guns from the fort in the town. The magistrates and townsmen waited upon him in a body, to congratulate him upon his arrival. The inhabitants went out on the 25th with the General at their head, and cut a road through the woods, down to the Soldiers' Fort at the south end. They performed this work in three days, although the vi^oods are very thick, and near six miles. " Several Indians are come to town ; they report that the chief men from every town in the upper and lower Creek nation will set out from their towns to see him, as soon as they hear of his arrival. " On the 8th of October two soldiers that had enlisted in London, and who had deserted formerly from Gibraltar, made an attack upon the life of General Oglethorpe, but were immediately killed by the swords of his officers. On the 18th he set out for Savannah." Thus far for Frederica. The following letter is of the same period, from Savannah. Savannah, October 23rd 1738. "General Oglethorpe set out from Frederica on the 18th o{ October, in aii o[>en boat, with two other boats attending him. and after rowing two days and two nights, arrived at Savannah. On the 20ih he was received by the magistrates at the water side and saluted by tlie cannon and militia under arms. The |>eople s[>ent the night in rejoicing, raaking bonfires, ^c. &.c/' On the :21st Tomachichi came to wait upon the Greneral. He said he had been very ill. but the old man was so rejoiced at the General's arriml that he said it recovered him. He acquainted the General that the chiefs of several towns of the Creek nation were ai his house, to congratulate him upon his arriral, and to assure him of their fidelity to the Kins: of Gfieat Britain. On the 23d the Indians came do\Mi the river froniTomachichi's house, viz., the Mico (which word translated is King,") of the Chickasaws. the Mico of the Ocmulgees, the Mice of the Uchees, with thirty of their warriors, and fifty two of their attendants. As they walked up the hill they were saluted by a battery of cannon, and conducted to the town hall by a party of militia, where the General received them. On their seeing the Oreneral they expressed great joy, and said the Spaniards had strove to persuade them that the General was at St. Augustine, and invited them down to his fort to see him there, where they accordingly went, but as soon as tliey found the General was not there they returned, though the Spaniards offered them great rewards, and pretended he was on board of a ship in the harbor, sick. General Oglethorpe was diligently employed during the winter of 1738. and the spring of '39, in placing the province of Georgia in the best condition for defence that time and his means permitted, as war between England on the one side, and France and Spain on the other had become inevitable. Among these means he considered his Indian alliances first, not from any actual force that they could bring into the field, either for offensive or defensive war, but because while they remained faithful to their engagements, the French of Louisiana and West Florida would be cautious how they weakened their own provinces, to aid Spain in carrying out her claims upon Georgia and Carolina. As the best means of accompHshing this end, he determined to attend in person a great council of the Indian tribes, that was ta assemble in the July and August of the year 1739, at Coweta town, now Fort Mitchell, on the Chattahouchee ; and in July he proceeded there, not in military pomp or force, but simply with a few pack horses and servants for his personal accommodation, and to carry presents for his red friends. When we call into remembrance the then force of these tribes, — for they could have brought into the field twenty thousand fighting men, — when we call to remembrance the influence the French had everywhere else obtained over the Indians, — when we call to remembrance the distance he had to travel through solitary pathways from Frederica, exposed to summer suns, night dews, and to the treachery of any single Indian, who knew, and every Indian knew the rich reward that would have awaited him for the act from the Spaniards in St. Augustine, or the French in Mobile ; surely we may proudly ask, what soldier ever gave higher proof of courage ? What gentleman ever gave greater evidence of magnanimity ? What English governor of an American province, ever gave such assurance of deep devotion to public duty. General Oglethorpe was received at Coweta by the assembled chiefs that were deputed to meet him, from the Creeks, Cherokees, and Chickasaws, with the warmest friendship and devotion. They declared that they remained firm in love to the king of Great Britain, and all his people. They renewed and confirmed all the treaties they had formerly made with him. In their new treaty the Creeks still reserved the small territory between Pipe-maker's Creek and Savannah, that when they came to see their white friends, they might sleep upon their own ground, and the islands of Ossabaw, St. Catherine's, and Sapelo, that they might fish and bathe in their own waters. General Oglethorpe smoked with them the hallowed pipe of peace, drank with them the medicine drink, and was initiated by the medicine men into their mysteries. While with them he received communications from New York, informing him that the French were descending the Ohio and Mississippi to attack the Chickasaus. The Council separated in haste, with pledges of faith and friendship to prepare for war with the common enemy. While General Oglethorpe was yet in Savannah, before his return to Frederica from the Indian council, he lost his o{ October, in aii o[>en boat, with two other boats attending him. and after rowing two days and two nights, arrived at Savannah. On the 20ih he was received by the magistrates at the water side and saluted by tlie cannon and militia under arms. The people spent the night in rejoicing, making bonfires, &c. &.c On the :21st Tomachichi came to wait upon the Greneral. He said he had been very ill. but the old man was so rejoiced at the General's arriml that he said it recovered him. He acquainted the General that the chiefs of several towns of the Creek nation were ai his house, to congratulate him upon his arriral, and to assure him of their fidelity to the Kins: of Great Britain. On the 23d the Indians came do\Mi the river froniTomachichi's house, viz., the ^fico (which word translated is King,") of the Chickasaws. the ^Tico of the Ocmulgees, the Mice of the Uchees, with thirty of their warriors, and fiftytwo of their attendants. As they walked up the hill they were saluted by a battery of cannon, and conducted to the town hall by a party of militia, where the General received them. On their seeing the Oreneral they expressed great joy, and said the Spaniards had strove to persuade them that the General was at St. Augustine, and invited them down to his fort to see him there, where they accordingly went, but as soon as tliey found the General was not there they returned, though the Spaniards offered them great rewards, and pretended he was on board of a ship in the harbor, sick. General Oglethorpe was diligently employed during the winter of 1T3S. and the spring of '39, in placing the province of Georgia in the best condition for defence that time and his means permitted, as war between England on the one side, and France and Spain on the other had become inevitable. Among these means he considered his Indian alliances first, not from any actual force that they could bring into the field, either for offensive or defensive war, but because while they remained faithful to their engagements, the French of Louisiana and West Florida would be cautious how they weakened their own provinces, to aid Spain in carrying out her claims upon Georgia and Carolina. As the best means of accompHshing this end, he determined to attend in person a great council of the Indian Life of Oglethorpe. 263 tribes, that was ta assemble in the July and August of the year 1739, at Coweta town, now Fort Mitchell, on the Chattahouchee ; and in July he proceeded there, not in military pomp or force, but simply with a few pack horses and servants for his personal accommodation, and to carry presents for his red friends. When we call into remembrance the then force of these tribes, — for they could have brought into the field twenty thousand fighting men, — when we call to remembrance the influence the French had everywhere else obtained over the Indians, — when we call to remembrance the distance he had to travel through solitary pathways from Frederica, exposed to summer suns, night dews, and to the treachery of any single Indian, who knew, and every Indian knew the rich reward that would have awaited him for the act from the Spaniards in St. Augustine, or the French in Mobile ; surely we may proudly ask, what soldier ever gave higher proof of courage ? What gentleman ever gave greater evidence of magnanimity ? What English governor of an American province, ever gave such assurance of deep devotion to public duty. General Oglethorpe was received at Coweta by the assembled chiefs that were deputed to meet him, from the Creeks, Cherokees, and Chickasaws, with the warmest friendship and devotion. They declared that they remained firm in love to the king of Great Britain, and all his people. They renewed and confirmed all the treaties they had formerly made with him. In their new treaty the Creeks still reserved the small territory between Pipe-maker's Creek and Savannah, that when they came to see their white friends, they might sleep upon their own ground, and the islands of Ossabaw, St. Catherine's, and Sapelo, that they might fish and bathe in their own waters. General Oglethorpe smoked with them the hallowed pipe of peace, drank with them the medicine drink, and was initiated by the medicine men into their mysteries. While with them