1740. OgleGENERAL OGLETHORPE, having passed over to Florida with thorpe's 400 select men of his regiment and a considerable party of expedition against St. Indians, invested Diego, a small fort (about 25 miles from St. Augustine. Augustine), which, after a short resistance, surrendered by capitulation. Leaving in this fort a garrison of 60 men, he returned to the place of general rendezvous, where he was joined by colonel Vanderdussen with the Carolina regiment, and a company of Highlanders under captain M'Intosh. A few days after, he marched with his whole force, consisting of above 2000 men, regulars, provincials, and Indians, to fort Moosa within two miles. of St. Augustine. The Spanish garrison, on his approach, evacuating the fort, and retiring into the town, he immediately ordered the gates of the fort to be burnt, and three breaches to be made in its walls; and proceeded to reconnoitre the town and castle. During his stay at fort Diego, the Spaniards put themselves in a posture of defence; and the general, soon discovering that an attempt to take the castle by storm would be presumptuous, changed his plan of operation, and resolved, with the assistance of the ships of war which were now lying at anchor off Augustine bar, to turn the siege into a blockade. Having left colonel Palmer with 95 Highlanders aud 42 Indians at fort Moosa, with orders to scour the woods around the town, and intercept all supplies of cattle from the country, and sent colonel Vanderdussen with the Carolina regiment to take possession of a neck of land, called Point Quarrel, above a mile distant from the castle, with orders to erect a battery on it; the general with his regiment, and the greatest part of the Indians, embarked in boats, and landed on the island of Anastatia. From this place, which lay opposite the castle, he resolved to bombard the town. Ships were so stationed, as to block up the mouth of the harbour; and the Spaniards were cut off from all supplies by sea. Batteries were soon erected on Anastatia, and several cannon mounted. Oglethorpe, having made these dispositions, summoned the Spanish governor to a surrender; but, secure in his strong hold, he sent him for answer, that he would be glad to shake hands with him in his castle. Indignant at this reply, the general 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 from the Spanish fort, and from six half at Cambridge, he went to Europe, and spent several years at one of the universities in Holland, where he received the degree of doctor philosophia, and then returned to New England. In 1710 he was appointed agent of Massachusetts, and rendered very important services to the colony. He was author of the able "Defence of the New England Charters." A list of his other publications may be seen in the above biographical authorities. gallies in the harbour; but the distance was so great, that the 1740. cannonade, though it continued several days, did little execution on either side. In the mean time, the Spanish commander sent out against colonel Palmer a detachment of 300 men, who surprised him at fort Moosa, and cut his party almost entirely to pieces. The Chickasaws, offended at an incautious expression of Oglethorpe, deserted him. The Spanish garrison, by some means, received 700 men, and a large supply of provisions. 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 of the climate, dispirited by sickness, and fatigued by fruitless efforts, marched away in large bodies. The naval commander, in consideration of the shortness of his provisions, and of the near approach of the usual season of hurricanes, judged it imprudent to hazard his fleet longer on that coast. The general himself was sick of a fever, and his regiment was worn out with fatigue, and disabled by sickness. These combined disasters rendered it necessary to abandon the enterprise; and Oglethorpe, with extreme sorrow and regret, returned to Frederica.1 Charles town. While the province of Carolina felt the ruinous effects of the Fire in miscarriage of this expedition, a desolating fire in its capital deeply aggravated the calamity. It broke out in November, about two o'clock in the afternoon, and burned with unquenchable violence until eight at night. The houses being built of wood, and the wind blowing hard at the northwest, the flames spread with irresistible force, and astonishing rapidity. Almost every house, from Broad street, where the conflagration began, to Granville's bastion, was at one time on fire. Three hundred of the best buildings in the town, with goods and provincial commodities to a prodigious amount, were consumed. The legislature applied for relief to the British parliament, which voted £20,000 sterling to be distributed among the sufferers.2 thagena. Admiral Vernon, with a fleet of 30 sail of the line,3 made an Vernon beexpedition against Carthagena, and besieged it; but was at length sieges Carobliged to abandon the siege. The sailors amounted to 15,000; and the soldiers, including the American battalions and a body of negroes from Jamaica, to 12,000. This was far the greatest armament that America had ever seen.4 1 Hewatt, ii. 77-82. He reached Frederica about the 10th of July. 2 Hewatt, ii. 83, 84. "From a flourishing condition the town was reduced, in the space of six hours, to the lowest and most deplorable state." Salmon [Chron. Hist.] says, the damage of this fire was estimated at £200,000. 