The Battle of Bloody Marsh, 1742

The battles of Gully Hole Creek and Bloody Marsh are probably some of the most forgotten battles in American history, yet most likely both some of the most important. During the War of Jenkin’s Ear between the Spanish and British, Spanish governor of Florida Don Manuel de Montiano commanded an invasion force totaling around 5,000 men that was to land somewhere in the 'Debatable Land', which both empires contested control over. James Oglethorpe had founded a colony in 1733 in this area with the construction of the port city of Savannah, and soon later the forts located on the coastal island of St. Simons, named Fort Frederica and Fort St. Simons. It would later become the state of Georgia.

 

On July 5th, 1742, the Spanish landed of the island of St. Simons and seized Fort St. Simons, which Oglethorpe cleverly withdrew his forces from earlier due to his much smaller defense force he had to to defend the isle (Records indicate the force consisted of regulars, militia, and native Indians, numbering fewer than 1,000), destroying and rendering the fortification nearly useless to the Spanish. Despite this, Montiano established it as the Spanish base on the island. After landing troops and supplies, and consolidating their position at Fort St. Simons, the Spanish began to reconnoiter beyond their perimeter. They found the road between Fort St. Simons and Fort Frederica, but assumed the narrow track was just a farm road. On July 18, the Spanish undertook a reconnaissance in force along the road with approximately 115 men under the command of Captain Sebastian Sanchez. One and a half miles from Fort Frederica, Sanchez' column made contact with Oglethorpe's soldiers, under command of Noble Jones. The ensuing skirmish became known as the Battle of Gully Hole Creek. The British routed the Spanish, killing or capturing nearly a third of their soldiers. Oglethorpe's forces advanced along Military Road toward Fort St. Simons in pursuit of the retreating Spanish. When Spanish prisoners revealed that a larger Spanish force was advancing from the opposite direction toward Frederica, Oglethorpe left to gather reinforcements.

 

The British advance party, in pursuit of the defeated Spanish force, engaged in a skirmish, then fell back in face of advancing Spanish reinforcements. When the British reached a bend in the road, Lieutenants Southerland and Macoy ordered the column to stop. They took cover in a semi-circle shaped area around a clearing behind trees and palmettos, waiting for the advancing Spanish having taken cover in the dense forest. They watched as the Spanish broke rank, stacked arms and, taking out their kettles, prepared to cook dinner. The Spanish thought they were protected because they had the marsh on one side of them and the forest on the other. The British forces opened fire from behind the cover of trees and bushes, catching the Spanish off-guard. They fired multiple volleys from behind the protection of dense forest. The attack killed roughly 200 Spaniards. The ferocity of the fighting at Bloody Marsh was dramatic, and the battle took its name from the tradition that the marsh ran red with the blood of dead Spanish soldiers. The floor of the forest was strewn with the bodies of the dead and dying. A few Spanish officers attempted in vain to reform their ranks, but the Spanish soldiers and their allies fled, panic stricken, in multiple directions. Barba himself was captured after being mortally wounded. The Battle of Bloody Marsh blunted the Spanish advance, and ultimately proved decisive. Oglethorpe was credited with the victory, though he arrived at the scene after the fighting had ceased.

 

Oglethorpe continued to press the Spanish, trying to dislodge them from the island. A few days later, approaching a Spanish settlement on the south side, he learned of a French man who had deserted the British and gone to the Spanish. Worried that the deserter might report how small the British force was, Oglethorpe spread out his drummers, to make them sound as if they were accompanying a larger force. He wrote to the deserter, addressing him as if he were a spy for the British, saying that the man just needed to continue his stories until Britain could send more men. The prisoner who was carrying the letter took it to the Spanish officers, as Oglethorpe had hoped and the Spanish promptly executed the Frenchmen. The timely arrival of British ships reinforced a misconception among the Spanish that British reinforcements were arriving. The Spanish left St. Simons on 25 July, ending their last invasion of colonial Georgia.

 

Many historians believe that had Oglethorpe lost St. Simons to Montiano, the Spanish would have been able to penetrate further into the Southern English colonies, including but not limited to the rich Carolinas. The entire culture of the South would have been changed, and it is even uncertain that there would be a United States as we know it today if the Spanish succeeded in their invasion.

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I myself visit the island at least once a year, and each time I always try to visit the battlefield where Bloody Marsh took place as well as the ruins of Fort Frederica. :-) Those added inspired me to do a Lego scene of the battle.

Done