Fort Frederica National Monument preserves the ruins of a British colonial fort and town established in 1736 by James Oglethorpe to defend the Georgia colony from the Spanish in Florida. It was the site of the decisive Battle of Bloody Marsh in 1742, which ended the Spanish threat, but the fort was disbanded after the war, and the town declined and was abandoned by 1758, with a fire sealing its fate. Today, the archaeological remains of the fort, town, and battle sites are protected as a National Monument, telling the story of the colonial conflict.
In the 1730s, the place we now know as Georgia was a colonial outpost on Timucua, Muscogee/Creek, and Yamassee American Indian homelands. This area provided a buffer zone between British and Spanish territories. Britain wanted to control new trade routes--and wealth--in the Americas. Spain was trying to hold onto its New World empire.
James Oglethorpe, a member of the British Parliament, established the town and fort of Frederica to defend British interests. He recruited soldiers and skilled citizens from Britain -- 44 men, 72 women and children -- to settle St. Simons Island. Charged with protecting Britain's claim to Georgia, Oglethorpe led the colony's military efforts. He recruited and oversaw an army and developed strategies to maintain and expand British control. Under Oglethorpe's command, troops built and guarded forts throughout Georgia. Control of North American colonies -- and the money to be made there -- was at stake.
 |
| James Oglethorpe |
The ruins of old Frederica recall the struggle for empire in the Southeast in the 1700s. Ancient rivals Spain and Great Britain, the main contenders, both claimed the land between St. Augustine and Charleston. But Spain was a waning power in the part of North America while Great Britain was building a vast empire from Maine to Carolina. As a southern frontier buffer, Britain planted the Georgia colony -- the last of the original 13 and the first since Quakers founded Pennsylvania half a century earlier -- in the territory below Carolina.
The colony sprang as much from a spirit of benevolence as from the realities of imperial politics. Like the Quaker venture, Georgia was an experiment in idealism. In the 1720s, England felt a wave of sentiment to remedy the plight of thousands of poor people drifting without jobs or languishing in debtors' jail. To salvage these "worthy poor," prominent English citizens -- among them James Oglethorpe, a soldier and politician concerned with the welfare of both the poor and the empire -- petitioned the Crown for a land grant south of the Savannah River. The government welcomed the enterprise as a way to hold the Spanish in check and relieve social distress at home.
In 1732 King George II granted to a board of trustees all the land between Savannah and Altamaha rivers and west from their headwaters to the Pacific -- a tract larger than Britain. British of all classes rallied to the idea of a new Utopia in the American wilderness. Money poured in, and the first shipload of 114 people set sail led by Oglethorpe. Reaching Georgia in January 1933, they traveled up the Savannah River 18 miles to their new home.
Spurred by Oglethorpe's energy -- he was everywhere "building the Town, Keeping Peace, laying out the land, supplying the stores with provision, encouraging the faint hearted & c" -- an orderly town, Savannah, rose on the bluffs.
Settlement was one of Oglethorpe's purposes; another was defense against the Spanish. In 1734 he sailed down the coast to find strategic points to fortify. He found one on a sea island just below the mouth of the Altamaha. This was St. Simons, an island thick with live oaks draped in moss, with good water and a fertile upland. Two years later he returned with the first settlers, and laid out a military town on a bluff overlooking a sharp bend in the inland passage up the coast. He named the town for Frederick, the king's only son. It came to be Oglethorpe's favorite town in Georgia.
The settlers' first task was to build a fort. Under Oglethorpe's direction they raised an earthen work that reflected classic ideas of the 1600s French military engineer Vauban. Over the years Oglethorpe remade this work and the town into a formidable position. Frederica is defended, wrote a visitor in 1745, "by a pretty strong Fort of Tappy, which has several 18 Pounders mounted on a Ravelin in its Front, and commands the River both upwards and downwards; and is surrounded by a quadrangular Rampart, with 4 bastions, of Earth well stockaded and turfed, and a palisadoed Ditch."
The town of Frederica formed in the lands just outside of the fort. Broad Street divided the town into north and south. The first settlers planted orange trees along with street, thinking that in time they would have "a very pretty effect on the view and render . . the town pleasingly shady." There are also a lot of large oak trees that have been planted.
 |
| The Town Wall |
There is a tree-covered embankment that is a remnant of a mile long wall that once enclosed the town. Construction of the wall began about 1739, and probably continued for several years. The earthworks consisted of a sodded rampart six feet high, with a firing step on the inside and a moat on the outside. The moat was bounded by two rows of eight foot posts called palisades. These defenses would have been difficult for enemy soldiers to cross, and none ever tried. Today the palisades are gone, and the earthworks have eroded but remnants of the wall and moat are visible.
The Live Oak trees grow rapidly in their youth and can live for centuries. Live Oaks adapt to most soils and thrive in the sands of St. Simons Island. Although many of these trees in the Frederica townsite were planted in the 1980s, some of the Live Oaks in the park are nearly 300 years old. Lichen, a whitish-green crusty organism, often grows on Live Oak branches. Resident of Frederica often used this type of lichen as dye.
Some of the residents of Frederica ~~
 |
| Broad Street, circa early 1740s when Frederica was in its prime |
Imagine a typical day on Broad Street in the early 1740s. Women worked in fenced gardens; children played in the streets. Soldiers visited taverns and dealt with tradesmen, and Indians brought in game. the inhabitants numbered about 1,000. Broad Street was Frederica's main avenue, leading from the town gate to the fort. Some of Frederica's most prosperous citizens built their houses of brick and tabby here, side by side with the wood houses of less wealthy freeholders.
Women fulfilled many roles in the town. They were skilled at several tasks including gardening, harvesting, healing, spinning, cooking and housekeeping. In addition to these tasks, women were entrusted with nurturing and caring for their families. But as evidenced by women such as Ann Stevens and Anne Bennett, women often carried on important business matters that traditionally were considered men's roles. These women carried on the business of their taverns after their husbands died.
James Oglethorpe's vision for an equal and self-determined society drove the town's design. Each colonial family received house lots of matching size, a second lot for a garden, and additional land outside the town for farming. Orange trees lined the two main roads to create shade and encourage strolling through the neighborhood.
There is a town laid out here and 37 Palmetto Houses built in wch. all the People are shelter'd til they can build better. The Town Lots are already given out to each family ... besides which the people in common plant Corn in an old Indian field of about 60 acres. ~~ From Minutes of the Frederica Common Council, Colonial Records, April 12, 1736
Records indicate there was a "flesh market" or "butcher shop." Some of the animals slaughtered here were raised on farm plots allotted to the settlers outside the town walls. The trustees of the colony agreed to supply the settlers with rations of beef, pork, cheese, flour, and other provisions for one year. After that they were expected to raise their own livestock and crops.
 |
| Mary Musgrove |
In 1743, Mary Musgrove was General Oglethorpe's Indian interpreter. The daughter of a white trader and a Creek Indian mother, Mary left the Indians at the age of 10 to receive a Christian education in South Carolina. A skillful interpreter, negotiator, and trader, she helped Oglethorpe win the friendship and support of the Indians.
Mary lived in Frederica for several months between 1742 and 1743. She was born in Coweta, a Creek town, but was raised in Pon Pon, a small settlement in South Carolina. Because of her upbringing in these two distinct settlements, Mary was able to speak both Muskogee and English. Without Mary Musgrove, communication between Native American Indians and British settlers would have been much more difficult.
Lieutenant Maxwell built his foundation and walls of tabby, a concrete made of sand, lime, and oyster shells. The wet mixture was poured in successive courses a foot deep. Lieutenant Maxwell took part in the 1740 expedition against the Spanish at St. Augustine, and also served as a pallbearer at the funeral of the great Native leader Tomochichi. The house was built sometime before 1743 when Maxwell died. A census taken that year described the structure as "a good house built of tabby and timber."
Taverns serving beer and wine were social centers of most colonial towns. Frederica was no exception, even though Oglethorpe had banned hard liquor. Like bars and restaurants today, Frederica's six taverns hosted everything from business meetings to games and celebrations.
Levi Bennett and his wife Ann operated Frederica's first tavern. The lot was assigned to Bennett when Frederica was established in 1736. Two years after their arrival, Mr. Bennett either died or deserted the colony. The task of operating the tavern was left to his wife and servant Samuel Lee, whom Ann later married.
 |
| Anson Phelps Dodge Home for Boys |
 |
| Reverend Anson Green Phelps Dodge |
Despite tremendous personal loss, the Reverend, the son of a wealthy industrialist, devoted much of his life to helping others. After the sudden death of his first wife, he financed the rebuilding of Christ Episcopal Church in 1884, as well as several other churches in the area. In 1890, he married Anna Gould Dodge. Tragedy struck the couple when their young son perished in a carriage accident. Grief-stricken, the Dodges realized their new mission was to provide a home for orphaned boys. Their house at Frederica soon became the Anson Phelps Dodge Home for Boys. The original structure burned in 1926, but the Home for Boys continued to operate nearby until 1956.
