STATES ' BY "J. HARRIS C HAPPELL, PH.D. PRESIDENT OF THE GEORGIA NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL COLLEGE. ILLUSTRATED COPY RIGHT, 1905, BY SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPAQV. To My Mother s. Loretto Lamar i ; A native and life-long Georgian, now in her eightyseventh year, this little book about the State and the people she loves so well is affectionately dedicated. 4888 In this book the author has undertaken to relate what seemed to him to be the most interesting events in the history of Georgia, from the planting of the colony in 1733 to the years immediately preceding the. War of Secession. The narrative, as a rule, is adapted to children from twelve to fifteen years of age; however, the author "'y believes that it will be interesting reading for grown people, and for youths of some maturity. In several instances the author has found that the subjects treated , could not be well presented in the form of children's l#k :' . ' >:stories. Such is especially the case with nearly all that is contained in Part III, the Development Period. In preparing this volume the author has read and studied with the utmost care a great many books bear ing on Georgia's history. He has also done much -.original investigation. His aim above all things has to make his wpfk authentic and reliable. While >>. has tried to wr/ite in an attractive style, he has re frained from tricing with his subject a fault too com- with manyy writers of the so-called history stories the .facts and information contained in this volume are , derived: . - History of Georgia to 1798. By Rev. W. B. Stevens. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1859. History of Georgia to end of American Revolution. By C. C. Jones. 2 vols. Boston, 1883. James Ogleihorpc. By Henry Bruce. New York, 1890. History of Alabama. By Albert J. Pickett. Charleston, 1851. Miscellanies of Georgia. By Absalom H. Chappell. Colum bus, 1S74. Story of Georgia and the Georgia People. By Rev. G. G. Smith. Macon, 1900. Historical Collections of Georgia. By Rev. George White. N-ew York, 1854. The Salzburgers. By P. A. Strobe! Baltimore, 1855. 'Tomo-chi-chi, Mico of the Yamacraivs. By C. C. Jones. Sa vannah, 1876. Dead Toivns of Georgia. By C. C. Jones. Savannah, 1878. School History of Georgia. By Law-ton B. Evans. New York, 1898. School History of Georgia. By Charles H. Smith. Boston, 1896. Stories of Georgia. By Joel Chandler Harris. New York, 1896. Life of Gen. James Jackson. By Thomas M. P. Charlton. Augusta, 1809. r^ Life of George M., Troup. By E. J. Harden. ..Savannah, 1840. Case of the-Cherokee Indians -Against; the State of Georgia. By Richard Peters. Philadelphia, 1831. :./. Georgia and State Rights. By Ulrich B. Phillips. Washmg- . 1902- :>" " ^' ' ' ? >3:.;-:.'..'. ;-'.. Pref' ace. vii ' -Memories of Fifty Years. By W. H. Sparks. Philadelphia, 1870. i. Recollections of a Georgia Loyalist. By Elizabeth L. John- fS?stone. New York, : . 1901. .v t" ", Historical Sketches of Colonial Florida. By Richard L. Camp- , bell. Cleveland, 1892, Historical Record of_ Savannah. By F. D. Lee and J. L. Agnew. Savannah, 1869. American State Papers (numerous volumes). Pamphlets on Georgia Colonial history. The author is also indebted to that scholarly gentle man, Mr. Otis Ashmore, Superintendent of Schools, Savannah, for valuable aid; to Mrs. J. J. Wilder, Sa vannah, President of the Society of Colonial Dames of Georgia, and Mrs. R. E. Park, Atlanta, Ex-Regent of the Georgia Daughters of the American Revolution, for information on particular points ; and to numerous per sons in different parts of Georgia for their prompt and satisfactory answers to special questions addressed to them. The author hopes his book will prove instructive and interesting both to the youth and to the adults of Georgia, and that it may be found valuable as a supplementary reader in the schools of the State. -:' '---,.. " T. HARRIS CHAPPELL. ^ . PART I. COLONIAL PERIOD. Page. CHAPTER I. JAMES OGLETHORPE. I. Oglethorpe's Early Career ........ 1 II. Oglethorpe's 'Georgia Colony Enterprise .... 7 CHAPTER II. FOUNDING OF SAVANNAH. L Seeking a Location . . . . . . . . . ... 13 II. PJ_ajiJin^Lh:e^.:Co|oiiy . . . . ... . . . . 19 CHAPTER III. TOMO-CHI-CHI, Mico OF THE YAMACRAWS. I. Tomo-chi-chi's Treaty with Oglethorpe .... 27 II. Tomo-chi-chi's Visit to England ...... 33 III. Tomo-chi-chi's Religious Views ....... 39 IV. Tomo-chi-chi's Florida Expedition ...... 42 V. Tomo-chi-chi's Death and Burial . .... . . . 49 CHAPTER IV. THE SALZBURGERS. I. Persecution in Austria .......... 54 II. Emigration to Georgia ........... 57 III. Old Ebenezer ............ 61 IV. New Ebenezer . . . . . . . ..... . 64 CHAPTER V. THE HIGHLANDERS ......... 74 : . -CHAPTER VI. FREDERICA ..... o ..... 79 .; tnAFTER VII. THE SPANISH WAR. /f"'' A/ /I, Preparations for the War .......... 87 J^7 II. Siege of St. .Augustine . ; . ....... 92 III. Battle of St. Simon's Sound ......... 98 - -IV. Bloody Marsh .........'... 102 x . Contents. PART IL REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. Page. CHAPTER IX. THE STAMP ACT IN GEORGIA . . . . .119 CHAPTER X. CAPTURE OF SAVANNAH. I. Arrival of the. British Fleet ........ 131 ll. Quash Dci;y and the Flank Movement ..... 137 CHAPTER XL THREE GEORGIA TORIES. I. Thomas Brown ............ 145 IL Daniel McGirth .....'....... 151 III. Colonel Grierson ........... 155 CHAPTER XII. THREE GEORGIA PATRIOTS. I. Elijah Clarke ............ II. James Jackson ....... ...... 1G4 III. John Twiggs ............. 172 CHAPTER XIII. SIEGE OF SAVANNAH. I. D'Estaing Outwitted .......... II. The Bombardment ............ III. The Assault and Pulaski's Death . . . . . . IV. Death of Sergeant Jasper ......... 173 176 178 . 185 CHAPTER XIV. NANCY HART .......... 192 ' PART III. DEVELOPMENT PERIOD. CHAPTER XV. ALEXANDER MCGILLIVRAY. L McGillivray's Pedigree and Early Career .... 204 II. McGillivray in the Revolution . . . . . . . 207 III. The Oconee War .......... . 210 IV. The Treaty of New York . . . ....... 218 V; William Augustus Bowles ......... 225 VI. Passing of McGillivray ......... 231 Contents. x CHAPTER XVI. THE YAZOO FRAUD. y Page. y]A The Yazoo Country and the Speculators .... 235 II. "The Yazooists" and Their Scheme . . . . 237 III. Passage of the Yazoo Act ...-.'. . . . . . 241 IV. James Jackson and the Day of Wrath ..... 244 V. Repeal of the Yazoo Act ......... 248 CHAPTER XVII. TROUP AND THE TREATY. I. Status of Indian Affairs in Georgia in 1823 . . . 251 II. The Indian Spring Treaty .......... 255 III. Murder of Mclntosh .......... 261 IV. Troup's Altercation with Major Andrews and General Gaines . . . . . . . . . . . 226 V. Troup's Controversy with the Federal Government . 271 : VI. Declaration of War ........... 277 VII. "All's Well that Ends Well" ...... . . 279 VIII. Last Days of Troup .......... 283 CHAPTER XVIII. GEORGIA AND THE CHEROKEES. I. Early Relations ............ 285 II. Civilizing of the Cherokees ........ 288 III. Political Status of the Cherokees . . . . .. . 291 IV. Georgia and the Cherokees Lock Horns .... 2U4 V. Georgia and the Gold Diggers ....... 298 VI. The Cherokee Nation vs. The State of Georgia . . 300 VII. Worcester and Butler vs. The State of Georgia . . 304 VIII. Georgia's Aggressions .......... 308 IX. Treaty Factions ............. 310 X. Expulsion of the Cherokees ........ 314 XI. Assassination of the Treaty Chiefs ...... 320 CHAPTER XIX; EXPANSION OF GEORGIA. I. Georgia at the Close of the Revolution ..... 322 II. First Expansion: From the Ogeechee - tp ^thex ' Oconee .... ... . ... . *:." *'-% -.326; xii III. IV. V. VI. VII. '' -." : Conten ^.-b: > :; ^ -" :/t''" ;' Second Expansion: >>:...:-'. . . : .-' -:?:':., -. -,).-. -. - *i. Page, From the Oconee to the Oc- mulgee .............. 333 Third Expansion: From the Ocmulgee to the Flint . 340 Fourth Expansion: South Georgia and Its Slow Development . ... . . . . . . . . 344 Fifth Expansion: From the Flint to the Chatta- hoochee .............. 346 Sixth Expansion: The Cherokee Country , . . 349 CHAPTER XX. GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS OF 1840. I. The Mountains ............ 353 IT.. The Up Country ....'........ 350 III. The Cotton Belt ............ 3^7 IV. The Sea-Coast ............ 364. V. South Georgia . .'.......... 369 ^ .. Page. 'James Oglethorpe. (Portrait and Autograph^} . . Frontispiece. The'Duke of Maryborough ........... 3 Prince Eugene of Savoy ........... 4 The Houses of Parliament ............ 5 A Philanthropist Visiting the Debtors' Prison ..... 7 King George II .............. 9 The River at Savannah as It Appears To-day .... 15 The Colony of Georgia ........ ... 25 Tomo-chi-chi and Toonahovvi .......... 37 John Wesley Teaching the Indians ........ 40 Map Showing Settlements .......... 43 Mouth of the St. John's River as It Appears To-day . . . 45 George \Yhiifiekl Preaching .......... 50 Tomo-chi-chrs Grave ............ 53 Queen Caroline .............. 68 Jerusalem Church at Ebenezer ...>..... 70 A'.Highland Officer .......<,..... 75 W|sley Oak at Frederica . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Ruins of the Old Fort at Frederica . . . .-.../. . ' 85 The Old Spanish Gate at St. Augustine ....... 94 St. jMark's Castle, St. Augustine ......... 97 of St. Simon's, Island . . . . ... ... ,.: xiv ,. ' "" " Illustrations and . "''"' "- : ,/ : : . Page;, Oglethorpe at the Age of Ninety-two . . \ . . . . 115; English Stamps for America ... . . . . . . . . JjJtJ King George III .............. I 22 ' Colonists Burning the Stamp Seller in Effigy ..... 123' William Pitt ............... 129; George Walton .............. 133 Button Gwinnett ............... 134 Lyman Hall ............... 131 Lachlan Mclntosh ............. 135 Noble Jones ............... 136 Joseph Ilabcrsham ............. ''30 General Robert Howe ... ......... 137 Residence of George Walton at Augusta ...... 148 Colonel Andrew Pickens ........... 158 '"'Light Horse Harry" Lee . . . ... . . . . . 161 \ James Jackson .............. 165 General Benjamin Lincoln ........... 167 Lee's Cavalry Skirmishing ........... 169 General Anthony Wayne ........... 171 Count d'Estaing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Count Pulaski ............... 175 Monument to Pulaski ............ 184 Sergeant Jasper at Fort Moultrie ......... 1S6 Monument to Sergeant Jasper .......... 100 Indians Plundering Cattle on a Frontier Plantation . . . 213 George^ Washington . . . . . . ^; .;; . . . . .. 218 Stone or Rock1 Mountain . . . . .... . . . 220 William Augustus Bowles ........... 226 Nathaniel Grcene ........... 238 Illustrations and Maps. xv Page. Mclntosh ............. 254 "Governor George M. Trbup . . . . . . . . . . 255 $* President Monroe ......... . . . 257 lipthiefs of the .Creek Nation and a Georgia Squatter . - ,, . 261 President John Quincy Adams ...... '. . . 266 General Edmund P. Gaines .......... 269 State House at Milledgeville .......... 278 Major Ridge"" ............... 289 'John Ridge ............. , . 289 Governor George M. Gilmer .......... 296 William Wirt ................ 302 John Marshall ............... 303 r President Jackson ............. 307 Governor Wilson Lumpkin .....,... 308 President Van Buren ... ......... 310 General Winfield Scott ............ 317 Walton-Hall-Gwinnett Monument at Augusta . . . 323 Map Showing Expansion of Georgia ........ 325 A Block-House .............. C23 Family of a Pioneer in the Interior of Georgia .... 329 Emigrants and Plantation Wagon ......... 330 Oglethorpe University . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 The University of Georgia ........... 337 ^Picking Cotton on a Georgia Plantation- ....... 339 vJScene on a Cotton Plantation . . . . . ... . . 343 /Columbus, as It Appeared When First Settled . . . . . 348 {.Cabin of a Mountain Settler . . . . . . . . 354 (A Mountaineer. .............. 355 u7. llf'l Mountaineer Mother and Daughter . . . . . .-.".- 355^ XVI Illustrations and Maps. ^ .''.'.. Page, ';; City Hall at Augusta . . ... . . . . . ... 358. / Medical College, Augusta .... 0 ...... 358 A Black Mammy and Her Charge . .' . . . . . . 361 Type of Middle Georgia Slave: Family Cook ...... 362 Type of Middle Georgia Slave: Mulatto House-Maid . . 363 A Mountaineer and His Wood Cart ....... 364 A Piny \Voodsman and His Splinter Care ... ... 364 PART I. CHAPTER I. .