With this encouragement, and the promise of coöperation by Commodore Vincent Price, who commanded the small fleet on that station, the place of rendezvous was appointed at the mouth of St. John's river. The General then published his manifesto,[1] and immediately hastened back to Georgia to prepare his forces for the Expedition.
[Footnote 1: Appendix, No. XXII.]
On the beginning of April he went to the Uchee town to engage runners to his Indian allies to inform them of his intended assault of St. Augustine; to bespeak their assistance, and request their chiefs and warriors to join his forces at Frederica, whither he immediately repaired. There he completed the equipment of his forces; selected the field-pieces and their carriages, balls and powder; and attended to the military accoutrements, stores and provisions.
On the 9th of May he passed over to Florida with four hundred selected men of his regiment, and a considerable party of Indians, headed by Molochi, son of Prim the late chief of the Creeks; Raven, war-chief of the Cherokees; and Toonahowi, nephew of Tomo Chichi. On the evening of the 10th, part of the Carolina forces arrived.
[Illustration]
As the first thing to be done was to take the forts that kept open the communication of the Spaniards with the country, and thus cut off their supplies, the General, impatient of losing time, invested the small fort called Francis de Pupa, seventeen miles north of St. Augustine, commanded by a sergeant and twelve men, who surrendered without a contest. Thence he proceeded to Fort Diego, situated on the plains, twenty-five miles from St. Augustine, defended by eleven guns, and fifty regulars, besides Indians and negroes. In his sortie upon this, he made use of a little stratagem, as well as force; which was by appointing three or four drums to beat, at the same time, in different places in the woods, and a few men now and then to appear suddenly, and withdraw out of sight again. At this, the enemy in the fort were so confounded, with the apprehension that they were surrounded by a great number of troops, that they made only a feint of opposition; and, being summoned to surrender, did so, on condition of being treated as prisoners of war, and, (what they principally insisted on) not to be delivered into the hands of the Indians, from whom they were conscious that they had incurred the most condign reprisals for former aggressions.[1] The other articles were that they should deliver up the guns and stores, which consisted of nine swivel and two carriage guns, with the powder and shot, &c.; that they should have liberty to keep their baggage; that Seignior Diego Spinosa, to whom the fort belonged, it having been built at his expense, and on his land, should hold his plantation and slaves, and such other effects as were not already plundered in the field; and, finally, that no deserters or runaways from Charlestown should have the benefit of this capitulation. Here he left a garrison of sixty men, under the command of Lieutenant Dunbar, to secure the retreat of the army, in case of accidents, and to preserve a safe communication with the settlements in Georgia. He then returned to the place of rendezvous, where he was joined on the 19th of May by Captain M'Intosh, with a company of Highlanders, and Colonel Vanderdussen, with the rest of the Carolina troops, but without any horse, pioneers, or negroes.
[Footnote 1: Stephens, II. 389.]
By this time six Spanish half-galleys, with a number of long brass nine pounders, manned with two hundred regulars, and attended by two sloops loaded with ammunition and provisions, had entered the harbor of St. Augustine, so that the forces in the town and castle were very nearly equal in numbers to the land forces brought against them, and their artillery much superior.
Notwithstanding all the reinforcement which Oglethorpe had received, it was judged impracticable to take the place by assault from the land side, unless an attack could be made at the same time by the boats of the men of war, and other small craft, on the sea side, on which the town had no intrenchments; and to begin a regular siege on the land side was impossible, as he had neither force enough for investing the place, nor any pioneers for breaking the ground, and carrying on the approaches. For this reason it was concerted between him and the sea commanders, that as soon as they arrived off the bar of the north channel, he should march up with his whole force, consisting of about two thousand men, to St. Augustine, and give notice by a signal agreed on, that he was ready to begin the attack by land; which should be answered by a counter signal from the fleet of their readiness to attack it by sea. Accordingly the General marched, and arrived near the intrenchments of St. Augustine, June 4th, at night, having in his way taken Fort Moosa, about three miles from St. Augustine, which the garrison had abandoned upon his approach. He ordered the gates of the fort to be burnt, and three breaches to be made in the walls.
As soon as it was proper to begin the attack, he made the signal agreed on, but had no countersign from the men of war. This was to his utter surprise and disappointment. The reason which was afterwards assigned, was, that the fleet had ascertained that their promised cooperation had been rendered impracticable; as the galleys had been drawn up abreast in the channel between the castle and the island, so that any boats which they should send in must have been exposed to the cannon and musketry of the galleys, as well as the batteries of the castle; and, as no ships of force could get in to protect them, they must have been defeated, if not wholly destroyed; and that it was impossible to make an attack by sea, while the galleys were in that position. It being presumptuous to make an attack without the aid of the fleet, the General was under the necessity of marching back to Fort Diego, where he had left all his provisions, camp furniture, and tools; because he had neither horses nor carriages for taking them along with him by land, nor had then any place for landing them near St. Augustine, had he sent them by water.[1]