ATTACK ON ST. AUGUSTINE BY GOVERNOR MOORE OF SOUTH
CAROLINA--DIFFICULTIES WITH THE GEORGIANS. 1702-1732.
Hostilities had broken out between England and Spain in 1702. The
English settlements in Carolina only numbered six or seven thousand
inhabitants, when Governor Moore, who was an ambitious and energetic
man, but with serious defects of character, led an invading force from
Carolina against St. Augustine. The pretense was to retaliate for old
injuries, and, by taking the initiative, to prevent an attack upon
themselves. The real motive was said by Gov. Moore's opponents at home,
to have been the acquisition of military reputation and private gain.
The plan of the expedition embraced a combined land and naval attack:
and for this purpose six hundred provincial militia were embodied, with
an equal number of Indian allies; a portion of the militia, with the
Indians, were to go inland by boats and by land, under the command of
Col. Daniel, who is spoken of as a good officer, while the main body
proceeded with the governor by sea in several merchant schooners and
ships which had been impressed for the service.
The Spaniards, who had received intimations of the contemplated attack,
placed themselves in the best posture of defense in their power, and
laid up provisions in the castle to withstand a long siege.
The forces under Col. Daniel arrived in advance of the naval fleet of
the expedition, and immediately marched upon the town. The inhabitants,
upon his approach, retired with their most valuable effects within the
spacious walls of the castle, and Col. Daniel entered and took
possession of the town, the larger part of which, it must be
recollected, was at some distance from the castle.
The quaint description of these events, given by Oldmixon, is as
follows:--
"Col. Rob. Daniel, a very brave man, commanded a party who were to go
up the river in periagas, and come upon Augustino on the land side,
while the Governour sailed thither, and attacked it by sea. They both
set out in August, 1702. Col. Daniel, in his way, took St. Johns, a
small Spanish settlement; as also St. Mary's, another little village
belonging to the Spaniards; after which he proceeded to Augustino, came
before the town, entered and took it, Col. Moor not being yet arrived
with the fleet.
"The inhabitants having notice of the approach of the English, had
packed up their best effects and retired with them into the castle,
which was surrounded by a very deep and broad moat.
"They had laid up provisions there for four months, and resolved to
defend themselves to the last extremity. However, Col. Daniel found a
considerable booty in the town. The next day the Governour came ashore,
and his troops following him, they entrenched, posted their guards in
the church, and blocked up the castle. The English held possession of
the town a whole month; but finding they could do nothing for want of
mortars and bombs, they despatched away a sloop for Jamaica; but the
commander of the sloop, instead of going thither, came to Carolina out
of fear of treachery. Finding others offered to go in his stead, he
proceeded in the voyage himself, after he had lain some time at
Charlestown.
"The Governour all this while lay before the castle of Augustino, in
expectation of the return of the sloop, which hearing nothing of, he
sent Col. Daniel, who was the life of the action, to Jamaica on the same
errand.
"This gentleman, being hearty in the design, procured a supply of bombs,
and returned towards Augustino. But in the mean time two ships appeared
in the offing, which being taken to be two very large men of war, the
Governour tho't fit to raise the siege and abandon his ships, with a
great quantity of stores, ammunition, and provisions, to the enemy. Upon
which the two men of war entered the port of Augustino, and took the
Governour's ships. Some say he burnt them himself. Certain it is they
were lost to the English, and that he returned to Charles-Town over land
300 miles from Augustino. The two men of war that were thought to be so
large, proved to be two small frigates, one of 82, and the other of 16
guns.[25]
"When Col. Daniel came back to St. Augustine, he was chased, but got
away; and Col. Moor retreated with no great honor homewards. The
periagas lay at St. Johns, whither the Governour retired and so to
Charles-Town, having lost but two men in the whole expedition."
Arratomakaw, king of the Yamioseans, who commanded the Indians,
retreated to the periagas with the rest, and there slept upon his oars
with a great deal of bravery and unconcern. The governor's soldiers,
taking a false alarm, and thinking the Spaniards were coming, did not
like this slow pace of the Indian king in his flight, and to quicken him
into it, bade him make more haste. But he replied, "No; though your
governor leaves you, I will not stir till I have seen all my men before
me."