*f**> x JAMES OGLETHOKPE. r. OGLETHORPE'S EARLY CAREER. James Oglethorpe was born at Westminster, Eng land, on June 1st, 1689. While he was yet a babe in the cradle it mi&ght'have been expr ected%/&t/h- at he would 5ecome a great man, for he came of a family of great people. Six hundred years before he was born, one of his ancestors, Sheriff Oglethorpe, was a high officer in the English arrny and was killed in the famous Battle of Hastings while bravely fighting for his country against the invader, William the Conqueror. This brave soldier had many distinguished ,descendants, the greatest of whom was James Oglethorpe. James's father, Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe, also was officer in the English army. He fought with many battles and rose to the high, rank -General. When he was forty years ,old, he from the army and settled down in an elegant le -in. the, little m thirty miles froin London. He lived'In great affluence with his family, and his children had the best educa tional advantages that could be obtained in Europe in that day. James's mother was a Scotch-Irish lady of fine family and of good education. She was counted one of the cleverest and shrewdest English women of her day. She was one of the Ladies of the Court to "Good Queen Anne" and was a leader in society and a pow.;r in politics. She was a woman of strong will and no doubt had great influence in forming the char acter of her distinguished son. James grew to be a tall, lithe, handsome youth, quiet mannered, good natured, and high spirited. Here is a story that illustrates both his good nature and his high spirits ilWhen a youth of seventeen, while on a visit to Paris, he was invited to dine in company with a number of distinguished military men. He sat at the table by the side of. the Prince of Wurtemberg, an officer of high rank and a noted society man. The prince, thinking to have some fun at young Oglethorpe's expense, by a dexterous twirl of his glass flipped some drops.of wine into his face. The prank was noticed by the company, and a smile "went Hound /the table. ^ Young Oglethorpe did not relish being made a butt of 4ridicule, even by so great a man as .the Prince of Wur- x James Oglethorpe. temberg, but he kept his temper. With a smile on his he said, in polite French, "Well done, prince; but do it even better than that in England/' whereupon he dashed a whole glass of wine full into the prince's face. The prince flushed with .rage and it looked as if the affair would end in a serious difficulty, but an old officer on the other side of the table quickly exclaimed, ''Come now, prince, don't get angry; it was rightly done by the youngster; you started it!" Then the prince joined the others in a hearty laugh and the in cident passed off pleas antly, j /*--J / Oglethorpe was ed ucated at a military school, and before lie was twenty he joined \the English army.. Pie served with the rank of .ensign under the great ^Jpu.&e of Marlborbugh in The Duke of Maryborough. Y :the Flanders .War. After the war was over, he with-" drew from the army and attended college for a year or ...... . . ' - ^-<^'-, . :'.':;> .v.- vifors to fight at that time, he wetft^Sver'* to the Conti nent and joined the Austrian army, which was- then engaged in a war with the Turks. The leader of the Austrian army was Prince Eugene of Savoy, the most brilliant soldier of his day. He was a small man but a ereat general, O O ' "a bright little soul with a flash in him as or" heaven's own lightning," as Carlyle, the famous English writer, said of him. Prince Eueene. took a very decided liking to young Oglethorpe and Prince Eugene of Savoy. made him his aide-de camp, with the rank of Captain. By the side of this "bright little soul with a flash in him as of heaven's own light- ' ning," Oglethorpe thoroughly learned the soldier's trade and fought with dashing valor in many desperate bat tles. These were his romantic days, and he always loved to talk about them. When he was an old,. old man, nearly a hundred years old, he--^oiil^;^ilar:r|iV> brilliant company with his vivid descriptions, of the battles in which he had fought by/the side \of Prince Eugene.,_ James Oglethorpc. When the Turkish war was over, he returned to\ I . Jl^gland . and settled down to ways of peace. \ His father and elder brothers died, and he inherited the family estates. He was now a very rich man. but. he lived a simple and sober life. He was elected to Parliament and served as a member for many years. While he was in Parliament, an event occurred that The Houses of Parliament. turned his attention toward America and caused him .become the founder of Georgia. This is how it ^..rf :/, ere was a cruel law in England at that time by s6 / - } which a person in .debt might be thrown into prison 6 Georgia History Stones. / cent of'a"nv crim' e, languish' ed in the' s e debtors'' prison'':$sf Pl 9 ;, .Oglethorpe had a dear friend, a Mr. Robert Casteiy| | who was a scholar and an artist. He wrote a fmej book on architecture, which he illustrated with splen-j .did pictures drawn by his own hand. He was so muchSfr ? taken up with writing the book that he neglected his business affairs, and when the book was published :. instead of making money for him it brought him heavily in debt, and he was condemned to be cast into the debtors' prison. In the prison to which he was assigned, smallpox was at that time raging, and he had"? never had the disease. He begged the prison keeper, a heartless wretch by the name of Bambridge, to let him lie in the common jail until the prison should be freed of the smallpox or until his friends could arrange f 'T* to pay his debts for him, which he was sure would /' > be done in the course of a few months. Bambridge agreed to do so if Castell would pay him down in cash a certain sum of money as a bribe, but poor Castell 'f had noi the money, so he was thrown, into the small pox-infested prison, where he soon contracted, the t| disease; and after a few days' suffering .he died anj|: ''... ,'' '"'< ' "'!;". -'> -'":'' ' ' . :. ' .flf: awful death, leaving his wife and -little children . poverty stricken and helpless. When Oglethorpe heard, of this outrage his bloodfif Jaines 0glethorpe. boiled with indignation. He at once introduced a bill in Parliament to have a committee appointed to ex amine the prisons of England and bring about a re form in their management. The bill was passed, Oglethorp'e was made Chairman of the Committee, and, with the other members, he spent several months visit- A Philanthropist Visiting the Debtors' Prison. ing the prisons. He found in them many practices of shocking cruelty, all of which were immediately abolished. ' 1.17 OGLETHORPE'S GEORGIA COLONY ENTERPRISE. tude of humanity, but he did not stop at this. While HI visiting the ' prisons his sympathies were deeply ~"V:i|,..aroused ^| for the poor debtors whom he found languishing be- -Spl hind iron bars, though innocent of any crime. He ^| | '^f ,' determined to try to do something to help them out of '' their sad condition. By -his earnest appeals he got Parliament to pass a law by which they might be set .'., \ free, provided they would agree to go to America and 4 establish there for .Lngland a new colonv on a broad strip of unsettled country already claimed by her, south of the_..avannah River. It lay next to Florida, which ^ t then belonged to Spain and had been colonized by her. The Spaniards were at that time one of the most powerful and warlike nations in the world, and in their hearts t . "T they were very hostile to the English, although not v * openly at war with them. The Spanish soldiers were bold, skillful, and heartless ; so much so that some one said of them, "A Spanish soldier is a machine of steel with the devil inside of it!" .. > Fortunately for Oglethorpe's enterprise, King George II of England was anxious to plant colonies in his unoc cupied possessions south of the Savannah .River as a pro- r ,i|. tection for South Carolina against the%old and unscrupu- : T>|M lous Spaniards of Florida. So he gladly granted to Ogle- "v thorpe "for the use of debtors and other" poor persons" - '^"i ;. James Oglethorpe. 9 11 the country between the Savannah and the Altamaha I [Rivers, and as far westward as they might choose to eo. ^ijjjjS,- ||fThis strip -of country was named Georgia in honor f qf King George. A Board of Trustees, consisting of thirty-six members, among whom were some of the King George II. /\ men in England, was appointed by to have entire charge of planting, establishing, the new colony. They were to serve llgut pay or compensation of any sort. It must be of ."love with them. 1 The. good arid great ': 10 Georgia History Stories. " Lord Perceval was president of the Board, an thorpe was one of the members. The Trustees set aboutjg\ raising money to pay the cost of establishing the colony,^;] > ^.^ for the poor people who were to go were not able to:j||jj . i%* sj pay any part of their own expenses. Parliament made^ quite a liberal appropriation for the purpose, and a larger amount still was raised by public subscription , from benevolent people in all parts of England. Al together, the Trustees soon had in hand SloO/lOO. which was sufficient to establish a small colony.. :' J At one of the meetings of the Trustees it was sug-;| | gested that some member of the Board, a man of edu- . cation and ability, should go over to America with the ! first colonists as their Governor and live in Georgia > 'J1 with them until they were, well and thoroughly estab-".| | lished. Oglethorpe nobly volunteered to go, and the ; Trustees were delighted. In undertaking this trying service, Oglethorpe would have to give up his luxurious ; \ home, the pleasures of, refined-society, and the splendid ./ public career that was fast opening to him in England " and would have to endure untold hardships, privations, and dangers; and from it all he had nothing, in a^. .: ' . . ' ' '"-.'.-..".,-. ' fi'.f'^V -'-.- ".'&:* worldly sense, to ^ain for himself. The Trustees ftadSi ' ^':-^W. > chosen as the official seal of the Board a group of silkjf^ r.'i worms spinning their cocoons and,, written underneath,^; , ^&jf,. ' -1" '* :rt. i James Oglethorpe. 11 "the noble motto, "Non sibi sed aliis !"* "Not for thernJ|sejyes but for others!" As those of you who .have fefedied Latin know, the word sibi may also be correctly ^translated himself. The motto truly expressed the spirit of Oglethorpe in volunteering to go on this trying ex pedition, "Non sibi scd aliis!" "Not for "himself but for others!" He was at this time forty* -three y/ ears old ajid. was yet unmarried. So far as we know, he had never had a sweetheart. Perhaps he was so busy that he had never had time to fall in love! When it was known that the great and good Ogle-. thorpe himself would accompany the expedition, hun dreds and hundreds of poor people, debtors and others, were anxious to go, but only a few could be taken. Out -, of the hundreds of applicants, the Trustees carefully selected forty strong, healthy men of good morals and with small families. All together, men, women, and children, the party consisted of-one hundred and twenty iouls. Many poor wretches who begged to go had to be turned away with tears in their eyes and bitter dis^POintment. in their hearts. ||h-The good ship Anne, a sailing vessel of two hundred Jfe- : ; i$-.-5 .*^'ie original of this famous seal is in the British Museum, London. iliteyV; years ago a wax impression of it was obtained from the curator of the- 12 " - Georgia History tons burden, was chartered to take the emigrants across the ocean to. America. In her hold, as she lay moored to the wharf at Gravesend, were stored provisions and all kinds of tools and implements for the journey and for getting the colony well established in Georgia.j Everything was then ready for the voyage. CHAPTER II. FOUNDING OF SAVAH-HAH. I. SEEKING - A LOCATION. At high noon on the 16th of November, in the year 1732, the good ship Anne spread her white sails and, like some great canvas-winged bird of the sea, flew from the shores of England westward over the Atlantic, '< bearing in her kindly bosom James Oglethorpe and his one hundred and twenty emigrants. She did not sail straight for Georgia, but for Charleston, South Caro lina, where Oglethorpe wished to get the advice and help of the Governor of that province in settling his , colony. She reached Charleston on the 13th of Janu ary, 1.733, and cast anchor just outside the harbor bar. Uglethorpe, leaving Iris people on board, was rowed to shore in 311 open boat, and was received with great honor by Governor Johnson and the Legislature of South Carolina, which was then in session. ...,,The Governor had been notified several weeks heifore .that Oglethorpe was coming and he was prepared to...extend to. .him a: hearty welcome. The people of South Carolina were very glad that an English colony 1;:;^ ; 14 v r: -^ 'Georgia Ijistory Stones: :. ;v ^ it would be a protection for them against the fierce Spaniards of Florida. Governor Johnson offered to do anything in his power to help Ogle~t~h"~p"r' pe. He ap- i{ff|-': pointed Colonel Bull, one of the most prominent men pin South Carolina, to act as Oglethorpe's guide and^||: assistant in settling his colony in Georgia and offered "& to take care of the emigrants until a suitable location could be found for them. ' The good ship .