he received communications from New York, informing him that the French were descending the Ohio and Mississippi to attack the Chickasaus. The Council separated in haste, with pledges of faith and friendship to prepare for war with the common enemy. While General Oglethorpe was yet in Savannah, before his return to Frederica from the Indian council, he lost his first and most devoted Indian friend. Tomachichi departed to join his fathers in the land of spirits ; and we will follow him to his grave, in the recorded events of the day. Savannah, October lOth, 1739. " King Tomachichi died on the 5th instant, at his own town, four miles from hence, of a lingering illness, being aged about ninety-seven. He was sensible to his last moment, and when he was persuaded that his death was near, he shewed the greatest magnanimity and sedateness, and exhorted his people never to forget the favors he had received when in Englan'd ; but to persevere in their friendship to the English. He expressed the greatest tenderness for General Oglethorpe, and seemed to have no concern at dying, but its being at a time when he might have been useful against the Spaniards. "He desired that his body might be buried amongst the English at Savannah, where it lies. He had prevailed upon the Creeks to give the land and had assisted in founding the town. "The corpse was brought down by water. The General, attended by the magistrates and people, met it upon the water's edge. The corpse was carried into Percival square. It was followed by the General and the Indians, the magistrates and the people of the town. Minute guns were fired from the battery all the time of the burial. The General has ordered a pyramid of the iron stones which are dug in the neighborhood, to be erected over him."* Tomachichi was a chief, and in his youth a great warrior. He had an excellent judgment, and a very ready wit, which showed itself in all his speeches. He was very generous, giving away all the rich presents he had received, and living himself in poverty. But we ask where is his tomb ? Savannah owes it to herself, she owes it to the memory of General Oglethorpe, she owes it to her first friend among red men. Immediately after the funeral of Tomachichi General Oglethorpe returned to Frederica, and we extract from a journal of the day what follows ''Frederica, JYovember 15//?, 1739. " Advice is just received from Amelia Island that the Spaniards landed at night, and murdered two Highlanders in the woods that had gone out of the fort unarmed, but upon the party in the fort going out, the Spaniards fled." At this point commenced the war with Spain in Georgia, and General Oglethorpe began to collect around him his very inadequate means for the invasion of Florida, under the deep conviction that if he did not carry the war into Florida, St. Augustine would become a nucleus around which troops from Cuba and Mexico and the other powerful and adjacent provinces of Spain would congregate to overwhelm and destroy his yet feeble colony. The following was known to be the condition of the fortifications at St. Augustine at this time : The castle is built of soft stone, with four bastions, the curtain sixty yards in length, the parapet nine feet thick, the rampart twenty feet high, casemated underneath for lodgings, arched over and newly made bomb-proof, and they have for some time past been working on a covert way, which is nearly finished. This fort has fifty pieces of cannon mounted on it, sixteen of which are brass and twenty-four pounders. The town is entrenched with ten salient angles, in each of which are some cannon. The number of troops now there are thirteen hundred and twenty-four regulars, besides the militia of the town, and a few Spanish Indians. General Oglethorpe received orders in January, 1740, to make hostile movements against Florida, with an assurance from Sir Robert Walpole's administration, that Admiral Vernon, after having made a demonstration of his force in the West Indies, should be at hand to cooperate with him. He himself believed, that, when war is necessary "the great and not the little war," should be resorted to ; and having heard, by a deserter, that St. Augustine was in want of provisions, he determined to make that his point of attack. Carolina had twice recently been upon the verge of ruin by the insurrection of her slaves, instigated by the black emissaries who had formeily run away from the province, and who were detained at St. Augustine for the express purpose of being employed upon such occasions. Looking to her own interest, he could not doubt that Carolina would enter with zeal into the enterprize, and give every aid in her power. He communicated his intention, therefore, to Lieutenant Governor Bull ; and as success could only be hoped for by taking the enemy by surprise, and before he was supplied with additional means, and men from Cuba, (the then head and centre of Spanish American power,) he proceeded to Charleston, to arrange with Governor Bull the means and order of attack. The assembly were warmed into action by his presence, and voted £120,000 (equal to about ^70,000) and 400 men for the expedition. The men were placed under the command of Colonel Vanderdussen. Captain Price, with four sloops of war of twenty guns each, consented to cooperate in the attack. And the river St. John's, in Florida, was determined upon as the point of reunion, after each should have performed the task assigned them. Having accomplished all that was in his power, and having impressed upon Governor Bull the absolute necessity of prompt and immediate action, he returned to Frederica, to join his own regiment, and prepare all under his control for the expedition. The Carolina regiment, under Colonel Vanderdussen, reached Darien, the first ofMay ; where they were joined by General Oglethorpe's favorite corps, the Highlanders, ninety strong, commanded by Captain Mcintosh and Lieutenant McKay. They were ordered, accompanied by his Indian force, to march prompdy for the Cow-ford, (now Jacksonville) upon the river St. Johns. This route was familiar to the Carolinians, who had maintained small military posts, before General Oglethorpe's occupancy of Georgia, as far south as the St. Mary's river. And the Cow-ford is the only point where men, proceeding by land, can conveniently pass the river. General Oglethorpe embarked four hundred of his regiment at Frederica, on the third of May, in galleys and flat bottomed boats, with his stores, ammunition and provisions, to take the route by the inland passage for Florida. He had been compelled, of necessity, to leave three hundred of his own regiment at Frederica and the intermediate points, under the command of Major Horton, to garrison his works lest the enemy, hearing of his movements, should pass into his rear, and destroy his now feeble and disarmed colony. In six days he had wound his way through the creeks and marshes that intervened between Frederica and St. John's Bluft', three miles above the sea-mouth of the river, with his galleys and his loaded boats. Who is there, that is familiar with this intricate and perplexed navigation, that will not wonder at his expedition ? But the Carolina troops, as he learned from his Indian runners, had not arrived at the Cowford ; and it was upon this force, accompanied by his Highlanders, and his Indians, that he had rested for a rapid movement upon St. Augustine, sweeping away and destroying whatever of provisions, or other supplies, they might find in their way, and cutting off the retreat of the garrison at Fort Diego, a post about equidistant from St. Augustine and the river St. John's. Disappointed in this expectation, and knowing his plans were now developed to the enemy, he had reluctantly to move forward to Fort Diego, that he might save every hour, precious to him for many reasons, —as well because the enemy had time to collect his means, and strengthen his defences, as because the ninth of May had arrived when the sun in the latitude of twenty-nine, was pouring the strength of his rays upon them. On the tenth of May, he invested Fort Diego, which immedintely surrendered, and was garrisoned with sixty men under Lieutenant Dunbar, This post was important, not only as considerably in advance, but because Diego is directly on the way to St. Augustine, and because it communicates safely and easily with the river St. John's by a fine navigable water, called Poplar creek and it was in this water that his boats were to be sheltered, and by this creek much of his provisions and materiel for offensive war was to be conveyed. Having occupied Fort Diego, he returned to the St. John's and passed up to the Cow-ford, where the Carolina regiment, and Captain Mcintosh's Highlanders, that accompanied them, had at last arrived. Without an intimate knowledge of localities, men with the best information, and the best intentions, are liable to fall into errors in the recital of the operations of war ; and it is this circumstance that gives such a precious value to the memoranda of men, who, like Xenophon, or Caesar, or Frederick, only write what they themselves have done. There are many accounts of the operations of General Oglethorpe against St. Augustine ; none of them, to the word, correct. But we believe Doctor Hewatt's by far the best. Any errors he has fallen into, have arisen from a want of knowledge of the localities, for the peculiarity of these have rendered Florida one of the most defensible countries in America. The Florida then held by the Spanish forces, was girdled by the river St. John's, (called by the Spaniards the Lagunas of St. Juan.) Between this girdle of lakes, and the sea, all w^as sterile. No cultivated fields gave nourishment to man ; no flocks wandered through the wilds, to minister to his wants. Even the buffalo was not within this peninsula, or had been driven away by the sound of Spanish cannon, which had been heard for more than a century around St. Augustine.