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On February 12, 1733, Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe at the site of present day Savannah. From the article:
"As visionary, social reformer, and military leader, James Oglethorpe conceived of and implemented his plan to establish the colony of Georgia. It was through his initiatives in England in 1732 that the British government authorized the establishment of its first new colony in North America in more than five decades. Later that year he led the expedition of colonists that landed in Savannah early in 1733. Oglethorpe spent most of the next decade in Georgia, where he directed the economic and political development of the new colony, defended it militarily, and continued to generate support and recruit settlers in England and other parts of Europe.
James Edward Oglethorpe was born on December 22, 1696, in London, England; he was the tenth and last child of Eleanor and Theophilus Oglethorpe. Though frequently in London, the Oglethorpes maintained a large family estate in Godalming, a small Surrey town near London. Here at Westbrook Manor (later the Meath Home) young Oglethorpe grew up. His father owned other property in Godalming and the neighboring town of Haslemere, and the rent from these gave the Oglethorpes a comfortable life. Both Theophilus and Eleanor had long been interested in politics, and in 1698 voters of Haslemere elected Theophilus to the House of Commons. All three of his sons—including Oglethorpe—would later hold this seat.
Little is known about Oglethorpe's boyhood, but in 1714 he was admitted to Corpus Christi College at Oxford University. The excitement of Europe's defense against the advancing Turks led him to drop out of school to enroll in a military academy in France. He subsequently traveled to Austria, where he became an aide to Prince Eugene of Savoy. After a victorious campaign against the Turks, Oglethorpe returned to England, where he reentered Corpus Christi. Although he never graduated, the college did award him a special M.A. in 1731.
After a brief sojourn with academics, Oglethorpe returned to Godalming. In 1722 he successfully ran for Parliament, occupying a seat in the House of Commons previously held by his father and two older brothers. Here Oglethorpe devoted his energies to Britain's national and international interests.
Prison Reform
In 1729 James Oglethorpe's life was to change. The previous year, one of his friends, Robert Castell, was jailed in London's Fleet Prison because of his debts. At the time, inmates were forced to pay prison staff fees for decent room and board. Unable to pay, Castell was thrown into a cell with a prisoner who had smallpox. Castell's death from the disease led Oglethorpe to launch a national campaign to reform England's prisons. Named chairman of a parliamentary committee to investigate the jails, Oglethorpe saw firsthand the horrible conditions, abuses, and extortion prisoners faced. He also was alarmed that so many British citizens faced jail for no other reason than indebtedness.
As a result of the investigation a number of steps were taken to reform London's prisons. Oglethorpe's efforts to expose and correct prison abuses gained him national attention, and he became widely regarded as one of Britain's most active humanitarians. Prison reform did not, however, solve the plight of the large number of poor people in England. Oglethorpe and several colleagues from the jails committee, notably John Lord Viscount Percival (later the first earl of Egmont), began exploring the possibility of creating a new colony in America. They believed that if given a chance, England's "worthy poor" could be transformed into farmers, merchants, and artisans. But strict rules would be needed to prevent the class divisions that plagued English society. Thus, all the settlers would work their own land, with slavery and large landholdings specifically prohibited.
Georgia's Founding
Although charity had been the initial motivation for the Georgia movement, by 1732 military and economic considerations were the principal factors. As a result of Oglethorpe's persuasive arguments, King George II in 1732 granted a charter for creating Georgia and named Oglethorpe as one of twenty-one Trustees to govern the new colony.
As the Trustees began interviewing potential colonists, they looked for carpenters, tailors, bakers, farmers, merchants, and others with the skills necessary for the colony's success. By this time any ideas of Georgia's being a haven for debtors in English prisons had long vanished—and not one formerly jailed debtor was among the first colonists selected. Georgia's founders thought that the colony's climate would be suitable to the production of valuable silk, wine, and other Mediterranean-type commodities. The Trustees imagined the colony as a place where settlers could achieve a comfortable living rather than an enormous personal fortune, which was associated with plantation life in other parts of British America.
In November 1732 a total of 114 men, women, and children gathered at Gravesend on the River Thames to set sail for the new colony of Georgia. Oglethorpe understood that Georgia's charter prohibited him from holding office, owning land, or receiving a salary in the new colony, yet he gave up the comforts of home to accompany the first boatload of Georgia settlers.
After several delays they boarded the Anne for a two-month journey across the Atlantic. Following a brief visit in Charleston, the colonists proceeded to Port Royal, South Carolina's southernmost outpost. While they rested, Oglethorpe and a band of Carolina Rangers went ahead to look for a place to settle. Some seventeen miles inland from the mouth of the Savannah River, they found Yamacraw Bluff overlooking the south bank of the river. Oglethorpe immediately struck up a friendship with the Yamacraw chief, Tomochichi, thus beginning a long and close relationship between the two.
On February 12, 1733, Oglethorpe returned to Yamacraw Bluff with the Georgia colonists. With the help of militia and African American slaves from South Carolina, the pine forest was quickly cleared, and Oglethorpe laid out a plan for the new town of Savannah. His distinctive pattern of streets, ten-house "tythings," and public squares soon became a reality. Identical clapboard houses built on identical lots, plus restrictions on how much land could be owned and an outright prohibition on slavery, were testimony to the Trustees' desire to produce a classless society—one in which each head of household worked his own land. This egalitarian ideal was not fully realized, however, in that women were not allowed to own land in the new colony. The Trustees based this policy on the assumption that each plot of land requried a male worker (and armed defender).
Leadership in the New Colony
Living up to the motto of Georgia's Trustees—Non sibi sed aliis (Not for self, but for others)—Oglethorpe worked tirelessly on behalf of the colony during the initial months. Sometimes violating Trustee policy, Oglethorpe permitted Jews, Lutheran Salzburgers, and other persecuted religious minorities to settle in Georgia. On the matter of importing African slaves from any source, Oglethorpe never wavered in wholly opposing slavery in Georgia. With respect to Georgia's Indians, he had an enlightened policy, always respecting their customs, language, and needs. Land cessions were always agreed to by treaty according to proper Indian custom. Also, Oglethorpe actively sought to protect the Indians from unscrupulous white traders.
Oglethorpe had come to Georgia with no formal title other than Trustee. Although he could not hold office, Oglethorpe was clearly the leader of the colony, subject to instructions and rules promulgated by the Trustees back in London. In recognition of his role, he is almost universally regarded as Georgia's first governor.
Despite its charitable origins, Georgia was also a military buffer designed to protect Britain's southern colonies. As the Spanish military presence in St. Augustine, Florida, grew, Oglethorpe's dream that Georgia would become an ideal agrarian society began to fade. The threat of invasion heightened, and Oglethorpe focused his efforts on the defense of Georgia. Because support from the Trustees and Parliament had never been sufficient, Oglethorpe had mortgaged his landholdings back in England to finance the colony's needs. Although he hoped that Parliament would repay his rising debts, he fully realized that he could lose everything. Oglethorpe believed in the cause of Georgia—and as long as he had anything that he could mortgage to raise money for the colony, he was not going to give up.
Military Leadership
Oglethorpe returned to London on several occasions to lobby the Trustees and Parliament for funding to build forts in Georgia. During a visit in 1737 Oglethorpe convinced King George II to appoint him as a colonel in the army and give him a regiment of British soldiers to take back to Georgia. Interestingly, Oglethorpe was a civilian at this time, with only limited military experience (primarily as an aide to Prince Eugene). Nevertheless, he got what he wanted: rank in the regular army and a regiment. Oglethorpe also was given the title of "General and Commander in Chief of all and singular his Majesty's provinces of Carolina and Georgia." This has led to confusion as to whether Oglethorpe was now a colonel or a general. In terms of military rank in the British army, he was a colonel. During the pending hostilities with Spain, however, Oglethorpe also held a brevet (or temporary) field commission as general in order to command all allied forces (Carolina Rangers, Indian allies, etc.). Only in September 1743, however, was Oglethorpe actually promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the British army.
After the War of Jenkins' Ear erupted in 1739, Oglethorpe was ready to take the initiative. In 1740 he assembled an invasion force consisting of his regiment, Indian allies, Carolina Rangers, and several ships in the Royal Navy. His goal was the Spanish fortress at St. Augustine. Unfortunately, the siege failed and the allied force fell apart, forcing a dejected Oglethorpe back to St. Simons Island to await the Spanish counterattack that would surely follow.
The Spanish invasion of Georgia came in July 1742. Ships bearing thousands of Spanish troops landed on the south end of St. Simons Island. Back at Fort Frederica, which was still under construction, Oglethorpe rallied his forces for battle. In a critical skirmish known as the Battle of Gully Hole Creek, Oglethorpe's forces turned back a Spanish advance force. As they pursued the retreating Spaniards down the trail, Oglethorpe halted his force at the edge of a marsh. Here he positioned his men to await the counterattack by the main Spanish army. Oglethorpe then took temporary leave of his force to return to Fort Frederica, which he feared was under naval attack. Finding no such assault underway, Oglethorpe left to rejoin his men at the marsh. Meanwhile, Spanish troops had already arrived but were turned back after a brief but fierce fight. Ironically, Oglethorpe arrived just after the conclusion of what would become known as the Battle of Bloody Marsh. This loss helped persuade Spanish commanders to withdraw to St. Augustine. Never again would Spanish forces mount an offensive against Britain's colonies on the East Coast of America. As a result, Oglethorpe was a national hero in England, and King George II promoted him to brigadier general in His Majesty's Army.
Return to England
In 1743 Oglethorpe led one more unsuccessful attempt to take the Spanish fortress at St. Augustine. While he pondered his future, Oglethorpe suddenly received word that he had to return to London. After the Florida invasion an unhappy officer in his regiment had made some serious allegations of misconduct against Oglethorpe, and the War Office in London wanted the general to answer those charges. Also, Oglethorpe needed Parliament to repay him for his substantial personal loans on Georgia's behalf.
In 1744 a special board of general officers discharged all allegations that had been made against the general. That same year Parliament voted to reimburse Oglethorpe—so both his honor and fortune had been preserved.
To this point Oglethorpe had lived his life almost solely for others, but that was to change. In London the popular hero met Elizabeth Wright, a recent heiress. They married in September 1744 and settled at Cranham Hall, her inherited estate in the small Essex town of Cranham, seventeen miles east of London.
Much of their social life was spent in London, where Oglethorpe became friends with Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, Oliver Goldsmith, and other well-known men and women of the time. In 1745 Oglethorpe resumed his military career after the invasion of forces attempting to place the Stuart Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie, on the British throne. He was ordered to take a force to the north of England to engage the invaders, but because of controversy centering upon his strategy in the campaign, Oglethorpe was subjected to a court martial. Once again, he was totally exonerated.
Oglethorpe continued to serve on the Board of Trustees of Georgia. Despite his opposition, however, the Trustees gradually relaxed their restrictions on land ownership, inheritance, rum, and slavery. As a result, the general's attendance on the board declined. By 1750 Georgia's founder was no longer involved with the board at all. The grand experiment was over, and the few remaining Trustees voted to return their charter to govern Georgia, which subsequently became a royal colony.
