An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America Part 12

Subsidiary to this it was designed to make Georgia a silk, wine, oil and drug-growing colony. It was calculated that the mother country would be relieved of a large body of indigent people and unfortunate debtors, and, at the same time, a.s.sist the commerce of Great Britain, increase home industries, and relieve, to an appreciative extent, the impost on foreign productions. Extravagant expectations were formed of the capabilities of Georgia by the enthusiastic friends of the movement. It was to rival Virginia and South Carolina, and at once to take the first rank in the list of provinces depending on the British crown. Its beauties and greatness were lauded by poets, statesmen and divines. It attracted attention throughout Europe, and to that promised land there pressed forward Swiss, German, Scotch and English alike. The benevolence of England was aroused, and the charities of an opulent nation began to flow towards the new plantation. The House of Parliament granted 10,000, which was augmented, by private subscription, to 36,000.

Oglethorpe had implicit faith in the enterprise, and with the first s.h.i.+pload, on board the Ann, he sailed from Gravesend November 17, 1732, and arrived at the bar, outside of the port of Charleston, South Carolina, January 13, 1733. Having accepted of a hearty welcome, he weighed anchor, and sailed directly for Port Royal; and while his colony was landing at Beaufort, he ascended the boundary river of Georgia, and selected the site for his chief town on the high bluff, where now is the city of Savannah. Having established his town, he then selected a commanding height on the Ogeechee river, where he built a fortification and named it Fort Argyle, in honor of the friend and patron of his early years.

Within a period of five years over a thousand persons had been sent over on the Trustee's account; several freeholders, with their servants, had also taken up lands; and to them and to others also, settling in the province, over fifty-seven thousand acres had been granted. Besides forts and minor villages there had been laid out and settled the princ.i.p.al towns of Augusta, Ebenezer, Savannah, New Inverness, and Frederica. The colonists were of different nationalities, widely variant in character, religion and government. There were to be seen the depressed Briton from London; the hardy Gael from the Highlands of Scotland; the solemn Moravian from Herrnhut; the phlegmatic German from Salzburg in Bavaria; the reflecting Swiss from the mountainous and pastoral Grisons; the mercurial peasant from sunny Italy, and the Jew from Portugal.

The settlements were made deliberately and with a view of resisting any possible encroachments of Spain. It was a matter of protection that the Highlanders were induced to emigrate, and their a.s.signment to the dangerous and outlying district, exposed to Spanish forays or invasions, is sufficient proof that their warlike qualities were greatly desired.

Experience also taught Oglethorpe that the useless poor in England did not change their characters by emigration.

In company with a retinue of Indian chiefs, Oglethorpe returned to England on board the Aldborough man-of-war, where he arrived on June 16, 1734, after a pa.s.sage of a little more than a month. His return created quite a sensation; complimentary verses were bestowed upon him, and his name was established among men of large views and energetic action as a distinguished benefactor of mankind. Among many things that engrossed his attention was to provide a bulwark against inroads that might be made by savages and dangers from the Spanish settlements; so he turned his eyes, as already noted, to the Highlands of Scotland. In order to secure a sufficient number of Highlanders a commission was granted to Lieutenant Hugh Mackay and George Dunbar to proceed to the Highlands and "raise 100 Men free or servants and for that purpose allowed to them the free pa.s.sage of ten servants over and above the 100. They farther allowed them to take 50 Head of Women and Children and agreed with Mr.

Simmonds to send a s.h.i.+p about, which he w'd not do unless they agreed for 130 Men Heads certain. This may have led the trust into the mistake That they were to raise only 130."[80]

The enterprising commissioners, using such methods as were customary to the country, soon collected the required number within the immediate vicinity of Inverness. They first enlisted the interest and consent of some of the chief gentlemen, and as they were unused to labor, they were not only permitted but required also to bring each a servant capable of supporting him. These gentlemen were not reckless adventurers, or reduced emigrants forced by necessity, or exiled by insolvency and want; but men of p.r.o.nounced character, and especially selected for their approved military qualities, many of whom came from the glen of Stralbdean, about nine miles distant from Inverness. They were commanded by officers most highly connected in the Highlands. Their political sympathies were with the exiled house of Stuart, and having been more or less implicated in the rising of 1715, they found themselves objects of jealousy and suspicion, and thus circ.u.mstanced seized the opportunity to seek an asylum in America and obtain that unmolested quietude which was denied them in their native glens.

