The hot summer sun beat down on the English camps across the bay. Swarms of sandflies and mosquitoes tortured the besiegers. Due to brackish water from shallow wells and improper food, many were ill. Groups of the Carolina militia were daily deserting. The commander of the English naval unit informed Oglethorpe that he would soon be forced to withdraw his support, because of limited supplies and the danger of storms. Faced by these unfavorable circumstances, General Oglethorpe raised the siege, crossed over to the mainland, and began the long trek back to Georgia.
The people of St. Augustine returned jubilantly to their homes, which had suffered little or no damage in the bombardment. Chapels and churches rang with Te Deums of thanksgiving.
Further Hostilities
St. Augustine had successfully stemmed the English advance. Spain further strengthened its garrison and defenses. Spanish privateers, some of them based at St. Augustine, preyed upon English commerce and plantations along the coast to the north. During 1741 no less than thirty English prizes were brought into Matanzas Bay.
Oglethorpe momentarily expected the Spanish to launch a return attack upon Georgia. During June of 1742 a Georgia scout boat discovered fifteen sail in St. Augustine’s harbor. Soon more arrived, and a strong expedition composed of units from St. Augustine and Cuba set out for Georgia, with Florida’s Governor Montiano in command. The attack was directed toward Fort Frederica, which guarded the approaches to Savannah. Landing on St. Simon’s Island, this superior Spanish force was ambushed and defeated in the Battle of Bloody Marsh, and withdrew to its camp. Soon afterward a Frenchman deserted the English and went over to the Spaniards. Oglethorpe contrived to send the Frenchman a letter, in which he directed him to lead the Spaniards to believe that the English were weak, and to persuade them to attack. As expected, the letter fell into the hands of the Spanish commanders, who were at a loss as to how to interpret it. Much to Oglethorpe’s relief they decided to withdraw.
Encouraged by his success, Oglethorpe returned to Florida next year. Marching ninety-six miles in four days, he appeared before St. Augustine with a small detachment, keeping his main force hidden in ambush. His ruse might have succeeded, had he not captured in his advance a small company of Spaniards guarding some workmen. Their failure to return alerted the garrison. After a few days he withdrew, remarking that “the Spaniards are so meek there is no provoking them.”
Frederica, which Oglethorpe had established as a Georgia military stronghold against the Spaniards, gradually became a ghost town after peace was restored in 1748. In the meantime Oglethorpe returned to England and never threatened St. Augustine or Florida again. In England he became an intimate of the great literary figures of the day, and lived to the ripe old age of 96.
The next twenty years might be called St. Augustine’s Golden Age under Spain. Substantial coquina houses and tastefully decorated chapels lined its narrow streets. The inhabitants lived in relative ease and comfort. Social life was gay with colorful carnivals and religious celebrations rivaling those of Havana, Cuba. The capital was now a city of three thousand souls, and would soon be two centuries old. Florida seemed held firmly in the grip of Spain.
But English colonists to the north now numbered almost one million and one hundred thousand Frenchmen had settled in Canada. The struggle for power among European nations was to decide St. Augustine’s fate.
