James Oglethorpe led the colonization of Georgia for Great Britain, and had chosen Savannah as the principal port for the new colony. In the 1730s, Spain and Great Britain had been disputing control over the border between Georgia and La Florida, where the Spanish had several settlements and forts.
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| - James Oglethorpe led the colonization of Georgia for Great Britain, and had chosen Savannah as the principal port for the new colony. In the 1730s, Spain and Great Britain had been disputing control over the border between Georgia and La Florida, where the Spanish had several settlements and forts.
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| Partof
| - Invasion of Georgia
- the War of Jenkins' Ear &
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| Commander
| - James Oglethorpe
- Antonio Barba
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| Caption
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- ''A Map of the Bloody Marsh area as it was in 1742
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| Casualties
| - Light
- from 7 to 50 casualties*History of Georgia by Robert Preston Brooks, p.77, lists about 200 killed, but this figure has been called into question
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| Place
| - St. Simons Island, Georgia
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| abstract
| - James Oglethorpe led the colonization of Georgia for Great Britain, and had chosen Savannah as the principal port for the new colony. In the 1730s, Spain and Great Britain had been disputing control over the border between Georgia and La Florida, where the Spanish had several settlements and forts. Given a heightened threat of Spanish invasion, Oglethorpe sought to increase his southern defenses. Accompanied by rangers and two Native American guides, Oglethorpe picked St. Simons Island as the site for a new town and fort. In 1734, Oglethorpe convinced the Parliament and the colonial trustees to pay for a new military garrison. The trustees also selected a large new group of colonists for St. Simons Island. The ships bearing the settlers and supplies arrived at Tybee Island early in 1736. From there, some went to the mainland while others traveled via periaguas (also known as pirogues) to St. Simons Island to found the new town of Frederica. The town and its fort were built on the elbow of the Frederica River to control approaches from both directions. In 1737, Oglethorpe returned to England to acquire more funding and permission to raise a regiment of soldiers; he was successful in convincing Parliament of both. He was appointed commander-in-chief of all British forces (limited as they were) in the colonies of South Carolina and Georgia. Oglethorpe subsequently recruited a company of Scottish settlers, from Inverness, to migrate with their families to live at the settlement of Darien, which was briefly named "New Inverness", (the present day seat of McIntosh County) at the mouth of the Altamaha River. The military unit that they formed was known locally as the Highland Independent Company. Official British records list it as Oglethorpe's Regiment of Foot. Ranked as 42nd Regiment of Foot (old) in 1747, disbanded 29 May 1749 in Georgia. Two forts lay about five miles apart on St. Simons Island. Between the two ran a road the width of one wagon, named Military Road. This served to supply the garrison at Fort Frederica and settlers in the nearby village from Fort St. Simons. The battle took place after a Spanish invasion of the island. The battles on St. Simons Island were part of a larger conflict known as the War of Jenkins' Ear (1739 to 1748). That war derived its name from an incident which took place in 1731, eight years prior to the outbreak of hostilities. A boarding party from the Spanish patrol boat La Isabela had come aboard the British brig Rebecca, off the Florida coast, and found that its captain, Robert Jenkins was smuggling. The Spanish officer Julio León Fandiño's cut off one of Jenkins' ears for his piracy. The war faction in Parliament used the nearly forgotten incident to rally public opinion to their side. In truth, the Jenkins affair played an inconsequential part in the run up to hostilities. The war resulted from trade and territorial tensions that had been building between the two nations for a number of years. On October 30, 1739, Great Britain declared war on Spain.
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