St. Marys River (Florida–Georgia)

Name

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names discourages the use of apostrophes in place names, including St. Marys River.

1805 incident

On 6 July 1805, Lieutenant Robert Pigot of arrived off the harbour in the French privateer schooner Matilda, which the British had captured three days earlier. On 7 July Pigot took Matilda 12 mi up the St Marys River to attack three vessels reported to be there. Along the way militia and riflemen fired on Matilda. Eventually the British reached the three vessels, which were lashed in a line across the river. They consisted of a Spanish privateer schooner and her two British prizes, the ship and the brig Ceres, which the Spanish privateer had captured some two months earlier. The Spaniards had armed Golden Grove with eight 6-pounder guns and six swivels, and given her a crew of 50 men. The brig too was armed with swivels and small arms. The Spanish schooner carried six guns and a crew of 70 men.

Pigot engaged the vessels for an hour, and then after Matilda had grounded, took his crew in her boats and captured Golden Grove. The British then captured the other two vessels. Lastly, Pigot fired on a group of 100 militia, with a field gun, dispersing them. The British had two men killed, and 14 wounded, including Pigot, who had received two bullet wounds to head and one to a leg. A crowd of Americans on the Georgia side of the river watched the entire battle.

War of 1812

See Battle of Fort Peter

Literature

Martin, Charles. Where the River Ends. New York, Broadway Books, 2008. . An artist and his dying wife fulfill her wish of one last canoe ride from the headwaters of the St. Marys to the sea.

List of crossings

References

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. [http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ The National Map], accessed April 21, 2011
2. "St. Marys". [[University of Georgia]].
3. (2023-04-20). "Rivers of North America". [[Academic Press]].
4. (1941). "Studies in History". A. H. Wright.
5. Unknown, reproduced from Crown collection of maps by A.B. Hulbert, v. 5. "Spanish Trail Map of Florida, ca. 1750". U.S. Government.
6. (1984). "Rolling Rivers: An Encyclopedia of America's Rivers". McGraw-Hill.
7. (1990). "Explorers and Colonies: America, 1500-1625". Hambledon Press.
8. (2010). "Georgia Voices: A Documentary History to 1872". University of Georgia Press.
9. (6 February 2018). "Obscure Federal Rule Erased Apostrophes from Place Names".
10. "Names".
11. {{London Gazette. (17 September 1805)
12. [http://www.dot.state.fl.us/statemaintenanceoffice/CBR/Florida%20Bridge%20Information%2001-05-2010.pdf FDOT Florida Bridge Data 01-05-2010] {{webarchive. link. (2011-06-16)