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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 133
whose support additional maintenance was provided. In the language
of Colonel Jones: "So carefully was the regiment recruited and officered
that it constituted one of the best military organizations in the service
of the King."*
But no time was to be lost. While Oglethorpe was raising his regi
ment, a detachment of troops, to meet emergencies, was sent from Gib
raltar to Georgia, arriving at Savannah May 7, 1738. On this ship, the
famous clergyman and orator of the Church of England, Rev. George
Whitefield, was a passenger. As we have seen, he was coming to
take the place of John Wesley as the colony's religious instructor. Not
long thereafter, two companies forming a part of Oglethorpe's regiment
were sent over, under command of Lieut.-Col. James Cochrane, and
arriving in Charleston they marched overland by a road leading from
Port Royal to Darien.
On July 7, 1738, with the rest of his command, numbering alto
gether—wives, children and supernumeraries—between 600 and 700
souls, Oglethorpe set sail for Georgia, on his third and last trip. Five
transports were filled. These convoyed by two men of war, Blandford
and Hector, arrived safely in Jekyll Sound, on September 18, 1738. t
On landing at Soldier's Fort the troops were greeted with an ar
tillery salute. The construction of a road from Soldier's Fort to Fred-
erica next engaged the attention of Oglethorpe and so rapidly was this
work pressed to completion that in three days a highway was built,
destined to prove of immense value in the military operations of a later
period. This road ran for two miles along a marsh which, in the near
future, was to be the scene of a most decisive conflict in the history of
America. To quote Mr. Thomas Spalding: "It was due to the manner
in which this road was laid out and executed that General Oglethorpe
owed the preservation of the fort and town to Frederica. "$
Notwithstanding the extreme care employed by Oglethorpe in se
lecting the men who were to compose his regiment, it was nevertheless
found to contain spies. The story of how these were first discovered is
told as follows: "While on board the Blandford it was discovered that
one of the enlisted soldiers in Oglethorpe's regiment had been in the
Spanish service, and that he was endeavoring to persuade several of his
comrades, upon their arrival in Georgia, to desert with him to the
Spaniards in Florida. His scheme further contemplated a murder of the
officers at the post to which his company might be ordered, and deser
tion to.the enemy with such valuables as might then be secured. He
had a plenty of money, and stated that he was to be rewarded according
to the number of men he should be able to seduce. Upon the concen
tration of the regiment in Georgia it was ascertained that several of the
enlisted men were spies. They strove to persuade some stanch compan
ions to betray a post to the Spaniards. Instead of complying with their
suggestion, the honest and loyal fellows revealed to their commanding
officer this evil intention. One of these spies, when arrested, confessed
that he was a Papist and denied that the king of England possessed
any authority over him whatever. A court martial was convened, and
* History of Georgia, Vol. I, p. 260.
t Stephens' Journal, Vol. I, pp. 294-295.
t History of Georgia, by Charles 0. Jones, pp. 261-262.