The St. Marys River (named Saint Marys River by the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

,) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed April 21, 2011 river in the southeastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The river was known to the Indians of the area as Thlathlothlaguphka, or Phlaphlagaphgaw, meaning "rotten fish". French explorer

Jean Ribault Jean Ribault (also spelled ''Ribaut'') (1520 – October 12, 1565) was a French naval officer, navigator, and a colonizer of what would become the southeastern United States. He was a major figure in the French attempts to colonize Florida. A H ...

named the river the Seine when he encountered it in 1562. From near its source in the Okefenokee Swamp, to its mouth at the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, it forms a portion of the

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

between the U.S. states of Georgia and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. The river also serves as the southernmost point in the state of Georgia. The St. Marys River rises as a tiny stream, River Styx, flowing from the western edge of Trail Ridge, the geological relic of a barrier island/dune system, and into the southeastern Okefenokee Swamp. Arching to the northwest, it loses its channel within the swamp, then turns back to the southwest and reforms a stream, at which point it becomes the St. Marys River. Joined by another stream, Moccasin Creek, the river emerges from the Okefenokee Swamp at Baxter, Florida/Moniac, Georgia. It then flows south, then east, then north, then east-southeast, finally emptying its waters into the Atlantic, near

St. Marys, Georgia St. Marys is a city in Camden County, Georgia, United States, located on the southern border of Camden County on the St. Marys River. The Florida border is just to the south across the river, Cumberland Island National Seashore is to the northea ...

and

Fernandina Beach, Florida Fernandina Beach is a city in northeastern Florida and the county seat of Nassau County, Florida, Nassau County, Florida, United States. It is the northernmost city on Florida's Atlantic coast, situated on Amelia Island, and is one of the princi ...

Name

The

U.S. Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

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'' 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 The Battle of Fort Point Peter was a successful attack in early 1815 by a British force on a smaller American force on the Georgia side of the St. Marys River near St. Marys, Georgia. The river was then part of the international border between ...

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.

References

External links