* But we will take up the narrative of Dr. Hewatt, claiming to correct the little we believe to be wrong, from the narrative of one who was himself an actor in the scene. " On the 9th of May, 1740, the General passed over to Florida with four hundred select men of his regiment and a considerable party of Indians, and on the day following invested Diego, a small fort about twenty-five miles from St. Augustine ; which after a short resistance surrendered by capitulation. In this fort he left a garrison of sixty men, under the command of Lieutenant Dunbar, and returned to the place of rendezvous, where he was joined by Colonel Vanderdussen with the Carolina regiment, and a company of Highlanders under Captain Mcintosh. But by this time six Spanish half-galleys, wdth long, brass nine-pounders, and two sloops loaded with provisions, had got into harbor at St. Augustine. A few days afterwards the General marched with his whole force, consisting of above two thousand men, (nine hundred soldiers and eleven hundred Indians) regulars, provincials, and Indians, to fort Moosa, situated within two miles of St. Augustine ; which on his approach, the Spanish garrison evacuated, and retired into the town. He immediately ordered the gates of this fort to be burnt, three breaches to be made in its walls, and then proceeded to reconnoitre the town and castle. "The General now plainly perceived that an attack by land upon the town, and an attempt to take the castle by storm, would cost him dear before he could reduce the place ; and therefore changed his plan of operations. With the assistance of the ships of war, which were now lying at anchor off St. Augustine bar, he resolved to turn the siege into a blockade, and try to shut up every channel by which provisions could be conveyed to the gari-ison. For this purpose he left Col. Palmer, with ninety-live Highlanders and Ibrty-two Indians, at Fort Moosa, with orders to scour the woods around the town, and intercept all supplies of cattle from the country by land ; and for the safety of his men_, he at the same time, ordered him to encamp every night in a different place, to keep strict watch around his camp, and by all means to avoid coming to any action. This small party was the whole force the General left for guarding the land side. Then he sent Col. Vanderdussen, with the Carolina regiment, over a small creek, to take possession of a neck of land called Point Quartel, above a mile distant from the castle, with orders to erect a battery upon it ; while he himself, with his regiment and the greater part of the Indians, embarked in boats, and landed on the island of Anastatia. In this island the Spaniards had a small party of men stationed for a guard, who immediately fled to town ; and as it lay opposite to the castle from this place, the General resolved to bombard the town. Capt. Pierce stationed one of his ships to guard the passage by way of the Matanzas, and with the others blocked up the mouth of the harbor; so that the Spaniards were cut off from all supplies by sea. On the island of Anastatia batteries were soon erected, and several cannon mounted, by the assistance of the active and enterprising sailors. The opportunity now lost of surprising the place, he had no other secure method left but to attack it at the distance in which he then stood. For this purpose he opened his batteries against the castle, and at the same time threw a number of shells into the town. The fire was returned with equal spirit both from the Spanish fort, and from six half galleys in the harbor ; but so great was the distance, that, though they continued the cannonade for several days, httle execution was done on either side. Capt. Warren, a brave naval officer, perceiving that all efforts in this way for demolishing the castle were vain and ineffectual, proposed to destroy the Spanish galleys in harbor, by an attack in the night ; and offered to go himself and head the attempt. A council of war was held to consider of, and concert a plan for that service ; but upon sounding the bar, it was found it would admit no large ships to the attack, and with small ones it was judged rash and impracticable, the galleys being covered by the cannon of the casde, and therefore that design was dropped. In the mean time the Spanish commander, observing the besiegers embarrassed, and their operations beginning to relax, sent out a detachment of three hundred" (six hundred) "men against Col. Palmer; who surprised him at Fort Moosa, and while most of his party lay asleep, cut them almost entirely to pieces. A few, that accidentally escaped, went over in a small boat to the Carohna regiment at Point Quartel. Some of the Chickasaw Indians, coming from that fort, having met with a Spaniard, cut off his head, agreeably to their savage manner of waging war, and presented it to the General in his camp ; but he rejected it with abhorrence, calling them barbarous dogs, and bidding them be gone. At this disdainful behavior, however, the Chickasaws were offended, declaring that if they had carried the head of an Englishman to the French, they would not have treated them so ; and perhaps the General discovered more humanity than good policy by it, for those Indians, who knew none of the European customs and refinements in war, soon deserted him. About the same time, the vessels stationed at the Matanzas being ordered off, some small ships from the Havanna with provisions, and a reinforcement of men, got into, St. Augustine, by that narrow channel, to the relief of the garrison. A party of Creeks, having surprised one of their small boats, brought four Spanish prisoners to the General, who informed him that the garrison had received seven hundred men, and a large supply of provisions. Thus all prospect of starving the enemy being lost, the army began to despair of forcing the place to surrender. " The Carolina troops, enfeebled by the heat, dispirited by sickness, and fatigued by fruitless efforts, marched away in large bodies. "The navy being short of provisions, and the usual season of hurricanes approaching, the commander judged it imprudent to hazard his Majesty's ships by remaining longer on that coast. " Last of all, the General himself, sick of a fever, and his regiment worn out with fatigue, and rendered unfit for action by a flux, with sorrow and regret followed, and reached Frederica about the 10th of July 1740." This detail is a Httle complexioned by the men who lost caste in Carolina with their high and gallant countrymen for having fled without fighting from St. Augustine ; for the morning after the attack upon fort Moosa, the entire regiment under Col. Vanderdussen fled, the 'Colonel leading the rout ; nor did he arrest his flight until night overtook him, thirty miles from St. Augustine.* And here we will pause to look back upon what had passed. And now that we are well acquainted with the scene of operations, we must be filled with wonder that General Oglethorpe should have been able, with his four hundred remaining soldiers and a few faithful Indians, to have made good his retreat to Frederica, not only without loss, but without pursuit, before an enemy of three times his number, and flushed with victory over the gallant men who died at Fort Moosa. When General Oglethorpe left Charleston, he had requested and expected (as the ships of war were ready for service) that Captain Price would at once proceed, or send some ships to take position before St. Augustine, or south of it, so as to intercept all communication with, or supplies from Cuba. If this had been done, the six galleys and the additional forces, which accompanied them, would have been intercepted or captured. He gave his right wing, that marched by land, two days the start of him ; and moving as they did with a cloud of Indians around them, he had just reason to suppose they would have been at the Cow-ford, a point nearer to St. Augustine, the day before he reached St. John's bluff; that, crossing over at this point, the whole peninsula between St. Augustine and the river St. John's would have been swept before his Indian allies and his light troops, by the time he had landed his men and munitions at the mouth of the river. This movement, by separate columns, and collapsing upon the point of attack, is now familiar to every military mail ; for it was the plan of Bonaparte at Ulm, at Madrid, and elsewhere. And such was the tactic of General Oglethorpe in his advance upon St. Augustine, and it only failed because there was a want of cooperation in the several parts. One object, however, was obtained by this display of his means ; the meditated attack upon Frederica was postponed for two years. The Spaniards felt that, although his Indian allies had been of no value to him in the investment of an embattled castle and an entrenched town, they would be efficient in the defence of a country covered with wood, and giving field for stratagem, ambuscade and surprise ; and they waited therefore in the hope that time might lessen or destroy this union. General Oglethorpe thus had a short space allowed him to turn his attention to the internal government and improvement of his colony ; and many a monument yet remains to show the ability and zeal with which he did so. War had called off his attention from Savannah, and he had fixed his residence at Frederica, the extreme southern point of his government. Yet all that he did there, still shows the science that enlightened his mind, and the taste that presided over it. At Frederica, General Oglethorpe's object was diflferent. He was establishing a military post, and had to compact his means. There were no extended squares, and no broad streets, but his esplanade and parade ground. To the south of the fort the