-luuc was taken down to Port Royal Bay where it was safely moored in the harbor. At the head of the bay was the little town of Beaufort, where ^ \ there was a fort garrisoned by a hundred South Caro- > ' lina soldiers. A new barracks building had just been erected for the soldiers, but they had not yet moved into it. Governor Johnson turned this building over to the '-. I use of the emigrants, and here they were comfortably housed until Oglethorpe could locate a permanent home / for them. Having seen his people thus comfortably provided for, Oglethorpe started out in search of some favor able spot on Georgia soil on which to plant his little- colony. From study of the maps, he had already de cided tox locate the settlement somewhere^on' the banksS: J \ '' . ''""^ ^.of the Savannah River/ that broad and beautiful streamer / which, coming down from the northwest, flows for Founding of Savannah. 15 and fifty miles as a boundary line between South I .-Carolina and Georgia, and then, as it nears the sea, I ;^tirns to the left in a graceful scythe-like curve and - V:'^)ours its wealth of waters into the great Atlantic Ocean. ;! ' On the 16th of January, Oglethorpe, accompanied '.f'"--'-.. ' - ' -'"'<. '" . '\' ' '','* '^.5J%*?'j''v^*i'v; ^ .Copyright, 1901, by the D^t^it Photographic Company. $' The River at Savannah, as It Appears To-day. by Colonel Bull, left Port Royal in a little vessel lent |Ltov. him by Governor Johnson and manned by four '|||j. t ' ' fjf|sailors. 'Me sailed down the South Carolina coast and [entered the Savannah River where Tybee Island juts | but as a headland noto the ocean. As he ascended the fke.ver, he pa'ssed manv-low-lying ba' rren is' lands and flat: SHM&if'.. ' - 7* - ' *<', 7- _- *'-.." _ *~? ' _ _ _..'. '. IK^:^.^ '; ^ffi^W^' '' 16' :..:.--.' Georgia I^istory , '-. "% j/i ''*'-.. - ' ". ' s.-^"ur -.. "" '" " ;'';""-'"' salt marshes covered with rank sea-grass. '^kf'-- It was an :%,?*" ugly country, and perhaps Oglethorpe''s brave heart sank -". within him as he surveyed the dreary prospect. But, about eighteen miles up the river, the lowlands on the south bank suddenly rose into a bold, forest-covered -' bluff forty-five feet high. Here the little vessel was stopped, arid Uglethurpe and Colonel 'Bull climbed up the bluff. On top they beheld an extensive level plain covered, a.- far as the eve could see, with a crrcat woods of majestic nines huerspersed with bmad. spreading live-oaks. For several moments Oglethorpe stood en- .raptured and then exclaimed, "Surely a merciful God has designed this glorious spot as a restful home for my poor, persecuted people!'" Colonel Bull, who had visited. this region before, told Oglethorpe that at the other end of the bluff, about three miles from where they stood, there was a small, isolated Indian tribe called the Yainacraic-s, and that they were the only Indians within fortvj miles. Os Suddenly' $' 'they all stopped still except the "medicine man," who advanced, walked slowly, with a. stately stride, around ^ , Pounding of Savannah. 23 I Oglethorpe, and, stroking him from head to foot with "' oiutspread fans, said, or rather ' chanted, over and iagam In the Indian language, "May there be eternal peace between your people and our people !" After this ceremony was over, old Tomo-chi-chi, taking a buffalo. robe from one of his' attendants, stepped for ward and said to Oglethorpe : We have come to welcome you as I promised. I have brought you a present. This is the skin of a buffalo, which is the strongest of all beasts; in the in side you see painted the head and feathers of an eagle, which is the swiftest and farthest flying of all birds. So the English are the strongest of all people, and nothing can withstand them ; and they have a swift and far flight like the eagle, seeing that they have flown hulier from the. uttermost parts of the earth, over the vast seas. The eagle's feathers are soft and signify love; the buffalo's robe is warm and signifies protec tion; therefore love and protect our little families. As he made the speech, Mary Musgrove stood fry*- side and interpreted what he said, sentence by Oglethorpe was deeply touched. He made, a kind, noble speech in reply, while the colonists--men, Wmen, and children--stood behind him looking on io"s'--s'tr'arisje, - imp- ressi'.ve sc' ene'.' ;/' .%." '-;-'./ Georgia fiistory Stories. v _..-". '. ' . _ .. Oglethorpe invited his'visitors to stay to dinner, and they readily accepted. The women of the colony be- :' stirred themselves mightily to get up a "company- clin- ner" for their distinguished and unexpected guests, and they managed to prepare a fine repast. By two o'clock *- it was ready. In the meantime, the men had no diffi culty in entertainingo the Indians bv.- showingo them the many wonderful things they had brought from Eng land. After dinner, as the guests were k-aving. Og!c- thorpe made each of them a present: a scarlet shawl with a heavy fringe to Tomo-chi-chi; a blanket and a . hatchet to each of the'other men; and to each of the three v women of the party, a string of beads and a looking- glass. Then he bade them good-by and asked them to call again. Such was the first ''state dining" ever given in Georgia. For more than a year Oglethorpe continued to live in his little tent under the three, great pine trees over looking the river, while he directed the work of the colonists, all of whose hardships and privations he shared. He laid off in the great forest the plan of the town that was to be builded there. That plan is per- . . .: , - . .;.._ . 3i;.r . fectly preserved in the city of Savannah of ito-day, w| -' -'.' ':'&: :. '. '1' ' though, of course, the original streets have been J lengthened, and many new streets and squares have i I Founding of Savannah. 25 added. Oglethorpe's six streets--Bull, Bryan, Sfijpf.c>i-"??ay toii, Abereorn, St. Julian, and - Whitaker--are still ~*->,^J,>7j .S~ _ - . - - ------ &M principal thoroughfares of the city. Bull street, he named for that Colonel Bull who so greatly helped him in planting his colony ; and the others he named for benevolent persons in England and South Carolina who Pron\ an old print. The Colony of Georgia. had helped the colony by contributions in money and in other ways. In the mighty work of clearing the forests, building" homes, erecting, forts, and .cultivating gardens, the colonists were greatly aided during the first year by the generous South Carolinians, who furnished many laborers and ;.nechaniqs free of charge. The Legisla- .-4$ ;26, "^^ -X v; Georgia History Stories..^ - 1' / hundred and five,cows and a drove of eighty hogs, and 4 private citizens of the same colony presented them with flocks of sheep and a number of horses. / . From time to time new .emigrants, sent over by the , Trustees, arrived; so that by the end of the first year the colony numbered about six hundred people, all under the fatherly care of James Oglethorpe. Such is the story of the founding of the beautiful city'of Savannah and the beginning of the great State of Georgia. CHAPTER'111. V '" ' , . _x ,- TOMO-CHI-CHI. I. TOMO-CHI-CI-irS TREATY WITH OGLETHORPE, Tomo-chi-chi, mico, or chief, of the Yamacraws, al though a savage, was a truly great man. When Ogle- thorpe first met him he was ninety years old.* For one so age;d, he was wonderfully vigorous in body and mind. ' His figure was still erect, his step light and spry, . his faculties bright, and his eye undimmed. He was over six feet tall and had a noble and command ing countenance. Anywhere in the world people look ing- on him would have felt, "He is a great man!'" Georgia at this time was inhabited mainly by a na tion of Indians known as the Creeks. They were divided into the Upper Creeks and the Lower Creeks. The Upper Creeks lived chiefly in what is now Ala bama, and the Lower Creeks in what is now middle and lower Georgia. The Lower Creeks were divided into , nine different tribes, and the smallest and weakest ".; - j .*v* ;v -\ y *" of these- tribes were the Yamacraws of which old Tomo-chi-chi was chief or mico. was Tomo-chi-chi's reputed age, but it is not entirely authentic. .,,It ^.hardly 30al and .,,-cmr_eexdn.itb-aille. v.t.;ihg,,a_ot.r..o.-neA*s.to aan^yedracdt. euld,hehawvaes paossveesrs\e?d' s " "^:-,Cf '.,- "f.Ve -H^ Tomo-chi-chi had spent most of his life in riiiddiy Georgia, where he was a member of one of the most' powerful tribes of the Creek Nation, and he was re-;;; garded as one of their greatest men and most valiant warriors; but in his old age, for some reason that we-'- do not know, he withdrew from his people and wandered through the wilderness far to the cast, where at length he settled on a high bluff on'the banks of the Savannali River. IIciv lie was joined by a number of devoted followers whom lie organized into a tribe called the Yamacraws, and here Oglethorpe found-them when he came to Georgia in 1733. You have learned how Tomo-chi-chi and the Yama craws-allowed Oglethorpe and his colony to settle peace fully in the woods near them and how they became their strong friends. But Tomo-chi-chi had no right to give this land to Oglethorpe, for it belonged not only to the Yamacraws but to the whole Lower Creek Nation. Oglethorpe suspected this, and Tomo-chi-chi knew it well. He was an honest and frank man, so one day he went to Oglethorpe and said: "The Yamacraws will never molest you, but other tribes of the Creeks mav do vsoV. '..; - ,-,' They may come at any-time- ' and kill y- ou ' '/ all^Ir ' ? "- "?''' . ^ - / .*.. j ^ f :JF?, . drive you away. They are -stronger than we are, and j\|e . - :"*-*,* cannot defend you from them. You had better mate ** * - - .j, ~ ,*.*,' Tomo-chi-chi. 29 with them. I will send messengers to all of the Jtribes to tell their chiefs and big warriors to meet here [' f^y a- c=*-*erta' 'in d* ay/ to hold a^?at Savannah. A few of them came down, the rivers and up the rivers in their canoes.; but most ":""" ri6'other means of traveling through the-^country. Marij| of them walked hundreds of miles and none of less than fifty miles to attend the meeting. council was held on the 21st of.May, 1733. %: all, chiefs and warriors, there were fifty-six Indians mi present. Not one of them, we are told, was under six feet tall, and they stood as straight and stately as the great pine trees under which they had been born and bred. Thev wore dressed in full Indian costume. Their long, jet-black hair was adorned with eagle's feathers standing high over their foreheads and falling in a fes toon down their backs. Their faces and the naked -; upper part of their bodies were painted red, blue, and yellow. They had rings in their ears and, around their necks, beads made of shells or of the teeth of wild animals. From the waist down, they wore a skirt of buckskin ornamented with paintings and falling just below the knees with a heavy fringe; their legs were encased in buckskin stockings, and they were shod in buckskin sandals called "moccasins." Savages though they were, these "lords of the .forest" made a splendid :':.-'..:.. lo:o-^ki-n, g-assembly. /? -. ' * - " ;,"*, ,;"* 1*aZ_ - .... . " /[ ^K.^BThe meeting was held in the largest house:ithen-fin ,.:; ''.""'' ~"";**?i"^?1>?. '' '" '<-. .-'' ''.*'"'... I -v Savannah. The Indians, according to their custom, sat flat on the floor, arranged in semi-circles. In the front Tomo-chi-ch-L 31 f Wrow sat the nine chiefs, and back of them the warriors. $ s> \ ||.Oglethorpe, clad in the full dress of an English gentle-" I m^-... '' . ' , stood facing them; and with him, were the! priri- 1 men of the colony and two white interpreters, I ' John Musgrove and Mr. Wiggan. Oglethorpe was glad to see that the-Indians had a pleasant expression on their "faces, or at least as-pleasant as Indians can have.y' Tomo-chi-chi had given them a good talk and had done his best to gain their favor for the English. He had a powerful influence over them, for they es- 1 teemed him as, one of the best and wisest men of the Creek Nation. Oglethorpe rapped on the table in front of him and declared the council to be opened. He asked to hear from the Indians. The first speaker was Weekachumpa, chief of the Oconas. He was a very tall old man with white hair and a wrinkled face, but he stood straight as an arrow while in a pleasant voice and with graceful gestures he made his speech. It was a long speech but honest and straightforward. The substance of it all this: are glad you have come to our country. The .Sp* irit who dwells in heaven and all around, and has given breath to all men, has sent you here to - " ' --^Y^--:'. '-:,., - ioouhffy from the Savannah River down to the 111 ^of Florida where the Spaniards liv'e. You may setf"eH| in our country anywhere you please, for here we'ha\gj ^ Oil HL many times more land than we can use. But you mu;g not disturb us in our homes and our hunting grounds You must protect us from our powerful enemies anft| from your own. bad men, ii you have any such. You" must not trade with any red men but us. You musP" not let vnnr traders cheat us. You must teach us wise tinners and instruct our children. You must do all you can to help us in every way. You must let us St. Catharine's, Ossabaw, and Sapelo islands foreve'Ip as our own for hunting grounds and bathing places/"' .