[Footnote 1: London Magazine, for 1757, page 592.]
For several years, the British trade to America, particularly that to the West Indies, had suffered great interruption and annoyance from the Spanish guarda-costas, which, under various pretences, seized the merchant ships, and carried them into their ports, where they were confiscated. This piratical practice had increased to such a degree that scarcely any vessels were safe in those seas; for the Spaniards pretended that wherever they found logwood, cocoa, or pieces of eight on board, the capture was legal. Now, the first two of those commodities were the growth and produce of the English islands, and the last was the current specie of all that part of the world; so that there was hardly a ship homeward bound but had one or other of these on hoard.
These depredations were also aggravated by circumstances of great inhumanity and cruelty; the sailors being confined in loathsome prisons, at the Havana, and at Cadiz; or forced to work with irons on their legs; with no sustenance but salt fish, almost putrid, and beds full of vermin, so that many died of their hard captivity[1].
[Footnote 1: History of the Colonies planted by the English on the Continent of North America, by JOHN MARSHALL. 8vo. Philadelphia, 1824. Chap. X.]
The increasing complaints of the merchants, and the loud clamors of the nation, at length forced the British minister to abandon his pacific system; and war was declared against Spain on the 23d of October, 1739. A squadron, commanded by Admiral Vernon was detached for the West Indies, with instructions to act upon the defensive; and General Oglethorpe was ordered to annoy the settlements in Florida.[1]
[Footnote 1: Historical Review of the Transactions of Europe, from the commencement of the War with Spain, in 1739, to the Insurrection in Scotland, in 1745, by SAMUEL BOYSE. 8vo.. Dublin, 1748. Vol. I. p. 27.]
It now became necessary for Oglethorpe to take the most prompt and effective measures for the protection of the Colony; and, as his settlement had, from the beginning, been opposed by the Spaniards at St. Augustine, and would now have to encounter their resentful assaults, he must put into requisition all his military force, and see to their adequate equipment. He immediately took measures for raising a troop of thirty rangers, to prevent the Spanish horse and Indians at St. Augustine from making incursions into the Province; and likewise to intercept the runaway negroes of Carolina, on their way through the country to join the Spaniards. At the same time he summoned four hundred Creeks, and six hundred Cherokee Indians to march down to the southern borders. He then viewed the arms of the militia, to ascertain that they were all in good order, and gave directions that powder, balls, and flints, should be issued out of the magazine, for supplying each member with a proper quantity. But aware that all this would be too inconsiderable for effectual resistance, he perceived it to be expedient to seek the protection of the West India fleet, and to apply to the Assembly of South Carolina for coöperation in a cause, in the event of which their own safety was involved. Accordingly he immediately sent up to Charlestown to desire assistance, and to consult measures with the commanders of the men of war then on the station, in order immediately to block up St. Augustine before the Spaniards could receive supplies and reinforcements from Cuba; which, if properly executed, the place would, in all probability, be soon reduced.[1] This application was laid before the General Assembly, and, on the 8th of November, a Committee was appointed to take the same into consideration. Their Report was discussed in both Houses of Assembly; but no decision was obtained.
[Footnote 1: See his letter in the History of the Rise and Progress of Georgia, HARRIS'S Voyages, II. p. 338, dated 21st of September, 1739.]
Having taken these preparatory measures, he returned to Frederica to make all the arrangements which the exigences of the case required, in the equipment of his own forces, and by calling upon his Indian allies; waiting, with impatience, however, the result of his application to the sister Colony.
Towards the middle of November a party of Spaniards landed in the night time upon Amelia island, and skulked in the thicket till morning, when two Highlanders, unarmed, went into the woods for fuel; upon whom the Spaniards fired, first five and then ten shot; which was heard by Francis Brooks, who commanded the scout-boat upon the coast. He immediately made a signal to the Fort, which was then garrisoned by a detachment of General Oglethorpe's regiment. Upon this a party instantly went out, but they arrived too late, for they found their comrades dead, and that the assassins had taken to their boat, and put out to sea. The bodies of the soldiers were not only rent with shot, but most barbarously mangled and hacked. The periodical publication from which this account is taken, has the following remarks:[1] "Whence it was apparent that the Spaniards had first, out of cowardice, shot them, and then, out of cruelty, cut and slashed them with their swords. If they had not been most scandalous poltroons, they would have taken the two unarmed men prisoners, without making any noise; and then they might have lurked in the wood till they had found an opportunity of getting a better booty, or at least of making more prisoners. And, if they had not been most barbarously cruel, they would have been satisfied with simply killing these unresisting men, (which might have been without such a volley of shot,) and not have so mangled their bodies after they were slain. From such cowardly and cruel foes no mercy can be expected; and every one sent against them must despair if he finds himself in danger of being overpowered, and wrought up to desperation and revenge when he finds himself any thing near upon an equal footing."