Traveler's Rest and the Tugaloo Crossroads Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/travelersresttugOObouw TRAVELER'S REST AND THE TUGALOO CROSSROADS by Robert Eldridge Bouwman Copyright State of C";eorgia Department of Natural Resources Parks, Recreation and Historic Sites Historic Preservation Section 1980 Tt\1\I.E 01' CtlNTENTS List of Illustrations ii List of Maps . . . iv Location of Site. v Acknowledgements. vi Preface ... vii In trod uct ion . . . . . ix Chapter 1: Cherokee Villages 1 Chapter 2: Tugaloo and the Cherokee Frontier 11 Chapter 3: Jesse Walton: Frontiersman and Settler. 29 Chapter 4: The Tugaloo Neighborhood: 1790-1820 56 Chapter 5: The Early Days of Traveler's Rest . 87 Chapter 6: Taverns, Travel, and Traveler's Rest. 115 Chapter 7: Devereaux Jarrett's Little Empire 139 Chapter 8: Jarrett Plantations in the 1850s. 161 Chapter 9: The Civil War on the Tugaloo . . . 178 Chapter 10: Traveler's Rest During Reconstruction 200 Chapter 11: Third-l.eneration Jarrett's and "The Old Horne Place" 224 Chapter 12: Hary Elizabeth Jarrett \.Jhi te and Jarrett Hanor. 249 Bibliography of Sources 260 Bibliography of Maps. 271 Append ices. . . 272 -i - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Traveler's Rest, early spring, 1977 . vi Traveler's Rest, northeast, south views, 1977 vii Devereaux Jarrett . 114 House of Robert Jarrett, House of Thomas Patton Jarrett ln2 Toccoa Falls, House of Joseph Prather and Sally Jarrett Prather 172 Cradle~ bed brought to Traveler's Rest by Lizzie Lucas Jarrett: "Indian Rock''. 17 5 Bentwood rocking chair; ~orner cupboard detail of main stairwav. 176 Traveler's Rest, photo taken ca. 1900 . The Jarretts' Tugaloo River "bottom lands". " Sally Grace; Mary Lizzie. II Lizzie Lucas Jarrett and family, about 1898 " Charles P. Jarrett and friends "camping in the Mountains of NE Georgia, 1894". " Charles P. Jarrett, camping in northeast Georgia, 1894. II Charles Patton Jarrett, unknown women and girls, ca. 1898 II Charles Patton Jarrett and unknown woman, perhaps at Tallulah Falls, ca. 1898. II Unidentified woman; Sally Grace and Lizzie Lucas Jarrett at Traveler's Rest, early 1900s; Charles Patton Jarrett in New Nexico for his "consumption," 1898 . " Victorine Paillett Jarrett, early 1900s~ Neeley Jarrett, former slave, date unknown. " Lt. George Devereaux Jarrett and Sally Grace Jarrett at smoke- house, early 1900s . II Lizzie Lucas Jarrett and Lt. George Devereaux Jarrett on front porch at Traveler's Rest; Lizzie Lucas Jarrett on front porch at Traveler's Rest, early 1900s. " Lt. George, Lizzie Lucas and Sally Grace on fro~t porch at Traveler's Rest, early 1900s; Jarrett's Bridge [?], ca. 1900 II Lt. George Devereaux Jarrett, on transport Rawlings, early 1900s; Lt. George Devereaux Jarrett at home in the Philip- pines, early 1900s . II Steamboat on the Tugaloo River, date unknown. 254 Unknown woman at small house near Traveler's Rest, early 1900s. " Lizzie Lucas Jarrett in small room at south end of Traveler's J\pst, earlv 1900s~ LizziP L1tcas and Sr1llv Crarc in small room, e:1 r 1v 1 riod that the bulk of the surviving personal documents come, providing the most detailed mat e rial about the lives of the people at Travc l e r ' s ]{p s t . /\t Lhl' turn of Lit\. century, only Sally Grace and Mary Elizabeth wer e surviving of C.K . .Jarrett's children. During the first half of the 20th Century, Traveler's Rest -- then known as Jarrett Manor --was a faded remnant of Devereaux Jarrett's plantation-inn. Eventually, Mary Elizaheth Jarrett White became the sole occupant of the old inn, which was rotting away around her. To her, Traveler's Rest was the "old home place," .1nd in reminiscences, newspaper articles, and in conversation \vi Lh fril'nds, she kept the memo ries alive. lfcr dedi cation in preservin ~ the home and its history was rewarded in 19 55. \vhen the l.eo rg ia Historical Commission acquired Traveler's Rest and b e g.1n r e storing it. This picturesque old home in the foothills of the Blue JUdg e has a historv well worth retelling. And Traveler's Rest and the Tugaloo Crossroads has grown from the efforts of a number of people over several years to recall this history. Archaeology and Architecture at Traveler's Rest The history of an individual or a society cannot be comprehensively interpreted using verbal documentation alone, and the history of Traveler's Rest is not limited to the written record. In the summer of 1968, - xl - archaeologist Dr. William M. Kelso conducted excavations of Traveler's Rest for the Georgia Historical Commission. Architectural historian Paul Buchanan conducted an architectural analysis of Traveler's Rest in the fall of 1977. The complete text of both these reports appears in the Appendices, but an overview of their findings is presented here to set the scene for the historical narrative. The building known as Traveler's Rest was built in two primary stages, hereafter referred to as Period I and Period II. Period I dates to ca. 1815 and concerns the south end of the structure. Archaeology suggests that there was a structure on the site before 1815, and architect Buchanan gives the construction date as 1815, plus or minus five years, but suggests 1815 as the most likely date. It was probably built, therefore, by Joseph Martin, who owned the land on which it is situated until 1818. However, since the land changed hands during the possible range of years which the reports have assigned to the construction, it is difficult to be conclusive. Historical data does favor Martin as the builder, since he sold the land for $100 per acre, a high price for land -- unless there were substantial improvements. Traveler's Rest, as it appeared circa 1815 or Period l (1815-1835), was approximately ltalf its present size. It was a two-story, frame building, 18 feet, two inches by 50 feet, ten and one-half inches. tln the west or front facade was a one-story, shed porch with six posts connected by a balustrade, except in the center, where steps led to tlte f ronl doLH-.;. nn the east or rear facade was a similar shed, but only tlw n~nter portion was open. There 1.vere shed rooms on eilher end of this east facade. The ext er io r was we a the rboarded, and there 1.ve re end ch imn~ys \vi th ;totll' lotmd;lLions ;111d brick sL1ck~' 'l'ht' foundation l)J tltc huildi11)', \,;t:~ - xll - stone, and the structure had a gable roof. The first floor contained two rooms of equal size with a door between them. The rooms matched, each having two windows and a center door on the west, a fireplace with flanking windows on the exterior ends, and two doors on the east, one leading to a shed room and one to the east porch. The south room, known as the "hall," had a quarter-turn stair leading to the second floor from the northwest corner of the room. The north room was the "parlor." The second floor had three rooms and a stair passage. The space above the "hall" of the first floor was partitioned to give two small bedrooms and the stair passage. The space above the north room or parlor of the first floor was of equal size with the parlor. The second-floor rooms on the south had no fireplaces, but were heated with wood stoves. The north bedroom had a fireplace. There were probably a number of outbuildings during the period, but none have survived. Neither the archaeological nor architectural reports were able to address that topic for this early period. No doubt, however, there were at least privies, a detached kitchen, slave quarters and probably a smokehouse, and a well or spring house. Soon after Traveler's Rest was purchased by Devereaux Jarrett in 1833, the main building underwent major alterations and additions, almost doubling its size. Period II of the construction history was between 1835 and 1840. When the building was enlarged, it was over 90 feet long. The front shed porch was extended the new length of the building, and a second entrance was added to the old porch area. The old south rooms of the first floor yielded space for a new central hall and stair and a stair passage for a new stair leading only from - xiii - the second floor to the west porch. The fireplaces in these rooms were given new Greek Revival mantels. The only change on the second floor of the old house was an eastwest partition in the large north room. This created one unheated room. Like the older portion, the new addition had four rooms downstairs, two of which were rear shed rooms. The north main room was the dining room. A stair led from the south main room to the second floor. Below the dining room was a large, cellar kitchen to replace an earlier, detached kitchen. Upstairs, the new portion included a large, north bed chamber, stair passage, a small chamber and a north-south hall connecting the new section to the old second-floor section. Architect Buchanan believes that the north addition was built primarily as family quarters, with the old south end reserved for tavern use. A cursory glance at the building gives the impression that it was built as a single unit. The north addition matches the south end superficially with regard to architecture. A thorough analysis of this building, based on architectural design, building materials, moulding profiles, brick bond, structural techniques and archaeology, belies the overall impression, revealing the major changes noted above, as well as more subtle ones which are noted in the full reports. The archaeological excavation ;'ielded data on two outbuildings. Fifty feet to the northwest of the main house, the stone foundations of the smokehouse were uncovered. It measured 18 feet, six inches square. The artifacts recovered place its earliest occupation date at circa 1830. It was probably built, therefore, by Jarrett. Historical research turned up a circa-1890 photograph of the building, which shows a hewn-log building with an overhanging porch roof, said to he the smokehouse. - xiv - Still in existence, though greatly restored, is the outbuilding traditionally kno\..rn as the "loornhouse." The arch i teet's report states that it was built after 1850, while the archaeologist believes that it was there in the 1820s and was used as a dairy. The building has two levels, the lower being brick and the upper, frame. It seems plausible that either thC!'re \v.1S another building on the same site in the 1820s, or that some port ion of the present s true t ure dates to the 1820s. Hmveve r, the bt1ilding as it exists today is post-1850. Other outbuildings known to h;ivc ~xLstecl during .Jarrett years \vere a store, barns, stables, smithy, mills, slave dwellings and bridges. ,\rchitect Paul Buchanan refers to the building as a "combined residt.'nce-tavern" and states that the amount of space allocated to the family fluctuated, depending on the "numbers and type of the traveling public \v~lO had to be accommodated." Of the significance of the building architecturally, he notes that it is a "good remaining example of early-nineteenth-cPntury pioneer vernacular architecture of the Georgia Piedmont ;Jnd its grmvt.h up to thP 1860s." He states that the native materials used, ;1s \vel! as rhe bt~ilcling style and techniques, were especially suitable for an area that had little skilled labor and that lacked available rn;1terials for purchase, while accommodating the climate as well. Traveler's Rest is open to the public as a house museum and contains period furniture, much of it from the Jarrett family, and artifacts found on the site. The historical, architectural and archaeological research on which this report is based will ensure an accurate interpretation of the site in the future. To visit Traveler's Rest today is to step back in time to the days of stagecoach, roadside tavern and pioneer living. Traveler's Rest is a fine structure exemplifying our 19th-Century heritage. - XV - Chapter 1 CHEROKEE VILLAGES People have been living in the vicinity of Traveler's Rest for scores of generations, thousands of years. ~1en the Cherokees settled at the mouth of Toccoa Creek around 1300 A.D. (at the earliest), they built their lodges around a mound beneath which lay evidence of lengthy Indian occupation. Driven south by the Iroquois and Delaware tribes, the Cherokees took over the Southern Appalachians [see Map 1], pushing the Creeks southward and the Shawnees northwest. A feH generations of adaptation passed, and by the time European explorers visited them, the Cherokees had largely forgotten their own usurpation, regarding their territory as an ancient homeland, occupied by them throughout history. So the Cherokees explained: "Time out of mind, these lands have 'ueen the hunting grounds of the Cherokee." 1 Little is known of the Cherokees' predecessors in the Tugaloo region; however, archaeologists at the site of Tugaloo Town on Toccoa Creek have designated several distinct periods of occupation. There, the pre-Cherokees lived in Stone-age simplicity, casting aside over the years the bones, broken tools, and rottery, \vhich are our only record of them. At least eight layers of occupation were unearthed at the Tugaloo mound by excavations undertaken in 1957, revealing that as population t'bbcd and flowed, people were again and again attracted to till' area.2 Thv mysterious message left on the "Tndian Rock" or petrograph at Traveler'c.; Rl'st is a lasting testimony to the continuing efficacy of the Tugaloo -l - t To Shawnee T E N RTH Chickasaw G E0 RG ETTLEME-4 To Catawba+ - .../" NEW KEOWE ~To Lower Creeks SOUTH AROLI NA To Yuchi Yamasee ~ ThL' Cherokee Country in the Southern Appalachians, 18th Century. *Site of Traveler's Rest. 2 Huch more is known of the Cherokees, the "mountaineers" of the South. Related to the Iroquois group of tribes, the Cherokees proudly called themselves the Ani-Yunwuja, the "Real People."3 The name "Cherokee" is apparently of foreign origin.4 The word could mean "Ancient Tobacco People," "Children of the Sun," or "Brave Hen."S /\.relatively large tribe, the Cherokees were certainly not the Lost Tribes of Israel, as some early traders and settlers wished to believe.6 Hembers of the tribe built their principal towns on the headwaters of the Savannah, Hiwassee, and Tuckasegee rivers, and all along the Little Tennessee, as well. There, they strove to adjust themselves to the Southern mountain climate, while surrounded on all sides by hostile rivals. 7 By the late 19th Century, when they were contacted by European explorers, the Cherokees had become a tribe of great power and influence. They controlled 40,000 square miles of territory in what is now southwest Virginia, the western Carolinas, eastern Tennessee, and the northern areas of Georgia and Alabama. Indian expert James Adair estimated them to number 16,000 or 17,000, with 6,000 warriors, inhabiting 64 towns in 1735. With their huge territory and relatively large population, the Cherokees were strategically situated to hold the balance of power in southeastern North America. ~1ether they favored the English settlements to the east, or the French and Spanish along tht> Gulf of Hexico and up the Hississippi to a point north of the Ohio Rivc.>r would prove to be a vital factor in determining the course of historv. This potential was offset, hmvever, by the loose nature.> of Chet-okee erlul influence. On the Tugalno River, sevlral gl'ncrations of Cherokees followed the 3 tribal patterns by living in a cluster of small villages along the streams which fed the river. Tugaloo Town [Tugaloo meaning "rough or muddy waters"] was at the mouth of Toccoa Creek, about a mile up the river from the eventual site of Traveler's Rest. Nearby were Old Estatoe, six miles up the river; Noyowee, across from Estatoe; Tetohe, up Toccoa Creek; Chagee, down the river and in South Carolina; and Tussee, t"o the south. Old Estatoe was the "mother village" of the cluster, and also the largest, having a population of about 600. In all, the Lower Towns included about 11 villages, with a population of roughly 2,000. 9 All the towns in the Tugaloo cluster were bound together by footpaths -a northeastward trail led to the important Cherokee town of Keowee, and a northwestward trail ran through Chota and climbed the mountains to the important Middle Towns of the Cherokees [see Map 2]. 10 \fuen Colonel George Chicken visited the Cherokees as the special emissary of South Carolina in 1725, he described Old Estatoe as: ... a large Town and very well fortifyed [sic] all round with Punchins and also ditched on the outside of sd [said] Punchins (wch [which] Ditch) is Stuck full of light wood Spikes so that if the Enemy should ever happen to fall therein, they must without doubt receive a great deal of damage by those Spikes.ll Chicken labeled "Tugelo Town" the "most Antient [sic] town in these parts." Apparently Tugaloo was dominant, for there the Cherokees held their most important councils with the settlers, and Chicken singled out the "Warriour of Tugelo" for special presents. No estimates of the size of the town have been found; since it was smaller than Estatoe, its population could have ranged anywhere from 100 to 400. , At Tugaloo, the Cherokees spoke their "Eastern" dialect, being 4 characterized by its rolling r's. They lived as most Eastern "Woodland" Indians lived by farming, hunting, and trading. Tribal structure was dominated by seven clans, to which the individual clan members were intensely loyal. Each village was largely autonomous, ruled by 'a daily council in which b oth men an d women part1.c1. pate d . 13 Indeed, Cherokee women were extremely powerful in the tribal councils. As James Adair reported, "They have been a considerable time under petticoat government." The head of the women's coullcil was the "Beloved Woman" of the tribe, "whose voice was considered that of the Great Spirit speaking through her." The influence of the Cherokee women was to prove of tremendous importance later to European traders and set- tlers. 14 At Tugaloo Town and elsewhere, the Cherokee houses were oblong. To build them, the Cherokees would set up a row of posts, fill in between these with wicker-work, and cover the result with a "plaster of mud and grass." After putting on a bark roof, they would then whitewash the lodge inside and out. Furnished with fur couches, stools, and housekeeping implements, these lodges were often found unbearably stuffy by European visitors, but not nearly so "close" as the small, air-tight "hot-houses" the Indians inhabited in the winter.lS The life of these Cherokees occupying the area near the future site of Traveler's Rest was a true test of their ability to survive. It is conjectured that a typical Indian woman spent her day gathering fruit and nuts, tending crops of maize, potatoes, squash, and performing household tasks such as preparing food, tanning hides, weaving, and making pottery. Men at home made tools and weapons and assisted with crops, but much time was spent away from the village in hunting or raiding the ... w ..l.. ' _, ~ ;, .___ P'\.:' ,. ' .. "' \ The Lower Towns of the Cherokees, drawn by ~ouzon, 1776. 5 tribe's many enemies. 16 In addition to all these tasks, however, the Cherokees managed to make time for religion and entertainment. Men and women observed a calendar of religious ceremonies, by which they commemorated the seasons and the tribe's relationship to nature. Before contact with European culture had completely revolutionized tribal patterns, a ''priestly cult" of both men and women dominated Cherokee leadership. This "cult" was especially powerful in the Tugaloo Town cluster, though its power waned with the changes of the 18th Century.l7 The Cherokees also took their games seriously. They joined most Eastern tribes in a thorough addiction to chungke, a game played by throwing poles at a rolling, discus-shaped stone. A brave took great pride in his ~hungke stone, shaped and ornamented "with prodigious labor." Every village had a chungke yard, and the men loved the game so much that clearing a field for this purpose was supposedly their first activity when founding a new village. Chungke, as well as all other games, was accompanied by vigorous gambling.l8 According to Brown's Old Frontiers, the "whole population'' participated in "ballplay." Playing on a level field, the Indians enjoyed a brutal sort of lacrosse, endeavoring to maneuver the ball through the opponents' goal. Sometimes one village's team would plav another's in a match: sometimes the entire connnunity would join in. On such occasions: In the desperate struggles for the ball, with hundreds running together and actually leaping over each others heads, darting between their adversaries' legs, tripping and throwin~, every voice raised to the highest kev in excited shrill yelps, there are rapid fpats in succession that astonish and amuse onP far hPvond the conception of 6 one who has not had the singular good luck to witness them. The spectator loses his strength, and everything else but his senses, when the confused mass of ball sticks, shins, and bloody noses is carried off to different parts of the ground for a quarter of an hour at a time without any of the mass being able to see the ball, which they are often thus scuffling for when it has been thrown off and played over another part of the grounds. And so on until the successful party arrives at one hundred, which is the limit of the game. 1q Both the villages of Tugaloo and Old Estatoe had ball teams whose players traveled to games even in war time. The seriousness with which the Cherokees took this "sport" even extended to the testing of the capa20 cities of their conjurors by demanding winning magic. To Europeans, the Cherokee men presented an intimidating, "savage" visage. Of the braves, one visitor, Henry Timberlake, wrote in 1762: The Cherokees are of a middle stature, of an olive colour, tho' generally painted, and their skins stained with gun-powder, pricked into it in very pretty figures. The hair of their heads is shaved, tho' many of the old people have it plucked out by the roots, except a patch on the hinder part of the head, about twice the bigness of a crown-piece, which is ornamented with beads, feathers, wampum, stained deers hair, and such like baubles. The ears are split and stretched to an enormous size, putting the person who undergoes the operation to considerable pain, being unable to lie on either side for near forty days. To remedy this, they generally slit but one side at a time: so soon as the patient can bear it, they are wound round with wire to expand them, and are adorned with silver pendants and rings, which they likewise wear at the nose.21 On the appearance of the women of the tribe, explorer-naturalist William Bartram observed in 1776: The dress of the females is somewhat different from that of the men~ their flap or petticoat, is made after a different manner, is larger and longer, reaching almost to the leg, and is put on differently: they have no shirt or shift but a little short waistcoat, usually made of callico, printed linen, or fine cloth decorated with lace, beads etc. 7 They never wear boots or stockings, but their buskins [short leather boots] reach to the middle of the leg. They never cut their hair, but plait it in wreathes, which is turned up, and fastened on the crown, with a silver broach, forming a wreathed top-knot.22 Such were the Indians that the European explorers and settlers found living in the area near what would later become Traveler's Rest, convinced that, "We are the first people that ever lived on this land; it is ours." 23 But the Cherokees possessed a drastically different concept of land-ownership from that of the settlers. As the Indians saw it, the Creator had provided land, along with air, water, and sunlight. Tribes claimed jurisdiction over the hunting grounds in the vicinity of their villages, but they had considerable trouble understanding and accepting the concepts of sovereignty and individual ownership of property. They were perplexed and infuriated by the settlers' practices of parceling, transforming, exploiting, and often squandering the land. As the tide of white settlement expanded with apparently irreversible, insatiable voracity, the Cherokees joined other Indians in a desperate, violent, hopeless resistence. The American frontier was the scene of one of history's vast dramas. The Tugaloo crossroads was a focal point in that drama.24 The Cherokees loved their Tugaloo lands with good cause, for there they prospered in spite of the fact that they were never to know peace in those lands. From the time they arrived in the Alleghenies and the Tugaloo area, the Cherokees struggled to adjust to rapidly-developing Pvents and situations which continued to have a shattering impact on their culture.25 Actually, the Cherokees never had a chance to find their place 8 among the Southeastern tribes. No sooner had they arrived in the mountains, expelling rivals from the territory and making enemies of the surrounding Shawnee, Iroquois, Creek, Yamassee, and other tribes, than they found themselves at a tremendous disadvantage in accessibility to the revolutionary weapons and tools of the Europeans. With all their enemies becoming comparatively well-supplied with the fruits of a devastating technology, the Cherokees, by the late 1600s, were desperate to redress the balance of equipment. For the next few generations, Cherokee life was dominated by the adjustment to the presence of the whites and their goods.2n For Cherokee men, hunting and warfare mushroomed in importance. The braves had to hunt as never before to obtain the skins needed to trade for guns and ammunition, knives, hoes, cooking utensils, ornaments, and other trade goods. }feanwhile, old tribal antagonisms became exacerbated with the European powers' imperial struggle over the resources and territory of the Southeast, The pressure to hunt was complicated by the unrelenting necessities of attack and defense. The next chapter in the story of the Tugaloo crossroads is that of the early frontier and the turmoil which took place among the Cherokees as they reacted to the shock of the Europeans' arrival.27 9 FOOTNOTES Chapter 1: Cherokee Villages 1 Quotation from John P. Brown. Old Frontiers: The Story of the Cherokee Indians (Kingsport, Tenn.: Southern Publishers, Inc., 1938), p. 15. On the origins of the Cherokees, see also James Mooney, Myths of the Cherokee (New York: Johnson Reprint Corp., 1970), p. 15~ William ~Willis, Colonial Conflict and the Cherokee Indians, 1710-1760 (Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms, lq55), pp. 1-12~ and Grace Steel Woodward, The Cherokees (Norman. Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963), p. 99; J.R. Caldwell, "Appraisal of the Archeological Resources of Hartwell Reservoir," National Park Service, 1953. 2 Anderson [S.C.] Independent, February 17, 1957, p. 15. 3 Brown, Old Frontiers, p. 14. 4 Mooney, Myths~ the Cherokee, p. 15. 5 Woodward, The Cherokees, p. 21. 6 Mooney, Myths of the Cherokee, p. 21. 7 Ibid., p. 14. 8 Ibid., p. 34; and Willis, Colonial Conflict, pp. 1-3. 9 Kathryn Curtis Trogden, The History of Stephens County, Georgia (Toccoa, Ga.: Toccoa Woman's Club, Inc., 1973), pp. 2, 3. Mouzon's map, (Map 2) is "An accurate map of North and South Carolina with their Indian frontier showing in a distinct way" (1776); original in possession of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Brown's map appeared in his book, Old Frontiers. Also, for a complete listing of the three general divisions of Cherokee towns [Lower, Middle and Upper] and their locations, see John R. Swanton, The Indian Tribes of North America (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1968), pp. 216-18. 10 Verner W. Crane, The Southern Frontier, 1670-1732 (Ann Arbor, Hich.: University of Michigan Press, 1929; reprinted 1956), p. 130. 11 Newton D. Mereness, Travels in the American Colonies (New York: MacMillan Co., 1916), p. 150. 12 Hereness, Travels in the American Colonies, pp. 137, 145. 13 Brown, Old Frontiers, pp. 15-25; Woodward, The Cherokees, pp. 11-21; and Mooney, Mvths of the Cherokee, pp. 14-lc;:- 10 14 Brown, Old Frontiers, p. 18. 15 Ibid., p. 20. 16 Willis, Colonial Conflict, p. 104. 17 Ibid. , p. 25 7; and \.Joodward, The Cherokees, p. 49. 18 Brown, Old Frontiers, pp. 21, 22. 19 Ibid., p. 21. Brown's reference is George Catlin, a contemporary who was a trader with the Indians. A more recently published source is Charles Hudson [see footnote below], who maintains that only the men participated in the ball games, p. 411. See George Chicken's "Journal of the March," Yearbook Q_f_ the. City~ Charleston, 1894, pp. 315354. 2 Charles Hudson, The Southeastern Indians (Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, 1976), p. 411. 21 Henry Timberlake, Memoirs (London, 1765; reprinted by S.C. Williams, Watauga Press, 1927), p. 49. 22 Woodward, The Cherokees, p. 37. 23 Ibid., p. 99. 24 On land-ownership, see Dale Van Every, Ark~ Empire (New York: Men- tor Books, 1963), pp. 56-58. 25 Willis, Colonial Conflict, pp. 21, 78, 104. 26 Ibid., entire work. 27 Ibid., pp. 73, 78, 90. Chapter 2 TUGALOO AND THE CHEROKEE FRONTIER The Cherokees first encountered Europeans when the expedition of Spaniard Hernando DeSoto visited them in 1540. Strange as they must have appeared, however, with their guns, armor, silk clothes, bloodhounds, horses, and crosses, the Spaniards' arrival could not have adequately forewarned the Indians of the total revolution which would soon come about in their way of life. The Spanish expedition, consisting of 500 to 700 Europeans and several hundred Indian slaves, passed to the east of Tugaloo Town, where the Cherokees may not have yet settled. The Spanish saw their first "Chalaque" towns on the Keowee River, where the "naked and lean" Indians nonetheless gave the Spanish several hundred wild turkeys and some deer. Later, at Nacoochee (northwest of present-day Clarkesville), the C~ro kees provided the Conquistadors with 300 dogs to eat. The Spanish passed through this territory without leaving their customary legacy of raping, burning, looting, and enslaving, and perhaps due to this lack of lasting trauma, the Cherokees retained little memory of DeSoto or the visit of Juan Pardo in 1566-1567.1 Indirectly, the wandering "conquistadors" and the longer-lasting missions that the Spanish established along the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts had a considerable impact on Cherokee culture. From the Europeans, the Cherokees eventually acquired horses: Samuel C. Hilliams maintains this occurred about 1700 through trade with the Chickasaws, who had obtained horses somewhat earlier. As generations passed, the Indians apparently bred them in considerable numbers. According to - 11 - 12 Logan's History of Upper South Carolina: "On the luxuriant cane pastures of the Tugaloo and Keowee Rivers ... the Cherokee kept immense droves of horses that roamed as wild and free as the deer of the same region." Early Franklin County deeds indirectly support this claim, for they occasionally mention "old fields" near the sites of the former Tugaloe towns. 2 For over a century, the Cherokees continued their adjustment to the Southern Appalachians and the Tugaloo region, and they experienced little direct contact with the Europeans. Major changes, however, were signaled around 1673, when the first contact between the Cherokees and the white traders was recorded. In 1674, an adventurous South Carolinian, Dr. Henry Woodward, passed through the towns at the headwaters of the Savannah, quite possibly the first white man to pass by the future location of Traveler's Rest.3 In spite of a few such tenuous contacts, the Cherokees remained remote from the English until after 1700. Extensive involvement between Cherokees and Europeans did not come until the colonists' economic and territorial rivalry had spread to include the land of the Cherokees. From 'the vantage point of the English colonists, the Cherokees were an unknown "quantity" before 1700.4 When 150 settlers disembarked on the Southern frontier in 1670, founding the South Carolina colony, they were immediately caught up in all-out imperia~ rivalry. "Wee [sic] are here settled in the very chaps of the Spaniards," they reported. The Spanish had an old base at St. Augustine and outposts well up the South Atlantic coast, which they considered to be theirs.S [See Map 3.] The English, Spanish, and French quickly involved the Indians in 13 their struggle for empire. As Vernor Crane maintains in The Southern Frontier: "In the interior of North America rivalry centered in competi- tion for the Indian trade and Indian alliances." Among the South Caro- linians awoke a "dawning consciousness" of the "ultimate stake" in this contest "the dominion of the continent." Such a prize produced a bitter and lengthy struggle, much of which took place in the neighbor- hood of Tugaloo Town. The conflict did not diminish for over a century and a half, after the land had passed into the hands of American set- tlers and the Eastern Cherokees were all but destroyed. t h e f ate o f t h 1. s strugg 1e was uncerta1. n. 6 But in 1700, In the late 17th Century, the South Carolina colony was controlled by the same group of Englishmen who ran Hudson's Bay Company. Members of this group were well aware of the value of a fur trade with the Indi- ans, so by 1700, South Carolina was the vanguard of British imperial expansion. Enterprising traders of the colony had already penetrated beyond the Mississippi River, "the spread of English influence [being] ... accomplished ... by obscure and often nameless explorers and trad- ers."7 South Carolina held a key position just south of the Alleghen- ies, with access to the tribes of the Southeast denied to the northern English colonies. The English were almost always able to out-trade the Spanish and the French, and this ability was the ''fundamental reason for the success ness .... " 8 of the English in the tortuous politics of the wilder- Sometime before 1696, Jean Couture, a French coureur de bois of great experience, deserted the French in order to pursue the more lucra- tive possibilities of trading with the Indians for the English. Couture passed through the Cherokee territory from the northwest, descended the 14 ancient Unicoi Trail, passed by Tugaloo Town, and arrived in Carolina, where he was welcomed as an explorer and valuable Indian expert. Associated with various Western trade promoters -- some of whom were "seeking riches in the bed of the Savannah River" -- he led an expedition in 1700 to open trade with the Cherokees.9 A trader setting out from Charles Town in the early 1700s had the choice of two trails -- the main path, which led overland from Ochese Creek to the Coosa and Talapoosa rivers, then on to the land of the Chickasaws; and the less-traveled route, which ran up the Savannah River t.'"o the Tugaloo towns, and then on up the Cherokee trail to the mountains. Soon after 1700, traders regularly followed a path up the Tugaloo to get from lhe Cherokees the deer skins that furnished the bulk of the Southeastern Indian trade. "Infinite herds" of deer were killed, their skins tanned and shipped to England before the supply and trade fell off in the mid-18th Century. Goods were carried in and out of the mountains in small pack trains of well-laden horses. Sometimes, Cherokee burdeners would carry 30 skins all the way to Charles Town for "two yards of blue duffields [a type of cloth]."lO On the navigable rivers, such as the Savannah, small craft were used to facilitate transportation. It was stated that "a periago paddled by seven or eight slaves could load 500-700 skins." Years later, however, traders used much larger boats. In 1748, the South Carolina Gazette advertised concerning one such boat: Stolen, or gone adrift, from Mr. Elliott's wharf, last Tuesday night, an Indian-trading Boat, 42 Feet long and upwards of 7 feet wide, with a Cabin in her Stern, and Staples in her Side, and a king bolt in her Head.ll 15 These long, narrow boats, by necessity, displaced only three or four feet of water, as the rapids just above the site of Augusta were a major obstacle to river transportation. Nonetheless, such trading boats were quite likely navigating the waters of the Tugaloo to Tugaloo Town in the early 1700s.l2 As the Carolinians expanded their trade and settlement, they also increased the intensity of the imperial rivalry. The Spanish and French responded to Carolina's growing Indian trade by founding Pensacola in 1698, Biloxi in 1699, and Mobile soon afterwards. The French expansion especially aroused in the English a fear of the "menace of French encirclement," and the French avidly courted the Indians, including the Cherokees.l3 All of the tribes had been provided with ample reasons for hating the Charles Townians by this time. A great many of the Cherokees 0\ved the traders for goods received in advance, and it had also become obvious that the English settlements were spreading rapidly, eliminating coastal tribes. Furthermore, the growing English slave trade in Indians was terrifyingly ruthless. Matters were also aggravated by the fact that most traders were "not (generally) Men of the best Morals," frequently e:xploiting the Indians' fatal susceptibility to "fire-water" to perpetrate unfair exchanges. The situation was so bad that it was said: There are a number of Idle Desolate People \.Jhite men who under the notion of Traders live a Debauched and wicked Life and have nothing to do, and for want of Subsistence become a burthen [sic] to the Cherakee [sic] Indians.l4 These factors combined to provoke the Yamassee War of 1715, when all the Southern tribes, with the exception of the Chickasaw, conspired to destroy the Charles Town settlers because of their hatred for the traders. 