Oglethorpe remained in Parliament until 1754, when he was defeated in a bid for reelection. Eventually he became the senior general in the British army, but never again would he serve on active duty (though there is a popular legend that with the outbreak of the American Revolution [1775-83], Oglethorpe was asked to command a British force—an offer he declined). The general did have one final experience on the field of battle. In the 1750s he left England quietly to fight in Europe with his old friend Field Marshal James Keith in the Seven Years' War (1756-63). Because of possible implications of a British general's involvement in a war against France, however, Oglethorpe served under fictitious names.
Later Life
Oglethorpe returned to England in 1760 to live the life of a gentleman. He and Elizabeth divided their time between their country estate and their London town house on Lower Grosvenor Street. Though they never had children, by all accounts James and Elizabeth enjoyed an active social life entertaining friends and many of the literary and artistic figures of the day.
Oglethorpe eventually lived to see the colony that he founded become part of the United States of America. Though the historical record is silent as to how he felt about the American Revolution, it is known that on June 4, 1785, Oglethorpe met with John Adams, the first U.S. ambassador to Great Britain, and expressed "great esteem and regard for America."
After a brief illness Oglethorpe died on June 30, 1785—just six months shy of his eighty-ninth birthday. He was buried in a vault beneath the chancel floor of the Parish Church of All Saints, which stands immediately adjacent to Cranham Hall. Upon her death two years later, Elizabeth was interred in the same tomb.
Georgians still remember James Edward Oglethorpe in many ways. His name adorns Oglethorpe County, two towns (including Oglethorpe), Oglethorpe University, and numerous schools, streets, parks, and businesses. In paying tribute to Oglethorpe, however, Georgians can perhaps best honor his memory by remembering him as a man who wouldn't quit and who lived by the simple but profound philosophy that life is not about self, but about others."
"As visionary, social reformer, and military leader, James Oglethorpe conceived of and implemented his plan to establish the colony of Georgia. It was through his initiatives in England in 1732 that the British government authorized the establishment of its first new colony in North America in more than five decades. Later that year he led the expedition of colonists that landed in Savannah early in 1733. Oglethorpe spent most of the next decade in Georgia, where he directed the economic and political development of the new colony, defended it militarily, and continued to generate support and recruit settlers in England and other parts of Europe.
James Edward Oglethorpe was born on December 22, 1696, in London, England; he was the tenth and last child of Eleanor and Theophilus Oglethorpe. Though frequently in London, the Oglethorpes maintained a large family estate in Godalming, a small Surrey town near London. Here at Westbrook Manor (later the Meath Home) young Oglethorpe grew up. His father owned other property in Godalming and the neighboring town of Haslemere, and the rent from these gave the Oglethorpes a comfortable life. Both Theophilus and Eleanor had long been interested in politics, and in 1698 voters of Haslemere elected Theophilus to the House of Commons. All three of his sons—including Oglethorpe—would later hold this seat.
Little is known about Oglethorpe's boyhood, but in 1714 he was admitted to Corpus Christi College at Oxford University. The excitement of Europe's defense against the advancing Turks led him to drop out of school to enroll in a military academy in France. He subsequently traveled to Austria, where he became an aide to Prince Eugene of Savoy. After a victorious campaign against the Turks, Oglethorpe returned to England, where he reentered Corpus Christi. Although he never graduated, the college did award him a special M.A. in 1731.
After a brief sojourn with academics, Oglethorpe returned to Godalming. In 1722 he successfully ran for Parliament, occupying a seat in the House of Commons previously held by his father and two older brothers. Here Oglethorpe devoted his energies to Britain's national and international interests.
Prison Reform
In 1729 James Oglethorpe's life was to change. The previous year, one of his friends, Robert Castell, was jailed in London's Fleet Prison because of his debts. At the time, inmates were forced to pay prison staff fees for decent room and board. Unable to pay, Castell was thrown into a cell with a prisoner who had smallpox. Castell's death from the disease led Oglethorpe to launch a national campaign to reform England's prisons. Named chairman of a parliamentary committee to investigate the jails, Oglethorpe saw firsthand the horrible conditions, abuses, and extortion prisoners faced. He also was alarmed that so many British citizens faced jail for no other reason than indebtedness.
As a result of the investigation a number of steps were taken to reform London's prisons. Oglethorpe's efforts to expose and correct prison abuses gained him national attention, and he became widely regarded as one of Britain's most active humanitarians. Prison reform did not, however, solve the plight of the large number of poor people in England. Oglethorpe and several colleagues from the jails committee, notably John Lord Viscount Percival (later the first earl of Egmont), began exploring the possibility of creating a new colony in America. They believed that if given a chance, England's "worthy poor" could be transformed into farmers, merchants, and artisans. But strict rules would be needed to prevent the class divisions that plagued English society. Thus, all the settlers would work their own land, with slavery and large landholdings specifically prohibited.
Georgia's Founding
Although charity had been the initial motivation for the Georgia movement, by 1732 military and economic considerations were the principal factors. As a result of Oglethorpe's persuasive arguments, King George II in 1732 granted a charter for creating Georgia and named Oglethorpe as one of twenty-one Trustees to govern the new colony.
As the Trustees began interviewing potential colonists, they looked for carpenters, tailors, bakers, farmers, merchants, and others with the skills necessary for the colony's success. By this time any ideas of Georgia's being a haven for debtors in English prisons had long vanished—and not one formerly jailed debtor was among the first colonists selected. Georgia's founders thought that the colony's climate would be suitable to the production of valuable silk, wine, and other Mediterranean-type commodities. The Trustees imagined the colony as a place where settlers could achieve a comfortable living rather than an enormous personal fortune, which was associated with plantation life in other parts of British America.
In November 1732 a total of 114 men, women, and children gathered at Gravesend on the River Thames to set sail for the new colony of Georgia. Oglethorpe understood that Georgia's charter prohibited him from holding office, owning land, or receiving a salary in the new colony, yet he gave up the comforts of home to accompany the first boatload of Georgia settlers.
After several delays they boarded the Anne for a two-month journey across the Atlantic. Following a brief visit in Charleston, the colonists proceeded to Port Royal, South Carolina's southernmost outpost. While they rested, Oglethorpe and a band of Carolina Rangers went ahead to look for a place to settle. Some seventeen miles inland from the mouth of the Savannah River, they found Yamacraw Bluff overlooking the south bank of the river. Oglethorpe immediately struck up a friendship with the Yamacraw chief, Tomochichi, thus beginning a long and close relationship between the two.
On February 12, 1733, Oglethorpe returned to Yamacraw Bluff with the Georgia colonists. With the help of militia and African American slaves from South Carolina, the pine forest was quickly cleared, and Oglethorpe laid out a plan for the new town of Savannah. His distinctive pattern of streets, ten-house "tythings," and public squares soon became a reality. Identical clapboard houses built on identical lots, plus restrictions on how much land could be owned and an outright prohibition on slavery, were testimony to the Trustees' desire to produce a classless society—one in which each head of household worked his own land. This egalitarian ideal was not fully realized, however, in that women were not allowed to own land in the new colony. The Trustees based this policy on the assumption that each plot of land requried a male worker (and armed defender).
Leadership in the New Colony
Living up to the motto of Georgia's Trustees—Non sibi sed aliis (Not for self, but for others)—Oglethorpe worked tirelessly on behalf of the colony during the initial months. Sometimes violating Trustee policy, Oglethorpe permitted Jews, Lutheran Salzburgers, and other persecuted religious minorities to settle in Georgia. On the matter of importing African slaves from any source, Oglethorpe never wavered in wholly opposing slavery in Georgia. With respect to Georgia's Indians, he had an enlightened policy, always respecting their customs, language, and needs. Land cessions were always agreed to by treaty according to proper Indian custom. Also, Oglethorpe actively sought to protect the Indians from unscrupulous white traders.
Oglethorpe had come to Georgia with no formal title other than Trustee. Although he could not hold office, Oglethorpe was clearly the leader of the colony, subject to instructions and rules promulgated by the Trustees back in London. In recognition of his role, he is almost universally regarded as Georgia's first governor.
Despite its charitable origins, Georgia was also a military buffer designed to protect Britain's southern colonies. As the Spanish military presence in St. Augustine, Florida, grew, Oglethorpe's dream that Georgia would become an ideal agrarian society began to fade. The threat of invasion heightened, and Oglethorpe focused his efforts on the defense of Georgia. Because support from the Trustees and Parliament had never been sufficient, Oglethorpe had mortgaged his landholdings back in England to finance the colony's needs. Although he hoped that Parliament would repay his rising debts, he fully realized that he could lose everything. Oglethorpe believed in the cause of Georgia—and as long as he had anything that he could mortgage to raise money for the colony, he was not going to give up.
Military Leadership
Oglethorpe returned to London on several occasions to lobby the Trustees and Parliament for funding to build forts in Georgia. During a visit in 1737 Oglethorpe convinced King George II to appoint him as a colonel in the army and give him a regiment of British soldiers to take back to Georgia. Interestingly, Oglethorpe was a civilian at this time, with only limited military experience (primarily as an aide to Prince Eugene). Nevertheless, he got what he wanted: rank in the regular army and a regiment. Oglethorpe also was given the title of "General and Commander in Chief of all and singular his Majesty's provinces of Carolina and Georgia." This has led to confusion as to whether Oglethorpe was now a colonel or a general. In terms of military rank in the British army, he was a colonel. During the pending hostilities with Spain, however, Oglethorpe also held a brevet (or temporary) field commission as general in order to command all allied forces (Carolina Rangers, Indian allies, etc.). Only in September 1743, however, was Oglethorpe actually promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the British army.
After the War of Jenkins' Ear erupted in 1739, Oglethorpe was ready to take the initiative. In 1740 he assembled an invasion force consisting of his regiment, Indian allies, Carolina Rangers, and several ships in the Royal Navy. His goal was the Spanish fortress at St. Augustine. Unfortunately, the siege failed and the allied force fell apart, forcing a dejected Oglethorpe back to St. Simons Island to await the Spanish counterattack that would surely follow.
The Spanish invasion of Georgia came in July 1742. Ships bearing thousands of Spanish troops landed on the south end of St. Simons Island. Back at Fort Frederica, which was still under construction, Oglethorpe rallied his forces for battle. In a critical skirmish known as the Battle of Gully Hole Creek, Oglethorpe's forces turned back a Spanish advance force. As they pursued the retreating Spaniards down the trail, Oglethorpe halted his force at the edge of a marsh. Here he positioned his men to await the counterattack by the main Spanish army. Oglethorpe then took temporary leave of his force to return to Fort Frederica, which he feared was under naval attack. Finding no such assault underway, Oglethorpe left to rejoin his men at the marsh. Meanwhile, Spanish troops had already arrived but were turned back after a brief but fierce fight. Ironically, Oglethorpe arrived just after the conclusion of what would become known as the Battle of Bloody Marsh. This loss helped persuade Spanish commanders to withdraw to St. Augustine. Never again would Spanish forces mount an offensive against Britain's colonies on the East Coast of America. As a result, Oglethorpe was a national hero in England, and King George II promoted him to brigadier general in His Majesty's Army.