When Frederica was established in 1736, each freeholder was given a lot 60 feet wide by 90 feet deep. For temporary shelter, settlers built huts covered with palmetto leaves, giving the place the look of a camp.
 |
| Hut sweet Hut |
Most of the soldiers garrisoned at Fort Frederica lived in crude huts surrounding the parade ground. The sturdier barracks housed only a few lucky soldiers. Living in these palmetto-thatched shelters might have been passable in a mild winter, but summer brought heat, biting flies, mosquitoes, sand gnats, and snakes. In return for their willingness to lay down their lives in the wilderness, their housing was rough, their pay was meager, and they had to grow their own food.
The first soldiers arrived on St. Simon's Island in 1738. They served as a "thin red line," protecting the British colonies to the north from the Spanish to the south, but much more time was spent in toil than in battle.
 |
| Priscilla Houstoun |
 |
| Patrick Houstoun |
Priscilla Dunbar, the original settler on this lot, came to Frederica with her brother, a ship's captain from Scotland. Two years later Priscilla married Patrick Houstoun, a merchant, and they lived here in a frame cottage that may have doubled as a shop. General Oglethorpe loaned Patrick money to buy a ship to carry freight between Frederica and Savannah. The Rev. John Wesley was once a passenger. Houstoun also served as Quartermaster of the Regiment. When Oglethorpe's Regiment disbanded, the Houstouns moved to a plantation near Savannah. Patrick inherited the title of baronet and was appointed to the Royal Council of Georgia. The Houstouns had six children. John, who may have been born at this site, served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, and was later elected governor of Georgia.
This picture depicts two houses which may have shared a common wall, much like English row houses of this period. The houses stood on adjacent lots. Unfortunately for the families who lived there, it was too close for comfort.
Samuel Davidson lived in the left house with his wife and three children. Davidson operated a tavern, made gunstocks for the regiment, and served as town constable. The Rev. Charles Wesley called this popular man "my good Samaritan." The Davidsons left in 1741, unable to tolerate their neighbors, the Hawkins.
 |
| Charles Wesley |
John and Charles Wesley lived in Frederica briefly. They would go on to found Methodism, a major branch of Christianity. Through their letters, we know how difficult life in Georgia was for the Wesley brothers. They struggled to adjust to their new surroundings and their outdoor religious services drew complaints. The Wesleys returned to England in 1738; their experiences in the colonies influenced the religion they would soon establish.
Dr. Thomas Hawkins lived in the right house, and was the regimental surgeon, town doctor, apothecary, and magistrate. He was frequently embroiled in lawsuits. His wife Beatre was ill tempered. She had attempted to kill Rev. John Wesley, but luckily he escaped.
 |
| The blacksmith hammered the red-hot iron on the anvil, while the armorer repaired muskets |
The Blacksmith's shop was built during Frederica's first year. The blacksmith shop must have been a busy place. More than 5,000 artifacts were recovered from the shop. Among these were gun parts used by the armorer, including trigger guards, butt plates, musket locks, and ramrod tips. Musket balls were also molded here as evidenced by splattered lead and nearly 100 balls. The blacksmith worked with iron, copper, brass, and lead. His products included nails, hinges, latches, hooks, and a variety of tools.
 |
| Candlemaker |
During its short history, Frederica's residents engaged in a variety of occupations. There were literally "butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers." At this site John Calwell and his family made candles and fine soap fine enough to export to Pennsylvania and New York. Calwell, like other Frederica residents, worked at more than one trade or profession. He was also a travelling merchant, shopkeeper, bailiff, surveyor, and "Conservator of the Peace."
The Calwell House was one of the best in town, with thick walls made of tabby, an oyster-shell concrete visible in the foundation ruins. The remains of a baking oven and two fireplaces can also be seen.
Most homes in Frederica had a hearth for warmth and cooking. Excavating the foundations of Frederica's houses revealed a variety of hearth structures. The Calwells owned the only private residence in town with an oven large enough to bake their own bread. The presence of a private bake oven suggests prosperity and the business success of the Calwells compared to other residents.
 |
A census taken in 1743 lists this lot as the site of the public bakery, with a "good house and large oven." The first public bakery was set up in 1736, the year Frederica was settled. Francis Moore, Oglethorpe's secretary, described the establishment of the bakery in one sentence:
"The people having no bread, and biscuit being dear and necessary for the boat's service, there was an oven built, and Mr. Oglethorpe bought off the time of an indentured servant, who was a baker, and he baked bread for all the colony, they giving him their allowances of flour, and he returning to them the same weight in bread, the difference made by water and salt being his gain."