streets I think were about forty feet. There were no trees in them ; trees would have been in the way of military movements. The houses were all either of brick or tabby,* the best and cheapest material that has ever been employed by man, for the ei'ection of permanent or even beautiful buildings, with moderate means. For being soft and plastic when first mixed, he fashions it to his will, and it hardens to the form he stamps upon it. St. Simon's was then covered with a thick and ponderous oak wood. None of this wood was cut away except around his fort, at the south end of the island, which was laid off into five acre lots for the troops who occupied it, and some small space around the works at Frederica at unexposed points north east of the town. It may be remembered, in describing the road executed immediately after the General's arrival with his troops, it was stated that the road entered a beautiful pi-aiiie of a mile over. Upon the shore of that prairie, just where the road entered the wood. General Oglethorpe established his own humble homestead. It consisted of a cottage, a garden, and an orchard for oranges, figs and grapes.f The house was overshadowed by oaks of every variety. It looked to the westward across the prairie (which was the common pasturage of the herds of the town), upon the entrenched town and fort, and upon the beautiful white houses, which had risen up as by the enchanter's will. Can imagination go back, and recall a hero and a statesman, reposing under the shades of these oaks, in the twilight of a summer evening, and not feel that if pleasurable sensations belong to humanity, they might be enjoyed by such a man, at such an hour ? And what though in time the spoiler came ? The hand of unjust power first tore the soldier from his embattled hall; fire fell upon his dwelling, when there was none to arrest its force ; and the smouldering ruin and the ivyed wall are all that now remain to tell where General Oglethorpe lived, or how he labored. Happily, he was far away, and did not see the ruin ; and memory in age delights to recall, not the dark, not the gloomy, but the bright hours of the past. At General Oglethorp's cottage, a road diverged due east, passing in about half a mile to the seat of Captain Raymond Demere, one of the oldest officers of the regiment. This gentleman was a French Huguenot of considerable fortune, much of which he expended in ornamenting a country seat, rather in the French taste than the English, or rather the taste of that day. At Harrington Hall, the seat of Captain Demere, the enclosures were entirely of orange or cassina, a species of Ilex, but the most beautiful of the family, with small fleshy leaves intensely green. The plant is covered during winter with berries of vermilion red, of a waxen softness, and almost transparent. For fifty years after the death of Captain Demere these hedges, in much of their beauty, continued to prompt experiment, and to invite others to improvement. If the cassina hedges are even now all gone, they must have perished by the rude axe, in the hands of ruder men, and not by time. St. Simon's, then, in its better day, was peopled with a thousand men. There was civilization and the arts ; and above, below, and all around, nature was fresh and free, and in her wildest mood. There was health too as well as enjoyment here, and the soldiers of General Oglethorpe, while at St Simon's, were exempt from sickness. Even at Darien, upon the Alatamaha, the Highlanders posted there, did not know a fever for many years. But the time of repose for General Oglethorpe was pass ing away. The Spaniards had taken two years to prepare their means, and were coming, as they believed, with overwhehning force, to seek him in his strong hold. In the beginning of May, 1742, he was informed by Capt. Hamer, of the Flamborough sloop of war, that, cruising south, he had discovered a considerable Spanish fleet, filled with troops, that he had kept them in view until he had discovered rheir destination to be St. Augustine. General Oglethorpe, knowing that so large a force could only be intended for an attack upon Frederica, communicated with Governor Glen, and requested every aid that could be atTorded from South Carolina. He despatched a vessel to the West Indies to notify Admiral Vernon of the expected invasion. From neither of these did he receive any assistance, and he was basely left alone to meet the unequal contest. We have had published two recitals of the operations of the Spaniards against General Oglethorpe and his forces; Major McCall amplifying the details of Dr. Hewatt. But believing every one prefers the narrative of the day, and the reflections of the time, we will give two letters, which contain something like a journal of General Oglethorpe's operations during the Spanish invasion of Frederica, and for a few days after their retreat. Extract from a letter from Mr. J. Smith, on board the Success Frigate; dated the 1 4th of July, 1742. " On June the 20th, three days after our arrival in Georgia, we were alarmed by some small vessels being seen off the harbor of St. Simon's, which we took to be Spaniards. The next day, we were informed that the enemy, with eleven galleys, were in Cumberland sound, about twenty miles south of St. Simon's, where we lay ; upon which the General, with two companies of soldiers in three boats, went to the relief of Fort William upon Cumberland island, so that crossing Cumberland sound, the galleys, full of men, bore down upon him. He began the engagement with his own boat's crew, and exchanged several volleys. In the mean time, two galleys engaged one of the General's boats, with fifty men, commanded by Lieutenant Folson, who bore away, and left the General, with the other two boats, engaged. But they bravely fought their way through, and got to Fort William. On the 24th, the General returned with a company of soldiers, leaving all well at Fort William, when he arrested Lieutenant Folson for sailing away from him when engaged with the enemy. " Soon after thirty-two sail of vessels, large and small, came to anchor off the bar, hoisting Spanish colors ; where they lay five days, but sent their small vessels to sound the bar. Fourth of July, they came too in the right way of the channel, so that we expected to be attacked the next day. The General came on board of us, and made a speech to the seamen, calling upon them to stand by their liberties and our country. For himself, he was prepared for all dangers. He knew the enemy were more numerous far; but he relied upon the valor of his men, and he did not doubt, with the aid of God, they would be victorious. Fifth ; the Spanish vessels stood in. They were warmly received by the fort and vessels ; but passed on to Gascoin's bluff, where they landed five thousand men.* When General Oglethorpe found that his batteries could produce no effect upon the Spanish ships, from the distance at which they kept from his fort, he signalled his ships to run up to Frederica for security, deliberately spiked his guns, blew up part of the fort, but left some light troops and Indians posted in the woods where the road commenced, and retired to Frederica ; from whence we will again take up the journal of the day. ''Frederica, July 9th, 1742. " General Oglethorpe arrived here on the 6th, at daybreak, without the loss of a man. The same day the Creek Indians brought in five Spanish prisoners. On the 7th the rangers came in, and gave an account that the enemy was within a mile. The General took the first horse he found, and took the Highland company, and ordered sixty from the guard to follow him. He himself galloped with the Indians to the place, just within the wood, where he found Captain Sebastian Santo and Captain Magaleto with a hundred and twenty-five Spanish troops, and forty-five Spanish Indians. " Captain Grey, with his Chicka^aws, Captain Jones, of Savannah, with Tomachichi and Ci'eek Indians, and the General with six Highland men, who outran the rest of the company, immediately attacked the Spaniards. "Captain Magaleto was killed, Captain Sebastian Santo taken, and the Spaniards entirely defeated. The General took two Spaniards with his own hands, and after pursuing near a mile, where he halted, he posted his troops to advantage in the wood ; then came hither to order the regiments and companies to march. On his returning with his troops towards the late field of action, he met three platoons in great disorder, who gave him an account that they had been broken by the Spaniards, who were extremely numerous. Notwithstanding which he rallied them, rode on, and to his great satisfaction found that Lieut. Southerland and Lieut. McKay, with the Highlanders, had entirely defeated the enemy, who consisted of six hundred men. Don Antonio Barbara, who commanded them, was made prisoner, but mortally wounded in the action. There was one Captain, one Corporal, and sixteen Spaniards taken, and about one hundred and fifty killed. "July 8th, before day-break, the General advanced with a party of Indians to the Spanish camp at St. Simon's, and found them all retired into the old fort, under the cannon of their men-of-war. "On the 9th and 10th all hands were employed on the works at Frederica, and the Indians brought us some scalps and prisoners. " On the 11th, a cutter and two galleys came within gunshot of the town ; but on our firing some bombs and guns from the fort, and the General going towards them with his boats, they returned to their fleet. " The next morning, being the 12th, an English prisoner escaped from them, who informed us that the enemy on their landing, had resolved on giving no quarter ; but from the day their grenadiers were defeated, they had been in great terror, had entrenched themselves, and given orders that no one should go without their sentinels, for fear of being surprized by the