Return to England
In 1743 Oglethorpe led one more unsuccessful attempt to take the Spanish fortress at St. Augustine. While he pondered his future, Oglethorpe suddenly received word that he had to return to London. After the Florida invasion an unhappy officer in his regiment had made some serious allegations of misconduct against Oglethorpe, and the War Office in London wanted the general to answer those charges. Also, Oglethorpe needed Parliament to repay him for his substantial personal loans on Georgia's behalf.
In 1744 a special board of general officers discharged all allegations that had been made against the general. That same year Parliament voted to reimburse Oglethorpe—so both his honor and fortune had been preserved.
To this point Oglethorpe had lived his life almost solely for others, but that was to change. In London the popular hero met Elizabeth Wright, a recent heiress. They married in September 1744 and settled at Cranham Hall, her inherited estate in the small Essex town of Cranham, seventeen miles east of London.
Much of their social life was spent in London, where Oglethorpe became friends with Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, Oliver Goldsmith, and other well-known men and women of the time. In 1745 Oglethorpe resumed his military career after the invasion of forces attempting to place the Stuart Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie, on the British throne. He was ordered to take a force to the north of England to engage the invaders, but because of controversy centering upon his strategy in the campaign, Oglethorpe was subjected to a court martial. Once again, he was totally exonerated.
Oglethorpe continued to serve on the Board of Trustees of Georgia. Despite his opposition, however, the Trustees gradually relaxed their restrictions on land ownership, inheritance, rum, and slavery. As a result, the general's attendance on the board declined. By 1750 Georgia's founder was no longer involved with the board at all. The grand experiment was over, and the few remaining Trustees voted to return their charter to govern Georgia, which subsequently became a royal colony.
Oglethorpe remained in Parliament until 1754, when he was defeated in a bid for reelection. Eventually he became the senior general in the British army, but never again would he serve on active duty (though there is a popular legend that with the outbreak of the American Revolution [1775-83], Oglethorpe was asked to command a British force—an offer he declined). The general did have one final experience on the field of battle. In the 1750s he left England quietly to fight in Europe with his old friend Field Marshal James Keith in the Seven Years' War (1756-63). Because of possible implications of a British general's involvement in a war against France, however, Oglethorpe served under fictitious names.
Later Life
Oglethorpe returned to England in 1760 to live the life of a gentleman. He and Elizabeth divided their time between their country estate and their London town house on Lower Grosvenor Street. Though they never had children, by all accounts James and Elizabeth enjoyed an active social life entertaining friends and many of the literary and artistic figures of the day.
Oglethorpe eventually lived to see the colony that he founded become part of the United States of America. Though the historical record is silent as to how he felt about the American Revolution, it is known that on June 4, 1785, Oglethorpe met with John Adams, the first U.S. ambassador to Great Britain, and expressed "great esteem and regard for America."
After a brief illness Oglethorpe died on June 30, 1785—just six months shy of his eighty-ninth birthday. He was buried in a vault beneath the chancel floor of the Parish Church of All Saints, which stands immediately adjacent to Cranham Hall. Upon her death two years later, Elizabeth was interred in the same tomb.
Georgians still remember James Edward Oglethorpe in many ways. His name adorns Oglethorpe County, two towns (including Oglethorpe), Oglethorpe University, and numerous schools, streets, parks, and businesses. In paying tribute to Oglethorpe, however, Georgians can perhaps best honor his memory by remembering him as a man who wouldn't quit and who lived by the simple but profound philosophy that life is not about self, but about others."
James Oglethorpe (1696-1785)
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Get to Know James Edward Oglethorpe, Part 1 (1696-1717)
Get to know James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia Colony, in this episode of Sophia’s Schoolhouse. This video is part one of four and covers Ogleth...
Thank you, my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that on February 12, 1733 visionary, social reformer, and military leader, James Edward Oglethorpe conceived of and implemented his plan to establish the colony of Georgia.
Get to Know James Edward Oglethorpe, Part 1 (1696-1717)
Get to know James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia Colony, in this episode of Sophia’s Schoolhouse. This video is part one of four and covers Oglethorpe's life from his birth in 1696 until 1717.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNfSaCFv7fs
Images:
1. In 1885, artist Richard West Habersham painted 'Portrait of James Edward Oglethorpe at Belgrade in 1718.' The portrait shows Oglethorpe as a young man in service of Prince Eugene of Savoy.
2. ‘The Gaols Committee of the House of Commons’, by William Hogarth, NPG 926. © National Portrait Gallery, London.
3. Oglethorpe Visiting Prisoners, engraving, in, First lessons in Georgia History by Lawton B. Evans
4. Oglethorpe Monument, Chippewa Square.
Background from [https://georgiahistory.com/education-outreach/online-exhibits/featured-historical-figures/james-edward-oglethorpe/]
"Brief Biography
Eleanor and Theophilus Oglethorpe welcomed their 10th and last child, James Edward, into the world on December 22, 1696. Oglethorpe grew up in a well-connected, wealthy English family with controversial ties to the Jacobite movement.
In 1714, Oglethorpe entered Corpus Christi College at Oxford University where he attended on and off until joining a military academy in Paris and joining the army of Prince Eugene of Savoy during the Austro-Turkish War of 1716-1718. Oglethorpe successfully ran for Parliament in 1722, winning the Haslemere seat held previously by his father and two older brothers.
Oglethorpe earned a reputation as a reformer early in his parliamentary career. He actively lobbied for reforms in the areas of naval conscription, prisons, and city planning. He belonged to a group of like-minded men who envisioned a new colony—Georgia—as a haven for England’s worthy poor. They drafted a charter for the thirteenth colony in British North America that offered a cure to the strict class divisions that plagued English society; there would be no slavery and no large landholdings. In fact, the original Trustees (including Oglethorpe) did not earn a salary and could not hold office or own land in the new colony.
Oglethorpe volunteered to lead the first group of colonists to Georgia in 1732. The ship Ann arrived at Yamacraw Bluff on February 12, 1733*. Although he held no official title, Oglethorpe acted as the colony’s de facto governor. He returned to England in 1734 to raise money for the fledgling colony and subsequently made several trips back and forth, including a voyage in 1736 in which he accompanied John and Charles Wesley. His longest residence in Georgia was from 1738-1743 when he was concerned with fighting the Spanish.
In 1743, Oglethorpe left Georgia for the last time. Shortly after his return to England, Oglethorpe married Elizabeth Wright, heir to the Essex estate of Cranham. He continued to serve in Parliament until 1754 and served in a brief military campaign during the 1745 Jacobite uprising. He also secretly served a brief time under his friend Field Marshal James Keith in the Seven Years’ War.
Oglethorpe retired from political and military life to live quietly with his wife and friends. In June 1785, Oglethorpe met with John Adams, the first U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain. During their friendly encounter, Oglethorpe expressed high regard for America. Just days later, Oglethorpe fell ill and on June 30, 1785, he died peacefully at the age of 88. He was buried under the chancel of All Saints’ Parish Church in Cranham. His wife Elizabeth died two years later and was buried beside him.
Oglethorpe’s Early Life
James Edward Oglethorpe was born in 1696 in London, England into a family with active political ties to the British royal family and an interest in British politics. Oglethorpe was the youngest of ten children, and the family spent time at their homes in both London and in a small rural town outside of London, Godalming. When he was two years old his father was elected to the House of Commons, an arm of the British Parliament, and held a seat that Oglethorpe and his two brothers would hold later in their lives. Oglethorpe’s father died when he only was six-years-old.
Oglethorpe’s mother and father were Jacobites. The Jacobites supported James the II and his family – the Stuarts. In 1688 the English Parliament forced James II to leave England and his daughter Mary II and her husband William of Orange became the new English monarchs. This is known as the Glorious Revolution. The Jacobites were not happy with the Glorious Revolution; they wanted James II to return from exile as King of England and Scotland. Oglethorpe’s controversial family political affiliations often caused trouble for him during his political and military career.
Oglethorpe enrolled at Corpus Christi College at Oxford University when he was 17 years old, but left before graduating to attend a military college in France. The Turkish Empire was advancing on Europe, and Oglethorpe went to help successfully defend the continent while serving as an aide to Prince Eugene of Savoy.
Oglethorpe eventually returned to Corpus Christi College though he never graduated. He may not have stayed at Oxford long, but Oglethorpe could read and speak Latin. He loved to read classical literature and could quote Roman poetry from memory in his eighties. His ideas about governing the Georgia colony had a lot to do with what he learned and read about ancient Greece and Rome while at Corpus Christi College.
Oglethorpe as a Georgia Trustee
Founding the Georgia Trustees
When Oglethorpe was 33, his friend Robert Castell was jailed because of his debts. While in prison, Castell caught smallpox and died, which caused Oglethorpe to begin to look into prison conditions in England. At this time, Oglethorpe was a member of Parliament, and because of his interest, he was named the chairman of a parliamentary committee to investigate the English prison system. During their investigation, Oglethorpe and the other committee members discovered that prisoners were often jailed like Robert Castell because they could not pay their debts, and once in jail were subjected to terrible conditions.
Oglethorpe saw the injustice of the situation and was further horrified by the abuses and dismal conditions prisoners endured in the prisons. He began speaking out against them, gaining national attention, and people started to recognize him as a humanitarian for trying to change a system that so mistreated people. Because of the attention on debtor’s prison and poor people in England, Oglethorpe and several others from the parliamentary committee to investigate prisons looked even deeper into the plight of poor people in England. They were inspired to create a new colony in America to give the poor a chance to succeed as farmers, merchants, and artisans.
Through his work on prison reform, Oglethorpe met Dr. Thomas Bray, the founder of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Bray left £5,000 for the administrators of his estate, including Oglethorpe, to use for good works in the colonies. Some of this group of administrators, called Associates of Dr. Bray, would go on to become Trustees of Georgia.
In 1730, the Associates of Dr. Bray petitioned Parliament for a charter to form the 13th colony in America. It took some time for Parliament to act on the request. Prime Minister Robert Walpole was hesitant to place a colony below South Carolina, fearing it would provoke the Spanish in Florida who already had a stake in the area. After gaining support among members of Parliament, some changes were made to the charter so “the deserving poor” would be sent to Georgia, instead of the original idea of sending debtors from prison. The deserving poor were people who would be chosen by the Trustees because they could bring skills to the new colony to help the whole community and have a chance at success in the new world at the same time.
In promotional material, the Georgia Trustees focused on three reasons for founding the colony: philanthropy, economics, and defense. The new colony offered a new start for England’s “deserving poor” in a society structured on hard work, equality, and morality. Economically, the new colony would produce raw materials at a cheap price. The Trustees invested most in silkworm farming. Silkworms feed on mulberry leaves and produce a cocoon made of silk, a valuable product used to make fine fabrics. The Trustees official seal even featured the mulberry leaf, silkworm, and cocoon. In addition to philanthropy and economics, the Georgia Trustees also promoted the new colony as a defensive barrier between Spanish Florida and English South Carolina.
