ses of the war-a regiment consisting of four hundred men was raised in Virginia and the Carolinas, with the greatest expedition, and the command given to colonel Vanderdussen: Indians in alliance with the British colonies, were invited to join in the expedition. Vincent Price, commander of the ships of war on that station,agreed to assist with a naval force of four twenty gun ships and two sloops, which encouraged the Carolinians to be more vigorous in their military preparations. Gen. Oglethorpe appointed the mouth of St. John's river, for the place of rendezvous, and having finished his arrangements in Carolina, returned to Georgia, to put his regiment in readiness for the expedition. On the 9th of May, 1740, the general passed over to Florida, with four hundred select men of his own regiment, and a considerable party of Indians, and on the day following invested Diego, a small fort twenty-five miles from Augustine, which after a short resistance surrendered by capitulation. In this fort, he left a garrison of sixty men, under the command of lieutenant Dunbar, and returned to the place of general rendezvous, where he was joined by colonel Vanderdussen with the Carolina regiment, and a company of highlanders from Darien, commanded by captain M'Intosh. Before the Carolina troops arrived at St. Johns, six Spanish half galleys, with long brass nine pounders, and two sloops loaded with provisions, had got into the harbor at Augustine; this was a sore and unexpected

stroke to the general's hopes: when the Carolina troops arrived, he marched with his whole force consisting of about two thousand regulars, provincials and Indians, to fort Moosa, situated within two miles of Augustine, which was evacuated on his approach, and the garrison retired into the town; he destroyed the gates, opened breaches into the fort-walls, and proceeded to reconnoitre the town and castle. Notwithstanding the despatch of his army, the Spaniards during his halt at fort Diego, had collected all the cattle from the neighboring woods and driven them into the town; and the general found, from a view of the works, and the intelligence he received from prisoners, that there would be more difficulty attending this enterprise than he had at first expected: it is probable he might have been successful if he had not halted at Diego, but pressed all his force immediately against Augustine; for by the delay occasioned at that place, and the tardy movements of the Carolina troops, the enemy had notice of his approach, gathered in all their force, and put themselves in a posture for defence; besides the acquisition of the garrison of Moosa, which might probably have been cut off. The castle was a regular work, built of soft stone, with four bastions, the curtain sixty yards long, the parapet ning feet thick, the rampart twenty feet high, casements beneath for lodgings, arched over and newly made, bomb-proof: fifty pieces of cannon were mounted, several of which were twenty

four pounders: besides the castle, the town was entrenched with ten salient angles, mounted with small cannon. The garrison consisted of seven hundred regulars, two troops of horse, four companies of armed negroes, besides the militia of the province and Indians, with a considerable supply of provisions, and the command of a fine fishery. The general plainly perceived that an attack by land upon the town, and an attempt to take the castle by storm, would not only cost him a great deal of blood, but probably fail, therefore changed his plan of operations. With the assistance of the ships of war which were then lying at anchor off the bar, he resolved to turn the siege into a blockade, and close every channel by which any additional stock of provisions could be conveyed to the garrison: for this purpose he left colonel Palmer with ninety-five highlanders and forty-two Indians at fort Moosa, with orders to scour the woods round the town, and intercept all supplies from the country by land; and for the safety of his men, ordered the encampment to be changed every night, to keep a strict watch, and by all means avoid coming to a general action. This small party composed the whole force left for guarding the land side; colonel Vanderdussen's regiment was sent over a small creek to take possession of a neck of land called Poin Quartel, about a mile from the castle, with orders to erect a battery upon it; while the general with his regiment and the greatest part of the Indians

embarked in boats, and landed on the island of Anastatia ; on this island there was a small party of troops stationed as a guard, who, on his approach fled to the town, and as it lay opposite to the castle, the general considered it a favorable position for bombarding the castle and town; captain Pierce stationed one of his ships to guard the passage, by way of the Matanzas, and with the others, blocked up the mouth of the harbour, so that the Spaniards were cut off from all supplies by sea. On the island of Anastatia, batteries were soon erected, and several cannon mounted by the assistance of the active and enterprising sailors having made these dispositions, general Oglethorpe summoned the Spanish governor to a surrender, but the haughty Don, secure in his strong hold, replied, that he would be glad to shake hands with him in his castle.

The opportunity of surprising the place being lost, the general had no other secure method left but to attack it at the distance he then stood.. For this purpose he opened his batteries against the castle, and at the same time threw a number of shells into the town. The fire was returned with equal spirit from the Spanish fort and from the six half gallies in the harbor, but so great was the distance, that though they continued the cannonade for several days, little execution was done on either side. Captain Warren of the navy perceiving that all efforts in this way, for demolishing the castle were vain and ineffectual, pro

posed to destroy the Spanish gallies in the harbor, by an attack in the night, and offered to head the attempt himself: a council was held to consider of and concert a plan for that service; but upon sounding the bar, it was found that it would admit no large ship to the attack, and with small ones it was judged rash and impracticable, the gallies being covered by the cannon of the castle, and therefore the design was relinquished. In the mean time the Spanish governor observing the beseigers embarrassed, and their operations beginning to relax, sent out a detachment of three hundred men against col. Palmer, who surprised him at fort Moosa, while most of his party were asleep, and cut them almost entirely to pieces; captain M'Intosh was taken prisoner and suffered severe and cruel treatment: so inveterate were the Spaniards against every officer of courage and merit, who were zealous in support of the colony of Georgia, and so anxious that the English settle ments should be removed, that the officers were closely confined, and the soldiers incarcerated in dungeons ; captain M'Intosh was sent to old Spain where he remained a prisoner at Madrid for many months, and was finally exchanged and returned to Darien in Georgia. A few who accidentally escaped the massacre at fort Moosa, went over in a small boat to the Carolina regiment at Point Quartel. Some of the Chickesaw Indians coming from that fort, having met with a Spaniard, cut off his head, agreeably to their savage man