It seems that the Creeks, in retaliation of some predatory and murderous outrages of the Florida outposts, made a descent upon them in return. This is referred to in the following extract from a letter of General Oglethorpe to the Duke of Newcastle, dated
Frederica, 12th of December, 1741.
My Lord,
"Toonahowi, the Indian who had the honor of your Grace's protection in England, with a party of Creek Indians, returned hither from making an incursion up to the walls of Augustine; near which they took Don Romualdo Ruiz del Moral, Lieutenant of Spanish horse, and nephew to the late Governor, and delivered him to me.
"The Governor of Augustine has sent the enclosed letter to me by some English prisoners; and, the prisoners there, the enclosed petition. On which I fitted out the vessels, and am going myself, with a detachment of the regiment, off the bar of Augustine, to demand the prisoners, and restrain the privateers."
In the early part of the year 1742, the Spaniards formed a design upon Georgia, on which, from the time of its settlement, they had looked with a jealous eye.[1] For this end, in May, they fitted out an armament at Havanna, consisting of fifty-six sail, and seven or eight thousand men; but the fleet, being dispersed by a storm, did not all arrive at St. Augustine, the place of their destination. Don Manuel de Monteano, Governor of that fortress, and of the town and region it protected, had the command of the expedition.
[Footnote 1: Appendix, No. XXV.]
About the end of May, or beginning of June, the schooner, which had been sent out on a cruise by General Oglethorpe, returned with the information that there were two Spanish men of war, with twenty guns each, besides two very large privateers, and a great number of small vessels, full of troops, lying at anchor off the bar of St. Augustine. This intelligence was soon after confirmed by Captain Haymer, of the Flamborough man of war, who had fallen in with part of the Spanish fleet on the coast of Florida, and drove some vessels on shore.
Having been apprized of this, the General, apprehending that the Spaniards had in view some formidable expedition against Georgia or Carolina, or perhaps both, wrote to the Commander of his Majesty's ships, in the harbor of Charlestown, urging him to come to his assistance. Lieutenant Maxwell, the bearer, arrived and delivered the letter on the 12th of June. Directly afterwards he sent Lieutenant Mackay to Governor Glenn, of South Carolina, requesting his military aid with all expedition; and this despatch reached him on the 20th. He then laid an embargo upon all the shipping in Georgia; and sent messages to his faithful Indian allies, who gathered to his assistance with all readiness.
And now the design of the Spaniards was manifest. On the 21st of June the fleet appeared on the coast; and nine sail of vessels made an attempt on Amelia Island, but were so warmly received by the cannon from Fort William, and the guard-schooner of fourteen guns and ninety men, commanded by Captain Dunbar, that they sheered off. When the General was informed of this attack, he resolved to support the fortifications on Cumberland Island; and set out with a detachment of the regiment in three boats; but was obliged to make his way through fourteen sail of vessels. This was very venturesome, and, indeed, was considered as presumptuously hazardous. For, had a shot from one of the galleys struck the boat in which he was, so as to disable or sink it, or had he been overtaken by a gun-boat from the enemy, the colonial forces would have become the weakly resisting victims of Spanish exasperated revenge. But by keeping to the leeward, and thus taking advantage of the smoke, he escaped the firing and arrived in safety.