In April 1732, two years after originally submitting the charter to Parliament, King George II signed the charter to create the colony and create the Trust, the governing body of the colony. The Trust was a corporate entity and allowed for a governing body of Trustees to serve and govern Georgia from England. In July 1732 the Trustees met for the first time and set about looking for contributions to fund the colony and people to populate it. Five months later the Trustees saw Oglethorpe and the colonists off as they embarked on their journey to the colonies.
On November 17, 1732, James Edward Oglethorpe and approximately 114 passengers left Gravesend, England, for Georgia on the frigate Anne. When the colonists set off, there was no one from debtor’s prison on board—despite what most believe about the colonists who first settled Georgia.
It took the Anne two months to travel from England to America. They stopped first in Charleston, South Carolina, and then proceeded further south to Port Royal, South Carolina. Here the colonists waited while Oglethorpe ventured ahead with Carolina Rangers to pinpoint the spot where they would settle. They traveled all this way without knowing exactly where they would be living! However, it did not take Oglethorpe too long to locate Yamacraw Bluff, a stretch of land one mile long overlooking the Savannah River. By February 12*, Oglethorpe had gathered all of the colonists at Yamacraw Bluff, and the group set about creating temporary shelters and laying out the new city.
Oglethorpe imagined the Georgia colony to be an ideal agrarian society; he opposed slavery and allowed people of all religions to settle in Savannah even though the charter stated that Catholics and Jewish people were not allowed. Oglethorpe defied this provision of the charter and allowed a group of Jewish people to settle in Savannah during the summer of 1733. In addition to his religious tolerance, Oglethorpe worked with and respected the local Indian tribes. He established a relationship with the Yamacraw Creeks, protecting them from traders who wanted to take advantage of them and settling land disputes with treaties.
Oglethorpe also established a ten-acre garden to the east of the city called Trustee’s Garden. The experimental garden belonged to the Trustees of the colony and was modeled after medicinal and botanical gardens in England. This garden would have plants to be used in medicines and plants for raw materials to make luxury goods, such as mulberry trees to feed the silkworms that the Trustees hoped would thrive in Georiga. Oglethorpe also grew orange trees, apple trees, pear tree, olives, figs, pomegranates, and other fruits that grew well in the warm climate.
But the early days of the colony were soon overshadowed by the threat from the Spanish. Oglethorpe found himself thinking more and more about how he could protect the citizens of the colony from an invasion from the Spanish. He repeatedly asked Parliament and the Trustees back in England for more resources to protect the colony. Often Parliament and the Trustees didn’t provide enough money and resources, and Oglethorpe used his own money to provide everything the colony needed. He knew he could lose everything if the colony didn’t succeed, but he had confidence in the final outcome.
In 1737, on a trip to England, Oglethorpe persuaded King George to make him a colonel in the British army and give him a regiment of soldiers to bring back to Savannah. Oglethorpe had minimal military experience, but he got what he wanted and found himself in charge of protecting not only Georgia but also South Carolina against the Spanish forces to the south.
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From the Source
Letter from James Edward Oglethorpe to the Trustees. February 22, 1733.*
The whole people arrived on the first of February. At night their tents were got up. ‘Till the 7th we were taken up in unloading and making a crane, which I even then could not get finished so took off the hands and set some of the fortification and begun to fell the woods. I marked out the town and common. Half of the former is already cleared, and the first house was begun yesterday in the afternoon.
An Account of the First Settling of the Colony of Georgia with a Journal of the First Embarkation Under the Direction of Mr. Oglethorpe by Peter Gordon.
March ye 1st, The first House in the Square was framed, and raised, Mr. Oglethorpdriving the first pinn [pin]. Before this we hade [had] proceeded in a very unSetled [unSettled] manner, having been imployed [employed] in Severall [Several] Different things Such as Cuting[Cutting] Down Trees, and Cross cutting them to proper lengths for Clapp [Clap] Boards and afterwards splitting Them into Clapp [Clap] Boards in order to Build us Clapp [Clap] Board Houses, which was the first design, but that not answering the expectation. We were now divided into Different Gangs. And Each Gang had Their Their proper Labour [Labor] assign’d [assigned] to Them. And to be under The Direction, of one persone [person] of Each Gang So that we proceeded in our Labour [Labor] much more regular Thane [Than] before…”
Sunday the fourth, after divine Service, we were ordered under Arms. And the Tythings [Tithings] marched regularly into the Wood, A Small Distance from the Town, Where Mr. Oglethorp, Ordered a Mark to [added: be] fixed up. At a Hundred Yards distance to be Shott [Shot] at by all the Men, And who ever Shott [Shot] nearest The mark to have a Small Prize of Seven or Eight Shillings Value, This Custome [Custom] which was intended to train the People up to firing, and to make them good marksman, was generally observed, for many Sundays afterwards. That being the only day we could be possibly Spared from Labour [Labor], And with some Success.
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Oglethorpe and Savannah’s City Plan
The historical record is not entirely clear on who designed Savannah’s city plan and what inspired it, but it is clear that Oglethorpe led the effort to take the design from plan to reality.
The plan was important militarily because it would make the city easier to defend from the Spanish to the south and against potentially hostile Indians. Oglethorpe laid out the city around a series of squares and laid out the streets in a grid pattern. Each square had a small community of colonists living around it and had separate lots dedicated to community buildings.
For each of the freemen who came to settle the new colony, Oglethorpe awarded 50 acres of land. This included a house lot in the city of Savannah, a five-acre garden lot outside of the city, and a 45-acre farm lot beyond the garden lots. The colonists usually lived on the city lot, thereby taking advantage of the safety of the city, and they worked their garden and farm lots for food and other resources.
Noble Jones was the first surveyor in the new colony and helped Oglethorpe fulfill his dream of a planned city. Oglethorpe also worked with Colonel William Bull to lay out the new city. Bull came from South Carolina and served as the city’s first architect, overseeing the design and construction of the earliest buildings. These early structures were all the same and were very basic single-story clapboard homes, 24×16 feet in size with a loft above and a small yard in the back.
Oglethorpe and Bull originally laid out four wards in two rows along the Savannah River. The wards were directly correlated with the garden and farm lots located outside of the city, so communities were kept together both inside and outside of the city. Each ward centered on a square and had four tythings on the north and south sides of the square. Tythings were rows of house lots, ten lots long. On the east and west sides of the square, there were trust lots used for public buildings such as churches or the courthouse. Today Savannah is one of the largest urban historic districts in the United States, and most of Oglethorpe’s original plan remains.
Oglethorpe only laid out the first six squares, but city leaders followed the design for decades after he returned to England. The city grew to include twenty-four squares. Today, Savannah includes twenty-two of the original squares. Ebenezer was also laid out with four squares and wards, and in 1736 Oglethorpe set up New Inverness, also known as Darien, near St. Simons Island with one square and surrounding blocks of homes. Oglethorpe’s city planning influence went on for a time after he returned to England, with three other coastal Georgia towns, including Brunswick, using the Savannah plan as a starting point.
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Oglethorpe and Tomochichi
Tomochichi was the mico, or chief, of the Yamacraw Indians. The Yamacraw were a small band of Lower Creek Indians that lived in coastal Georgia when Oglethorpe arrived with the colonists. When Oglethorpe selected Yamacraw Bluff as the site for the colony’s first settlement, Mico Tomochichi welcomed him and the colonists. Some of the colonists were ill from the long voyage and stayed in the house of John Musgrove in the Yamacraw village while permanent structures were built in the new town of Savannah. John Musgrove’s wife Mary Musgrove had an English father and Creek mother and served as interpreter between the English and the Indians.
Mico Tomochichi was happy to have the colonists settle near them because it was an opportunity for his people to trade with and to establish diplomatic connections with the English. As outcasts from the Lower Creek Confederacy, the Yamacraw needed an opportunity to show the value of his people to the other Creek communities. Disagreements over diplomatic relationships with the English and Spanish after the Yamasee War led to Tomochichi’s exile from the Lower Creeks and relocation to the banks of the Savannah River.
Oglethorpe wanted to avoid problems between English and Indians seen in other colonies. He managed to build a friendly relationship with Tomochichi despite having no training or experience in diplomacy. About a month after the colonists arrived, Tomochichi came to visit Oglethorpe in Savannah. The two leaders had to speak through an interpreter in order to understand each other. Tomochichi told how a neighboring tribe had attacked and killed one of the tribe members, and Tomochichi wanted permission from Oglethorpe to return the attack. Tomochichi respected Oglethorpe and the colonists’ presence in Georgia and wanted to be sure the English did not misunderstand his actions if he attacked.
Tomochichi and the Yamacraw were invaluable resources during the early years of the colony. Tomochichi helped the colonists lay out roads, including the first one from Savannah to Darien (or New Inverness) to the south. In 1734, Tomochichi, his wife Senauki, their adopted son Toonahowi, and six Lower Creek tribesmen accompanied Oglethorpe on a trip to England. The chief was looking for assurances that his people would benefit from education and fair trade policies with the English. In 1736, after their return to Savannah, a short-lived school was established for the children of his tribe.
Tomochichi and Oglethorpe often worked together and asked advice of one another. After the trip to England, Tomochichi traveled with Oglethorpe south of Savannah to determine the southern border of the colony, an important border in the defense of the English colonies against the Spanish to the south.
Maintaining peace with the neighboring Indian tribes was important to Oglethorpe as well, and Tomochichi did his best to advise Oglethorpe on achieving this. In 1739, Oglethorpe traveled deep into Lower Creek Indian territory, what is now southeast and middle Georgia. This trip was meant to reinforce relations between the Indians and the English, and it was successful. Unfortunately, Tomochichi wasn’t able to attend these meetings and share in Oglethorpe’s success. He was in his home village battling an illness and passed away on October 5, 1739. Because of his help in establishing the Georgia colony, Oglethorpe held a military funeral to honor the chief and his grave was marked with a pyramid made of stones. These stones were removed in 1880, and a granite boulder replaced it in 1899. The boulder can still be found in Wright Square in Savannah, along with a copper plaque commemorating the mico.
Oglethorpe and Defending the Colony
The Buffer Colony
Although the Georgia Trustees originally envisioned the new Georgia colony as a second chance for debtors in British jails, the geographic location was also ideal to defend the British colonies from Spain, which occupied Florida to the south. When Oglethorpe left the colonists in Port Royal to scout for the location of the new colony, he selected a spot that was very close to friendly South Carolina and as far as possible from unfriendly Spanish-occupied Florida.
Some of the first colonists who arrived on the Anne played key roles in defending the colony. Noble Jones was a surveyor who paid his own way on the Anne, and once in Georgia he served as a doctor, constable, and carpenter. He was rewarded with 500 acres on the Isle of Hope a few miles south of Savannah that would also serve as an outpost to protect the young city. Jones called his plantation Wormsloe, and he built a fortified tabby home to serve as a guard post and line of defense against invasion.