Indians. "There was great disunion among them; in so much that Don Antonio de Rodondo, who commanded the Cuba forces, encamped separately from those of St. Augustine ; and that the Commodore had ordered all his seamen on board. "That night the General, with five hundred men, marched within a mile of the enemy's camp, intending to surprise them, but was prevented by the treachery of a Frenchman, who fired his piece, gave the alarm to the enemy, and then deserted to them. When the General found his intentions discovered to the enemy, he ordered all his drums to beat the grenadier's march, and then returned to Frederica. " The next day, being the 13th, in order to defeat the information of the French deserter, he directed a letter to be written, and sent it by a Spanish prisoner, who, for a reward, and his liberty, undertook to deliver it to the said Frenchman ; who was instructed to acquaint the enemy's commanding officer of the defenceless state of Frederica, and encourage them to come up by water under his pilotage. This letter the Spanish prisoner delivered to the governor of St. Augustine ; and it had so good an efTect that the Frenchman was immediately put into irons. "The next morning the Spaniards burned the barracks and officers' houses at St. Simon's, and Major Horton's house on Jekyl Island ; and the same night they reembarked with so much precipitation, that they left a quantity of ammunition, provisions, and some guns behind them. "The 13th, all the large vessels with the Cuba forces, sailed to the southward, and the Governor and troops from St. Augustine, on board the small craft, went within land, and encamped at St. Andrew's, and caught fifty horses with a design to carry them away ; but on the General's appearing in his boats, the enemy shot the horses, and burned the fort and houses at St. Andrew's. " On the 16th, the General followed the Spaniards with all his small craft, but was not strong enough to attack them. He landed a man out of his boat on Cumberland ; who that night passed the enemy's camp, and early the next day came to fort William, with advice to Ensign Stuart that the Spaniards were beat off from St. Simon's, and that the General was coming with succors, and ordered him to defend the fort to the utmost. "The 18th, twenty-eight sail of Spanish vessels appeared off Fort William, fourteen of which came within land, and attacked the fort from their galleys and other vessels, and attempted landing ; but were repulsed by a party of rangers from behind the sand hills. Ensign Stuart, who commanded in the fort with sixty men, defended it so bravely that after an attack of upwards of three hours, they were obliged to put to sea with considerable loss. The eighteen pounders disabled two of their galleys. "The 19th, the General was on his way to Fort William. The 20th, he arrived there, and sent his boats and rangers as far as the river St. John's, who returned the next day with advice that the enemy was quite gone. Upon which the General gave orders for the repairing of the fort, and on the 22d, returned to Frederica. A few days afterwards the men of war from Charleston came off St. Simon's bar. Capt. Thompson with some volunteers from Carolina, our guard schooner, and two galleys came into St. Simon's harbor; and Capt. Hardy, of the Rye man-of-war, receiving a message from the General by Lieut. Maxwell, who went on board him, sent for answer, that he would take a cruise with the rest of the king's ships. But the General, apprehending the Spaniards, upon recovering their fi-ight, might return witii more courage and better conduct, continued Capt. Thompson's ship in the king's service, and sent expresses over hmd to the northern provinces on this occasion. "A list of some of the Spanish forces employed in the invasion of Georgia under the command of Don Manuel de Monteano, Governor of St. Augustine, Commander-in-Chief of the expedition ; and Major General Antonio de Rodondo, engineer general : — " Two colonels, with brevets of brigadiers ; one regiment of Grenadiers ; one reojiment of Dragoons, dismounted the regiment called the Havanna Regiment; ten companies of fifty each, drafted off from several regiments in the Havanna ; one regiment of the Havanna militia, consisting of ten companies of one hundred each ; one regiment of negroes, regulars, officered by negroes ; one regiment of mulattoes, and one company of one hundred Miguelatos; one company of the train, with proper artillery. Augustine forces consisting of about three hundred men, ninety Indians, and fifteen negroes, who ran away from South Carolina." Thus terminated the invasion of Georgia by the great force that had been brought to bear upon General Oglethorpe, leaving him victorious, and crowned with a glory which no Englishman up to that time had acquired in any of the provinces ; for the Spaniards of that day were not like the Spaniards of this. Spain had been for centuries a field of battle, an arena for the powers of Europe to contend in. Nor had Spanish infantry lost any of that fame, in these times, which they had so well maintained under a Prince of Parma and a Duke of Alva. The Spanish infantry that were brought to bear upon Fort Moosa, and again at the Bloody Marsh on St. Simon's, were the same. They were a chosen regiment of grenadiers from old Spain, in garrison at Cuba, that were employed upon both occasions. At Fort Moosa they were victorious, but not bloodless. The particulars of that affair were not known for years, or until Capt. Mcintosh was exchanged at the peace. Fort Moosa is upon a broad river emptying itself under the castle of St. Augustine, four miles only from the castle. Capt. Mcintosh had remonstrated with Col. Palmer, for remaining there more than one night, until it produced an alienation between them. All that he could then do was to make his company sleep upon their arms. They were not surprised. At the first alarm of the sentinels they were in rank. They met the Spanish infantry that approached them in three columns with a highland shout. But the contest was too unequal ; all was over in a moment; and Capt. Mcintosh and thirty-six of his men had fallen under the Spanish bayonets. A few, with his young son, escaped through the breached wall, and when Col. Palmer, saw the overwhelming force that assailed them, he directed the rangers without the walls, to fly ; but, refusing to follow them, paid the debt of imprudence with his blood. The Spaniards, as should have been expected, when they found Col. Palmer, for five nights, had made with his moving columns. Fort Moosa his resting-place, came in boats with muffled oars at the dead of night. They landed unheard and undiscovered. The Indians, who were relied upon by the commanding ofiicer, were watching the land side, but never dreamed of, or looked to the water. The dead and the wounded of the Spaniards were carried back to St. Augustine for burial. It was this same regiment that, two years afterwards, was brought from Cuba to lead in all enterprises that were again destined to meet the remnant of those highlanders, that they had encountered at Fort Moosa. But this time the scene had changed. It was in the light of day, and it was blood and slaughter, and not victory that awaited them. In the details that have been given of that day, written probably in a hurry, and certainly by one not himself engaged in the action, there is some confusion of position, and some mingling of events, which can only be understood by one familiar in his childhood with the scene, and who has travelled it over often, with more than one that was himself an actor in the conflict. It may be remembered that in giving an account of the road cut out from Frederica to the south end of the island of St. Simons, where the fort and sea battery were placed, it was stated that General Oglethorpe traced this road himself; that it proceeded in a south-eastern direction, for two or three miles, where it reached the eastern marsh ; that this marsh was bounded to the east, or seaward, by a thick and impracticable morass ; on the west, by dense, close wood. The highway continued along this marsh for two miles, sometimes opening into wide spreads of firm land, fit for the display or manoeuvring of men. But when it had again approached within two miles of the south end, there was a bend, in crescent form, in which the firm way was not more than twenty yards wide ; on the east or convex-side of the crescent an intense morass, on the concave or western shore of the crescent an extreme thick brush-wood. After passing this strait, the road entered an open wood of oaks and other timber, concealing the movement of troops, but not giving passage to them. This wood continued for about a mile or two before the fort and open grounds and sea expanded to the view. It was in this open wood. General Oglethorpe had, in retiring from Frederica, left a few rangers and some Indians to watch the motions of the Spaniards. And this wood was the scene of action on the morning of the seventh of July. Two companies of vSpaniards and some Spanish Indians at the dawn of day issued from the Spanish camp and made an attack upon the rangers and Indians within the wood. They drove the rangers and Indians to the mouth of the defile, but did not attempt to pass it. The first movement of the Spaniards had been communicated, as we see, to the General. He hurried to the scene of action, and with his advance overthrew the Spaniards, and pursued them to the open field in view of the fort. His first impression, afier taking this view was that this attack, from the small force employed, was but a feint to draw off his attention from a more serious attack of Frederica by water. He therefore left two companies of his regiment under the command of one of his oldest Captains ; the Highland company and the Indians, to guard the wood, and