^ All the other chiefs, one after another, made short speeches in which they agreed to what WeekachumpM had said. Tomo-chi-chi was the last speaker; and no:' doubt he made the best speech of all, for he was a bonu orator. N Oglethorpe replied to them in a talk full of kindness, wisdom, and good promises that he meant t'ofCikeep and that he always did keep. He won their hearts" completely. They trusted him perfectly, as well they. might. The treaty was drawn up in writing an! ; .-properlv signed, and for many years : it kvas faithi|Et ''. .' J J .-^--'/ ..-.-' i : ''"' f'":" ' .'' kept by both sides. In no other part of Ameri those early days, did the white man and the red Tomo-chi-chi. 33 |:.-live together so peacefully and pleasantly as in the colony Georgia.^ The credit and the thanks for this happy of affairs were due-mainly to'Tomo-chi-chi, for it c was his powerful influence that brought the two races so happily together. A word from him might have turned the Creek Nation against the whites and caused the destruction of Oglethorpe's little colony with much bloodshed and suffering afterward. But Tomo-chi-chi was a wise and good old man; he raised his voice for ., peace and not for war. This was much the better, not only for the whites but for the Indians, too. II. TOMO-CHI-CHI'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. About a year after the treaty, Oglethorpe decided to go to England on a visit; and he was anxious to take Tomo-chi-chi and a number of other Indians with him. Tomo-chi-chi gladly accepted the invitation for himself, his wife, Seenawki, and his nephew, Toona- howi. Every Indian in the tribe was eager to go, but Oglethorpe could take only a few; so he carefully ..selected six big.warriors and several attendants. These. :^vith two white interpreters made up the party. - ^ 'j|v On_ the .7th of-April, 1734, they set sail for Eng- Never before had these "lords of the woods" L^f.p^o^1t^o^.r;tJie-;-.yast. ocean. >-.:-_'- .TMtY-.J,t -. ^..,-.--.<.... . i-^if '_ :: -s . How. wonderful it ..--.~ 7i,,v.;A . ,.,_, ''v .;. '''>,;fiy V-f-^cT. ""' ^f^f^jf %V>\i'>l '$?f'.*ij*>>r f vv-as'-^rl^li!^tTfTii1i]'T!-ia;ViW^^ J^^ '?&&': ' :::''M^^R-"^ '<'':Si^ ^v;-: ::.ii'".- " - '-': : .;.: v ^;%:' o i -m*i^y I;.:**-i$i&j?->fy^&%$M^&jSk -3i :- ^ ';: : V. " ' GeSr&ti^ijiiory-^ they had a smooth and prosperous voyage. ^ ***"'*.'l%" fancy that old Neptune, the god of the sea, pleased at. ; 'if; > the sight of these strange, new visitors to his watery M^ realm, greeted them with smiles that beamed over the ||' ocean and made it calm and serene. They reached i ^: ; England early in June. Oglethorpe took them first .to his own beautiful country home wher/er--he entertained them as his guests for several days. iThen they wr ere \~__-- conveyed to London where comfortable quarters had been provided for them in the Georgia Building. The news of their arrival soon spread throughout the great ; city, and hundreds of people flocked to see them, treat- ;- ing them with the utmost respect and bringing them many presents^ The king, George II, sent them an invitation to ? - visit him on a certain day at Kensington Palace, and i s they accepted with great delight. \They knew that this visit would be an important event in their lives, and they were greatly excited over itJ When the appointed day arrived, they spent several hours dressing for the occasion. They wished to go, as they always did on state occasions at home, with the upper part of their bodies naked, but Oglethorpe would not permit this.^ i * ~ He induced them to wear shawls over their shoulders, pinned at the throat; and as the< shawls were ;;,_ Tomo-chi-chi 35 a brilliant blue, they were quite reconciled. In other '.respects they were clad in full Indian costume,; paint, Jybeads, feathers, and all/ Old Tomo-chi-chi wore a scarfc- let mantle of rich velvet trimmed with p'old lace; and V O ' his wife, Seenawki, wore a crimson dress of the finest silk, made as nearly in the Indian style as was ad missible in polite English society. The king sent three magnificent royal coaches, each drawn by six horses, to convey them to the palace. People by thousands thronged the streets and windows to see them pass. NAt the palace gates, they were wel comed by the king's bodyguard standing at ''present arms.^ At the palace door, they were received by the Lord High Chamberlain and ushered into the presence of the king, who was seated on his throne with the queen--good Queen Caroline--seated by his side. Tomo-chi-chi had prepared a set speech for the oc casion and had practiced it over and over again to his interpreter, so he made it to the king smoothly and without a blunder. He held in his hand a bunch of ;eagle's feathers as a present to the king, and at the close ''*'&::' ' ' 0fehis speech he said: "These are the feathers of the ,'^'<>v *. 4lgie, which is the swiftest of birds, and which flieth lljkcaround our nation. These feathers signify peace and $'h'ave be' en carried fro" m town to town , 36' x . -.'; /[ /-.-;: -X " -" " " v Georgia-History Stories. . *..'. there, and we have brought them over to leave with you, O great king, as a sign of everlasting peace g '$f:3 between your people and our people!" He made alsp.^J|J this pretty little speech to the queen: "I am glad'to^fti see this day, and I am glad to see you who are the^'f " *r good mother of this great people. As our people are '* now joined to your people, we hope you will also be the mother of us and of our children." Both king and (jucen made gracious replies and gave a rich present to each of the visitors. Tomo-chi-chi and his party spent four months in^ England. During the whole time everything possible " was done for their comfort and enjoyment. They were shown the great sights of London and of other parts of the kingdom. Wherever they went, crowds of people/-:' flocked to see them and to shake hands with them.li Even ^V--, v the nobility gave them elegant entertainments, which were attended by the finest ladies and gentlemen in the land. Tomo-chi-chi met nearly all of the leading men of the country and conversed with them through his interpreter. His dignified manner, good sense, shrewd observations, and high-toned character filled them with ,f surprise and admiration. They had lio Mclea. jthat :cin|| American savage could be so noble a "man. He had ? several long talks with the Trustees^of/,the Georgia^.- Tomo-chi-chi. 37 original London portrait. Tomo-chi-chi and Toonahowi. Colony, in which he showed his good business sense getting them to pass a number o f important**""%"m*\ easures'' *>''* for the benefit of the Creek Indians in Georgia.! While ;| ' -- m? " -*; * he was in London, the Trustees had a fine portrait made .fc of him with Toonahowi standing by his side holding an v.;| American eagle in his arms, j It was done by a famous portrait painter and was considered a splendid likeness^ It hung for many years in the Georgia Building, and a great many copies have been made of it. It. shows a stately figure.and a noble countenance, worthy of a king. At times Tomo-chi-chi seemed very sad when he saw Sr$* the contrast between the power, intelligence, and ; wealth of the English and the weakness, ignorance, and poverty of his own race. He was. wise enough to know that the red men would be perfectly helpless against the whites and that it would never do to arouse their enmity. He once said: "The Great Spirit has given to . the English mighty wisdom and power and great wealth, and they want nothing but more land; to the Indians He has given vast quantities of land, more than they can use, but they want everything else; so Indians must give lands to the English, and the English will give j Indians things that they want/' "r-".ivi-,-"" , I :<~.-'*$j&\ O J v, '-. " i /-X*-i3gSr* * In October, Tomo-chi-chi .and his party left England ^f- 'T^Q"return to Georgia. They carried back /four thousand.!!, * ^j& . <-' * - . tf ...... . l_'!i^.i._i_- -v .; -'..v^i. * ' V * 3d ; '1 dollars' worth of useful and beautiful presents...thatJtbfcir | ^English friends had given- them: Among these presents fyifpivas a fine "gold watch that the king's young son, * .Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, had given to Toonahowi, saying to him : /'Whenever you look at this j watch to see the time of day, remember me and call on - \. the name of Jesus, the blessed Saviour of us all!" On * reaching Georgia, Tomo-chi-chi gave his people a -full account of what he had seen and experienced on his I .wonderful journey, and he distributed among them ! nearly all of the. rich gifts he had received in England, for he was a generous hearted, unselfish man. Oglethorpe did not return to Georgia with the In- ! . dians, but remained in England nearly two years longer, :' all the time busy getting money, supplies, and new emi grants to go over to the colony in Georgia. III. TOMO-CHI-CIlfs RELIGIOUS VIEWS. t W7 hen Oglethorpe returned to Georgia in February, 1730, he brought over on the ship with him, as a mis- l sionary to the Indians, a young English clergyman ' Horned John Wesley, who afterward became a vei-y I famous man. Tomo-chi-chi met the party at the ship I'- ' ' " ' |: -and was overjoyed to welcome his good friend Ogle- . > " Georgia History " : ^ ' introduced John Wesley "to him and explained the pur pose of his coming" to America, the old. savage welcomed the young preacher in these remarkable words : "I ,am glad you have come to speak the great word to us. I will do my best to get our people to listen to you well. But we don't want to be made Christians as the John Wesley Teaching the Indians. Spaniards make them. They put water on Indian's head and say,, ''You are Christian/ but we want you first to explain the great word to us so that we can .J :'.* -j- - :$P understand it: then we will be baptized" 'and be real -M ' '"-.': ' -: ^| Christians." As soon as Wesley was settled in.his.Jj : ] quarters, kind-hearted Seenawki brought him as a pres- ;f I Tomo-chi-chi. | Jfcnt a jar of honey and a jar of milk, saying: "The llliioney signifies our feelings and disposition toward ' you; the milk signifies the needs of our children; so please come and teach, them. 1 ' But John Wesley, though a great and good man, was an utter failure as a missionary to the savages. He lacked the power of winning their hearts and of teaching the "great word" in the simple way they needed. He didn't even try to ,: learn the Indian language, but preached to them en tirely through an interpreter, and explained the Chris tian religion to them in such a learned way that the poor savages could not understand him. Tomo-chi-chi seemed to take a dislike to him from the first and would have little to do with him. 1 omo-ehi-chi had dee]') religious instincts. I fe used to go himself every Sunday to Oglethorpe's church in Savannah, and, as we have just seen, he was anxious to have the "great word" preached to his people. But I ;after a while he lost all interest in the Christian II v-te'"ligion. The reason of this came out one day & . >^hen some one asked him: "Tomo-chi-chi, why |-.y * . I cldn't you become a Christian?" With flashing eye in his voice the old man replied: ."The _ drunk, they tell lies, they fight, they beat weak they cheat poor Indians. Devil Christian, me no '.J*{*& Christian!" He had made the mistake that many'/;.'! /$|| people make, of judging'religion by the lives of the,-^.| worst and most hypocritical of its professed followers'.'";^ j 'I: $ IV. TOMO-CHI-CI-ir'S FLORIDA EXPEDITION. ; Not long after Oglethorpe''s return'from England, .,. g Tomo-chi-chi said to him: "Before I die I want you to go down the coast with me. and let. me show you the divid ing line between the Creek country and Florida. While I was in England, some Spaniards and Florida Indians ^ f crossed over into our hunting grounds and killed some of our warriors. You must build forts down there to protect our country and your country." Oglethorpe . | was glad to go on such an expedition, for he had long ;J I "' k; wished to settle the boundary line between Georgia and | .4 Florida. Two months before, he had sent Major * | Richards with an escort of six men down to St. ?; | Augustine with a message to the Spanish governor of : | Florida asking for a conference on this subject; but the | party had never returned, and Oglethorpe was uneasy 1 about them and wished to go down and see what had -..'