In 1736 Oglethorpe established Fort Frederica on St. Simons Island to act as a defense to the south against the Spanish. Fort Frederica was located in an ideal spot, a high bluff overlooking the marsh and inland waterways. This spot would become an important part of Georgia’s history a few years after Frederica was founded and settled.
The War of Jenkins’ Ear
The War of Jenkins’ Ear first began before the Georgia colonists even left England. In 1731 a Spanish privateer cut off the ear of British captain Robert Jenkins in retaliation for Jenkins raiding Spanish ships. Captain Jenkins presented his ear to Parliament, and the British people demanded retribution. During the 1730s, while Oglethorpe and the colonists were settling Savannah, Spain and England negotiated to settle their disputes but they never reached a conclusion.
In 1740, Oglethorpe gathered his forces to besiege St. Augustine in Spanish Florida. He traveled in ships from the Royal Navy taking his regiment of soldiers along with Carolina Rangers and Indian warriors. Unfortunately, the siege failed, and Oglethorpe retreated north to Fort Frederica on St. Simons.
In July 1742, ships with thousands of Spanish troops landed on St. Simons Island, but the British forces turned back an advance force at Fort Frederica using the location of the fort to their advantage. They then proceeded to defeat the Spanish at the Battle of Bloody Marsh, which caused the Spanish to retreat for good. The Spanish never attacked the British colonies on the east coast again thanks to the efforts of Oglethorpe and his troops. To reward Oglethorpe King George II promoted him to general, and in 1748, Britain and Spain agreed on the St. Mary’s River as the border between Georgia and Florida.
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From the Source
The Spanish government sent Don Manuel de Montiano to Florida as acting governor in 1737 in a direct response to British aggressions against the colony. During the 1740 siege on St. Augustine, led by Gen. James Oglethorpe, Montiano defended East Florida and had Fort Matanzas built. Manuel de Montianao Letters, MS 0572 includes a volume containing the letters of Don Manuel de Montiano to Juan de Guemes y Horcasitas, Governor General of Cuba, 1737-1741. They present the Spanish side of the Siege of St. Augustine in 1740. In Spanish, these letters were copied from the originals and certified as true copies by Antonio Alvarez, keeper of the Public Archives in St. Augustine, Florida, before 1843. The letters were translated to English and published in Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, Volume VII, pt. 1.
“All the 12 English deserters say in confirmation of one another that General Oglethorpe has gone for reinforcements, with the intention of returning upon this place next spring. Although I do not believe that the settlers of Carolina will give more help on account of the vexation and annoyances of this campaign, yet his authority and restless spirit may move them, as well as the numbers he is said to expect from Europe, according to some, two thousand, to others, two regiments. Relative to this, Your Excellency may consider the best measures to put this place in a new state of defense…” Excerpt from letter dated July 28, 1740.
General Oglethorpe’s Account of the Spanish Invasion of Georgia, July 30, 1742. In Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, Volume III.
This excerpt from the letter describes the Battle of Bloody Marsh from Oglethorpe’s perspective.
“Some Platoons of ours in the heat of the fight the air being darkened with the smoak and shower of rain falling retired in disorder. I hearing the Firing rode towards it and at near two miles from the place of Action met a great many men in disorder who told me that our were routed and Lieut. Sutherland killed. I ordered them to halt and march back against the Enemy which order Capt. Demere and Ensign Gibbon obeyed but another Officer did not but made the best of his way to Town. As I heard the fire continue I concluded our Men could not be quite beaten and that my immediate assistance might preserve them therefore spurred on & arrived just as the fire was done. I found the Spaniards intirely routed by one Platoon of the Regiment under the command of Lieut. Sutherland and the Highland Company under the Command of Lieut. Charles Mackay.”
“A view of the Town and Castle of St. Augustine and the English Camp before June 20, 1740 by Tho Silver.” Gentleman’s Magazine. Georgia Historical Society Serials Collection.
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Oglethorpe and Religion in Georgia
Religion in the Georgia Charter
The original charter granted to the Georgia Trustees in 1732 contained only a few words about what religious practices would be allowed in the new colony.
And for the greater ease and encouragement of our loving subjects and such others as shall come to inhabit in our said colony, we do by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, grant, establish and ordain, that forever hereafter, there shall be a liberty of conscience allowed in the worship of God, to all persons inhabiting, or which shall inhabit or be resident within our said provinces and that all such persons, except papists, shall have a free exercise of their religion, so they be contented with the quiet and peaceable enjoyment of the same, not giving offence or scandal to the government.
The Charter specifically denied Catholics the right to worship in the Georgia colony. Historically, the Spanish were Roman Catholic and Georgia’s founders feared that Catholic settlers might be sympathetic to the Spanish if conflict erupted between the two world powers. Prior to English settlement in Georgia, the Spanish operated multiple catholic missions on Georgia’s barrier islands and along the coast. Because of the ban, Catholicism did not take root in Georgia again until after the American Revolution. However, many other religious groups flourished in Georgia under Oglethorpe’s leadership.
First Jewish Settlers in Georgia
Although Catholicism was the only religion expressly forbidden in the charter, the Georgia Trustees also decided to forbid Judaism in the new colony, but the harsh realities of colonial life opened the doors for Judaism to enter Georgia.
The first summer the colonists lived in Savannah they suffered from the heat and illness that accompanied it. At one point, 60 colonists were dreadfully sick, and it was thought they wouldn’t be able to recover. There was no real doctor, except for Noble Jones who himself had taken ill. But fortunately a ship with Jewish passengers unexpectedly arrived, including a doctor, Samuel Nunez. Dr. Nunez went to work healing the sick, all of whom recovered, and the doctor refused payment for his services. Even though the Trustees expressly forbade Jewish people from settling in the new colony, Oglethorpe allowed the group to stay based on legal advice that the charter did allow religious freedom for all non-Catholics. Oglethorpe, in defiance of his fellow trustees, went further by allowing the Jewish immigrants to own land in the new colony. They founded the Temple Mickve Israel, the third-oldest Jewish congregation in America and the oldest in the South.
John and Charles Wesley
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When Oglethorpe returned to Georgia from his first trip back to England he brought two young men with him to minister to the people of the new colony. John and Charles Wesley were brothers, and both were ordained ministers in the Church of England. John came to minister to the people of Savannah, and his brother Charles came to minister to the people of St. Simons Island, where Oglethorpe was planning another large community. These remarkable men were each destined for greatness. John Wesley would go on to found the Methodist Church, and his brother Charles would write more than 6,500 hymns.
Reverend George Whitefield
In 1738, Reverend George Whitefield arrived in Savannah and the plight of the orphans of the city came to his attention. He spent the next two years traveling around the colonies, raising money to open a home for Georgia’s orphans and by 1740 had a site and several buildings for the new orphanage. Many Georgians were critical of Whitefield’s method of raising children, claiming he was too harsh and wanted to convert the children to his brand of evangelical fanaticism, but he continued providing a home to children until his death in 1770.
When he died, he left the orphanage to the Countess of Huntington, a woman who had sponsored him while in England. The Countess continued the reverend’s work until her death in 1791, at which point the state of Georgia (because this was after the American Revolution) took over operations, and the school still provides a home and schooling for boys to this day.
Johann Martin Boltzius
Born in Forst, Germany, John Martin Boltzius is best known for strongly opposing slavery during the early years of the Georgia colony, and for serving as senior minister to the colony’s German-speaking Protestants called Salzburgers. The first group of Salzburgers sailed from England to Georgia in 1734, arriving in Charleston, South Carolina, on March 7, then proceeding to Savannah on March 12. Boltzius was met by General James Oglethorpe when the first group of Salzburgers arrived in Georgia from England in 1734. Oglethorpe assigned Boltzius and his group about twenty-five miles upriver in an area on Ebenezer Creek. Boltzius and the Salzburgers named their new settlement Ebenezer.
Boltzius and the Salzburgers also created the first Sunday school in Georgia in1734, followed by the first orphanage in 1737. The Salzburg community survived the American Revolution, Sherman’s occupation, and an 1886 earthquake. Boltzius’ Jerusalem Church houses the oldest Lutheran congregation America to conduct worship in its original building.
Oglethorpe’s Georgia Communities
Ebenezer
Oglethorpe founded or oversaw the founding of several other communities in the new colony of Georgia after his first planned city of Savannah. A group of Germans from Salzburg traveled in Georgia to escape Catholic persecution. Oglethorpe sent them to settle a community called Ebenezer, and the Salzburgers, as they were known, became known as hard-working and self-reliant colonists.
Fort Frederica
Around the same time the Salzburgers were settling Ebenezer, Oglethorpe was setting his sights on St. Simons Island. St. Simons is near the Georgia-Florida border, actually to the south of the Altamaha River, the original southern border of the Georgia colony. This would prove to be a touchy subject with the Spanish in Florida, but Oglethorpe was determined to build a fort there. Upon arrival, Oglethorpe immediately began laying out the new community, which he decided to name Fort Frederica. He found a field overlooking a river and the marsh on one side, and shielded from view with trees on another side. The new fort would have an excellent advantage over any hostile forces that tried to approach it, and this location proved successful in the Battle of Bloody Marsh against the Spanish.
Darien
While Oglethorpe made his first trip back to England in 1734, a group of Scottish Highlanders had arrived in Georgia and traveled south to settle their own community. They had been recruited to populate this area, at the time the southernmost settlement in the colony and the most at-risk due to the proximity to Florida, because of their ability to fight and survive. The Highlanders called their town Darien, and a few years after settling they would be integral in eliminating the Spanish as a threat to the British colonies. Oglethorpe was pleased and impressed with the Scottish colonists, and would often wear a kilt and other Scottish attire to show his pride and respect.
Brunswick
Oglethorpe would also aid in the founding of Brunswick, a port city to the south of Savannah and near St. Simons. Brunswick was first settled by a member of Oglethorpe’s regiment that he received from King George II on one of his return trips to England. Brunswick was called Carr’s Fields after Captain Mark Carr, and later was renamed Brunswick for the British royal family. Other communities were founded while Oglethorpe was in Georgia, including Fort Augusta, which would then become the city of Augusta.
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Georgia’s Trustee Period
Unlike colonies led by royal governors, like South Carolina’s Governor Johnson, Georgia was governed by the Trustees until 1752. Oglethorpe fulfilled the role of leader and governor for a time when the settlers reached the new colony, but he eventually had to focus on defending Georgia and South Carolina from the Spanish. Georgians had to rely on the officials the Trustees appointed from England to maintain authority.
The Trustees ruled Georgia for 21 years, but the only Trustee who ever stepped foot in the colony was General Oglethorpe. Oglethorpe spent ten years in Georgia until he returned to England for good in 1744. He continued on as Trustee for some years, but eventually the other Trustees began allowing practices such as slavery that Oglethorpe opposed and he withdrew from the organization. In 1752 the Trustees turned Georgia over to the king, ending Trustee Georgia and beginning Royal"
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Get to Know James Edward Oglethorpe, Part 1 (1696-1717)
Get to know James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia Colony, in this episode of Sophia’s Schoolhouse. This video is part one of four and covers Oglethorpe's life from his birth in 1696 until 1717.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNfSaCFv7fs
Images:
1. In 1885, artist Richard West Habersham painted 'Portrait of James Edward Oglethorpe at Belgrade in 1718.' The portrait shows Oglethorpe as a young man in service of Prince Eugene of Savoy.
