The finances of the Trust being in a depressed condition, the General drew largely upon his private fortune and pledged his individual credit in conducting the operations necessary for the security of the southern frontiers and in provisioning the settlers. To Alderman Heathcote he writes: “I am here” [at Frederica] “in one of the most delightful situations as any man could wish to be. A great number of Debts, empty magazines, no money to supply them, numbers of people to be fed, mutinous soldiers to command, a Spanish Claim and a large body of their Troops not far from us. But as we are of the same kind of spirit, these Difficulties have the same effect upon me, as those you met with in the City, had upon you. They rather animate than daunt me.”[69] Again, on the 16th of November, 1739, he advises the Trustees:[70] “I am fortifying the Town of Frederica & hope I shall be repaid the Expences; from whom I do not know, yet I could not think of leaving a number of good houses and Merch’ts Goods and, which was more valuable, the Lives of Men, Women and Children in an open Town at the mercy of every Party, and the Inhabitants obliged either to fly to a Fort and leave their Effects, or suffer with them.” That the Trustees might be fully informed of the condition and needs of the Province, Mr. Horton,—who commanded the Southern Division during Oglethorpe’s absence,—was sent to London about the close of the year 1739. The letter[71] of advice which he bore, contains an interesting account of the affairs of the Colony. In it General Oglethorpe states that his Regiment of Foot being unable to perform garrison duty and undertake the requisite marches on the main to overtake Indians and horsemen, he had been compelled to associate Indian allies whom he had armed, supplied with ammunition, fed, and clothed, in consideration of their services. Sixty Rangers, to act as scouts, had been recruited and mounted. By means of his boats, and the Colony Periagua,—which had been fitted out with four guns and a crew of forty men,—he had succeeded in driving the Spaniards out of the mouth of the St. Johns river. The forts having been originally built of earth and hastily constructed, had fallen sadly out of repair. To place them in proper condition was then his earnest endeavor. “Upon the Hostilities being committed,” so runs the letter, “I thought I should be answerable for the blood of these people before God and man if I had left them open to be surprised by Spanish Indians, and murdered in the night and their houses burnt, and if I did not take all proper means for their defence, they being under my charge.” With this end in view, he resolved to enclose the town of Frederica with fortifications. This defensive work is thus described: “It is half an Hexagon with two Bastions, and two half Bastions and Towers, after Monsieur Vauban’s method, upon the point of each Bastion. The Walls are of earth faced with Timber, 10 foot High in