.,- __, . . become, of them. ' ""' ' : . i -" So on April 16th, 1736, Oglethorpe started from St, Simon's Island down the coast on this important ex- y Tomo-chi-chi. 43 pedition. He was accom panied by Tomo-chi-chi and several gentlemen from Sa vannah. They had, as an escort, forty Indian war riors and thirty Highland soldiers from the little town of Darien, which had just been settled on the Altamaha River by a party of Scotch emigrants. They were all fully armed and furnished with implements for building forts. They embarked in four large boats propelled partly by oars and partly by sails, and in each boat there were two or three small canoes. A few miles south of St. Simon's, they came to a beautiful island where they camped that night and to which Oglethorpe gave the vr ;:X name 44 '/"' -^ Georgia History his friend Sir Joseph Jekyl, of England/ This island '1| is now owned by the "]eky\ Club," composed of north ern millionaires, who use,it as a winter resort and have erected* many costly houses there. The next day, going further down the coast, they / discovered a very large and beautiful island of which Ogiethorpe had never even heard before. It had a high bluff on the western side and was covered with a grand forest of pines and live-oaks, from whose boughs . hung festoons of long, gray moss. The Indians called it Wisso Island, or, in English, Sassafras Island, because ... many sassafras bushes grew there; but Ogiethorpe' changed its name to Cumberland, after the king's young son, William, Duke of Cumberland, the same who had given Toonahowi the fine gold watch. It is said that Ogiethorpe gave it this name at the request of Toonahowi himself, who was with the party and had with him the much-prized watch. On the high , bluff on the .northwestern side of the island, Ogiethorpe marked out the plan of a fort; and at the southern* end, \I he marked out the plan of another fort. Both of these \ '' J-r'~ "$ forts were afterward built good and strong. A littleSf below Cumberland they- came to ' a'i .'viVsmall island t'f^raP'llfL 'wl looked like the Garden of Eden, so covered was it wifftfi flower-bearing trees and shrubbery/ in full blporn^] Tomo-chi-chi. 45 pSglethorpe named it Amelia Island. On the northern -,<*. ^* iffend of this island now stands the Florida town of tfr-- : ' Kfernandina, for the island belongs to Florida now -though it was then a " part of Georgia. Oglethorpe's party continued to sail slowly - down the coast for two .-days longer. On the afternoon of the second J'day they came to a high, rocky promontory jut ting out from the main land a little distance into Mouth of the St. John's River as It Appears To-day. 'fthe sea. The whole party climbed to the top of these high rocks ; and looking to the southward they saw two miles away a great river emptying into the ocean, and on the high banks on the other side a lonely log house that looked like a small fort. The river was the St. John's. Jlpmo-chi-chi, pointing with his outstretched arm, said: river is the dividing line. All on this side we |tft.; all on the other side they hunt. That house is the f; -wW ' ' gnish fort where there are soldiers to keep us i..crossing to their side. But while I was in Eng- Georgia History Stories. '"to our side and killed some of .our w- arriors, so to'-nig"h"t^ when they are all asleep in that house we will creep up J and kill them/' making a gesture as if braining a man f f with a hatchet. The old mico spoke with great excite-'^ -' *!'* ". merit and was in dead earnest. The Indian instinct ''*%|jV*^r'' glared fiercely in his eye. He. was no longer the mild man of peace. He was nothing now but a ferocious, bloodthirsty savage gloating over an opportunity for or t revenge. The other Indians were equally excited, like ; hounds that see their prey! It was all that Oglethorpe. could do to restrain them from making a secret midnight & \ > SN attack on the Spanish soldiers supposed to be in the"? | lonely house on the river bank. He knew that such an attack would bring disaster to his colony, for it would ? give the Spaniards an excuse for invading .Georgia .; j ,,V: |l Math a hostile army, a thing that they were only too '\i anxious to do. At length he succeeded in getting Tomo- < . chi-chi to take his warriors back to their camp in a { palmetto grove several miles up the coast, and the night f passed without further adventure. |f Early the next morning" Oglethorpe, attended by a few men, took a boat and rowed up the St. John's*!' .River to the Spanish fpr^/but he found not a soul there: he rowed some miles further up the strea"m to another fort, but that also . was . unoccupied. -Aft Tomo-chi-chi. 1^. then returned to the camp in the palmetto grove, where ihe found that during his absence Tomo-chi-chi had Ife-. -- -' ''-.- ; "slipped away with two boat-loads of Indians. Whither "he had gone, no one could say. Oglethorpe feared that the old man was up to mischief, but it was night now and he could not well go ; in search of him. About ten o'clock that night a canoe containing four Indians rowed up to shore opposite the palmetto grove camp, and the Indians sprang out and rushed up to .the camp fire, exclaiming to Oglethorpe: "Tomo-chi- chi has found enemies! 'They have a big fire on a hill. When they go to sleep, he is going to creep up with his braves and kill them. He sent us back to take care of you, but we want to be at the killing. Please let us go back and help about the killing!" They were terribly excited; they brandished: their hatchets and uttered the war whoop and foamed at the mouth and jumped about like men beside themselves, all the time begging Ogle thorpe to let them go back and "help about the killing/'' Quickly Oglethorpe took the whole party", gentlemen, s, and Indians, in the large boat and hurried the coast in search of Tomo-chi-chi. Four miles tfown he. found the old man and his warriors hiding M^the black clarkiiess behind some thick bushes, lik< rvsjj.; l/Sfe ,tb :Ml ,.>,...-:- ... , 4 ' ^.^H. -'.'*" "/''.'*'' ''' History Stoness ;.;'"'* . .,-.^,'V- " ' '. * i "',f,V32** F^33;fii$&' hill a mile-away could.be seen the expiring flames'of big camp fire. "I crept up close there," said Tomo-chi-%J | chi, "and counted seven Spaniards. I know there arejfrf Florida Indians there too, back in the woods. As loon ;|| as the Spaniards get good asleep, we will steal up and kill||lf them with our hatchets as they lie; then we will attack ' ! the Indians with their guns. When I was in England, they killed our men and now we must kill them. I will take Toonahowi with me and teach him to be big warrior!" Oglefhorpe found it even more difficult than the day :, -, before to hold the savages back from this mad and :' bloody deed. In spite of his utmost remonstrances and persuasions, they were actually starting for the camp fire, when, placing his hands on Tomo-chi-chi's shoul- ,- \ der, he said with great earnestness: "It will be cowardly to attack the men while they are asleep; and you are not cowards; you are brave Creek warriors! Wait until to-' morrow morning, and I will go with you!" Then old- Tomo-chi-chi sat down with a grunt of disappointment and called the others back. Before daybreak Ogle- thorpe slipped away from the others and went alone to the i camp; fire on the hill. He found)the men to; be own long-lost messenger Major Richards and his. Tr on their way back from St. Augustine. Major Rich-.4 ..: .vVrli^V . .,,,;.< : ; "iH ;-V*. . . To-mo-chi-chi. 49 .-$'* - '' -S .&'.":' \ .'.i$fr.'.'.'- ". Tards explained that a wrecked boat and other accidents ;;had detained him. When the truth was made known to ^.{ ' .\ ...... iffiomo-chi-chi -and his warriors, they seemed much fK^vS- - . - .' J- ashamed that in their rage they were about to kill men without knowing' who they were. The next day Ogletllorpe and his party started back on their return voyage. They reached Frederica, on St. Simon's Island, safe and sound, after being absent ' just one week on this important expedition. As long as Tomo-chi-chi lived, he continued to be a faithful friend to the English colonists and to help them greatly in many ways. This he did not mainly from love for the . whites but because he was wise enough to know that it - would be for the good of his own people in.the present fi and in future generations. He was a true patriot. y. TOMO-CH.i-cm's -DEATH AND BURIAL. Tomo-chi-chi had lived nearly a hundred years, and through them all he had bleen wonderfully strong and O , rf O robust; but now, at last, hfe began to feel iit his brain \ aijtd in his heart and through all the marrow of his V K'-^'"" L ' g; PQftes the strange, benumbing- chill of-'old age. One day ~L'.t ' < "-V"'^^ 3 h^started to walk with Toonahowi from his village to '-' " ' '- " , a distance of three miles, but before he had | Proceeded far he felt so tired that he had to turn and 50 , /^ .Georgia History he never rose again. There for days and weeks l .|*j$& lay as helpless as a new-born babe. ,He knew that J. us*,;% end was very near, so he called his family and the leadr|; ing: men of his little tribe around him and exhortecl'i ^3 -/S'3'~ them to continue-their friendship to the English,* and? asked that he might be buried in the settlement of Savannah that he loved and among the people that had always been so kind to him. One day John Wes- ley called on him, but "lie;;, seemed too feeble to talk', and not a word did Wes- ley get from him. Per haps he would not try, to talk to Wesley; for, as we know, the heart of George Whitfield Preaching. the old savage had never; f Warmed to this great dn; > .vine. A few days later George Whitfield, one of the~ ; most famous preachers that ever lived, came to see- I ' Y^ *"- him. He found him lying on a blanket under the shade! I -''"'- -* *-^ ' ' ***-' ',-"-.-' "-:-.-^'V 5-' of a great live-oak-tree, while his^ifaithful old --" ~-^* Seenawki, sat by his side fanning him with a '"*!%&. snow|| white fan made of crane's feathers. Whitfield took ,::' . V:V: " Tonio-cki-chi . ' 51 . hand and (not knowing what else to say, I suppose) asked him: "How long do you think you have to live?" -I-I:. do not know," replied ;Tomo-chi-chi; .which was a sensible answer to a foolish question. "Where do you expect to go when you die?" pursued Whitfield. "To heaven!''' answered TombI '-chi-chi, in simple faith. Maybe that was the last \ word he ever spoke; for a few hours after Whitfield left, the old mico died, aged ninety-seven years. For ninety years he had wandered through the gloomy, primeval forests of America, in intellectual and spiritual darkness. Many, no doubt, were his adven tures, valiant deeds, and hair-breadth escapes, for we know that the Creeks counted him as one of the greatest hunters and warriors of itheir nation; but in blackest '"$ .* ! oblivion lies all that part ;of his life. It was only dur ing the last .few of his mani'y years on earth that he came out into the open where history could take note of him, h'ke a star that has made its journey across the firma- . nient under clouds but emerges for a little while just \ .before its setting, to shine on the world! History tells 8 ' '-!*' " ' ti '. . ' ' . fI ;.i,is:-''t'h' at he . was. honest and truthful, bright of mind, of heart, earnest of purpose, strong of will, 0ager for improvement, anxious for the uplifting and -viMfc?-' - r.~'- . ' 52 xjjjj$. God, and hopeful of a purer and.nobler life in the wor to come; and these are qualities that go to make a great 4 ' man, whether they be embodied in a rude savage like Tomo-chi-chi or in a fine gentleman like James Ogle thorpe. '' In accordance with his dying request, Tomo-chi-chi was buried in Savannah. His body was borne to the grave by six of the most distinguished citizens and soldiers of Georgia. James Oglethorpe followed his coffin as chief mourner. During the funeral services o minute guns were fired from the fort near by, and a company of militia discharged three volleys of mus ketry over his grave after the coffin was lowered. The whole tribe of Yamacraws and many visiting Indians and nearly all of the people of Savannah--men, women, and children--attended the solemn ceremonies. Oglethorpe planned to have a suitable monument placed over the grave, but for some reason it was not done. For more than a hundred years the last resting place of the old mico was unmarked, though the exact spot, or very nearly the exact spot, was preserved in the ;** u -,* memories . of people by tradition from generation to .