2. ‘The Gaols Committee of the House of Commons’, by William Hogarth, NPG 926. © National Portrait Gallery, London.
3. Oglethorpe Visiting Prisoners, engraving, in, First lessons in Georgia History by Lawton B. Evans
4. Oglethorpe Monument, Chippewa Square.
Background from [https://georgiahistory.com/education-outreach/online-exhibits/featured-historical-figures/james-edward-oglethorpe/]
"Brief Biography
Eleanor and Theophilus Oglethorpe welcomed their 10th and last child, James Edward, into the world on December 22, 1696. Oglethorpe grew up in a well-connected, wealthy English family with controversial ties to the Jacobite movement.
In 1714, Oglethorpe entered Corpus Christi College at Oxford University where he attended on and off until joining a military academy in Paris and joining the army of Prince Eugene of Savoy during the Austro-Turkish War of 1716-1718. Oglethorpe successfully ran for Parliament in 1722, winning the Haslemere seat held previously by his father and two older brothers.
Oglethorpe earned a reputation as a reformer early in his parliamentary career. He actively lobbied for reforms in the areas of naval conscription, prisons, and city planning. He belonged to a group of like-minded men who envisioned a new colony—Georgia—as a haven for England’s worthy poor. They drafted a charter for the thirteenth colony in British North America that offered a cure to the strict class divisions that plagued English society; there would be no slavery and no large landholdings. In fact, the original Trustees (including Oglethorpe) did not earn a salary and could not hold office or own land in the new colony.
Oglethorpe volunteered to lead the first group of colonists to Georgia in 1732. The ship Ann arrived at Yamacraw Bluff on February 12, 1733*. Although he held no official title, Oglethorpe acted as the colony’s de facto governor. He returned to England in 1734 to raise money for the fledgling colony and subsequently made several trips back and forth, including a voyage in 1736 in which he accompanied John and Charles Wesley. His longest residence in Georgia was from 1738-1743 when he was concerned with fighting the Spanish.
In 1743, Oglethorpe left Georgia for the last time. Shortly after his return to England, Oglethorpe married Elizabeth Wright, heir to the Essex estate of Cranham. He continued to serve in Parliament until 1754 and served in a brief military campaign during the 1745 Jacobite uprising. He also secretly served a brief time under his friend Field Marshal James Keith in the Seven Years’ War.
Oglethorpe retired from political and military life to live quietly with his wife and friends. In June 1785, Oglethorpe met with John Adams, the first U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain. During their friendly encounter, Oglethorpe expressed high regard for America. Just days later, Oglethorpe fell ill and on June 30, 1785, he died peacefully at the age of 88. He was buried under the chancel of All Saints’ Parish Church in Cranham. His wife Elizabeth died two years later and was buried beside him.
Oglethorpe’s Early Life
James Edward Oglethorpe was born in 1696 in London, England into a family with active political ties to the British royal family and an interest in British politics. Oglethorpe was the youngest of ten children, and the family spent time at their homes in both London and in a small rural town outside of London, Godalming. When he was two years old his father was elected to the House of Commons, an arm of the British Parliament, and held a seat that Oglethorpe and his two brothers would hold later in their lives. Oglethorpe’s father died when he only was six-years-old.
Oglethorpe’s mother and father were Jacobites. The Jacobites supported James the II and his family – the Stuarts. In 1688 the English Parliament forced James II to leave England and his daughter Mary II and her husband William of Orange became the new English monarchs. This is known as the Glorious Revolution. The Jacobites were not happy with the Glorious Revolution; they wanted James II to return from exile as King of England and Scotland. Oglethorpe’s controversial family political affiliations often caused trouble for him during his political and military career.
Oglethorpe enrolled at Corpus Christi College at Oxford University when he was 17 years old, but left before graduating to attend a military college in France. The Turkish Empire was advancing on Europe, and Oglethorpe went to help successfully defend the continent while serving as an aide to Prince Eugene of Savoy.
Oglethorpe eventually returned to Corpus Christi College though he never graduated. He may not have stayed at Oxford long, but Oglethorpe could read and speak Latin. He loved to read classical literature and could quote Roman poetry from memory in his eighties. His ideas about governing the Georgia colony had a lot to do with what he learned and read about ancient Greece and Rome while at Corpus Christi College.
Oglethorpe as a Georgia Trustee
Founding the Georgia Trustees
When Oglethorpe was 33, his friend Robert Castell was jailed because of his debts. While in prison, Castell caught smallpox and died, which caused Oglethorpe to begin to look into prison conditions in England. At this time, Oglethorpe was a member of Parliament, and because of his interest, he was named the chairman of a parliamentary committee to investigate the English prison system. During their investigation, Oglethorpe and the other committee members discovered that prisoners were often jailed like Robert Castell because they could not pay their debts, and once in jail were subjected to terrible conditions.
Oglethorpe saw the injustice of the situation and was further horrified by the abuses and dismal conditions prisoners endured in the prisons. He began speaking out against them, gaining national attention, and people started to recognize him as a humanitarian for trying to change a system that so mistreated people. Because of the attention on debtor’s prison and poor people in England, Oglethorpe and several others from the parliamentary committee to investigate prisons looked even deeper into the plight of poor people in England. They were inspired to create a new colony in America to give the poor a chance to succeed as farmers, merchants, and artisans.
Through his work on prison reform, Oglethorpe met Dr. Thomas Bray, the founder of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Bray left £5,000 for the administrators of his estate, including Oglethorpe, to use for good works in the colonies. Some of this group of administrators, called Associates of Dr. Bray, would go on to become Trustees of Georgia.
In 1730, the Associates of Dr. Bray petitioned Parliament for a charter to form the 13th colony in America. It took some time for Parliament to act on the request. Prime Minister Robert Walpole was hesitant to place a colony below South Carolina, fearing it would provoke the Spanish in Florida who already had a stake in the area. After gaining support among members of Parliament, some changes were made to the charter so “the deserving poor” would be sent to Georgia, instead of the original idea of sending debtors from prison. The deserving poor were people who would be chosen by the Trustees because they could bring skills to the new colony to help the whole community and have a chance at success in the new world at the same time.
In promotional material, the Georgia Trustees focused on three reasons for founding the colony: philanthropy, economics, and defense. The new colony offered a new start for England’s “deserving poor” in a society structured on hard work, equality, and morality. Economically, the new colony would produce raw materials at a cheap price. The Trustees invested most in silkworm farming. Silkworms feed on mulberry leaves and produce a cocoon made of silk, a valuable product used to make fine fabrics. The Trustees official seal even featured the mulberry leaf, silkworm, and cocoon. In addition to philanthropy and economics, the Georgia Trustees also promoted the new colony as a defensive barrier between Spanish Florida and English South Carolina.
In April 1732, two years after originally submitting the charter to Parliament, King George II signed the charter to create the colony and create the Trust, the governing body of the colony. The Trust was a corporate entity and allowed for a governing body of Trustees to serve and govern Georgia from England. In July 1732 the Trustees met for the first time and set about looking for contributions to fund the colony and people to populate it. Five months later the Trustees saw Oglethorpe and the colonists off as they embarked on their journey to the colonies.
On November 17, 1732, James Edward Oglethorpe and approximately 114 passengers left Gravesend, England, for Georgia on the frigate Anne. When the colonists set off, there was no one from debtor’s prison on board—despite what most believe about the colonists who first settled Georgia.
It took the Anne two months to travel from England to America. They stopped first in Charleston, South Carolina, and then proceeded further south to Port Royal, South Carolina. Here the colonists waited while Oglethorpe ventured ahead with Carolina Rangers to pinpoint the spot where they would settle. They traveled all this way without knowing exactly where they would be living! However, it did not take Oglethorpe too long to locate Yamacraw Bluff, a stretch of land one mile long overlooking the Savannah River. By February 12*, Oglethorpe had gathered all of the colonists at Yamacraw Bluff, and the group set about creating temporary shelters and laying out the new city.
Oglethorpe imagined the Georgia colony to be an ideal agrarian society; he opposed slavery and allowed people of all religions to settle in Savannah even though the charter stated that Catholics and Jewish people were not allowed. Oglethorpe defied this provision of the charter and allowed a group of Jewish people to settle in Savannah during the summer of 1733. In addition to his religious tolerance, Oglethorpe worked with and respected the local Indian tribes. He established a relationship with the Yamacraw Creeks, protecting them from traders who wanted to take advantage of them and settling land disputes with treaties.
Oglethorpe also established a ten-acre garden to the east of the city called Trustee’s Garden. The experimental garden belonged to the Trustees of the colony and was modeled after medicinal and botanical gardens in England. This garden would have plants to be used in medicines and plants for raw materials to make luxury goods, such as mulberry trees to feed the silkworms that the Trustees hoped would thrive in Georiga. Oglethorpe also grew orange trees, apple trees, pear tree, olives, figs, pomegranates, and other fruits that grew well in the warm climate.
But the early days of the colony were soon overshadowed by the threat from the Spanish. Oglethorpe found himself thinking more and more about how he could protect the citizens of the colony from an invasion from the Spanish. He repeatedly asked Parliament and the Trustees back in England for more resources to protect the colony. Often Parliament and the Trustees didn’t provide enough money and resources, and Oglethorpe used his own money to provide everything the colony needed. He knew he could lose everything if the colony didn’t succeed, but he had confidence in the final outcome.
In 1737, on a trip to England, Oglethorpe persuaded King George to make him a colonel in the British army and give him a regiment of soldiers to bring back to Savannah. Oglethorpe had minimal military experience, but he got what he wanted and found himself in charge of protecting not only Georgia but also South Carolina against the Spanish forces to the south.
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From the Source
Letter from James Edward Oglethorpe to the Trustees. February 22, 1733.*
The whole people arrived on the first of February. At night their tents were got up. ‘Till the 7th we were taken up in unloading and making a crane, which I even then could not get finished so took off the hands and set some of the fortification and begun to fell the woods. I marked out the town and common. Half of the former is already cleared, and the first house was begun yesterday in the afternoon.
An Account of the First Settling of the Colony of Georgia with a Journal of the First Embarkation Under the Direction of Mr. Oglethorpe by Peter Gordon.
