SIEGE OF ST. AUGUSTINE, BY OGLETHORPE--1732-1740
Difficulties existed for many years subsequently between the Spanish and
English settlements. In 1732, Oglethorpe planted his colony in Georgia,
and extended his settlements along the coast towards Florida, claiming
and occupying the country up to the margin of the St. Johns, and
established a post at St. George Island. This was deemed an invasion of
the territory of Spain; and the post was attacked unfairly, as the
English say, and some of their men murdered. Oglethorpe, upon this,
acting under the instructions of the home government, commenced
hostilities by arranging a joint attack of the forces of South Carolina
and Georgia, with a view to the entire conquest of Florida.
The instructions of the king of England to Oglethorpe, were, that he
should make a naval and land attack upon St. Augustine; "and if it shall
please God to give you success, you are either to demolish the fort and
bastions, or put a garrison in it, in case you shall have men enough for
that purpose; which last, it is thought, will be the best way to prevent
the Spaniards from endeavoring to retake and settle the said place
again, at any time hereafter."[28]
Don Manuel Monteano was then governor of Florida, and in command of the
garrison. The city and castle were previously in a poor condition to
withstand an attack from a well-prepared foe; and on the 11th November,
1737, Governor Monteano writes to the governor-general of Cuba, that
"the fort of this place is its only defense; it has no casemates for the
shelter of the men, nor the necessary elevation to the counter-scarp,
nor covert ways, nor ravelins to the curtains, nor other exterior works
that could give time for a long defense; but it is thus naked outside,
as it is without soul within, for there are no cannon that could be
fired twenty-four hours, and though there were, artillery-men to manage
them are wanting."
Under the superintendence of an able officer of engineers, Don Antonio
de Arredondo, the works were put in order; the ramparts were heightened
and casemated; a covered way was made, by planting and embanking four
thousand stakes; bomb-proof vaults were constructed, and entrenchments
thrown up around the town, protected by ten salient angles, many of
which are still visible. The garrison of the town was about seven
hundred and forty soldiers, according to Governor Monteano's return of
troops. On the 25th March, 1740, the total population of St. Augustine,
of all classes, was two thousand one hundred and forty-three.
Previous to his attack upon the place, General Oglethorpe obtained the
following information from prisoners whom he took at the outposts. He
says: "They agree that there are fifty pieces of cannon in the castle at
St. Augustine, several of which are of brass, from twelve to forty-eight
pounds. It has four bastions. The walls are of stone, and casemated. The
internal square is sixty yards. The ditch is forty feet wide, and twelve
feet deep, six of which is sometimes filled with water. The counterscarp
is faced with stone. They have lately made a covered way. The town is
fortified with an entrenchment, salient angles and redoubts, which
inclose about half a mile in length, and a quarter of a mile in width.
The inhabitants and garrison, men, women and children, amount to above
two thousand five hundred. For the garrison, the king pays eight
companies, sent from Spain two years since for the invasion of Georgia;
upon establishment fifty-three men each, three companies of foot and one
of artillery, of the old garrison, and one troop of horse one hundred
each upon establishment; of these, one hundred are at St. Marks, ten
days' march from St. Augustine; upon the Gulf of Mexico, one hundred are
disposed in several small forts."
Of these out-posts, there were two, one on each side of the river St.
Johns--at Picolata and immediately opposite--and at Diego. The purpose
of the forts at Picolata was to guard the passage of the river, and to
keep open the communication with St. Marks and Pensacola; and when
threatened with the invasion of Oglethorpe, messengers were dispatched
to the governor of Pensacola for aid, and also to Mexico by the same
route. The fort at Diego was but a small work, erected by Don Diego de
Spinosa, upon his own estate; and the remains of it, with one or two
cannon, are still visible. Fort Moosa, was an out-post at the place now
known by that name, on the North River, about two miles north of St.
Augustine. A fortified line, a considerable portion of which may now be
traced, extended across from the stockades on the St. Sebastian to Fort
Moosa. Communication by a tide-creek existed through the marshes,
between the castle at St. Augustine and Fort Moosa.
Oglethorpe first attacked the two forts at Picolata, one of which,
called Fort Poppa, or St. Francis de Poppa, was a place of some
strength. Its remains still exist, about one-fourth of a mile north of
the termination of the Bellamy Road, its earthworks being still strongly
marked.
After a slight resistance, both forts fell into his hands, much to the
annoyance of Governor Monteano. Oglethorpe speaks of Fort Francis as
being of much importance, "as commanding the passes from St. Augustine
to Mexico, and into the country of the Creek Indians, and also being
upon the ferry, where the troops which come from St. Augustine must
pass." He found in it, one mortar piece, two carriages, three small
guns, ammunition, one hundred and fifty shells, and fifty glass bottles
full of gunpowder, with fuses--a somewhat novel missile of war.