These people being deeply religious selected for their pastor, Reverend John MacLeod, a native of Skye, who belonged to the Dunvegan family of MacLeods. He was well recommended by his clerical brethren, and sustained a good examination before the presbytery of Edinburgh, previous to his ordination and commission, October 13, 1735. He was appointed by the directors of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge (from whom he was to receive his annual stipend of 50) "not only to officiate as minister of the Gospel to the Highland families going hither," and others who might be inclined to the Presbyterian form of wors.h.i.+p, but "also to use his utmost endeavors for propagating Christian knowledge among natives in the colony."

The Trustees were greatly rejoiced to find that they had secured so valuable an acquisition to their colony, and that they could settle such a bold and hardy race on the banks of their southern boundary, and thus establish a new town on the Florida frontier. The town council of Inverness, in order to express their regard for Oglethorpe, on account of his kind offers to the Highlanders, conferred on him the honor of a burgess of the town, through his proxy, Captain George Dunbar.

Besides the military band, others, among whom were MacKays, Bailies, Dunbars, and Cuthberts, applied for large tracts of land to people with their own servants; most of them going over themselves to Georgia, and finally settling there for life.

Of the Highlanders, some of them paid their pa.s.sage and that of one out of two servants, while others paid pa.s.sage for their servants and took the benefit of the trust pa.s.sage for themselves. Some, having large families, wanted farther a.s.sistance for servants, which was acceded to by Captain Dunbar, who gave them the pa.s.sage of four servants, which was his right, for having raised forty of the one hundred men. Of the whole number the Trustees paid for one hundred and forty-six, some of whom became indentured servants to the Trust. On October 20, 1735, one hundred and sixty-three were mustered before Provost Ha.s.sock at Inverness. One of the number ran away before the s.h.i.+p sailed, and two others were set on sh.o.r.e because they would neither pay their pa.s.sage nor indent as servants to the Trust.

These pioneers, who were to carve their own fortunes and become a defense for the colony of Georgia, sailed from Inverness, October 18, 1735, on board the Prince of Wales, commanded by Captain George Dunbar, one of their own countrymen. They made a remarkably quick trip, attended by no accidents, and in January, 1736, sailed into Tybee Road, and at once the officer in charge set about sending the emigrants to their destination. All who so desired, at their own expense, were permitted to go up to Savannah and Joseph's Town. On account of a deficiency in boats, all could not be removed at once. Seven days after their arrival sixty-one were sent away, and on February 4th forty-six more proceeded to their settlement on the Alatamaha,--all of whom being under the charge of Hugh MacKay. Thus the advanced station, the post of danger, was guarded by a bold and hardy race; brave and robust by nature, virtuous by inclination, inured to fatigue and willing to labor:

"To distant climes, a dreary scene, they go, Where wild Altama murmurs to their woe, Far different these from all that charmed before, The various terrors of that distant sh.o.r.e; Those matted woods where birds forget to sing, But silent bats in drowsy cl.u.s.ters cling; Those poisonous fields with rank luxuriance crown'd, Where the dark scorpion gathers death around, Where at each step the stranger fears to wake The rattling terrors of the vengeful snake, Where crouching tigers wait their hapless prey, And savage men, more murderous still than they.

Far different these from every former scene."

--Goldsmith.