3 Raynal [iv. 59.] says, 25 ships of the line, 6 fire ships, and bomb ketches. 4 Univ. Hist. xli. 429-445. The fleet returned to Jamaica about the last of November, 1741. Though few had perished by the enemy, yet it was com 1740. against the saws. M. Bienville with a large army, composed of French, Indians, and Negroes, made a second expedition against the Chickasaws. Expedition Proceeding up the Mississippi, he encamped his troops on a fine Chicka- plain within 15 miles of the Chickasaw towns, where he built a fort, which he called Fort Assumption. While here, he received succours from Canada. In March, he detached a company of foot, attended by the Canadian Indians, with orders, if the Chickasaws should demand it, to treat of peace. The Chickasaws made signals of peace; which being promised them, they came Treaty of out of their fort, presented the calumet to the commanding officer, and a peace was concluded.1 peace. G. White an orphan house. Mr. George Whitefield, having received priest's orders, had field founds come a second time to America. Having obtained a tract of land from the trustees of Georgia, he laid the foundation of an Orphan House, a few miles from Savannah, and afterward finished it at great expense. It was designed to be an asylum for poor children, who were here to be clothed and fed by charitable contributions, and educated in the knowledge and practice of Christianity.2 Law against teaching slaves to write. Printing at The legislature of South Carolina, premising, that the having of slaves taught to write, or suffering them to be employed in writing, may be attended with great inconveniences, passed an act, That whoever shall teach, or cause any slave or slaves to be taught to write, or shall use or employ any slave as a scribe in any manner of writing whatsoever, shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of £100.3 A printing office was opened at Annapolis by Jonas Green, Annapolis. who was employed as printer to the government of Maryland.* A long and tedious controversy between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, respecting the divisional line between those puted, on a moderate calculation, that, before the arrival at Jamaica, 20,000 English subjects had died since their first attack on Carthagena. To this desolating mortality Thompson refers, in his admirable description of the "Power of Pestilent disease: " [Seasons, Summer, 1. 1040-1050.] "Such as, of late, at Carthagena quench'd The British fire. You, gallant Vernon! saw Heard nightly plung'd amid the sullen waves 1 Du Pratz, iii. 400-426. Univ. Hist. xl. 360–364. 2 Hewatt, ii. 167, 168. The orphan house was a wooden building, two stories high, the dimensions of which were 70 feet by 40. It stood on a sandy beach nigh the sea shore. However humane and laudable the design of this institution, the advantages which the founder expected from it were never realized. The unhealthfulness of the climate seems to have been but one among many causes of this disappointment. About 30 years afterward, the orphan house was burnt to the ground. M'Call, Hist. Georgia, i. 161, 162. 3 Grimké's Public Laws of South Carolina. The fine was to be "current money." 4 Thomas, i. 330, 331. See 1726. He was the son of the elder Timothy of New London, and great grandson of Samuel Green, printer at Cambridge. two provinces, was decided in England by the lords of council. By this decision New Hampshire gained a tract of country, 14 miles in breadth, and above 50 in length, more than it had ever claimed.1 1741. 