March ye 1st, The first House in the Square was framed, and raised, Mr. Oglethorpdriving the first pinn [pin]. Before this we hade [had] proceeded in a very unSetled [unSettled] manner, having been imployed [employed] in Severall [Several] Different things Such as Cuting[Cutting] Down Trees, and Cross cutting them to proper lengths for Clapp [Clap] Boards and afterwards splitting Them into Clapp [Clap] Boards in order to Build us Clapp [Clap] Board Houses, which was the first design, but that not answering the expectation. We were now divided into Different Gangs. And Each Gang had Their Their proper Labour [Labor] assign’d [assigned] to Them. And to be under The Direction, of one persone [person] of Each Gang So that we proceeded in our Labour [Labor] much more regular Thane [Than] before…”
Sunday the fourth, after divine Service, we were ordered under Arms. And the Tythings [Tithings] marched regularly into the Wood, A Small Distance from the Town, Where Mr. Oglethorp, Ordered a Mark to [added: be] fixed up. At a Hundred Yards distance to be Shott [Shot] at by all the Men, And who ever Shott [Shot] nearest The mark to have a Small Prize of Seven or Eight Shillings Value, This Custome [Custom] which was intended to train the People up to firing, and to make them good marksman, was generally observed, for many Sundays afterwards. That being the only day we could be possibly Spared from Labour [Labor], And with some Success.
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Oglethorpe and Savannah’s City Plan
The historical record is not entirely clear on who designed Savannah’s city plan and what inspired it, but it is clear that Oglethorpe led the effort to take the design from plan to reality.
The plan was important militarily because it would make the city easier to defend from the Spanish to the south and against potentially hostile Indians. Oglethorpe laid out the city around a series of squares and laid out the streets in a grid pattern. Each square had a small community of colonists living around it and had separate lots dedicated to community buildings.
For each of the freemen who came to settle the new colony, Oglethorpe awarded 50 acres of land. This included a house lot in the city of Savannah, a five-acre garden lot outside of the city, and a 45-acre farm lot beyond the garden lots. The colonists usually lived on the city lot, thereby taking advantage of the safety of the city, and they worked their garden and farm lots for food and other resources.
Noble Jones was the first surveyor in the new colony and helped Oglethorpe fulfill his dream of a planned city. Oglethorpe also worked with Colonel William Bull to lay out the new city. Bull came from South Carolina and served as the city’s first architect, overseeing the design and construction of the earliest buildings. These early structures were all the same and were very basic single-story clapboard homes, 24×16 feet in size with a loft above and a small yard in the back.
Oglethorpe and Bull originally laid out four wards in two rows along the Savannah River. The wards were directly correlated with the garden and farm lots located outside of the city, so communities were kept together both inside and outside of the city. Each ward centered on a square and had four tythings on the north and south sides of the square. Tythings were rows of house lots, ten lots long. On the east and west sides of the square, there were trust lots used for public buildings such as churches or the courthouse. Today Savannah is one of the largest urban historic districts in the United States, and most of Oglethorpe’s original plan remains.
Oglethorpe only laid out the first six squares, but city leaders followed the design for decades after he returned to England. The city grew to include twenty-four squares. Today, Savannah includes twenty-two of the original squares. Ebenezer was also laid out with four squares and wards, and in 1736 Oglethorpe set up New Inverness, also known as Darien, near St. Simons Island with one square and surrounding blocks of homes. Oglethorpe’s city planning influence went on for a time after he returned to England, with three other coastal Georgia towns, including Brunswick, using the Savannah plan as a starting point.
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Oglethorpe and Tomochichi
Tomochichi was the mico, or chief, of the Yamacraw Indians. The Yamacraw were a small band of Lower Creek Indians that lived in coastal Georgia when Oglethorpe arrived with the colonists. When Oglethorpe selected Yamacraw Bluff as the site for the colony’s first settlement, Mico Tomochichi welcomed him and the colonists. Some of the colonists were ill from the long voyage and stayed in the house of John Musgrove in the Yamacraw village while permanent structures were built in the new town of Savannah. John Musgrove’s wife Mary Musgrove had an English father and Creek mother and served as interpreter between the English and the Indians.
Mico Tomochichi was happy to have the colonists settle near them because it was an opportunity for his people to trade with and to establish diplomatic connections with the English. As outcasts from the Lower Creek Confederacy, the Yamacraw needed an opportunity to show the value of his people to the other Creek communities. Disagreements over diplomatic relationships with the English and Spanish after the Yamasee War led to Tomochichi’s exile from the Lower Creeks and relocation to the banks of the Savannah River.
Oglethorpe wanted to avoid problems between English and Indians seen in other colonies. He managed to build a friendly relationship with Tomochichi despite having no training or experience in diplomacy. About a month after the colonists arrived, Tomochichi came to visit Oglethorpe in Savannah. The two leaders had to speak through an interpreter in order to understand each other. Tomochichi told how a neighboring tribe had attacked and killed one of the tribe members, and Tomochichi wanted permission from Oglethorpe to return the attack. Tomochichi respected Oglethorpe and the colonists’ presence in Georgia and wanted to be sure the English did not misunderstand his actions if he attacked.
Tomochichi and the Yamacraw were invaluable resources during the early years of the colony. Tomochichi helped the colonists lay out roads, including the first one from Savannah to Darien (or New Inverness) to the south. In 1734, Tomochichi, his wife Senauki, their adopted son Toonahowi, and six Lower Creek tribesmen accompanied Oglethorpe on a trip to England. The chief was looking for assurances that his people would benefit from education and fair trade policies with the English. In 1736, after their return to Savannah, a short-lived school was established for the children of his tribe.
Tomochichi and Oglethorpe often worked together and asked advice of one another. After the trip to England, Tomochichi traveled with Oglethorpe south of Savannah to determine the southern border of the colony, an important border in the defense of the English colonies against the Spanish to the south.
Maintaining peace with the neighboring Indian tribes was important to Oglethorpe as well, and Tomochichi did his best to advise Oglethorpe on achieving this. In 1739, Oglethorpe traveled deep into Lower Creek Indian territory, what is now southeast and middle Georgia. This trip was meant to reinforce relations between the Indians and the English, and it was successful. Unfortunately, Tomochichi wasn’t able to attend these meetings and share in Oglethorpe’s success. He was in his home village battling an illness and passed away on October 5, 1739. Because of his help in establishing the Georgia colony, Oglethorpe held a military funeral to honor the chief and his grave was marked with a pyramid made of stones. These stones were removed in 1880, and a granite boulder replaced it in 1899. The boulder can still be found in Wright Square in Savannah, along with a copper plaque commemorating the mico.
Oglethorpe and Defending the Colony
The Buffer Colony
Although the Georgia Trustees originally envisioned the new Georgia colony as a second chance for debtors in British jails, the geographic location was also ideal to defend the British colonies from Spain, which occupied Florida to the south. When Oglethorpe left the colonists in Port Royal to scout for the location of the new colony, he selected a spot that was very close to friendly South Carolina and as far as possible from unfriendly Spanish-occupied Florida.
Some of the first colonists who arrived on the Anne played key roles in defending the colony. Noble Jones was a surveyor who paid his own way on the Anne, and once in Georgia he served as a doctor, constable, and carpenter. He was rewarded with 500 acres on the Isle of Hope a few miles south of Savannah that would also serve as an outpost to protect the young city. Jones called his plantation Wormsloe, and he built a fortified tabby home to serve as a guard post and line of defense against invasion.
In 1736 Oglethorpe established Fort Frederica on St. Simons Island to act as a defense to the south against the Spanish. Fort Frederica was located in an ideal spot, a high bluff overlooking the marsh and inland waterways. This spot would become an important part of Georgia’s history a few years after Frederica was founded and settled.
The War of Jenkins’ Ear
The War of Jenkins’ Ear first began before the Georgia colonists even left England. In 1731 a Spanish privateer cut off the ear of British captain Robert Jenkins in retaliation for Jenkins raiding Spanish ships. Captain Jenkins presented his ear to Parliament, and the British people demanded retribution. During the 1730s, while Oglethorpe and the colonists were settling Savannah, Spain and England negotiated to settle their disputes but they never reached a conclusion.
In 1740, Oglethorpe gathered his forces to besiege St. Augustine in Spanish Florida. He traveled in ships from the Royal Navy taking his regiment of soldiers along with Carolina Rangers and Indian warriors. Unfortunately, the siege failed, and Oglethorpe retreated north to Fort Frederica on St. Simons.
In July 1742, ships with thousands of Spanish troops landed on St. Simons Island, but the British forces turned back an advance force at Fort Frederica using the location of the fort to their advantage. They then proceeded to defeat the Spanish at the Battle of Bloody Marsh, which caused the Spanish to retreat for good. The Spanish never attacked the British colonies on the east coast again thanks to the efforts of Oglethorpe and his troops. To reward Oglethorpe King George II promoted him to general, and in 1748, Britain and Spain agreed on the St. Mary’s River as the border between Georgia and Florida.
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From the Source
The Spanish government sent Don Manuel de Montiano to Florida as acting governor in 1737 in a direct response to British aggressions against the colony. During the 1740 siege on St. Augustine, led by Gen. James Oglethorpe, Montiano defended East Florida and had Fort Matanzas built. Manuel de Montianao Letters, MS 0572 includes a volume containing the letters of Don Manuel de Montiano to Juan de Guemes y Horcasitas, Governor General of Cuba, 1737-1741. They present the Spanish side of the Siege of St. Augustine in 1740. In Spanish, these letters were copied from the originals and certified as true copies by Antonio Alvarez, keeper of the Public Archives in St. Augustine, Florida, before 1843. The letters were translated to English and published in Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, Volume VII, pt. 1.
“All the 12 English deserters say in confirmation of one another that General Oglethorpe has gone for reinforcements, with the intention of returning upon this place next spring. Although I do not believe that the settlers of Carolina will give more help on account of the vexation and annoyances of this campaign, yet his authority and restless spirit may move them, as well as the numbers he is said to expect from Europe, according to some, two thousand, to others, two regiments. Relative to this, Your Excellency may consider the best measures to put this place in a new state of defense…” Excerpt from letter dated July 28, 1740.
General Oglethorpe’s Account of the Spanish Invasion of Georgia, July 30, 1742. In Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, Volume III.
This excerpt from the letter describes the Battle of Bloody Marsh from Oglethorpe’s perspective.
“Some Platoons of ours in the heat of the fight the air being darkened with the smoak and shower of rain falling retired in disorder. I hearing the Firing rode towards it and at near two miles from the place of Action met a great many men in disorder who told me that our were routed and Lieut. Sutherland killed. I ordered them to halt and march back against the Enemy which order Capt. Demere and Ensign Gibbon obeyed but another Officer did not but made the best of his way to Town. As I heard the fire continue I concluded our Men could not be quite beaten and that my immediate assistance might preserve them therefore spurred on & arrived just as the fire was done. I found the Spaniards intirely routed by one Platoon of the Regiment under the command of Lieut. Sutherland and the Highland Company under the Command of Lieut. Charles Mackay.”
“A view of the Town and Castle of St. Augustine and the English Camp before June 20, 1740 by Tho Silver.” Gentleman’s Magazine. Georgia Historical Society Serials Collection.
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Oglethorpe and Religion in Georgia
Religion in the Georgia Charter
The original charter granted to the Georgia Trustees in 1732 contained only a few words about what religious practices would be allowed in the new colony.