On their first landing at Savannah, some of the people from South Carolina endeavored to discourage them by saying that the Spaniards would shoot them as they stood upon the ground where they contemplated erecting their homes. "Why then," said the Highlanders in reply, "we will beat them out of their fort and shall have houses ready built to live in." The spot designated for their town is located twenty miles northwest from St. Simons and ten above Frederica, and situated on the mainland, close to a branch of the Alatamaha river, on a bluff twenty feet high, then surrounded on all sides with woods. The soil is a brackish sand. Formerly Fort King George, garrisoned by an independent company, stood within a mile and a half of the new town, but had been abandoned and destroyed on account of a want of supplies and communication with Carolina. The village was called New Inverness, in honor of the city they had left in Scotland; while the surrounding district was named Darien, on account of the settlement attempted on the Isthmus of Darien, in 1698-1701. Under the direction of Hugh MacKay, who proved himself to be an excellent officer and a man of executive ability, by the middle of February they had constructed a fort consisting of two bastions and two half bastions, which was so strong that forty men could maintain it against three hundred, and on it placed four pieces, which, afterwards was so enlarged as to demand twelve cannon; built a guardhouse, storehouse, a chapel, and huts for the people. One of the men dying, the rest joined and built a house for the widow.

In the meantime Oglethorpe had sailed from London on board the Symonds, accompanied by the London Merchant, with additional emigrants, and arrived in the Tybee Road a short time after the Highlanders had left.

He had never met them, and desiring to understand their ways and to make as favorable an impression on them as possible, he retained Captain Dunbar to go with him to the Highlanders and to instruct him fully in their customs. On February 22d he left St. Simons and rowing up the Alatamaha after three hours, reached the Highland settlement. Upon seeing the boat approaching, the Highlanders marched out to meet him, and made a most manly appearance in their plaids, with claymores, targets and fire-arms. Captain MacKay invited Oglethorpe to lie in his tent, where there was a bed with sheets--a rarity as yet in that part of the world. He excused himself, choosing to lie at the guard-fire, wrapped in his plaid, for he had on the Highland garb. Captain MacKay and the other gentlemen did the same, though the night was cold.

Oglethorpe had previously taken the precaution, lest the Highlanders might be apprehensive of an attack by the Spaniards, Indians, or other enemies, while their houses were in process of construction, to send Captain James McPherson, who commanded the rangers upon the Savannah, overland to support them. This troop arrived while Oglethorpe was yet present. Soon after they were visited by the Indians, who were attracted by their costume, and ever after retained an admiration for them, which was enhanced by the Highlanders entering into their wild sports, and joining them in the chase. In order to connect the new settlement with direct land communication with the other colonists, Oglethorpe, in March, directed Hugh MacKay, with a detachment of twelve rangers, to conduct Walter Augustin, who ran a traverse line from Savannah by Fort Argyle to Darien, in order to locate a roadway.

It was during Oglethorpe's first trip to the Highland settlement that he encamped on c.u.mberland island, and on the extreme western point, which commands the pa.s.sage of boats from the southward, marked out a fort to be called St. Andrews, and gave Captain Hugh MacKay orders to build it.

The work commenced immediately, thirty Highlanders being employed in the labor. On March 26th Oglethorpe, visiting the place, was astonished to find the fort in such an advanced stage of completion; the ditch was dug, the parapet was raised with wood and earth on the land side, and the small wood was cleared fifty yards round the fort. This seemed to be the more extraordinary because MacKay had no engineer, nor any other a.s.sistance in that way, except the directions originally given. Besides it was very difficult to raise the works, the ground being a loose sand.

They were forced to lay the trees and sand alternately,--the trees preventing the sand from falling, and the sand the wood from fire. He returned thanks to the Highlanders and offered to take any of them back to their settlement, but all refused so long as there was any danger from the Spaniards, in whose vicinity they were now stationed. But two of them, having families at Darien, he ordered along with him.

The Highlanders were not wholly engaged in military pursuits, for, to a great extent, they were engaged in making their settlement permanent.

They engaged in the cultivation of Indian corn and potatoes; learned to cut and saw timber, and laid out farms upon which they lived. For a frontier settlement, constantly menaced, all was accomplished that could be reasonably expected. In the woods they found ripe oranges and game, such as the wild turkey, buffalo and deer, in abundance. But peace and prosperity were not their allotted portion, for their lines were now cast in troubled waters. The first year witnessed an appeal to arms and a struggle with the Spaniards, which eventually resulted in a disaster to the Highlanders. Deeds of heroism were now enacted, fully in keeping with the tenor of the race.