16 ln a surprise attack, the Cherokees wiped out the English traders among them, except for one who escaped to Charles Town with a dire warning. The 17,000 Cherokees then prepared to add their numbers to the other Indian hordes arrayed against the 5,000 Carolinians. The French gloated, as the very survival of the Southern English colonies seemed to be in doubt, but the English rallied to defeat the Yamasee, the Apalachee, and some of the Northern tribes as well, causing the Cherokees to waver in their hostility. Also, at this point, the Cherokees must have considered the consequences of their actions where trading was concerned, for in spite of numerous honeyed promises, few goods had found their way to the mountains from the French.l5 At this critical juncture, late in 1715, Colonel Maurice Moore led 300 men to Tugaloo Town to persuade the Cherokees to renew their friendship with the English. The small colonial army marched up the Tugaloo to the village at the mouth of Toccoa Creek, shadowed by Indian scouts for the last several days. Captain George Chicken, already something of a hero, kept a vivid journal of the march. Upon arriving in the Cherokee country, Chicken reported: Thorsday ye 29 - This day we drewe up ower men and marched to tugaloe where ye Indens meat us with the Eigalles Talles [feather and dresses] and made their semimoneys [ceremonies] then come som ould men with black drinke to give us when they retorned back they tould us to march into ye Town they made [a] lane of there men to ye Round Howes where ye Congyer ["Charity Hayge" of Tugaloo, archi magnus of the Lower Towns and firm friend of the English, who greatly esteemed him] satt in State to Receive us after we toucke him by ye hand We stept back then he came and strode before us with his hands oupen to Receive ye 2 white flages wich he did then gave them to one of his men to seat one of ye Tope of ye Round Howes 17 On December 30, the Colonials met with the Conjuror and began "ye dis- cours." The leader of Tugaloo Town told the soldiers that "he and ye English was all one that he nore none of his men should ever fitte ageanst us aney more .... " The Cherokees did not want to fight the Yarnassees either, "as for ye Crickes [Creeks] they hade prornesed to corn down when we came up ... " to negotiate. The Conjuror told the English that he did not wish to fight the Catawbas and Yarnassees, but that he had no objections to taking on the Yuchis and Apalachees. He continued, saying that the Creeks had promised to negotiate with them, and they were expected soon. Staying at the Lower Towns, the English observed two parties among the Cherokees the Conjuror of Tugaloo, who led a peace faction corn- prised mostly of leaders of the Lower Towns, closer to the English; and the Cherokees of the mountains, who were inclined not to betray the other tribes, but rather to continue the war against the English. For the time being, however, the Cherokees promoted negotiations with the oncoming Creeks, and the English agreed to wait, their force scattered among the Lower Towns to make provisions more accessible. The Che1okees' involvement in these crucial negotiations, however, did not abate their love for the ballgarne. On January 7, the team from Tugaloo Town traveled 25 miles to Tohowee, on the Salwege River, for "a greatt ballplay." Four days later, "ther was a greett ballplay att Esttohee [Old Estatoe] agenst ye peaple of Tugaloe .... " 16 In three weeks, a large war party of Creeks secretly arrived [on January 27], consisting of perhaps 200 to 500 warriors. The English at Tugaloo saw only a dozen Creek chieftains, who went into the "Round Hmves." Suddenly, there came a war-whoop and outcries, as the Creek 18 emissaries were "put to the knife" by the Cherokees. Later, the English found out about the Creek war party and its proposal to massacre the scattered Carolina army and then to fall upon the frontier settlements. The Carolinians greatly appreciated the closeness of the call, for the Creeks had almost convinced the Cherokees to agree to their plan when, "as Providence order'd it, they chang'd their minds and fell upon the Creeks and Yamusees [sic] who were in their towns and kill'd every man of them." The remainder of the Creek war party was then driven off . 1 7 This "massacre" at Tugaloo Town had far-reaching consequences. Disaster for the Southern English colonies was thus narrowly averted, and the basis was laid for a trading alliance between Charles Town and the Cherokees, which waxed and waned for the next 50 years. The Yamassee War opened tlte eyes of many English colonials to the overall importance of the imperial struggle, and, finally, the Creeks were motivated to remove from northwestern Georgia and retire closer to the French at Mobile. For the next few generations, the Creeks would seek to wield the balance of power in the Southeast, and they still sought this as late as the 1780s, when a Creek raiding party ambushed and wounded Jesse Walton on his Tugaloo land.l8 In 1717, a trading factory was established near Tugaloo Town close to the site where Devereaux Jarrett's bridge would one day cross into South Carolina, and the Tugaloo crossroads increased in importance as trade between the English and the Cherokees developed. During the 18th Century, Charles Town traders reached the Cherokees by water routes or "well-beaten roads." The Indian trading paths "really began," Vernor Crane observes in The Southern Frontier, "at the fall-line of the riv- 19 ers," and Fort Congaree, built in 1718 and situated "at the head of the Santee Swamp," was a major stopping-place on the trails to the Catawbas and the Cherokees. From Congaree, traders could reach Tugaloo and the Lower Towns. According to Crane, from Congaree: [The] path followed the southern margin of the Congaree watershed, through Saluda Old Town and Ninety-Six, so-called because ninety-six miles from Keowee, and then crossed over to the headwaters of the Savannah River. From Dividing Paths near Apple Tree Creek one path ran westward to the heart of the Lower Towns on the Tugaloo River, the other to Keowee. At Tugaloo ... the English maintained one of their principal factories ... Westward from Tugaloo, at the head of the Chattahoochee, fifteen to thirty miles distant, were the frontier towns towards the Creeks: Soquee or Sukeki, Naguchee, and Echota. From Echota a difficult mountain path led by way of Unacoi [sic] Gap over the lofty Blue Ridge, then through the Valley Towns to the Head of the Hiwasee, a branch to the Tennessee, and ultimately across the high Unakas by the Northwest Passage of the traders to the Overhill Cherokee. Rather than turn southward through the Lower Towns, however, most trad- ers went to the mountain Cherokees by way of Keowee and Rabun Gap. From Charles Town, the nearest Cherokee village was 300 miles; the farthest, 500. 19 [See Map 4.] As the trade developed, more and more traders used the Savannah River route to the Cherokees. Vernor Crane describes this path as fol- lows: Long before the founding of Georgia, the Carolina traders followed a path to the Cherokee from Old Fort, opposite Savannah Town, along the right bank of the Savannah River. Later, this became the main highway between Georgia and the mountain towns. But the usual Carolina route from Savannah Town ran northeast of the river. Both trails ~ntered the Cherokee country at Tugaloo, where also ended the Indian path, sometimes used by traders, from Coweta Town on the Chattahoochee.20 -,1,-;:ji""' I , -~ L 0 R IDA OF-MEXICO ~~~. 'cis~ -- - j( South Ca'rolina and t h e Southeastern Frontier Around 1775. Trave 1er s Rest. ' *Site of R NJ I C K ~'', 1t . I ,THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY NORTH ... COMPILED FROM MAPS BY c STUART, HUNTER, AND ROYCE ..J.P. BROWN, 1937 :t: ~ C' THE 6ARREN.5 <9'"51'-9~~ OF KENTUCKY "1-- BEAR CREEK WAS TH~ WOTfRN LIMIT OF THE CHfROKfE NATioN. 0 /0 J.O John P. Brown's Map of the Cherokee Country, 18,th Century. 20 The Yamassee War established an alliance between the South Carolinians and Cherokees that never satisfied the Indians. Indeed, for the Cherokees, the 18th Century was a troubled, even disastrous, time. The warriors could never seem to get enough guns and ammunition from Carolina to put them on a secure basis with other tribes, and they constantly sought a more abundant source of trade. The headmen sent numerous emissaries to the Virginians, Pennsylvanians, and the French, seeking trade. While almost constant warfare made armament a necessity, it also distracted braves from the deer-hunting they must do to gain purchase power for guns and other trade goods. Add to these problems the unsavory character of traders, their eagerness to develop the rum trade, the ravages of plague, and the steady growth of settlement, and it becomes easy to understand why this century was one of continuing crisis for the Cherokees at Tugaloo and elsewhere. By the middle of the 18th Century, the wise among the Cherokees were aware of the degree to which the tribe had become dependent on manufactured goods. Skiagunota, an old war chief of the Lower Towns, expressed this realization: My people ... cannot live independent of the English ... The clothes we wear we cannot make ourselves. They are made for us. We use their ammunition with which to kill deer. He cannot make our guns. Every necessity of life we must have from the white people.21 At the Tugaloo villages, the quality of life suffered. Decades of fighting, hunting, and living near the white men and their trade had revolutionized Cherokee lifestyle. But the benefits of metal goods, clothing, and decorations were more than offset by the evils of disease, 21 war, indebtedness, and drunkenness. Farming suffered from the distrac- tions of disease and war. The religion and power of the "priestly cult" declined, while the position of women became increasingly one of aliena- tion. Meanwhile, village rivalry for tribal leadership -- mostly among the Chota, Keowee, and Tellicoe -- rent the Cherokees. of the land saved the Indians from povertv. 22 Only the bounty The \.Jar with the Creeks was a constant problem for the exposed towns on the Tugaloo. Raiding parties could strike at any time, and it seemed to the Cherokees that the English were favoring their enemies. The Charles Townians set the Creeks' prices for trade goods at a lower rate, and when the Conjuror of Tugaloo, a proven friend of the English, was murdered by Creeks just outside Charles Town in the early 1720's, the Cherokees suspected English connivance. 23 In 1724, they looked the other way when a party of Creeks under "Gogel Eyes" looted the station at Tugaloo, wounding trader John Sharp and making off with slaves and goods. It was reported that the Cherokees felt that Sharp had been liv- ing up to his name.24 In 1725, Colonel George Chicken set out from Charles Town on a mis- sion to patch up the relationship between the English and Cherokees. He visited a score of towns, explaining the Carolinians' position, pressing gifts on the headmen, including the "Warrior Jf Tugelo," one of thL "Most Noted Men in the Nation." In mid-September, Chicken climaxed his mission at Tugaloo Town, \vhere "At the said Tmm they fired a Volly [sic] at my Entrance of their Council House a,d Ussed [sic] their Cere- mony before me .... " Chicken informed the Indians that the English had demanded satisfaction of the Creeks for their raid on Sharp's trading- post, and the Creeks had alreaciy returned the slaves.25 In October of that year occurred an event which indicates something 22 of what life must have been like for the Cherokees in the towns on the Tugaloo during those years. In the "dead of night," four Creeks stealthily approached Old Estatoe, the best fortified town in the area, fired against the village and fled into the night with the Cherokees in hot, but futile pursuit. Finallv, in 1755, the Cherokees alleviated some of the tension of such surprise attacks by defeating the Creeks in a battle at Taliwa, just southwest of present-day Dahlonega. 26 Far worse than war, however, was the devastation wrought by smallpox, especially an epidemic which swept the whole Cherokee Nation in 1738-39. In two years, the tribe's population was reduced by half. AJthough the Indians were particularly susceptible to this white man's disease, possessing little immunity against it, they worsened its impact hy treat] ng the accompanying fever in a traditional manner: taking steamy sweat-baths, followed by plunges into disastrously cold water. At first, the tribal "magi and religious physicians" attributed the plague to "aldulterous [sic] intercourses" of the young people, who had been accused of having "violated" marriage customs "in every thicket." As they had supposedly earned their illness through exposure to "night dews," the shamen prescribed staying outside all night, splashing on cold water, and singing "Yo Yo etc. with a doleful tone." These remedies, of course, did not cure the smallpox. Thus: When they found their theological regimen had not the desired effect, but that the infection gained upon them, thev held a second consultation, and deemed it the best method to sweat their patients, and plunge them into the river, -- which was accordingly done. Their rivers being very cold in summer, bv reason of the numberless springs, which pour from the hills and mountains -- and the pores of their bodies being open to receive the cold, it rushing in through the whole frame, they immediately expired: 23 upon which, all the magi prophetic tribe broke their old consecrated physic-pots, and threw away all the other pretended holy things they had for physical use, imagining they had lost their divine power by being polluted~ and shared the common fate of their countrv. A great many killed themselves; for being naturally proud, they are always peeping into their looking glasses, and are never genteelly drest [dressed], according to their mode, without carrying one hung over their shoulders: by which means, seeing themselves disfigured, without hope of regaining their former beauty, some shot themselves, others cut their throats, some stabbed themselves with knives, and others with sharp-pointed canes; many threw themselves with sullen madness into the fire, and were slowly expired, as if they had been utterly divested of the native power of feeling pain.27 The French seized this opportunity to spread rumors that the English were purposefully circulating the disease in order to exterminate the Cherokees and claim their lands. The Indians were inclined to believe them. 28 The prevalence of warfare, the decline of religion and farming -- all tended to undermine the Cherokee women's general position in the tribe. Nonetheless, many English traders found it expedient and desir- able to marry high-placed women of the various villages. Although the Cherokee women were often attracted to the wealthy traders, they \vere also inclined to marry them in order to regain lost status, and the English married into the Cherokee tribe to an unparalleled extent on the North American frontier. Hundreds of mixed marriages took place over the years, but mixed-bloods did not exercise any considerable leadership in the tribe before the 1760s. However, as hostility developed between the Cherokees on the one hand and the traders and settlers on the other, intermarriage was to achieve great historical significance, for many women were forced to choose between white husbands and tribal loyalties. During the course of the Revolution, some -- led by Nancy hlard -- came 24 to favor reconciliation with the American rebels over continued hostility and bloodshed in service to the English Crown. 29 The founding of Georgia did not relieve the Cherokees from the pressures of war, trade, and change, although the Georgia colonists did attempt to compete with South Carolina for Indian trade after 1735. TI1ey soon built Fort Augusta, in 1739, and were well-located to offer the Cherokees better prices than the Carolinians could. However, this competition gave the Indians only short-term relief, for apparently the colonists found it more profitable to compete in rum-trading than in useful goods, and colony prohibitions against the liquor trade were never cnforceable.30 By 1751, settlers werP nearing the Tugaloo area, and their steady advance gradually brought about a change in the tribe's thinking. Historians such as Woodward and \villis discern by the 1760s a trend in the Cherokee tribe to put less effort into warring against other tribes, as well as less disunity and competition among the Cherokee towns. From the time of the French and Indian Wars (1754-1761) and the Cherokees' disastrous war against the English colonies (1760-1761), the tribe was increasingly preoccupied with defending its lands from the encroaching white settlers. 31 The French and English struggle to control North America erupted into armed clashes in the mid-1750s. The Cherokees had accumulated plentiful grjevances against the English and made the fateful choice during this time of siding with the French. As the Cherokees and colonists traded bloody blows, the Lower Towns led in anti-English sentiment. Tugaloo Town had harbored a grudge after 1751, when Carolina thieves stole over 300 deerskins from Tugaloo hunters. The Tugaloos suspected 25 Justice James Francis of Ninety-Six of protecting the culprits, and young Cherokee warriors retaliated by mingling with Seneca war parties on the Georgia frontier. War came to the Tugaloo towns in June of 1760, when Colonel John Montgomery led a surprise night-time attack on Keowee and Estatoe, routing the Indians and burning the towns. Just a year later, the whole Tugaloo cluster was laid waste by Colonel James Grant and 2,000 men. The English came as before in "Green Corn Month" June -- and gave the Lower Towns a ransacking from which they never recovered. Grant's daily journal captured the tenor of the campaign: We halted (at Etchoe). Corn about the town was destroyed. Parties were sent out to burn the scattered houses, pull up beans, peas, and corn, and to demolish everything eatable in the country. Our Indian scouts, with one of our parties, destroyed Neowee and Kanuga. A scout of our Indians killed a Cherokee and wounded another at Ayore. A miserable old squaw from Tasso was brought in and put to death in the Indian camp by one of the Catawbas.32 Grant's army carried the attack into the Middle Towns and then abandoned the campaign in July, out of provisions. Fifteen towns and 1,500 acres of crops had been razed, and 5,000 Cherokees fled into the mountains, only to face starvation. The Lower Towns' "immense" herds of horses soon starved also, with some perhaps being eaten by the hungry Indians. While some historians say the Lower Towns were never rebuilt, Brown, in Old Frontiers, maintains that some of the tmvns at the Tugaloo cluster were restored after the colonists reoccupied Fort Prince George in the early 1760s. It is reasonably certain, however, that Tugaloo Town never recovered from Grant's onslaught in 1761. At the onset of the Revolution in 1776, Colonel Samuel Jack and 200 Georgians completed the dL'struction of the towns at the headwaters of the Tugaloo. Colonel Jack 26 w:ts a<'C'ompaniecl by Lieul:"t'll c 0 -f ~ z 0 ::0 -; I () )> ::0 0 r z )> 8 NORTH --- LEGEND MARCH OF THE ARMY MARCH OF DETACHMENT X BATTLE GROUNDS INDIAN TOWNS ):1 FORTS 27 FOOTNOTES Chapter 2: Tugaloo ~nd the Cherokee Frontier 1 Willis, Colonial Conflict, p. 11. Willis says that the Cherokees did not settle on the Tugaloo until after 1600. Also, Woodward, The Cherokees, pp. 22, 23. 2 Samuel C. Williams, ed., Adair's History 2f the American Indians (New York: Promontory Press, 1930), pp. 242, 340. John H. Logan,~ His- tory~ the Upper Country Qf South Carolina (Charleston, S.C.: S.C. Courtenay Co., 1859), Vol. I, pp. 158-59. 3 Crane, The Southern Frontier, pp. 15, 16. 4 Ibid., pp. 16-21. Also, Willis, Colonial Conflict, p. 16. 5 Crane, The Souther~ Frontier, p. 3. 6 On the story of this struggle, read Willis, Colonial Conflict; Crane, Jhe Southern Frontier, p. v.; and David H. C~ckran, The Cherokee Frontier, Conflict and Survival, 1740-1762 (Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962). 7 Crane, The Southern Frontier, p. 22. 8 Ibid. , P 23. 9 Ibid., PP 30, 42, 43. 10 Ibid., PP 109-12, 126, 128. 11 Ibid., p. 128. See also, A.R. Kelly and Clemens de Baillou, "Excavation of the Presumptive Site of Estatoe," Southern Indian Studies, Vol. 12, October 1960, pp. 3-31. 12 Crane, The Southern Frontier, p. 128. l3 Ibid., pp. 48, 61, 62. Also, E. Merton Coulter, Georgia: ~Short History (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1942), p. 11. 14 Willis, Colonial Conflict, pp. 61, 62, 68. l5 On the Yamassee War, see Crane, The Southern Frontier, pp. 175-85. 16 Trogden, The History of Stephens County, p. 5. 28 17 Willis, Colonial Conflict, pp. 41-43; and Crane, The Southern Frontier, pp. 150-52. 18 On the results of the Yamassee War referred to here and on Page 20, see Willis, Colonial Conflict, pp. 43-47; Crane, The Southern Frontier, pp. 182-85. 19 Crane, The Southern Frontier, pp. 129, 130; Willis, Colonial Conflict, pp. 41-43. 20 Crane, The Southern Frontier, pp. 132, 133. 21 Corkran, The Cherokee Frontier, p. 14. Also, Willis, Colonial Conflict, p. 9. 22 Willis, Colonial Conflict, pp. 4, 125. 23 Ibid., p. SO. 24 Crane, The Southern Frontier, p. 266. 25 Mereness, Travels in the American Colonies, p. 145. 26 Ibid., pp. 160, 161; and Brown, Old Frontiers, p. 26. 27 James Adair, History~ the American Indians (New York: Promontory Press, 1930), pp. 244, 245. 28 Brown, Old Frontiers, pp. 51, 52. 29 Willis, Colonial Conflict, p. 125; and Woodward, The Cherokees, p. 86. 30 Willis, Colonial Conflict, pp. 60, 61. 31 l_l?_id., p. 4; and Woodward, The Cherokees, pp. 86, 87. 32 Bro~1, Old Frontiers, pp. 90-96, 110; and Woodward, The Cherokees, pp. 7'J, 77, 78. 33 Brown, Old Frontiers, p. 154. Also, Corkran, The Cherokee Frontier, p. 247. Corkran indicates that Old Estatoe may have been defunct by the time of Grant's mission. He also reports that the treaty forced on the Cherokees at the end of the French and Indian Wars included a cession of hunting lands within 40 miles of the Tugaloo towns, p. 262. Samuel Jack's expedition of Georgians did not finish off the Cherokee Lower Towns for good. Ben Hawkins visited the ~acoochee town of Little Chote as late as 1796; "Nacoochee Valley: Early Cross- roads," an unpublished paper by Dr. Thomas J. Lumsden, Clarkesville, Georgia. On hli lliamson, see Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. X, p. 746; on ~larbury, St-'L' ChadL'S C. Jones, The l.!_i~ o__f_ Georgi~, Vol. V (Bos Lon: Hough ton, Mifflin and Company, 1883), pp. 245-4 7. On the horses, see Logan, History of l.pper South Carolina, p. 159. Chapter 3 JESSE l.JALTON: FRONTIERSHAN AND SETTLER The Tugaloo River lands were pioneered by white settlers at the climax of a wave of settlement which began in Pennsylvania, rolled through Virginia and North Carolina, down the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge, and into northern Georgia by the mid-l780s. Host of the first grantees to acquire land in what would become Franklin County, Georgi ;1, were from North C;1 roli na and Virginia. Obese and somewhat rapacious, Colonel Ben Cleveland took out a grant to the site of Old Tur,aloo Town in 1785, while another veteran frontiersman, Hajor Jesse W;1lton, obtained a survcv to land sp;1nning the river at a ford slightly downstream. 1be ford became known as Walton's Ford, and the good-sized creek which entered the river nearby became Walton's Creek. Traveler's Rest would one day stand at the southern border of Walton's 400-acre grant. 1 [See Map 6.] Jesse Halton led a life of remarkable adventure and accomplishment on the Southeastern frontier. The location and year of his birth are not precisely kno~1, but it probably took place in Goochland County, Virginia. When his father, William, died in 1746, Jesse was mentioned in his will as the youngest son, and since the next older, William, was born in 1736, Jesse's birth must have occurred sometime around 1740. This makes him a contemporary of his frontier compatriots -- Joseph Hartin, John Sevier, and the Cleveland brothers, Ben, John, and Larkin. 2 The major route of the great ~id-18th-century migration down the - 29 - 400 Ac. I I I \ \AI/\1 Tf"'\1\1 f"'DJ\I'.IT f"'\1'.1 TU~ Tllr-t\1 ()() RI\/J:"R 17AF\ 30 eastern slopes of the Appalachian Mountains was known as the "Great Philadelphia Wagon Road," which skirted the mountains from Pennsylvania to Georgia, following "an ancient warriors path" of the Iroquois. Settlers -- a great flood of English, Scotch-Irish, German, and, later, African people -- began to utilize this route along the frontier of every colony south of Pennsylvania in 1744. After 1760, this migration reached dramatic proportions. As Carl Bridenbaugh observed in Myths and Realities, Societies of the Colonial South: In the last sixteen years of the colonial era, southbound traffic along the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road was numbered in tens of thousands; it was the most heavily traveled road in all America and must have had more vehicles jolting along its rough and tortuous way than all the other main roads put together.3 In the mid-1760s, this land-hungry tide of people swept up three young men in Virginia -- Ben Cleveland, Jesse Walton, and Joseph Martin -- and carried them eventually to the Tugaloo River. Like twigs in a stream, Walton and Cleveland lodged for a time in western North Carolina. In those years, the wagon road was hardly more than a trail in that state, yet by 1765, most of the road had been cleared for horsedrawn vehicles; its maintenance supposedly was overseen by countyappointed conunissioners, while local farmers earned "off-season" income by filling holes, endeavoring to defeat the mud with gravel. From the Yadkin River, the main portion of the wagon road ran on to Augusta, and later, a lesser branch found its way to western South Carolina and crossed the Tugaloo into northeastern Georgia -- to the famous crossroads known as "The Dividings," at the site of Clayton in Rabun County, the ancient Indian crossroads near Apple Tree Creek. According to Joan 31 A. Sears: Settlers coming into Georgia could come along the trail [the Great Wagon Road] to 'the Dividings,' turn south, and continue along a major Indian trail called the Unicoi ... This route, which later became the first vehicular way in northeast Georgia, began at the Tugaloo River.4 By the time Jesse Walton began to impinge on historical records, he was a restless settler in western North Carolina who had married Mary Walker. Around 1770, however, he and his near neighbor in Surry County, Ben Cleveland, set out -- along with William Hightower, Jesse Bond, and Edward Rice to sample the hunting grounds of fabled "Kaintuck." They traveled in late summer over 300 miles into the wilderness, stopping on the Kentucky River. They had a fine time pursuing game, but in October, when they prepared to depart ... with the profits of their hunt ... pelfry and furskins, they was discovered by sum Cherokee Indians who at first manifested friendship but err long they all was made prisoners and all their property and fire arms taken from them -- their hats and shoes; and an old shot gun was given in return. According to one account, the Cherokee leader told the hunters that all the game on Indian land belonged to the Indians, pointed east, and said: "That is your way home, walk." The hungry hunters had time to contemplate these words as they trod the 300 barefoot miles back to North Carolina. Finally, they slaughtered a faithful friend, Halton's dog. "They killed Toler," it was said, "and found him very fat, for a dog .... .. s Ben Cleveland, however, was not one to let his property go quite so (' countrv, 32 in oppos1t1on to wishes of his friends, to whose remonstrances he replied 'that they (the Indians) had robbed him of al1 he had, that he would as soon die as to be left in so destitute a condition.' A few months later, Ben got sum of his confidential friends and after making the necessary arrangements visited the Town where the Indians resided that had plundered him and his party. The head man after being sattisfyed [sic] made ample sattisfaction [sic] for their losses. Historians agree that upon Cleveland's return "he saw the lands on the Tugulo [sic] River, now Pendleton District, So. Carolina but as the Revolution was carne [sic] on, he never had it in his po..Jer to Explore the country untill [sic] it was over." 6 The record does not say what Cherokee towns they had visited, to be returning by way of the Tugaloo, and this memoir of Devereaux Jarrett's neighbor, Ben Cleveland, Jr., fails to mention whether or not Walton accompanied the "rescue mission." Hhen the colonies opted for independence, Jesse Halton was an experienced militia officer in Surry County, North Carolina. According to the Draper Manuscripts, Walton's company of minutemen was the first to be raised in that county.7 In August of 1775, Walton and Ben Cleveland were on the Surry Committee of Safety, which took a stand against taxation without representation, resolving: ... that those who now would subject all America or this Province to Dependency on the Parliament of Great Britain are guilty of a very Dangerous Innovation injurious to the Crown and inconsistent with the Liberty of American subjects; and that by the Law of Nature and the British Constitution no man can be Legally Taxed, or have his property taken from him without his consent, given by himself or his Representatives.8 33 Soon, Walton and Cleveland were appointed to confiscate Tory ammu- nition, and in September of 1775, Halton became a member of the Special Committee of "secrecy and intelligence." During that winter, he ful- filled the position in investigating the lGyalty of the Moravians at Wachovia, North Carolina, who were subsequently cleared of charges of aiding the British. The Moravians, however, apparently took a dim view of Walton and his company, for when under investigation by the "Commit- tee of Safety," they wrote that one day, "Capt. Walton and his company drew up before the tavern; some of the men spoke joyfully of the booty they were going to get." At this time, the Moravians reported that Wal- ton had tested their loyalty through their willingness to accept the Patriots' tender: "Capt. Walton and his Lieutenant, Benj amen Cleveland went into the store and workshops and took what they wanted, charg- ing it to public account." In February of 1776, the Horavian Records again briefly mentioned Walton's company, also in an unfavorable light. The community at Bethabara (near Wachovia) "had been frightened by men wearing buck-tails in the hat, presumably from [Walton's] Company, which has been roughly treating people on the Atkin."9 Also in February, agent Walton was active in leading the militia in the capture of two of the area's foremost Tories, who were charged with conspiring to help the British. Before long, Walton's company was on the march, along with General Griffith Rutherford, to confront 3,500 Loyalists at Cross Creek. Before the Surry County men could arrive to ~ather any laurels, however, the Patriots had won the Battle of Moore's Creek, and Walton's men were allotted the unsatisfying task of guarding prisoners. The w;~tc-hful Mor<1vians wrote: '34 Harch 13. Capt. Halton and his companv spent the night in the tavern [at Salem] on their return from Cross Creek, which caused a great deal of disturbance there, though it was fairly quiet in the town.lO Early in the Revolution, the traders' custom of marrying into the Cherokee tribe became a prime factor in the course of the war on the frontier. Nancy Hard, a "Ghighau" or "Beloved Woman" of the Cherokees since she fought in her husband's place at the Battle of Taliwa in 1755, took an active role in promoting peace between the Cherokees and the settlers. Respected by both peoples as "queenly and commanding," Nancy married Bryant Ward, a trader, around 1760. \\Then she could not keep the Cherokees off the warpath through persuasion, she warned the whites of impending attack in July of 1776. One of those who felt that the two peoples should learn to live together, the "r;highau" acted to save lives on bot h s1"des. 11 By May of 1776, Jesse Walton held the rank of major. That summer, the Cherokees of the Middle Towns in North Carolina were perpetrating bloody raids on the frontier settlements, as Nancy Ward had warned. Rutherford's brigade was ordered after the "hostiles," and Walton was dispatched with a force of 300 under Lieut. Col. Joseph Williams to proteet the settlers on the waters of the Holston, Watauga, and Nolachucky rivers. They were to join Colonel William Christian at the Long Island of the Holston (Joseph Martin's Station) and combine for an attack on the Overhills. The Cherokees were shortly forced to sue for peace, granted on the condition of their meeting at Long Island to cede a portion of much-coveted land to Virginia and North Carolina. Part of the Surry County troops remained in the western country to build and garrison a fort, and under Jesse Walton's command, Fort 35 Williams was placed on the Nolachucky River near Jacob Brown's settlement. Walton must have been quite attracted to the Tennessee country, for, in spite of the dangers, he bought a plantation in the neighborhood in 1777. Nearby, Ben Cleveland was commanding a garrison at John Carter's Fort on the Hatauga, and the two North Carolina outposts cooperated with Joseph Martin's Station in an endeavor to protect the frontier settlements. 13 That summer, all the soldiers attended the treaty conference at the Long Island of the Holston. Fort Williams was taken over by Colonel John Sevier and western troops, and when Sevier moved to a plantation near Walton's, he and Jesse are presumed to have developed an "abiding friendship. 14 Soon Walton exercised political leadership in the area, becoming a justice of the Court of Pleas for Washington County in February of 1778. Before taking a seat on the bench, however, he apparently returned to Surry County to gather his possessions and move his family. In }fay of that year, Walton and Sevier were commissioned to oversee confiscated Tory property. [Years later, Draper's sources claimed that Ben Cleveland had grown wealthy through his leading role in confiscating Tory property; however, the present author has not seen any speculation along these lines regarding Walton, and it is not known how Walton acquired his wealth.]lS In the fall of 1778, Walton was instrumental in the founding of what would one day be Tennessee's first town, Jonesborough, being appointed in November to "lay off the place for erecting the courthouse, prison, and stocks." He was out to make an impact in North Carolina politics, for he chose to name the town after one> of the state's leading Pau-iots, Declaration of [ndl'T)('ndc>nce-signer- lli_llie Jon~s. l.Jalton was 36 chosen to serve as Washington Co11nty's representative in the sU1te leg- islature, and in Halifax in 1779, he introduced a bill officially establishing Jonesborough. He was appointed: to lay out and direct the building of said town ... and to make or cause to be made a fair plan of said town and number the lots, and take subscriptions for said lots, which shall be done by ballot in a fair and open manner ... Every grantee of any lot shall within three years build on said lot one brick, stone, or framed house, twenty feet long and sixteen feet wide ... with a brick or stone chimney .... Walton acquired nine of these lots in 1781, although he could have hardly planned to put a house on each. However, these lots made him Jonesborough's most substantial property owner. His old Kentucky hunt- ing friend, Jesse Bond, apparently a tag-along, bought two lots. 16 Jesse was the "leading spirit" in the town, and the most active town commissioner, his duties including executing deeds, keeping accounts, and sitting on the county court -- all this when he was not away serving in the North Carolina Legislature or in combat. Unfortunately, Walton's lot speculation was undermined by Jonesborough's slow growth in the beginning. 17 Washington County records also show that Jesse Walton often sat with the court at Jonesborough. Beset by the dangerous difficulties of the Revolution, intermittent Indian wars, and a semi-barbarous populace, this court was determined to establish law and order on the frontier through stern justice. Horse thieves were punished by being pilloried for one hour, having both ears cut off, receiving 39 lashes each, and having Hand T branded on their cheeks. 