Date published: 1964-01-01
Source: The Governorship of Spanish Florida (ID122)
Author: TePaske, John J. (ID86)
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Race described: Spanish
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Content id: 4855
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1743-03-01 - 1743-03-31

Oglethorpe sent Indians and militiamen one last time to destroy the newly restored Fort Diegoedit

In Georgia Oglethorpe feared more Spanish attacks on his colony, but he used more aggressive tactics than his counterpart in Florida. Oglethorpe believed he could best defend Georgia by carrying the war to the enemy. Indian raids proved an especially effective tactic and caused much anxiety among the Floridians, especially when these assaults assumed major proportions. Early in the spring of 1743, for example, a detachment of 200 Indians, joined this time by a number of English militiamen, marched into Florida and destroyed the newly restored Fort San Diego, killing 40 Spaniards. Other raids were less significant and only harassed the Floridians, but they were exceedingly effective in keeping Montiano on the defensive and off balance militarily. The Quiet Border, 1743-1763 The English raid on Fort San Diego in the spring of 1743 marked the end of an era on the Georgia-Florida frontier. For the first time in 73 years, the border became quiet. Except for occasional raids on English and Spanish settlements by Indians from both sides, a relative peace pervaded the Southeast, which contrasted sharply with the constant fighting which had kept the frontier aflame since 1670. Two factors seemed to explain the change. First, Saint Augustine had proved impregnable, able to resist all English efforts to take it. Two major assaults on the Florida capital—one in 1702 and another in 1740—failed, and evidently the English gave up hope of seizing this Spanish stronghold in the Southeast. As one English officer observed: the Spaniards “make the greatest Jest, Burlesque, and ridicule of all our Expeditions from Cartagena to Augustine.” (Tepaske GSF)

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