^-j:*:*..^;.-" r . -"'ln '<-" " 'V'-W ' . . - ;. ?C'..-"'-Wr.V;S*:>;. J. i ' * . .-- ';-;A^- O . .' :..*.*.., f'S"^"f'i--r ^generavfiVo^l;lrS:^^-FinallyJt, in the Jyear 18'.S-i^9Vi,-rt:that .fin!.e ':s'-''zo*c$&ie:-M$fr-. ot women, the Colonial Dames of Georgia, had a great''&|| 4 .;. rugged:. granite boulder brought from middle Georgia|" Tomo-chi-chi. 53 where Tomo-chi-chi had spent most of his life, and II placed it, just as it came from the hands of nature, with out chiseling...or polish, on the grave of the old savage-^- a most fitting monument ito him who was one of nature's own rugged and unpolished noblemen. To the stone is affixed a circular bronze tablet bearing an appropriate Tomo-ichi-ehi's Grave, c: inscription and symbolic figures. The grave is in Ivjohnson Square in the, very heart f - th_cjty_j3f_ Sa-_ . /May we not ;say, without exaggeration, that . ... "V. i * . ." '-r.- ftere sleeps to-dav beneath Georgia's sod no nobler ; S^tV * J .. ' - ; '': |g^; no truer patriot than Tomo-chi-chi, the grand old : the little tribe of Yamacraws! t '. ,g CHAPTER IV. THE SALZBURGERS. I. PERSECUTION IN AUSTRIA. a If you will look on the map of Europe, you will -find f||g located in the extreme western part of Austria a town % $. by the name of Salzburg. It is situated on the Salza River and is surrounded by smooth green valleys, rocky "' monritains, and clear, swift-rnnning streams. Two hundred years ago tin's town and the surrounding green valleys and mountain pwpfes were inhabited by a simple, & ,,; "--/' - Wf honest German folk known as the Salzburgers. They 3 >f were chiefly poor people, and they dressed in plain clothes and wore big slouch hats with broad brims and peaked, .crowns.. Those in the town were makers of | [;. famous wooden clocks that were known all over ^ > Europe, and those in the country earned their living as farmers and herdsmen. In - religion most of these people were Protestants and belonged to what is called the Lutheran Church. Austria and Germany were at that time Roman Catholic countries, and by the law of the land no other form of religion was allowed, and Protestants were bitterly persecuted, !^;In some; way, however, it happened that these quiet Salzburgers in' | 54 /. The $-alsbur?ers. 55 remote mountain fastnesses were for many years molested in their religion but were allowed to wor- f -vSv i 1'Jj|liip God iii their own way. Perhaps the rulers-of the I ;;fp' , "" ! | "country thought, "The poor creatures are so quiet and harmless away off there that we will let them alone." Still they did not dare t|o build churches or to have ": '" regular preachers. Out of i doors in the thickly wooded / mountain gorges they held their services and poured out their devout souls in worship to that God who ''pre fers before all temples the upright heart and pure!" i But after a while their days of peace came to an end. In the year 1729, a new Archbishop was put in charge of Salzburg. Plis name was Leopold, Count Firmian, and he was feudal lord of the district as well as an ? official of the Roman Catholic Church. He immediately began a cruel persecution of the poor Protestant Salz- burgcrs. He made hi> slienlts and bailiffs enter their houses and break open their chests and take their Lu theran . Bibles and hymn-books out and burn them in bonfires in the streets. Pie had their leading men ar- H ^f||ted and brought before him, and said to them: "I 51 5$Wlrc>w you into prison, confiscate your property, and f| c|l|trdy your homes if you do not abandon your Prot- religion." "We cannot, your reverence, must ,not/' bravely answered the poor men. "Then 56; v v ;^ Georgia: ffitiovy Stones.)' :; f:;r;^- you shall suffer for it," yelled Leopold. "Pray, let.-I sell our possessions and emigrate," pleaded they. I will keep you here until I stamp that devilish here.sji out of you," shrieked Leopold. Then he threw theml into prison and confiscated their property. He fore Httl|| children from the arms of their mothers and placed them""-? in convents to be brought up in the Roman Catholic . religion by priests and nuns. .-; When the news of this bitter persecution reached the cars of the Emperor, Frederick William, he felt that he must interfere, although he himself was a Ro-J|| J man Catholic. He sent Leopold word to stop his ; % r- cruelties to the Salzburgers and let them emigrate, as under the law they had a right to do. Leopold had to - 'i? "if !"> obey the Emperor, so he said: "Emigrate, then, you^f | Lutheran dogs, and be quick about it!" "How about ",, our property and our goods and chattels?" asked they. % | "You shall take nothing with you. Be thankful you \ *' have kept your skins. Emigrate, I say," cried the cruel * r Leopold. . * So in the course of two years, from 1730 to 1732, >.i i$' many thousands of poor Salzburgers were driven from their homes and from their''country;/carrying sou anything with them but the clothes on their backe. .The ;| whole Protestant world opened its arms to receive them. J The ; Salzburgers. 57 If :^In the Free Towns of Gi ermany and Prussia, in Holland v ^ and in England they found kind friends to help'them in :f ^|heir f l|9y^ dire distress; ~" but'in i all the .' world they had no ; "truer friend than James; Oglethorpe, the great English man. His heart burned within him as he heard and read of their wrongs, and one of his objects in found ing the colony of Georgi ia was to provide a home for them. :_ ii. EMIGRATION TO GEORGIA. As soon, therefore, jas Oglethorpe got his English 5 colony well settled at Savannah, he turned his attention toward the Salzburgers.j By correspondence with their i ministers in Germany lie i found out that hundreds of ..- them would be glad to; emigrate to Georgia and be- j' tcome subjects of the British Government, but were utterly poverty stricken and had not the. means for this costly move. The Trustees of Georgia were able at that time to pay the expenses i of only a few of them. So a select party was made up, composed of seventy- eight persons, forty-two of whom were strong, stal- ^ ;l|vart ;men and the rest women and children. The Trus- '.!. '%>' ';,- '.I:*' ' ' 'jfi'' ?';'>; irV : '-." p ^tees agreed to pay their expenses over to Georgia and ~- :'r-'^^ " " %If' ^>iM%':V.'v^; ve' to each family fifty acres of land and a year's : until they could clear the lands and make a They assembled i. n the town of . . B " e rschtal g -av5^r> Bavaria, to make ready for the emigration. The gdj8| Protestants of that town furnished them with '*V$^8S'j~'iJ ' wagons, each drawxn by two horses, for the long, ovGmK^ land journey through, the German Empire to'.the In two of the wagons they placed all of their earthlyJi goods and chattels, and in the third wagon they seated.,, the feeble women and the little children. The men andj the stronger women and children walked. A noble band of martyrs marshaled under no Hag save the ban ner of the cross, carrying no weapons but their Bibles;j| and prayer-books, following no general except the Great* Captain of Salvation, they trudged patiently for him- --- dreds of miles through the German Empire northwest ward toward the sea. .Most of their wav lav throughS / ^ ^^ -v^jifeii Roman Catholic countries where they were subjected to'" many indignities and insults, but ever and anon they* would come to a Protestant town where they received . the utmost kindness and love. About the middle of November they reached the . Protestant town of Frankfort-on-the-Main, which was the end of their long, wearisome foot journey. - people of Frankfort turned out in great ;?crpwds to welj "'\.rri come them and to minister to their wants. In this^ beautiful city, among these kind people, they rested for>| The Salzburgers. 59 '>%,}-\.s- everal days:... and'then),.e.mbarking in a vessel that had :i been provided for them,! they sailed down the River Main to the Rhine and down the Rhine toward the sea. As they glided down thii s beautiful river betw een the castellated crags, the vitjieyards, and the white-walled cities that adorn its banks, they poured out their hearts in joyous songs to the living God. They were fine sing- i ers, for from childhood jthey had been taught singing as a part of their religion; and for beauty and melody their hymns have never been surpassed. On the 27th of November they reached Rotterdam, where the Rhine pours its waters into-the North Sea. i Here they were joined by Rev. John Martin Bolzius and Rev. Israel Christian Gronau, distinguished and cultured men, who were t;o accompany them to Georgia as their chosen pastors and teacher?. From Rotterdam r; they made a tempestuous passage across the channel and ;, through the strait to Dover, England. On the 28th of |. December they at last embarked from Dover on their I loog^xvoyage to the new' home that awaited them in | Georgia. Born and bred in the interior of Europe among .the peaks and gorges of the Alps Mountains, ||nQt.cone pf them, excerjt Bolzius and Grona.u, had ever ftl^p^e ^cipkeci; Ui^r^vtiie grandeur of the mighty oceaii/gl^ ^S^^^^^^^^^'^^^^^ " :"c <"V'C1 vi'";.'. ''' ;-':: ' ''. fe^iV.-v*K-t%\'-^j f\C\ ''' -, .' "'y-' ' S^S^t^fKvr^i^VrrStV-i-i-vi-.vU-v;r.'..,'-';' ''"'-v,"'." .' '/"* \7 tfrtvcrin KU f if. I'M rJiftrtVM "llfr JlUfv \int"i0? "' '*.'' Ol U liV' o. -.<' '? " souls with religious awe. ^No sooner did the shores J|| .: . England vanish from their sight than they broke 'i into psalms of glory to Him "Who measures the waters^ ;]-.;-..:.. in the hollow of His hand!' : j On the llth day of March, 1734, having stopped! ! several days at Charleston (S. C), they reached Savan-jff j nah. Here is the account of the landing, given by Rev. i -. . Bolzius himself: ! "On the llth day of March we lay at anchor oft* ! the banks of our dear Georgia, in a very lovely calm, and heard the birds singing sweetly. It .was really edi-i fying to us that we came to the borders of the promised land on this our 'Reminiscere Sunday/' when, as we are taught by the gospel, Jesus came to the sea coast after. He had endured persecution and rejection by His countrymen. At the place of our landing almost all the inhabitants of Savannah were gathered together. .They fired off some cannon and cried 'Huzzah!' which was answered by our sailors and other English people in. our ship in the same manner. We were received with all possible demonstrations of joy, friendship, and . civility. Even the Indians reached their hands to us as '*''.'. a testimony of their joy for bur arrival.! A good was prepared for us." The Salzburers. .. 61 III. OLE) EBENEZER. | :f|^ To the Salzburgers the generous Oglethorpe said : W. "t^'''<; -' '"' f ^^^^^'.p?:-' u may select for r your homes any place in -Georgia .? jhat is not already reserved by my English colonists or - by the Indians/' Some of. the English advised them to go to the south of Savannah and settle on the sea coast. ; ."No," said they, "we are told that to the south live the warlike and meddlesome Spaniards. We are a peaceful folk and want to keep away from them. Besides, we i are ; not used to the sea coast and flat lands. We should # liik^fe^tlf'to settle in the interior! where there are mountains, or hills like those which wei had at home." So Oglethorpe, accompanied by Baron Von Rek, a ... notable man and leader ofj the emigrants, and several # offier Salzburgers and three1 Indian guides, started from Savannah and journeyed [i through the woods to the northwest in search of a place for the Salzburgers to - settle. About twenty-five jmiles from Savannah they came to a spot that seemed! to strike the fancy of Von : Rek and the others, possibly because it reminded them '& lFlSsoine -way of their homes! in Austria. It was situated creek that flowed in a winding, tortuous channel rct - the Savannah River. The country was undu- ^j;'jc *; ' .t\ : - J ".- - ' rising .and falling in alternate hills and plains, flowed into the big creek. It was rather thinly woo| with tall pines and small oaks, cypress and myrtle and quantities of sassafras bushes. It was located^ what is now Effingham County,, six miles west of -tf Savannah River and about four miles from the presel town of Springfield. "This suits us exactly/' said Rek and the others; "we will build our town here, arujv | we will call it Ebenezer, 'the stone of help/ for truljS > 'Hitherto the Lord hath helped us!'" The party re mained in the locality for several days and, under the direction of Oglethorpe, carefully laid out the futuj^p i town; then they made their way back to Savann^HI f, through the woods, taking care to "blaze" the trees as* l> they went so that, they might easily find their way tq 4 the spot again when they returned with the colonists!! I Several weeks later, early in the month of April, the'! ! whole body of Salzburgers, guided through the forest! | by the "blazed" trees, moved from Savannah to Ebe^; & ' " fr nezer. They made the journey on foot, their house-f I hold goods being carried in packs on the backs of the, j few horses that could be had. The strong men c' arried~.'i the babies and the little children in their arms. Kind^f hearted r Oglethorpe acc'o-m" p":anied" : t'h^e- nIj the charity of the Trustee. s. for -a^ s upCLport. Fur't* &'r more, the big Ebenezer Creek which Von Rek scribed as "a noble river, twelve foot deep, and The Salzburgers. 