ct to the limits of the two provinces
had been concluded, the Indians in alliance with Spain continued to
harass the British settlements. Scalping parties of the Yamasees
frequently penetrated into Carolina; killed white men, and carried
off every negro they could find. Though the owners of slaves had been
allowed from the Spanish government a compensation in money for their
losses, yet few of them ever received it. At length Colonel Palmer
resolved to make reprisals upon the plunderers. For this purpose he
gathered together a party of militia and friendly Indians, consisting
of about three hundred men, and entered Florida with a resolution of
spreading desolation throughout the province. He carried his arms as
far as the gates of St. Augustine, and compelled the inhabitants to
take refuge in their castle. Scarce a house or hut in the Colony
escaped the flames. He destroyed their provisions in the fields; drove
off their hogs, cattle, and horses; and left the Floridians little
property, except what was protected by the guns of their fort. By this
expedition he demonstrated to the Spaniards their weakness; and that
the Carolinians, whenever they pleased, could prevent the cultivation
and settlement of their Province so as to render the improvement of
it impracticable on any other than peaceable terms with their
neighbors."[1]

[Footnote 1: HEWATT'S _History of South Carolina_, Vol. I. p. 314, and
Dr. RAMSAY'S _History of South Carolina_, Vol. I. p. 137; where it is
quoted, word for word, without acknowledgment.]

XXIV.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE SIEGE OF ST. AUGUSTINE, IN A LETTER FROM ON BOARD
THE HECTOR.

"May 30th, [1740] we arrived near St. Augustine. June 1st we were
joined by the Flamborough, Captain Pearse; the Phoenix, Captain
Fanshaw; the Tartar, Captain Townshend; and the Squirrel, Capt.
Warren, of twenty guns each; besides the Spence Sloop, Captain Laws,
and the Wolf, Captain Dandridge. On the 2d Colonel Vanderdussen, with
three hundred Carolina soldiers, appeared to the north of the town. On
the 9th General Oglethorpe came by sea with three hundred soldiers and
three hundred Indians from Georgia: on the which they were carried on
shore in the men-of-war's boats, under the cover of the small ships'
guns. They landed on the Island Eustatia, without opposition, and took
the look-out. The 13th Captain Warren, in a schooner and other armed
sloops and pettiauguas anchored in their harbor, just out of cannon
shot,