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443]
The disasters in the
West Indies prevented the con-
quest of
Florida.
Having, in September, 1739, received instructions from
England of the approaching
war with
Spain,
Oglethorpe hastened, before the close of the year, to extend the boundaries of
Georgia once more to the
St. John's, and immediately, in December, urged upon the province of
South Carolina the reduc-
tion of the Spaniards at
St. Augustine.
‘As soon as the sea is free,’ he adds, ‘they will send a large body of troops from
Cuba.’
His own intrepidity would brook no delay, and, in the first week of 1740, he entered
Florida. ‘Dear
Mr. Oglethorpe,’ wrote the Moravian ministers, ‘is now exposed to much danger;
for the Spaniards wish nothing more than to destroy his health and life.
He does not spare himself, but, in the common soldier's dress, he engages in the most perilous actions.
Since the new year, he has captured
Bolzius and Gronau, in Urlsperger i. 2555. |
two small fortified places of the Spaniards, which were the outposts of
St. Augustine, and now waits only for more Indians and more soldiers to attack that important fortress itself.’
In March,
Oglethorpe hurried to
Charleston, to encourage the zeal of
South Carolina; but the forces, which that province voted in April, were not ready till May; and when the expedition, composed of six hundred regular troops, four hundred militia from
Carolina, beside Indian auxiliaries, who were soon reduced to two hundred, advanced to the walls of
St. Augustine,
the garrison, commanded by
Monteano, a man of courage and energy, had already received supplies.
A vigorous sally was successful against a detached party, chiefly of Highlanders, at Fort Moosa.
Yet, for nearly five weeks,
Oglethorpe endeavored, in defiance of his own weakness and the strength of the
