Appendix 2: Probable Attributions

Although Oglethorpe’s preference for anonymity or pseudonymity was conventional for an English gentleman, it has made it impossible to identify many of the letters that he must have written to the newspapers during the course of his life. Only in his final series of letters, in 1782, did he use his own name. Fortunately Amos Aschbach Ettinger and Phinizy Spalding have identified several as his, and I have added others. I have, however, resisted the temptation to add Oglethorpe items on the grounds of his favorite subjects and his style. In working with the corpus of Daniel Defoe, I have seen how the temptation for attributing anonymous works to him has misled bibliographers from the eighteenth century to the present. One should especially be suspicious of letters signed “O.” or even “J.O.” Many different writers possessed and employed these initials; and John Oakman, in particular, published a good deal of verse above his initials. Similarly, one must be suspicious of placing too much importance upon the residence from which the letter is dated. Most writers to the newspapers did not give their residence, and Oglethorpe apparently did not ordinarily designate his, though he did so in a letter to the press in 1762. But most of the letters dated from Grosvenor Square or Grosvenor Street could not be Oglethorpe’s. I do, however, reprint a letter signed “Omega” as probably the work of Oglethorpe. Of “A Refutation of Calumnies” Oglethorpe was certainly one of the authors, perhaps the principal one.

A Refutation of Calumnies (1742)

On November 29, 1742, the New-York Weekly Journal published the sworn testimony of General Oglethorpe and several of his officers refuting some of the South Carolinian charges that in the St. Augustine campaign of 1740 the general had been negligent and incompetent not only in commanding the Carolina regiment, but in his direction of the entire campaign.¹ Dated September in a manuscript copy sent to the Trustees, the refutation was sent to the New-York Weekly Journal with added attestations dated November 4. The primacy of Oglethorpe’s signature here does not prove his authorship: he was listed first as the commander, and it was George Cadogan who later responded most fully to the Carolinian accusations, in his Spanish Hireling Detected (London, 1743).² But Oglethorpe suffered more than anyone else from South Carolinian aspersions, and after the Spanish threat had dissipated, he had time to respond.

The South Carolinian version of the expedition, which unfortunately is the only account easily available, had in May been published in James Killpatrick’s anonymous Impartial Account of the late Expedition against St. Augustine under General Oglethorpe.³ Almost a year earlier, on July 3, 1741, after hearing the report of a joint investigative committee, both houses of the South Carolina Assembly had voted their confidence in Vander Dussen, blamed Oglethorpe, and ordered their full version of the report to be published.⁴ But publication had been delayed, and many South Carolinians were refusing to serve again under Colonel Alexander Vander Dussen,⁵ this time for the relief of Frederica. Perhaps to restore confidence in him, on July 12, 1742, the South Carolina Gazette published the Assembly’s commendations.

Although the following testimony clears Oglethorpe only from some of the charges made concerning the retreat of the South Carolinian troops from St. Augustine, it suggests that the vilification that he then received from South Carolina for all aspects and phases of his generalship—and the deprecation that he still receives from some historians—was and remains inadequately informed.

My text is that of the New-York Weekly Journal.

THERE being inserted in the Carolina Gazette from July the 5th to July the 12th 1742, in that Part thereof which is there called the Honourable John Fenwick, Esq; his Speech to Col. Vander Dussen, many extraordinary things, and one particularly which we cannot help taking Notice of, viz.

WE think ourselves obliged in Justice, not only to Capt. Pearse and the Officers and Seamen of that Squadron, but to His Majesty’s Service, and to the World, which may be deceived by the above Assertion, to declare, That the same is not Fact, and that Mr. Vander Dussen and the Carolina Regiment were not left upon Anastasia alone. That they did not alone bring off the Artillery, and that they did not compleat the Retreat, but on the contrary, that General Oglethorpe with a Part of his Regiment, in which was Major Heron, Capts. Desbrisay & Dunbar, Lieutenant James Mackay, Ensigns Tolson, Mackay, Sutherland, Cathcart, Stewart & Wemess, and Quartermaster Wansell, formed the Rear in the Retreat upon the Main, for that he with that part of his Regiment, the Indians, Rangers & Highlanders stayed on the Main within half Cannon Shot of the Gates of Augustine, to restrain any Sallies from the Town till the Artillery, excepting one Piece of Cannon which was left behind burst, and all the Men and Stores were embarked from Anastasia, and till he saw all the Craft with them on Board, sailed out of the Harbour, and the Men of War also sailed.

AND we do also declare that the only Battery which did engage the half Gallies the Day of the Retreat, was managed by Mr. Mace, and Men paid by General Oglethorpe, and guarded by a Detachment of his Regiment, and that, under the Command of Ensigns Mace and Hogan, and that the said Battery did force one of the Gallies aground.

THERE was upon Anastasia besides Mr. Vander Dussen’s Regiment, some of the General’s Regiment which stayed to the very last with the Artillery, and a large Party of Sailors also were left by Capt. Pearse, and the Captains of the Men of War on Anastasia to the last, and helped to bring off the Cannon, and were paid by General Oglethorpe’s order for every Gun they brought off. And Mr. Vander Dussen was so far from compleating any Retreat, that a Party of General Oglethorpe’s Regiment commanded by Mr. Hogan, marched in the Rear of the Carolina Regiment, and after that Regiment had marched off, the General in the Rear of his own Regiment secured the Retreat.

WHEREAS the Names of Lieutenants Maxwell & Cadogan are sign’d to the foregoing Paragraph in which they do not appear to have been Present in the Retreat, they think it necessary to add the following Explanation.