The English general's plan of operation was, that the crews and troops
upon the vessels should land, and throw up batteries upon Anastasia
Island, from thence bombarding the town; while he himself designed to
lead the attack on the land side. Having arrived in position, he gave
the signal of attack to the fleet, by sending up a rocket; but no
response came from the vessels, and he had the mortification of being
obliged to withdraw his troops. The troops were unable to effect a
landing from the vessels, in consequence of a number of armed Spanish
galleys having been drawn up inside the bar; so that no landing could be
made except under a severe fire, while the galleys were protected from
an attack by the ships, in consequence of the shoal water.
He then prepared to reduce the town by a regular siege, with a strict
blockade by sea. He hoped, by driving the inhabitants into the castle,
so to encumber the governor with useless mouths, as to reduce him to the
necessity of a surrender, to avoid starvation. The town was placed under
the range of his heavy artillery and mortars, and soon became untenable,
forcing the citizens generally to seek the shelter of the fort.
Col. Vanderduysen was posted at Point Quartel; and others of the troops
upon Anastasia Island, and the north beach. Three batteries were
erected: one on Anastasia Island, called the Poza, which consisted of
four eighteen-pounders and one nine-pounder; one on the point of the
wood of the island, mounting two eighteen-pounders. The remains of the
Peza battery are still to be seen, almost as distinctly marked as on the
day of its creation. Four mortars and forty cohorns were employed in the
siege.
The siege began on the 12th June; and on the 25th June a night sortie
was made from the castle against a portion of the troops under command
of Col. Palmer, who were encamped at Fort Moosa, including a company of
Scotch Highlanders, numbering eighty-five men, under their chief, Capt.
McIntosh, all equipped in Highland dress. This attack was entirely
successful, and the English sustained a severe loss, their colonel being
killed, with twenty Highlanders, twenty-seven soldiers, and a number of
Indians.
This affair at Fort Moosa has generally been considered as a surprise,
and its disastrous results as the consequence of carelessness and
disobedience of the orders of Oglethorpe. Captain McIntosh, the leader
of the Highlanders, was taken prisoner, and finally transferred to
Spain. From his prison at St. Sebastian, under date of 20th June, 1741,
he gives the following account of the matter:--
"I listed seventy men, all in Highland dress, and marched to the siege,
and was ordered to scout nigh St. Augustine and molest the enemy, while
the general and the rest of his little army went to an island where we
could have no succor of them. I punctually obeyed my orders, until seven
hundred Spaniards sallied out from the garrison, an hour before
daylight. _They did not surprise us_, for we were all under arms, ready
to receive them, which we did briskly, keeping a constant firing for a
quarter of an hour, when they prest on with numbers; was obliged to take
our swords until the most of us were shot and cut to pieces. You are to
observe we had but eighty men; and the engagement was in view of the
rest of our army, but they could not come to our assistance, by being in
the foresaid island, under the enemy's guns. They had twenty prisoners,
a few got off, the rest killed; as we were well informed by some of
themselves, they had three hundred killed on the spot,[29] besides
several wounded. We were all stripped naked of clothes, brought to St.
Augustine, where we remained three months in close confinement."[30]
This officer was Capt. John McIntosh; and his son, Brig. Gen. McIntosh,
then a youth of fourteen, was present in the engagement, and escaped
without injury. The family of the McIntoshes have always been
conspicuous in the history of Georgia.
The large number of persons collected within the walls of the castle,
and under the protection of its battlements, soon gave rise to serious
apprehensions on the part of the besieged, of being reduced by
starvation to the necessity of a speedy surrender. The batteries of
Oglethorpe were planted at so great a distance that he could produce but
little effect by his shot or shells upon the castle, although he
rendered the city itself untenable. The heat of the season and the
exposure, to which the Provincial militia were unaccustomed, soon
produced considerable sickness and discouragement in the invading force,
and affected Oglethorpe himself.
The Spanish governor sent most urgent messages to the governor of the
island of Cuba, which were transmitted by runners along the coast, and
thence by small vessels across to Havana. In one of these letters he
says, "My greatest anxiety is for provisions; and if they do not come,
there is no doubt of our dying by the hands of hunger." In another, he
says, "I assure your Lordship, that it is impossible to express the
confusion of the place; for we have no protection except the fort, and
all the rest is open field. The families have abandoned their houses,
and come to put themselves under the guns, which is pitiable; though
nothing gives me anxiety but the want of provisions; and if your
Lordship for want of competent force cannot send relief, we all must
perish."[31]
With the exception of the Fort Moosa affair, the hostilities were
confined to the exchange of shots between the castle and the batteries.
