fortifications, that by the 23rd of March a battery of cannon, commanding
the river, had been mounted, and the fort was almost finished. Its ditches
had been dug, although not to the required depth or width, and a rampart
raised and covered with sod. A store-house, having a front of sixty feet,
and intended to be three stories in height, was completed as to its
cellar and first story. The necessary streets were all laid out. “The
Main Street that went from the Front into the Country was 25 yards wide.
Each Free-holder had 60 Foot in Front by 90 Foot in Depth, upon the high
Street, for their House and Garden; but those which fronted the River
had but 30 Foot in Front, by 60 Foot in Depth. Each Family had a Bower
of Palmetto Leaves, finished upon the back Street in their own Lands:
The Side towards the front Street was set out for their Houses: These
Palmetto Bowers were very convenient Shelters, being tight in the hardest
Rains; they were about 20 Foot long and 14 Foot wide, and, in regular
Rows, looked very pretty, the Palmetto Leaves lying smooth and handsome,
and of a good Colour. The whole appeared something like a Camp; for the
Bowers looked liked Tents, only being larger and covered with Palmetto
Leaves instead of Canvas. There were 3 large Tents, two belonging to Mr.
_Oglethorpe_, and one to Mr. _Horton_, pitched upon the Parade near the
River.”
Such is the description of the town in its infancy as furnished by Mr.
Moore, whose “Voyage to Georgia” is one of the most interesting and
valuable tracts we have descriptive of the colonization.
That there might be no confusion in their constructive labors, Mr.
Oglethorpe divided the Colonists into working parties. To some was
assigned the duty of cutting forks, poles, and laths for building the
bowers. Others set them up. Others still gathered palmetto leaves, while
a fourth gang,—under the superintendence of a Jew workman, bred in Brazil
and skilled in the matter,—thatched the roofs “nimbly and in a neat
manner.”
Men accustomed to the agriculture of the region, instructed the Colonists
in hoeing and planting. Potatoes, Indian corn, flax, hempseed, barley,
turnips, lucern-grass, pumpkins, and water-melons were planted. The labor
was common and enured to the benefit of the entire community. As it was
rather too late in the season to prepare the ground fully and get in such
a crop as would promise a yield sufficient to subsist the settlement for
the coming year, many of the men were put upon pay and set to work upon
the fortifications and the public buildings.
Mr. Hugh MacKay, about this time, arrived in Frederica and reported,
that with the assistance of Messrs. Augustine and Tolme, and the guides
furnished by Tomo-chi-chi, he had surveyed and located a road, practicable
for horses, between Savannah and Darien. This information was very
gratifying to the Colonists on St. Simons, assuring them, as it did, that
their situation was not so isolated as they at first supposed.
Frederica was located in the midst of an Indian field[48] containing
between thirty and forty acres of cleared land. The grass in this field
yielded an excellent turf which was freely used in sodding the parapet
of the fort. The bluff upon which it stood rose about ten feet above
high-water mark, was dry and sandy, and exhibited a level expanse of
about a mile into the interior of the island. The position of the fort
was such that it fully commanded the reaches in the river both above and
below. With their situation the Colonists were delighted. The harbor was
land-locked,[49] having a depth of twenty-two feet of water at the bar,
and capable of affording safe anchorage to a large number of ships of
considerable burden. Surrounded by beautiful forests of live-oak, water
oaks, laurel, bay, cedar, sweet-gum, sassafras, and pines, festooned
with luxuriant vines, [among which those bearing the Fox-grape and the
Muscadine were peculiarly pleasing to the Colonists,] and abounding
in deer, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, wild-turkeys, turtle-doves,
red-birds, mocking birds, and rice birds,[50] with wide extended marshes
frequented by wild geese, ducks, herons, curlews, cranes, plovers, and
marsh-hens,—the adjacent waters teeming with fishes, crabs, shrimps, and
oysters, and the island fanned by South-East breezes prevailing with the
regularity of the trade winds—the strangers were charmed with their new