The Spaniards, who had their main force at St. Augustine, were more or less aggressive, which kept the advanced posts in a state of alarm. John Mohr Macintosh, who had seen service in Scotland, was directed by Oglethorpe to instruct the Highlanders in their military duty, and under his direction they were daily exercised. Hugh MacKay, with a company, had been directed to the immediate command of Oglethorpe.

Disputes early arose between the English colonists and the Spaniards regarding the frontier line between the two nationalities, and loud complaints were made by the latter on account of being harra.s.sed by Indians. Oglethorpe took steps to restrain the Indians, and to the Spaniards sent friendly messengers, who were immediately seized and confined and at once took measures against the colonists. A Spanish wars.h.i.+p sailed by St. Simon's island and pa.s.sed Fort St. Andrews, but was not fired upon by the Highlanders because she answered their signals. She made her way back to St. Augustine when the report gained currency that the whole coast was covered with war boats armed with cannon. On June 8th the colonists were again threatened by a Spanish vessel which came close to Fort St. Andrews before she was discovered; but when challenged rowed away with the utmost precipitation. On board this boat was Don Ignatio with a detachment of the Spanish garrison, and as many boatmen and Indians as the launch could hold. It was at this time that a Highland lad named Fraser distinguished himself. Oglethorpe in endeavoring to meet the Spaniards by a flag of truce, or else obtain a conference with them, but unable to accomplish either, and being about to withdraw, saw the boy, whom he had sent forward, returning through the woods, driving before him a tall man with a musket on his shoulder, two pistols stuck in his girdle, and further armed with both a long and short sword. Coming up to Oglethorpe the lad said: "Here, sir; I have caught a Spaniard for you." The man was found to have in his possession a letter from Oglethorpe's imprisoned messengers which imparted certain information that proved to be of great value.

The imprisoned messengers were ultimately released and sent back in a launch with commissioners to treat with Oglethorpe. In order to make a favorable impression on the Spaniards, the Highlanders, under Ensign MacKay, were ordered out. June 19th, Ensign MacKay arrived on board the man-of-war Hawk, then just off from Amelia island, with the Highlanders, and a detachment of the independent company, in their regimentals, who lined one side of the s.h.i.+p, while the Highlanders, with their claymores, targets, plaids, etc., did the same on the other side. The commissioners were very handsomely entertained on board the war vessel, and after dinner messages in writing were exchanged. While this hilarity and peace protestations were being indulged, an Indian brought the news that forty Spaniards and some Indians had fallen upon a party of the Creek nation who, then depending upon the general peace between the Indians, Spanish and English, without suspicion, and consequently without guard, were surrounded and surprised, several killed and others taken, two of whom, being boys, were murdered by das.h.i.+ng out their brains.

To the people of New Iverness the year 1737 does not appear to have been a propitious one. Pioneers were compelled to endure hards.h.i.+ps of which they had little dreamed, and the Highland settlement was no exception to the rule. The record preserved for this year is exceedingly meagre and consists almost wholly in the sworn statement of Alexander Monroe, who deserted the colony in 1740. In the latter year he deposed that at Darien, where he arrived in 1736 with his wife and child, he had cleared, fenced in and planted five acres of land, built a good house in the town, and made other improvements, such as gardening, etc.; that he was never able to support his family by cultivation, though he planted the said five acres three years and had good crops, and that he never heard of any white man being able to gain a living by planting; that in 1737 the people were reduced to such distress for want of provisions, having neither corn, peas, rice, potatoes, nor bread-kind of any sort, nor fish, nor flesh of any kind in store; that they were forced to go in a body, with John Mohr Macintosh at the head, to Frederica and there make a demand on the Trust's agent for a supply; that they were relieved by Captain Gascoigne of the Hawk, who spared them two barrels of flour, and one barrel of beef; and further, he launches an indictment against John Mohr Macintosh, who had charge of the Trust's store at Darien, for giving the better cla.s.s of food to his own hogs while the people were forced to take that which was rotten.[81]

While this statement of Monroe may possibly be true in the main, and that there was actual suffering, yet it must be borne in mind that the Highlanders were there living in a changed condition. The labor, climate, soil, products, etc., were all new to them, and to the changed circ.u.mstances the time had been too short for them to adapt themselves; nor is it probable that five acres were enough for their subsistence.