Carpenters like Daniel Cannon had plenty of work at Frederica, where many buildings, fortifications, and implements were made of timber. The first settler on this lot was the carpenter. Cannon, with his sons Joseph and Daniel, lived here four years, then "quitted ye colony." More than one-third of Frederica's freeholders left town during the first five years.
In addition to his own "good timber house," Cannon built other houses in Frederica, including the elegant three-story brick house of Samuel Davidson at the end of the street near the fort. Cannon also made oars for boats used in Oglethorpe's 1740 expedition against the Spanish at St. Augustine.
The Sinclair House was discovered when they were looking for more houses. In 2018, park staff discovered a house and outbuildings in Frederica's south ward using ground-penetrating radar. Park staff then launched a multi-year plan to excavate the home, which probably belonged to the Sinclair family.
Colonial records show that Archibald Sinclair arrived as an indentured servant. Gaining his freedom, Sinclair became an innkeeper and tythingman (community police officer) from 1738-1739. He built a small house, made larger in 1743. Findings from the excavations offer insight into the lives of Sinclair, his wife Isabel, son James, and daughter Margaret. (When we visited in April 2026, the house was still being excavated, however, that has stopped due to money not flowing into the monument.)
Fort Frederica ~~
 |
| Cannon were mounted behind openings in the fort's parapet called "embrasures" |
 |
| This is how the barracks may have appeared shortly after it was built in 1742 |
At the time of the Spanish attack in 1742, about 200 British troops were stationed at Frederica. Some of the officers and married men lived in their own homes. Others lived camp-style in clapboard or thatched huts adjacent to this site. The building here could accommodate more than 100 men. This structure took the form of a square with rooms surrounding an open parade. Walls were made of tabby one foot thick. Soldiers entered the barracks through the existing gateway tower. During the 1742 military campaign the barracks served as a hospital, and as quarters for Spanish prisoners-of-war.
 |
| The King's Magazine |
"The King's Magazine," as it is known today, was probably built during the latter part of Frederica's colonial period. Less than half of the 96-foot structure remains standing. Archeologists believe the King's Magazine had three principal parts. On the left -- still partially intact -- were two vaults for protecting gunpowder. At the center stood the fort's main entrance, or sally port crowned with a large tower. On the right were small rooms used by soldiers on guard duty.
Beginning in 1903, the King's Magazine became the focal point of efforts to preserve the remains of Frederica. Walls were rebuilt, and the river bank was backfilled to prevent erosion of the site. The King's Magazine was only part of the town's extensive fortifications, but to many visitors today, it is "the fort."
War ~~
Unhappy with trade agreements in the Treaty of Utrecht (which permitted British merchants to sell a limited amount of goods and slaves per year in the Spanish colonies), many British merchants took matters into their own hands -- smuggling goods and trading directly with Spanish colonists. To address this problem, the British government agreed in the 1729 Treaty of Seville to allow the Spanish guarda-costa (coast guard) to board any British merchant vessel suspected of smuggling.
The Spanish guarda-costa boarded over 100 British merchant vessels from 1727 to 1739, including those trading legally. They took cargo, threatened and assaulted British crew members, and sometimes even seized ships. In 1738 British merchants petitioned Parliament for restitution.
The War of Jenkins' Ear ~~ In 1731, a Spanish guarda-costa officer and a British ship captain came to blows. The fight ended with the British Captain -- Robert Jenkins -- losing an ear. Was there really an ear? Contemporary accounts tell the tale of Captain Jenkins and his severed ear saved in a jar of rum. In 1731 and 1738, Jenkins appeared before Parliament to tell his tale. He showed everyone his shriveled, preserved "ear." Members of parliament used his story to promote war against Spain to gain greater access to trade and wealth.
1737 ~~ A British ship captain escapes capture in Havana and reports back to the Georgia Trustees that the Spanish are preparing for battle, with 4,000 soldiers and two war ships at the ready.
1738-1739 ~~ Jenkins appears before British Parliament with his severed ear. The provisions of the Convention of El Pardo fail to defuse tensions between Britain and Spain.
October 1739 ~~ The British arrive at the Spanish port of La Guairá (in present day Venezuela) and attack, marking Britain's formal declaration of war.
November 1739 ~~ The British navy attacks and captures Porto Bello (in present day Panama).
March 1740 ~~ The British Navy attacks and destroys the fortress of San Lorenzo el Rey Chagres near Porto Bello. The British Navy also attack and try to capture Cartageña de Indias (in present day Colombia).
May 1740 ~~ The British make a second attack on Cartageña.
June 1740 ~~ Oglethorpe leads a group of British soldiers and American Indian allies from Georgia and South Carolina to attack St. Augustine in Florida. Their attempt fails and they retreat to Frederica.