65 ~tgable for large boats/' proved to be entirely useless for : -^commercial purposes. II ^^-tortuous that_ no boat o' f considerable size could make 't-".he sharp bends, or approIach within six miles of Ebenezer. The little streams that emptied into tlie big creek, when swollen by ,the heavy rains of winter and spring, overflowed their b!anks and flooded the country; but during the droughts of summer they dried up into stagnant pools and ponds that filled the air with malaria. This caused a Igreat deal of sickness among the people, and many of them died. Separated from the rest of the world in the depths of the wilderness, toiling like slaves and yet unable to make a living, sorely stricken with sickness and death, no" wonder the poor Salzburgers, patient people though they were, became dissatisfied and disheartened. Early in the spring of IToG, John Martin Bolzius and Israel Christian Gronau, the two good pastors of the Salzburgers, appeared at. Savannah as representatives of, their people to ask Oglethorpe to let them move to a ^Slfe locality. Kind-hearted Oglethorpe, finding that -g^Kg"en'- t'ire c'olony was heairtily in favor of it, gave his , to the move. Then the whole colony of Salz- years of hard toil, m' o v"ed for six "m'"' i'le' s through f""h-*f*!Mf''ja trackless forests to the place selected for their nevf? ] .41 settlement. This place was a beautiful and romanti(|| 1 spot on the banks of the Savannah River. It walv I. v:^: I known as Red Bluff on account of the color of the soiHf | To the east, at the foot of the bluff, rolled the broacf I waters of the Savannah; to the south flowed a small'; stream now known as Lockner's Creek; while to the ,' north Ebenezer Creek, their old friend, came zig-zag- \ ging to pour its tribute waters into the Savannah. Here they had all the hard work of clearing the; j forest and building homes to do over again; but they : went at it with strong arms and brave hearts, and in two years their new town had risen like magic. Cling ing with affection to the old name, they called the \ place New Ebenezer. In the meantime Old Ebenezer went to rack and ruin. God blessed the Salzburgers in their new homes. At last, after years of persecution, exile, wandering, and misfortune, these simple, honest people found peace and happiness "under their own vine and fig tree/' For some 3^ears they were the most prosperous people in Georgia. Other Saiz. bureers came"''ov.fer . frorh'ftrie fatherland ;'^i.-*o' 1i join them. In all, about fifteen^ hundred Salzburgers^ i emigrated to Georgia. Some of these settled in Sa-i The $\alzburgers. 67 i%annah and Frederica, but most of them made their : , I . 'home in New Ebenezer and the surrounding" country. -" ! , .-,- , ' I 'O V ^*- ' fflPhey worked-hard, and -the soil yielded them abundant : -' J . ^J harvests. For a number of years they paid much at- tention to raisine silk. In this industry they were greatly encouraged by Cglethorpe and the Trustees, who had a notion that Georgia could be made one of the greatest silk-growing" countries in the world. The leaves of the white mulberry tree are the nat ural food of the silk worm, and great quantities of these trees were brought from Italy and planted in the country around Ebenezer. From first to last many thousands of dollars were made by the Salzburgers by the silk culture industry; but later on other employ- nients were found more profitable, and the raising of silk was entirely abandoned in Georgia. Good Queen Caroline of England had a dress made of Georgia silk, which she used to wear on state occasions and of which she was very proud. \ The Salzburgers all belonged to the Lutheran Church. In this faith they were born and bred, and for rfrV* " - ' $4 ~ I tKeir devotion to it they had suffered cruel persecution and exile from their native land. They were served Romany years by the three good pastors, Revs. Bolzius |;Gronau, who came to Georgia with, them, and Rev. sKi-V..-- ;' ' -:.-.".. ' ' : '' f^l^ ! . . . '-"''V; :'''":':".: ' "' 'i ' ' '.....-.'." . '' ./.':; 68 Georgia History Stories. Rabenhorst, who came oyer later. Thev were not ontyjlp * ' fsSjjf^ the pastors but also the principal governors and ruler3!** | ':>' fc "'-?/ "* of the colony. Three better 01; more saintly men never'$t 1 * ^ " '-VjF*'^' ^ lived on earth. For many years after coming to Georgia.^ | Queen Caroline. the people adhered strictly to their mother tongue, the German language, and they, would hot encourage therif | children to learn English. This, in the long run, proved : a great disadvantage to them, as it cut them off, in a j The Sclzburers. 69 large measure, from intercpurse and commerce with the |her colonies "in Georgia. us in the. beautiful wilderness of Georgia on the I banks of the broad Savannah River and its tributary * creeks, these good people lived for many years in peace, J prosperity, and happiness. 4 "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, J'-? Their sober wi.shes n! ever learned to stray; | Along the' cool, sequestered vale of life =i They kept the noiseless tenor of their way." $ '.~ ' i Still their life was notj without its sorrows and its ] tragedies. In January, 1745, their good pastor, Israel ~ Gronau, died after a long sickness. His mind was 'f, strong and bright to the i last but his body was very -#t ' *S-,- i .; I weak. As his brethren gathered around his dying bed, he said to one of them, "Friend, raise my arms for me"; then clasping his thin, uplifted hands he cried in a clear, r sweet voice, "Come, Lord Jesus, come!" and his pure - spirit took its flight to that other world where supernal beauty dwells and the rainbow never fades. His death H ^*t*$l!f?e;$*felt - as a k-ee'n pe r'sonal grief by every member of fe.x:olony. A Rev. Mr. Lembke was called from Ger- soon afterward to take his place and proved to &v ^^ft" - ' ^^fet. worthy successor. '&, .-feJrA>ii;' J 70 Georgia History Stories.' also ended his mission on earth and was gathered fathers. His death turned out to be not only a deeff 1 sorrow but a great calamity to the little colony. Tfie I Lutheran Council in Germany sent over to Georgia vt<| | take his place a Mr. Triebner. He was a highly edul I ' ' -^f cated, talented, energetic young man; but he was selfi |? centered, imperious, and bad hearted. He was a great ; mischief maker, and in> f? mediately set about stir- ?- ring up trouble. He soon had the peaceful j and harmonious Salzbur- gers divided into two vi- : olent factions that strove against each other with f great bitterness, causing Jerusalem Church at Ebenezer. deep spiritual wounds that were many years in healing. During his ministration of ten years he did much harm, and was a constant "thorn in the, flesh" to the best people of the colony. About 1744, the devout souls of the Salzburgers were riia'de happy by the erection of a fine new brick" ; church at Ebenezer. It cost over two thousand dollars and most of the money was contributed by their kind The Salzburgers. 71 i ' 'IP Lutheran friends in Germany. It would be considered f^e a plain little church now; but to these poor exiles in llljjie Georgia wilderness jit seemed a magnificent edifice, and they were very proud of it. It was surmounted by a neat belfry, on the spire of which appeared the figure of a swan made of shin|ing brass; for the swan was the "coat of arms" of Martin Luther, the great founder of the Lutheran Church. , It was built good and strong and stands there to-day -as sound as when it was erected one hundred and sixty jyears ago. Few people in Geo! rgia suffered more from the Revolutionary War than did the gentle Salzburgers. Most of them were true to the patriot cause, but ; Preacher Triebner, who; might always be counted on. to ^be on the wrong side! was a rank Tory and led a number of the people bff with him. As soon as the British had captured Savannah in 1779, this odious Mr. Triebner mounted his horse and galloped to that plan tation where he called on Colonel Campbell, the British commander, and 'advised him to send a detachment of ;Jipldiers at once to Ebenezer. He was even mean enough :x|p,,lead these soldiers himself against his own town and own people. y all of the rest of the war a British garrison were constantly marching back and forth through tli^ place. They treated the patriot inhabitants so badly that TJf|Pil . -^llpl most of them abandoned their homes and moved away, and the houses of many of them were burned by /'5ii^v'i|i British and the Tories. The soldiers desecrated 'm < lem Church most shamefully. They destroyed the pre- <&l" 1*$ cious church records, cut up the benches and the pulpit ^ . ;-&X -a for firewood, and used the church itself as a stable for '.-&. J ' '-^ $ their cavalry horses. When the refugee Salzburgers returned to Ebenezer after the war was over, they found -% their dear town in ruins and they had it nearly all to '*J| i| $!!& ?*3 build over again. . r -l When the British army returned to England after *' the war. Preacher Triebner went with them, for well $ .;-,';! he knew that he would not be tolerated in America any .''J'*^%| longer. The Salzburgers never saw his hateful face -?; si again. ;3 >; As the children and the grandchildren of the pilgrim :\ Salzburgers grew up, most of them moved away from I the quiet place to seek their fortunes in other parts of -^ Georgia and in other states. By .the year 1820 the ::| town was 'co-mpletely deserted and fel'-l' '"in't'o-- d ecay and-J&S oblivion. Nothing is left of it now except old Jerusa-'^^S lem Church, which still stands on the bluff by the river ' ff| || with the brass swan glistening on its lofty spire. Near The Salsburers. 73 'by is the grave-yard where rest the bones of the saintly ; preachers, Bolzius, Gronau, Lembke, and Rabenhorst, .|ahd many other good Salzburgers of that olden time. Hundreds of the descendants of the Salzburgers still live in different parts of Georgia, mainly in Savannah and in Lowndes, Liberty, and Effingham counties. They are among the most substantial citizens of the State; some of them have, become wealthy as merchants and farmers, but not many of them seem to have ever attained to any great distinction in the professions or in public life. CHAPTER V. The Spaniards down in Florida were dangerous^ Vr-^jVfxi' neighbors for the Georgia settlers. There had been a"t long dispute between Spain and England concerning the territory claimed by the two countries in America. Spain declared that both Georgia and South Carolina belonged by rights to her, and she was constantly threat ening to invade the country and take it away from the English. To guard against this threatened invasion,^ Oglethorpe determined to plant colonies and build forts along the sea coast and on the- sea coast islands south of Savannah, as far down as the mouth of the St. John's River, which was then considered the boundary line between Georgia and Florida. He began -to cast about to see where he could find people to send down into this dangerous region, and he was very fortunate in finding them. In the year 1736 there emigrated to Georgia a splendid body of Highlanders from the hills and moun tains of Scotland. The company consisted, of one huni;: . ". "v-S''; " " ... fJ "-,;?';;/;'. ; . ^V-.vV?,. -* '.^^. ' :'-%! '-;f .- ty\i : >.'%$$& clred and fifty men and fifty women and children. They-. were not paupers, like the debtors who settled in Savan- 74-: '; ' '"""-'' . : ' 'f - .: - The Highlanders. 