1g Apparently, citizens of the Watauga region were not all 37 Whigs, for the court minutes show frequent efforts to deal with the Tory problem, several individuals being tried for high treason. In the summer of 1779, Walton and Jesse Bond appeared as witnesses accusing one Benjamen Holley of that crime. Holley must have fled, however, for the records contain no mention of his trial, but it is reported that his property was confiscated. Another somewhat mysterious case was that of James Gibson, who was called before the justices in February of 1781, while Jesse Walton sat on the bench. Gibson seems to have publicly expressed an unacceptable opinion of the court, for the records only state: James Gibson being brought before the court for throwout Speeches against the Court, to wit, saying that the Court was perjured and would not do Justice, and other Glaring Insults -- the Court on Considering the matter are of opinion: That the said James Gibson is Guilty of a flagrant breach of Peace and for the Same and the Glareing [sic] and dareing [sic] insults offered to the Court do order that the said James Gibson be fined the sum of fifteen thousand pounds and that he be kept in custody till the same be paid.l9 The outcome of this case is not given, nor do the records reveal any details of the trial and Gibson's potent accusations. Meanwhile, the Revolutionary War continued. Fearing and hating the encroaching settlers, many Cherokees were eager to lay waste to the frantier. In 1779, Joseph Martin, Virginia's Cherokee agent, wrote to Governor Patrick Henry that the Chickamauga branch of the tribe was planning to ravage the western settlements. Henry proposed a joint attack on the Indians from North Carolina and Virginia, and Colonel Charles Robertson was chosen to lead the Watauga forces, while Walton was to be commissary. lie refused the posl hul dLd agree to be contractor for the army. 38 and was given ~5,000 to provide supplies. Samuel C. Williams, historian of Tennessee, reported that \valton went along on the ensuing campaign, which moved down the Watauga from Big Mouth Creek, where the Americans "wholesomely chastized" [sic] the Chickamaugas. 20 Walton rounded out his Revolutionary career by serving as one of three auditors to settle claims by citizens against the state for property impressed during the war, participating in the Battle of King's Mountain, and joined another campaign against the Cherokees. History books yield no special mention of Walton's part in the heroics at King's Mountain. 21 On September 26, 1780, several hundred "overmountain men," including Jesse Walton, gathered at Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga and resolved to march southeast and confront a Tory army controlling the Carolina "Upcountry," led by a redoubtable British Regular Colonel Patrick Ferguson. On the same day, Colonel Elijah Clarke led 400 refugees from Dennis Mill, Georgia, heading for the Watauga settlement -- the nearest area then under the control of the American rebels. The Patriot cause had suffered calamities in Georgia, and in mid-September, Clarke had led a small force in an attack on Augusta. Its repulse had brough about the arduous march which the Whig refugees then faced. Eating little besides nuts and berries gathered on the way, Clarke's people made an 11-day journey, harassed by the spectre of defeat and hostile Indians. The illiterate Clarke bitterly dictated a report: Colonel Cruger, from Ninety-Six, with a body of Tories and Indians, followed us into the upper settlements of Georgia and, finding us out of reach, fell on the sick and wounded together with old men, women and children of the families of those that adhered to or retreated with us. Lads were obliged to dance naked between two large fires until they were scorched to death; men stripped, dismembered and scalped, and afterwards hung up; It is too painful for me to dwell on this subject.22 39 At the Watauga, the refugees were sheltered with the Seviers, Waltons, and other families in the area. Meanwhile, the frontiersmen rode and marched down the mountains by another route, encountered Ferguson's Tories, and bloodily defeated them at the Battle of King's Mountain on October 7. 2 3 The Georgia refugees arrived at the Watauga settlement, where events proceeded rapidly. Clarke joined the fighting in South Carolina, was wounded, and carne back to winter at the Watauga. Soon after returning from King's Mountain, John Sevier led an expedition, which included Clarke and Walton, against the threatening Chickamauga Cherokees. The backwoodsrnen burned several towns, sparing only Nancy Ward's Echota; their most decisive victory occurred at Boyd's Creek. There, on December 16, 1780, a small army of frontiersmen marching south of the French Broad River discovered a Cherokee ambush and turned the tables on the Indians. Walton capably commanded the right wing of the frontiersmen, "briskly wheeling" his men in a pincers rnanuever designed to trap the Cherokees. The left wing failed its part in the task, but nonetheless, a decisive victory was achieved. 24 At Echota, Nancy Ward sent the hungry troops some cattle, a few of which Clarke immediately ordered slaughtered. This action greatly piqued the recently-arrived Joseph Martin, however, who was apparently already chagrined over Sevier's invasion of the Cherokee country without waiting for him. Martin reclaimed the gift of the cattle of his motherin-law, an act which enraged Clarke. \Vhen Clarke carne up, ... hot words were exchanged until Martin drew his sword. Clark, with a stroke like lightning, thrust aside the sword, jumped him with his fists, and a lively fight 40 ensued. Both were large men and of impulsive temperments, Colonel Sevier had difficulty separating them and adjusting their differences.25 Back at Watauga, the restive Clarke decided late in the winter of 1781 to return to the field in Carolina and Georgia, and Jesse Walton and 130 Wataugans went along to help the Georgians "in struggles which were growing bitter instead of ameliorating."26 After a few battles, Walton must have led the Watauga men back to Tennessee. There can be little doubt that his association with Clarke was a factor in his moving to Georgia about four years later.27 In spite of his great successes in Tennessee, however, Walton was apparently dissatisfied in Washington County, and in 1783, he visited Georgia '\vi th a view toward removal." Like his comrades-in-arms, he was always on the lookout for more and better lands. It was taken for granted on the frontier that any man worth his salt would reach for as much land as he could possibly hope to get. The acquisition of land was one means by which any man might aspire to wealth, and it was an American principle as well established then as it has remained since that material advancement should constitute any man's major purpose in life.28 No doubt Walton's decision to move to the Tugaloo River was influenced by the issuance of bounty grants in Franklin County by Georgia. It happened that General Elijah Clarke was again visiting Sevier on the Watauga in 1783, and historian Samuel C. Williams hypothesized that Clarke may have lured Walton southward.29 Certainly Walton would have been influenced by the plans of his old comrades -- the Clevelands, Jesse Bond, and Edward Rice -- to settle on Lhe Tugaloo. Whenever possible, frontier people preferred to migrate in groups of several families, and thus had Elijah Clarke come to Georgia in 1773. The advantages of ready familiarity 41 with neigbbors were numerous in those years of mutual dependency. Several of Jesse Walton's Watauga neighbors appear in both the Washington County, Tennessee, and the Franklin County, Georgia, records, among them being Jesse Bond and Edward Rice; William Gray and James Wyly also lived near Walton in Tennessee before moving to the Tugaloo. It is not known whether these families moved together, but they well may have. 30 Other Revolutionary War veterans whom Walton probably knew also settled there, for the attractive lands were easily available to veterans.31 The list of Walton's neighbors who were veterans included Leonard Marbury, Elijah Isaacs, William Clark, James Blair, James "Horse Shoe" Robinson, and John Stonecypher. Samuel C. Williams stresses the presence of George Walton, one of Georgia's signers of the Declaration of Independence, and his family near Franklin County as an explanation for Jesse Walton's move, but since Jesse settled near the Clevelands, it seems that this friendship was the stronger lure. The relationship of the two Walton families was not as close as Williams thought it to be. 32 In 1785, Jesse Walton began to take out grants on the Tugaloo River. Of his several tracts, only one, 287-1/2 acres on Halton's Creek, was close to the Walton's Ford tract and in the vicinity of the future site of Traveler's Rest. Sometime soon after deciding to settle on the Tugaloo, he faced the unenviable task of moving his family and belongings down from Washington County, a journey which was surely accomplished by 1786. Walton had to organize the transportation of his large family, slaves, and possessions along Indian trails from the Nolachuchy to the Tugaloo. The remova 1 was accomplished without \vagons -perhaps along the route which Clarke had followed \vhen fleeing Augusta in 1780. 42 From the inventory of Walton's estate, it is possible to hypothesize the difficult journey of the family. An unknown number of people and animals made up the Walton caravan. Probably there was more than one family making the journey, but in any case, well-armed men and boys led the way down forest paths. Some may have been mounted on a few of Jesse Walton's eight or so horses; however, certainly most of the horses were utilized to transport the household furniture, kitchen utensils, tools, and other belongings. The pack horses, women, and slaves followed the party's vanguard, and behind these were driven the few score cattle and hogs, as well as a handful of sheep. The livestock set the pace for such caravans -- a slow one -- and were herded by slaves and boys. Behind these, no doubt, followed an alert rear-guard, for the mid-1780s were years of intermittent warfare, and the Waltons were traveling through hostile Indian country. Such caravans were loosely organized, with dogs and children ranging up and down the column. At best, the Waltons could make only a few miles a day. As one astute observer on the Great Wagon Road noted, "It's a great life for dogs and men, but it's hell on women and steers."33 A surprising number of the King's Mountain veterans carne to settle on the Tugaloo. In addition to Jesse Walton, Ben Cleveland, James Wyly, William Gray, and James Blair, there was James "Horse Shoe" Robinson, who lived to see his Revolutionary adventures fictionalized in a popular romantic novel by John Pendleton Kennedy.34 Walton left no record of his reasons for leaving Tennessee. Perhaps the availability of Tugaloo lands, favorably remembered from his pre-Revolutionary War visit, coupled with the other reasons mentioned previously, is sufficient explanation. Nonetheless, there existed 43 other factors which may have inclined Walton toward Georgia. Possibly he was influenced by factors which undoubtedly persuaded his acquaintance Joseph Martin to follow him a few years later. Walton may have been repulsed by the Tennessee attitude toward the Indians, summed up in John Sevier's conderrmation of Indian children as "Nits that make lice."35 Continued \var between the Cherokees and the settlers, many of whom stubbo-rnly violated the Treaty of Long Island, seemed certain. The year after the Revolution ended, frontier people reported at least 200 of their number killed, and this danger may have influenced Walton to move to the apparently more secure -- and empty Tugaloo lands. Some of his new neighbors, especially Bryant Ward, Joseph Martin, and William Wofford, had close ties with the Cherokees. Living on the North Carolina frontier west of the Blue Ridge in the early 1780s, Walton must surely have felt the insecurity evinced by his neighbors, Sevier and Martin. The United States government had proven unable to protect the frontier people, and the Indians constituted a grave, continuing threat. Even George Washington believed the western territory would be difficult to hold, and Martin and Sevier secretly cour~ed Spain for southwestern land grants. TI1is uncomfortable situation must have influenced Walton's decision. Then carne the move to create the state of Franklin in 1784. Walton, who had invested considerable effort in North Carolina politics, developing eastern connections, may have opposed the Franklin movement, and as a local leader, tte was conspicuously absent from the first Franklin Convention, held in August of 1784. His sale of Jonesborough property was the first recorded under the Frank] in governmt>nt. 17 A further, economic factor may have also influenced Walton's move. 44 Before he sold his land in Franklin, the Spanish declared the Mississippi River closed to American traffic, and even at that early date, the westerners were well aware that this tightened an economic noose around their necks. All these elements must have made life west of the Blue Ridge appear rather insecure, and when the empty lands of the Tugaloo became available, Jesse Walton decided that they were worth the difficult move.38 Doubtless Walton felt that he could breathe more easily when he witnessed the negotiations and signed the Treaty of Hopewell in the summer of 1785. In this treaty, the Cherokees ceded the land of their former Lower Towns on the Tugaloo, along with the lands at the Tugaloo crossroads, soon ~o become Walton's Ford.39 Any feelings of security enjoyed by the Waltons, however, were short-lived, for in 1786, the Creeks began raiding the Georgia frontier. 40 By the 1780s, the Creeks were being heavily pressured in their lands in the old Southwest. They wanted, above all, to maintain a supply of trade goods and hold onto their lands, and both of these goals led them to accept the ready friendship of Spain. Alexander McGillivray, the mixed-blooded and well-educated leader of the tribe, began a skillful game of diplomacy and warfare to gain the Creeks' end. Assured of Spanish supplies, he collected ... a Sufficient Number of Warriors & ... set [them] out without loss of time & to traverse all that part of the Country in dispute & whenever they found any American set- tlers to drive them off .... Parties of Warriors Set out in every direction to wherever the Americans were Settled, & where they were forming new establishments. McGillivray sought to curtail settlement without provoking a retaliatory 45 invasion on the part of the Americans, and for the rest of his life, he succeeded in this aim, bringing a reign of tension and danger to the settlers on the Tug&loo.41 The Tugaloo settlers responded to these Creek attacks with alacrity. When the Indians struck and stole Jesse Walton's horses in March of 1786, Joseph Martin happened to be at the river. Not knowing "what Savages" were attacking, the next "Morning Col. Martin with a party of men pursued on tract overtook them on the Fryday evening following, at a Village lately erected on Hightower River occupied by the Creek Indians." The borderers' report to the governor continued: There [at the Hightower] found in possession of the said Creek Indians the above mentioned horses, brought away two the Property of Major Jesse Walton, the other three being the Property of the Cherokee Indians Col. Martin thought best not to concern with them. Those Depredations has obliged us to act on the Defensive which we hope will meet your Honors approbation. (To wit) That Col. Martin take command of Twenty men and go to said village and Request to be at peace with said Indians and to kr.ow their reasons for such conduct. this is a Step we have taken for our own Safety being drove to it by dire necessity .... Benj. Cleveland Tho. Payne John Gorham Larkin Cleveland Jesse Walton Jno. Barton Lewis Shelton Moses Guest Sheriff42 Despite this peace overture, however, the "hit-and'run" warfare continued to beset the Tugaloo people. By May, Ben Cleveland, Jesse Walton, and John Cleveland reported to Governor Telfair: 46 Our people is Much Alarmed at the late hostilities Acted hy the Creek Indians on the Ocone [sic] and Expect Every Moment l.Jhen it Hill be our unhappy fate and should it be the Case the Consequence Will Certainly be Desperate Our Settlement at this time is Verry [sic] Weak not consisting of more than 45 men in the upper company which have the Greater part of the frontier to face and them are so Incumbered with their families So that they cannot do Duty and expect to get weaker Every day Some moving and others talking of Moving that we are Doubtful we Shall be able to Stand through Weakness and Scarcity of Provisions. He therefore humbly beg you'l send us a Relief of men and Provisions to support themselves. We are Verry Scarce and hardly can make out to Support our family.43 The settlers sent a \.Jagon down to Augusta for arms and ammunition, but although Telfair had promised prompt action, no powder and ball were available. The governor then told the settlers to obtain aid from Eli- jah Clarke, should an emergency arise. The immediate crisis passed; nonetheless, the Tugaloo was the scene of sporadic violence for years to come. In July of 1788, William Walker Walton, Jesse's oldest son, was wounded. Others were killed. 44 Walton did not let the uncertainties of life on the Tugaloo deter his political career, however. When the first Franklin County Superior Court convened under George Walton at Warren Philpot's house, Jesse Wal- ton was there to serve along with Ben and Larkin Cleveland. He was elected to Georgia's Executive Council in 1786 and 1787; he served in the General Assembly in 1789, and he appeared, at early middle-age, to be on the verge of consumating his promising career.45 Meanwhile, Walton contributed to the early settlement of Franklin County, building a gristmill and helping with construction and improvement of roads, probably supervising the laying of the road from Walton's Ford to the Indian trading path that ran along the south side of the river.46 The Waltons and their neighbors still lived with danger on the Tug- 47 aloo. Every spring and summer in the late 1780s, Creeks raided the frontier, "to carry off stock and work animals, to burn the housing and fences ... and to massacre some of the inhabitants." 47 In 1787, Joseph Martin observed, concerning the continuing outbreaks of Indian raiding: Could a diagram be drawn, accurately designating every spot signaled by an Indian massacree [sic], surprise, or depradation, or courageous attack, defense, pursuit, or victory by the whites~ or station or fort or battlefield, or personal encounter, the whole of that section of country would be studded over with delineations of such incidents. Every spring, every ford, every path, every farm, every trail, every house, nearly, in its first settlement, was once the scene of danger, exposure, attack, exploit, achievement, death.48 In those years, the settlers attempted to live and work in groups. The militia ranged the forests, and although their scouting was sometimes uneventful, it was occasionally interrupted by violent skirmishes. 49 According to Brice Martin, son of Joseph and sometime inhabitant of the Tugaloo, Jesse Walton resettled on one of his Tugaloo grants. Martin wrote: Some years after the Indian troubles commenced he [Walton] removed his family 15 or 16 miles from his settlement [perhaps across the river to Ben Cleveland's], but every Season he brought up his force and tended his plantation on the Tougalo [sic].SO In 1788, Walton may have participated in an ambush of a raiding party of Creeks. The story has it that a party of Cherokees warned Ben Cleveland and his son John that the Creeks were approaching, and a party of settlers then surprised and drove off the marauders. Cleveland, by all accounts an easy target, was severely wounded and had to be cared for by tlw Cherokees. 51 48 In "Green Corn Month," June of 1789, Jesse Walton was "at his plantation tending to his crop," when he and Sheriff Moses Guest were surprised by some Creeks. Both were wounded, but "as they were on horse back were able to get a\vay." Walton was taken to Ben Cleveland's, where he "suffered intensely" for three weeks before he died. From Cleveland's house, Joseph Martin wrote to Patrick Henry in July of that year: I attended the intended treaty with the Cherokee [on the] 25th. last month at French Broad River, where the Commissioners waited 12 days over the time appointed for holding the treaty without hearing a word from the Indians. They then decampt and went on to meet the Creeks ... About the time the Indians were expected, they made a surprise attack on this quarter, killed and wounded several, among which was Major Walton, who is now at my elbow, \vho I expect to expire in a few minutes from this time. 52 So Jesse Walton paid the price of frontier living. In later years, a vivid but fanciful legend of his family's death at the hands of the Indians developed. The origin of this legend is obscure, but it seems quite likely that much of the story derived from the fun-loving imagination of Mary Jarrett White, Traveler's Rest's last private owner. According to the myth, vengeful Cherokees, eager to redress the balance with Indian-fighter Walton, laid seige to an already-completed Traveler's Rest, trapping Jesse's family within the house. For several days the heroic Waltons held out, shooting at the savages from the "loopholes" still present in the attic. Finally, the Indians burst in and slaughtered all the Waltons save one lad, who hid in a secret hiding place over the porch. Other versions provide other details, few of which are in accord with the known facts. Eventually, grave sites were found to go along with the story that Walton's family was massacred, and some hinted that the dark 49 stains on the upstairs hallway floor were surely some unfortunate Walton's blood. 53 Although the actual details of Jesse Walton's death are scarce, they clearly refute almost every incident of the massacre legend. First of all, it is certain that Jesse did not build any of the house which now stands at Walton's Ford. Second, it is known that he was ambushed by Creeks, not Cherokees. Furthermore, a glance out of the supposed "loopholes" in the attic reveals their complete inadequacy for defense purposes. A crushing blow to the massacre legend, however, can easily be found in the early Franklin County records, including Jesse's will, for the entire Walton family appears in the these records years after the mythological massacre. In spite of such conclusive evidence, material from the stains on the upstairs floor was sent to the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, where laboratory tests revealed that the dar k spots were a type o f pa.lnt t h.lnner. 54 Although historical legends die hard, there is no longer any basis for belief in the traditional story of the Walton massacre. The known facts provide sufficient inspiration for those who love exciting history. l~alton was a victim of McGillivray's and the Creeks' efforts to halt the spread of settlements. He lived and died in the vanguard of the frontier, remembered as "a man with a large family, extensive property, and of unbounded hospitality."SS Before dying, Walton found strength to dictate his will: In the name of God Amen, I Jesse Walton of the state of Georgia, Franklin County, being in a low state, altho in perfect mind and memory, being disirous [sic] of settling all my affairs in this life, do constitute this my last will and testament so requesting all others &, first I request that I be decently buried, and all my just debts paid, the remaining part of my estate to be disposed of in the following manner (Item) I give and bequeth to my loving wife Hary all my household furniture the balance of my estate I request to be equally divided between my wife and my children, as soon as my son George arrives to the age of twenty one years. It is to be rembered [sic] that I did some time past give my son Walker Halton two negroes (towit) Smart and Kyne, together with some land, all which is to be considered in part of his dividend of my estate. I do also request that my loving wife Mary and my friend Larkin Cleveland, be Executor of this my last \vi 11 and testament, revoking all others, I acknowledge this to be my last will and testament, in witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this thirteenth day of June Annodom. one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine Witness Jesse \.Jalton seal Abner Franklin Jesse Bond Recorded this lOth day of August 1790 in my office 56 Nathaniel Payne R.P. The inventory of Jesse Halton's estate reveals that most of his property was in land, farming equipment, livestock, and slaves. In addition to 22 Negroes, \.Jal ton owned: Horses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Ploughs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Hoes ............................... 10 Axes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Crosscut saw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Cattle ............................. 30 Hogs ............................... 40 Sheep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 And household furniture ........... . Th ere l.S no ment1. on l.n t h e l.nventory o f h ouses or a gr1.stm1. 11 , h owever. 57 51 FOOTNOTES Chapter 3: Jesse Walton: Frontiersman and Settler 1 Robert W. Ramsey, Carolina Cradle, Settlement on the Northwest Carolina Frontier, 1747-1762 (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1964); George Gilmer, Sketches of Some of the Fir~ Settlers ~Upper Georgia, of ~he Cherokees ?nd the Author (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1855); Inde~ lQ Headrights and Bounty Grants of Georgia 1756-1909 (Vidalia, Ga.: Genealogical Society, 1970). See Jesse Walton and Ben Cleveland. 2 Samuel C. Williams, "The Founder of Tennessee's First Town: Major Jesse Walton," ~ast Tennessee Historical Society Publications, No. 2, 1930, pp. 70-80. 3 Carl Bridenbaugh, Myths and Realities, Societies of the Colonial South (New York: Atheneum, 1968), p. 130. 4 Joan A. Sears, "Town Planning in White and Habersham Counties, Georgia," Georgia Historical Quarterly, No. 54, 1970, pp. 20-40; Parke Rouse, Jr., The Great Wagon Road, From Philadelphia to the South (Ne\.: York: McGraw-Hill Book Co.), pp. ix, 70, 93, 94. 5 Lyman C. Draper Manuscripts, King's Mountain Papers, SDD104, 5DD13-3; the Draper Manuscripts are now in the possession of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. The Cherokees' bitterness at the hunters' presence is understandable. The tribe's declining livelihood was dependent upon a diminishing supply of deer; white hunters such as Walton and Cleveland were in effect stealing the Cherokees' main source of "income." The Draper Manuscripts, painstakingly collected over 40 years of the 19th Century, are especially valuable to this historian of the frontier in the Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary South. They include some interesting documents concerning the Tegaloo frontier. 6 Ibid., 5DD13-3. 7 _Ibid., 3DD311-20. Upon returning from Kentucky to North Carolina, Walton and Cleveland must have been robbed by Cherokees from the Lower Towns. Only thus can Cleveland's coincidental visit to the Tugaloo be accounted for. 8 Williams, "Jesse \.Jalton," p. 70. 9 Adelaide L. Fries, ed., Records of the Moravians in North Carolina (Raleigh, N.C.: State Department-;{ Arc-hives and History; reprinted 1968), TTf, pp. 127, 1,048; Willi.ams, "Jesse Halton," pp. 70-71. 52 10 Williams, "Jesse Halton," pp. 71-72. 11 Woodward, The Cherokees, pp. 86, 91, 94. "Ghighau," or "Beloved Woman," was a title which enabled Nancy Ward to speak at all councils and make decisions regarding prisoners. In Ben Harris }1cClary, "Nancy Ward: The Last Beloved Woman of the Cherokees," Tennessee Historical Magazine, Vol. 21, 1962, pp. 352-64. In Cherokee, "ghighau" is spelled "Agi-ga-u-e." 12 Williams, "Jesse hlalton," p. 73. 13 Ibid., pp. 73-75. 14 Ibid., p. 74. 15 Ibid., pp. 74-75; Draper Manuscripts, SDD13. 16 Williams, "Jesse Walton," pp. 75-76. 17 Ibid., pp. 76-78. 18 Everett Dick, The Dixie Frontier (New York: Alfred A. Kn8pf, 1948), p. 226. 19 "The Records of Washington County," American Historical Magazine, V, 1900, pp. 332-360, 372, 378. 20 Williams, "Jesse Walton," p. 78. 21 Draper Hanuscripts, 15DD69; Williams, "Jesse Walton," P 78. 22 Samuel C. \.Jilliams, "Col. Elijah Clarke in the Tennessee Country," Georgia Historical Quarterly, Vol. 25, 1941, p. 151; Louise Frederick Hays, Hero Qf Hornet's Nest: ~Biography~ Elijah Clark (New York: Stratford House, Inc., 1946), pp. 105-06; Pat Alderman, The Overmountain Men: Early Tennessee History (Johnson City, Tenn.: Overmountain Press:-1970), p. 91 23 Hays, Hero Qf Hornet's Nest, p. 114, indicates the wrong dates. See also Samuel C. Williams, Tennessee During the Revolution (Nashville: Tennessee Historical Commission, 1944), p. 201; and Williams, "Elijah Clarke," pp. 151-55. 24 Williams, "Jesse Walton," pp. 78-79. 25 Hays, Hero of Hornet's Nest, p. 114. 26 Williams, Tennessee During the Revolution, p. 201. 27 Williams, "Jesse Walton," pp. 76-80. 28 Ibid., p. 79; Dale Van Every, Ark~ Empire: The American Frontier: 1784-1803 (New York: Mentor Books, 1964), p. 104. 53 29 Williams, "Jesse Walton," p. 80. 30 Hays, Hero Qf Hornet's Nest, p. 9; "The Records of Washington County," pp. 76, 88. 31 In 1776 and 1777, Georgia passed laws to encourage settlement and increase military strength. The head of every family who moved to Georgia could obtain 200 acres on the frontier, plus an additional 50 acres for each family member and slave [not to exceed 10], at only two shillings per acre. The land had to be settled within six months, and 100 more acres could be obtained through the building of a gristmill. In 17AO, the period for settlement was stretched to nine months, the act being carried over into peace-time in 1783, at which time a 1,000-acre maximum was imposed. Coulter, Georgia: A Short History, pp. 163-64, 195. 32 Williams, "Jesse Walton," p. 80; Draper Manuscripts, 5DD104; Index to Headrights and Bounty Grants (see James Wyly, William Clark, James Blair, and Elijah Isaacs). 33 Seymour Dunbar, ~History Qf Travel in America (Indianapolis: Bobbs- Merrill Co., 1914), I, pp. 126-28; Rouse, The Great Wagon Road, p. 226. 34 John P. Kennedy, Horse Shoe Robinson (New York: American Book Company, 1937), Earnest E. Levy, ed., p. 533; John H. Logan, Logan Manuscript, Vol. II of Logan's History of Upper South Carolina (Atlanta: Chas. P. Byrd, State Publisher, 1910), DAR, pp. 60, 86. In Horse Shoe . Robinson, James, for some reason, was given the first name of Galbraith. A blacksmith, Robinson had appropensity for living at "horseshoe" bends in creeks, and when Kennedy met him, the veteran lived on a bend of Chaugee Creek, near Ben Cleveland's former homestead, about six miles from Walton's Ford. The cabin in which Robinson lived until the early 1820s, when he moved to Alabama, still stands. In 1818, John Pendleton Kennedy was visiting the Pendleton area, and one evening he met the middle-aged Robinson and heard his tales of the battles of "yesteryec.r." The stories fired Kennedy's imagination sufficiently to cause him to write and publish, years later, a fanciful account of "Horse Shoe's" adventures. Those experiences did not take place on the Tugaloo, and therefore do not enter into this story; however, the reader may form an opinion of the novel's quality from the following poem by Chevy Chase which enhances its pages: The Battle of King's Mountain They closed full fast on every side, No slackness there was found And many a gallant gentleman Lay gasping on the ground. Oh dread! Tt was grief to see, And likewise to hear The cries of men lying in their gore And scattered here and there. 34 54 35 Woodward, The Cherokees, p. 123. 36 Van Every, Ark Qf Empire, p. 23. 37 Ibid., p. 195; Alderman, Overmountain Men, p. 189. 38 Van Every, Ark~ Empire, pp. 16, 31. 39 Colonial and State Records of North Carolina (Raleigh, N.C.), Vol. 17, p. 584. 40 Woodward, The Cherokees, p. 105; Indian Depradations Records (Atlanta: Georgia Department of Archives and History, 1938), Vol. I, Pt. I, p. 44. 41 Van Every, Ark~ Empire, pp. 83-86; Brown, Old Frontiers, pp. 303-04. 42 Indian Qpradations Records, p. 436. 43 Ibid., pp. 44b, 44c; C~eek Indjan Letters (Atlanta: Georgia Depart- ment of Archives and History, 1938), Vol. I, p. 107. 4 4 Indian ~redations Records, pp. 44, 44b; Creek Inrlian Letters, p. 109. 45 State of Georgia (Atlanta: Department of Archives and History, Stein Printing Company, 1925), Governor's Official Register, p. 335. 46 Thelma Hunter's paper on Jesse Walton, Walton research files, maintains that Walton constructed a gristmill and a road. A clue concerning this road is in Wynd's Franklin County, Georgia, Records, p. 82, which mentions Walton's Road. 47 Jonas Fauche, "The Frontiers of Georgia in the Late Eighteenth Century," Georgia Historical Quarterly, Vol. XLVII, 1963, pp. 84-85. 48 Hooney, Hyths of the Cherokees, p. 64. 49 Fauche, "Frontiers of Georgia," p. 85. 50 Draper Hanuscripts, 14DD16. 51 Fauche, "Frontiers of Georgia," p. 85. 5 2 Draper Manuscripts, Tennessee Papers, 3XX308; King's Hountain Papers, 14DD16. 5 3 For various renditions of the Walton massacre legend, see: "Jarrett Hanor, Stained By Indian Hassacre, Hallowed By Georgia's Great, Becomes Shrine;" old Georgia Historical Commission leaflet, now in files of the Historic Preservation Section. Emory Lavender, "Pioneer Inn Is Restored," Anderson Independent, May 19, 1969, p. 5. Shirley 55 Roloff, "Manor Is Steeped in History," Atlanta Times, August 23, 1964. Susan E. Spaeth, "Jarrett Manor Has Colorful Exciting History," The Gainesville Daily TinEs, June 29, 1969. Andrew Spark, "Jarrett Hanor Hirrors Georgia's Past," Atlanta Journal and Constitution Magazine, September 6, 1959, pp. 6-9. 54 Traveler's Rest Papers, Historic Preservation Section. 55 Fauche, "Frontiers of Georgia," p. 85. 56 Franklin County Court of the Ordinary, Will Book, 1786-1813, p. 3. 57 Franklin County Court of the Ordinary, Minutes ~ the Court of the Ordinary, Wills, Inventories, etc., 1785-1813. Chapter 4 THE TUGALOO NEIGHBORHOOD: 1790-1820 Far too little is known concerning the events which took place in the vicinity of Traveler's Rest in the months and years following Jesse Walton's death. County histories tell almost nothing about the early years of settlement. It is known, however, that Joseph Hartin soon did as he had predicted in his Julv, 178Q, letter to Patrick Henry and left the Tup,aloo area. Returning to the Cherokee country for a tour of the principal towns, h~ went back to his place on the Long Island of the Holston. Rut Hartin was a restless soul who never lingered long anywhere. He had plentiful motivation to move out of Tennessee, and before 1790. he decid@d to move to the Tugaloo, thus becoming a neighbor of the Clevelands, \ld large mirrot-s so he could see every movement. He \vould allow the set-vnnt to get her wine ancl then ~oulcl tell IHr of it. Told her he had an eye in the back nf the head. 69 Another of nraDer's chroniclers reported that in old age the col- onel's obesity made him an object of curiosity and humor to neighbors. Once, nt his place on the Tugaloo, Cleveland got involved in a strange convers~lt ion with a "half-wit ted, good natured beggar, Billy Vidkins," who was passing in front of the gate: 'Hello Billv, what's the news from h__ll?' 'Oh! nothin~ at all, almost, hardly,' replied the easy going Vidkins, as he pushed his coon-skin cap over the left ear. 'Only I heard that the devil & his wife has had a great quarrel, the other night.' 'And \vhat were they quarrelling about?' queried the hero of King's Mountain. 'It was about soap grease,' said Billy, 'but the old woman was put into a fine humor when Satan told his wife that fat old Cleveland would soon be dead, and then the fat of the lard would belong to her royal highness.' It is said that Co!onel Cleveland \vas so much pleased with Billy that he sent the little old beggar a bag of meal & a 'middling' of bacon the very next day.39 Finallv, as one admirer put it, the colonel was "smothered" by his fat, passing on in 1806 or 1807.40 Clevelands were numerous in the Tugaloo area. Ben's brothers, Larkin and John, were early residents of Franklin County. Larkin, a huge man like his brother and a loyal follower of Ben's, had been crippled in the Revolution. Executor of Jesse Walton's will, he lived down the Tug- aloo, near the mouth of Eastanollee Creek until he moved to Tennessee, where he died in 1817.41 The Rev. John Cleveland was a Baptist preacher, and according to the History of the Tugaloo Baptist Association, John founded the Tugaloo Baptist Church in 1789 with a membership of 108. Not a brawler 1ike his brothers, John survived to a ripe old age and died in 1825. 42 fn the mid- and late-19th Century, Tugalites Ben Cleve- land, Jr., William }1artin, and William Hackett remembered John Cleveland as a fiery preacher with a long white mane of hair. He baptised Martin 70 in the Tugaloo River in July of 1791.43 Ben Cleveland, Sr., brought two sons to the Tugaloo region: John and Absolom, who were rather unsavory characters, both unpopular in the neighborhood. Most of Lyman Draper's sources on the Cleveland family recount a story of the teenage sons' hanging of e1 Tory during the Rcvol- ution in their eagerness to mimic their father. "Devil John" Cleveland grew to be a huge and intimidating bully, a nlarge and dreadful man;" Absolom became a "lunatic.n In 1790, John bought his father's 770-acre grant at the mouth of Toccoa Creek on the Tugaloo (site of Tugaloo Town) and made it the cen- ter of a large plantation. Also known as "Drunken Jack," John was distinguished by William Martin as "one of the worst men I ever knew." 44 Some of "Devil John's" escapades are preserved in the Draper Manu- scripts as stories which give an idea of the wild brutality of 1 i fe on the Georgia frontier. Obviously, not all the violence which occurred at the Tugaloo was perpetrated by Indians. William ~lartin's letter or October, 1793, relates two of John Cleveland's exploits: John Cleveland broke upon Craffords Station last Sundav [William Crawford had a mill near Tom Kelly's and Elijah Isaac's, a short distance up the river from Toccoa Creek. 