home. Within their fort were enclosed and preserved several of those grand
old live-oaks which for centuries had crowned the bluff, and whose shade
was refreshing beyond any shelter the hand of man could devise. The town
sprang into being as a military post. It was ordered and grew day by day
under the immediate supervision of Oglethorpe. The soil of the island was
fertile, and its health unquestioned. Lieutenant George Dunbar, on the
20th of January, 1739, made oath before Francis Moore, Recorder of the
Town of Frederica, that since his arrival with the first detachment of
Colonel Oglethorpe’s regiment the preceding June, all the carpenters and
many of the soldiers had been continuously occupied in building clap-board
huts, carrying lumber and bricks, unloading vessels, [often working up to
their necks in water,] in clearing the parade, burning wood and rubbish,
making lime, and in other out-door exercises,—the hours of labor being
from daylight until eleven or twelve M. and from two or three o’clock in
the afternoon until dark. Despite these exposures, continues the Affiant,
“All the time the men kept so healthy that often no man in the camp ailed
in the least, and none died except one man who came sick on board and
never worked at all; nor did I hear that any of the men ever made the heat
a pretence for not working.”[51]
Beyond question Frederica was the healthiest of all the early settlements
in Georgia, and St. Simon’s island has always enjoyed an enviable
reputation for salubrity. Until marred by the desolations of the late war,
this island was a favorite summer resort, and the homes of the planters
were the abodes of beauty, comfort, and refinement. A mean temperature
of about fifty degrees in winter, and not above eighty-two degrees in
summer, gardens adorned with choice flowers, and orchards enriched with
plums, peaches, nectarines, figs, melons, pomegranates, dates, oranges
and limes,—forests rendered majestic by the live-oak, the pine, and the
magnolia grandiflora, and redolent with the perfumes of the bay, the cedar
and the myrtle,—the air fresh and buoyant with the South-East breezes,
and vocal with the notes of song-birds,—the adjacent sea, sound, and
inlets, replete with fishes,—the shell roads and broad beach affording
every facility for driving and riding,—the woods and fields abounding
with game in their season, and the culture and generous hospitality of
the inhabitants, impressed all visitors with the delights of this favored
spot. Sir Charles Lyell, among others, alludes with marked satisfaction to
the pleasures he there experienced.
Among the reptiles which not only attracted the notice of, but, to a
considerable degree, upon first acquaintance, disquieted the early
Colonists, the alligators were the most noted. Listen to this description
furnished by an eyewitness[52] in 1736: “They are terrible to look at,
stretching open an horrible large Mouth, big enough to swallow a Man, with
Rows of dreadful large sharp Teeth, and Feet like Draggons, armed with
great Claws, and a long Tail which they throw about with great Strength,
and which seems their best Weapon, for their Claws are feebly set on, and
the Stiffness of their Necks hinders them from turning nimbly to bite.”
In order that the public mind might be disabused of the terror which
pervaded it with respect to these reptiles, Mr. Oglethorpe, having wounded
and caught one, had it brought to Savannah and made the boys bait it with
sticks and finally pelt and beat it to death.
The rattle snakes, too, were objects of special dread.
Leaving his people busily occupied with the labors assigned to them
at Frederica, Mr. Oglethorpe set out on the 18th of March[53] for the
frontiers, “to see where his Majesty’s Dominions and the Spaniards
joyn.”[54] He was accompanied by “Toma-Chi-Chi, Mico, and a Body of
Indians, who, tho’ but few, being not forty, were all chosen Warriors
and good Hunters.” They were conveyed in two Scout Boats, and the next
day were joined by the periagua, commanded by Captain Hugh MacKay, with
thirty Highlanders, ten men of the Independent Company, and entrenching
tools and provisions on board. Upon the north-western point of Cumberland
island[55] washed by the bay on the one side, and on the other by the
channel running to the southward, Oglethorpe marked out a fort, called it
St. Andrews, and left Captain MacKay with his command to build it, and
some Indians to hunt and shoot for them while thus employed.
