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/ 1912 NOTE ON THE BATTLE GROUND OF BLOODY MARSH.
Source: Something from Landers #280
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From COLLECTIONS OF THE Georgia Historical Society, Vol. VII. NOTE ON THE BATTLE GROUND OF BLOODY MARSH. By Otis Ashmore. The battle in which Oglethorpe defeated Montiano on St. Simon's Island is known locally as the Battle of Bloody Marsh and the exact site of this engagement has long been in much doubt. In the summer of 1912, accompanied by Lawton B. Evans, C. B. Gibson, Col. Charles M. Snelling, and L. B. Robeson, I made a visit to St. Simon Island for the purpose of identifying if possible the exact location of the battlefield. Every account of the battle had been carefully studied, including that of Montiano himself, from translations furnished by Lieut. Col. C. DeW. Willcox, U. S. A., professor at the United States Military Academy. In the light of all these accounts, and after going over the ground very carefully, there seems to be no doubt that this memorable battle was fought at a point upon the margin of the marsh about two miles from the south end of the island, and about one mile from the hotel, where the road from Gascoigne's Bluff enters the road to Frederica. This spot agrees perfectly with the account of Capt Thomas Spalding,* which for many obvious reasons is by far the clearest and the most trustworthy. *See account of this battle by Capt. Thomas Spalding in Vol. I. Ga. Hist. Society Collections. A sketch of the island and of the battle ground itself, made at the time of my visit, will make more clear Spalding's graphic account, and will show all the stragetic points in the campaign more satisfactorily than any verbal description could do. It is, perhaps, needless to say that with the exception of the causeway, which still exists, and the crescent shaped woodland so well described by Spalding, not a vestige of this tragic episode remains. No trace of the road around the crescent could be found, as this circuitous pathway has long since been abandoned for the more direct road across it. The traditions of the people living upon the island all agree that the marsh just east of the causeway is the true battle ground of Bloody Marsh. There is scarcely a doubt that the ambuscade was laid at the two points of the crescent woodland where the road from Gascoigne's Bluff enters the main road to Frederica, and that the Spaniards were entrapped in the curved roadway around this crescent. In their confusion the Spaniards attempted to retreat along the road over the causeway, but when they were met by the claymores of the Highlanders, they were forced into the marsh just east of the causeway where much of the execution took place.
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