1 and drove the whole of the people (except one woman and a few small children) and made them lie out nearly twentyfour hours, in which time Crafford went and got an officer with a party of men but he barred himself [illegible] which time they have made up. he, John moves this day with his family to Petersburger [Petersburg] in the fork, we hope he will never return again, since you left here, he went to David Sloands [Sloan had grants scattered all over the creeks of Franklin County]; and attempted to take of [off] that girl, Sloand interposed and John beat him largely, however, Sloand availed hLmstlf of a pan handle which stood in the corner, with which he me1de his way good & drove off the enemy. [The remainder of the ll'tter goes on to say that the "old col," Ben Cleveland, had narrowly lost his election. William Martin campaigned for him, but he says he wishes he had begun his efforts earlier.]45 71 In the 1840s, Martin proudlv related another anecdote concerning "Devil John": I once took his wife from him & kept her at my house a day and night on account of his abusing her. He came after in a great rage and disgorged his fury to no purpose. After a while, moderated -- became calm, threatened to indict me and went off -- Next day he returned with apparent humility -- confessed his faults commended me for what I had done, and finally prevailed with his wife to return home with him.46 Unfortunately, however, Katherine Cleveland was not finished with husbandly maulings. h'illiam Hackett, son of Devereaux Jarrett's business partner, wrote to Lyman Draper how John's wife: ... became religiously inclined and proposed to join the Baptist church to which he sternly objected, and forbade her to do so; however, she joined, and when she came home, John said to Caty I suppose you have been Baptised. She said yes, '\,Jell,' said John 'by G_ you shall have enough of it' he then carried her to the river a short distance and emersed [sic] her ninety-nine times more. Eventuallv, t-lrs. Cleveland left her husband and went to live in South Carolina with her daughters by a previous attachment. 47 John's rowdy ways caught up with him around 1803, however, when he was killed in a drunken brawl with a man named Bond [perhaps his father's cohort, Jesse Bond, who \,lilliam Martin called "rather a worthless man"]. Hackett reported that "Devil John" perished when "he fell upon a stump and broke his back of which he died."48 \,lhile John Cleveland was "smart and bad, "49 Absolom Cleveland's problem was apparently a lack of sense. William Martin recalled Absolom as slow-witted and "quite deranged." In 1786, he settled on river land granted to Ambrose Downs, between Walton's and Rocky [Thrasher's] creeks. 72 In later years, William Hackett had vivid recollections of Absolom. He wrote: With Absolom I was well acquainted he was quite eccentric and cynical one of his peculiarities he drank no water for over twenty years. he died at my father's house called for water about an hour before he died and drank of it heartily. After his wife's death (about which it was said there was suspicious circumstances) he totally ignored his family -denied that they were his -- refused to speak to them and to almost everybody of his acquaintance, except my Father & family, spent a good deal of his time at my Father's house always carried an old smooth barrelled gun with which he passed a good deal of his time in the woods would shoot nothing but squirrels. Young William Hackett frequently accompanied Absolom on these "rambles" in the Tugaloo forest.SO In October of 1817, Absolom's sons-in-law appeared in the Franklin County Superior Court and swore, "They believe Absolom Cleveland to be somewhat deprived of his reason and incapable of handling his own affairs." A number of neighbors, including the second Joseph Hartin and Devereaux Jarrett, testified concerning Absolom's condition. He was adjudged insane, "but how or by what means he became a lunatic the jur- ors know not unless by the visitation of God." Cleveland was put in the care of son-in-law Thomas Haroin, who was bonded for handling Absolom's substantial property holdings. Hackett recalled that the sons-in-law soon squandered the estate. Absolom died in the earlv 1830's. 51 One other Cleveland -- Ben, Jr. -- became a close neighbor of the second Joseph Martin, James R. Wyly, and Devereaux Jarrett. A son of "Devil John," Ben was reared by his hefty grandfather and hecamt' a per- son of accomp 1 ishments. A successful local politic ian \vho served <1 I ong with James Blair as state Sl'nator from llahersham Countv, Ben, .Tr., 73 fought with distinction in the battles against the Creeks and in the War of 1812. Among the Draper Manuscripts are two letters from a cousin of Ben's, George Cleveland, a very old man who could recall but little of his youth. He did remember, however, that General Ben "took an active part in the War of 1812 & 1814 -- So did I: he came out a colonel, & I came out a cripple." 52 The Wards, Clevelands, Martins, Waltons, and their other neighbors must have found life on the Tugaloo frontier much as it had been in Tennessee and North Carolina. At first, the settlers had to live with the unrelenting tension of Indian warfare, and in the first few years, they clustered around such places as Ward's Station, blockhouses indicated on the frontier map. Their initial dwellings were single-room cabins, replaced as soon as possible by double-room log houses, often incorporating a breeze\..ray between and a loft above. While glass windows were extremely rare, wooden floors were common, and only the poorest settlers lived on clay or packed-earth floors. As future Governor George Gilmer would one day recall, cabin raisings were the occasion of local social gatherings. The sober Moravians scolded about a typical incident, when "Wagner was very busy with his new house, and about twenty people were helping him, but things never go well at such a gathering, for more time [is] spent in drinking brandy than in working." Contrarily, the builders of the fort at Ninety-Six reported rum to be "absolutely necessary" in their work, to "encourage" them. 53 According to Samuel C. Williams, Tennessee lacked sawmills in the "early days," and Franklin County may have, .<1s well. Franklin County Deeds, however, contains a clue that indicates Joseph Martin, Sr., had a 74 sawmill on Ward's Creek. Without a sawmill, lumber was difficult to obtain, as two men with a whipsaw could only cut rough lumber at a rate of 100 feet per day. Builders depended on wood and rocks for construction materials in the frontier days; bricks were not used at that time. 54 The settlers cleared land by girdling trees, or cutting them down to rot or be burned. Usually a farmer would clear a few acres and use the wood for his cabin, outbuildings, and fences. According to Robert Meriweather's The Expansion~ South Carolina: "The cleared field usu- ally began at the edge of the narrow swamp which bordered the creek."55 Corn was the back-country's primary crop, but it was not profitable unless the farmer had an opportunity to sell to incoming settlers. To plant corn or most other crops, the farmers relied heavily on their hoes, for "only the well to do had plows." A plow was not particularly useful in newly-cleared ground, which often rendered cultivation "shal- low and inefficient." Largely because of the fertility of the soil, back-country farmers grew 20 to 30 bushels of corn per acre, and between the rows of corn, they planted peas, beans, and pumpkins. Along with sweet potatoes and turnips, these augmented the farmer's diet. Orchards of peach, pear, and apple trees were rare enough in the back- country to be "objects of extreme pride." While wheat became a popula.r crop, rye, barley, and oats were not prevalent.56 The region produced little beef or pork for export in the early years of settlement, yet a few farmers obtained enough extra stock Lo enhance their incomes. The scarcity of milk cows made butler a valuable conunodiLy, buL almosl all owned at least one horse. wit i I c pnt1\ 1 ry w;ts J r) comnHlll. Oxen were rare, 75 The earliest settlers killed off such game as buffalo, beaver, and bear, "but the deer survived in spite of the annual slaughter." Shad, perch, catfish and trout swam the streams. Only by producing a surplus could a farmer get cash for salt, ammunition, blankets, tools, and household products such as those sold later in the few country stores (which often grew out of skin-trading and tanning operations). Early setLlers had sparse fun1iture: a few chairs, and bedsteads with straw mattresses for the poorest, while the well-off families such as the \~allons owned featherbeds, pillows, bolsters, sheets, mirrors, and dressers. 58 Cooking was done in a pot by the open fire, and food was eaten from wooden and pewter dishes. Charles Woodmason, an Anglican minister who traveled the back-country through much of the 1760s, commented on the poor settlers' often meagre diet: Where I am, is neither Beef or Mutton, nor Beer, Cycler, or anything better than Water -- These People eat twice a day .... Their Bread of Indian Corn, Pork in Winter and Bacon in sumr. If any Beef, they jerk it and dry it in the Sun -- So that you may as well eat a Deal Board.59 Settlers drank water, lea, and coffee. Rum, a popular drink in colonial days, was gradually replaced by whiskey and brandy. The neighborhood streams were soon dotted with gristmills. According to one source, Jesse Walton had such a mill, yet evidence of its existence is lacking. Deeds ~ Franklin County provides clues to nurnerous others, such as Elijah Isaac's, which was located on a small creek up the Tugaloo River, near the site of Old Estatoe. James Blair soon had a mill on Toccoa Creek, as did Ward on Ward's Creek, and other mills were 76 built on Rocky and Eastanollee creeks.60 Before 1800, most Franklin County citizens practiced handicrafts to satisfy their clothing needs, and on a day-to-day basis, the hlaltons of both sexes probably wore the same sort of linsey-woolsev gavid Humphreys power-of-attornev to try to break the will of Brian. "The legatees are not satisfied with the will and seek a more equal distribution." See Franklin Countv Deeds, pp. 362, 357. 32 Draper Manuscripts, SDD13 and SDD41. 33 Ibi~., SDD13, SDD108. 34 Ibi~., 5DD96; Bailey, Commanders at King's Mountain, p. 130. 35 Draper Manuscripts, SDDllS. 36 l_Q_iQ_. , 50D115 . 37 Ibid. 18 d,l_i_c_!. , SDD7. '3 9 Tbid. , SDD96. 40 Ibid., SDD13; Bailey, Commanders at King's Mountain, pp. 114, 118, 199, 120-06, 163, 168-70. !;} Draper M;Inuscripts, SDD108, SDD13. 42 S.F. Goode, History of Tugaloo Baptist Association (Toccoa, Ga.: Toc- coa Record, 1924), pp. 118, 180. 43 Drnpcr Manuscripts, SDDllS. 44 Ibid. 45 Ibid., 2XX40. 46 _!_Q_id., 3XX18. 47 Ibid., 3XX18, SDD62. 48 Ibi~., SDDllS, SDD62. 49 Ibid., SDDllS. so Ibid., SDD62. 51 Franklin County Deeds, pp. 367-68; Draper Manuscripts, SDD62. 52 Draper Manuscripts, SDD66; Trogden, History of Stephens County, p. 279. 86 53 Robert Meriwether, The. Expansion~ South Carolina (Kingsport, Tcnn: Southern Publishers, 1940), pp. 65, 176. 54 Franklin County Deeds, p. 336; Williams, Lost State of Franklin, pp. 248-49. 55 Meriwether, Ex12ansion of South Carolina, PP 165-66. 56 Ibid. , p. 167. 57 Ibid., P 168. 58 Ibid., p. 169. 59 Ibid., p. 175. 60 Franklin County Deed~, p. 49; see also James Blair and Bryant \.Jard. 61 Williams, Lost State of Franklin, pp. 248-51. 62 Ibid., pp. 248-51; Logan, History of Upper South Carolina, p. 11. Yet frontierspeople did occasionally suffer from plagues. James Saunders, Early Settlers of Alabama (New Orleans: L. Graham & Sons, Ltd., 1899), pp. 49-50, tells that Walton Martin, son of Mary Halton Martin and the second Joseph Martin, perished "in the epidemic of 1824." 63 Georgia Historic Preservation Section files, Jarrett Family Papers. 64 Draper Manuscripts, 3XX18. 65 Edmund J. Hammond, The Methodist Episcopal Church in Georgia (location and publisher unknown, published 1935), p. 32; Dick, The Dixie Frontier, p. 196. 66 Francis Asbury, The Journal of Rev. Francis Asbury (New York: N. Bang and T. Mason, 1821), Vol. III, p. 236; Lorenzo Dow, Historv of Cosmopol~_te (Cincinnati: Anderson, Gates & Wright, 1858), pp. 159-60. 67 Louis Le Clerc Milfort, Nemoirs, or, ~Quick Glance at My Var~o_~~ Travels and~ Sojourn in the Creek Nation (Savannah: Beehive Press reprint, 1969), pp. 22-24, 67-68. 68 Van Every, Ark of Empire, p. 35. 69 Ralph B. Flanders, Plantation Slavery in Georgia (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1933), p. 129. George Gilmer, quoted in Coulter's Old Petersbu:ui, p. 9. 70 Franklin County Deeds, pp. 180, 279, 115, 132. 7l Frnnk1 in County Tax Digest, 1798. 72 ~tl ,-v Hnlton's will' Ft-n nkJ in Countv Hills, 1800. Chapter 5 TilE EARLY DAYS OF TRAVELER'S REST True to their heritage, the Waltons began to vacate the Tugaloo for l0ss exp0nsive lands to the west soon after 1800. William Hunter sold his property in 1804, ~1nd hlilliam \.Jalker Halton began to sell his lands in 1807. In 1810 William sold his tracts near Walton's Ford on the Tugaloo to John Hooper and moved to Giles County, Tennessee. Robert Walton deeded his lands to Kenneth Finley, James Smith, and Thomas P. Carnes and moved lo 1'1adison County, Mississippi, in 1811. On February 5, 1813, Ceorge Halton sold his small grant to Killis, his brother-in-law, and t h@ second Joseph 1'1a rt in and headed for Lincoln County, Tennessee. Sever a 1 months later, in October, William \.Jal ker, Robert, George, and Kil1is -- "legal heirs of Jesse \.Jalton" --relinquished all their claims to the h'alton estate to the second Joseph Hartin. 1 ln the early 1800s, the years in which James Rutherford Wyly and Devereaux Jarrett first appeared in Franklin County records, the Tugaloo crossroads \vas still a frontier outpost. The immediate danger of Indian raids was gone, but otherwise, the quality of life had not changed drastically. As saw mills began to provide lumber, it became possible for the farmers to leave behind their cabins and build more refined, frame houses. In Old Petersburg, E. Merton Coulter cites George Gilmer to assert that such residential moves were the occasion for "frolics" that would last "far into the night." 2 The half-dozen slaves owned by each of the families of Jesse - 87 - 88 Walton's children was close to the average number held by slave-owners in northeastern Georgia in the frontier days. The 1790 United States Census reveals that Franklin County had comparatively few slaves, totaling 156. Jesse's 22 slaves had made him among the most prosperous planters in the county. In 1798, Larkin Cleveland and Thomas P. Carnes were the only slave-owners with more than 20 blacks, having 27 and 23, respectively. John Cleveland owned 16: Absolom, 18: Sam Ward, 13: James Blair, six; and James Wyly, six. Devereaux Jarrett was a relatively well-fixed slave-owner at an early age, owning 17 human beings in 1807. It is not known how the slaves were used, but perhaps he hired them out in Franklin County in the years before he began to buy land.3 Most of the slaves of this frontier period led lives of anonymity. Some had memorable names, such as \.Jalton's New Year and "Devil John's" Venus, but no details of their lives have survived. An outstanding exception to this unfortunate pattern was Toby, the intrepid companion of General Joseph Martin, who saved Martin's son, Brice, from the Indians at Tugaloo in the 1790s.4 A young mulatto of 25 years, Toby was acquired by Martin in 1783 and became the Indian agent's "bodv and confidential servant." For years, the men were constant companions. \Hlliam Martin described Toby af' being of small stature, but \vi th "great physical powers, as well as mental ... fe\v men have as fine sense." Toby was freed at Martin's death, became a Baptist preacher, nnd subsequently accumulated a "good estate."S With or without slaves, settlers grew tobacco, corn, wheat, potatoes, garden and orchard products, but they did not try e of accommodation of travellers.l4 During the next few years, James R. \.Jyly was to emerge as a dominating force along the southern part of the tumpike. In 1821, he bought Lot 74 in the Third District of Habersham County, land a quired from the Cherokees in 1819 and divided by lottery in 1820. This let was in the Nacoochee Valley on the upper Chattachoochee, right on the ~icoi road, and just under 20 miles from Wyly's new place at Walton's Fo.d [see Map 9]. Within a few years, he utilized this spot with a "house f entertainmen t 11 for travelers. Next, Wyly added a holding at Hiwas~ee, Georgia, a few miles north of the Blbe Ridge and one more day's journey up the turnpike. During the 1820s, he thus operated three inns along the Unicoi Turnpike, and he also bought a number of lots in Clarkesville, the seat of Habersham County. Wyly was thereby ideally situated to profit from the traveling propen~ities of his fellow America~s.lS ~eorgians traveled by foot, horse, cart, and buggy in frontiet days. The Unicoi Turnpike, showing Old Cherokee Towns and Early 19th Century Settlements. Stages were few, but wagoning Has not. John Lambert, an Englishman, wrote this description of the Hagoners and their role: These wagoners were familiarly called crackers (from the smacking of their whips, I suppose). They are said to be often very rude and insolent to strangers, and people of the to\-Jlls, whom they meet on the road, particularly if they happen to be genteel persons .... In almost every part of the United States there seems to be an invincible antipathy hetween the to\-Jlls 1 people and these wagoners, who take everv opportunity they can to give each other a thrashing. The Hagoner constantly rides on one side of the shaft horses, and with a long Hhip guides the leaders. Their long legs, lank figures, and meagre countenances, have sometimes a curious appearance when thus mounted~ especially if a string of them happen to pass along the road.l6 Water transportation Has also a matter of extreme importance to early 19th-Century farmers. Enthusiastic Georgians claimed that the Tugaloo River was navigable as far as Toccoa Creek, but Coulter pointed out that the river actually contained a number of difficult passages above Petersburg. Old Petersbur~ contains many details on the Georgians' efforts to improve the river. According to Coulter: The first move Georgia made to improve the upper Savannah was in 1786, when the legislature passed a bill to promote navigation on the river from ... just above Augusta to the mouth of the Tugaloo River and up that river to Tugaloo Old To\-Jll, a point near where Toccoa Creek flowed into the Tugaloo. In the introductory part of the law it Has recited that 'nothing contributes more to the Advantages of the Citizens, or to the opulence of the State, than making easy, and extending the Navigation of Rivers' and that as 'Policy and Justice' dictated that the expense should be paid by such persons as will immediately be most advantaged thereby,' a system was, therefore, being enacted to provide for the expenses .... People o\-Jlling land along the ~iver were required to pay five shillings for every hundred acres of land 'of the first quality' and two and a half shillings for other lands. [See footnote 17.] Ben Cleveland, Sr., and Leonard Marbury were among the commissioners appointed to raise the tax. .,..:. . ,_.... ~ ..... I L SA ll' 'S ' fi10VNTAlN .. Nacoochee Valley, 1837 [James R. \.Jyly site shown near road in right. Jarrett- England sites in upper center.] Near Augusta, the tax was applied to all farms \,rithin five miles of the river, but upstrear.1, the taxable distance \-las 15 miles. The law "'as unwise and unpopular, and the revenues \vere not raised. A lottery was attemptJ ... - --~t~-i,~ -- Joseph Martin Survey at Walton's Ford, 1813. *Site of Traveler's Rest. 102 Disappointingly lillle is knmvn of J.:1mes R. Wyly's fellow "man-an-themake" at the Tugaloo in those years, Devereaux Jarrett. He was born in 1785 in Georgia or South Carolina, shortly after his father Robert's death. A great many years later, Jarrett descendants would proudly recaJ 1 a family tradition that George Washington had visited Devereaux's home (in Oconee or Abbeville, S.C., or perhaps in Wilkes County, Georgia), mel the youngster and pronounc~d him "a bright lad who would one day make his mnrk."29 Jarrett was reared and educated in Oconee County, South Carolina, Hhere his mother, originallv Dorothy rtallory, resided with her second husband, Charles Kennedy. Family traditions concerning Devereaux's youth do not always fit the ascertainable historical facts. For instance, one tradition has it that in Franklin County Devereaux first 1i ved in a cabin on \vh.:.It is now known as the Turnbull place, then moved down to Traveler's Rest <1bout 1812, enlarging the house that Jesse Walton built. Considering the evidence in Franklin County deeds, however, this legend can hardly be true, and it becomes necessary to use all the family traditions with great care. 30 There is good evidence that Devereaux was living on the Tugaloo by 1805, although it is not knmm on which side of the river. The 1805 ledgers do not carrv a heading of "Jarrett's Store," but the customers are clearly Tugaloo residents, and Devereaux Jarrett had an account of the store. 1\ reasonable hypothesis is that he arrived in the neighborhood by the time he \vas about 18 years old, on the Pendleton side of the river. Having an inheritance of unknown size, apparently invested in about 17 slaves, he may have ownLd land in South Carolina, and he almost certainly became involved in a country store in Pendleton by 1805 103 (probably in partnership with his great-uncle, Charles Baker, and stepfather Charles Kennedy). The best evidence is his involvement in so many of the cash-loaning transactions in the accounts, a pattern continued in the later books that are known to be Jarrett 's.Jl Hllen the store was moved across the river in 1807, Jarrett may have crossed also, h11t he did not yet buy any land in Franklin County. In 1807, Jarrett made his first appearance in the Franklin County tax digest, as owner of 17 slaves but no land. In 1808, he had only 10 slaves; in 1811, Killis Walton served as Jarrett's agent for 14 slaves, but he still owned no land. 32 The family tradition that Jarrett's first house in Franklin County was at the later Turnbull place is borne out by Hartha Acker's Deeds of Franklin Countv. In 1814, he bought 500 acres of the John Cleveland estate from Anderson Watkins for $3,000, this Lmd being part of Ben Cleveland's original grant on Toccoa Creek and the Tugaloo, site of-tile ancient and recent Indian occupation and next to Hyly' s Owl S\vamp. Jar- rett received a grant of 300 adjacent acres the same year, and a year later, Wyly and Ben Cleveland, Jr., sold Jarrett 240 more acres on Toccoa Creek for $1,600. By the time Wyly bought Hartin's plantation in 1818, Jarrett was his most substantial neighbor, owning 21 slaves and almost 2,000 acres, all of it along Toccoa Creek just to the north- west of Wyly's new place on Walton's and Ward's creeks. Already a farmer, juror, storeowner, petty financier, and family man, Deverea11x .Jarrett had not yet reached his peak of activitv. Beyond his financial activities, litt1c is knmvn of never~aux Jar- l.llt 1/tll (',nliJJ-y, \vlll'll l~oll\'rl I,JJJ-11 I l'dllll' lo Virgini;l. 104 passage Jor seven people, and thus received 322 acres in New Kent County in 1665. His two sons, Robert Jarrett II and Devereaux Jarrett I, were horn ahout 1698 and 1700. Robert Jarrett II became the father of Rob- L'rt Jarrett III and the Reverend Devereux Jarrett II, who was born in ~ew Kent in 1732. The Reverend Jarrett was a staunch itinerant Anglican in Virginia and North Carolina who achieved some fame through his auto- biography. He died without issue, hut his brother, Robert Jarrett III, \vas father to Devereaux Jarrett lli, Robert Jarrett IV, and Archelaus -- o.~ll of \vhom headed for Georgia as they became adults. 34 ThL' threu sons emigrated to Elbert and \.Jilkes counties in Georgia, \vith Devereaux Ill residing in h1ilkes during the Revolution. At first ~~ Loyalist, he h'as a Patriot by 1780. When he died in 1790, a prosper- ous slave-mmer, his heirs received 575 acres in Franklin County. He died in 1.Jilkes County, and his will was recorded in Elberton in 182 7 . .\rchel<1us, another Revolutionary \.Jar veteran, settled in Elbert County and had numerous children. Robert IV '\vas a captain of horse in the RLvoluti on either from \.Jilkes Co., Ga., or just across the line in South C;uolina. ;, His \vill (novJ lost) \vas made in Wilkes County, and 11 tradi- Lion has it that he died from wounds received in the Revolution." Rob- crt IV received a Revolutionary bounty grant of 287-1/2 acres in Wash- ington County in 1785. ~\est. 35 His son was Devereaux Jarrett IV of Traveler's Devereaux's maternal grandparents were William Mallory and Mary Baker, \vho had among their children three daughters related to the story of Traveler's Rest. Ann Mallory married Colonel John Patton of Buncombe County, North Carolina. Mary Mallory married George Blair, son of the ilabc rsham County leader James Blair, and moved to the Tugaloo area. lOS This couple appears in the 1807 ledger. Dorothy Mallory married (first) Robert Jarrett. Some time after his early death, she brought Devere~ux Jarrett to the Tugaloo. So Devereaux Jarrett IV spent his childhood in South Carolina and then moved to Franklin County, where he became a prosperous landowner. He married his first cousin, Sarah Patton, in Buncombe County, North Carolina, in 1807. The c?uple had four children -- Thomas Patton, born in 1812; Robert, 1817; Charles Kennedy, 1820; and Sarah, 1824. Living after 1814 in his large cabin on Toccoa Creek, Devereaux tl1rived alon~ with his neighbor, James R. Wyly, who was building what would one dav be called Jarrett Manor.36 As prosperous, upstanding citizens, Jarrett and Wyly performed small public services for the county. By 1816, 31-year-old Devereaux Jarrett was a justice of the peace for Franklin County. In the summer of that year, he helped arbitrate a neighborhood squabble. \Hlliam Edins, a substantial landowner down the Tugaloo, appeared before Jarrett and asserted that James Starrett, another farmer, "had killed & carried aHay 'his property.' On reflection, Said Edins now states that he had for several days been 'addled by spiritous lickers, 1 and that he is sorry for what has transpired in said dispute," whereupon the proceedings were stopped.37 Jarrett (along with Wyly) also served on the Franklin County c:rand Jury in Carnesville, a j udici~l body \vhich played ~n in teres t ing role in the county during those years. The 8rand jury reprimanded one justice of the peace for neglecting to reporr his accounts ~ccurat e I v, spccinters. The 122 p('oplc livinv. nc:1r ,, t.lvern-inn such :ts Traveler's Rest used it for promoting Jo('Hl politics, conversation, and conversion, as well as drinking, banqueting, and gambling. Fe:ttherstonhaur,h and Buckingham were both unfavorably impressed with American drinking habits, and another English traveler, Frederick Harryat, observed: There is an unceasing pouring out and amalgamation of alcohol and other compounds, from morning to late at night. To drink with a friend when you meet him is good fellowship, to drink with a stranger is politeness and a proof of wishing to be better acquainted .... Americans can fix nothing without a drink. If you meet, you drink; if you part, you drink; if you make acquaintance, you drink; if you close a bargain, you drink; they quarrel in their drink, and they make it up with a drink. They drink because it is hot; they drink because it is cold. If successful in elections, they drink and rejoice, if not, they drink and swear .... 16 The ledger books of Traveler's Rest indicate that plenty of drinking went on there intcrmittantly, most likely in the nearby store, but perhaps in the "lobby" of the house, as well. According to Paton Yoder, dancing was enjoyed even at the most primitive taverns, although frontier dances were not fancy affairs. Featherstonhaugh was shocked by a "ball" in Arkansas attended by a hundred men and three women, at which the men danced in full regalia, "their hats on ... armed with pistols and bowie knives." As the landlord :tnd Ids helpers "took pitchers of a strong whiskey-punch round the room," everyone "got amazingly drunk, but were very good natured, for there were only a fe\-J shots fired in fun. "17 At such affairs people might carouse until three o'clock in the morning or later, but it probably may be assumed that whatever dancing festivities occurred at Traveler's Rest 123 were somewhat more genteel. Sometimes taverns also served to help convey the "Word of the Lord." Traveler Henry Milburn told of an itinerant preacher named Peter Cart- wright, who was most resourceful in finding opportunities for conver- sion: There was a dance at an inn where he stopped, and no room to sit in but the ball-room. A young girl politely asked him to dance with her. He led her out on the floor, and as the fiddler was about to strike up, said to the company that it was his custom to ask God's blessings on all undertakings, and he would do this now. Instantly dropping on his knees, he pulled his partner down too, and prayed until the fiddler fled in fright and some of the dancers wept or cried for mercy; then proceeded to exhort and sing hymns, and did not cease his labors until he had organized a Methodist church of thirty-two members, and made the landlord class-leader.l8 It is not known whether the Jarretts allowed such disruptions at their dances. For day-to-day socializing, the tavern was extremely useful. 1.Jhere else could neighbors come to talk politics, gossip, discuss weather and crops, or pair off their children? Perhaps this poem was true of the social room at Traveler's Rest: They sat in all the different ways That men could sit, or ever sat; They told of all their jolly days, And spat in all the different ways That men could spit, or ever spat.l9 Taverns were the scene of loca l cele brations and competitions, a l so. Target-shoots, cockfights, horse r a c e s, gander-pullings, and ~reasedpole contPsts we rp popular, ;lnd th e s e ma y rwvP tak e n place at Travelt~ r's Re st.20 Like modern Americans, setLl e rs on the South e rn frontier had a prop e nsity for viol e nt 0ntertainmcnt: brawl in~~ and du(_'ling \vere rivale d 124 in popularity by bear-baiting, dog- and cockfights, and gander-pulling. In Decatur, Alabama, Featherstonhaugh was invited to what he referred to sarcastically as a "polite amusement" staged at the tavern. The condes- cending scientist observed: 'Gander-pulling' is a sort of tournament on horseback, and is, I believe, of European origin. A path is laid out on the exterior of a circle of about 150 feet diameter, and two saplings are sunk into ground about 12 feet apart, on each side of the path. These being connected towards the top with a slack cord, a live gander with his legs tied, and his neck and head made as slippery as possible with goose grease, is suspended by the feet to that part of the cord immediately over the path. The knights of the gander having each deposited a small sum with the manager of the game to form a sweepstakes and to defray the expenses, follow each other, mounted on horseback, at intervals round the ring, two or three times before the signal is made to pull. When that is done, the cavaliers advance, each fixing his eye steadily upon the gander's shining neck, which he must seize and drag from the body of the wretched bird before the purse is won. This is not easily done, for as the rider advances he has to pass two men, five or six yards before he reaches the potence, one of them on each side of the path, and both armed with stout whips, who flog his horse unmercifully the instant he comes up with them, to prevent any unfair delay at the cord. Many are thus unable to seize the neck at all, having enough to do to keep the saddle, and others who succeed in seizing it often find it impracticable to retain hold of such a slippery substance upon a horse at full speed. Meantime the gander is sure to get some severe 'scrags,' and for awhile screams most lustily, which forms a prominent part of the entertainment. The tournament is generally continued long after the poor bird's neck is broken before it is dragged from its body; but some of the young fellows have horses well trained to the sport, and grasp the neck with such strength and adroitness, that they bear off the head, windpipe, and all, screaming convulsively after they are separated from the body. This is considered the greatest feat that can be performed at gander-pulling. Having been over-satiated at his first gander-pulling, Featherstonhaugh had "no inclination to be present a second time," and he hastened to catch the steamer out of Decatur instead of joining the "good ol' boys" 125 at the tavern.21 Featherstonhaugh could not abide American politics either, which seemed to him to be a competition of buffoons clowning for the democra- tic rubbish. At taverns, however, he was constantly exposed to poli- tics, for these were always neighborhood political centers. He wrote: What these parsnip-looking country fellows in Georgia seem to enjoy most is-political disputation in the barroom of their filthy taverns, exhibiting much bitterness against each other in supporting the respective candidates of the Union and State-rights parties which divide the State, and this without seeming to have the slightest information respecting the principles of either. Execration and vociferation, and 'Well, I'm for Jackson, by ! ' were the nearest approach to logic ever made in my presence.22 If Featherstonhaugh had happened upon a group of farmers capable of ser- ious discussion of ideas and issues at Traveler's Rest in 1836, he surely would have heard them holding forth on religion, the Cherokee removal, the benefits of slavery, and/or nullification and states' rights. According to Rouse's The Great Wagon Road, some convenient wall in any worthy establishment was utilized as a public-notice board. Rouse quotes a German traveler as saying: It is not always the custom to hang shields before taverns, but they are easily identified by the great number of miscellaneous papers and advertisements with which the walls and doors of these puhlick houses are plaistered [sic]; generally, the more bills are to be seen on a house, the better it will be found to be. In this way the traveller is afforded a many sided entertainment, and can inform himself as to where the taxes are heavy, where wives have run away horses been stolen, or the new Doctor has settled .... 23 Certainly, Traveler's Rest was a stopping-place of such quality as to be 126 graced with numerous decorative handbills. It seems probable that notices would have been concentrated in one of the public rooms -- per- haps the post office and notices probably were also posted in the nearby tavern-store. The tavern-keepers were as unpredictable and varied as their estab- lishments. Europeans, accustomed to obsequious inn-keepers on the con- tinent, often found their American counterparts too proud and indepen- dent a breed. Sometimes, however, they must have wished that the pro- prietors had more pride. In Clarkesville, Featherstonhaugh found him- self embroiled in a soap-opera-like episode, when the landlord of the hotel, in over his head with debts and problems with women, sought an end to them all: Hr. Levy had about an hour before I reached the house attempted to liquidate all his worldly concerns by first drinking as much brandy as he could carry, and then hanging himself in a room upstairs. He was found, however, in time and cut down; and what was exceedingly odd, instead of sending for a doctor and keeping him out of sight, he was brought down-stairs and eJ:CI?osed drunk and half dead to the visitors and servants.2q Some landlords were definitely unenterprising. Yoder reports Featherstonhaugh's encounter with [a] lazy, frowzy, tobacco-chewing,' innkeeper ... 