The feeding of cattle, which was soon after adopted, would give them a larger field of industry.

Nor was this all. Inevitable war fell upon the people; for we learn that the troop of Highland rangers, under Captain MacKay, held Fort St.

Andrews "with thirty men, when the Spaniards attempted the invasion of this Province with a great number of men in the year 1737."[82] Drawing the men away from the settlement would necessarily cause more or less suffering and disarrangement of affairs.

The record for the year 1738 is more extensive, although somewhat contradictory, and exhibits a strong element of dissention. Oglethorpe admitted the difficulties under which the people labored, ascribing them to the Spanish alarms, but reports that John Mohr Macintosh, pursuant to orders from the Trust, had disposed of a part of the servants to the freeholders of Darien, which encouragement had enabled the settlement to continue.

"The women were a dead charge to the Trust, excepting a few who mended the Cloaths, dressed the Victuals and washed the Linnen of the Trustees Men Servants. Some of the Soldiers who were Highlanders desiring to marry Women, I gave them leave upon their discharging the Trustees from all future Charges arising from them."[83]

The difficulties appear also to have arisen from the fact that the freeholders were either unable or else unwilling--which is the more likely--to perform manual labor. They labored under the want of a sufficient number of servants until they had procured some who had been indentured to the Trust for pa.s.sage from Scotland.

The Reverend John MacLeod, who abandoned the colony in 1741, made oath that in the year 1738 they found by experience that the produce from the land did not answer the expense of time and labor, and the voice of the people of Darien was to abandon their improvements, and settle to the northward, where they could be free from the restraints which rendered incapable of subsisting themselves and families.[84] The declaration of Alexander Monroe is still more explicit:

"That in December, 1738, the said inhabitants of Darien finding that from their first settling in Georgia, their labors turned to no account, that their wants were daily growing on them, and being weary of apprehension, they came to a resolution to depute two men, chosen from amongst them, to go to Charleston, in South Carolina, and there to make application to the government, in order to obtain a grant of lands to which the whole settlement of Darien to a man were to remove altogether, the said John McIntosh More excepted; but that it being agreed among them, first to acquaint the said Colonel with their intentions, and their reasons for such resolutions, John McIntosh L.

(Lynvilge) was employed by the said freeholders to lay the same before him, who returned them an answer 'that they should have credit for provisions, with two cows and three calves, and a breeding mare if they would continue on their plantations.' That the people with the view of these helps, and hoping for the further favor and countenance of the said Colonel, and being loth to leave their little all behind them, and begin the world in a strange place, were willing to make out a livelihood in the colony; but whilst they were in expectation of these things, this deponent being at his plantation, two miles from the town, in Dec., 1738, he received a letter from Ronald McDonald, which was sent by order of the said McIntosh More, and brought to this deponent by William, son of the said McIntosh, ordering him, the said deponent, immediately to come himself, and bring William Monro along with him to town, and advising him that, 'if he did so, he would be made a man of, but, that if he did not, he would be ruined forever.' That this deponent coming away without loss of time, he got to the said McIntosh More's house about nine of the clock that night, where he found several of the inhabitants together, and where the said McIntosh More did tell this deponent, 'that if he would sign a paper, which he then offered him, that the said Colonel would give him cattle and servants from time to time, and that he would be a good friend to as many as would sign the said paper, but that they would see what would become of those that would not sign it, for that the people of Savannah would be all ruined, who opposed the said Colonel in it.' That this deponent did not know the contents of the said paper, but seeing that some before him had signed it, his hopes on one side, and fears on the other, made him sign it also.