returned to wait any movement the enemy might have made by the river against Frederica. But finding there again all still, and the vessels that were within his observation from his lawn or point battery in their former positions, he was returning to the late scene of action with all the men that were not absolutely necessary to man his batteries, when about half way from Frederica he met his two companies with the great body of his Indians, who said that they had been assailed by the whole Spanish force in the wood ; that they had been broken and had retired before them ; that the Spaniards were in pursuit, and would soon be upon them ; for they heard the firing and yells of their Indians in pursuit. He rallied his broken troops, and reproached them for not taking ground upon some of the strong points they had left behind them, there to await his arrival ; for he knew he must fight the enemy upon some of those points, or all would be lost. Frederica could not be defended, if the enemy once reached the prairie in its rear but for a short time; and all his hopes rested upon meeting them with his Indians in the wood, and profiting by the localities. He continued, however, with hurried steps, and with reviving hopes as he met no enemy in advance ; until, arriving at the last bend of the marshy way, a scene opened upon him, which his proudest expectations could never have looked for ; a scene to himself of glory and security ; to his enemy, of shame and defeat. The last bend of the marsh was covered by two hundred grenadiers, who lay dead or dying upon the field, while not an enemy w^as in sight. All was still, save sometimes at intervals a Highland shout or an Indian yell proclaimed that another and another had been found, and dragged from his covert. But how rose that shout, how rang that yell, when the actors stood around their chief to hail him victor of the . day. And we have seen the eye glisten, and the voice rise, fifty years afterwards as we fondly listened to the tale by one who had mingled in the strife and been partner in the scene. But we will detail the little that remains to be told. When the troops were attacked in the wood by the Spanish forces from their camp, they w^ere overwhelmed by superior numbers, and became, as is sometimes the case with even veteran troops, seized with a panic, lest the Spaniards, pushing on, should take possession of the defile, and cut off their retreat. They therefore made a precipitate retreat, the Highlanders following in the rear reluctantly. After passing through the defile Lieut. McKay communicated to his friend Lieut. Southerland, (who commanded the rear guard of the retreating forces, composed also of Highlanders,) the feelings of his corps, and they agreed to drop behind, and as soon as the whole had passed the defile, as there were no Spaniards in view, to return through the brush and take post at the two points of the crescent. Four Indians that were with them, and particularly attached to the corps, remained with them. They had just taken post and concealed themselves in the woods when the Spaniards, having made all their arrangemerits for an advance, their grenadier regiment, the elite of their troops, advanced into the defile, where, seeing in the foot-prints the rapid retreat of the broken troops, and observing that their right was covered by an open morass, and their left, as they supposed, by an impracticable wall of brush-wood, and a border of dry white sand, they stacked their arms and sat down to take the refreshment that had become necessary after having been under arms many hours, believing as they did, that the contest for the day was over. Just at that moment, a Highland cap was raised at either point, and the scene of death began. All was terror— no resistance was made — sometimes they attempted to fly along the marsh. This pass was too narrow. They were met and slaughtered by the broad-sword. Those that did escape, had at last to make their way to and through the brush-wood, where many wounded perished, and their bodies were only found when all that remained of them were their whitened bones. The young soldier of Fort Moosa, just then sixteen years of age, was there. No shout rose higher, no sword waved quicker than his upon that day. But his heart was as soft as it was brave, and there was melancholy in his mood, when standing upon the ground and pointing to where the victor stood, and where the vanquished fell, he told to his daughter's son this tale of other times.* General Oglethorpe had long been informed, and knew, of the intrigues that Lieut. Col. Cook, and Col. Vanderdussen, and other disgraced and disaffected persons at and from Charleston had been carrying on against him in England. But conscious in his own integrity, and proud in the purity of his own actions, he did not waste one hour of his time in reflections upon these reptiles ; awaiting in repose the time, when having discharged his higher duties, he would have leisure to turn upon them and their calumnies. He remained therefore in Georgia until March or April of the year 1743 and would have remained still longer, but the high military reputation he had acquired in Europe by the result of the Spanish war in Georgia had drawn upon him the eyes of the British ministry, who were beginning to tremble at the rumor of an expected invasion by Charles Edward Stuart, the young Pretender, to be backed by France. The ministry were anxious for his presence in their army, from the consideration he was held in by the high church and Jacobite parties, with whom it was supposed his presence in the army would have an influence. He therefore received positive orders to embark for England. Georgia being no longer in danger, he could no longer postpone obedience to those orders, and General Oglethorpe was compelled, by military duty, reluctantly to take part in a contest, in which his heart did not follow his hand ; and, as is ever the case in every such contest, the latent feeling never fails in some hour of opportunity, in a generous mind, to develope itself. The day before his departure from St. Simon's, while at anchor in the sound, the scene between himself and the young Mclntoshes, William and Lacklin, (which is related in the life of General Lacklin Mcintosh*) occurred. All Georgia lamented his departure, and none more than his regiment, which loved him as a father, and revered him as a friend. But all hoped that this departure, hke the many separations that had been before, would be of short duration, and that he would return to them, as he had returned before, with blessings upon his wings. They little knew that the viper, which had been gathering venom for a long time, was in the way, and that at the first incautious step, it would sting him they so much loved, or still more dark would have been the day, when for the last time his sails were unfurled to the winds of the west. We will extract from Dr. Hewatt the feelings of Carolina when General Oglethorpe had at length left Georgia, and it will come better from him than from us, for we feel reluctant to speak of his enemies. " But while the inhabitants of Port Royal were thus addressing General Oglethorpe, reports were circulating in Charleston to his prejudice, insomuch that both his honor and honesty were called in question. Such malicious rumors had even reached London, and occasioned some of his bills to return to America protested. Lieut. Col. William Cook, who owed his preferment to the General's particular friendship and generosity, and who, on pretence of sickness, had left Georgia before this invasion, had filed no less than nineteen articles of complaint against him, summoning several officers and soldiers from Georgia to prove the charge. "As the General had in fact stretched his credit, exhausted his strength and risked his life for the defence of Carolina, in its frontier colony, such a recompense must have been equally provoking, as it was unmerited. We are apt to believe that such injurious treatment could not have arisen from the wiser and better part of the inhabitants, and therefore must be solely ascribed to some envious and malignant spirits who are to be found in all communities. Envy cannot bear the blaze of superior virtue, and malice rejoices in the stains which even falsehood throws on a distinguished character and such is the extensive freedom of the British form of government, that every one, even the meanest, may step forth as an enemy to great abilities and unblemished reputation." Soon after his arrival a court martial of General officers was called, who sat two days at the Horse Guards, examining one by one the various articles of complaint lodged against him. After the most mature examination, the board adjudged the charge to be false, malicious and groundless, and reported the same to his Majesty ; in consequence of which Lieut. CoL Cook was dismissed from the service, and declared incapable of serving his Majesty in any military capacity whatever. By this means the character of Gen. Oglethorpe was vindicated, and began to appear to the world in its true and favorable light. Carolina owed this benefactor her friendship and love ; Georgia was indebted to him for both her existence and protection. Indeed his generous services for both colonies deserve to be deeply imprinted on the memory of every inhabitant, and the benefit resulting from them to be remembered to the latest age with joy and gratitude. On the return of Gen. Oglethorpe to England the Trustees adopted his views and revised the government of the province. Up to this period the government of Georgia had been altogether miUtary, executed by Gen. Oglethorpe and such oflicers as he chose to appoint ; but his paternal eye being now withdrawn (for a time, the length of which could not be known,) the Trustees established a civil government, and committed the