Battle of Bloody Marsh The Battle of Bloody Marsh took place on July 18 , 1742 ( new style ) between Spanish and British forces in the Province of Georgia , resulting in a victory for the British . Part of a much larger conflict , known as the War of Jenkins ' Ear , the battle was for control of St . Simons Island , the British fortifications of Fort Frederica and Fort St . Simons , and the strategic sea routes and inland waters they controlled . After the victory , the Province of Georgia established undisputed claim to the island , which is now part of the U . S . state of Georgia . The Battle of Gully Hole Creek , a skirmish also won by the British , took place on the island the same day . Background . James Oglethorpe led the colonization of Georgia for Great Britain , and had chosen Savannah as the principal port for the new colony . In the 1730s , Spain and Great Britain had been disputing control over the border between Georgia and " La Florida , " where the Spanish had several settlements and forts . Given a heightened threat of Spanish invasion , Oglethorpe sought to increase his southern defenses . Accompanied by rangers and two Native American guides , Oglethorpe picked St . Simons Island as the site for a new town and fort . In 1734 , Oglethorpe convinced the Parliament and the colonial trustees to pay for a new military garrison . The trustees also selected a large new group of colonists for St . Simons Island . The ships bearing the settlers and supplies arrived at Tybee Island early in 1736 . From there , some went to the mainland while others traveled via " periagua s " ( also known as " pirogues " ) to St . Simons Island to found the new town of Frederica . The town and its fort were built on the elbow of the Frederica River to control approaches from both directions . In 1737 , Oglethorpe returned to England to acquire more funding and permission to raise a regiment of soldiers ; he was successful in convincing Parliament of both . He was appointed commander - in - chief of all British forces ( limited as they were ) in the colonies of South Carolina and Georgia . Oglethorpe subsequently recruited a company of Scottish settlers , from Inverness , to migrate with their families to live at the settlement of Darien , which was briefly named " New Inverness " , ( the present day seat of McIntosh County ) at the mouth of the Altamaha River . The military unit that they formed was known locally as the Highland Independent Company . Official British records list it as Oglethorpe ' s Regiment of Foot . Ranked as 42nd Regiment of Foot ( old ) in 1747 , disbanded 29 May 1749 in Georgia . Two forts lay about five miles apart on St . Simons Island . Between the two ran a road the width of one wagon , named " Military Road " . This served to supply the garrison at Fort Frederica and settlers in the nearby village from Fort St . Simons . The battle took place after a Spanish invasion of the island . The battles on St . Simons Island were part of a larger conflict known as the War of Jenkins ' Ear ( 1739 to 1748 ) . That war derived its name from an incident which took place in 1731 , eight years prior to the outbreak of hostilities . A boarding party from the Spanish patrol boat " La Isabela " had come aboard the British brig " Rebecca " , off the Florida coast , and found that its captain , Robert Jenkins was smuggling . The Spanish officer Julio León Fandiño ' s cut off one of Jenkins ' ears for his piracy . The war faction in Parliament used the nearly forgotten incident to rally public opinion to their side . In truth , the Jenkins affair played an inconsequential part in the run up to hostilities . The war resulted from trade and territorial tensions that had been building between the two nations for a number of years . On October 30 , 1739 , Great Britain declared war on Spain . Invasion , battle , and aftermath . Spanish governor Don Manuel de Montiano commanded the invasion force , which by some estimates totaled between 4500 and 5000 men . Of that number , roughly 1900 to 2000 were ground assault troops . Oglethorpe ' s forces , consisting of regulars , militia , and native Indians numbered less than 1000 . The garrison at Fort St . Simons resisted the invasion with cannonade , but was not able to prevent the landing . On July 5 , 1742 Montiano landed nearly 1900 men from 36 ships near Gascoigne Bluff , close to the Frederica River . Faced with a superior force , Oglethorpe decided to withdraw from Fort St . Simons before the Spanish could mount an assault . He ordered the small garrison to spike the guns and slight the fort ( doing what damage they could ) , to deny the Spanish full use of the military asset . The Spanish took over the remains of the fort the following day , establishing it as their base on the island . Battle of Gully Hole Creek . After landing troops and supplies , and consolidating their position at Fort St . Simons , the Spanish began to cautiously reconnoiter beyond their perimeter . They found the road between Fort St . Simons and Fort Frederica , but first assumed the narrow track was just a farm road . On July 18 , the Spanish undertook a reconnaissance in force along the road with approximately 115 men under the command of Captain Sebastian Sanchez . One and a half miles from Fort Frederica , Sanchez ' column made contact with Oglethorpe ' s soldiers , under command of Noble Jones . The ensuing skirmish became known as the Battle of Gully Hole Creek . The Spanish were routed , with nearly a third of their soldiers either killed or captured . Oglethorpe ' s forces advanced along Military Road in the direction of Fort St . Simons , in pursuit of the retreating Spanish . Spanish prisoners revealed that a larger Spanish force was advancing in the opposite direction , along the road from Fort St . Simons to Frederica . Oglethorpe left to gather reinforcements . Battle of Bloody Marsh . The British advance party , in pursuit of the defeated Spanish reconnaissance force , engaged in a subsequent skirmish , then fell back in face of advancing Spanish reinforcements . When the British reached a bend in the road , Lieutenants Southerland and Macoy ordered the column to stop . There , the regiments and allied Indians took cover in the dense forest . They watched as the Spanish broke rank , stacked arms and , taking out their kettles , prepared to cook dinner . The British forces attacked the Spanish off - guard , killing between 7 - 50 . The ferocity of the fighting at Bloody Marsh grew quite a bit in the telling over the years , with the battle taking its name from tradition that the marsh ran red with the blood of dead Spanish soldiers . While later accounts listed Spanish casualties as high as two hundred , the actual number was between seven and fifty . The " Battle of Bloody Marsh " blunted the Spanish advance , and ultimately proved decisive . Oglethorpe was credited with the victory . Oglethorpe continued to press the Spanish , trying to dislodge them from the island . A few days later , approaching a Spanish settlement on the south side , he learned of a French man who had deserted the British and gone to the Spanish . Worried that the deserter might report the true number of the small British force , Oglethorpe spread out his drummers , to make them sound as if they were accompanying a larger force . He wrote to the deserter , addressing him as if a spy for the British , saying that the man just needed to continue his stories until Britain could send more men . The prisoner who was carrying the letter took it to the Spanish officers , as Oglethorpe had hoped . The timely arrival of British ships reinforced a misconception , among the Spanish , that British reinforcements were arriving . The Spanish left St . Simons on 25 July , ending their last invasion of colonial Georgia . Aftermath . In the months after the invasion , Oglethorpe considered launching counter - attacks against Florida , but circumstances were not favourable . The focus of the war had shifted from the Americas to Europe and arms , supplies and troops were not readily available . The region descended into an uneasy peace , occasionally punctuated by minor skirmishes . Oglethorpe was later appointed brigadier general . He left Georgia about 1744 and married an heiress in Britain , where he lived the rest of his life . The Treaty of Aix - la - Chapelle ended the war in 1748 and recognised the status of Georgia as a British colony . Its position was further secured in 1763 when Florida became a British possession as part of the Treaty of Paris ending the Seven Years ' War . The War of Jenkins ' Ear is commemorated annually on the last Saturday in May at Wormsloe Plantation in Savannah , Georgia .