That upon his conversing with some of the people, after leaving the house, he was acquainted with the contents and design of said paper, which this deponent believes to be the pet.i.tion from the eighteen, which the trustees have printed, and that very night he became sensible of the wrong he had done; and that his conscience did thereupon accuse him, and does yet."[85]

The phrase "being weary of oppression" has reference to the accusation against Captain Hugh MacKay, who was alleged to have "exercised an illegal power there, such as judging in all causes, directing and ordering all things according to his will, as did the said McIntosh More, by which many unjust and illegal things were done. That not only the servants of the said freeholders of Darien were ordered to be tied up and whipt; but also this deponent, and Donald Clark, who themselves were freeholders, were taken into custody, and bound with ropes, and threatened to be sent to Frederica to Mr. Horton, and there punished by him; this deponent, once for refusing to cry 'All's well,' when he was an out-sentry, he having before advised them of the danger of so doing, lest the voice should direct the Indians to fire upon the sentry, as they had done the night before, and again for drumming with his fingers on the side of his house, it being pretended that he had alarmed the town. That upon account of these, and many other oppressions, the freeholders applied to Mr. Oglethorpe for a court of justice to be erected, and proper magistrates in Darien, as in other towns in Georgia, that they might have justice done among themselves, when he gave them for answer, 'that he would acquaint the trustees with it'; but that this deponent heard no more of it."[86]

One of the fundamental regulations of the Trustees was the prohibition of African slavery in Georgia. However, they had inst.i.tuted a system of servitude which indentured both male and female to individuals, or the Trustees, for a period of from four to fourteen years. On arriving in Georgia, their services were sold for the term of indenture, or apportioned to the inhabitants by the magistrates, as their necessities required. The sum which they brought when thus bid off varied from 2 to 6, besides an annual tax of 1 for five years to defray the expense of their voyage. Negro slavery was agitated in Savannah, and on December 9, 1738, a pet.i.tion was addressed to the Trustees, signed by one hundred and sixteen, and among other things asked was the introduction of Negro slavery. On January 3, 1739, a counter pet.i.tion was drawn up and signed by the Highlanders at Darien. On March 13th the Saltzburghers of Ebenezer signed a similar pet.i.tion in which they strongly disapproved of the introduction of slave labor into the colony. Likewise the people of Frederica prepared a pet.i.tion, but desisted from sending it, upon an a.s.surance that their apprehensions of the introduction of Negroes were entirely needless. Many artifices were resorted to in order to gain over the Highlanders and have them pet.i.tion for Negro slaves. Failing in this letters were written to them from England endeavoring to intimidate them into a compliance. These counter pet.i.tions strengthened the Trustees in their resolution. It is a noticeable fact, and worthy of record, that at the outbreak of the American Revolution the Highlanders of Darien again protested against African slavery.

Those persons dissatisfied with the state of affairs increased in numbers and gradually grew more rancorous. It is not supposable that they could have bettered the condition under the circ.u.mstances.

Historians have been universal in their praise of Oglethorpe, and in all probability no one could have given a better administration. His word has been taken without question. He declared that "Darien hath been one of the Settlements where the People have been most industrious as those of Savannah have been most idle. The Trustees have had several Servants there who under the direction of Mr. Moore McIntosh have not only earned their bread but have provided the Trust with such Quant.i.ties of sawed stuff as hath saved them a great sum of money. Those Servants cannot be put under the direction of anybody at Frederica nor any one that does not understand the Highland language. The Woods fit for sawing are near Darien and the Trustees engaged not to separate the Highlanders. They are very useful under their own Chiefs and no where else. It is very necessary therefore to allow Mr. Mackintosh for the overseeing the Trust's Servants at Darien."[87]

That such was the actual condition of affairs in 1739 there is no doubt.

