Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEOBGIANS 159
FORCES ENGAGED.—The following is an estimate of the forces engaged:*
SPANISH TROOPS
One Regiment of dismounted Dragoons........................ 400
Havana Regiment ...,.,........'................,.............. 500
Havana Militia .............................................. 1,000
Regiment of Artillery......................................... 400
Florida Militia .............................................. 400
Battalion of Mulattoes....................................... SOO
Black Regiment ............................................. 400
Indians ..................................................... 90
Marines .................................................... 600
Seamen ....................................................1,000
Total .................................................. 5,090
GENERAL OGLETHOKPI's COMMAND •
His Eegiment ................................................ 472
Company of Bangers.......................................... 30
Highlanders ................................................. 50
Armed Militia ............................................... 40
Indians ...................................................... 60
Total ...................................................652
MEMORIAL OF BLOODY MARSH.—During the summer of 1913, the historic battle
field of Bloody Marsh, on St. Simon's Island, was marked by a handsome granite
memorial, unveiled under the auspices of two patriotic organizations: the Georgia
Society of Colonial -Dames of Aanerica, and the Georgia Society of Colonial Wars.
Hon. Bichard D. Meader, of Brunswick, Chancellor of the latter society, delivered
the principal address, in which he discussed the fa,r-reaehing significance of this
decisive battle, on the Georgia coast. Said he, among other things:
'' The entire population, of Georgia in 1750, eight years after Bloody Marsh, was
only 5,000, whereas South Carolina at the same time had 68,000, North Carolina
80,000 and Virginia 275,000. In 1742 Georgia probably did not number more than
4,000 inhabitants, so that we have the spectacle of a small army of 650 men, less
than a modern regiment, defending more than 300,000 people against the attack
of a powerful enemy without any assistance from those people. Assuming that
Georgia's population was 4,000 in 1742, it is not probable that the adult male pop
ulation was more than one-third that number, so that we see another unusual spec
tacle, that of one-half the entire male population being engaged in one force, a
proportion which I doubt has ever been equalled in the world's history. Had this
small army of 650 men been killed or captured by the Sapniards, there could have
been 110 effective resistance from the other parts of the colony, and Georgia as an
English colony would have ceased to exist, while South Carolina and the more
northern colonies would have had to fight for their existence.
"Oglethorpe, knowing the overpowering strength of the Spanish and his own
weakness, realized the desperate straits he was in and made repeated but fruitless
calls for additional troops upon the more northern colonies. Finally realizing that
he must rely upon what force he had, in the face of great and impending danger
he wrote those brave and memorable words which appear above his name on the
monument that we are dedicating today.''
Embedded in the monument is a neat tablet of bronze on which the following
inscription is lettered:
"We are resolved not to suffer defeat. We will rather die like
Leonidas and his Spartans, if we but protect Georgia and the
Carolinas and the rest of the Americans from desolation."—
Oglethorpe.
Erected on the battlefield of Bloody Marsh—by the Georgia
Society of Colonial Dames of America and the Georgia Society of
*See MeCall's History of Georgia, Vol. I, p. 196, Savannah, 1811.