administration to the President and four Assistants, who were to correspond directly with the Board of Trustees, and receive instructions from them, while Gen. Oglethorpe's regiment was left for the protection of the province. And here perhaps is the proper place to pause and look back for a moment to the course of Georgia, under Gen. Oglethorpe ; for the habit of humanity is complaint, the lot of humanity is care and suffering. We must not look at the condition of Geor2:ia under General Oglethorpe and the Trustees in the abstract, but regard it in comparison with the condition of other colonies in their first settlement. And yet there was no colony so exposed to dangers from civilized and savage men. What had been the condition of Virginia for fifty years after its first settlement? What had it been but war within and war without? Even the brave and iron-hearted men of Cromwell, what was their condition for the first fifty years? Did they know peace ? Did they enjoy pleasure ? Among the pilgrims of the east was there harmony within and security from without ? The people of Georgia, under Gen. Oglethorpe, complained, though all their real wants were ministered to, because the wilderness did not blossom, or the earth give forth its fruits without labor. But time and reflection have brought healing upon its wings. Gen. Oglethorpe, soon after his arrival in England, married a lady of some fortune, to whom he had been long attached ; a lady whose mind and disposition were calculated to give him what neither the new^ world nor the old had given him, the repose of years. Gen. Oglethorpe was received very graciously by the administration, who were in the daily expectation of an invasion, by Charles Edward Stuart, backed as was supposed by a French and Spanish force. Gen. Oglethorpe's military reputation was high, particularly with the Jacobite party, while the ministry knew they could rely upon his faith and his soldier's honor, if he was engaged in the contest, however his feelings might have clung to the standard under which his fathers fought. They therefore gave him a command in the army that was collecting to meet the expected rising of the north. At length in June, 1745, the pretender Charles Edward Stuart sailed from France, and after meeting with many difficulties landed in Scodand and raised his standard. He was joined by a few of the Clans ; foremost among them the Camerons. The Mclntoshes had suffered so much in the rising of 1715, that few of them were left for the war of '45. But these few were led to the field by a woman, by Lady Mcintosh, a near relative of John More Mcintosh of Georgia, who had married her kinsman Mcintosh of Mary Hall, a branch of the family that had attached themselves to the house of Brunswick. A reference to Smollet, vol. iii., p. 150, will show the progress of Prince Charles and the cruelties practised on his adherents by the forces sent to quell the rebellion and arrest his career. Not Alaric with his Goths nor Attila with his Huns ever carried desolation farther than did the recreant Generals Cope and Hawley their exterminating wrath upon the unfortunate people of Scotland. Is it to be wondered at that General Oglethorpe who commanded the English horse, and was a witness of these outrages, (in modern times without example,) and that too upon the relatives and friends of men who had served with him in Georgia, and followed his steps through dangers and difficulties from which these murderers would have shrunk abashed or fled ;—is it to be wondered, that his generous mind revolted at such cruelties ? that he first complained, then remonstrated, to the Duke of Cumberland ; and at length broke out in indignant wrath against Cope and Hawley, the immediate instruments of all these barbarities ? It is in relation to this attack upon Cope and Hawley, that Horace Walpole, the invidious retailer of old stories, and the recorder of the idle gossip of the day, himself incapable of feeling as General Oglethorpe felt, or of acting as General Oglethorpe acted, has been pleased to style him a bully. It was in consequence too, of this attack upon Cope and Hawley, and his strong remonstrances to the Duke of Cumberland, that a court martial was gotten up against General Oglethorpe, under a charge of not having pursued at Carlisle the retreating forces of Prince Charles. A court martial held upon one who had given the first check to the Prince, and by men whom the Prince had defeated with less than half the numbers they commanded ! General Oglethorpe was honorably acquitted. There still remained one blow which was to afflict him sorely. He had recruited his own regiment, selected his own officers; and they had followed him undismayed by the enemies that surrounded him, or the treachery of apparent friends. He had no children, and he had learned to feel for these companions in arms a father's love. These were now to be torn from his command. His regiment, by the will of the court and the Duke of Cumberland, was to be disbanded and scattered through the wilds of America. Those men who had met the Indian tribes in Georgia in friendship and in fellowship, were to meet some of these very tribes in hostile and deadly combat. Captain McKay with two companies were to be sent to Virginia, to encounter the western tribes. Captains Demere and Stuart were to be sent to Carolina to encounter the Cherokees. But wheresoever a Scottish cap or a Highland plaid was seen, it became a symbol of peace, a flag of protection. This blow upon his regiment had well nigh overwhelmed General Oglethorpe. It sickened him of the world, and he felt emphatically that all is vanity and vexation of spirit. From henceforth all search after fame was at an end. He turned for consolation to the reminiscences of the past, to the hopes of the future, to the bosom of his wife, to the affections of his friends. In 1747, he withdrew from parhament and for thirty-eight years enjoyed undisturbed repose; honored by the wise, respected by the good. We never hear of him from fortyseven to eighty-live, when he closed his calm and happy life, but in terms of praise. We never hear his name, but in eulogy. And what has become of his enemies General Oglethorpe's mind was deeply enriched with knowledge. In his long retirement from public life, he was the constant associate and comf)anion of the literary men of the day ; and it is only from this association that we can now know, how this long retirement was passed. And happily we have enough before us to show that the disappointment of his higher hopes, had not soured his temper, or ruffled his disposition. The first fifty years of his life, had been given to the public and to his country ; the last forty were given to his friends ; and with such extracts as we find in Boswell and others, we will close this article, satisfied that enough has been said, deeply to endear his memory to all who may read what is written. The following simple but interesting narrative, shows how Boswell became acquainted and intimate with General Oglethorpe. As it is characteristic of the frank and liberal character of General Oglethorpe, it is inserted, although not in its proper place. "Let me here be allowed to pay my tribute of most sincere gratitude, to the memory of that excellent person, my intimacy with whom was the more valuable to me, because my first acquaintance with him was unexpected and unsolicited. Soon after the publication of my 'Account of Corsica,' he did me the honor to call on me, and approaching me with a frank, courteous air, said, 'My name, sir, is Oglethorpe, and I wish to be acquainted with you.' I was not a Uttle flattered to be thus addressed by an eminent man, of whom I had read in Pope from my early years, Or driven by strong benevolence of soul, Will fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole.' "I was fortunate to be found worthy of his good opinion, in so much that I was not only invited to make one in the many respectable companies, whom he entertained at his table, but had a cover at his hospitable board, every day when I happened to be disengaged ; and in his society I never failed to enjoy learned and animated conversation, seasoned with genuine sentiments of virtue and religion." At Boswell's second visit to London in 1762, he became acquainted with General Oglethorpe ; and the following extracts are taken from his works, in his several visits to London down to 1781. The last from a note in his work after the death of General Oglethorpe. They all tell the deep veneration felt for him. Even by the stern morahst himself, as well as by his whole school. Johnson's " London," was published in May, 1738. One of the warmest patrons of this poem was General Oglethorpe, " whose strong benevolence of soul," was unabated during the course of a very long life, though it is painful to think, that he had but too much reason to become cold and callous and discontented with the world, from the neglect which he experienced of his public and private worth by those in wlwse power it was. to gratify so gallant a veteran with marks of distinction. This extraordinary person was as remarkable for his learning and taste as for his other eminent qualities ; and no man was more prompt, active, and generous in encouraging merit. I have heard Johnson gratefully acknowledge in his presence the kind and effectual support which he gave to his "London," though unacquainted with its author. Extract second, vol. 2, page 163.—" I dined with Johnson at General Oglethorpe's where we found Goldsmith. I started the question, ' Whether duelling was consistent with moral duty.' The brave old General fired at this and said with a lofty air, ' Undoubtedly, a man has a right to defend his honor.' Goldsmhh (turning to me) 'I ask you first, sir, what would you do if you were affronted ? ' I answered, ' I should think it necessary to fight.' ' Why then,' replied Goldsmith, ' that solves the question.' "Johnson.