'lantern jawed,' with ill-fitting trowsers [sic]'covered with grease' and a 'snuff-coloured visage' [who] had one talent ... expectorating tobacco juice with a force and precision hitherto 'unknown ... to that branch of projectiles.' While he conformed in part to the image of the landlord in that he was an active Democrat and a justice of the peace, his political methods were unorthodox, for he sometimes attempted to convince his opponents 'by squirting his opinoin into their eyes.' He practiced his art also on the little ducklings which approached his perch on the veranda, invariably knocking them 'over neck and heels .... '25 127 Other tavern-keepers were the centers of storms of activity. Such a man was Devereaux Jarrett. Paton Yoder, discussing the many roles of tavern-keepers, might almost be listing the enterprises of Jarrett, although the list would be incomplete even then. Yoder asserts that it was common practice for an inn-keeper also to operate a store, a farm, a ferry, and a post office. Jarrett not only had all these, but he also operated mills, a bridge, a smithy, and money-lending and gold-mining activities as well.26 Since taverns were often the centers of neighborhood political activity, the keepers were frequently local political leaders. Who would be in a better position to see everyone? Yoder comments: "Landlords became justices of the peace, county commissioners, sheriffs, judges, surveyers, United States marshal and members of state legislatures."27 Devereaux Jarrett apparently scorned the practice of politics, however, for his only office was justice of the peace, and that came before the days of Traveler's Rest. Rut in his capacity as host, a proprietor was inevitably called upon to express his political opinions, as Jarrett was in his brief relationship with Featherstonhaugh, who discovered Jarrett to be an admirer of John C. Calhoun.28 The measure of a good landlord was his abilities as a host, with the unsatisfactory ext;:reme perhaps personified by the suicidal landlord at Clarkesville. An able inn-keeper, on the other hand, would actively entertain the guests, preside at his table, mingle in the common room, and permeate the establishment with a congenial personality. It can be certain that Devereaux Jarrett was a good representative of this other, more pleasant, extreme, as the only recorded impressions of Traveler's 128 Rest are decidedly favorable. The labor force at a roadside tavern was usually a disappointment to travelers such as Featherstonhaugh and Buckingham. Landlords used servants or slaves, and both served in this function at Traveler's Rest. At a particul3rly modest inn, however, the landlord's family might be the only help. A professionally-minded tavern-keeper might advertise in local newspapers, and Yoder finds the typical advertisements to be simple and direct. For this study, an examination of several Georgia and South Carolina newspapers from 1807 to 1855 revealed no advertising for Traveler's Rest, although numerous other hotels around the state used the newspapers. A typical ad for a frontier inn appeared in the Pendleton, S.C. Weekly Messenger in 1823: Pendleton Hotel The subscriber begs leave to inform his friends and the public, that he has opened his new house at the sign of the RISING SUN, at the southwest corner of the public square, in the town of Pendleton, S.C., every attention in his power will be given to make those comfortable, who may honor him with a visit. Joseph Grisham29 In northern Georgia in the 1830s, hotels also advertised their accessibility to the gold lands. Signs were often used to direct travelers to taverns on highways in the region. There may have been a sign at Traveler's Rest, but Buckingham was directed to Jarrett's farm as the only house on the road with glass windows.30 County tavern laws were designed to restrain the socially-irresponsible landlord, with these laws regulating prices and requiring licenses for lodging and liquor-dispensing. Sometimes such laws were intended to 129 protect the public from "the impoverishment of many people and their families, and the ruin of the health and corruption of the manners of youth, who upon such occasions often fall in company with lewd, idle and dissolute persons .... "31 In Georgia, such laws provided for the establishment of tavern rates by the county inferior court, where taverns also secured their licenses. Unfortunately, the license records of Habersham County are apparently lost. When traveling in those days, people found that "getting there" was a significant challenge in itself. Stagecoach travel, the most "civilized" mode of the time, was often an arduous, even hazardous, means of transportation. Buckingham reported American stages to be heavily built, so as not to fall apart on the atrocious roads. Under normal circumstances, stagecoaches jounced along, slowing the pace for hills, streams, and mud. Alice M. Earle describes a man's typical winter journey in Stage Coach and Tavern Days: It took seventeen hours to travel the sixty-six miles, and the coach stopped at ten taverns on the way. At each ... passengers all got out and took a mint julep; perhaps he did likewise, which might account for the fact that he pronounced the trip a pleasant one, though it rained; 'your feet get wet; your clothes become plastered with mud from the wheel; the trunks drink in half a gallon of water apiece; the gentlemen's boots and coats steamed in the confined air; the horses are draggled and chafed by the traces; the driver got his neckcloth saturated' -and yet, he adds, 'the journey was performed pleasantly. '3 2 Buckingham told a story of passengers outside Montgomery, Alabama, who were stranded when their stage broke down in the night and thev had to stumble through the dark to town. 33 Accidents were not unlikely, considering the habits of some of the drivers. Earle quotes this passage: 130 'To the Public: The stage from New York to Albany was overset on the Highlands, on Friday last, with six passengers on board; one of them, a gentleman from Vermont, had his collar-bone broken, and the others were more or less injured, and all placed in the utmost jeopardy of their lives and limbs by the outrageous conduct of the driver. In descending a hill half a mile in length, an opposition stage being ahead, the driver put his horses in full speed to pass the forward stage, and in this situation the stage overset with a heavy crash which nearly destroyed it, and placed the wounded passengers in a dreadful dilemma, especially as the driver could not assist them, as it required all his efforts to restrain the frightened horses from dashing down the hill which must have destroyed them all. It was, therefore, with the greatest difficulty, and by repeated efforts, [that] the wounded passengers extricated themselves from the wreck of the stage. Such repeated wanton and wilful [sic] acts of drivers to gratify their caprice, ambition, or passions, generally under the stimulus of ardent spirits, calls aloud on the community to expose and punish these shameful aggressions.' One particularly sado-masochistic aspect of stagecoach travel was what Earle called the almost universal practice of pre-dawn departures. "You had to rise in the dark, dress in the dark most feebly illumined, eat a hurriedly prepared breakfast in the dark, and start out in the blackness of night or the depressing chill of early morning." On one journey, "the way \vas very dark," said a traveler, "so that though I rode with the driver, it was some time before I discovered that we had six horses."34 The drivers themselves were a rugged, and all too often drunken, lot. Buckingham despised the Southern drivers, writing: The drivers on this road were very inferior to those of the Northern States in deportment and language; they were often insolent, always unaccommodating, and frequently most profligate in their oaths; while having no fee to expect from the passengers, they appeared to me to be studiously disrespectful, as if they sought that mode of displaying their independence. We sometimes hoped to get a better, by their frequent change, as each driver went only the one 131 stage with his team, usually from ten to twelve miles, but there was a great uniformity in their worthlessness.35 Traveler's Rest benefited from the fact that the northeast Georgia area became well-noted for its great scenic beauty, and by the third decade of the 19th Century, Habersham County was a considerable tourist attraction. The sites of Nacoochee Valley, Mount Currahee, Tallulah Falls and Toccoa Falls were especially popular. Adiel Sherwood, in his 1827 Gazetteer, commented: The thick woods [at Tallulah], which stand on the precipice, and send their sombre shadows over the stream gives it a gloomy appearance, and strikes the beholder with awful feelings . . . . [Each year] it at tracts thousands. Of Toccoa Falls, he wrote: [Toccoa Cre~k] is 20 feet wide, corning S. on one of the Southern extremities of the Allegheny Mountains, winding its way among the rocks, & without giving you a moments [sic] warning, all at once tumbles down a perpendicular rock 186-1/2 feet! The quantum of water is so small, that it chiefly becomes spray before it reaches the unfathomable basin below. Five miles from this it finds its way into the Tugalo near the head of boat navigation on that river .... Parties of pleasure from the Madison Springs, frequently visit this cascade, taking the Curahee in their way, thence climbing the hills to catch a view of the awful Terrora [Tallulah]. The fatigue undergone in this jaunt is of great service to some invalids, who stand in greater need of profuse perspiration and vigorous exercise than the prescriptions from the shop. The party may not expect to find sumptuous fare after they leave the Toccoa Falls; but they may rest assured that there is something either in the mountain air which they inhale, or in the peculiar construction of the roads or the direction they run, which will produce a relish for even the coarsest food. 36 This rnid-1820s description of "the Grand Tour" of northeast Georgia con- veys the impression that Devereaux Jarrett's lavish hospitality did not 132 yet grace the stand at Walton's Ford, still deeded to James R. Wyly in county records. If we imagine ourselves as tourists of the United States in the 1830s, already having encountered some of the horrors discussed above, let us now join Featherstonhaugh and the Buckingharns as they arrived at Traveler's Rest. Through their descriptions we can obtain a clear idea of their general pleasure at the people, premises, and fare at Jarrett's place. Featherstonhaugh carne to the Tugaloo by way of Clarkesville, the day after his adventure with the depressed landlord. First paying a visit to Toccoa Falls, v.'hich he called "one of the prettiest things I ever saw," the Englishman then reboarded the stage: We nmv proceeded for eight miles at a rapid pace down the steep southern slope of the mountains, through beauti- ful woods and dales, to Jarrett's, on the Tugaloo, a main branch of the Savannah. Here I got an excellent breakfast of coffee, ham, chicken, good bread, butter, honey, and plenty of good new milk for a quarter of a dollar. The landlord cultivated an extensive farm, and there was a fine bottom of good land near the house; he was a quiet, intelligent, well-behaved man, a great admirer of Mr. C [Calhoun], and seemed anxious to do what was oblig- ing and proper, more from good feeling than for the poor return he chose to take for his good fare. [Perhaps Jar- rett's attitude helps to account for his failure to adver- tise. He may have considerPd himself a prosperous farmer first and inn-keeper second. In census schedules, he always referred to himself as a farmer.] What a charming country this would be to travel in, if one was sure of meeting with such clean nice quarters once a-day! The traveller does sometimes, but unfortunately they stand nearly in the same proportion to the dirtv ones that the known planets do to the fixed stars. The driver of this stage coach was a very odd fellow, sometimes amusing, though upon the whole a great bore, full of conceit of himself, practising [sic] the most uncouth familiarity, and eternally making long speeches. When I refused to listen to him he talked to himself just with the same earnestness that he did to me. On going down the steepest hills, he drove so furi- ously as to make it almost impossible for me to sit in the coach, talking to himself all the time, and when at 133 the bottom he would turn round and address me after the following manner: -- 'I say, stranger, do you see that are house? Last time I passed I bought a most splendid water million (they all pronounce melon thus) there for seven-pence, but it warn't ripe, that was the worst on it, and I had to throw it away jist a bit a-head here. Do you like water millions, stranger? There's a power of them in this country, it beats all. You beat all the chaps that goes this road for fixing the stones with your hammer. Do you find any thing you can sell in them? There ain't no gold on this side the mountains, that's what they say, I don't know much about it. I come from the low country in North Carolina. I han' t much learning though I was two quarters at school. I was a schoolmaster though one winter in Buncombe up in the mountains, but it aint no go that; I like stage driving better, if they didn't give me sich horses on this line; this unackawntabul [unaccountable] sorrel won't back a bit going down hill, and the grey kicks like h_ll when he is going up , its next to onpossible to git along; but you'll have a splendid driver next stage, a reel splendid fellow that will take you twenty-nine miles to Picken's Court-house; and if I don't give it to this blasted grey when we go back and make him toe the mark, I'm no account.' This was the sort of farrago I had to listen to without a possibility of avoiding it. Upon leaving Jarrett's, Featherstonhaugh found ''the country extrernel~ wild, only here and there a settler, and abundance of small streams corn- ing down from the mountains." Featherstonhaugh enjoyed his time at Jar- rett's so much that when he carne back through the area to see Tallulah Falls, he arranged to stay at Traveler's Rest again.37 While traveling through the southern part of Georgia, three years after Featherstonhaugh, the Buck~ngharns were told of the great beauty of the remote northern part of the state: "The roads are as yet so imperfect, and the houses of accommodations so few, that the district is rarely visited by mere tourists."38 [Here, Buckingham contradicts the information in Sherwood's g_azelteer, which states that "thousands" of sightseers visitL'J the area. I Tl1c Buckinghams nsolvud to pay <1 visit to north Georgia, ;md Buckingham wrote at length concen1ing the j oun1ey 134 from Athens Lhrough the Tugaloo area, concluding with the following des- cription of the family's stay at Traveler's Rest: Leaving Tukoa [Toccoa Falls], we proceeded by an excellent road --which seemed, indeed, by contrast with the one we had just passed over, to be perfection -- and after a smooth and luxurious drive of eight miles, we arrived before sunset at a large farm-house and inn united, kept by a Mr. Jerritt [sic]: the directions by which we were enabled to distinguish it from other houses in the neighbourhood was this -- that twas 'the only house with glass windows in it on the road.' While our luggage was unloading from the carriage, one of the white men assisting in this labour could not comprehend what our leather hat-boxes were; and when, in answer to his inquiry, he was told they contained hats, he asked whether we were carrying them about for sale, as he could not comprehend why a person should take with him any more than the hat he wore on his head. When he learnt, however, that my son and myself used cloth caps for travelling, and kept our hats in these two boxes to wear when we halted, he expressed himself surprised at such a piece of folly and extravagance as that of having more than one covering for the heat at a time! ... Here, as in many other places of the interior, a great desire was manifested to examine the various articles of our dress, but especially those of Hrs. Buckingham. The ladies were constantly desirous of getting permission to take patterns of her gowns and caps, which was granted whenever our stay would admit of it, and always highly valued. The lady here, however, was astonished to find that they were not made in New York, but in London, for she had supposed that they were the latest New York modes; and said she had always understood that the French and English ladies invariably sent to New York for the fashions, and had their dresses made up in London and Paris, from the patterns sent there from the United States! On retiring to rest, we were put into a large room with four beds, but fortunately we had no companions to share the room with us. When passengers on this road are more numerous, it is quite common to have all the beds occupied at the same time in the same apartment. This is a custom of the country, which is very ill associated with the excessive prudishness and affectation of its inhabitants, in avoiding all ambiguous expressions. There were no drawers or trunks for clothes; so that the garments of all the family were ranged around the room, hanginR on wooden pegs, to the number of forty or fifty different articles of dress, including gowns, petticoats, and inner garments, of all sizes and materials, exposed to public view. The beds, as usual, were of three kinds; 135 one of the softest down, another of cotton, and another of straw: the former being usually preferred by the people of this country, but the latter by strangers, as more nearly resembling moss or hair, which is too expensive to be found in any but the very best houses. At daylight we were awakened by the sound of a common horn, with which it is the custom in the country districts to summon everybody to rise, instead of ringing a large bell, which is the custom in the towns; and as we did not intend to leave till nine o'clock, I took a walk around the farm, and conversed with the farmers before breakfast .... We left our station at nine o'clock, on the morning of July 13th, and after less than a quarter of a mile, we crossed the Tugaloo river by a wooden bridge. We thus passed from the State of Georgia into that of South Carolina, the river being the dividing boundary between the two .... 39 Even by the time the Buckinghams visited Traveler's Rest in 1839, stagecoach lines elsewhere had begun to face serious competition from the railroad. One sensible wag pointedout: "You got upset in a coach -- and there you were! You get upset in a rail car and, damme [sic], where are you?" Despite this warning, however, the railroad was sue- cessful, and its acceptance signaled the demise of stagecoaches and stagecoach taverns. A "transportation revolution" occurred in the 25 years prior to the War Between the States, and historians agree that the "technological changes ... rendered ti1e wavside inn obsolete." Trains were much faster than coaches, hut the ch~nge was more than one of speed: railroad cars, it was felt, were much more suited for all-night travel. "The displacement of inns was abrupt. The opening of a rail- road line could take most of the freight wagons, stages, and private ve h l.C 1es o f f o f a gl.ven roa d a 1most overn.lgl1t. 11 4 Litt]e is known about tile f:1ding of Travller's Rest as an inn. The surviving ledgers cover the store business, and almost no passages deal 136 with the hotel. Consequently, figures on the numbers of guests are lacking for almost every period. Evidently the stagecoach inn was still thriving sufficiently to be the first stopping-place on the sumptuous honeymoon of Joseph E. Brown and Elizabeth Grisham in July of 1847, however. No description of their wedding-night stay at Traveler's Rest survives, but the blissful couple definitely spent a night there enroute in buggy from West Union, South Carolina, to Tallulah Falls and Clarkesville.41 Perhaps the hotel had already begun to fade in the 1850s, when it was taken over by Charles Kennedy Jarrett, who may have preferred to be a planter like his older brothers rather than an innkeeper, but there is no way i:o ascertain this. Then and afterwards, the prostrate Southern economy must have been reflected in the tavern's business, however, and Traveler's Rest may have been defunct as an inn by the time the Atlanta and Richmond Air Line Railroad was completed (giving birth to Toccoa) in 1873. Yoder quotes a poem on the demise of the stagecoach tavern: So ... a day came at last when the stage had no load To the gate, as it rolled up the long, dusty road. And lo! at the sunrise a shrill whistle blew O'er the hills -- and the old yielded place to the new -And a merciless age with its discord and din Made a wreck, as it passed, of the pioneer inn.42 137 FOOTNOTES Chapter 6: Taverns, Travel, and Traveler's Rest 1 Lane, Rambler in Georgia, p. x; George W. Featherstonhaugh, ~Canoe Voyage ]E the Minnay-Sotor (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1970), introduction. 2 All quotes from Paton Yoder, Taverns and Travelers: Inns~ the Early Midwest (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1969), pp. 2, 32. 3 Ibid. , p. 2. 4 Ibid., p. 9. 5 James Silk Buckingham, ~he ~lave States of America (London: Fisher, Son & Co., 1842), Vol. II, p. 195. 6 "Taverns" file, Historic Preservation Section, Georgia Department of Natural Resources. 7 Buckingham, Slave States, Vol. I, p. 189. 8 Yoder, Taverns and Travelers, p. 140. 9 Ibid., p. 148. lO Ibid., pp. 153-54. 11 Ibid., pp. 1:5-56; Buckingham, Slave States, Vol. II, pp. 128-29. 12 Buckingham, Slave States, Vol. II, pp. 46-47, 129. 13 Yoder, Taverns and Travelers, pp. 157, 159. 14 Ibid., p. 159. 15 Ibid., p. 161. 16 Ibid., p. 127. 17 Ibid. , p. 107. lR !..Pi_d. ' p. 104. 19 l_b_i_d. , p. 126. 138 20 "Taverns" file, Historic Preservation Section, p. 2. 21 Foatherstonhaugh, A Canoe Voyage, Vol. II, pp. 196-97. 2 2 _1 h_l d , p 2 2 6 23 Rouse, Great Wagon Road, p. 98. 24 Featherstonhaugh, ~ Canoe ~~ Vol. II, pp. 261-62. 25 Yoder, Taverns and Travelers, p. 32. 26 _!_Q__!_d., pp. 35-36. 27 Ibid., p. 35. 28 Devereaux Jarrett as justice of the peace, Stephens Countv History; Franklin County Deeds, p. 341; and Featherstonhaugh, A Canoe Voyage, Vol. II, p. 266. 29 Yoder, Taverns.~nd Travelers, p. 55; Pendleton, S.C., Weekly Messen~' Harch 19, 1821. 30 Ibid_., p. 54; .3uckingham, Slave States, p. 162. 31 Yoder, Taverns and Travelers, pp. 165-71. 32 Thomas R.R. Cobb, ~Digest of the Statute Laws Qf the State of Geor- gia (Athens, Ga.: Christy, Kelsea, and Burke, 1851), pp. 1037-38; Alice Morse Earle, Stage Coach and Tavern Days (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1900; reprinted 1969), pp. 364-65. 33 Buckingham, Slave ~tates, Vol. I, p. 261. 14 Earle, Stage Coach and Tavern Days, pp. 369-71. 35 Buckingham, Slave States, Vol. I, p. 234. 36 Adiel Sherwood, A Gazetteer of the State of Georgia (Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1939 [1827]), pp. 105-06. 37 Feathers tonhnugh, ~ Canoe Voyage, Vol. I I, pp. 264-66, 306-07; 38 Buckingham, Slave States, Vol. I, pp. 219-20. 39 Ibid., pp. 162-66. 40 Earle, Stage Coach ~nd Tavern Days, p. 287: Yoder, Taverns and Trav- elers, pp. 174-76; Trogdon, Stephens County History, p. 77. 41 Dorothy Cable, "Oconee Wedding in 1847 Recalled," Traveler's Rest Papers, Historic Preservation Section. 42 Yoder, Taverns and Travelers, p. 178. Chapter 7 DEVEREAUX JARRETT'S LITTLE EMPIRE In addition to his stagecoach inn, Devereaux Jarrett operated sev- eral other enterprises. First and foremost, he was master of a large, slave-worked farm; he also maintained a toll bridge, country store, post office, cash-lending business, cotton gin, blacksmithy, tanyard, grist- mill and sawmill, and at least one gold mine [see Map 12]. Both Buckingham and Featherstonhaugh refer to Jarrett as a farmer. While Featherstonhaugh mentions "an extensive farm ... a fine bottom of good land near the house," Buckingham gives the impression of a conglomeration of farms growing wheat, oats, and maize, but little cotton. 1 Ledgers support the hypothesis that much of Jarrett's vast acreage was cultivated by tenant farmers. Other records broaden our impression of Jarrett's prosperous farm. When Buckingham took a morning stroll at Jarrett's place, he reported the following information from his conver- sations with the farmers in 1839: The climate of this elevated region not being sufficiently warm for the cultivation of cotton, the soil is devoted to the growth of wheat, oats, and maize, or Indian corn. The former is said to have yielded a larger harvest in the present year, than in any preceding one within the memory of man; arising from the fact, that the high prices of wheat in the last year, induced the farmers to turn every acre of land to the growth of this. The fluctuation in price, in consequence of this increased quantity, was supposed to be as much as from two dollars, or eight shillings a bushel, the price it bore last year -- down to fifty cents, or two shillings a bushel, which it was expected to be this year, when the harvest, now nearly completed, should be fully gathered in. One of the fanners, who was upwards of sixty-five years of age, told me that he had - 139 - 140 made up his mind to emigrate next year, to the valley of the Mississippi: and when I asked him what could induce him, now so far advanced in life, and with a large family, to move so far from his home, he replied, that there was too much aristocracy here for him! I asked him who or what 2onstituted the aristocracy of which he spoke. He said they were the rich men of these parts, who bought up all the land at extravagant prices, and left none for the poorer citizens to purchase [as did Devereaux Jarrett?], the prices which he deemed so extravagant being from ten dollars an acre for the freehold property. I asked him whether he could not rent land from these proprietors, and live by farming in this way. He said, yes; but added, that the rent demanded was extravagant also, amounting to ten barrels of corn for a small farm of twenty acres; which, in sterling money would be about one dollar per acre for annual rent, without tithes or other imposts, and no expense of manure or draining. I asked him what he would think of paying ten dollars an acre rent, and a tenth of all the produce of the farm besides, which was the rate paid by many English farmers. He replied that 'no land in the world could stand such a rent;' and he evidently doubted the fact of its ever being paid. Among the peculiar expressions used here, travelling rapidly is called 'moving peert;' and to provide a family with food, or to feed them is expressed thus -- 'He always grows enough to bread his own people for a year at least, and sells the balance.' The white men looked healthy, but were all slender, and the growing youths of both sexes were peculiarly tall and thin, with long features, light hair, and wholly without the fine ruddy complexions of the English peasantry.2 Throughout his life, Devereaux Jarrett accumulated acreage, and the U.S. Census 1850 Agricultural Schedule lists him with 14,400 acres (1,000 "improved"), not all of which was at Traveler's Rest. Two of his sons, Robert and Thomas Patton, are shown in the census as owning 900 acres each. Jarrett land included acreage on Toccoa, Walton's, and Ward's creeks, as well as acreage at Dry Pond, the present site of Toe- coa. For a brief period in the 1830s, Devereaux also owned Toccoa Falls. 3 The agricultural schedules also provide other information concern- ing the farms. Devereaux owned livestock -- horses, mules, "milch" 141 cows, oxen, cattle, sheep, and hogs-- valued at $1,865. Robert's stock was worth $1,120, and Thomas Patton's was worth $750. The farms produced butter, hay, peas and beans, cotton, plentiful corn, oats, wheat, potatoes, and some rye and honey. All three farms produced between 40 and 80 pounds of wool each, and Devereaux's farm also listed $500 in home manufactures.4 Most of the work at the farms was done undoubtedly by the Jarretts' many slaves. Even before he owned land, young Devereaux possessed from 10 to 17 slaves, and in 1820, he owned 21 slaves. (By comparison James R. Wyly, previous owner of Traveler's Rest, owned four slaves.) By 1830, Jarrett had 45 slaves, and 10 years later, he owned 74 in Habersham County, including four persons "engaged in mining."5 In the early 19th Century, the Tugaloo area continued to be one with relatively few slaves. Devereaux Jarrett was by far the greatest slave-owner of Habersham County, where there were only 954 slaves in 1840 and 1,218 in 1850. The 1850 Slave Census reveals that Robert Jarrett possessed 24 slaves; Thomas Patton Jarrett had 27; and Devereaux Jarrett's 68 remained an extremely high total for the region. One might well wonder what use he had for so many slaves, for his was not a cotton plantation. Some certainly worked at the house, the smithy, the tanyard, and the mills. Most must have been field hands, but several women were no doubt utilized in weaving. Jarrett found it quite profitable to use his good farm land for maximum food production. A great many of the cotton plantations in southern Georgia were not self-sufficient, and these provided a ready market for as much bacon, beef, ham, wheat, corn, oats, and other goods as the farm at Traveler's Rest could produce. 6 Almost nothing is know11 concerning the lives of these slaves. Family 142 legends give the impression that they were well-treated, and certainly this is in accord with what is known of Jarrett's character. It is probable that his slaves received the simple fare mentioned in Basil Hall's account of life on a Georgia cotton plantation in 1828: The stated allowance of food to every slave, over fourteen years of age, is nine quarts of Indian corn per week, and for children from five to eight quarts. This is said to be more than they can eat, and the surplus is either sold, or is given to the hogs and poultry which they are always allowed to rear on their own account. A quarter of salt monthly is also allowed, and salt fish, as well as salt beef occasionally, but only as a flavour, and can never be claimed as a right. A heaped-up bushel of sweet potatoes is considered equal to the above allowance, and so are two pecks of rough, that is unhusked, rice or paddy. But this is not thought so substantial a food as the Indian corn .... The slaves are generally dressed in what is called White Welsh plains, for winter clothing. They prefer white cloth, and afterwards dye it of a purple colour to suit their own fancy. Each man gets seven yards of this, and the women six yards, -- and the children in proportion. Each grown-up negro gets a new blanket every second year, and every two children in like manner one blanket. The men receive also a cap, and the women a handkerchief, together with a strong pair of shoes, every winter. A suit of hornespun cotton, of the stuff called Osnaburgs, is allowed to each person for summer dress.7 A more vivid picture of the slave's costume can be found in an 1810 Miller's Weekly Hessenger, which describes Anthony, a "remarkably heavy made" runaway, as wearing ... a pair of coperas coloured, striped pantaloons, a mixed blue, red, and white homespun jacket, a blue and white hunting shirt, a large hat with a high crown ... will attempt to pass for a freernan.7 It is not known whether Jarrett worked his hands on the "task" sys- tern, in which each slave was allotted a daily assignment; or the "gang" system, in which a team of slaves worked all day with no necessarily 143 predetermined stopping place; or some variation of these. The slaves usually preferred the "task" system, because after the completion of the day's chores, their time was "their own," to relax or work in their private gardens. The "gang" method was used on most tobacco, cotton, and sugar plantations. Since Jarrett did not concentrate on these crops, it appears likely that his slaves were worked on the "task" system. Legend has it that he addressed "his people" from the second-story porch each morning, assigning the day's duties.8 According to Flanders' Plantation Slavery in Georgia, "It was the universal custom in Georgia to allow the slaves the privilege of raising small crops of their own, 11 which could be sold for cash or traded for store goods. It was also possible for the slaves to raise poultry for food and sale. The Jarretts quite likely allowed their slaves some private enterprise, for 1850s ledgers show C.K. Jarrett's slaves buying goods at the store.9 The slaves lived in cabins; apparently some of them were just across the river from Jarrett's bridge. Wise masters made these slave quarters as comfortable as simple cabins could be, and in north Georgia, the slaves' good health required that their cabins have some kind of floor. Experts advised the slave-owners: "The popular idea that the cheapest style of Negro houses is the cheapest in reality is fallacious .... Small, smokey cabins, built flat upon the ground, with no windows or aperture for ventilation, is the style that is too common."10 Although it is not known exactly what the slave cabins at Traveler's Rest were like, it is true that their hypothetical location was a good one, on high ground. No doubt, furniture in tlw sl;1ve cabins was 11 Scml'rlt A. Evans (Pds.), Cyclopedi_~~ _()__ Ceoq;ia (Atlanta: State Historical Association, 1906), Vol. Ill, p. 290: L.J>. Brockett, ]~ Silk Industry in America (New York: Ceorge F. Nesbitt ,\ Co., 1876), pp. 38-39, 54-55; Hi1liam F. Leggett, The Storv -~Silk (New York: Life-Time Editions, 1949), pp. 332-36. 159 16 Jarrett ledger books, Historic PrPservation Section. 17 Ibid. 18 T~J~., hack of 1818 ledger books. The teacher was Burges Smith. 19 _I h icl. ~ on the Pendleton Factory, see Beth Ann Klosky, The J>endle ton ~egacy (Columbia, S.C.: Sandlapper Press, Inc., 1971), pp. 75-76, who says that the factory was established in 1836 as a cotton mill. 20 Jarrett ledger books, Historic Preservation Section. 21 Ibid. 22 lbi~. ~ Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. 23 Louise A. Vandiver, Traditions and History of Anderson CountY (Atlanta: Ruralist Press, Publishers, 1929), p. 199. The page in the 1831 ledger book includes a typical list of food, clothing, and equipment, raising some interesting questions: Did James R. Hyly have a store? Or was the "~.Jyly' s Ferry" heading merely an indication that Jarrett's store was near the ferry? Perhaps Jarrett and Wyly were partners at one time. We alsv have 1831 ledgers clearly pertaining to Jarrett's store. On the bridge, see Georgia Laws, Acts of the General Assembly of the State Ei Georgia, 1834 (Milledgeville: P.L. & B.H. Robinson), p . 12 6 ~ l_fi_~3_' p p . 6 4- 6 5 . 24 National Archives and Records Service, U.S. Post Office Records, Appointment of Postmasters, Vol. 2, p. 174; Vol. 5, p. 207; Vol. 7, p. 177; Vol. 10, October 12, 1833; December 11, 1835; July 23, 1840; November 9, 1842; October 4, 1844; March 24, 1852 (Vol. 17). 25 Buckingham, Slave States, Vol. II, p. 234. 26 Coulter, Olq Petersburg, p. 233; Hoodward, Cherokees, p. 159. 27 Sherry Boatright, The John I Calhoun Gold Mine (Atlanta: Department of Natural Resources, Historic Preservation Section, 1974), pp. 6-7; on the Georgia Guard, see Woodward, Cherokees, p. 190; Featherstonhaugh,~ Canoe Vovage, Vol. II, p. 251. 2R See Microfilm, Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section; the Jarrett-England deeds were never recorded; on Hoore, see Haber- sham County Deed Book .Q_, p. 151. 29 Coulter, !::_Short History, p. 233. For the outcome of Jarrett's many purchases of mining rights to these lots, see microfilmed Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. 30 Ibid.; Boatright, Calhoun Gold ~ine, pp. 7-9; Woodward, Cherokees, pp. 157-82; Traveler's Rest papers on microfilm, Historic Preservation Section. 31 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. 160 32 Calhoun-Clemson papers at Clemson University; Calhoun to Clemson, February 6, 1843; Clemson to Calhoun, January, 1843. Hyly was a general of the Habersham County militia. Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. 33 Traveler's Rest papers on microfilm, Historic Preservation Section. 34 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section~ Habersham County Deed Book RR, p. 454. 35 Ibid., p. 457. 36 Ibid., p. 458. 37 Ibid., p. 459. 38 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. After Sarah Patton Jarrett died in 1842, Devereaux Jarrett married her sister, Elizabeth. 