Along Georgia’s coast, half way between Savannah and the St. Marys River lies McIntosh County and the town of Darien. Today Darien is a quiet town and travelers who fail to explore the lands along US 17 will pass by without realizing the historical significance of the area and its place in Georgia’s beginnings.

Two and a half centuries ago, John MacIntosh Mohr lead 176 other Scottish Highlanders in a little fleet of small boats from the fledging settlement of Savannah to Barnwell’s Bluff on the Altamaha River. The new town they built was not the first English settlement on this strategic site. In 1720, 13 years before Savannah and the colony of Georgia were founded, a successful planter from the Carolina colony, John Barnwell, persuaded the British government that a fort on the Altamaha was needed to defend Charles Town (Charleston) from the Spanish in Florida. The next year Colonel Barnwell and an independent company of foot soldiers arrived and began construction of Fort King George. For six years, the first fort was garrisoned by the Independent Company. During that time, over 140 soldiers died of sickness. In 1727 the garrrison was withdrawn to Port Royal and the fort was abandoned.

But the Spanish threat to British colonies on the Southern coast remained. In 1733 James Edward Oglethorpe founded the town of Savannah and the colony of Georgia. Three years later the Highlanders arrived at Barnwell’s Bluff and Darien was born. The new settlement was not to be an isolated fort as Fort King George had been but a town of permanent character. The Scots brought with them their families and a minister, Reverend John McLeod. A small Chapel was built and the first Presbyterian Church of Darien was founded.

With the arrival of the Scots, the area began to flourish in spite of the continuing, Spanish threat. It was this threat that gave Darien its existence as it did for the town and fort of Frederica on St. Simons Island (also established in 1736). Proof that the threat came in 1739 when Britain and Spain formally declared war. Oglethorpe’s preliminary forays against St. Augustine were unsuccessful but did delay the Spanish assault. When the attack did come in 1742, it was from Darien that Oglethorpe summoned Highlanders to assist in the defense of Fort Frederica. They came and distinguished themselves in the Battle of Bloody Marsh. The British victory was to be the end of the Spanish threat to the English colonies in America.

In the peace that followed the war with Spain, the Scots turned to building the thriving community of Darien. Lands were granted and cleared and prosperous plantations established. The territory of the colony was divided into parishes. The district around Darien was part of St. Andrews Parish. The Revolution again called forth the fighting spirit of the Scots and the name of McIntosh was written into American history. Lachlan (Pictured at right) , William and John were all officers for the Patriot’s cause. The legendary General Lachlan McIntosh commanded the first Georgia militia. It says something of the clan and times that he is probably best known for the duel he fought with Button Gwinnett, president of the Revolutionary Government of Georgia. Gwinnett died of his wounds and McIntosh was sent north as a brigadier general to fight against the British.

Following the Revolution the new state of Georgia was reorganized into counties, most of which were named after Revolutionary heroes. St. Andrews Parish became part of Liberty County. In 1793 McIntosh County was split off from Liberty County and renamed after its most famous family. The seat of county government was established at Sapelo Main (now Eulonia) and court was held in the home of John Houston McIntosh until an new courthouse could be built.

For Darien it was a time of growing prosperity as its plantations produced cotton, rice, and indigo for world markets and the Altamaha River became the Highway for great rafts of pine, oak, and cypress. The growing importance of Darien to the economic life of McIntosh County lead to the transfer there of the county seat from Eulonia in 1819. The town experienced its times of trouble as it was ravaged by a great fire in 1813 and a disastrous hurricane a year later. The severest blow came in 1863 when Union troops attacked from St. Simons and burned virtually every building in Darien.

Prison Reform
In 1729 James Oglethorpe’s life was to change. The previous year, one of his friends, Robert Castell, was jailed in London’s Fleet Prison because of his debts. At the time, inmates were forced to pay prison staff fees for decent room and board. Unable to pay, Castell was thrown into a cell with a prisoner who had smallpox. Castell’s death from the disease led Oglethorpe to launch a national campaign to reform England’s prisons. Named chairman of a parliamentary committee to investigate the jails, Oglethorpe saw firsthand the horrible conditions, abuses, and extortion prisoners faced. He also was alarmed that so many British citizens faced jail for no other reason than indebtedness.

As a result of the investigation a number of steps were taken to reform London’s prisons. Oglethorpe’s efforts to expose and correct prison abuses gained him national attention, and he became widely regarded as one of Britain’s most active humanitarians. Prison reform did not, however, solve the plight of the large number of poor people in England. Oglethorpe and several colleagues from the jails committee, notably John Lord Viscount Percival (later the first earl of Egmont), began exploring the possibility of creating a new colony in America. They believed that if given a chance, England’s “worthy poor” could be transformed into farmers, merchants, and artisans. But strict rules would be needed to prevent the class divisions that plagued English society. Thus, all the settlers would work their own land, with slavery and large landholdings specifically prohibited.

