Bibliographies.—Avery, III. 438-440; Winsor, V. 392-406; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 103.
Historical Maps.—No. 4, this volume (Epoch Maps, No. [4]), MacCoun, and school histories already cited.
General Accounts.—Avery, III. ch. xxiv.; Doyle, Colonies, V. ch. viii.; G. Bancroft, II. 268-291; Greene, Provincial America, ch. xv.; Hildreth, II. 362-377; Lodge, Colonies, ch. ix.; Winsor, V. ch. vi.; McCrady, South Carolina under Royal Government, chs. xi., xii.; W. Wilson, American People, II. 62-68; histories of Georgia by Jones, McCall, and Stevens.
Special Histories.—C. Jones, Dead Towns of Georgia; P. A. Strobel, Salzburgers; J. MacLean, Scotch Highlanders in America, ch. vi.; G. White, Historical Collections of Georgia; lives of Oglethorpe by Bruce, Cooper, Harris, and Wright.
Contemporary Accounts.—Oglethorpe, Account (1732); Martyn, Reasons for Establishing Georgia (1733); Account Showing Progress of Georgia (1741); Impartial Enquiry into State and Utility of Province of Georgia (1741); Cadogan, Impartial Account of Expedition against St. Augustine (1743); Moore, Voyage to Georgia (1744); Egmont, Journal of Trustees for Establishing Colony of Georgia; Candler, Colonial Records.
116. Settlement of Georgia (1732-1735).
Unsettled territory.
The southern boundary of South Carolina was practically the Savannah River; but the English claimed as far south as the St. John's. Just below the St. John's, and one hundred and seventy miles south of the Savannah, lay the old Spanish colony of St. Augustine, founded (page [34]) in 1565. The country between the Savannah and the St. John's was a part of the old Carolina claim; but when the Carolinas became royal provinces the king reserved this unsettled district as crown lands.
Formation of the Georgia Company.
James Oglethorpe had been an army officer; he was a member of parliament, and was prominent in various efforts at domestic reform, particularly in the improvement of the condition of debtors' prisons. Stirred by the terrible revelations of his inquiry, he engaged other wealthy and benevolent men with him, and formed a company (1732) for the settlement of the reserved Carolina tract, which was to be styled Georgia, in honor of the king, George II. The proposed colony was to serve the double purpose of checking the threatened Spanish advance upon the southern colonies in America, and of furnishing a home for members of the debtor class, who would be given a chance to retrieve their fortunes by a fresh start in life. This scheme, half philanthropic and half military, had also in view the extension of the English fur-traffic among the Cherokees, whose trade was now being eagerly sought by the Spanish on the south, and the French on the west.