Considerable discrepancy exists between the Spanish and English
accounts, as to the period when the garrison was relieved: it was the
communication of the fact of relief having been received, which formed
the ostensible ground of abandoning the siege by Oglethorpe; but the
Spanish governor asserts that these provision vessels did not arrive
until the siege was raised. The real fact, I am inclined to think, is
that the provision vessels arrived at Mosquito, a harbor sixty miles
below, where they were to await orders from Gov. Monteano, as to the
mode of getting discharged,[32] and that the information of their
arrival, being known at St. Augustine, was communicated to the English,
and thus induced their raising the siege; in fact, the hope of starving
out the garrison was the only hope left to Oglethorpe; his strength was
insufficient for an assault, and his means inadequate to reduce the
castle, which was well manned and well provided with means of defense.
It was in truth a hopeless task, under the circumstances, for Oglethorpe
to persevere; and it is no impeachment of his courage or his
generalship, that he was unable to take a fortress of really very
respectable strength.
The siege continued from the 13th June to the 20th July, a period of
thirty-eight days. The bombardment was kept up twenty days, but owing to
the lightness of the guns and the long range, but little effect was
produced on the strong walls of the castle. Its spongy, infrangible
walls received the balls from the batteries like a cotton bale, or sand
battery, almost without making an impression; this may be seen on
examination, since the marks remain to this day, as they were left at
the end of the siege, one hundred and seventeen years ago.
The prosecution of the siege having become impracticable, preparations
were made for retiring; and Oglethorpe, as a pardonable and
characteristic protest against the assumption of his acting from any
coercion, with drums beating and banners displayed, crossed over to the
main land, and marched in full view of the castle, to his encampment
three miles distant, situated probably at the point now known as Pass
Navarro.
Great credit and respect have been deservedly awarded to Governor
Monteano, for the courage, skill, and perseverance with which he
sustained the siege.
It is well known that the English general had, in a few months, an ample
opportunity of showing to his opponent that his skill in defending his
own territory under the most disadvantageous circumstances, was equal to
that of the accomplished Monteano himself. The defense of Frederica, and
signal defeat of the Spanish forces at Fort Simons, will ever challenge
for Oglethorpe the highest credit for the most sterling qualities of a
good general and a great man.
Two years subsequently, Oglethorpe again advanced into Florida, appeared
before the gates of St. Augustine, and endeavored to induce the garrison
to march out to meet him; but they kept within their walls, and
Oglethorpe in one of his despatches says, in the irritation caused by
their prudence, "that they were so meek there was no provoking them." As
in this incursion he had no object in view but a devastation of the
country, and harrassing the enemy, he shortly withdrew his forces.
A committee of the South Carolina House of Commons, in a report upon the
Oglethorpe expedition, thus speaks of St. Augustine, evidently smarting
under the disappointment of their recent defeat.
* * * * *
"JULY 1ST, 1741."
"St. Augustine, in the possession of the crown of Spain, is well known
to be situated but little distance from hence, in latitude thirty
degrees, in Florida, the next territory to us. It is maintained by his
Catholic Majesty, partly to preserve his claim to Florida, and partly
that it may be of service to the plate-fleets when coming through the
gulf, by showing lights to them along the coast, and by being ready to
give assistance when any of them are cast away there-about. The castle,
by the largest account, doth not cover more than one acre of ground, but
is allowed on all hands to be a place of great strength, and hath been
usually garrisoned with about three or four hundred men of the King's
regular troops. The town is not very large, and but indifferently
fortified. The inhabitants, many of which are mulattoes of savage
dispositions, are all in the king's pay; also being registered from
their birth, and a severe penalty laid on any master of a vessel that
shall attempt to carry any of them off. These are formed into a militia,
and have been generally computed to be near about the same number as the
regular troops. Thus relying wholly on the king's pay for their
subsistence, their thoughts never turned to trade or even agriculture,
but depending on foreign supplies for the most common necessaries of
life, they spent their time in universal, perpetual idleness. From such
a state, mischievous inclinations naturally spring up in such a people;
and having leisure and opportunity, ever since they had a neighbor the
fruits of whose industry excited their desires and envy, they have not
failed to carry those inclinations into action as often as they could,
without the least regard to peace or war subsisting between the two
crowns of Great Britain and Spain, or to stipulations agreed upon
between the two governments."[33]
Among the principal grievances set forth in this report, was the
carrying off and enticing and harboring their slaves, of which a number
of instances are enumerated; and they attributed the negro insurrection
which occurred in South Carolina, in 1739, to the connivance and agency
of the Spanish authorities at St. Augustine; and they proceed in a
climax of indignation to hurl their denunciation at the supposed authors
of their misfortunes, in the following terms: "With indignation we
looked at St. Augustine (like another Sallee!) That den of thieves and
ruffians! receptacle of debtors, servants and slaves! bane of industry
and society! and revolved in our minds all the injuries this province
had received from thence, ever since its first settlement. That they had
from first to last, in times of profoundest peace, both publickly and
privately, by themselves, Indians, and Negroes, in every shape molested
us, not without some instances of uncommon cruelty."[34]
It is very certain there was on each side, enough supposed causes of
provocation to induce a far from amiable state of feeling between these
neighboring colonies.