Georgia’s Founding
Although charity had been the initial motivation for the Georgia movement, by 1732 military and economic considerations were the principal factors. As a result of Oglethorpe’s persuasive arguments, King George II in 1732 granted a charter for creating Georgia and named Oglethorpe as one of twenty-one Trustees to govern the new colony.

As the Trustees began interviewing potential colonists, they looked for carpenters, tailors, bakers, farmers, merchants, and others with the skills necessary for the colony’s success. By this time any ideas of Georgia’s being a haven for debtors in English prisons had long vanished—and not one formerly jailed debtor was among the first colonists selected. Georgia’s founders thought that the colony’s climate would be suitable to the production of valuable silk, wine, and other Mediterranean-type commodities. The Trustees imagined the colony as a place where settlers could achieve a comfortable living rather than an enormous personal fortune, which was associated with plantation life in other parts of British America.

In November 1732 a total of 114 men, women, and children gathered at Gravesend on the River Thames to set sail for the new colony of Georgia. Oglethorpe understood that Georgia’s charter prohibited him from holding office, owning land, or receiving a salary in the new colony, yet he gave up the comforts of home to accompany the first boatload of Georgia settlers.

After several delays they boarded the Anne for a two-month journey across the Atlantic. Following a brief visit in Charleston, the colonists proceeded to Port Royal, South Carolina’s southernmost outpost. While they rested, Oglethorpe and a band of Carolina Rangers went ahead to look for a place to settle. Some seventeen miles inland from the mouth of the Savannah River, they found Yamacraw Bluff overlooking the south bank of the river. Oglethorpe immediately struck up a friendship with the Yamacraw chief, Tomochichi, thus beginning a long and close relationship between the two.

On February 12, 1733, Oglethorpe returned to Yamacraw Bluff with the Georgia colonists. With the help of militia and enslaved African Americans from South Carolina, the pine forest was quickly cleared, and Oglethorpe laid out a plan for the new town of Savannah. His distinctive pattern of streets, ten-house “tythings,” and public squares soon became a reality. Identical clapboard houses built on identical lots, plus restrictions on how much land could be owned and an outright prohibition on slavery, were testimony to the Trustees’ desire to produce a classless society—one in which each head of household worked his own land. This egalitarian ideal was not fully realized, however, in that women were not allowed to own land in the new colony. The Trustees based this policy on the assumption that each plot of land requried a male worker (and armed defender). 

Leadership in the New Colony
Living up to the motto of Georgia’s Trustees—Non sibi sed aliis (Not for self, but for others)—Oglethorpe worked tirelessly on behalf of the colony during the initial months. Sometimes violating Trustee policy, Oglethorpe permitted Jews, Lutheran Salzburgers, and other persecuted religious minorities to settle in Georgia. On the matter of importing enslaved Africans from any source, Oglethorpe never wavered in wholly opposing slavery in Georgia. With respect to Georgia’s Indians, he had an enlightened policy, always respecting their customs, language, and needs. Land cessions were always agreed to by treaty according to proper Indian custom. Also, Oglethorpe actively sought to protect the Indians from unscrupulous white traders.

Oglethorpe had come to Georgia with no formal title other than Trustee. Although he could not hold office, Oglethorpe was clearly the leader of the colony, subject to instructions and rules promulgated by the Trustees back in London. In recognition of his role, he is almost universally regarded as Georgia’s first governor.

Despite its charitable origins, Georgia was also a military buffer designed to protect Britain’s southern colonies. As the Spanish military presence in St. Augustine, Florida, grew, Oglethorpe’s dream that Georgia would become an ideal agrarian society began to fade. The threat of invasion heightened, and Oglethorpe focused his efforts on the defense of Georgia. Because support from the Trustees and Parliament had never been sufficient, Oglethorpe had mortgaged his landholdings back in England to finance the colony’s needs. Although he hoped that Parliament would repay his rising debts, he fully realized that he could lose everything. Oglethorpe believed in the cause of Georgia—and as long as he had anything that he could mortgage to raise money for the colony, he was not going to give up.

Military Leadership
Oglethorpe returned to London on several occasions to lobby the Trustees and Parliament for funding to build forts in Georgia. During a visit in 1737 Oglethorpe convinced King George II to appoint him as a colonel in the army and give him a regiment of British soldiers to take back to Georgia. Interestingly, Oglethorpe was a civilian at this time, with only limited military experience (primarily as an aide to Prince Eugene). Nevertheless, he got what he wanted: rank in the regular army and a regiment. Oglethorpe also was given the title of “General and Commander in Chief of all and singular his Majesty’s provinces of Carolina and Georgia.” This has led to confusion as to whether Oglethorpe was now a colonel or a general. In terms of military rank in the British army, he was a colonel. During the pending hostilities with Spain, however, Oglethorpe also held a brevet (or temporary) field commission as general in order to command all allied forces (Carolina Rangers, Indian allies, etc.). Only in September 1743, however, was Oglethorpe actually promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the British army.