Proceeding on his voyage, Mr. Oglethorpe named the next large Island to
the South, Amelia,[56]—“it being a beautiful Island, and the Sea-shore
cover’d with Myrtle, Peach-Trees, Orange-Trees, and Vines in the wild
Woods.” Tomo-chi-chi conducted him to the mouth of the St. Johns, pointed
out the advanced post occupied by the Spanish Guard, and indicated the
dividing line. It was with difficulty that the old chief and his followers
could be restrained from making a night attack upon the Spaniards, upon
whom they thirsted to take revenge for the killing of some Indians during
the Mico’s absence in England. Stopping at fort St. Andrews on his way
back, Oglethorpe was surprised to find the work in such a state of
“forwardness,—the Ditch being dug, and the Parapet raised with Wood and
Earth on the Land-side, and the small Wood clear’d fifty yards round the
Fort.” This seemed the more extraordinary, adds Francis Moore, because
Mr. MacKay had no engineer, or any assistance other than the directions
which Mr. Oglethorpe gave. The ground consisting of loose sand, it was a
difficult matter to construct the parapets: “therefore they used the same
Method to support it as Cæsar mentions in the Wars of _Gaul_, laying Trees
and Earth alternately, the Trees preventing the Sand from falling, and
the Sand the Wood from Fire.”
Upon their return to Frederica the Indians encamped near the town, and,
on the 26th, favored Mr. Oglethorpe and all the people with a War Dance.
“They made a Ring, in the middle of which four sat down, having little
Drums made of Kettles, cover’d with Deer-skins, upon which they beat and
sung: Round them the others danced, being naked to their Waists, and round
their Middles many Trinkets tied with Skins, and some with the Tails of
Beasts hanging down behind them. They painted their Faces and Bodies,
and their Hair was stuck with Feathers: In one Hand they had a Rattle,
in the other Hand the Feathers of an Eagle, made up like the Caduceus of
_Mercury_: They shook these Wings and the Rattle, and danced round the
Ring with high Bounds and antick Postures, looking much like the Figures
of the Satyrs.
“They shew’d great Activity, and kept just Time in their Motions; and at
certain times answer’d by way of Chorus, to those that sat in the Middle
of the Ring. They stopt, and then stood out one of the chief Warriors, who
sung what Wars he had been in, and described (by Actions as well as by
Words) which way he had vanquish’d the Enemies of his Country. When he had
done, all the rest gave a Shout of Approbation, as knowing what he said
to be true. The next Day Mr. Oglethorpe gave Presents to Toma-chi-chi and
his _Indians_, and dismiss’d them with Thanks for their Fidelity to the
King.”[57]
For the further protection of the approaches to Frederica by the inland
passages, a strong battery,—called Fort St. Simons,—was erected at the
south end of St. Simons’ island. It was designed to command the entrance
to Jekyll sound. Adjacent to it was laid out a camp containing barracks
and huts for the soldiers. At the southern extremity of Cumberland island
Fort William was afterwards built with a view to controlling Amelia
sound and the inland passage to St. Augustine. Upon San Juan island to
the south, and near the entrance of the St. Johns river, Oglethorpe had
observed the traces of an old fort. Thither he sent Captain Hermsdorf,
and a detachment of Highlanders, with instructions to repair and occupy
it. Having ascertained that this island was included in the cession of
lands made by the Indians to his Majesty, he named the island George,
and called the fortification fort St. George. With the exception of one
or two posts of observation, this constituted the most southern defense
of the Colony, and was regarded as an important position for holding
the Spaniards in check, and for giving the earliest intelligence of any
hostile demonstration on their part.[58] The energy and boldness displayed
by the Commander in Chief in developing his line of occupation so far to
the south, and in the very teeth of the Spaniards in Florida, are quite
remarkable, and indicate on his part not only a daring bordering upon
rashness, but also no little confidence in the courage and firmness of the
small garrisons detailed to fortify and hold these advanced and isolated
positions.
Returning to Frederica from this tour of observation, Mr. Oglethorpe found
the workmen busily occupied in constructing the fort, whose outer works
were being “palisaded with Cedar Posts to prevent our Enemies turning up
the green Sod.” Upon the bastions, platforms of two inch plank were laid
for the cannon. A piece of marsh lying below the fort was converted into
a water battery, called “the Spur,” the guns of which,—being on a level
with the water,—were admirably located for direct and effective operation
against all vessels either ascending or descending the river.
A well was dug within the fort which yielded an abundant supply of
“tolerable good water.” The people having no bread, and the store
of biscuits being needed for the crews of the boats which were kept
constantly moving from point to point, an oven was built, and an indented
servant,—a baker by trade,—was detailed to bake bread for the Colony. For
the flour furnished by each individual an equal weight was returned in
bread, “the difference made by the water and salt” being the baker’s gain.