1741 ~~ The British attack Cartageña a third time, and finally retreat after severe losses.
July 7, 1742 morning ~~ Battle of Gully Hole Creek. In response to Oglethorpe's attack of St. Augustine in June 1740, Spain sends a small company of soldiers to scout Fort Frederica. Oglethorpe, with a force of English Rangers, Scottish Highlanders, and their Creek and Yamacraw allies surprise and attack the Spanish. The British capture or kill a third of the Spanish company; the Spanish retreat.
July 7, 1742 afternoon ~~ Battle of Bloody Marsh. The British pursue Spanish survivors toward the southern end of St. Simons Island. At the same time, Oglethorpe learns that Spanish reinforcements are headed their way. He orders another group of British soldiers to ambush the incoming Spanish. After hours of fighting, the Spanish run out of ammunition and retreat to Fort St. Simons.
July 15, 1742 ~~ For a week after the battle, Spanish forces remain at the southern tip of St. Simons Island awaiting orders. Neither side attacks again. Spain retreats to Florida after destroying Fort St. Simons. The British declare victory.
For a time, relations between Spain and Britain improved. Yet lingering resentments pushed them back to their old ways. War would erupt between the two nations again in 1756. Weary from conflict and financially troubled, Spain ceded Florida to the United States in 1821.
Searching for artifacts ~~
How long have people lived here? When archeologists excavated Fort Frederica and the town site, they found artifacts from the Late Archaic (3000-1000 BC) and Middle Woodland (500 BC - 200 AD) periods. This means that American Indians have occupied or used this site for over 5,000 years.
Tribal nations are threatened by European colonizers adapted to survive. European diseases endangered the survival of local cultures like the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, Guale, Timucua, Yamacraw, Yamassee, and Yuchi. Research suggests that by 1700, only between 10 and 25 percent of the American Indian population remained. Tribal nations adapted to survive. Some, like the Creek, moved to dominate Tribal trade. Others, like the Guale and the Yuchi, joined larger Tribes for protection. Many fought to keep their land. They also made alliances with British and Spanish leaders in hopes of retaining power.
When did Europeans arrive here? Spain was the first European nation to establish permanent settlements in North America. By the 1580s, Franciscan friars established missions throughout Spanish Florida. They built one mission on the south end of St. Simons Island -- San Buenaventura de Guadalquini.
Long-time rivals, both Spain and Britain claimed the land between the Carolinas and Florida throughout the early 1600s. The claims of American Indians who had lived on this land for millennia were disregarded.
In 1665, Charles II of Britain extended the boundary of the Carolinas 60 miles to the south of St. Augustine in Spanish Florida. St. Augustine was Spain's main outpost along the east coast and defended its territories and fleets. After five years of squabbling over land claims in the Americas, Spain and Britain signed the Treaty of Madrid in 1670. This treaty set the new American boundary between Britain and Spain at 32° 30".
The Treaty of Madrid required that Spain recognize British claims to Western Hemisphere territories that Britain had already settled. However, the treaty did not define which areas were settled. This set Britain and Spain on a collision course over control of what would be called "the debatable land."
Ignoring the Treaty of Madrid, the British crown in 1732 approved a charter for a new colony called Georgia. To Britain, Georgia would serve as a defensive buffer for South Carolina. To Spain, this was an act of aggression.
After Fort Frederica ~~
What happened after Fort Frederica was abandoned? British colonists had mostly abandoned Frederica by 1758. Some took up farming and created large plantations on the island. Documentation as to what happened at the town is largely missing until the 1830s, when ship captain and farmer James Frewin acquired most of the former town site.
Rice plantation owners in coastal Georgia purchased enslaved people from the "rice coast" countries of Africa: Senegambia, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. These workers already knew how to grow rice in a similar climate.
Gullah is a creole language -- a mix of English and West African languages. Since enslaved West Africans from different cultures spoke different languages, they created a single language to communicate in North America.
How did Fort Frederica become a National Monument? After the Civil War, a few families owned most of the land around Frederica. In 1903, the Stevens-Taylor family donated a portion of their land to the Georgia Society of Colonial Dames. The Colonial Dames cared for the fort and surrounding land for nearly 40 years. The Fort Frederica Association, established in 1941, acquired the remaining land and donated it to the National Park Service in 1946.
Fort Frederica National Monument preserves the history of Frederica and shares it with the public. Excavation teams helped uncover much of what is here today. The park is an active archeological site where researchers are always learning more about who lived here and what their lives were like.
No comments:
Post a Comment