Oglethorpe had returned to England in 1737…

Oglethorpe had returned to England in 1737 to acquire more funding and permission to raise a regiment of soldiers; he was successful in persuading 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.

The conflicts on St. Simons Island are related to the War of Jenkins' Ear, begun in 1739.

Troops of the Spanish Coast guard La Isabela had boarded the British brig Rebecca and found that its captain, Robert Jenkins, was smuggling.

The Spanish officer Julio León Fandiño's had cut off one of Jenkins' ears for his piracy.

Great Britain, in retaliation for the boarding and assault on its officer (and related to tensions having built between the two nations), on October 30, 1739, declared war on Spain, eight years after the event.

The two forts lie about five miles apart on St. Simons Island.

Between the two runs a road the width of one wagon, named Military Road.

This serves to supply the garrison at Fort Federica and settlers in the nearby village from Fort St. Simons.

The battle takes place during a Spanish invasion of the island and present-day Georgia.

Oglethorpe commands British troops to victory.

That same day, the British win the skirmish against the Spanish known as the Battle of Gully Hole Creek on the island.

The Spanish leave St. Simons on July 25, 1742, ending their last invasion of colonial Georgia.