lace; in one of which he lost a
captain and two lieutenants killed, and above one hundred privates
taken prisoners. He then changed his plan of operations; and,
abandoning his intention of forcing his way to Frederica by land,
called in his parties, kept his men under cover of his cannon, and
detached some vessels up the river, with a body of troops on board, to
reconnoitre the fort, and draw the attention of the English to that
quarter.

About this time, an English prisoner escaped from the Spaniards, and
informed general Oglethorpe that a difference existed between the
troops from Cuba, and those from St. Augustine, which had been carried
so far that they encamped in separate places. This intelligence
suggested the idea of attacking them while divided; and his perfect
knowledge of the woods favoured the hope of surprising one of their
encampments. In execution of this design, he drew out the flower of
his army, and marched in the night, unobserved, within two miles of
the Spanish camp. There, his troops halted, and he advanced, himself,
at the head of a select corps, to reconnoitre the situation of the
enemy. While he was using the utmost circumspection to obtain the
necessary information without being discovered, a French soldier of
his party discharged his musket, and ran into the Spanish lines.
Discovery defeating every hope of success, the general retreated to
Frederica.

Oglethorpe, confident that the deserter would disclose his weakness,
devised an expedient which turned the event to advantage. He wrote to
the deserter as if in concert with him, directing him to give the
Spanish general such information as might induce him to attack
Frederica; hinting also at an attempt meditated by admiral Vernon on
St. Augustine, and at late advices from Carolina, giving assurances of
a reinforcement of two thousand men. He then tampered with one of the
Spanish prisoners, who, for a small bribe, promised to deliver this
letter to the deserter, after which, he was permitted to escape. The
prisoner, as was foreseen delivered the letter to his general, who
ordered the deserter to be put in irons; and, was, in no small degree,
embarrassed to determine whether the letter ought to be considered as
a stratagem to save Frederica, and induce the abandonment of the
enterprise; or as real instructions to direct the conduct of a spy.
While hesitating on the course to be pursued, his doubts were removed
by one of those incidents, which