Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/219

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Ch. IV.]
EXPEDITION AGAINST ST. AUGUSTINE.
195

slavery. The balance of the tribe escaped, arid made their way northward, where they were at last received as a sixth tribe in the confederacy of the Five Nations.

A rupture having taken place in 1702, between England and Spain, the attention of the colony was directed to a different object, which afforded Governor Moore an opportunity of exercising his military talents, and a prospect of enriching himself by Spanish plunder or Indian captives. He proposed to the Assembly, whose cupidity was easily excited, an expedition against the Spanish settlement at St. Augustine. Many applauded the proposal, but men of cool reflection doubted the expediency of the measure. A large majority of the Assembly, however, declared in favor of the expedition, and a sum of £2,000 sterling was voted for the service of the war. Six hundred Indians were engaged, who, being fond of warlike exploits, gladly accepted of arms and ammunition offered them for their aid and assistance. Six hundred provincial militia were raised, and schooners and merchant ships were impressed for transports to carry the forces. Port Royal was fixed upon as the place of general rendezvous, whence the expedition sailed in September. In the plan of operations, it had been agreed that Colonel Daniel, who was an officer of spirit, should go by the inland passage with a party of militia and Indians, and attack the town by land, while the governor should proceed to support him by sea. Daniel was quite successful, having arrived first and plundered the town; but the Spaniards having laid up provisions for four months in the castle, on his approach they retired to it, with all their money and most valuable effects. Upon the arrival of Moore, the place was invested with a force against which the Spaniards could not contend, and they therefore kept themselves shut up in their stronghold. The governor, finding it impossible to dislodge them without additional artillery, sent a sloop to Jamaica for cannon, bombs, and mortars. While he was waiting the return of the vessel, the Spaniards at Havana, having received information of this sudden attack, sent two ships, the one of twenty-two guns and the other of sixteen, which presently appeared off the mouth of the harbor, and struck such a panic into Moore, that he instantly raised the siege, abandoned his ships, and made a precipitate retreat to Carolina by land; by this movement the Spaniards in the garrison were not only relieved, but the ships, provisions, and ammunition, belonging to the Carolinians, fell also into their hands. Daniel, who had command of the vessel sent to Jamaica, on his return found the siege raised, and narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the Spaniards.

Moore was sharply censured for his conduct, and a debt of £6,000 sterling was entailed upon the colony in consequence. A bill was passed by the Assembly for stamping bills of credit to answer the public expense, which were to be sunk in three years, by a duty laid upon liquors, skins, and furs. This was the first paper money issued in Carolina, and for some years it remained