After the War of Jenkins’ Ear erupted in 1739, Oglethorpe was ready to take the initiative. In 1740 he assembled an invasion force consisting of his regiment, Indian allies, Carolina Rangers, and several ships in the Royal Navy. His goal was the Spanish fortress at St. Augustine. Unfortunately, the siege failed and the allied force fell apart, forcing a dejected Oglethorpe back to St. Simons Island to await the Spanish counterattack that would surely follow.

The Spanish invasion of Georgia came in July 1742. Ships bearing thousands of Spanish troops landed on the south end of St. Simons Island. Back at Fort Frederica, which was still under construction, Oglethorpe rallied his forces for battle. In a critical skirmish known as the Battle of Gully Hole Creek, Oglethorpe’s forces turned back a Spanish advance force. As they pursued the retreating Spaniards down the trail, Oglethorpe halted his force at the edge of a marsh. Here he positioned his men to await the counterattack by the main Spanish army. Oglethorpe then took temporary leave of his force to return to Fort Frederica, which he feared was under naval attack. Finding no such assault underway, Oglethorpe left to rejoin his men at the marsh. Meanwhile, Spanish troops had already arrived but were turned back after a brief but fierce fight. Ironically, Oglethorpe arrived just after the conclusion of what would become known as the Battle of Bloody Marsh. This loss helped persuade Spanish commanders to withdraw to St. Augustine. Never again would Spanish forces mount an offensive against Britain’s colonies on the East Coast of America. As a result, Oglethorpe was a national hero in England, and King George II promoted him to brigadier general in His Majesty’s Army.

Return to England
In 1743 Oglethorpe led one more unsuccessful attempt to take the Spanish fortress at St. Augustine. While he pondered his future, Oglethorpe suddenly received word that he had to return to London. After the Florida invasion an unhappy officer in his regiment had made some serious allegations of misconduct against Oglethorpe, and the War Office in London wanted the general to answer those charges. Also, Oglethorpe needed Parliament to repay him for his substantial personal loans on Georgia’s behalf.

In 1744 a special board of general officers discharged all allegations that had been made against the general. That same year Parliament voted to reimburse Oglethorpe—so both his honor and fortune had been preserved.

To this point Oglethorpe had lived his life almost solely for others, but that was to change. In London the popular hero met Elizabeth Wright, a recent heiress. They married in September 1744 and settled at Cranham Hall, her inherited estate in the small Essex town of Cranham, seventeen miles east of London.

Much of their social life was spent in London, where Oglethorpe became friends with Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, Oliver Goldsmith, and other well-known men and women of the time. In 1745 Oglethorpe resumed his military career after the invasion of forces attempting to place the Stuart Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie, on the British throne. He was ordered to take a force to the north of England to engage the invaders, but because of controversy centering upon his strategy in the campaign, Oglethorpe was subjected to a court martial. Once again, he was totally exonerated.

Oglethorpe continued to serve on the Board of Trustees of Georgia. Despite his opposition, however, the Trustees gradually relaxed their restrictions on land ownership, inheritance, rum, and slavery. As a result, the general’s attendance on the board declined. By 1750 Georgia’s founder was no longer involved with the board at all. The grand experiment was over, and the few remaining Trustees voted to return their charter to govern Georgia, which subsequently became a royal colony.

Oglethorpe remained in Parliament until 1754, when he was defeated in a bid for reelection. Eventually he became the senior general in the British army, but never again would he serve on active duty (though there is a popular legend that with the outbreak of the American Revolution [1775-83], Oglethorpe was asked to command a British force—an offer he declined). The general did have one final experience on the field of battle. In the 1750s he left England quietly to fight in Europe with his old friend Field Marshal James Keith in the Seven Years’ War (1756-63). Because of possible implications of a British general’s involvement in a war against France, however, Oglethorpe served under fictitious names.

Later Life
Oglethorpe returned to England in 1760 to live the life of a gentleman. He and Elizabeth divided their time between their country estate and their London town house on Lower Grosvenor Street. Though they never had children, by all accounts James and Elizabeth enjoyed an active social life entertaining friends and many of the literary and artistic figures of the day.

Oglethorpe eventually lived to see the colony that he founded become part of the United States of America. Though the historical record is silent as to how he felt about the American Revolution, it is known that on June 4, 1785, Oglethorpe met with John Adams, the first U.S. ambassador to Great Britain, and expressed “great esteem and regard for America.”

After a brief illness Oglethorpe died on June 30, 1785—just six months shy of his eighty-ninth birthday. He was buried in a vault beneath the chancel floor of the Parish Church of All Saints, which stands immediately adjacent to Cranham Hall. Upon her death two years later, Elizabeth was interred in the same tomb.

Georgians still remember James Edward Oglethorpe in many ways. His name adorns Oglethorpe County, two towns (including Oglethorpe), Oglethorpe University, and numerous schools, streets, parks, and businesses. In paying tribute to Oglethorpe, however, Georgians can perhaps best honor his memory by remembering him as a man who wouldn’t quit and who lived by the simple but profound philosophy that life is not about self, but about others.