AT the first Raising of the Carolina Regiment, the General to assist that Province in disciplining their Men, dispenced with the Duty of us, who were then second Ensigns in his Regiment, and we were accordingly appointed Officers in that Service, viz. Mr. Maxwell, Capt. Lieutenant, and Mr. Cadogan, Lieutenant. That upon the first Promotions we were both appointed Captains. As this obviates an Objection which might be made by some who dare to Print what they cannot Sign,⁷ it also enables us to add the following Particulars, which could not occur to other Persons.

AFTER the Orders were given for a Retreat, Capt. Dunbar by the General’s Order came from the Camp on the Main to Anastasia in the General’s Cutter, and assisted in embarking the Carolina Regiment, and after the whole were gone off, Capt. Dunbar returned to Point Quartelle, and stayed there till Col. Vander Dussen, and the greatest Part of his Regiment was landed, and then went and reported to the General that Col. Vander Dussen, was landed safe at Point Quartelle, which is seperated from Augustine by an Arm of the Sea, which together with a Party of the General’s Regiment which marched in our Rear, was a great happiness to us, for the Carolina Regiment marched in such Disorder that the van, which the Col. generally led, was seldom less than four Miles from the Rear. And at the first Night’s halting Col. Vander Dussen, lay in the Front and Mr. Maxwell in the Rear, at the distance of two Miles, and that the Regiment never joyn’d till they came to St. John’s where the Col. arrived several Hours before the whole came up.

THAT a Day or two after the Carolina Regiment came to St. John’s, Mr. Maxwell Rode back from thence twelve Miles towards St. Augustine, where he met the General and his Regiment in their march to St. John’s.

Primrose Maxwell,

George Cadogan,

The above is an exact Copy from the Original.

Francis Moore

This Day appeared before us, Mr. Francis Moore, and declared upon Oath, That the Annexed Paper was exactly and truly Copied by him from the Originals which remains in his Hands. GIVEN under our Hands and the Seal of this Town of Frederica this 4th of November, 1742.

Thomas Hawkins,
Thomas Marriott,

Praise for John Howard (1777)

The letter praising the philanthropist John Howard (1726?–90) for his State of the Prisons in England and Wales appeared in the General Evening Post for June 14, 1777, signed “OMEGA.” “OMEGA” was probably James Oglethorpe. The long O would fit Oglethorpe, and the paragraph length is consistent with that of the general’s late letters to the press. The prefatory reassurance that the author is not here “puffing” his own work suggests a writer who had resorted to the practice, as Oglethorpe had done in his appeal for benefactors and in his New and Accurate Account in 1732 and in his second Corsican letter in 1768. Moreover, of all Englishmen, Oglethorpe would have been the first to praise his worthy successor in the humanitarian work of prison reform that he had himself initiated almost half a century earlier. It was apparently the first praise of the book, which had been advertised in the Morning Post on May 16, 1777, as published “This Day.” Perhaps Oglethorpe’s attention was drawn to the advertisement because he was at the same time advertising a new edition of his Sailors Advocate.

The letter does not attempt to review the book, as did the reviewers in the Monthly Review for July 1777 (57:8–14) and the Gentleman’s Magazine for September and December (47:444–47, 596–97). Instead, recognizing the need for public expression of outrage in order to pressure Parliament to enact legislation that he had long ago suggested and that Howard now clearly showed the need of, Oglethorpe remined the public that the prisons were still a national disgrace.

My text follows that of the General Evening Post.

To the Editor of the GENERAL EVENING POST.

SIR,

A Recommendatory letter, designed to engage the attention of the public to a new performance, comes always with a suspicious aspect. This piece of author-craft has been so often practised, that the world is sufficiently aware of it; and when the stile and sentiment of a fresh publication are thus trumpeted into notice, the reader is as much disgusted as if he had caught the self-applauding author in the fact.

I should be sorry to injure a work of such distinguished merit as Mr. Howard’s State of Prisons, by an ill judged commendation of it, and therefore think it needful to premise that I never in my life saw that gentleman, or am in the least acquainted with him. If I write to recommend his book, it is for the sake of the subject, and to assist, as far as by such means it can be assisted, the cause of those unhappy persons, whose crimes do not call more loudly for the vengeance of the law, than their miseries for the compassion of the public.

We are directed by a principle of natural equity to suppose every man innocent, however accused, till he is legally proved to be guilty. What a multitude of contradictions to this principle are to be found in our English prisons? where not only criminals capitally indicted, but even offenders in a less heinous degree, while yet unsentenced, suffer hardships through neglect, such as no authority could inflict upon them. The law says to a felon when it condems him, You shall return to the place from whence you came, and there wait for your execution: but it does not add, There you shall be stifled with filth, there you shall pine with hunger, be devoured by vermin, and infected with disease, till you become a more insufferable nuisance to society than all your crimes have made you. The case of debtors is still more deplorable, who in many prisons, though not considered as criminals, fare but little better.

But it is no part of my business to declaim upon the subject. Mr. Howard’s book will convince his reader, beyond the power of all declamations, that these allegations are true: and I wish that his comparison of English with foreign management in this instance, may excite a spirit of emulation in those who have it in their power to redress the evil he points out; an evil that, if universally known, would shock the humanity of every nation under heaven.

I shall only add, that if Mr. Howard has spared neither expence, nor time, nor health, in pursuit of his inquiries upon this subject through half the goals in Europe, it may be reasonably hoped and expected that his narrative will not be entirely neglected; but that the benevolent part of mankind amongst us will give it due attention, and be willing to avail themselves, without danger or inconvenience, of the information he has acquired at the hazard of his life,

I am, Sir, &c.
OMEGA.