Looking Northeast from Jones Creek. Cannon’s point is to the right, with Sapelo Island on the horizon.

The following excerpts were copied from John Worth’s The Struggle for the Georgia Coast p. 15-16

“The year 1661 marked the beginning of the end of the Guale and Mocama mission provinces. Late that spring, news arrived in St Augustine that “a nation of warrior Indians”, had struck Guale from the mainland……Although the details of this assault are only fragmentary, it seems clear that a body of perhaps as many as two hundred canoes and rafts, carrying between 500 and 2000 Chicimeco warriors armed with firearms , descended the modern day Altamaha River from the interior of Georgia and attacked the first town of Guale, Talaje,situated on the northern bank of the river near the modern day town of Darien. Based on accounts…this mission appears to have been abandoned as a direct result of the attack on Jun 20th, with its inhabitants fleeing to Mission San Joseph de Sapala, situated only five leagues distant in a more protected barrier island location off the coast….

…Mission San Joseph de Sapala, by then flooded with refugees, seems to have been the target of a second assault soon after the abandonment of Mission Santo Domingo [de Talaje.] Having constructed a “boat that they made from the boards of the church and the convent at Talaje,” (Barreda, 1663) The Chichimeco apparently endeavored to follow their initial victory with an attack on Sapala, probably navigating along the inland waterways to the bar of Ospogue ( modern Doboy sound), just across from Sapelo Island. filing the vessel with 70 warriors, the Chichimeco launched their construction into the open water, at which point “the current of the bar of Ospogue drew them out to sea, and they drowned in view of everyone, with no little sentiment from the enemy, though the said people being among those of the most valor.” Other Chicimecos, including “some of their principal leaders’ were killed in battle with the Gaule indians, and they lost “many more, who in their retreat and flight died of hunger on the roads”…

…The destruction and abandonment of Mission Santo Domingo de Talaje at the mouth of the Altamaha river was followed by the re establishment of the mission on nearby St Simons island under another name, Santo Domingo de Asao, probably located at Cannons point on the north end of the island. Although this southernmost Guale mission was situated on the same island as the northernmost Mocama mission San Buenaventura de Guadalquini [on the St Simons south end], the island location provided far greater security from raids originating from the interior, and probably easier access by boat…”

These are a few images taken from a 1913 Georgia Historical Society publication of Spanish documents. They give an account of the invasion of Gualquini, and make a good supplement to the previous post. Note the map is English and Spanish, with different names for some of the same features shown on the Spanish maps.

Click to enlarge

The fort appears to have been right about where the pier is now, and the Spanish beach head somewhere near the Sea Island lodge and golf course. Early the next morning they marched up the beach toward the village.

Georgia Historical Society https://archive.org/stream/spanishofficiala01geor#page/n7/mode/2up

A collection of the documents in book form

click to zoom in

My second cousin and childhood friend, Farris Cadle, sent me the link to this map of St Simons Island. It portrays the Spanish invasion in 1742, including a list of the ships involved, the armaments, and numbers and types of personnel. The legend also describes the English fortifications, houses, roads, etc. on St Simons (Gualquini, the indigenous name), and Jekyll (Isla de las Ballenas, the spanish name, “isle of whales”).

The original is in the Spanish Archives in Madrid, and has now been digitized for all the world to see. Another, earlier Arredondo map, made in 1737, of the St Simons sound area is in the Hargrett library collection at UGA, and also in the Library of Congress. More here about it.

Here is the link to the Spanish National Library (BNE) with a viewer. There is a lot of information packed into these online files- if you have access to a large printer a good sized wall copy could be made. I would like to get a translation of all of the legend to print out, and would really appreciate some help with that. if anyone is interested please drop me a note.

Thanks to Farris for the heads up and to Bob Drury for the print!