Battle of Bloody Marsh - St. Simons Island, Georgia

The English victory at the Battle of Gully Hole Creek on the morning of July 7, 1742, stunned the Spanish army invading St. Simons Island and sent it reeling back on its base at Fort St. Simons (on the site of today's St. Simons Lighthouse). As English General James Oglethorpe pushed forces up the military road across the island and returned to Fort Frederica for reinforcements, Spanish commander Don Manuel de Montiano attempted to reverse the situation faced by his forces.

Bringing forward a stronger body of troops, Montiano started back up the military road. Aware that a second Spanish advance was likely, Oglethorpe had thrown the 42nd Regiment of Foot and a company of Highlanders from Darien into position on a low wooded bluff overlooking a marsh that the Spanish soldiers would have to cross. The miltiary road passed over the edge of the marsh by a low causeway.

On the afternoon of July 7, 1742, just hours after their defeat earlier in the day at Gully Hole Creek, the Spanish army marched into Oglethorpe's ambush. As Montiano's soldiers crossed into the open marsh, the English soldiers opened fire. A sharp battle erupted and by the time the smoke cleared, the Spanish were once again in retreat.

The battlefield would become known as Bloody Marsh, because legend holds that the wetlands ran red with the blood of Spanish soldiers. While this may have been true, only seven of Montiano's soldiers were killed in the fighting, far fewer than had died earlier in the day at Gully Hole Creek.

The Battle of Bloody Marsh is rememebered today as a landmark event in Georgia history. It forever ended Spain's hope of reclaiming is lost lands in Georgia and assured the survival of the English colony that would eventually become the State of Georgia. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/bloodymarsh.

Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia

The Battle of Chickamauga, fought on September 19 & 20, 1863, was one of the bloodiest battles ever witnessed on the American continent.
Fought in the woods and small fields along the west side of Chickamauga Creek near the modern community of Fort Oglethorpe, the battle resulted in losses of 34,000 killed, wounded and missing from the two armies. It was described by many as a "soldier's fight," because in many cases soldiers stumbled and struggled through overgrown woods with little direction and surrounded by the smoke and confusion of battle.

Chickamauga was also one of the most dramatic Confederate victories of the Civil War. General James Longstreet's Corps attacked just as a gap was accidentally opened in the Union lines. Southern troops pierced the Union line of battle and the Federal army of General William S. Rosecrans collapsed in panic, with only the men under General George H. Thomas, the "Rock of Chickamauga," holding their ground on Snodgrass Hill.

The scene of Braxton Bragg's great victory is now preserved as a unit of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park. Other units include Point Park on Lookout Mountain, small reserves on Missionary Ridge and several other areas in and around Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Chickamauga unit is the largest section of the park, however, and features tour roads, monuments, a magnificent visitor center and interpretive markers that help visitors explore the miles of battlefield. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/chickamauga. You might also enjoy the new film on the battle which is now available on DVD: