Captain M'Intosh. But by this time six Spanish half-galleys, with long
brass nine pounders, and two sloops loaded with provisions, had got into
the harbour at Augustine. A few days afterwards, the General marched with
his whole force, consisting of above two thousand men, regulars,
provincials and Indians, to Fort Moosa, situated within two miles of
Augustine, which on his approach the Spanish garrison evacuated, and
retired into the town. He immediately ordered the gates of this fort to
be burnt, three breaches to be made in its walls, and then proceeded to
reconnoitre the town and castle.

Notwithstanding the dispatch of the British army, the Spaniards, during
their stay at Fort Diego, had collected all the cattle in the woods
around them, and drove them into the town; and the General found, both
from a view of the works, and the intelligence he had received from
prisoners, that more difficulty would attend this enterprize than he at
first expected. Indeed, if he intended a surprize, he ought not to have
stopped at Fort Diego, for by that delay the enemy had notice of his
approach, and time to gather their whole force, and put themselves in a
posture of defence. The castle was built of soft stone, with four
bastions; the curtain was sixty yards in length, the parapet nine feet
thick; the rampart twenty feet high, casemated underneath for lodgings,
arched over, and newly made bomb-proof. Fifty pieces of cannon were
mounted, several of which were twenty-four pounders. Besides the castle,
the town was entrenched with ten salient angles, on each of which some
small cannon were mounted. The garrison consisted of seven hundred
regulars, two troops of horse, four companies of armed negroes, besides
the militia of the province, and Indians.

[Sidenote] Invests Augustine.