The Spanish accounts say that he burned the town, and this statement is
confirmed by the report made on the 18th July, 1740, by a committee of
the House of Commons of the province of South Carolina, in which it is
said, referring to these transactions, that Moore was obliged to
retreat, _but not without_ first burning the town.[26]
It seems that the plunder carried off by Moore's troops was
considerable; as his enemies charged at the time that he sent off a
sloop-load to Jamaica, and in an old colonial document of South Carolina
it is represented "that the late unfortunate, ill-contrived, and worst
managed expedition against St. Augustine, was principally set on foot by
the said late governor and his adherents; and that if any person in the
said late assembly undertook to speak against it, and to show how unfit
and unable we were at that time for such an attempt, he was presently
looked upon by them as an enemy and traitor to his country, and reviled
and affronted in the said assembly; although the true design of the said
expedition was no other than catching and making slaves of Indians for
private advantage, and impoverishing the country. * * * And that the
expedition was to enrich themselves will appear particularly, because
whatsoever booty, as rich silks, great quantity of church plate, with a
great many other costly church ornaments and utensils taken by our
soldiers at St. Augustine, are now detained in the possession of the
said late governor and his officers, contrary to an act of assembly
made for an equal division of the same amongst the soldiers."[27]
The Spanish accounts of this expedition of Moore's are very meager. They
designate him as the governor of St. George, by which name they called
the harbor of Charleston; and they also speak of the plunder of the
town, and the burning of the greater part of the houses. Don Joseph de
Curriga was the then governor of the city, and had received just
previous to the English attack, reinforcements from Havana, and had
repaired and strengthened the fortifications.
The retreat of the English was celebrated with great rejoicing by the
Spaniards, who had been for three months shut up within the limited
space of the walls of the castle; and they gladly repaired their ruined
homes, and made good the ravages of the English invasion. An English
account says that the two vessels which appeared off the bar and caused
Moore's precipitate retreat, contained but two hundred men, and that had
he awaited Colonel Daniel's return with the siege guns and ammunition,
the castle would have fallen into their hands.
In the same year, the king of Spain, alarmed at the dangers which
menaced his possessions in Florida, gave greater attention to the
strengthening the defenses of St. Augustine, and forwarded considerable
reinforcements to the garrison, as well as additional supplies of
munitions.
The works were directed to be strengthened, which Governor Curriga
thought not as strong as had been represented, and that the sea wall in
the process of erection was insufficient for the purpose for which it
was designed.
Sixty years had elapsed since the Apalachian Indians had been conquered
and compelled to labor upon the fortifications of St. Augustine; their
chiefs now asked that they might be relieved from further compulsory
labor; and after the usual number of references and reports and
informations, through the Spanish circumlocution offices, this was
graciously granted in a suspensory form, until their services should be
again required.
During the year 1712, a great scarcity of provisions, caused by the
failure of the usual supply vessels, reduced the inhabitants of St.
Augustine to the verge of starvation; and, for two or three months, they
were obliged to live upon horses, cats, dogs, and other disgusting
animals. It seems strange, that after a settlement of nearly one hundred
and fifty years, the Spaniards in Florida should still be dependant upon
the importation of provisions for their support; and that anything like
the distress indicated should prevail, with the abundant resources they
had, from the fish, oysters, turtle, and clams of the sea, and the
arrow-root and cabbage-tree palm of the land.
The English settlements were now extending into the interior portions of
South Carolina; and the French had renewed their efforts at settlement
and colonization upon the rivers discharging into the Gulf of Mexico.
All three nations were competitors for the trade with the Indians, and
kept up an intriguing rivalship for this trade for more than a hundred
years.
There seems to have been at this period a policy pursued by the Spanish
authorities in Florida, of the most reprehensible character. The
strongest efforts were made to attach all the Indian tribes to the
Spanish interest; and they were encouraged to carry on a system of
plunder and annoyance upon the English settlements of Carolina. They
particularly seized upon all the negroes they could obtain, and carried
them to the governor at St. Augustine, who invariably refused to
surrender them, alleging that he was acting under the instructions of
his government in so doing.
In 1704, Governor Moore had made a sweeping and vigorous excursion
against the Indian towns in Middle Florida, all of whom were in the
Spanish interest; and had broken up and destroyed the towns and missions
attached to them. In 1725, Col. Palmer determined, since no satisfaction
could be obtained for the incursions of the Spanish Indians, and the
loss of their slaves, to make a descent upon them; and with a party of
three hundred men entered Florida, with an intention of visiting upon
the province all the desolation of retributive warfare.
He went up to the very gates of St. Augustine, and compelled the
inhabitants to seek protection within the castle. In his course he swept
every thing before him, destroying every house, field and improvement
within his reach; carrying off the live stock, and every thing else of
value. The Spanish Indians who fell within his power, were slain in
large numbers, and many were taken prisoners. Outside of the walls of
St. Augustine, nothing was left undestroyed; and the Spanish
authorities received a memorable lesson in the law of retribution.