This fresh bread, in the language of one who partook of it, was a great
comfort to the people. Venison brought in by the Indians was frequently
issued in lieu of salt provisions; and poultry, hogs, and sheep were
occasionally killed for the sick. Such domestic animals, however, were, at
that early period, so scarce in the settlement, that they were carefully
guarded for the purpose of breeding. A little later, live stock came
forward in abundance, by boats from Port Royal and Savannah.
Grave apprehensions were entertained of an attack from the Spaniards,
and Mr. Oglethorpe was untiring in his efforts to place the southern
frontier in the best possible state of defense. It is remarkable how much
was accomplished under the circumstances. His energy was boundless, his
watchfulness unceasing. Scout boats were constantly on duty observing the
water approaches from the south as far as the mouth of the St. Johns.
Indian runners narrowly watched the walls of St. Augustine, and conveyed
intelligence of every movement by the enemy. Look-outs were maintained at
all necessary points to give warning of threatened danger. Mr. Bryan and
Mr. Barnwell promised, in case Frederica or its out-posts were attacked,
to come to their support with a strong body of volunteers from Carolina.
Chiefs of the Cheehaws and the Creeks volunteered their assistance.
Acting upon the belief that it was better to confront the Spaniards
upon the confines of the Colony than abide the event of their invasion,
volunteers came in such numbers from Carolina and Georgia that General
Oglethorpe was compelled to issue orders that all who had plantations
should remain at home and cultivate them until actually summoned to arms.
Hearing a report that the Spaniards were intent upon dislodging the
settlers from Frederica, Ensign Delegal, taking thirty men of the
Independent Company under his command, and rowing night and day, reached
Frederica on the 10th of May and tendered his services. Without permitting
them to land, Oglethorpe ordered English strong beer and provisions on
board, sent a present of wine to Ensign Delegal, and, upon the same tide,
in his scout boat conducted the party to the east point of St. Simons
island where it is washed by Jekyll sound, and there posted the company,
locating a spot for constructing a fort, and commanding a well to be dug.
By the 16th, Ensign Delegal had succeeded in casting up a considerable
entrenchment and in mounting several cannon.
This post,—strengthened on the 8th of June by the arrival of Lieutenant
Delegal, with the rest of the Independent Company and thirteen pieces of
cannon belonging to them,—was subsequently known as Delegal’s Fort at the
Sea-point.
The workmen at Frederica were diligently employed in building a powder
magazine under one of the bastions of the fort. It was made of heavy
timber covered with several feet of earth. The construction of a large
store-house, a smith’s forge, a wheelwright’s shop, and a corn-house also
engaged their attention. The men capable of bearing arms were trained in
military exercises each day by Mr. McIntosh. The Colonists were in a state
of constant alarm, and everything was made subservient to the general
defense. Even the feeble avowed their willingness to sacrifice their lives
in protecting their new homes. Inspired by the intrepidity and vigilance,
the fearlessness and the activity of the General,—who was constantly on
the move, visiting the advanced works, pressing his reconnoissances even
within the enemy’s lines, and making every available disposition of men
and munitions which could conduce to the common safety,—soldiers and
citizens kept brave hearts, labored incessantly and cheerfully, observed a
sleepless watch upon the sea and its inlets, and stood prepared to offer
stout resistance to the Spaniard. It was a manly sight, that little colony
fearlessly planting itself upon island and headland, separated from all
substantial support, and yet extending itself on land and water to the
very verge of hostile lines held by an enemy greatly superior in men and
the appliances of warfare.
This state of uncertainty and alarm continued along the southern frontier
of Georgia until, by conference between Mr. Oglethorpe and the Spanish
Commissioners in Jekyll sound on the 19th of June, there occurred an
amicable adjustment of pending disputes. The healths of the King and
Royal Family of Great Britain, and of the King and Queen of Spain, were
drank amid salvos of artillery from the sloop Hawk and the Sea-Point
Battery; and when the Spaniards set out on the 22d to return to St.