—'No, sir, it does not solve the question. It does not follow that what a man would do, is therefore right. The General told us that when he was a very young man, I think fifteen only serving under Prince Eugene of Savoy, he was sitting in a company at table, with a Prince of Wirtemburg. The Prince took up a glass of wine, and by a fillip made some of it fly in Oglethorpe's face. Here was a nice dilemma. To have challenged him instantly, might have fixed a quarrelsome character upon the young soldier. To have taken no notice of it might have been considered as cowardice. Oglethorpe therefore keeping his eye upon the Prince, and smiling all the time as if he took what his Highness had done as a jest, said, ' Mon Prince,' (I forget the French words he used, the purport however was) ' that is a good joke, but we do it much better in England,' and threw a whole glass of wine in the Prince's face. An old general who sat by said, ' II a bien fait, mon Prince, vous I'avez commence ;' thus all ended in good humor. Dr. Johnson said, ' Pray, General, give us an account of the siege of Belgrade.' Upon which the General, pouring a little wine upon the table, described every thing with a wet finger. * Here we were ; here were the Turks, &c. &,c.' Johnson listened with the closest attention." Extract, page 327.—"On Monday, I dined with Johnson at General Oglethorpe's, with Mr. Langton and the Irish Doctor Campbell, whom the General had obligingly given me leave to bring with me. This learned gentleman was thus gratified with a very high intellectual feast, by not only being in company with Doctor Johnson, but with General Oglethorpe, who had been so long a celebrated name, both at home and abroad. 1775." These extracts from Boswell, have been made particularly to show his long, unbroken intimacy with the literary men of England. They might have been multiplied, but they are sufficient. They serve also to show the early period at which he had resigned his commission in the Guards, and become a volunteer with Prince Eugene ; and of course will in some degree establish his age. And they confirm beyond question, the bitterness which the ruling party of England felt towards him, and how very improbable it is that they should have offered him any command at the commencement of the American war, a command that if offered to him, and if his age had permitted him to accept, he would have spurned with indignation ; as we know from the sentiments expressed by him, of the character and principles of that war, to all who had an opportunity of hearing his sentiments at the time. An attempt was made to introduce his name into the first commission sent out to negotiate with the first congress. But believing that the commission was intended to be delusive, and only designed to abate American zeal, to divide the American people, and to unnerve the American arm, at the first overture the proposition was civilly declined. In youth. General Oglethorpe was very handsome, and through life retained the power of pleasing in a high degree. Mrs. Hannah More, in a letter to her sister dated 1784, says : " I have got a new admirer, and we flirt together prodigiously. It is the famous Gen. Oglethorpe, perhaps the most remarkable man of his time. He was the fosterbrother of the Pretender, and much above ninety years old. The finest figure you ever saw. He frequently realizes all my ideas of Nestor. His literature is great ; his knowledge of the world extensive, and his faculties as bright as ever. He is one of the three persons mentioned by Pope, still living ; Lord Mansfield, and Lord Marchraont are the other two. He was the intimate friend of Southern, the Tragic Poet, and all the wits of that time. He is perhaps the oldest man of a gentleman living ; and he could have entertained me by re peating passages from Sir Eldered. He is quite a preux chevalier ; heroic, romantic, and full of the old gallantry." There has been a mystery hanging about the age of Gen. Oglethorpe, and the period of his birth, whether he was born in the year 1689 or 1698. The last date is recorded upon his tomb by the direction of his wife. The first is contained in a certificate obtained from the Parish Clerk of St. James in London. It will be remembered that this is the transposition of a single figure. The first recorded upon his tomb would make him eighty-seven years of age at his death, the last ninety-six. But there was another rumor afloat in the west of England, among the remaining friends of the house of Stuart, that he was the son of James II. ; and the beauty of his person, the grace of his manners and his chivalrous character, made it the more readily believed.* But after the most deliberate consideration of all the circumstances, the writer of this, without spending words in idle disquisition, is satisfied to take that recorded upon his tomb as his true age, and to put the rest down to the propensity in men to mystify whatever is extraordinary. And it is extraordinary enough that General Oglethorpe should have carried his faculties in all their freshness to eighty-seven, and then not sink in cold decay, but Hke a tropical sun go down in all his strength. So much so, that the friends who were looking to him and listening for his last inspiration, had lost the opportunity ; for he had passed away. Mr. Boswell, after reciting a conversation between General Oglethorpe and Doctor Johnson, which took place in 1 775, and in which Doctor Johnson had urged General Oglethorpe to give the world his life, and in which the Doctor said, " I know no man whose life would be more interesting ; if I was furnished with materials I should be very glad to write it,"—adds in this note: "The General seemed unwilling to enter upon it at that time. But upon a subsequent occasion, he communicated to me a number of particulars which I have committed to writing. But I was not sufficiently diligent in obtaining more from him ; not apprehending that his friends were so soon to lose him ; for notwithstanding his great age, he was very healthy and vigorous, and was at last carried off by a violent fever, which is often fatal, at any period of life." General Oglethorpe at his death left no children behind him, and as far as we know, no very near collateral relative in England. His wife, after having lived with him for more than forty years, in great harmony and affection, was left to weep over his grave. In France are to be found his nearest collateral relations. The family of the late Marquis De Bellegard are descended from his sister, Elizabeth Oglethorpe, who was attached to the family of James II. after their exile. That family are yet living, and, we suppose, one of them is a ducal peer of France. Not long before the decease of Mr. Harris, of Savannah, he received a letter from Mr. De. Neuville, French minister at Washington, covering a letter from a French nobleman, stating himself to be the direct lineal descendant of Elizabeth Oglethorpe, the sister of General Oglethorpe and making the same inquiries respecting the landed property of General Oglethorpe, which were made of General Washington, in the year 1790, and to which the annexed letter is an answer. Had this letter to General Washington reached the public while the family were in exile, from the French Revolution, Georgia would not have forgotten them. When Mr. Harris submitted this letter to the writer of these notices, the family had been restored to high rank, and we supposed to fortune, and required no pecuniary aid. This letter must have been put into the hands of Mr. Bevan, by Mr. Harris. To the Marquis De Bellegard, United Netherlands. New York, Jan. 15, 1790. Sir, —I have received your letter dated the 18th of September, 1789 ; and in reply to it must inform you that so far from living upon terms of intimacy and friendship with the late General Oglethorpe, as it appears by your letter you have understood that I did, I never was so happy as to have any personal acquaintance with that gentleman, nor any other knowledge of him than from his general character. The distance of our place of residence from each other, which is nearly one thousand miles, and the different periods in which we have lived, are circumstances which preelude the probability of our having been upon an intimate footing. I have however directed inquiries to be made, among the gentlemen from the state of Georgia who are now attending congress in this place, respecting the affairs of the late General Oglethorpe, and am informed by them, that they know of no lands belonging to him. One of them, a senator from the state of Georgia, mentions his having been written to some time since by Mr. Jefferson, our minister at the court of Versailles, upon the same subject, and in consequence thereof, he made qy^yj inquiry in his power, relative to the matter; but there were no lands in Georgia belonging to General Oglethorpe. And he farther adds, that if there had been property of that gentleman in Georgia in the time of the late war with Great Britain, so far from its having been confiscated, it would have met with singular protection, in consequence of the high estimation in which the character of General Oglethorpe stood in that state. I should have been happy, sir, to have had it in my power to give you more pleasing information upon this subject. I am, &c. George Washington. [Vol. 10, of Washington's Letters.] The above letter, it will be remembered, was written within five years of General Oglethorpe's death, when all the circumstances of his family would be known to hundreds. Sapelo Island, March 20th, 1840. COLLECTIONS OF THE GEORGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. VOL. I. SAVANNAH: PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY, MDCCCXL. ©Genealogy Trails