However, a partial truth may change the appearance. George Philp, who at Savannah in 1740, declared that for the same year the people "are as incapable of improving their lands and raising produces as the people in the northern division, as appears from the very small quant.i.ty of Indian corn which hitherto had been the chief and almost only produce of the province, some few potatoes excepted; and as a proof of which, that he was in the south in May last, when the season for planting was over, and much less was done at Frederica than in former years; and that the people in Darien did inform him, that they had not of their own produce to carry to market, even in the year 1739, which was the most plentiful year they ever saw there, nor indeed any preceding year; nor had they (the people of Darien) bread-kind of their own raising, sufficient for the use of their families, from one crop to another, as themselves, or some of them, did tell this deponent; and further, the said people of Darien were, in May last, repining at their servants being near out of their time, because the little stock of money they carried over with them was exhausted in cultivation which did not bring them a return; and they were thereby rendered quite unable to plant their lands, or help themselves any way."[88]

It was one of the agreements made by the Trust that a.s.sistance should be given the colonists. Hence Oglethorpe speaks of "the 58 delivered to Mr. McIntosh at Darien, it was to support the Inhabitants of Darien with cloathing and delivered to the Trustees' Store there, for which the Individuals are indebted to the Trust. Part of it was paid in discharge of service done to the Trustees in building. Part is still due and some do pay and are ready to pay."[89]

The active war with Spain commenced by the murder of two unarmed Highlanders on Amelia Island, who had gone into the woods for fuel. It was November 14, 1739, that a party of Spaniards landed on the island and skulked in the woods. Francis Brooks, who commanded a scout boat, heard reports of musketry, and at once signaled the fort, when a lieutenant's squad marched out and found the murdered Highlanders with their heads cut off and cruelly mangled. The Spaniards fled with so much precipitation that the squad could not overtake them, though they pursued rapidly. Immediately Oglethorpe began to collect around him his inadequate forces for the invasion of Florida. In January, 1740, he received orders to make hostile movements against Florida, with the a.s.surance that Admiral Vernon should co-operate with him. Oglethorpe took immediate action, drove in the Spanish outposts and invaded Florida, having learned from a deserter that St. Augustine was in want of provisions. South Carolina rendered a.s.sistance; and its regiment reached Darien the first of May, where it was joined by Oglethorpe's favorite corps, the Highlanders, ninety strong, commanded by Captain John Mohr McIntosh and Lieutenant MacKay. They were ordered, accompanied by an Indian force, to proceed by land, at once, to Cow-ford (afterwards Jacksonville), upon the St. Johns. With four hundred of his regiment, Oglethorpe, on May 3d, left Frederica, in boats, and on the 9th reached the Cow-ford. The Carolina regiment and the Highlanders having failed to make the expected junction at that point, Oglethorpe, who would brook no delay, immediately proceeded against Fort Diego, which surrendered on the 10th, and garrisoned it with sixty men under Lieutenant Dunbar. With the remainder he returned to the Cow-ford, and there met the Carolina regiment and McIntosh's Highlanders. Here Oglethorpe ma.s.sed nine hundred soldiers and eleven hundred Indians, and marched the whole force against Fort Moosa, which was built of stone, and situated less than two miles from St. Augustine, which the Spaniards evacuated without offering resistance. Having burned the gates, and made three breaches in the walls, Oglethorpe then proceeded to reconnoitre the town and castle.

a.s.sisted by some s.h.i.+ps of war lying at anchor off St. Augustine bar, he determined to blockade the town. For this purpose he left Colonel Palmer, with ninety-five Highlanders and fifty-two Indians, at Fort Moosa, with instructions to scour the woods and intercept all supplies for the enemy; and, for safety, encamp every night at different places.

This was the only party left to guard the land side. The Carolina regiment was sent to occupy a point of land called Point Quartel, about a mile distant from the castle; while he himself with his regiment and the greater part of the Indians embarked in boats, and landed on the Island of Anastatia, where he erected batteries and commenced a bombardment of the town. The operations of the beseigers beginning to relax, the Spanish commander sent a party of six hundred to surprise Colonel Palmer at Fort Moosa. The Spaniards had noted that for five nights Colonel Palmer had made Fort Moosa his resting place. They came in boats with m.u.f.fled oars at the dead of night, and landed unheard and undiscovered. The Indians, who were relied on by Palmer, were watching the land side, but never looked towards the water.