39 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. Chapter 8 JARRETT PLANTATIONS IN THE 1850s The J850s found Devereaux Jarrett's four children prospering at adjacent plantations on the Tugaloo. Thomas Patton Jarrett married Elizabeth Hackett in 1846, and they moved into her father's former residence, a 10-room log house on Toccoa Creek. His inherited slaves made bricks and subsequently built another house for the family sometime in Lhe L850s. Thomas set his mind to family and farming then, and was not an executor of his father's estate, as were Robert and Charles Kennedy. By 1860, Thomas (often known as "Patton") and Elizabeth had five young children; their farm was worth $10,000, and their property, $22,000, consisting mostly of slaves. The census for that year indicates that Thomas grew 130 bushels of peas and beans, 3,500 bushels of corn, 40 of oats, 140 of wheat, 40 of Irish potatoes, and 150 pounds of tobacco. The farm also produced 135 gallons of molasses, three bales of cotton, and 500 pounds of butter, and the family had four horses, four mules, 15 milk cows, two oxen, 10 cattle, 70 hogs, and 10 sheep, from which Thomas produced 10 pounds of wool. This plantation was operated with the labor of 35 slaves. \~1en the brick house was completed, Thomas and his family moved from the "10 room log cabin," dividing his father's old place into slave quarters, and he also bought a f3ncy German-made piano with profits from a gold-mining operation. His children were taught by tutors, and as teenagers, some of his daughters attended Madame Sosnowski's and Lucy - 161 - 162 Cobb's schools in Athens, Ga.l Little is known of Robert Jarrett. As a young man, he found adven- ture by joining the Georgia Volunteers in the Creek War of 1836 and 1837. This short, but bloody, war did not engage Robert long, but perhaps he found his excitement in the Battle of Pea River Swamp, described some- what ironically in White's Collections of Georgia: A company of volunteers from this county [Franklin], commanded by Captain Morris, was engaged in a battle with the Creeks in Pea River Swamp, in Alabama, March 25, 1837. They won for themselves a reputation that may be envied by the victors of any field. Their deeds of noble daring were the theme of their associates in arms, and they were not behind the rest of the brave fellows, either in the march, the swimming, or the charge. An incident that occurred during the charge is worthy of note. One of the Franklin Volunteers was in hot pursuit of an Indian, who, finding that he must fall into the hands of his pursuer, attempted to save himself by running in the midst of the women, two of whom seized the volunteer~ he used every exertion to disengage himself from them, hut they made furious and deadly assault upon him with their knives, and in selfdefence he drew his bowie, and with two blows killed them both. This section of the State was for a long time exposed to the ravages of the Indians. In almost every part it was found necessary to erect forts and block-houses to protect the inhabitants against the savages. Cruelties were inflicted upon the helpless women and children, the record cf which would chill the blood.2 Robert married Elizabeth by 18":53, and by 1860 the couple had four chil- dren. The census for that years indicates that Robert was a bit more prosperous than Thomas in the value of his slaves, which was $25,000. On his farm were grown 200 bushels of peas and beans, 3,000 bushels of corn, 200 of oats, 240 of wheat, 15 of Irish potatoes, and 500 of sweet potatoes. Also produced were 10 gallons of wine, 225 gallons of molas- ses, one bale of cotton, and 1,000 pounds of butter. Robert and House of Robert Jarrett [Photo taken 1977.] House of Thomas Patton Jarrett [Photo taken 1977, since destroyed by fire.] 161 Elizabeth owned one horse, fivC' mults, IH milk cm.rs, t\vo oxt'n, 10 cattlc, 60 hogs, and 50 sheep, which produced 100 pounds of wool. Living in a brick plantation house much like the one built by Thomas, they owned 43 slaves. Sarah Ann Jarrett married an up-and-coming young farmer, Joseph J. Prather, in 1852, and by 1860, the couple had two children. The census taker that year recorded that the family had $15,000 in real estate and $39,300 in personal estate. Sarah Ann so impressed him that he wrote "a lady of the first quality" next to her name in the census. The census agricultural schedules show that the Prathers' farm was quite similar to the Jarrett brothers' in production and livestock, although Prather did grow considerably more cotton than his brothers-in-law. 4 Charles Kennedy Jarrett, known as "Kennedy," was apparently the most ambitious of his father's children, undertaking to carry on the family businesses. Far more material has been discovered regarding Charles Kennedy than any previous Jarrett. In 1860, he had a family of five, including his mother-in-law, living on his $15,000 plantation at Traveler's Rest. He and his wife, the former Elizabeth Lucas, were married by 185J and had two children -- Sally Grace, who was four years old in 1860, and Charles Patton, two years old. Their farm produced 150 bushels of peas and beans in that year, as well as 4,000 bushels of corn, 50 of oats, 1,300 of wheat, 50 of Irish potatoes, 800 of sweet potatoes, and two bales of cotton. Also produced were 1,000 pounds of butter, $1,300 of home manufactures, $200 of garden produce, eight gallons of wine, 200 pounds of honey, 10 pounds of wax, and 350 gallons of molasses. The family mmed nine horses, 11 mules, 20 milk cows, six work oxen, 15 cattle, 150 hogs, and 112 sheep, which were 164 shorn of 250 pounds of wooL. In addition to this sumptuous farm, Ken- nedy also maintained as well as he could the gold mine, the inn, the store, the post office, the mills, and the blacksmithy, and he even bought a bridge in Clarkesville.5 Kennedy had 35 slaves in 1860. The detailed biography of Kennedy Jarrett can begin at about 30 years of age. There is slim evidence that Devereaux Jarrett groomed Kennedy to take over the family enterprises, sending him to pick up the gold at the mine in 1849, and two years later, he deeded Traveler's Rest to his son and returned "to rest with God .... " Soon after the death of his father, the wealthy young bachelor visited Atlanta, where he met Lizzie Lucas, a beautiful "Southern belle" from Athens, Georgia.6 This was an important incident in the Jarrett family history, deemtd worthy of immortalization by the great elaborator of Traveler's Rest history, Mary Jarrett Hhite, the couple's daughter. According to Mary, whose nickname was "Baby," the courtship began as follows: In the early days of the history of Atlanta (then called Marthasville in honor of Gov. Lumpkin's daughter Martha who was a friend of the beautiful Miss Elizabeth Lucas of Athens), Hiss Lucas was walking down the street with some cousin who cast sly glances at the few beaux who lived in this little village at that time. Among them was Hr. Charles K. Jarrett a bachelor of about 28 years of age. He and his friend Judge Logan Bleckley were discussing the current events when all of a sudden Judge Bleckley was startled by the abrupt manner of his friend .Jarrett who in an excited voice said, 'Look at the beauty! I never saw anything as supremely lovely as she is. Who is she?' Judge Bleckley laughed and said, 'That is Miss Lizzie Lucas of Athens, the belle and beauty of Georgia. She wouldn't even look at you.' Mr. Jarrett responded 'I don't care wher~ she lives or who she is, I'm going to marry her.' He knew he was a man of importance, owning ten thousand acres of land and fifty negro slaves, twenty-two Kentucky thoroughbred horses and a ..: OWL SWAMP THOMAS _ PATTON JARRETT 1850 SOUTH CAROLINA PENDLETON DISTRICT PENDLETON -- TO MADISON _,.. -:::.-,:,:---- { OCONEE PICKEN's COURT HOUSE JARRETT'S BRIDGE RIVER .::-:: ~0::- ~~~:::::: --- _.,__.--.....__-~ JARRETT MILLS NEsvitt =...:;. COTTON GIN BLACK SMITH a TANYARD TRAVELER'S REST AND JARRETT ENTERPRISES 1850 165 lov<>lv hnmf' sittt;Jtcd in llalwrsh:1m Connty in thf' fool hills or lllc IH';)ttlifttl Bill(' Ridg< ~IOlllll;titlS. Ill ahnnl ;t V\';lr lw brought his bride to his home, Tr.'lvelers Rest, driving from Athens in a coach of 'ye olden tyme' driven by his negro 'Harry' who was a faithful slave and was proud of the honor of bringing young 'Miss' and young 'Master' home to the big house where the brothers and sister and other relatives awaited them with the happy slaves who prepared the wonderful wedding supper which consisted of whole roasted pigs with apples in their mouths, turkeys, fruit cakes, boiled custard, 'syllabab' [syllabub, a dessert or punch made with cream and wine or cider] and other good things. After this sumtuous [sic] retart [repast] the minuet and Virginia reel was danced to the music of 'de fiddle and de bow' till the 'wee small hours. 7 Life was more than courtship and parties at Traveler's Rest in the 1850s, however. Occasionally, Kennedy had to neglect his beautiful wife and tend to the store, the gold mine, or one of the other enterprises. In March of 1852, he succeeded his father as postmaster at Walton's Ford, Georgia, a job which he held until 1866, when he gave it up for the following 10 years. 8 Kennedy greatly expanded the scope of the Jarrett store. The led- gers from the 1850s are the most extensive yet found, running from 1853 through 1859 and including accounts from the blacksmithy and the tollbridge. The pages are headed "C.K. Jarrett-- ~.,Talton's Ford." By this time, the operation genuinely qualifed as a "general store," medicine being added to a stock of yard-goods, food, tools, kitchen merchandise, and clothing. The store began to sell soap occasionally, and other items sold at the time were "spectacles," candy, locks, violins, and oranges. Like his father, Kennedy was available for small cash loans, and there were also occasional entries for a drink of brandy or a bottle of wine. Very little liquor was sold, however, compared to the earlier days, but in 1855, the trade in alcoholic beverages, especially whiskey, 166 picked up again. Entries for shoeing horses, laying plows, and similar items, indicate that the Jarrett blacksmithy also survived. Jarrett family tradition maintains that much of the furniture at Traveler's Rest today was made by a man named Shaw, and the surviving records support this claim. A Caleb T. Shaw lived in Franklin County, near the Habersham County line, throughout the 1850s. ~1at is known of Shaw comes from United States Census records and the Traveler's Rest ledgers. In 1850, Shaw was listed as a 46-year-old mechanic from Massachusetts, a man with a small family. Sometime before 1852, Shaw probably made the large bed which has since become known as that of Devereaux Jarrett. During the 1850s, Shaw made furniture for the four Jarrett plantations. This is partially proven by entries in C.K. Jarrett's ledgers for the late 1850s, which show C.T. Shaw settling his store account as a relatively well-paid Jarrett employee. The 1860 census records show Shaw as a "cabinet maker." Little else about him has been discovered.9 The bridge does not seem to have been used much. Many people may have been allowed to cross without paying, but in yearlv subscriptions and daily tolls, the bridge had suprisingly little business -- sometimes days would pass without a toll being collected. Crossing the bridge cost 20 cents, and a year's privilege was a dollar. Perhaps the road passing Traveler's Rest was no longer well-traveled.lO Two of the surviving ledgers deal with matters pertaining to the Jarrett slaves. A slim one, headed "Negro book, 1855," contains a few accounts nf purchases made by the blacks, \"hose ndmes appenr as "Rnhl 's Nuborn," "CKJ's Dicy," "PLllhcr's Alford," ;md so fotth. For ct ion y<'ilr, <1 n'lilt ivC'ly unknown slavP conspiracy \vas exposed at H.:ll- ton's Ford. The details of this plot are almost c>nt"irely unknown, for only a few newspaper notices have survived to tell of it. Two were reprinted from an October, 1860, edition of the Clarkesville Herald. The most detailed description, reprinted in the Athens Southern Banner, follows: Alarm The people in the lower portion of this county [Habersham], in the neighborhood of Walton's Ford, have been greatly alarmed for several days past by the discovery of a hellish plot among the negroes. Mrs. Philip Martin first overheard the talking of the arrangements -- heard them say, they were going to pitch her into the well -- Then how they were going to dispose of others in the neighborhood. The negroes have been taken up and severely whipped, a free negro awong them seems to have been the head leader who was made to confess the whole of it. They were instigated to it, by one John K. \.Jilson, who was employed as a gardner [sic] by Mr. J.J. Prather [husband of Sally Jarrett]. He [\~ilson] had been talking and reading to them for sometime. The scamp was given five hours to get away. The citizens did entirely wrong in letting him escape. If he were innocent it was cruel to drive him off. -- if he were guilty (of which they had evidence) it was wrong to let him escape punishment. Clarkesville Herald.25 Such emotional prose conveys an indication of the seriousness with which white Southerners viewed the problem of slave revolt, but it can only provide a paltry impression of the excitement which discovery of the "hellish plot" must have brought to Walton's Ford. Unfortunately, the details of the blacks' "arrangements" for the Prathers and the Jar- retts, the grievances and hopes that inspired their desire for liberty, and even the names of the individuals, have been lost. Barring an unex- pected discovery of valuable primary documents, the details of the Wal- ton's Ford conspiracy will remain unknown. The plot foreshadowed the 175 years of upheaval and confusion which began at the Tugaloo crossroads in the fall of 1860. Cradle f . .. Bed brought to Traveler's Rest by Lizzie Lucas Jarrett around 1852. "Indian Rock" Bent-wood Rocking Chair I Corner Cupboard Detail of Main Stairwtiy 176 FOOTNOTES Chapter 8: Jarrett Plantations in the 1850s 1 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section; U.S. Census 1860 Population Schedule, Habersham County, p. 894; U.S. Census 1860 Agricultural Schedule, Habersham County, p. 13; U.S. Slave Census, 1860, Habersham County: "Jarrett Descendants Occupy Historic Homes," Toccoa [Georgia] Record, March 25, 1976, p. 6-B. 2 George White, Historical Collections of Georgia (New York: Pudney and Russell, Pub., 1854), p. 460. 3 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section and in the possession of the Henry and Elizabeth Hayes family, Habersham County; U.S. Census 1860 Population Schedule, p. 894; U.S. Census 1850 Agricultural Schedule, p. 13; U.S. Slave Census; George White, Statistics Qf Georgia (Savannah: H. Thorne Williams, 1849), reported that Habersham County farmers grew an average of 15 bushels of corn per acre, five bushels of wheat. The county produced a total of 50 bales of cotton in 1849, p. 299. 4 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section; U.S. Census 1860 Population Schedule, p. 893; U.S. Census Agricultural Schedule, p. 13. 5 U.S. Census 1860 Population Schedule, p. 896; U.S. Census 18n0 Agricultural Schedule, p. 13. 6 Traveler's Rest papers (some on microfilm), Historic Preservation Section. 7 Ibid. 8 National Archives and Records Service, U.S. Post Office Records, Appointments of Postmasters, Vol. 17, Harch 24, 1852, p. 36; Vol. 26, pp. 92-93. 9 Jarrett ledgers, Historic Preservation Section. U.S. Census records 1850, 1860, Franklin County, pp. 315, 675. 10 Jarrett Ledgers, Historic Preservation Section. 11 Ibid. 12 Ibid. 13 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation S~ction. 177 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid. 17 Ibid. 18 Ibid. 19 Ibid. 20 Ibid. 21 Ibid. 22 See John Hope Franklin, The Militant South (no publishing place, Beacon Press, 1956); Clement Eaton, Freedom~ Thought in the Old South (Durham, N.C., 1940). 23 Ulrich B. Phillips, American Negro Slavery (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1969 [1918]), p. 488. 24 Ibid., pp. 487-88; see also Joseph Cephas Carroll, Slave InsurrectiO;s in the United States, 1800-1865 (New York: Negro Universities Press, 1938) and Nicholas Halasz, The Rattling Chains, Slave Unrest and Revolt in the Ante-bellum South (New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1966). 25 "Alarm," Athens Southern Banner, November 1, 1860, p. 2; Macon Telegraph, November 21, 1860; Flanders, Plantation Slavery in Georgia, p. 179. Chapter 9 THE CIVIL WAR ON THE TUGALOO No diaries or journals have been found, and but little correspondence to and from the front tells of the Jarretts during the Civil War. Most of the details of their lives during those four tragic years remains unknown or at least undocumented. Devereaux Jarrett's sons were all a hit old for arduous military service, and while one might expect a wealthy man of 40 years of age such as Kennedy Jarrett to be an officer, this apparently was not the case. Few Civil War records relating to the Jarretts during this period are extant, and the Confederate records at the Georgia Archives show only that C.K. Jarrett enlisted as a private on March 3, 1862, in Cherokee County. He received a $50 bounty, having signed up for three years, or the duration of the war, but soon, however, Kennedy became an ''absent enlisted man, accounted for --" in July of 1862. The explanation for this short-term service can be found in The Roster ~ the Confederate Soldiers ~ Georgia, which provides the information that Kennedy Jarrett was "discharged on account of weak eyes in 1862."1 C.K. Jarrett's post-war letter requesting a pardon reveals that he served as purchasing agent for the Confederate Army, his work in that capacity perhaps resulting in one of the interesting documents in the Jarrett family papers, a receipt for $20,000 (Confederate) worth of beef. 2 A handful of letters have also survived to offer glimpses of the Jarretts' lives, one being undated and probably written April 18, 1861, by James \-!. hlrenn of Gainesville, Alabama, to "Dear Brother," who could be a - 178 - 179 neighbor, a guest. a tenant farmer, or even a Jarrett. The letter can be dated 1861 because it apparentlv refers to the secession of Virginia, which occurred on April 17 of that year. The letter's text shows the carefree spirit with which many Southerners entered the frav: I am in Gainesville now, the guns are firing, drums are beating, fifes are playing, bells are ringing & the town in an uproar generally. So am I. We have a meeting here tomorrow to organize a volunteer cornpanv & I have almost concluded to join & will immediately if you can find someone to stay on your farm & come horne. Let me know immediately what you can do I am in earnest. We are all well & looking for you tomorrow Your Brother Jas. W. Wrenn N.B. The noise is for old Virginia.3 What this letter had to do with the Jarretts or Traveler's Rest is not known; nor is it known if the Jarretts entered the war in the same ebullient mood as did Wrenn. Early in the war, one of Lizzie Jarrett's correspondents, known only as Sue, was already expressing regrets. Writing from Penfield, Georgia, she lamented: I wish if were possible this bitter cup of war that we have had to and are drinking could pass from us & we could have peace again -- we will not have scarcly [sic] a young man left to us.... If yoJ have any brandy made this year -- keep some for me as I am going to hard drinking.4 One letter from the front to ''My Dear Friend" has been found n t Traveler's Rest. On May 17, 1863, J.W. [?] Wyly wrote to his unnamed friend from a camp near Fredericksburg, Virginia, as follows: I have been studying for the last day or two wheather [sic] I owe you a letter or not, and I still cant tell, 180 and for fear I did not answer your last letter I take this opportunity to write you a short letter. This is a beautiful Sabbath Morning in May and the trees are in full bloom. It resembles very much the beautiful May days which in bygone days of peace, we have seen so many fine enjoyments but those times for a while have ceased to exist but I do hope before another May month shall make its appearance we will all be at our lovely homes in peace, and prepared to see those enjoyments that we once saw again. On the first of this month we was engaged in Battle, and on the third and fourth one of the most terrible battals [sic] of the war was fought [Chancellorsville]. the fighting commenced on the thirtieth of last month (April) and continued for eight days but on the second third & fourth was the days of the hard fighting and many of the noble sons of the South was caused to leave this world of sorrow and troubles. The night of the Second instant our Loard [sic] & lost hero Genl. Jackson faught [sic] very near all night. Twas in that grate [sic] and hard fought battle that he was wounded. he and his staff rode out in advance of our Skirmishers and just before he went out (it was night) he instructed his men to fire at any one coming up in front of them. Soon on his return he missed the road and came up in front of his pickett [sic] and they doing their duty hit him in the left wrist one in the left hand and another in the right hand his left arm was taken off near his elbow, but he was doing very well untill [sic] he was taken with a very severe attack of Pneumonia of which he died. Our casualties in our company was very light in this engagement we lost but one man killed it was Pate Fuller no doubt you have heard of his sad fate long ago he was shot in the head and died instantly he was a brave & Gallant Lou- [isian]ian. We had six or seven wounded. None of which you know. Genl. Lee says that this victory won here was the greatest of the war. the Yankees chose the battle ground had two men to our one and we completely routed them across the river. the Yankees acknowledge themselves that we out General them and our men fought better and they say we can whip them any time with anything like an equal number. So I have written you such an uninteresting [letter] I will close there is no news in camp at all. I see by yesterdays papers the the [sic] Yankees have taken possession of Jackson, Mississippi Genl. Johnson has fallen back to some station between Jackson & Vicksburg and says he is prepared to meet them in any force they may bring before him. he says he is confident of success. the health of 181 the troops is very good now indeed. the weather is verv fine. If I have not answered your last letter untill [sic] now I hope you will excuse me for this time lost since sometime before the fight has been in confusion, write soon. I will be very glad to hear from you.5 Far from the gory scenes at Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg, the Jarrett women waited for peace amid dwindling comforts. A letter to Lizzie from Cousin Mary Alice McComb in Bellview, Florida, is full of family news, and she finally mentions the impact of the war in saying: Have you had any homespun dresses yet -- I have three or four People that never thought of having such a thing as a homespun dress before the war now think they are very well off if they have homespun. TI1read is 30 dollars a bunch. I heard calico was 9 $ per yard Worsted is 15 $ a yard. 6 As the war continued, a great many items became costly and scarce. In the Tugaloo area, coffee and tea were replaced by a brew concocted from "parched grain or okra ground up" or various herbal beverages.- Ink, paper, and button became hard to find, and homemade molasses became the standard sweetener. Pins and needles were carefully saved.7 Despite such inconveniencing shortages, however, the Tugaloo area residents appear not to have suffered great hardships before the final days of the war. When Floride Clemson, granddaughter of John C. Calhoun and a cultured young woman in her early 20s arrived in Pendleton in January of 1865, she reported: The ladies look a little shabyly [shabby] & old fash- ioned but there seems little real want ... Luxuries are almost unatainable [sic], sugar, & meat dear ... hut there is plenty of corn, flour, salt, sorghum, & even poultry, about here .... The ingenuity of the people is wonder full in making things, & furnishing 'substitutes,' which is a word in every ones mouth. 182 Floride went on to offer a comment on the Confederate situation: "The greatest want, alas! is of men. Men to fight. There are scarce any out of the army now, & too few there. The people, as far as I have seen, are dispirited now."8 If the Jarrett women wished to assist in the war effort by caring for wounded "heroes," they could climb in the wagon and drive across the river to Pendleton, where a one-room house near the railroad stat ion had been converted in to a hospital. There, "many a suffering soldier received good nursing."9 Another of the few remaining Jarrett letters from the Civil War era was that from Robert Jarrett to his wife, Elizabeth, written from Asheville, North Carolina, on September 5, 1862. Robert informed her: "I arrived here day befure yesterday after a very rough road and painful journey the road from Clarkesville to franklin [sic] is very rough it had like to have worn me out." On the next leg of the journey, Robert had suffered greatly in his hips and back, he reported, but he hoped to be restored to health at a springs. He was cheered by the war news: We have just heard of the battle of manassus [sic] plains our men have whiped [sic] Pope and McClellan the report is that 7000 of our men are killed and fifteen thousand wounded and the Yankee loss is irnrnense.10 Regarding the farm, Robert instructed: "Tell york to put up fatning [sic] hogs all that will do and feed them what they will eat of the small corn and what they cut out of the fodder roads." After returning to the theme of his suffering, he closed with the news that he could not obtain a cap for his son, "little Devereaux." Perhaps the disability referred to in this letter was the cause of Robert Jarrett's death in 1864 [see the Appendix for an inventory of his estate].ll 183 In the last days of the Southern rebellion, the terrors of war fin- ally visited the people living in relative seclusion in the Tugaloo neighborhood. For many months, Tugaloo residents observed with growing alarm the gradual decline of the slave-owners' cause. When General Wil- liam T. Sherman led a burning, looting army across Georgia in 1864, determined to divide the South in half and show the Southerners the hopelessness of their fight and the bitter fruits of warfare, people in the Tugaloo area developed an increasing fear and hatred of their ene- mies. What would happen if the Yankees were to bring destruction there? By February of 1865, Floride Clemson found the people "despondent and at heart conquered." Even necessities had become "ridicu- lously dear, & almost impossible to get." On February 19, she reported Pendleton to be full of "consternation" over the danger of Federal raids, and when Columbia, South Carolina, was ''laid in ashes by the Northern Vandals," she fearfully anticipated the same for the Tugal~o neighborhood. On April 21, Floride confided to her diary: "Oh these are dreadful times to live in. I suppose we may expect raids now any- day, & God only knows how we are to bear it, for the countrv is starving now .... I suppose we will die of starvation .... " On May 1, she wrote., "We scarcely ever see a news paper, & are bewildered groping in inpene- trable darkness, & mystery."12 These fears were realized with dramatic suddenness. Confederate President Jefferson Davis fled Richmond in April, desperate to reach the trans-Mississippi region, where recalcitrant Southerners hoped that the war could be perpetuated. With Davis was a small escort and an indeter- minate amount of gold from the Confederate treasury. He headed for the Southwest bv a route which would take him across the Tugaloo somP\vhere 184 between Traveler's Rest and Petersburg. On April 27, United States Secretary of War E.M. Stanton telegraphed General George Thomas, ordering him to see to the capture of Davis and the estimated $6 to $13 million in gold. Stanton cabled: "Spare no exertion to stop Davis and his plunder. Push the enemy as hard as you can in every direction."l3 Thomas immediately passed the order on to General George Stoneman, commander of the headquarters of the Department of Cumberland at Knoxville, and on the same day, Stoneman ordered Generals David Tillson, Simeon B. Brown (both at Asheville), and William J. Palmer (at Cowpens, South Carolina) and their three brigades to pursue Davis. Stoneman exhorted: "If you can hear of Davis, follow him to the ends of the earth, if possible, and never give him up." 14 Greatly agitated by the rumors of vast hordes of gold, the eager Union troops headed for the Tugaloo, "living off the country." Crossing the Tugaloo at Hatton's Ford, somewhat north of Davis' Abbeville crossing, Palmer's brigade scrambled to reach Athens ahead of Davis, who was forced to halt at Washington, Georgia, disband most of his men, and turn back to the east. He was soon captured.lS During and immediately following their efforts to head off Davis and the gold, the overly excited Union troops made life extremely traumatic for residents of the Tugaloo. For the Jarretts and their neighbors of the wealthy planter class, the Yankees' arrival signaled the end of an era and a way of life which they had struggled desperately to preserve. Although only a few scraps of paper have survived to provide frustrating hints of the Jarretts' lives during those days of change, it is possible to obtain a deeper impression of how they must have felt from a number of sources which have been published. Several accounts 185 from nearby in South Carolina vividly portray the adventurous, dangerous events of the Yankees' arrival at the Tugaloo. Since these records were kept by people of the same socio-economic class as the Jarretts, they can speak for that family, to a certain extent. Hence, they are especially valuable for the student of Traveler's Rest. On May 1, 1865, Clarissa Adger Bowen, a young woman who lived at Ashtabula Plantation, near Pendleton, decided to begin a diary in order "to have a record of our every day life during these months of uncertainty, gloom, and suffering." The diary brings alive the impact of war upon this previously isolated community a few miles from Traveler's Rest. For weeks, the atmosphere had been permeated with "wild rumors." Already somewhat terrorized by the free-booting soldiers of Joe Wheel- er's Confederate cavalry,l6 by spring, the Tugaloo people were dreading the approach of looting and burning Union troops. On May 1, they arrived, and 40 soldiers rode up to Ashtabula, opened the stable, and took two horses. The Bowen family hurriedly poured out their liquor and hid guns and silver. Then: In about twenty minutes three more of the wretches rode up, rus~ing at 0. [Bowen] who was under an oak tree and tore his watch from him. One of them dismounting took him aside and imperiously demanded firearms and specie [coin money]. l.Jith drawn pistols they rushed into my room and the work of pillage began -- jewelry firearms and specie seemed their principal desire but other things such as flannel shirts, shoes, wine, coffee, tea, loaf sugar, etc. were not despised. They even took the strawberries, bread, etc. out of the storeroom but we are yet in too much confusion to know what is taken and what is left. Only thank God, no blood was shed and 0. was not taken prisoner. It was all as sudden as a clap of thunder.l7 Few of those who had possessions the Yankees might value got much sleep during those early May nights. To her diary, Clarissa Bowen exclaimed: 186 "t.Jhat trials wf' arf' now enduring!" The Bowens and most of their wealthy neighbors slept with their clothes on, dreading a return of the Northern marauders. The people had no way of knowing that the often drunken, thieving, abusive, violent soldiers would commit no further barbarisms, such as burning or even worse. Floride Clemson delicately expressed the fear that must have preyed on the minds of many, saying, "He ... were dreadfully afraid of personal insults. "18 At Rivoli, home of Clarissa's father, Robert Adger, 50 Union soldiers appeared on May 1 and demanded "18 millions of treasure which they 'knew was hidden in the cellar' or to capture 'the President and Cabinet who had been at the house for two days'!" When the soldiers told Adger they knew exactly where the gold was, he told them, "Then go take it." Instead of digging, however, the officers led their men in plundering the house. 19 Thf' raiders also visited Boscobel, nearby home of Robert Adger's brother, the Reverend John D. Adger. There, they demanded horses and watches. Adger taunted them, asking, "Does your government send you all through this country just to rob private citizens?'' To this, the Yankee spokesman replied, "Do you suppose I would go riding all about here and not take anything home to my family?" Upon going inside, he then told the tense Adger women, "Don't be afraid, ladies, we've seen ladies before. We only \van t to get pistols and gold watches." The soldiers ransacked the house, pocketing everything valuable and portable. As the spokesman climbed on his horse to depart, however, his rifle discharged, blasting a hole through his ne~k and head. The minister was nearly shot on the spot by the Yankee's surprised compatriots, but Adger reversed the situation: "I clapped my hands over their heads and said, 'The hand 187 of God is on you, men. Give me back my watch.'" He also recovered his daughter's watch, and the chastened thieves then departed.20 Clarissa Bowen wrote that the Northerners had discovered some cases of liquor in Anderson, South Carolina, drinking until they had become "perfect demons." Louise Vandiver's History of Anderson tells of the drunken Union soldiers shooting down one young man as he crossed the street, and others were tortured to reveal the locations of their secret savings. ''The drunken, rowdy soldiers entered everywhere, taking what- ever of value they could carry away, wantonly destroying much that they could not."21 Young Caroline Ravenel described the Yankees' visit to her family in Anderson in a letter. They threatened to hang her grandmother, should she refuse to give them her purported gold. "She told them they could hang her, but as she had no gold, she could not give it up." The soldiers then looted the house. They went down, carried old Uncle Henry to Mama's room, put a noose round his neck, & hung him to the bedstead three times, that is, the tips of his toes alone touched the ground ... Aunt Mary loosened the rope once, which so enraged them that they threatened to hang her too, and abused ~er so that she saw her presence was anything but a protection to Uncle H., & at last was obliged to come out. We did not know what was going on then. They came upstairs again, & oh! they abused Aunt Mary & Grandma, & Aunt Elizabeth dreadfully, saying they would give $50,000 if Aunt Mary was a man they might hang her too, & threat- ened her so much that I was very uneasy. They told us that they didn't believe 'those fine ladies,' meaning Aunt Maria, Aunt Carrie, Maria & I would tell a story & they would not take $2000000 if we were to give it to them, but they would have that old man's gold, & they would hang him for lying & break his neck. They called down the most awful, awful curses on themselves if they did not kill the old man. Oh! Belle, you can never imagine the horror of those moments, words cannot describe it; even now, I cannot realize '"hat T suffered then. Oh! it '"as dreadful .... 188 Then, Belle, after abusing us, they went down in the room below. You may think you can imagine our feelings: first, we heard Uncle Henry's voice, then a pistol shot & a fall; we thought he was dead. But directly we heard his voice again, then a great struggle, a heavy fall, & dead silence! After a while the men rode off, & some went down. They had knocked Uncle H.'s face with a shovel, with their fists, & beaten his head against the wall, when, finding that they were killing him, he told where the ~old was. Oh! it wasn't worth the anxiety we underwent. 2 Naturally, The History ~ the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Regiment does not dwell on such incidents. Of the alcoholic refreshments at the Anderson Courthouse, the regimental history merely comments: "He got it all. Nearly all our men had a canteen full, and barrels of it were emp- tied in the gutters by standing orders from Gen. Stoneham [sic] who was fearful of its demoralizing effects on his troops." Apparently, the "whole force" had become intoxicated in North Carolina, and "Stoneman wanted no more of it." 23 Certainly some of the Union officers tried to control their men, and the Reverend Adger reported seeing four of his light-fingered visitors being held as convicted thieves and prisoners. 24 There can be no doubt, however, that the Northern soldiers were guilty of considerable excesses. General l~illiam Palmer's May 6 report from Athens to Stoneman tells of sending Bro,m's brigade to guard all the crossroads, bridges, and ferries on the Tugaloo, "to feed there as long as possible without starving the people."25 Forage was scarce, and Palmer recommended that Brown's men be returned to Tennessee as soon as could be arranged, for ... their officers for the most part ~ave lost all control over their men. A large number of the men and some of the officers devote themselves exclusively to pillaging and destroying property. General Brown appears to have given 189 them carte blanche in South Carolina, and they are so destitute of discipline that it cannot be restored in the field and while the command is living on the country.26 So went the Civil War adventures of people on the Tugaloo. Jar- rett's bridge and Traveler's Rest were undoubtedly visited by a detach- ment of Brown's rambunctious troops, as a letter written by Lizzie Lucas Jarrett to her niece, Zadie Jarrett, during those frightening days says: I am so anxious about the arrival of our 'five hundred friends' that [I] shall have to defer our visit to Mrs. Jarres to another day. Ma is going to Mr. Ramseys & Doyles come & go with her your Uncle K [Kennedy] has not come yet, & I had rather wait until he gets home as there is so much passing and confusion in the country. I wish I was a thousand men. I expect we will have to go to Milledgeville for arms & ammunition for the men say they 'have none and someone ought to go. '27 The Jarretts experienced further excitement in May, when Robert Toombs, a leading Georgia politician and member of the Confederate-Cabi- net as secretary of state, hid from Federal troops for a week at Joseph Prather's house. From Prather's, Toombs moved to hide at the Rembert's near Tallulah Falls, where he passed as Major Luther Martin and killed time by hunting deer. He soon fled the country by way of New Orleans and Cuba to Europe.28 Whatever actually happened at Traveler's Rest during the early May excitement, however, legends inevitably sprang up. Mary Jarrett White later offered this account of the Civil \~ar days at Traveler's Rest: 'Uncle Harry' the faithful negro slave took the twentvtwo fine horses [these do not appear in the census schedules] to the woods where he said he \votlld hide them from the Yankees. He kept them hidden three lonely months. He said 'I"! iss Lizzie dey ain't no Yankee g\vine to git dese horses long as I can hold a gun. I knmvs how to shoot same as dem o I d Yankees does . ' 190 Harry was well taken care of during his long bigil [sic], food being taken to him by loyal slaves. Then carne a sad day for !larry and all the Jarrett family. A 'free nigger' which the Yankees picked up led them to where 'Uncle Harry' and the beloved horses were hidden. They carne by the house in a gallop waving and grinning at young mistress as they passed. 