Appendix 1: Spurious Attributions
From time to time a number of works have been inaccurately attributed to Oglethorpe or so listed under his name that they seem to be cataloged as his:
A Brief Account of the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia, under Gen. James Oglethorpe, February 1, 1733 (Washington, 1835) is listed under Oglethorpe in both the Catalogue Générale des Livres Imprímés de la Bibliothèque Nationale: Auteurs, 231 vols. (Paris, 1924–81), 126:741; and in The National Union Catalog: Pre-1956 Imprints, 754 vols. (London, 1968–81), 427:678. In 1924 Leonard Mackall showed that this publication, which was several times reprinted, was Peter Force’s compilation of several articles that had appeared in the Charles Town South Carolina Gazette. See Mackall’s “The Source of Force’s Tract, ‘A Brief Account of the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia,’” in American Historical Review, 30 (1924–25): 304–8.
A Full Reply to Lieut. Codogan’s Spanish Hireling and Lieut. Mackay’s Letter (London, 1743) is listed under Oglethorpe in The National Union Catalog, 427:678, and is attributed to Oglethorpe in Bibliotheca Americana, ed. Joseph Sabin, Wilberforce Eames, and R. W. G. Vail, 29 vols. (New York, 1868–1936), 13:538–39; and in Mackall’s Catalogue of the Wymberley Jones De Renne Georgia Library, 3 vols. (Wormsloe, 1931), 1: 111. In 1954 John Tate Lanning showed that the work, actually hostile to Oglethorpe, was written by James Killpatrick (later Kirkpatrick), of Charleston and London. See Lanning’s Introduction, p. xvi, to The St. Augustine Expedition of 1740, reprinted from The Colonial Records of South Carolina (Columbia, 1954).
“The History of the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Colony GEORGIA; with the Attempts made upon it by the Spaniards, and their total Defeat. Interspersed with Original Papers” appeared in John Campbell’s augmented edition of John Harriss’s Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca, or a Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels. This enlarged edition was first issued in 120 numbers, for subscribers. The proposal was printed in The General Advertiser for March 15, 1744; and the first number appeared in or about April 1744. The Georgia history, which comprises numbers 91–93, probably appeared in late 1746, when, Campbell tells us, he was working on that section. The second impression, in volume 2, appeared in 1748.
When Boswell read the account, he commented, “It appeared to be the General’s own.”1 Boswell’s conjecture has some justification. Oglethorpe evidently furnished Campbell with or guided him to published materials, apparently provided some unpublished documents (like the treaties with the Indians and the congratulatory letters from colonial governors), and responded to Campbell’s queries. But Campbell would doubtless have credited the account to the general if he had written it. There is little new narrative. Even Oglethorpe’s repulse of the Spanish invasion of Georgia is given as it appears in Lieutenant Sutherland’s account.2 The account is based primarily upon printed sources and is arranged to follow the narrative as it appears in Benjamin Martyn’s An Account, Showing the Progress (1741). Royal Agent for the Georgia Colony from 1765 until his death in 1775, Campbell probably paid the general full credit in his closing remarks:
One thing more I must observe before I conclude this Section, which is, that if there be any thing in it, or indeed in any of those relating to the British Plantations, which ought, in a particular Manner, to claim the Attention of the Public; it is, in a great Measure, due to the Lights afforded by the Honourable James Oglethorpe, Esq; from whom, if the Author has caught any of that generous Spirit, which inclines a Man to bind all his Thoughts, and turn all his Labours to the Service of his Country, it is but just that he should acknowledge it; and this he is the more ready to do, because if there be any Merit in his Performance, capable of making it known to, and esteemed by, Posterity; he would willingly consecrate it as a Mark of Esteem and Gratitude, for the many Informations he has received, and the right Turn that has been given to his Inquiries, by that knowing and worthy Person, who is equally happy in rendering the greatest personal Services himself to the Community, and by infusing the like Disposition in others, both by his Example and Conversation.3
An Impartial Account of the late Expedition against St. Augustine (London, 1742) was listed under Oglethorpe in The National Union Catalog, 427:678, and The British Library General Catalogue of Printed Books to 1975, 360 vols. (London, 1979—87), 240:456. It was attributed to Oglethorpe in Sabin’s Bibliotheca Americana, 13:539. In 1954 Lanning showed that this work also was written by Killpatrick. See Lanning’s Introduction, xiv–xv, xxiv–xxv.
“Niederlassung in New-Georgien, und desen Beschreibung,” in Allgemenine Historie zu Wasser und Lande, 21 vols. (Leipzig, 1747–74), 16:631–40, is listed under Oglethorpe in The National Union Catalog, 427:678. The account seems to date from about 1739 and is a German translation from Histoire Générale des Voyages, 15 vols. (Paris, 1746–59), compiled by the Abbé Antoine François Prévost, called Prévost d’Exiles, author of Manon Lescaut. It is not a translation from any work of Oglethorpe.
Neuste und Richtigste Nachricht von der Landschaft Georgia in dem Engländischen Amerika (Göttingen, 1746) is listed in The National Union Catalog, 427:678, as a German translation by Johann Matthias Krämer from Oglethorpe’s New and Accurate Account and was attributed to Oglethorpe in Sabin’s Bibliotheca Americana, 13:539. It is not a translation of Oglethorpe’s tract.