| Battle of Bloody Marsh | |||||||
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| Part of the War of Jenkins' Ear & Invasion of Georgia |
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A Map of the Bloody Marsh area as it was in 1742 (North is down) |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Great Britain | Spain | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| James Oglethorpe | Antonio Barba | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 650 soldiers, militia and native Indians[1] | 150–200 soldiers[2] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Light | from 7[3][4] to 50 casualties[5] | ||||||
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The Battle of Bloody Marsh took place on July 18, 1742 (new style) between Spanish and British forces, and the latter were victorious. Part of the War of Jenkin's Ear, the battle was for control of the road between the British forts of Frederica and St. Simons, to control St. Simons Island and the forts' coverage of sea routes, off the coast of present-day Georgia. The Province of Georgia later claimed the island, which is now part of the U.S. state of Georgia. The Battle of Gully Hole Creek, a skirmish also won by the British, took place on the island the same day.
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James Oglethorpe led the colonization of Georgia for Great Britain, and had chosen Savannah as the principal port for the new colony. In the 1730s, Spain and Great Britain had been disputing control over the border between Georgia and La Florida, where the Spanish had several settlements and forts.
Given a heightened threat of Spanish invasion, Oglethorpe sought to increase his southern defenses. Accompanied by rangers and two Native American guides, Oglethorpe picked St. Simons Island as the site for a new town and fort. In 1734, Oglethorpe convinced the Parliament and the colonial trustees to pay for a new military garrison. He recruited a company of British settlers to migrate with their families to live at Darien, at the mouth of the Altamaha River.
The trustees also selected a large new group of colonists for St. Simons Island. The ships bearing the settlers and supplies arrived at Tybee Island early in 1736. From there, some went to the mainland while others traveled via periaguas (also known as pirogues) to St. Simons Island to found the new town of Frederica. Frederica and its fort were built on the elbow of the Frederica River to control approaches from both directions.
In 1737, Oglethorpe returned to England to acquire more funding and permission to raise a regiment of soldiers; he was successful in convincing Parliament of both. He was appointed commander-in- chief of all British forces (limited as they were) in the colonies of South Carolina and Georgia.
The conflicts on St. Simons Island were related to the War of Jenkins' Ear, begun in 1739. Troops of the Spanish Coast guard Ia Isabela had boarded the British brig Rebecca and found that its captain, Robert Jenkins was smuggling. The Spanish officer Julio León Fandiño's cut off one of Jenkins' ears for his piracy. In retaliation for the boarding and assault on its officer (and related to tensions having built between the two nations), on October 30, 1739, Great Britain declared war on Spain.
The two forts lay about five miles apart on St. Simon's Island. Between the two ran a road the width of one wagon, named Military Road. This served to supply the garrison at Fort Federica and settlers in the nearby village from Fort St. Simons. The battle took place during a Spanish invasion of the island and present-day Georgia. General James Oglethorpe commanded British troops to victory.
The Spanish commander Don Manuel de Montiano was the governor of La Florida. Spanish forces greatly outnumbered the British. On July 5, Montiano sailed to St. Simon through the firing guns of the British. The Spanish landed nearly 1900 men from more than 50 ships near Gascoigne Bluff, close to the Frederica River. Oglethorpe and his men retreated from the fort before the Spanish could mount an assault. The Spanish took over Fort St. Simons the following day and began to scout out their opposition on foot.
They found the road between Fort St. Simons and Fort Frederica, but first assumed the narrow track was just a farm road. After realizing his mistake, Montiano sent about 300 men to reconnoiter the road. On July 18, Spanish troops and a group of British soldiers, under command of Nobel Jones, skirmished with each other. Defeated by the British, the Spanish soldiers told their opponents that a larger Spanish army was advancing along the road from Fort St. Simons to Frederica. Oglethorpe positioned some men as rear guards.
Oglethorpe left to get more forces. In another skirmish, the outnumbered British began to retreat. When they reached a bend in the road, Lieutenants Southerland and Macoy decided to stop, and their regiments and allied Indians hid in the dense forests. They watched as the Spanish broke rank, stacked arms and, taking out their kettles, prepared to cook dinner. The British forces attacked the Spanish off-guard, killing about 50 (estimates vary). British forces routed the Spanish, and Oglethorpe was credited with the victory.
Oglethorpe continued to press the Spanish, trying to dislodge them from the island. A few days later, approaching a Spanish settlement on the south side, he learned of a French man who had deserted the British and gone to the Spanish. Worried that the deserter might report the small number of British men, Oglethorpe spread out his drummers, to make them sound as if they were accompanying a larger force. He wrote to the deserter, addressing him as if a spy for the British, saying that the man just needed to continue his stories until Britain could send more men. The prisoner who was carrying the letter took it to the Spanish officers, as Oglethorpe had hoped. Lastly, Oglethorpe arranged for some British ships to sail near, to suggest more forces were arriving.
That same day, the British won the skirmish against the Spanish known as the Battle of Gully Hole Creek on the island. The Spanish left St. Simons on 25 July, ending their last invasion of colonial Georgia.
Oglethorpe was later appointed brigadier general. He left Georgia about 1744 and married an heiress in Britain, where he lived the rest of his life.