And for the greater ease and encouragement of our loving subjects and such others as shall come to inhabit in our said colony, we do by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, grant, establish and ordain, that forever hereafter, there shall be a liberty of conscience allowed in the worship of God, to all persons inhabiting, or which shall inhabit or be resident within our said provinces and that all such persons, except papists, shall have a free exercise of their religion, so they be contented with the quiet and peaceable enjoyment of the same, not giving offence or scandal to the government.
The Charter specifically denied Catholics the right to worship in the Georgia colony. Historically, the Spanish were Roman Catholic and Georgia’s founders feared that Catholic settlers might be sympathetic to the Spanish if conflict erupted between the two world powers. Prior to English settlement in Georgia, the Spanish operated multiple catholic missions on Georgia’s barrier islands and along the coast. Because of the ban, Catholicism did not take root in Georgia again until after the American Revolution. However, many other religious groups flourished in Georgia under Oglethorpe’s leadership.
First Jewish Settlers in Georgia
Although Catholicism was the only religion expressly forbidden in the charter, the Georgia Trustees also decided to forbid Judaism in the new colony, but the harsh realities of colonial life opened the doors for Judaism to enter Georgia.
The first summer the colonists lived in Savannah they suffered from the heat and illness that accompanied it. At one point, 60 colonists were dreadfully sick, and it was thought they wouldn’t be able to recover. There was no real doctor, except for Noble Jones who himself had taken ill. But fortunately a ship with Jewish passengers unexpectedly arrived, including a doctor, Samuel Nunez. Dr. Nunez went to work healing the sick, all of whom recovered, and the doctor refused payment for his services. Even though the Trustees expressly forbade Jewish people from settling in the new colony, Oglethorpe allowed the group to stay based on legal advice that the charter did allow religious freedom for all non-Catholics. Oglethorpe, in defiance of his fellow trustees, went further by allowing the Jewish immigrants to own land in the new colony. They founded the Temple Mickve Israel, the third-oldest Jewish congregation in America and the oldest in the South.
John and Charles Wesley
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When Oglethorpe returned to Georgia from his first trip back to England he brought two young men with him to minister to the people of the new colony. John and Charles Wesley were brothers, and both were ordained ministers in the Church of England. John came to minister to the people of Savannah, and his brother Charles came to minister to the people of St. Simons Island, where Oglethorpe was planning another large community. These remarkable men were each destined for greatness. John Wesley would go on to found the Methodist Church, and his brother Charles would write more than 6,500 hymns.
Reverend George Whitefield
In 1738, Reverend George Whitefield arrived in Savannah and the plight of the orphans of the city came to his attention. He spent the next two years traveling around the colonies, raising money to open a home for Georgia’s orphans and by 1740 had a site and several buildings for the new orphanage. Many Georgians were critical of Whitefield’s method of raising children, claiming he was too harsh and wanted to convert the children to his brand of evangelical fanaticism, but he continued providing a home to children until his death in 1770.
When he died, he left the orphanage to the Countess of Huntington, a woman who had sponsored him while in England. The Countess continued the reverend’s work until her death in 1791, at which point the state of Georgia (because this was after the American Revolution) took over operations, and the school still provides a home and schooling for boys to this day.
Johann Martin Boltzius
Born in Forst, Germany, John Martin Boltzius is best known for strongly opposing slavery during the early years of the Georgia colony, and for serving as senior minister to the colony’s German-speaking Protestants called Salzburgers. The first group of Salzburgers sailed from England to Georgia in 1734, arriving in Charleston, South Carolina, on March 7, then proceeding to Savannah on March 12. Boltzius was met by General James Oglethorpe when the first group of Salzburgers arrived in Georgia from England in 1734. Oglethorpe assigned Boltzius and his group about twenty-five miles upriver in an area on Ebenezer Creek. Boltzius and the Salzburgers named their new settlement Ebenezer.
Boltzius and the Salzburgers also created the first Sunday school in Georgia in1734, followed by the first orphanage in 1737. The Salzburg community survived the American Revolution, Sherman’s occupation, and an 1886 earthquake. Boltzius’ Jerusalem Church houses the oldest Lutheran congregation America to conduct worship in its original building.
Oglethorpe’s Georgia Communities
Ebenezer
Oglethorpe founded or oversaw the founding of several other communities in the new colony of Georgia after his first planned city of Savannah. A group of Germans from Salzburg traveled in Georgia to escape Catholic persecution. Oglethorpe sent them to settle a community called Ebenezer, and the Salzburgers, as they were known, became known as hard-working and self-reliant colonists.
Fort Frederica
Around the same time the Salzburgers were settling Ebenezer, Oglethorpe was setting his sights on St. Simons Island. St. Simons is near the Georgia-Florida border, actually to the south of the Altamaha River, the original southern border of the Georgia colony. This would prove to be a touchy subject with the Spanish in Florida, but Oglethorpe was determined to build a fort there. Upon arrival, Oglethorpe immediately began laying out the new community, which he decided to name Fort Frederica. He found a field overlooking a river and the marsh on one side, and shielded from view with trees on another side. The new fort would have an excellent advantage over any hostile forces that tried to approach it, and this location proved successful in the Battle of Bloody Marsh against the Spanish.
Darien
While Oglethorpe made his first trip back to England in 1734, a group of Scottish Highlanders had arrived in Georgia and traveled south to settle their own community. They had been recruited to populate this area, at the time the southernmost settlement in the colony and the most at-risk due to the proximity to Florida, because of their ability to fight and survive. The Highlanders called their town Darien, and a few years after settling they would be integral in eliminating the Spanish as a threat to the British colonies. Oglethorpe was pleased and impressed with the Scottish colonists, and would often wear a kilt and other Scottish attire to show his pride and respect.
Brunswick
Oglethorpe would also aid in the founding of Brunswick, a port city to the south of Savannah and near St. Simons. Brunswick was first settled by a member of Oglethorpe’s regiment that he received from King George II on one of his return trips to England. Brunswick was called Carr’s Fields after Captain Mark Carr, and later was renamed Brunswick for the British royal family. Other communities were founded while Oglethorpe was in Georgia, including Fort Augusta, which would then become the city of Augusta.
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Georgia’s Trustee Period
Unlike colonies led by royal governors, like South Carolina’s Governor Johnson, Georgia was governed by the Trustees until 1752. Oglethorpe fulfilled the role of leader and governor for a time when the settlers reached the new colony, but he eventually had to focus on defending Georgia and South Carolina from the Spanish. Georgians had to rely on the officials the Trustees appointed from England to maintain authority.
The Trustees ruled Georgia for 21 years, but the only Trustee who ever stepped foot in the colony was General Oglethorpe. Oglethorpe spent ten years in Georgia until he returned to England for good in 1744. He continued on as Trustee for some years, but eventually the other Trustees began allowing practices such as slavery that Oglethorpe opposed and he withdrew from the organization. In 1752 the Trustees turned Georgia over to the king, ending Trustee Georgia and beginning Royal"
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LTC Stephen F.
Get to Know James Edward Oglethorpe, Part 2 (1717-1732)
Get to know James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia Colony, in this episode of Sophia’s Schoolhouse. This video is part two of four and covers Ogleth...
Get to Know James Edward Oglethorpe, Part 2 (1717-1732)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDZDqMHbYyg
Images:
1. Portrait of General Oglethorpe, Lithograph, 1852. From the GHS Objects Collection, A-1361-440.
2. Map Detail, Oglethorpe Meeting Indian Chief, 1733. From the Georgia Historical Society Map Collection
3. Copy of the Georgia Trustee’s seal for the establishment of the Colony of Georgia.
4. Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, 1688, in, Corpus Christi College (University of Cambridge) by Stokes, H. P.
FYI SGT Mark Anderson SGT Jim Arnold SSgt Terry P. Maj Robert Thornton SFC (Join to see) SGT Steve McFarland MSG Andrew White SMSgt Lawrence McCarterSGT Gregory Lawritson SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT (Join to see) CWO3 (Join to see) PO1 William "Chip" Nagel LTC (Join to see) SSG Robert "Rob" Wentworth PO2 Roger LafarletteSPC Nancy GreeneSSG Franklin Briant1stsgt Glenn Brackin Sgt Kelli Mays
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDZDqMHbYyg
Images:
1. Portrait of General Oglethorpe, Lithograph, 1852. From the GHS Objects Collection, A-1361-440.
2. Map Detail, Oglethorpe Meeting Indian Chief, 1733. From the Georgia Historical Society Map Collection
3. Copy of the Georgia Trustee’s seal for the establishment of the Colony of Georgia.
4. Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, 1688, in, Corpus Christi College (University of Cambridge) by Stokes, H. P.
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LTC Stephen F.
Get to Know James Edward Oglethorpe, Part 3 (1733-1743)
Get to know James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia Colony, in this episode of Sophia’s Schoolhouse. This video is part three of four and covers Ogle...
Get to Know James Edward Oglethorpe, Part 3 (1733-1743)
James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia Colony, in this episode of Sophia’s Schoolhouse. This video is part three of four and covers Oglethorpe's life from his arrival in the Georgia colony in 1733 until 1743.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnUOTdMVLRc
Images
1. Tomochichi and Toahahwi, 1739.
2. Map of St. Simon and Frederica showing Bloody Marsh Battle from The Spanish official account of the attack on the colony of Georgia.
3. Photograph of Fort Frederica plan, ca 1755.
4. Map of Georgia and part of South Carolina, 1741. From the Georgia Historical Society Map Collection,
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James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia Colony, in this episode of Sophia’s Schoolhouse. This video is part three of four and covers Oglethorpe's life from his arrival in the Georgia colony in 1733 until 1743.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnUOTdMVLRc
Images
1. Tomochichi and Toahahwi, 1739.
2. Map of St. Simon and Frederica showing Bloody Marsh Battle from The Spanish official account of the attack on the colony of Georgia.
3. Photograph of Fort Frederica plan, ca 1755.
4. Map of Georgia and part of South Carolina, 1741. From the Georgia Historical Society Map Collection,
FYI 1sg-dan-capriSGT Robert R.CPT Tommy CurtisSSgt Boyd Herrst Col Carl Whicker PO1 H Gene Lawrence PO2 Kevin Parker LTC (Join to see) Maj Robert Thornton SPC Douglas Bolton TSgt Joe C. SSG William Jones PVT Mark ZehnerSP5 Jeannie CarleSPC Chris Bayner-Cwik TSgt David L.PO1 Robert GeorgeSSG Robert Mark OdomCWO3 Dennis M. SFC William Farrell
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LTC Stephen F.
FYI Cpl James R. " Jim" Gossett Jr LTC Jeff Shearer SGT Philip Roncari SGT (Join to see)PO3 Bob McCord [~655611:spc-douglas-bolton SSG Donald H "Don" Bates SP5 Jesse EngelSPC Matthew LambCapt Rich BuckleyCW4 G.L. SmithSPC Russ BoltonSFC Terry WilcoxSP6 Stephen RogersonSSgt Corwin WhickerCPT Paul Whitmer
1SG Steven ImermanSSG Samuel KermonSP5 Geoffrey Vannerson
1SG Steven ImermanSSG Samuel KermonSP5 Geoffrey Vannerson
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