1740. dition. AN expedition against the Spanish West India settlements was Cuba expeordered by the English government. Cuba was the principal object. An American regiment consisting of about 3600 men, was raised on this occasion; and the several colonies were at the charge of levy money, of provisions, and of transports, for their respective quotas. In this expedition the northern colonies furnished a considerable number of troops, and sustained a great loss of men; principally in an uncommon mortality which prevailed in the army.3 setts. There were now on the stocks in Massachusetts 40 topsail Massachuvessels, of about 7000 tons. In Marblehead there were about 160 fishing schooners, of about 50 tons each.4 There were frequent fires in the city of New York. A con- Incendiaspiracy of negroes and other incendiaries was discovered. Four ries at N. white persons were executed; 30 negroes were burnt; 18 hanged; and great numbers transported.5 York. The Moravians, or United Brethren, began to build the town Bethlehem. of Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania. The first number of The General Magazine and Historical First literaChronicle, printed and edited by Benjamin Franklin, was pub- ry journal. lished on the 1st of January. This was the first literary Journal published in the United States.7 Andrew Hamilton, of Philadelphia, died.8 1 Belknap, N. Hamp. ii. 168-171. Douglass, i. 422. Adams, N. Eng. 204. 2 Douglass, i. 554. Brit. Emp. i. 363. The troops were paid off and dismissed 24 October, 1742; and allowed to keep their clothing and firelocks. Massachusetts furnished 500 men, which cost that province about £37,500 old tenor, equal to £7000 sterling. 3 Trumbull, Hist. United States, i. c. 9. "The sickness seems to have been almost as mortal as the plague. According to the general's account, no less than 3445 died during the short period of two days. This was a considerably more than a fourth part of the whole army. Of nearly 1000 men from New England, not more than 90 or 100 returned. Of 500 from Massachusetts, 50 only returned." 4 Brit. Emp. i. 379. 5 Horsmanden, New York Conspiracy, or Hist. Negro Plot. Smith, N. York, i. 188. Brit. Emp. ii.301-318. Adams, View of Religions, 466. They had begun to settle at Savannah in Georgia; but the inhabitants of that colony, at the time of the invasion by the Spaniards, obliging them to take up arms, they left their settlement and possessions, and removed to Pennsylvania. See Loskiel, P. ii. c. 1. 7 Mem. Hist. Soc. Pennsylv. i. 148. Thomas, ii. 343. 8 Proud, ii. 219. He was a lawyer of great eminence in his profession; and had served in several considerable stations, both in the government of Pennsylvania and in the Lower Counties, with ability, integrity, and honour. See 1735. 3 VOL. II. Death of A. Spanish against 1742. THE Spaniards had not yet relinquished their claim to the expedition province of Georgia. No sooner, therefore, had the greatest Georgia. part of the British fleet, under admiral Vernon, left the seas about the Spanish settlements, than they made preparations for dislodging the English settlers from that province. Menaces having no effect on Oglethorpe, an armament was prepared at Havana to expel him from the Spanish frontiers. A body of 2000 men, commanded by Don Antonio de Rodondo, embarked from that port under convoy of a strong squadron, and arrived at St. Augustine in May. Oglethorpe, receiving intelligence of their arrival in Florida, sent advices of it to governor Glen of Carolina, and made all possible preparations for a vigorous resistance. With his regiment, and a few rangers, Highlanders, and Indians, he fixed his head quarters at Frederica, and waited in expectation of a reinforcement from Carolina. About the last of June, the Spanish fleet, amounting to 32 sail and carrying above 3000 men, under the command of Don Manuel de Monteano, came to anchor off St. Simon's bar; and, after sounding the channel, passed through Jekyl sound, received a fire from Oglethorpe at fort Simon's, and proceeded up the Alatamaha, beyond the reach of his guns. Here the enemy landed, and erected a battery with 20 eighteen pounders mounted on it. Oglethorpe, judging his situation at fort Simon's to be dangerous, spiked up the guns; burst the bombs and cohorns; destroyed the stores; and retreated to Frederica. With a force amounting to little more than 700 men, exclusive of Indians, he could not hope to act but on the defensive, until the arrival of reinforcements from Carolina. He, however, employed his Indians, and occasionally his Highlanders, in scouring the woods, harassing the outposts of the enemy, and throwing every impediment in their marches. In the attempts of the Spaniards to penetrate through the woods and morasses to reach Frederica, several rencountres took place; in one of which they lost a captain and two lieutenants killed, and above 100 men taken prisoners. Oglethorpe at length, learning by an English prisoner, who escaped from the Spanish camp, that a difference subsisted between the troops from Cuba and those from St. Augustine, occasioning a separate encampment, resolved to attack the enemy, while thus divided. Taking advantage of his knowledge of the woods, he marched out in the night with 300 chosen men, the Highland company, and some rangers, with the intention of surprising the enemy. Having advanced within two miles of the Spanish camp, he halted his troops, and went forward himself with a select corps, to reconnoitre the enemy's |