Update this timeline entry

English mobs reveled when the War of Jenkins' Ear was declared

Source: The Debatable Land #557

Project ID

Chapter

Timeline title

Start date

End date

Filename received

Filename assigned

Content

In June the break came. Sealed orders were hurried to Jamaica and the mainland colonies, authorizing privateers to "commit all sorts of hostilities against the Spaniards." The fouryear struggle which followed got its ridiculous name from Jenkins' severed ear. When war was openly declared the English mobs went wild. Walpole, the pacifist, looked on in alarm. "Ah!" he exclaimed, "they are ringing the bells to-day; they will soon be wringing their hands!" While the war clouds gathered in Europe,1 [Note 1 For England's sending sealed orders for reprisals to America, see Hare MSS., 247-248; Ga. Col. Etc., IV, 407, 412, 416, 419; S. C. Hist. Soe. Col., II, 270; Acts of the Privy Council, Colonial Series (1720-1745), III, 636 (Hereford, 1910).] Oglethorpe prepared the back country. There the struggle of traders and diplomats had been unceasing. French and Spanish agents both did their level best to keep the Indians stirred up against the English. Oglethorpe needed a strong cordon of allies in the west. The Chickasaws were devoted to the Anglomen; the Choctaws had always been French partisans. By a triumph of diplomacy, part of the Choctaws now turned against the French and opened trade with the Georgians. The Creeks were a wavering factor, and they occupied strategic ground between the European rivals.2[Note * Ga. Col. liec., XXII, Part II, 68,95; Egmont's Diary, III, 80, 93.] Nothing but a personal visit by Oglethorpe would hold them in line, and he decided to make the journey. Chiefs Chislacaliche (Chigilly) and Malachee arranged for a meeting at Coweta. Upper and Lower Creeks, Chickasaws, and the friendly Choctaws promised to attend.