Historic Events of Colonial DaysHolland, Rupert Sargent
History
Historic Events of Colonial Days
Holland, Rupert Sargent
United States -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
He found that the Scotch at Darien had already built a fort, defended by
four cannon, a chapel, a guard-house, and a store. They were on the
friendliest terms with their Indian neighbors, and hunted buffalo
through the Georgia woods with them like members of their own tribe.
In the Georgia woods there was plenty of game, rabbits, squirrels,
partridges, wild turkeys, pheasants and roebuck. There were also
rattlesnakes and alligators, and the alligators so frightened the
settlers at first that Oglethorpe had one of them caught and brought to
Savannah, so the people might grow familiar with it and lose their fear
of it.
He wanted now to mark out his boundaries with the Indians, and also to
learn what had become of Mr. Dempsey, a commissioner he had sent to
confer with the Spanish governor of Florida, who had not been heard
from. In two scout boats, with forty Indians, he rowed across Jekyll
Sound, sleeping one night in a grove of pines, and the second day
reached an island formerly called Wisso or Sassafras, but which
Tomochichi had now christened Cumberland in honor of the young English
prince he had met in London. Here Oglethorpe marked out a fort to be
called St. Andrews, and left a few white men to carry out its building.
The governor rowed on through the marshes, and came to an island covered
with orange-trees in blossom. The Spaniards had called this Santa Maria,
but Oglethorpe changed its name to Amelia, in honor of an English
princess. They also changed the name of the next island they reached
from the Spanish San Juan to Georgia. Here was an old fort supposed to
have been built by Sir Francis Drake, and Oglethorpe sent one of his
captains to repair it.
They climbed some heights and Tomochichi pointed out the St. Johns
River, the boundary line of Spanish territory. A Spanish guard-house
stood on the other side. "All on this side the river we hunt," said
Tomochichi. "It is our ground. All on the other side they hunt, but they
have lately hurt some of our people, and we shall drive them away. We
will stay until night behind these rocks, where they cannot see us; then
we will fall upon them."
Oglethorpe tried to persuade them not to attack the Spaniards, and got
them to stay near Amelia Island while he went in one of the scout boats
to the guard-house to find out what had happened to Mr. Dempsey, the
agent he had sent to St. Augustine. He found no one in the guard-house
and so returned to the camp, where all his party were except Tomochichi,
who had gone scouting.
That night the governor's sentry challenged a boat. Four Indians jumped
out, all of them in a rage. They said to Oglethorpe, "Tomochichi has
seen enemies, and has sent us to tell you and to help you."
"Why didn't Tomochichi come back?" asked the governor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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