Augustine, they expressed themselves pleased with their reception and
amicably inclined towards the Colony and its knightly General. This period
of tranquility was of but short duration. In the fall of the year a
peremptory demand was made by the Spanish Government for the evacuation by
the English of all territory lying south of St. Helena’s sound.
Perceiving that vigorous measures and a stronger force were requisite
for the preservation of the Colony, and yielding to the solicitations
of the Trustees that he should be present at the approaching meeting of
Parliament to influence larger supplies for Georgia, Mr. Oglethorpe,
having made the best possible arrangements for the government and
protection of the province during his absence, embarked for England on the
29th of November, 1736.[59]
During his absence in England, nothing of special moment transpired on the
southern frontiers. Mr. Horton appears to have been left in general charge
of the defenses in that quarter. He established himself at Frederica,
whence he made frequent tours of inspection to its out-posts and dependent
works. Of a visit which he paid to the town early in February, 1737, Mr.
Stephens, Secretary of the Colony, gives us rather a stupid account,[60]
from which we gather that the inhabitants were living “in perfect Peace
and Quiet, without Fear of any Disturbance from Abroad, and without any
Strife or Contention at Law at Home, where they sometimes opened a Court,
but very rarely had any Thing to do in it.” Only slight improvements had
been made during the preceding year in clearing and cultivating land,
because of the constant apprehension of incursion by the Spaniards, and
the amount of military service the able-bodied men were obliged to perform.
Moved by the indications of hostility on the part of the Spaniards, and
yielding to the entreaties of the Trustees[61] that additional troops be
provided for the protection of the Colony, his Majesty, in June, 1737,
appointed Oglethorpe General of all forces in Carolina as well as in
Georgia, and authorized him to raise a regiment. In October of that year,
and before his regiment had been fully recruited, he was commissioned
as Colonel. The relief of Georgia being regarded as important, a body
of troops was sent thither from Gibraltar, which reached Savannah early
in May, 1738, and was transferred from that point to the South for
the defense of the frontiers. The famous clergyman George Whitefield,
detailed to take Mr. Wesley’s place in the Colony, was a passenger on
board the ship in which these soldiers were transported. About the same
time two or three companies of the General’s own regiment, under the
command of Lieutenant-Colonel James Cochrane, arrived in Charleston,
and were marched southward by the road which ran from Port Royal to
Darien.[62] Oglethorpe’s regiment was limited to six companies of one
hundred men each, exclusive of non-commissioned officers and drummers.
To it a grenadier company was subsequently attached. Disdaining to “make
a market of the service of his country” by selling commissions, the
General secured the appointment, as officers, only of such persons as
were gentlemen of family and character in their respective counties.
He also engaged about twenty young gentlemen of no fortune to serve as
cadets. These he subsequently promoted as vacancies occurred. So far
from deriving any pecuniary benefit from these appointments, the General,
in some cases, from his private fortune advanced the fees requisite to
procure commissions, and provided moneys for the purchase of uniforms
and clothing. At his own expense he engaged the services of forty
supernumeraries,—“a circumstance,” says a contemporaneous writer, “very
extraordinary in our armies, especially in our plantations.”
In order to engender in the hearts of the enlisted men an interest in and
an attachment for the Colony they were designed to defend, and with a view
to induce them eventually to become settlers, permission was granted to
each to take a wife with him. For the support of the wife, additional pay
and rations were provided.[63] So carefully was this regiment recruited
and officered, that it constituted one of the best military organizations
in the service of the King.
Sailing from Portsmouth on the 5th of July, 1738, with the rest of his
regiment,—numbering, with the women, children, and supernumeraries who
accompanied, between six and seven hundred souls,—in five transports
convoyed by the men of war Blandford and Hector, General Oglethorpe
arrived safely in Jekyll sound on the 18th of the following September.[64]
The next day the troops were landed at the Soldiers Fort, on the south end
of St. Simon’s island. This arrival was welcomed by an artillery salute
from the battery, and by shouts from the garrison. Upon coming within
soundings off the Georgia coast on the 13th, Sir Yelverton Peyton, in
the Hector, parted company and sailed for Virginia. Until the 21st, the
General encamped near the Fort, superintending the disembarcation and
issuing necessary orders. His regiment was now concentrated, and every
officer is represented to have been at his post.