Captain Macintosh had remonstrated with Colonel Palmer for remaining at Fort Moosa more than one night, until it produced an alienation between them. The only thing then left for MacIntosh was to make his company sleep on their arms. At the first alarm they were in rank, and as the Spanish infantry approached in three columns they were met with a Highland shout.

The contest was unequal, and although the Highlanders rallied to the support of MacIntosh, their leader, and fought with desperation, yet thirty-six of them fell dead or wounded at the first charge. When Colonel Palmer saw the overwhelming force that a.s.saulted his command, he directed the rangers without the wall to fly; but, refusing to follow them, he paid the debt of his obstinacy with his blood.

The surprise at Fort Moosa led to the failure of Oglethorpe's expedition. John Mohr MacIntosh was a prisoner, and as Oglethorpe had no officer to exchange for him, he was sent to Spain, where he was detained several years--his fate unknown to his family--and when he did return to his family it was with a broken const.i.tution and soon to die, leaving his children to such destiny as might await them, without friends, in the wilds of America, for the one who could a.s.sist them--General Oglethorpe--was to be recalled, in preparation to meet the Highland Rising of 1745, when he, too, was doomed to suffer degradation from the duke of c.u.mberland, and injury to his military reputation.

It was the same regiment of Spaniards that two years later was brought from Cuba to lead in all enterprises that again was destined to meet the remnant of those Highlanders, but both the scene and the result were different. It was in the light of day, and blood and slaughter, but not victory awaited them.

The conduct of the eldest son of John Mohr MacIntosh is worthy of mention. He was named after his grand uncle, the celebrated Old Borlum (General William MacIntosh), who commanded a division of the Highlanders in the Rising of 1715. William was not quite fourteen years of age when his father left Darien for Florida. He wished to accompany the army, but his father refused. Determined not to be thwarted in his purpose, he overtook the army at Barrington. He was sent back the next day under an armed guard. Taking a small boat, he ferried up to Clarke's Bluff, on the south side of the Alatamaha, intending to keep in the rear until the troops had crossed the St. Mary's river. He soon fell in with seven Indians, who knew him, for Darien had become a great rendezvous for them, and were greatly attached to the Highlanders, partly on account of their wild manners, their manly sports and their costume, somewhat resembling their own. They caressed the boy, and heartily entered into his views. They followed the advancing troops and informed him of all that transpired in his father's camp, yet carefully concealing his presence among them until after the pa.s.sage of the St. Mary's, where, with much triumph, led him to his father and said "that he was a young warrior and would fight; that the Great Spirit would watch over his life, for he loved young warriors." He followed his father until he saw him fall at Fort Moosa, covered with wounds, which so transfixed him with horror, that he was not aroused to action until a Spanish officer laid hold of his plaid. Light and as elastic as a steel bow, he slipped from under his grasp, and made his escape with the wreck of the corps.

Those who escaped the ma.s.sacre went over in a boat to Point Quartel.

Some of the Chickasaw Indians, who also had escaped, met a Spaniard, cut off his head and presented it to Oglethorpe. With abh.o.r.ence he rejected it, calling them barbarian dogs and bidding them begone. As might be expected, the Chickasaws were offended and deserted him. A party of Creeks brought four Spanish prisoners to Oglethorpe, who informed him that St. Augustine had been reinforced by seven hundred men and a large supply of provisions. The second day after the Fort Moosa affair, the Carolina[90] regiment deserted, the colonel leading the rout; nor did he arrest his flight until darkness overtook him, thirty miles from St.

Augustine. Other circ.u.mstances operating against him, Oglethorpe commenced his retreat from Florida and reached Frederica July 10, 1740.

The inhabitants of Darien continued to live in huts that were tight and warm. Prior to 1740 they had been very industrious in planting, besides being largely engaged in driving cattle for the regiment; but having engaged in the invasion of Florida, little could be done at home, where their families remained. One writer[91] declared that "the people live very comfortably, with great unanimity. I know of no other settlement in this colony more desirable, except Ebenezer." The settlement was greatly decimated on account of the number killed and taken prisoners at Fort Moosa. This gave great discontent on the part of those who already felt aggrieved against the Trust.