'Uncle Harry' followed with tears streaming down his face he said, 'Miss Lizzie, I sho am sorry, but I couldn't kill all dern Yankees. Dey was such a "garrn" of the old devils which I believe riz up out of hell, whar dey will all go back to and I don't keer how soon.' They took the meat that was buried, all the corn and wheat and killed the hogs and chickens and turkeys etc. They also took an old clock to pieces looking for money and valuables. Fortunately they did not burn the house which still stands. Nothing left for the family or parr [sic] negroes who were 'Free.' This terrible blow was almost more than 'Young Histress' and 'Young Haster' could bear. Reconstruction and Carpet Bag days added to their other troubles. A company of Yankees carnpted [sic] on the place near the Tugslo River toll bridge [Jarrett's] expecting to capture Jefferson Davis, but he evaded them and crossed the river several miles below.29 For plantation families such as the Jarretts, Adgers, Clernsons, and Bowens, difficult adjustments were just beginning, however. "The feel- ing of humiliation and constant apprehension I will not attempt to des- cribe," wrote }1rs. Arthur M. Huger of Greenville. 30 With the defeat of the Confederacy, the Southern people's future became a maze of uncer- tainties. Hhat would the conquerors do? ~.J'ould the Rebels' land and other property be confiscated? And above all these questions loomed that of emancipation. For Southern blacks, the future was just as uncertain as for their former masters, although perhaps not so ominous in some respects. When Clarissa Bowen wrote on May 1 that "the negroes are all much dernoral- ized," she probably meant that they were excited, confused, and 191 difficult to control. The former slaves were inclined to fraternize with the Union soldiers, and many blacks left the area altogether. When rumors circulated that emancipation had somehow failed to be enacted by Congress, Clarissa wondered, "How will the negroes feel if things settle down and they are left as they were!" 31 This was not to occur, how- ever, and blacks and whites were soon struggling to adjust to the irre- versible end to slavery. Even for many former slaves who were accus- tamed to hard times, 1865 was a year of "bitter suffering and sorrow." 32 Clarissa Bowen reported, "Our danger is now more from the poor people around us, than from the Yankees, as they are going about stealing what they please."33 In June of that year, the former rebels were forced to swear their allegiance to the federal government or lose their lands. Clarissa wrote: We are conquered and the government is all powerful. How will they use that power? Perhaps they will deal gently, try to conciliate, but who knows! It is singular how in trying to avoid evils which are comparatively small we plunge into unknown gulfs of misery and how little we reflect that it may be wiser to 'bear those ills' we have, than to fly to 'those we know not of.' It seems to me thJt the mistake our people are making now is to indulge in guilty, sinful brooding over second causes. 'If such and such things had not been done, we would have succeeded,' they say, forgetting that they are thus dethroning God from Providential Sovereignty of HIS OWN WORLD. Forgetting that the Lord reigneth, they venture to dictate what the procedure of infinite love and wisdom should be. Let us beware lest we bring on ouselves a still more severe chastisement.34 Also in June, matters with the former slaves still had not been settled, and Clarissa's diary notes that the "negroes are so much demor- :llizcd th~1t tiH'V will not work~ ll'ars arc' entertained that there will he 192 but little corn made." Former masters had great difficulty in conceiving of their servants as free human beings, and Caroline Ravenel wrote upon imagining the blacks at her family horne in Charleston: "Sometimes the idea is so ludicrous that I can't help laughing, & then again it is so dreadful, when I think of our old cook sitting up in the drawing room entertaining cornpany!"35 Conditioned to horror at the idea of racial equality, the Southern whites were determined to keep the blacks in a state of inferiority and servitude. At Rivoli and Ashtabula, the Adgers and Bowens spent three days devising a contract for their house and field "people." The one-time household servants immediately signed, but the field hands were upset by the terms of the contract and delayed action. By morning, however, the lack of alternatives had prompted them to sign the proposal, by which the freed people agreed: ... to perform good faithful service as heretofore, submitting themselves in all respects to the control and direction of their former masters, never leaving the place without permission, abstaining from the use of liquor on the place ano never becoming intoxicated while away. The former master on his part agreeing to give all, both workers and non-workers, good comfortable clothing, quarters, fuel, and medical attention as heretofore. The freedmen are to retain the products and patches of corn, gardens, chicken yards, etc. as heretofore.36 Such terms, dominated as they were by "as heretofores," make it easy to comprehend the field hands' reluctance to sign the agreement, and they must have wondered about the much-anticipated glories of freedorn. Yet, undeniablv, slavery had ill-equipped them to understand the concept of liberty, and believing that freedom meant ''freedom from all restraint, surcease from all work," 37 a great many expected to adopt the leisurely lifestyles of some of their former masters. On July 26, 193 Caroline Ravenel wrote a letter describing how, when presented with a work contract: ... the oldest negro on the place ... was exceedingly indig- nant, & said Missis belonged to him, & he belonged to Missis, & he was not going to leave her ... & he was not going to do any work either, except make a collar a week.38 Such attitudes as these ominously indicated that both races were to experience great difficulty in coping with the blacks' freedom. The Reverend John Adger resolved the dilemma for himself by sending his slaves away. In his memoirs, he wrote: I had announced to my slaves that they were all free. The corning of emancipation had been talked of all through the summer, and they had made inquiries about it of myself, and I had told them that, whenever it was determined, I should inform them of it. It was, perhaps, in August that the action of the State of South Carolina settled the question, and I told them I could no longer employ them, and that they must find homes for themselves. They were about thirty in number. One of them, a man named Morris, had a wife and a number of children, several of them grown boys. He alone of the whole number objected very much to the terms of their emancipation, having this large family to support. In general, they received the announcement with indifference. To Morris it seemed that the government had treated him very badly, in setting him free without 'giving him a start,' as he expressen it .... The whole company very soon scattered, and I lost sight of them all.39 Others, however, felt a greater sense of responsibility toward their former slaves than did Adger. Considering his indifference, one need not wonder why his niece, Clarissa Bowen, was moved to comment: "Poor creatures. for them." 40 Truly the future looks dark for us, but it is blacker Disappointingly-few details have survived to tell of the travails and arrangements between the Jarrett familv anJ their former slaves. 194 Among the family papers are two contracts, faded with age, made between Charles Kennedy Jarrett and black workers. One is nearly illegible in its entirety, but the other, made in August of 1865, bound Kennedy to pay Jasper Jarrett "five dollars per month to be paid in corn at (1) one dollar per bushel," or amounts [illegible figures] of pork and syrup. Jasper, on his part, ... binds himself to do good work at all times unless accidentally sick commencing work at sunrise and continue until sunset except two hours at twelve o'clock during the long days and one hour in the short day -- said Jasper binds himself to keep good order at all times and to account for and return all tools which he may use when called for.41 Primary sources reveal many former slave-owners to have been neurotically sensitive ~bout signs of blacks' expectations of equality and potential arrogance, and Caroline Ravenel was offended at the idea of "colored belles" enjoying their freedom at picnics.42 Another episode demonstrated the potential for overt hostility between the races, told by Clarissa Bowen in her diary: Col. Parker's negro threatened Mrs. P. with an axe and when she pled for quietness for the sake of her son who was ill was told that they cared nothing for her nor her son, that white people must now give way to coloured etc . ... We begin to realize we are a conquered people and to expect humiliations and insults. Clarissa's words were indeed accurate: "This is truly a world of change." 43 In July of that year, Floride Clemson wrote that the Tugaloo was experiencing ... a terrible drought, & many say the corn crop is alreadv ruined ... the prospect for winter is terrible. 195 The negroes being free -- almost everyone is turning them away by the hundreds to starve, plunder, & do worse. The times ahead a[re] fearful.44 Clarissa reported in October that the country was in a "very unsettled state." So-called "regulators" used violence to reinforce the racial "status quo ante-bellum." During this same period, Floride Clemson wrote that "this country is getting very unsafe. People are con- stantly called from their houses at night & shot .... " In mid-December, Floride was still pessimistic: "Every one expects trouble about Xmas: with the negroes, who expect land. Matters are pretty quiet now except casual disturbances and murders." Floride did not again mention her fears about starvation, so it is probable that shortages were not as extensive as she had predicted in July. By the summer of 1866, she was extremely anxious to leave Pendleton, and when her father, Thomas Calhoun, considered settling down at Calhoun's Fort Hill, she wrote, "One might as well be buried alive."45 Yet violence, uncertainty, despair, and dullness was not an unbroken pattern at the Tugaloo in the months after the end of the Civil War. In October of 1865, former General Wade Hampton was visiting the South Carolina side of the river, and a mock "tournament" was performed at Pendleton during his visit, attended by Clarissa Bowen, Floride Clemson, and perhaps some of the Jarretts. Hampton ''looked and rode well as Don in his blue velvet yellow satin and point lace," wrote Floride Clemson. "Calhoun [Clemson Calhoun] and young Ben Crawford were his knights, and the latter, Ivanhoe, won the crown and chose his queen of love, Miss Sue Lewis"-- "a "mere school girl," reported the piqued Floride. /d) 196 The Jarretts may or may not have been prepared to participate in such "chivalric" festivities at this time, however, as Kennedy Jarrett's barns, cotton gin, and mill had apparently been burnt during the springtime visit of the Yankees. Then, according to legend, "a storm blew down the carriage house where the coach was left and also the bridge was blown down." 47 Whatever the actual extent of the Jarretts' losses, Traveler's Rest and the Tugaloo crossroads were never again to be as prosperous as in ante-bellum days. 197 FOOTNOTES Chapter 9: The Civil War on the Tugaloo 1 The upper age limit for military draft set by the Confederacy was originally 35, but was soon raised to 45, then 50 in February, 1862. Governor Joseph Brown, who wanted Georgia to have an army of her own, got the legislature to pass a draft law conscripting all those from 16 to 60 (December, 1863). Thomas P. Jarrett (born 1812) may have served in the "Horne Guard." Robert and Charles Kennedy's bad health precluded their active service. See Coulter, Georgia, ~Short History, pp. 330-31. Confederate Microcards, Georgia Department of Archives and History; Lil- lian Henderson (ed.), Roster Qf the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia (Hapeville, Ga.: Longino & Forter, Inc., 1960), Vol. IV, p. 623. 2 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. S Ibid. 6 Ibid. 7 Louise Ayer Vandiver, Traditions and History of Anderson County (Atlanta: Ruralist Press, Publishers, 1929), p. 237. 8 Floride Clemson, !:._Rebel Carne Horne, Charles M. HcGee, Jr., and Ernest H. Lander, Jr. (eds) (Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1961), p. 74. 9 Vandiver, Anderson County, p. 238. 10 Robert Jarrett papers at his horne on Tugaloo, now in possession of the Henry and Elizabeth Hayes family. 11 Ibid. 12 Clemson,!:._ Rebel, pp. 75, 77, 81, 83. l3 Official Records Qf the War of the Rebellion (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1897), Series I, Vol. XLIX, Part I, p. 546. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid., pp. 547-50. lf) Mary Stephenson (ed.), The Diarv of Clarissa Adger Bowen, Ashtabula Plantation, 1865: The Pendleton-Clemson Area, South Carolina, 17761889 (Pendleton: Research and Pub]ication Committee, Foundation for Historic Research in the Pendleton Area, 1973), p. 73; Vandiver, Anderson County, p. 243. 17 Stephenson, Diarv of f_lariss<:!_ Adger Bmven, p. 73. 198 18 Stephenson, Diary of Clarissa Adger Bowen, p. 73; Clemson, ! Rebel, p. 81. 19 Stephenson, Diary of Clarissa Adger Bowen, p. 73; John B. Adger, ~ Life and Times (Richmond: The Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1899) ' p. 339. 20 Adger, _t!y Life, pp. 342-43. 21 Vandiver, Anderson County, p. 239. 22 Daniel Elliott Huger Smith, ed., Mason-Smith Family Letters (Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1950), pp. 211-12. 23 Charles H. Kirk (ed.), Historv of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Voluntee~ Cavalry (Philadelphia: 1906, no publisher), p. 512. 24 Adger, ~Life, p. 345. 25 Official Records, Vol. XLIX, p. 551. 26 Ibid. 27 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. 28 Pleasant A. Stovall, The Life of Robert Toombs (New York: Cassell Publishing Company, 1892)~.~04-07. 29 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. 30 Smith, Mason-Smith Family Letters, p. 206. 31 Stephenson, Diary of Clarissa Adger Bowen, p. 73. 32 Ibid., p. 74. 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid., p. 75. 35 Ibid. 36 Stephenson, Diary of Clarissa Adger Bowen, p. 77. 37 Coulter, Georgia: A Short History, p. 350. 38 Smith, Mason-Smith Family Letters, p. 181. 39 Adger, _t!Y. Life, pp. 345-46. 40 Stephenson, Diary~ Clarissa Adger Bowen, p. 76. 41 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Ser.tion. 199 42 Smith, Mason-Smith Family Letters, p. 181. 43 Stephenson, Diary of Clarissa Adger Bowen, pp. 76, 79. 44 Clemson, ~Rebel, p. 93. 45 Stephenson, Diary of Clarissa Adger Bowen, p. 79; Clemson,_A Rebel, pp. 95, 96, 105. The Ku Klux Klan, violent defenders of "white supremacy," first appeared in Georgia in 1868. They were especially virulent in north Georgia; Coulter, Georgia: ~Short History, p. 371. 46 Stephenson, Diary of Clarissa Adger Bowen, p. 80; Clemson, ~ Rebel, p. 94. 47 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. Chapter 10 TRAVELER'S P~ST DURING RECONSTRUCTION This chapter in the history of Traveler's Rest and the Tugaloo crossroads is the story of Charles Kennedy Jarrett's family, a story told in tax and land records, a handful of letters and legends. Although the tax and land records show a slowly shrinking property, the letters offer almost no clues as to the causes of this decline. The fact that the South was economically devastated by the Civil War was surely a contributing factor in the Jarretts' financial woes, which were worsened by crop losses in 1865, 1866, and 1867. Since Traveler's Rest was no longer at a crossroads, perhaps the lack of passersby had as much to do with the Jarretts' fortunes as it did with the demise of the stagecoach inn. In any case, the break-up of the South's large plantations was, as E.M. Coulter puts it, "inevitable" after the end of slavery.l It seems logical to connect the decay of Traveler's Rest as an inn with a general decline in travel in northeast Georgia. Apparently, the glorious "Grand Tour" of ante-bellum days was no longer so attractive to those \vho could afford it (or not within the means of those who wished to go). The Tallulah Falls Hotel, approximately 20 miles away, frequently mentioned in early travel accounts, was defunct by 1874, when George Walton Williams' Nacoochie and Its Surroundings referred travelers to "Mrs. A's," six miles from the falls. Mrs. A did not keep a hotel, but "accommodates travelers to the best of her ability." Williams relayed the innkeeper's complaint that travelers were too often fault-finding and that they should realize that in the upcountry towns, - 200 - 201 no guests would come for days, and then they would come in a flood and expect too much of their hosts.2 The Civil War cost Charles Kennedy Jarrett his slaves, but it left him with a good family and a sizable farm. He still owned several thou- sand acres on the Tugaloo, but if the barns, bridge, and carriage house were down, it would have cost quite a bit to replace them. The bridge, at least, was replaced.3 The South was a conquered territory, and a new relationship would have to be established with the federal government. President Lincoln had planned that formerly rebellious Southerners could regain full citi- zenship by applying for a pardon and taking an oath to support the Con- stitution and the Union. After Lincoln's assassination, President Andrew Johnson continued this program of pardoning, although excluding from amnesty 14 classes of persons who were required to write special requests for pardon. Kennedy Jarrett wasted little time in dispatching this letter: Georgia, Habersham County To his Excellency Andrew Johnson President of the United States of America The application of Charles K. Jarrett of said Co1mty most respectfully sheweth, that he is forty five years old five 01 inches high blue eyes. Auburn hair fair complextion weight 175 lhs. Post office address "Walton's Ford Habersham Co. Georgia" That he comes under the first class of exceptions contained in your proclama- tion of the 29th May 1865 by reason of having been the Post Master at Walton's Ford Habersham Co. Ga. an office that he had long held for the convenience of the neighborhood before and after the beginning of the revolution. In the year 1864 he was also purchasing agent buying beef cattle for the use of the Army. With regard to the propertv qualification. At the time the State of Georgia passed what is commonly called the Ordinance of Secession, He was worth more than twenty thousand dollars including slaves. He is not now worth twenty thousand Dollars though other persons might estimate his property worth more. No proceedings have been instituted against him that [he] is aware of. I 202 ;una farm(r by occupation. And now accept L!Je existing state of affairs intending in good faith to ahide the law and the Constitution. As the best evidence of his future conduct. He respectfully refers you to the annexed Oath which he has sollemly [sic] taken and And [sic] intends faithfully to keep, and observe. Therefore he most respectfully asks, and makes application for pardon and that he may be restored to the rights and privileges of a citizen. Respectfully subscribed Charles K. Jarrett Aug. 18th, 18654 The acreage indicated for Jarrett in the 1870 Census Agricultural Schedule (100 acres) cannot be correct, as it differs greatly from the 1870s tax digests (3,700 acres). The war had cost Kennedy considerably in livestock. In 1870, he had four horses, five cows, two oxen, 11 cattle, 30 sheep, and 80 hogs, and the family gre\v only 800 bushels of corn, three bushels of peas and beans, 140 of oats, 10 of rye, 40 of wheat, 20 of Irish potatoes, and 100 of sweet potatoes. The farm also produced 100 gallons of molasses, 100 pounds of honey, eight pounds of wax, 30 pounds of wool, and 400 pounds of butter.S The Census Population Schedule offers an idea of the plantation's household. By 1870 Kennedy and Lizzie had four children, and also residing with them were Lizzie's mother, two women named Duke, and a black cook, Mickey Jarrett. The 1870 Population Schedule also provides some scanty details concerning a handful of the Jarrett and Prather freed people. A few of the blacks had laboring skills which kept them out of the fields, including Coleman Prather, a stone-and-brick mason; Mickey Jarrett, the Jarretts' cook; Henry Jarrett, a miller; and Brown Jarrett, a blacksmith. Most, however, are listed as farm hands. The Agricultural Schedules slightly augment this meager information; while no freed people are listed in the 203 1870 schedule, four men are named in the 1880 one. "R. Jarrett" rented a small farm of 20 acres, and James Prather, and William and Jasper Jarrett were sharecroppers. The latter three operated 15- to 20-acre farms, on which they grew corn, oats, and a bit of wheat and sweet potatoes. William added cotton and sorghum to his production, as well as six sheep. This information, sketchy as it is, conforms with the data which appears in Alan Conway's The Reconstruction of Georgia. As that work points out, Southern blacks and whites were bonded by proximity, affection, and economic necessity, simultaneously at odds because of racial antipathy and conflicting interests. At the war's end, Georgia did not immediately enact a harsh "black code" like Mississippi's, but the state's grudging provisions for the freed people's legal status were designed to keep "the Negro in political oblivion, social inferiority, and superficial legal equality." In the emotional confusion of the situation, some white Georgians bitterly predicted race war or wishfully forecasted black extinction. A writer in Clarkesville decreed: "The race will die out -- in 50 years a black face will be as rare as an Indian's is now.... "8 The blacks' situation tended to substantiate old American ideas concerning the importance of personal property and social mobility for a free people. In short, what ex-slaves, whose training was almost entirely farming, needed most was land. Unfortunately, those \vho held thP land had strong reasons for not wanting the blacks to obtain any of it. On the one hand, the prevalent racial ideology included the belief that blacks could not farm independently; on the other, the blacks' acquisition of land would have necessitated some program of confiscation, 204 simultaneously rendering the much-needed labor force less available and tractable.9 Sharecropping, the system arrived at for Traveler's Rest and for most of the South, is explained by Conway as "a compromise which enabled Southern whites to keep control of the land and with it Negro labor, but also a system which enabled labor to be obtained without wages," for which the landowners lacked capital. Sharecropping was a product of necessity -- as seen by the landowners -- the necessity of preserving white supremacy and holding on to the land. For the blacks, it was a poor substitute for the acquisition of their own acreage. As a Georgia planter observed in 1867, "They [the blacks] will almost starve and go naked before they will work for a white man if they can get a patch of ground to live on and get from under his control." An ex-slave added: "As soon as we can buy two or three acres of land and build a cabin on it, we will work for ourselves and work hard." Even those blacks who managed to struggle into an economic position to buy land, however, had trouble obtaining it from the reluctant whites.lO When combined with the devastation of the backward Southern economy, the blacks' economic helplessness and the whites' determination to preserve it were sufficient to perpetuate Southern poverty for generations. Both races were trapped -- the whites surrounding themselves with ''indolent, thriftless, irresponsible tenants" whose attitudes could only be improved by opportunities for social mobility, a solution the whites dismissed out of hand because it threatened white supremacy. This trap had unfortunate consequences for the people of Traveler's Rest, as the economic woes of the South were visited upon the inhabitants of the Tugaloo crossroads. 205 Apparently the Burnett Gold Mine no lonBer produced enough to keep the Jarretts "flush." Here again, the documentary material is piecemeal and disappointing, but the evidence does show that the Jarrett-Patton partnership to mine the property continued. During the Civil War, in September of 1863, Jarrett and James Patton made another agreement for maintaining the partnership. The contract does not explain why a new arrangement was needed, but since all the originally-named Pattons had disappeared from the new document, it can be surmised that the former partners had died. Patton and Jarrett agreed in this contract to work a mine on 900 acres located on Bean Creek in Habersham County, "being the tract or tracts recently owned by Jesse Siler, the late Patton, the late D. Jarrett." Full authority was given to Kennedy to work the mine for a quarter share for 12 years while Patton was to receive l/28th of all gold or other metal mined.ll A scrap of paper shows that in February of 1867, E.L. Patton and C.K. Jarrett agreed to terms on selling the Burnett Mine; if they sold it for $30,000, the two would receive a commission of $5,000 each; for every additional $10,000, they would be commissioned $5,000 more. 12 TI1ese plans, howPver, were never consumated. For a few years, Jarrett and Patton nursed high hopes that the mine would make them a small fortune. By October of 1867, the men were excited about a possible $100,000 purchaser from New York, and in a fit of enthusiasm, Patton suggested to Jarrett that it might be wise to hold out for $250,000, inasmuch as all New York was interested in Georgia gold, or so Patton thought. Jarrett had apparently expressed some urgent need to raise money, however, and was considering a Kentucky company's offer of $30,000, for Patton requested that Jarrett hold out, if at all 206 possible. He even offered to buy out Kennedy's share for $30,000 if Kennedy had to have cash so desperately, in order to prevent the latter from selling to anyone else.l3 Instead of this course, in December of 1867, Jarrett sold Edmund Patton of Abbeville District, South Carolina, one-fifth of the Burnett Gold Mine-- "being two lots of land," Lots 23 and 24 in the third district, Habersham County, for $3,840. 14 This transaction, however, did not involve the total of the Jarretts' interest in the Burnett Mine, and on February 18, 1871, E.L. Patton wrote to Kennedy that he was not "adverse" to leasing the Burnett Mine for a short time. Patton was much more eager to sell the property, though, saying that if they had to rent, it would be preferable to do business with the "man from New York City" rather than with the "German," who might be an "adventurer." Patton urged Kennedy not to become discouraged, noting that "the mine is immensely valuable, and can be sold for, at least, one hundred thousand dollars." The property would be even more precious after the Atlanta and Charlotte Railroad and the road from Athens to Clarkesville were completed.lS An 1872 letter to [illegible] in New York City from Kennedy Jarrett also involved the Jarrett gold. He wrote: I have visited the Nacoochee Gold Mine for specimens to send you. But there being no work going on and the tunnels being all filled up I could not obtain a suitable specimen. I expect to commence again there about the first of next year when I shall be able to send you specimens [illegible] the mine.l6 The family letters suggest that Jarrett went to New York in the 1870's, but if so, he failed to sell the mine while there. Shortly after his death, Lizzie deeded her family's remaining share to A.K. 207 Childs and Reuben Nickerson of Clarke County, for $1,500. The deed says that Elizabeth "assigns twentieth one undivided six (6/20th) interest in lots 23 & 24 in 3rd district of originally Habersham known as Jarrett's Gold Mine (500 acres)."l7 So far as is known, this transaction ended the Jarrett family's career in gold-mining. Not one to give up his wealth easily, Kennedy Jarrett tried a number of plans to reverse his -family's dwindling fortunes. Realizing the importance of re-establishing the Tugaloo crossroads, he took an active interest in the arrival of the railroad. The Atlanta and Richmond Airline Railroad Company was formed in 1870, in order to complete a line between those cities, through the Tugaloo area. Perhaps because the South was so economically troubled, however, the tracks only reached the spot which then became Toccoa by the summer of 1873. Tracks were to run right across the Jarrett farm, and in August of 1871, Jarrett sold 500 acres of land just east of Toccoa to the A&R Airline Railroad for $750. On the same day, he deeded the railroad 100 feet on each side of the projected tracks in return for $5.00 and the benefits he would derive from the construction of the railroad. In addition to securing free, lifetime passes for his family, Kennedy was apparently interested in having the tr.:1cks close enough to Traveler's Rest so he could hear the trains go by.l8 In October of that year, Kennedy wrote to an acquaintance, the Reverend C.D. Smith, about the proposed route. Jarrett pointed out that "crossing the Tallulah Cr. near the juncture of the two rivers, passing within two miles of this place, striking the ridge between the Tug.:1lo and Bt-oad R i vc>r, some 8 or 9 miles from here" \votil d he> a cons id(-'rahl v shortt'!- routl' than tlw proposed one> hy wav of Tallulah Falls.19 Actually, 208 the Atlanta & Richmond Airline Railroad crossed the Tugaloo just below Ward's Creek, then it crossed that creek and ran along it toward Toccoa. During this same period, Kennedy also looked into getting the Tuga- loo River improved for navigation. Progressive Southerners had realized that one key to the recovery of the South's economy lay in programs of internal improvements. During these years of "Reconstruction," the United States Congress had acquired the habit of handing out subsidies to encourage the development of the country; unfortunately, most of these appropriations went to the West and not the South, even after the Presidential election and the Compromise of 1876, which guaranteed internal improvements for the South. The defeated section was not wellfavored in Republican circles; therefore, when Kennedy approached his congressman, H.P. Bell, about improving the Tugaloo in 1874, he was doomed to disappointment. Bell replied that appropriations could not be had in the current session, but advised that Jarrett continue his efforts. Kennedy did so, as a follow-up letter from Bell in the winter of 1874-75 attests, but apparently the results Kennedy expected did not occur.20 Perhaps the depression of the mid-1870s made Jarrett desperate. Clearly, he was casting about for ways to make money during this time. A curious letter from an A.R. Ewing in November of 1876 shows that Jarrett was looking far and wide for economic opportunities. Ewing, "comfortably seated in front of one of my Patent Chimneys," wondered if Jarrett would be ready to start selling them soon. Kennedy was offered "full control of the state" as his sales territory. Ewing apparently was a fa mil v friend, for he concluded: "\.Jhen is Sally G. coming -- all join in Love to all." No other evidence has been found regarding this enterprise, however, so it probably did not flourish.21 209 In March of 1876, Kennedy ended his 10-year retirement from the postmastership. The Walton's Ford post office had been discontinued at Jarrett's retirement during 1866, but it was reinstated later that year with J.T. Mulkey as postmaster. Mary Duke, a Jarrett dependent, became postmistress the following year, but the office was again discontinued in 1869. Mulkey was re-established in a couple of months and held the post until Jarrett returned to the position in 1876. The name of the station was changed to Tugaloo in 1874, and Charles Patton Jarrett succeeded his father as postmaster in 1879.22 The family letters provide a few glimpses of the Jarretts' personal lives. The girls were sent to school in Athens, and the boys were sent away to school, also, perhaps attending Americanna School near Adairsville, Ga. In 1874, Kennedy got a letter from the master offering to receive Jarrett's sons at any time: "I have a very clean set of boys and young men with me now," he stated, "and think your sons will find their associations here very pleasant, while I will do all I can to promote their intellectual and moral culture." Kennedy may have decided against Adairsville, however, for it appears that Charles Patton was already attending college at Athens. A letter dated April 27, 1872, to Kennedy from Miller Lumpkin offered to get young Charles a scholarship to Athens, and to qualify, he needed only to be able to read and "cipher." The Jarretts apparently applied in haste, for the acceptance of 14-year-old Charles Patton is dated May 1, 1872.23 Other family letters written during the depression years give impressions of life during Reconstruction. The family appears to have been struggling to adjust to an economic dec1ine -- but certainly not having "to do without," as were mc=my neighbors. A letter from Grace Lucas to her daughter "Lissie" [Lizzie] n Jarretts kept the news from frail "Little Hama," and 246 apparent} y Vi rgi 1 hfJ1i te and ~ary Lizzie went to Colorado to bring home Lizzie and Sally Grace, who were both ill. A relative named Marguerita wrote to Hary Lizzie in Colorado of meeting the train with George's "remains" in Atlanta. "Such a different homecoming from what we had all planned," she lamented. Lizzie Lucas Jarrett died soon after the suicide of her youngest son, and they were buried side by side.44 247 FOOTNOTES Chapter 11: Third-generation Jarretts and "the Old Home Place" 1 See Habersham County Deed Books: BB, pp. 156-58, 255, 285-86, 485~ CC, p. 585; FF, p. 392; EE, p. 361; and White County Deed Book Q, pp. 174-75 (500 acres in original Habersham County). 2 U.S. Census 1880 Agricultural Schedule, Habersham County, District 130, p. 10. 3 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. Mary Lizzie Jarrett White was the source of this short paper by Ella C. Garner. "Baby" was not five years old when her father died in 1877, for she was born in 1866 or 1868 (see U.S. Census 1870 Population Schedule and cemetery records in the Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. 7 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid. lO Ibid. ll Ibid. 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid. l l Ibid. lR Ibid. 19 Ibid. ~O Ibid. The "John" referred to by George was John B. Watson, who 248 appeared in the Habersham County Tax Digest these years as the Jarretts' agent. 2l Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. 22 Ibid. 23 Ibid. 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid. 26 Jarrett cemetery records, Historic Preservation Section; National Archives Records, U.S. Post Office Records, Appointment of Postmasters, Vol. 42, May 22, 1884; Vol. 68-A, July 20, 1905. 27 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. 28 Ibid. 29 Ibid. 30 Ibid. 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid. 33 Williams, "A Southerner in the Philippines." 34 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. 35 Ibid.; Hilliams, "A Southerner in the Philippines." 36 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. 37 U.S. Census 1870 and 1880 Population Schedules; 1872-1899 Habersham County Tax Digests. 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid. 40 Traveler's Rest papers, Historic Preservation Section. 41 Ibid. 42 Ibid. 43 Ibid. 44 Ibid. Chapter 12 MARY ELIZABETH JARRETT HHITE AND JARRETT HANOR After 1900, Traveler's Rest was several decades removed from the wayside inn at the Tugaloo crossroads. Mary Lizzie recognized this fact in 1915 when she changed the name of the old house to Jarrett Manor. [See Map 15.] She and Sally Grace were the survivors of Kennedy Jarrett's family, Mary Lizzie being the dominant figure of the 20th-Century history of the site. On the death of her mother, Sally Grace Jarrett finally relented to the persistent courtship of Sam Adams, who had waited for her "yes" for 25 years. Annoyed by the large crowds at the big house, Adams built a small cabin nearby, called the "son-in-law" house, though neither of his parents-in-law was living at the time. Sally became known as the "lady with the lantern," for leading wagons on the nearby road from the cabin down to the river crossing. 