Contest with Spaniards, pp 78-81 - Steven J. Coker
Subject: Contest with Spaniards, pp 78-81
From: Steven J. Coker
Date: November 19, 1998

RAMSAY'S HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
From ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT IN 1670 TO THE YEAR 1808.
by David Ramsay, M.D. 
Preface dated "Charleston, December 31st, 1808"
Published in 1858, by W.J. Duffie, Newberry, S.C.  
Reprinted in 1959, by The Reprint Company, Spartanburg, S.C.   

THE MILITARY HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, FROM 1670 TO 1776.
CHAPTER V - SECTION I, pp 78-81
Contest with Spaniards. 
»»»»»»»•«««««««
[...continued]

  By the settlement of Georgia, in 1733, Carolina ceased to be a frontier; but
the Spaniards continued to seduce their negroes, and to do other injurious acts.
War being declared in 1739, by Great Britain, against Spain, an opportunity was
given for attempting the reduction of the fort at St. Augustine, which was
considered as the only effectual means of securing the two most southern
provinces. General Oglethorpe, of Georgia, projected an expedition for that
purpose. He communicated his design by letter to William Bull, Lieutenant
Governor of South Carolina, and requested the aid of that province in the common
cause. Bull laid the letter before the provincial assembly, recommending to
raise a regiment and to give all possible assistance to the enterprise. The
Assembly favored the proposal.

  General Oglethorpe urged the speedy execution of his project with a view to
surprise the enemy before they could receive a supply of provisions. He declared
that no personal toil or danger should discourage his utmost exertions to free
Carolina from such neighbors as instigated their slaves to massacre them and
publicly protected them after such bloody attempts. To concert measures with the
greater secrecy and expedition, he went to Charlestown and laid before the
Legislature an estimate of the force, arms, ammunition, and provisions which he
judged requisite for the expedition. In consequence of which the Assembly voted
one hundred and twenty thousand pounds, Carolina money, for the service of the
War. A regiment, consisting of four hundred men was raised partly in Virginia
and partly in North and South Carolina, and the command was given to Colonel
Vanderdussen. Indians were called into service from the different tribes in
alliance with Britain. Vincent Price, commander of the ships of war on that
station, agreed to assist with a naval force, consisting of four ships of twenty
guns each and two sloops. General Oglethorpe appointed the mouth of St. John's
river, on the Florida shore, for the place of rendezvous.

  On the 9th of May, 1740, he 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. This, after a short resistance, surrendered by capitulation. In it he
left a garrison of sixty men, under the command of Lieutenant Dunbar, and
returned to the place of general rendezvous, where he was joined by Colonel
Vanderdussen with the Carolina regiment, and a company of Highlanders, under the
command of Captain M'Intosh. By this time, six Spanish half-galleys, with long
brass nine-pounders, and two sloops loaded with provisions, had got into the
harbor of St. Augustine. A few days afterwards the General marched with his
whole force, consisting of above two thousand men, regulars, provincials and
Indians, to fort Moosa, situated within two miles of St. Augustine. On his
approach, the Spanish garrison evacuated this post and retired into the town.

  Notwithstanding the dispatch of the British army, the Spaniards had collected
all the cattle in the neighboring woods, and drove them into the town ; and the
General found that more difficulty would attend the enterprise than he at first
expected. The castle was built of soft stone, with four bastions ; the curtain
was sixty yards in length ; the parapet nine feet thick ; the rampart twenty
feet high, casemated underneath for lodgings, arched over, and made bomb proof.
Fifty pieces of cannon were mounted, several of which were twenty-four pounders.
The town was also intrenched with ten salient angles, on each of which some
small cannon were mounted. The garrison consisted of seven hundred regulars, two
troops of horse, four companies of armed negroes, besides the militia of the
province and Indians.

  The general perceived that an attempt to take the castle by storm would cost
him dear, and therefore changed his plan of operations. With the assistance of
the ships of war, which were lying at anchor off St. Augustine bar, he resolved
to turn the siege into a blockade, to shut up every channel by which provisions
could be conveyed to the garrison. For this purpose, he left Colonel Palmer with
ninety-five Highlanders and forty-two Indians at fort Moosa, with orders to
scour the woods and intercept all supplies of cattle from the country by land.
He at the same time ordered him to camp every night in a different place - to
keep strict watch around his camp, and by all means to avoid coming to action.
He sent Colonel Vanderdussen, with the Carolina regiment, over a small creek, to
take possession of a neck of land called Point Quartel, more than a mile distant
From the castle, with orders to erect a battery upon it ; while he himself with
his regiment, and the greatest part of the Indians, embarked in boats and landed
on the island of Anastatia. From this island, the General resolved to bombard
the town. Captain Pierce stationed his ships so that the Spaniards were cut off
From all supplies by sea. Batteries were erected, and several cannon mounted on
Anastatia Island. General Oglethorpe then summoned the Spanish Governor to
surrender; but the Don sent him for answer "that he would be glad to shake hands
with him in his castle."

  The opportunity of surprising the place being lost, Oglethorpe had no other
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, little
execution was done on either side.

  In the meantime the Spanish Commander, observing the besiegers embarrassed,
sent out a detachment against Colonel Palmer which surprised him at fort Moosa;
and while his party was asleep, cut them almost entirely to pieces. A few that
accidentally escaped went over in a small boat to the Carolina regiment at Point
Quartel. About the same time, the blockading vessel stationed at the Metanzas
being ordered off, some small vessels from the Havanna with provisions and a
reinforcement of men got into St. Augustine to the relief of the garrison. A
party of Creeks brought four Spanish prisoners to the General, who informed him
that the garrison had received seven hundred men and a large supply of
provisions. All prospects of starving the enemy being lost, the army began to
despair of forcing the place to surrender. The Carolina troops, enfeebled by the
heat - despairing of success - 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. The General was sick of a
fever - his regiment exhausted with fatigue and rendered unfit for action by
disease. These combined disasters made it necessary to abandon the enterprise.
Oglethorpe with extreme regret fell back to Frederica. On the 13th of August,
the Carolina regiment returned to Charlestown. Though not one of them had been
killed by the enemy, their number was reduced fourteen by disease and accidents.

  Thus ended the expedition against St. Augustine, to the great disappointment
of both Georgia and Carolina. Many reflections were afterwards thrown out
against General Oglethorpe, for his conduct during the whole enterprise. He, on
the other hand, declared he had no confidence in the provincials for that they
refused obedience to his orders and at last abandoned his camp and retreated to
Carolina. The place was so strongly fortified, both by nature and art, that
probably the attempt must have failed though it had been conducted by the ablest
officer, and executed by the best disciplined troops. The miscarriage was
particularly injurious to Carolina, having not only subjected the province to a
great expense, but also left it in a worse situation than it was before the
attempt.

[To be continued....]

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