1 In spite of the many tragedies in her life, more sadness awaited Mary Lizzie. She and her husband lost more than one baby; then, in 1911, Arthur White himself died. Yet Mary Lizzie had plenty of Jarrett spirit, and her subsequent career shows that she was undaunted by the many tragedies. Her memoirs sum up "Baby's" response to her difficult situation: She had the care of the many acres thrust upon her. The country store [\fui te' s store: see militia map], where the countryside gathered and discussed the doin's of the day, was now her responsibility. The community's Post Office, a - 249 - . ' -~ \ \ I 1J \ +. \. ,, LRaan"ddroadLsot_______ _ t,"t" l t1' c If L-.71"'")' frf,f/ ;(.,)//>1Vrf>yu~ R~ . f "l Traveler 1 S Rest Toccoa-Tugaloo Region from a 1911 Militia District Map. shown as }\rs. Grace Adam's residence. 250 part of the store, made her Post Mistress of Deer Court. Her friends feared for her safety when she would climb the steel framework to hang out her bag of mail for the baggage master on the trains to 'grab.' She looked like a pioneer of the olden days. Racing from this to that. Her efforts were rewarded. She soon won recognition among the interlect [sic]. People carne from far and wide to see what a woman had done.2 Mary Lizzie was immediately recognized as a rich widow, and this fired the hearts of some unusual suitors. In a carelessly written rnern- rnoir, she later recalled two special ones: A few years ago a man wrote me from a town in S.C . . . . beginning his letter 'Dear Sugar Babe, you haint never seed me, but I seed you oncet in Toccoa and I axed [asked] some body who you was as you passed. You was the purtiest thing I ever looked at Sugar Babe and I want to marry you. I will be over thar in two weeks and we will git married Sugar Babe. I know nuthin that ever wuz made is as purty as you ar Sugar Babe.' Your devoted lover Another one wrote me from Atlanta saying that he'wanted to git married and supposed that I did too. I [the suitor] am 38 years old and "read and rosey." Heigh 200 lbs. Have a 14 year old son. I policed a while and worked some on R.R. lihen employed I make $3.00 per day. When you come to Atlanta let me know where you stop at and I will see you. You have been highly recommended to rne.3 Spurning such offers, Mary Lizzie, with Sally Grace's help, alternpt~d to maintain an agricultural operation at Jarrett Manor. Some of their practices have been recollected by Velma Brackett Yearwood, \vho worked for the .T<1rrett sisters as a youngster. Daughter ... was head of the rnilkhouse where f worked when I was twelve years old [ca. 1920]. My job \vas to 251 draw water to keep the milk cool. After the milkman did milking, the milk was strained in crock pitchers and a white cloth tied over them. Next they were put in wooden troughs and tubs. I drew water from the well all day long. \-lhen the water would begin to get warm, the stopper was pulled from the end of the trough. The warm water would drain out and fresh cool water was drawn and poured in the trough. The process was continued throughout the day. Guests were always served fresh cool milk. Perhaps this labor-intensive refrigeration had been handed down from stagecoach days at Traveler's Rest. Mrs. Yearwood's memories reinforce the impression that Mary Lizzie did her best to keep the old place jump- ing: My mother always did the washing and ironing for Traveler's Rest. There were so many guests that much linen was used. Sometimes she would have to wash on Sunday, and I helped her. One day Miss Babe [Mary Lizzie] said, 'Velma, get on to the chickens. The Campfire girls will be here tonight for supper.' Laws a me. I killed and dressed chickens all day. \-lhen I finished, I had ready 25 chickens. My, my those were the good old days. I have picked many gallons of blackberries along Tugaloo River. This way of life was vastly different from that of the dangerous days of Jesse Walton, Ben Cleveland, and hostile Creek warriors. Some aspects of farm life, however, had not changed so drastically. Asked if she had "ever hoed corn & cotton," Mrs. Yearwood recalled: "Mercy, mercy, mercy, yes. A many a day I have spent in them old bottoms, all the way from Prather Bridge to the furtherest bridge south. I have had my feet on every foot of this land." 4 As long as the Jarretts owned land, peo- ple were available to work it for them. Though she had no income other than from land sales, Mary Lizzie continued to live "in the manner to which she had become accustomed." RECORDED FEB. 3,1927 LEOGENO I- M. C. JARRETT LOT (STORE) 2-PITT's LOT 3- EDGE LOT 4- D. JARRETT LOT 5- MRS . HALL LOT 6- LOT WITH BRICK STOVE 7- CHURCH 8- TUGALO SCHOOL 9- MRS . MEANS LOT 10- HOME LOT PATTON JARRETT . . ..A\.. ESTATE ~-....,..-<>-- ...,.--- ... l __.-:~~ 1927 Sale PART OF MRS. SALLIE GRACE ADAMS AND MRS. MARY JARRETT WHITE LAND IN STEPHENS CO. SURVEYED FOR J. C. HARVEY, JAN~ 20- 22~ 19 27 AIRLINE 1004 Ac. \ \ NORTH 252 Sill' w;1s not ;111 cconomic;tllv pr;wric;tl p('rson, and Iter part of \)C'Vl'reaux .larnrt 's nne( v;tsl pi:Hll:tt ion was "mism.1nagcd." The llabrrsharn County tax digests show onlv 7()0 acres for the C.K .Tarntt l'St":ttl' in the earJv 1900s, valucd at $3,000. Aftcr the 1905 creation of Stephens County, 1'1arv Lizzie appcars as i'1rs. V.A. Whitc \vith 1,100 acrcs. The next yt>ar, Sallv Crace appcars as ~rs. S.C. Adams, a non-resident, holding 500 acres worth $3,500. i'1arv Jarrett Whitc does not appear that year, but she was in the tax records in 1909, again in 1911, and from then until 1954. Sallv Grace was a non-resident in 1910 and 1911, but a resident from tlwn unti 1 her death in 1926.5 By that timc, the two sisters' combined acreage was about 1,600, \vorth $L4,500. In 192g, Mary Lizzie sold Jarrett's old bottomlands to c;eorg i a Power Compcmy for $45,000. [See Hap 16. ] After that:, she held about 600 acres until I 940, when she sold all but 10. For these decades, the tax digests indicate that Nary Lizzie owned a car most of the time, sevcral hundred dollars in tov.m property, but never more than one or two cows. With all hcr political and social activities in Atlanta, it is highly probably that she paid insufficient attention to the maintenance of thc farm.6 In spite of her dwindling estate, however, Harv Jarrett Hhite promoted a succcssftl image. A yellowed newspaper clipping from her personal effects reported the organization of a Federation of Business \-Jorncn. "P.fficiencv" wns to he the "watchword" of the organization, and M:~rv Lizzie was on tlw hoard of directors. The article commented: An example of Hhat women can do is shown in sidelights of some of those in attendance at the convention. Hrs. "larv Jarrett \ffi i te of T-ugalo, owns 1800 acres of land, which she oversees at a gooc! profit each year. In addition she runs a general store, real estate office, keeps 253 house, looks after her children, and, as she expressed it, 'curses all week and preaches on Sunday.' Unfortunately, such exaggerations could not forestall the diminishment of her property. 7 The memoirs and newspaper articles show that Mary Lizzie was busy with politics and romance. As the memoirs have it: "Her interest was aroused in politics. She wanted to see the 'little man' have a chance." Her most notable political coup, however, was for the "little woman." In 1920, a friend allowed her to register to vote before the ratifica- tion of the Nineteenth Amendment allowed women the ballot. On election day, Mary Lizzie was the only Georgia woman to vote, and due to this, she was named the state's "Woman of the Year." "Baby" enjoyed hobnobbing and working with politicians, who were often entertained at Jarrett Manor. She was on the Georgia Democratic Executive Committee, a campaign leader for successful gubernatorial candidates, and a Presidential elector for Franklin D. Roosevelt -- all this despite the fact that she never voted after 1920. 8 Such a woman of the world was bound to have admirers, and the memoirs recount the following: She almost lost her he2rt in one of these heated campaigns. Many notables were attracted to the gay, attractive widow, who was Farmer, Politician, Post Mistress, Country Store Keeper, and Homemaker for her beloved son, Howard. The man in the case was a candidate for the Office of the Georgia Senate, and she was campaigning for his rival! Hhat must she dp [do]? Follow her convictions and fight for her party, or follow her heart, and suecomb [sic] to the pleadings of the handsome man who wanted her for his wife. ') ,- I -- ) "+ Her sound judgment \von out, and she went the way of a sacrificing fighter, and elected her man. Perhaps she wasn't in love anyway. Acting on the State Executive CommitLee during the next Governor's reign, carried her to the capital city. There she was the Georgia Belle of the Ball room. Her beauty was spoken of throughout the land. She was too busy for more romance at the time.q Marv Lizzie's romantic inclinations may have been satisfied later, with Howard's marriage to Mary Lou Edge. A truly chivalric affair at Jarrett i1anor, the wedding was: ... typical of his mothers hospitality. Taking place in the parlor of the great house, the bridal procession, fourteen couples, marched down the great stair \.,ray, lined with ivy, and stood under a huge canopy of woods flowers. 10 They must have made a strangely incongruous picture, parading down the "great" s tai nvay of the old frontier inn. Lett0rs from this period contain more concerning Mary Lizzie's private life than the state of affairs at Jarrett Manor. One striking letter written in 1924 reports that the woods nearby had been burning for three days. 11 A 1929 letter tells of the "liquid refreshments" served at one of her "bash~s" (during Prohibition). Another letter is full of her eagerness to get a "water works" installed in the house and take on boarders. Hhen not busy with politics and entertaining, Mary Lizzie sought to help her black neighbors, in whose problems she showed a continuing (if somewhat patronizing) interest. She was apparently ready to become thoroughly involved in the most traumatic affairs. One scarcely-credible hut dramatic memoir survives to illustrate this practice: Steamboat on the Tugaloo River, date unknown. J ... "'\ Unknmm woman at small house near Traveler's Rest, early 1900's Lizzie Lucas Jarrett in small room at south end of Traveler's Rest, early 1900's Lizzie Lucas and Sally Grace Jarrett in small room, early 1900's Family picture before front porch at Traveler's Rest, early 1900's. Left to right: Mary Lucas Jarrett White, V.A. White, unknown woman, children, Sally Grace with child, Victorine P. Jarrett, Lizzie Lucas Jarrett, and other unknown people. Fron~ view of unrestored Traveler's Rest. Photo taken ca. 1953. Rear view of unrestored Traveler's Rest, 1953. -~~ ~ -- . Basement Kitchen Upstairs "Common" Bedroom 255 Sitting on the quiet veranda of her ancestral horne, our heroine was conscious of a car driving, very fast, in the direction of the Manor. Bouncing from the car to the ground carne Sabrina Jarrett, a descendant of the slaves of the Jarrett family, who lived at Gum Log, a community in the same County, where also lived Isaac and Jacob, twin brothers of 'Briney.' 'Hiss Baby' she blurted out - 'I have come to tell you terrible news' 'Brother Isaac had to kill a man about his wife and the law come after him. I have brought l1irn and hid him over yonder tuther side of them pine trees near the creek. Oh, Histress, what's us gwine to do- I'se sceered to death.' After a minute of thought our heoine [sic] said '\-!here is he- near the River?' Now the Tugaloo River being a State line M.J.H. [:t-lary Jarrett Hhite] knew that once across the River, Isaac would be safe, or rather have time to make a complete get-a-way. Hastily gathering her wits, she told Briney to drive her, as fast as she could, to the horne of Hary Jarrett, another one of her 'cullod' friends and loyal worshipper of M.J.W. When they reached Hary's house MJW rushed in and said 'Mary, give me one of your dresses and hats, and, quickly, .Hary.' 'Fore de Lawd, Hiss, what you' se gwine to do wid dern clothes.' 'Don't ask questions, Hary, and tell the law nothing, if they ask you.' With bundle ir. hand HJH again set out with Briney to find the poor, bleeding Isaac crouched behind the bushes, far from sight and hand of the law. Hearing Isaac's story of how a 'rnor white trash' man had insulted his wife, she made Isaac slip Mary's big plaid gingham dress on and donning Mary's best hat, they waited till dark then making him get in the back of the car, they drove full-speed to South Carolina ~nd far enough to send him on his way unnoticed. She returned home, cautioning all darkeys to stay close by and say nothing. Retiring early that night :t-UH hoped to have complete rest from the strenuousness of the day and from sheer exhaustion, soon fell asleep. About 2:00 A.H. came anot~er car - this time faster than the first one and again Briney, with tears streaming down her face, after begging for admittance, said, 'Lord, Mistress, tis worse-er than ever now - the law done cum and took Jacob this time case [cause] they say they don't know one from the tuther and they had to have one. Jacob told them he warn't guilty hut they taken him to jail, anyway.' At that hour of the night our heroine drove to nearby Gainesville to awaken and employ the best criminal lawyer in the country to defend Jacob, offering <:!nd agreeing to mortgage her home to help defend the poor darkey, and the la\.,ryer consented only because of his admiration of her and her defense ~ys of the under-dog. 256 The time for the trial arrived. So notorious w<'ls Llw case that ~:111 of the county folk jammed the stuffy courthouse which was taxed to capacity. Newspaper men from all over the country were there to report and the se 1 f r i gh tL'Otrs population of the county only laughed and said, 'Hhy does M~J mix up in such things?' Not so, MJW. When the frightened Jacob was led into the court-room, who should take a seat in the witness stand near him but our heroine looking like a picture in a lavender hat trimmed with pink roses which brought out the natural beauty of her silver hair, her eyes reflecting the courage of her innermost soul. A mistrial, which was the best the Attorney could obtain for Jacob, was the verdict and the dejected and starved Jacob was returned to his Jail cell. A few nights later, a sullen and crazy mob, made up of poor \vhi tes who were revenge-hungry, formed and things looked dark for poor old Jacob, the innocent viet im of tire vagaries of his brother's wife.. Fearing not only the law, but the mob of white men, Briney slipping quietlv arollnd in the night, put a messenger on a mule to ride 25- miles in black darkness again to tell her adored mistress of the terrible calamity. Hhen the news came, our heroine was almost oversome [sicl with anxiety for the poor black who had shed no innocent blood. Never had she failed to help her collared friends and familv before and she must not forsake them this time. Slipping down to a cabin in the yard, she called John Smith, a white man who lived there - made him get up out of bed and said 'John, don't you belong to the Ku Klux- now T want the truth?' and John admitted that he did. Telling him of Jacob's predicament, she sent him to the nearest "brother-in-the-clan' and thus in a short time the Klan was hooded and riding. In a race between the vicious mob and the Ku Klux, th(' L1tter reached the Jail just as the Sheriff was ahoul to deliver the keys to the mob. And what became of fsaac and Jacob - well, they are well, and doing well ----- in TEXAS.12 Surely, if this tale has an element of truth, the Klan had se 1dom !wen enlisted for such a cause before. l'lary Jarrett \d during thl' course of tlw 293 excavations. This building was fifty feet southwest of the main house, had accumulated two distinct dirt floors over the years, and was eighteen feet six inches square. At some time, the west foundation had been underpinned to negate the effects of erosion. The earliest dirt-floor level contained some woodash, but not as much as one would expect to find on the floor of a smokehouse. However, the unevenness of the floor surface suggested that perhaps the ashes were periodically shoveled out completely to the clay floor, thus destroying most of the evidence of fire. The artifacts from this occupation level consisted mainly of red or purple transfer-printed earthenware, types usually considered to have come into public favor after ca. 1830. A layer of clean red clay was put down over the early floor, apparently when the building ceased being used as a smokehouse. An excellent photograph of ca. 1890 shows the smokehouse superstructure complete with overhanging porch roof and hewn-log walls. A strikingly similar smokehouse still stands across the river in South Carolina at the "old" Ramsey home. When the ford was in use, this would have been the nearest dwelling to Traveler's Rest and, perhaps, both smokehouse structures were built by the same man. At any rate, the Ramsey smokehouse could serve as excellent precedent for reconstruction work on the Jarrett building. The Loornhouse The other existing early building at Traveler's Rest, the halfplanked and half-brick structure known locally as the loornhouse, was also investigated archaeologically, and like the smokehouse, it, too, had multiple dirt-floor levels. The upper levels could have been the floor when 294 the lower story of the building had been used as a loom area, for several circular thread weights were found at this level. However, the earliest floor level, found some eighteen inches below the present floor, included features and artifacts that indicated that the building had been originally used as a dairy. A three-by-five-foot pit had been dug in the northeast corner, probably to serve as a cold-storage pit for dairy products. Three fragmented artifacts were recovered from the pit, t\vo of v;rhich could very well have been lost in a dairy: a stoneware-crock handle and a round, metal-can lid. Further evidence for the building's use as a walkin cold-storage room was the discovery of the remnants of the early 'tvooden steps leading down to the earliest floor level. The artifacts in the mixed-fill level, although quite scarce, suggest that the building ceased being used as a cold-storage vault sometime after ca. 1850. A large sherd of a graniteware plate was found in the mixed-fill layer, probably having been thrown into the building with the fill that was used to raise the floor level. Graniteware rarely was used in America before 1850, but after that approximate date, it was both manufactured in the United States and imported from England by the ton during the third quarter of the nineteenth century. No datable artifacts were found in a context that would help date the original construction of the building. However. architectural features of the structure itself provide some clue as to when it was built. The fact that the first story of the building is built solidly of brick laid in American bond on a stone base suggests that it is contemvorary with the only other similarly built feature on the site, the south chimneys of the house; i.e., stone base, brick walls laid in American bond. This fact is made more significant when it is recalled that the south chimney \vas built immediately after the early food storagl' area, 295 the root cellar, was backfilled and abandoned. Therefore, the "loomhouse'' was probably built to provide additional cubic feet of safer foodstorage space. Assuming that the Period II section of the main house was also built at the same time along with its basement kitchen, it follows logically that the meat house and dairy would be built close by. In fact, a door is located to the right of the basement kitchen fireplace leading directly to the "loomhouse," fifteen feet to the north. Light probing north of the loomhouse, and down the slope, indicated stonework beneath the surface. Therefore, several trenches were opened in this area. A stone terrace was subsequently uncovered. However, the artifacts and local information showed that this feature had been part of a garden built by one of the Jarrett relatives about 1900. Excavations were also carried out beneath the wooden cabin standing near the northwest corner of the property as part of the construction program to renovate the structure. The work revealed that the house had been built on a deposit of early-twentieth-century domestic refuse. Historical evidence indicates that the original occupant of this structure had also built the garden nearby; therefore, both date from this century. The small cabin located immediately east of the main house was investigated briefly. A trench to the north of it showed that it had never been any larger than its present fifteen-by-twenty feet, and that its small fireplace had probably been built in the late-nineteenth century. The idea that this could have been an early kitchen building was not in evidence archaeologically. The well, located twelve feet northwest of the main house, was excavated from its modern twenty-three-foot level to forty-three feet. It had been filled to the that depth with modern domestic trash. A well 296 borer was used to excavate below the water table (thirty-six feet), but this method of excavation was abandoned when large rocks were found at a depth of forty-three feet. There is a good possibility that the borer hit the original rock liner. which had collapsed over the early fill in the well. However, equipment problems have delayed the excavations at the well until the next excavation season. Conclusion One of the major purposes of historical archaeology is to add specific information concerning a historical site not already provided by the historical documents or architectural research. The archaeological work at Traveler's Rest successfully added the following information to the body of knowledge of the site: 1. The site had been briefly occupied by Early Mississippian Period Indians. 2. Period I of the main house had been built prior to 1815. 3. A root cellar had been dug under the south end of the main house with a crude bulkhead entrance where the south chimney now stands. 4. The root cellar had been backfilled and the main south chimney built after 1815 and probably in the period 1815-1825. 5. The south half of the main house (Period I) had been constructed before any other structure now standing at the site. The present back porch and rear steps were part of this early construction. 6. The smokehouse was specifically located along with enough documentary and architectural evidence to allow reconstruction. 29 7 7. The "loomhousen was originally used for food storage, had ceased being used for cold storage after ca. 1850, and was probably built as part of the expansion program of ca. 1815-1825. 8. The wooden cabin and the rock garden located on the extreme north boundary of the property date from the present century. Another purpose of conducting archaeological research is to provide insights into the lives of the occupants at a historic site. Unfortunately, very little information was found relating to the inn period of Traveler's Rest. However, the collection of artifacts found in the fill of the root cellar provides a glimpse of life at the site during at least the early-nineteenth century. The simple tablewares and eating utensils testify to the unpretentious way of life experienced by those living on the northeast Georgia frontier. And, even the simplest items used by the early occupants, from buttons to bowls, were made in and imported from England. This fact serves as a reminder that like the Georgia frontier, the United States was far from industrial by the period 1815-1825, nor was the frontier or the nation, by any means, self-sufficient at this time. In short, the artifacts recovered from the early-nineteenth-century context show that the early occupants of Traveler's Rest were leading the typical simple life of a pioneer, at least until the wave of the advancing frontier had rolled further west, bringing "civilization" and prosperity to Traveler's Rest. The deposition dates supplied by the artifacts found in the fill of the root cellar make it highly probable that many of the objects had belonged to Joseph Martin, Jesse '~alton's son-in-law, who had inherited the property upon the death of Walton's wife (1800). It is also quite probable that the actual backfilling of the root cellar and the extensive con- 298 struction program carried out at the site thereafter was undertaken by James R. Wyly, who bought the property in 1818 and held it until 1838. In fact, the forementioned military button found in the cellar fill might well have belonged to Wyly, who had served in the War of 1812. Perhaps about 1829, he probably had to double the size of the residence at the site out of sheer necessity he had thirteen children. 1 7 Finally, like all historical research, historical archaeology at- tempts to discover facts which can aid in the broad interpretation of a given historical site so that the events that have taken place there and the culture that has disappeared can be viewed in its overall relation- ship to the general movement of history itself. In a limited extent, archaeological work at Traveler's Rest achieved this end by extending knowledge of the occupation of the site back through prehistoric-Indian and early-frontier times. With our knowledge of the site now, in part provided by archaeology, Traveler's Rest can be presented as a living example of the frontier movement in American history. The sequence of occupation shows prehistoric Indian settlement followed by early simple pioneer settlement, climaxing into a full-blown, prosperous Southern plantation. The site, therefore, does not have to be looked upon as just another relic of North Georgia -- ~ut it can help define the role of North Georgia in the larger movement of the advancing American frontier. Although the first season of archaeology at Traveler's Rest did meet with success in some areas, some of the various other outbuildings men- tioned or ld n ted at in the his tori cal documents were not located. More- over, the archaeological excavations did not specifically uncover evidence which can be used to date the earliest construction at the site, although we now know that some of the main house stood at the site prior to 1815. 299 Another season of archaeology concentrating on the area between the main house and the river might reveal some of the evidence remaining of the plantation outbuildings. The Artifacts The artifacts recovered during the excavations at Traveler's Rest were mostly late-nineteenth century and modern domestic items, except for those objects found in the root cellar under the main house or in the early floor level of the smokehouse. The root cellar contained an excellent representative sample of ceramic, metal, glass, and bone domestic items of the first quarter of the nineteenth century. The Root Cellar The ceramics recovered from the cellar were mainly pearlware types either decorated with blue or green shell-edging, hand-painted designs in cobalt blue in the peasant manner, or polychrome hand-painted designs banded in brown. Some creamware in the royal pattern was also recovered with a few sherds of brown stoneware. The Indian pottery types recovered from the cellar included a plain tan and a burnished type, and a linear and curvilinear prehistoric stamped type. Three molded clay tobacco pipes and one soapstone tobacco pipe were recovered from the cellar. Two of the clay pipes were molded into the shape of a human head and face, and the third was a plain type common throughout the nineteenth century. The soapstone pipe was fashioned, apparently, in an attempt to copy an earlier English export form. All were reed-stern pipes. Not one fragment of an English kaolin pipe or stem was found in all of the excavation work at Traveler's Rest. A few glass objects were found in the cellar. Three fragmented 300 cylindrical wine bottles were recovered along with the base section of a "patent" medicine bottle bearing relief lettering. Apparently, the medicine bottle had contained "Essence of Peppermint," an organic pain killer. Moreover, a fragment of the "sunburst" relief side panel from a liquor flask was also found. Near the root cellar, presumably discarded in association with it, a small pale-green bottle still containing traces of oil of wintergreen was recovered. The root cellar also contained fourteen buttons; ten brass, three bone, and one pewter. Six of the brass buttons were simply flat disks with raised designs and lettering on the reverse side; two were concave on the reverse side with raised lettering and designs, and one, an American military button, had the design and lettering on the front side and was completely flat. All of the brass buttons had soldered loop fasteners, whereas one brass button had been made in two pieces and was bulbous in shape. The bone buttons were flat with single-hole fasteners, whereas the pewter button was made much like the brass buttons, i.e., concave on the reverse side, having a loop fastener. However, the pewter button was probably cast, but the brass buttons were stamped. One cast-pewter cufflink made in a two-piece mold was found bearing a floral design on the front side. Numerous iron objects were found in the cellar. Two padlocks were found, one heart-shaped and one circular. An iron pintle was also found, together with a varied collection of equestrian hardware, a bridle cheekpiece, half of a worn horseshoe, the footrest from a stirrup, part of a harness ring and two harness buckles. Some fragmented cutlery were also found, including sections of knives, a broken spoon, and a bone fork or knife handle. A few nails were found, all exhibiting manufacturing 301 techniques common to the first half of the nineteenth century. The Smokehouse TI1e ceramics found in the smokehouse floor level consisted mostly of semi-porcelain, transfer-printed in a willow pattern or a red floral border design. One sherd of polychromed, hand-painted pearlware similar to sherds found in the storage pit was also found. Note: Illustrations which appeared in the original report are omitted here. Punctuation has been added for clarity. 302 FOOTNOTES 1 Charles C. Royce, The Cherokee Nation of Indians (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Bureau of Ethnology, 1887), p. 130: 2 Royce, p. 151. 3 Franklin County Deeds, Original Plat Book~' on file and of official record of the Surveyor General Department, Office of the Secretary of State, Atlanta, Ga., p. 133. 4 Royce, p. 152. 5 Bryce Martin, personal correspondence with Lyman Draper, May 18, 1954, The Draper Manuscript Collection, No. 14 DD 16 (Tennessee State Archives), microfilm frame no. 16-3. 6 Martin, frame 16-4. 7 Franklin County Minutes of the Court of the Ordinary, Wills, Inven- tories, Etc., May 15, 1786- September 6, 1813 (Georgia Department of Archives and History), WPA Project No. 5993, p. 3. 8 Franklin County Deed Book ~' 1818 (Georgia Department of Archives and History), p. 18. 9 Habersham County Superior Court Book Q, 1841-44 (Georgia Department of Archives and History), p. 237. 10 William Louis Calver and Reginald Pelham Bolton, History Written With Pick and Shovel (New York: The New York Historical Society, 1950), p. 154; and J. Duncan Campbell, "Military Buttons Long Lost Heralds of Fort Mackinac's Past," Mackinac History Leaflet Number Seven (Mackinac Island, Mich.: Mackinac State Park Commission, 1965), p. 3. 11 G. Bernard Hugtes, English and Scottish Earthenware, 1660-1860 (London: Abbey Fine Arts, n.d.), p. 126; and Ivor Noel Hume, Here Lies Virginia (New York: Knopf, 1963), p. 299. 12 Geoffrey Bembrose, Nineteenth Century Pottery and Porcelain (New York: Pitman Publishing Corp., 1952), p. 23. 13 George S. and Helen McKearin, American Glass (New York: Crown Publishers, 1941), pp. 424-25; and Ivor Noel Hume, "The Glass Wine Bottle in Colonial Virginia," Journal~ Glass Studies (Corning, N.Y.: Corning Glass Center, 1961), Vol. III, pp. 101-05. 14 Stanley South, "Analysis of the Buttons from the Ruins at Brunswick Town and Fort Fisher, N.C. , 1726-1865," The Florida Anthropologist, Vol. XVTI, No. 2 (June, 1964), pp. 113-31. 303 15 Similar stamped patterns illustrated and discussed in Robert Wau- chope, "Archaeological Survey of North Georgia," in Memoirs .Qf the Soci- ~.Qf American Archaeology, Number Twenty-One (Salt Lake City, 1966), pp. 60-63. 16 A common occurrence on many historic sites near waterways. 17 Cora Bales Sevier and Nancy S. Madden, Sevier Family History (Washington, D.C.: Kaufmann Press, 1961), p. 296. 18 Similar examples have been recovered recently by archaeologists at New Echota, Georgia, the Cherokee Capitol, 1819-1836; Charles Fairbanks, ''European Ceramics from the Cherokee Capitol of New Echota," Southeastern Archaeological Conference Newsletter, Vol. 9, No. 1 (June, 1962), pp. 1016. 19 Noel Hume, Here Lies Virginia, p. 299. 20 Bembrose, p. 9. 21 Hume, p. 296. 22 Several examples of this ware have been recently excavated in Alexandria, Virginia, by the Smithsonian Institution in a context of 17901820. 23 Apparently, these pipes were made well into the nineteenth century, but they are strikingly similar to the eighteenth-century examples made at Bethabara, North Carolina, at least as late as 1789; Stanley South, "The Ceramic Forms of the Potter Gottfried Aust at Bethabara, North Carolina, 1755-1771," The Conference on Historic Site Archaeology Papers, 1965-66, p. 35. Some of these pipes had been traded to the Cherokees by the Moravians. 24 Similar example illustrated in South, "The Ceramic Forms .... ," p. 50, fig. 10, no. 7. 25 See footnote 13 above. 26 An identical "Essence of Peppermint" bottle was recovered in the excavations at New Echota, Georgia, in 1955; Georgia Historical Commission Archaeological Study Collection, New Echota Visitor's Center, Calhoun, Georgia. 27 According to the Suey Analytical Laboratories of Savannah, Georgia, slight traces of oil of wintergreen were still present in the bottle, and that oil of wintergreen was used as a rheumatism remedy in the nineteenth century. 28 Similar sunburst motifs are illustrated in McKearin, American Glass, p. 263, plate 101. 304 29 Similar stamped patterns illustrated and discussed in Robert Wauchope, "Archaeological Survey of North Georgia," in Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology, Number Twenty-One, Salt Lake City, 1966, pp. 60-63. 30 Similar types have been found at Brunswicktown, North Carolina, in an archaeological context of 1800-1830. See footnote 14 above. 3 1 These types all illustrated and discussed in: Lee R. Nelson, "Nail Chronology as an Aid to Dating Old Buildings," American Association for State and Local History Technical Leaflet Number Forty-Eight, History News, Vol. 24, No. 11, November, 1968. 32 Similar examples discussed and illustrated in Bembrose, Nineteenth Century Pottery ... , pp. 9-10. 33 Ibid., p. 23 34 Ibid. 35 See footnote number 19 above. 305 BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS: Bembrose, Geoffrey. Nineteenth Century Pottery and Porcelain. New York: Pittman Publishing Company, 1952. Calver, \.Jilliam Louis , and Bolton, Reginald Pelham. History Hritten With Pick and Shovel. New York: The New York Historical Society, 1950. Hughes, G. Bernard. English and Scottish Earthenware, 1660-1860. London: Libbey Fine Arts, n.d. McKearin, George S., and McKearin, Helen. American Glass. New York: Crown Publishers, 1941. Malone, Henry T. Cherokees Qf the Old South. Athens, Ga.: The University of Georgia Press, 1956. Noel Hume, Ivor. Here Lies Virginia. New York: Knopf, 1963. Royce, Charles C. The Cherokee Nation Qf Indians. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Bureau of Ethnology, 1887. ARTICLES AND PERIODICALS: Campbell, J. Duncan. "Military Buttons, Long Lost Heralds of Fort Mackinac's Past," Mackinac History, Leaflet Number Seven. Mackinac Island, Mich., 1965. Fairbanks, Charles. "European Ceramics from the Cherokee Capitol of New Echota," Southeastern Archaeological Conference Newsletter, IX, No. 1 (June, 1962). Nelson, Lee H. "Nail Chronology as an Aid to Dating Old Buildings," American Association for State and Local History, Technical Leaflet Number Forty-Eight, History News, XXIV, No. 11 (November, 1968). South, Stanley. "The Ceramic Forms of the Potter Gottfried Aust at Bethahara, North Carolina, 1755-1771," The Conference on Historic Site Archaeology Papers, 1965-66. Wauchope, Robert. "Archaeological Survey of North Georgia," Memoirs~ the Society for American Archaeology, Number Twenty-One. Salt Lake City, 1966. 306 UNPUBLISHED MATERIAL: Martin, Bryce. "Personal Correspondence with Lyman Draper, May 18, 1954," in Draper Manuscript Collection on file at the Tennessee State Archives. Nashville. Franklin County Deed Book ~' 1818. On file at Georgia Department of Archives and History. Atlanta. Franklin County Minutes of the Court of Ordinary, Wills, Inventories, Etc., May 15, 1786-September 6, 1813. Georgia Department of Archives and History, WPA Project Number 5993. Atlanta. Habersham County Superior Court Book Q, 1841-44. On file at Georgia Department of Archives and History. Atlanta. South, Stanley. "Analysis of the Buttons from the Ruins at Brunswick Town and Fort Fisher, N.C., 1726-1865," Paper read at the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Macon, Georgia, October, 1963. The Department of Natual Resources is an Equal Opportunity Employer and employs without regard to Race, Creed, Color, Sex, Age or National Origin. 50% of the funds for this publication were provided by the federal government under the Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and 50% of the funds were provided by the State of Georgia.