75 " nah, nor impoverished exiles like the Salzburgers who settled Ebenezer, but brave, sturdy, independent "folk, J-Vwhose spirit had.never been broken by poverty or perse cution. They belonged to the farming class of people in Scotland, and were accustomed to hard work out in the open air. The men had "all been trained, too, to mili tary service. They were tall, broad-shouldered, stalwart fellows; and dressed in : .their plaids, with their broadswords, targets, and fire-arms, they made a superb body of soldiers. Altogether they were the finest lot of emigrants that had yet come to Georgia. They were the very people that Oglethorpe needed to guard. the dangerous southern frontier. i|^r Oglethorpe had se lected as their home a fplace on the banks of ;|1|l;i e Altamaha River, A , Hig"lila"nd^O"fficer. - miles below Savannah, fight where tile little town Darien now. stands. They called the place New Inver* li ness, after the city* of Inverness in Scotland, from the ;? I ' 'Vt/'*'' '*'' neighborhood of which most of them had come; but0 I the name was afterward changed to Darien. -^ | While the emigrants were in Savannah, some med- i- dlesome Carolinians tried to frighten them from going south by telling them, "The spot that Oglethorpe has ; selected for your home is so situated that the Spaniards : can shoot you from the houses in their fort." "Why, then, we will beat them out of their fort, and shall . I have houses ready built to live in!" answered the brave " f Highlanders. New Inverness was beautifully located on a high \ bluff on the river bank, in a grove of broad spreading, t | live-oaks, while all around for many miles stretched f the vast, level pine forests of southern Georgia. In | this great wilderness the hardy Highlanders went to work in high spirits and with intelligent industry, ,and it is wonderful what they accomplished. In a few months under their busy hands a strong fort was built on the banks of the river, and" a pretty little town ,4. ' -'"*. *V ' , J * i'V.'S"'' arose with many houses surrounded by well-cultivated^ gardens and outlying fields. The soil was very thin % and poorly adapted to agriculture; but for a few-years.^ The Highlanders. - 77 I IS while it was yet fresh and enriched with, the decayed y '-Tfl ' ft | fl leaves of centuries,. it yielded abundant harvests. Well I ^gmight it be said of these good Scotch emigrants, in ^ ^ the beautiful language of the Bible, "The wilderness and the solitary places shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose!" The Highlanders were great favorites with Ogle- thorpe. His soldier heart was completely wron by their '-': . energy, heroism, and fine military bearing. Soon after they had settled at New Inverness, and before they had ,4 $- yet built their houses, he paid them a visit of several . days. While he was there, in order to please them, he wore the Highland costume. Captain Mackay, the leader 5 . of the colony, oflered him the use of his own comfort- |? ^able tent and warm bed, the only one in the settle ment that was furnished with sheets, but Oglethorpe declined the offer and slept out of doors by the camp fire wrapped in his Scotch plaid. While he remained, he cheerfully shared all the hardships of the people, ..and by his kindness and genial manners made himself f|; ^^eatly beloved by them. - " - P :i^|;;AH the other colonists of Georgia felt grateful to |>fv ;|"^ik}tt^^-^iJ';'"H' ighlanders, for well they knew that these doughty .Mfev stood r," "?f/yrj;'**-' ^'-' as a bulwark and a protection between them :. '~~-'.:< J ' '* . iftKtdreaded Spaniards. In the Spanish war that y^fe-H$.'>.'-..;. _' :?;.--- '.;;-.' ' ' . . .,'-' Georgia History came a few years later, the valiant Highlanders, as ' * shall see in the next chapter, were Oglethorpe's main- ff stay. They fought .with reckless bravery, and it was ;|l mainly through them that the colony of Georgia was Jf .%*:' saved from destruction. Many of them were slain, and 3 in all ways they bore the brunt of the conflict and were ;- the chief sufferers of the war. This gallant band of emigrants suffered dreadfully from the Spanish war. Man}- of them were killed in battle, many taken prisoners, and the colony was broken up and scattered. Altogether they had a hard time in , I America. Their story was a short, brave, sad one. j Their little town of New Inverness passed into other hands, and its name was changed to Darien. No body j ' ! of emigrants that crossed the great waters in those early - | days to make their home in the New World was more f interesting and picturesque than the doughty High- t landers who settled on the banks of the Altamaha in j the somber piny woods of Georgia. j .'y&ssr. CHAPTER VI. . FRED ERIC A. Having/seen his Highlanders well settled at New Inverness, Oglethorpe went ahead with great energy to carry out his plan of establishing forts along the south ern coast of Georgia as a protection against the Span- ' iards. With his fine military eye he saw that the first and most important of these forts should be located on St. Simon's Island near the mouth of the Altamaha River. St. Simon's is separated from the mainland by a narrow strip of water which is really an arm of the Altamaha. It is a narrow stream, but the water is very deep and navigable for ; the largest boats. Oglethorpe knew that if the Spaniards should ever invade Georgia, their fleet would be sure to come up this stream; and for this reason he determined to place a strong fort on the west side of the island by the river's edge. He also thought it best to plant a colony back of the fort and establish a sort of military town there. ^|t, Simon's was a beautiful island; arid at that time ttS^as covered with a grand primeval forest of live-oak, .;:-1ss>*''ei&"?>.-v ' o J. laurel, bay, cedar, sweet gum, and pines, were festooned with long gray moss; and -. :.;':;.- 79 ' - - " - from many of them hung vines bearing ' m.uscadinesf ~''ijijij; purple fox-grapes, and fragrant yellow jasmine. The H; '*$*? ' srround beneath them was covered with palmettoes and' -Wfr fe ^ v . ^ Xf-Af'- bushes of azaleas, white, pink, and scarlet honeysuckles, 3; J -'^f.- and all manner of beautiful wild flowers. The woods<'.'*^v'- abounded with deer, rabbits, raccoons, opossums, squir rels, wild turkeys, turtle doves, mocking birckx and '' \ f'- ! great droves of rice birds; while the adjacent marshes were frequented by wild geese, herons, cranes, and marsh i hens; and the waters teemed with fishes, crabs, shrimps, i and oysters. The soil was fertile, the climate healthful,:-?} | and .the air delightful, the temperature being neither * very warm nor very cold. Surely it was,a choice place for the habitation of man! i , tV , * On the northwest side of the island there was a-S f cleared spot about forty acres in extent where an Indian : I town and cornfields had once stood, but which was now . deserted. On this spot Oglethorpe determined to plant-:, j .his colony and build his fort., For this purpose he .\ brought over from England a shipload of two him- j dred emigrants. Some were German Lutherans,, like' '/ ' ' \P thei Salzburgers : a few, perhaps-;f were' -Scotch Hieh-^i "'' .--'.- -.... ..'vV^"-^ : :\ ..-...:; " ^p| landers; but most of them were English people: TheWf \ -: - fI landed at. Savannah in February, 1736. Oglethorpe tool& j thirty^of the. strongest men of the company and on^l '- - " 11 Frederica. .81 , hundred other workmen and a number of Indians and sailed down to St. Simon's to begin the building of the . town and the-fort. ; Arriving at the/ island, he immediately put his labor ers to work, and under his energetic supervision they worked like beavers. The town was soon laid off and the land cleared. There was in the company .a shrewd Jew, who had lived in Brazil and who knew how to make houses out of palmetto leaves. This plant fortunately grew in great abundance on the island. So under .the skilful direction. of the Jew many palmetto booths or bowers were erected. Each one was thirty feet long and twenty feet wide. They made a pretty appearance as they stood in rows like soldiers' tents, only I ' much further apart. They were so well constructed "- that they kept perfectly dry inside, even during the | hardest and most driving rain; and they served finely >l as a temporary abode for the colonists until more sub- [ stantial houses could be built. To the town thus | parted, Oglethorpe gave the name of Frederica, after I i^rederick, Prince of Wales, eldest son of King George I^l|pt of England. . .. |"Up While the. Jew was attending to the erection of the Iplmetto houses, Oglethorpe was directing the building :. % ISfBie ,fort; antf;;a;: rg:reat fort he-i made of It. There.-^lSS *1pp' '-' : iJ^--^: -:.' L -. ^xf'-v:.'.' - . ^^^fcfejll Iffei;' J : ; :;.; ^V:^/l^|||3^'.: ;::; '-: .''-,-.",: '-.?W.' J^^i^''^ ,.' ^'^, ' ' ''.- ^vfSll^l^S ^^&^^.^^^iM^^f:^ 5i"''0.';S^'^^:;l^^^:??--v::-^.- .*:..-.. '?J%&i?&*M&48& 3 82"'.'" ' s '' Georgid- History:Stories. is no rock or stone in that part of Georgia, so Ogl thorpe made his fort of a sort of artificial stone calle tabby, composed of crushed shells .and cement, a position almost as enduring as granite. The fort was||f built at the water's edge and commanded the full sweep/Hl of the river, so that no hostile ship could pass it. '^' *; Back in the woods several hundred yards from the for/t, ; :; he erected a large storehouse and barracks building, _,,, > also made of tabby and possessing considerable archi tectural beauty. . I Besides this great fort Oglethorpe built .a number ;4| J of others down the southern coast of Georgia; one at ~&. * the south end of St. Simon's Island, two on Cumberland Island,--one at the north and the other at the south 7 i 4-1 end,---one on Amelia Island, and one on St. George*! i -:',;& &' Island at the mouth of the St. John's River. In each -~ V- of these forts he placed cannon and a small garrison of 7| f soldiers. This pushing of his forts and his soldiers ~ | down to the very edge of the Spanish country was a .; f; very bold, audacious step on Oglethorpe's part. It was ; f what the gamblers call ''playing a bluff game"; that is, A |' putting on the appearance of being stronger and more^||j| confident than he really was. It had the in; tended-'"effec' t''*$%$$| '9 it frightened the Spaniards and deterred them for severa}^| years from making the invasion they so much desired. ^ Fred erica. 83 f Early in March, the palmetto houses being finished, 5- the colonists, who had been waiting at Savannah for | a month, were brought down to Fredenca. They came in broad, open rowboats called periaguas. It was a trying voyage for them, exposed, as they were, to the chill March winds. When at last beautiful St. Simon's was reached, it looked like Paradise to them. The women went cheerily to housekeeping in their cozy pal metto bowers, while the men cleared the lands and erected more permanent homes. The people were all '- charmed with their new home, as well they might be. Frederica grew and flourished mightily. When at its best it numbered, including the soldiers, more than . a thousand inhabitants; and, except Savannah, it was if "* the largest and most important town in Georgia. It I was a favorite place with Oglethorpe. He made his I home there from the time the town was founded until J his departure for England. The only house he ever - owned in America was there, and the spot on which | jt stood can still be pointed out. He always spoke of I lH&e place with great affection; and yet while he lived if ftfere ne nad no end of worry and trouble with insub- f pdinate officers, mutinous soldiers, Spanish spies, un- |% IfS^t critics, and all sorts of cranky and mean people. , _. ., W"esley-,-vth^e.' fa-m ous' yo.-ungVer:v-'B^rot'h-e*r' of -.the still:,-^v;';i^'S:^S?lfpt --- - - ?%&'M1&& 84 .'". '."'G.e.orgia . History S' toriefs. .[ more famous John Wesley, also lived at Frederica. The great live-oak under which he preached his first sermon is still standing in its green old age, and is pointed out to visitors as an object of sacred interest.* After the Spanish Colonial War was over, Fred- erica declined rapidly, because there was no longer any reason for its existence. During the Revolutionary War, what remained of it was almost completely destroyed by the Brit ish army. Afterwards, mighty and patriotic ef forts were made to re vive it and to restore it Wesley Oak at Frederica. to its old glory, but all in vain. It had finished its mission and must pass away. By the year 1820 it was entirely deserted. In recent years three or four modern * The short life of this island .town was full of--tragedies and comi- tragedies, but we have not space to relate them frere. You may find a full and interesting account of them in Bishop Stevens's and C. C. Jones's big and good histories of Georgia. The extremely important part that'the. town played in the Spanish Colonial War and why historians call it "The Thermopylae of Georgia," you will soon learn in, another chapter of this, book. . Frederica. 85 I fpbuses have been erected: on the ground where the town | ^stood, but Frederica itself is no more.^ Like Ebenezer, I Jltfe is % '$$$&-' one . of the -- dead towns of Georgia. & ^:r A fragment of the old fort with one of its iron * "cannon still stands by the water's edge;* and out in the Ruins, of the Old Fort at Frederica. woods near by, the arched and castellated front of the ,,barracks building rises "grand, gloomy, and peculiar," ;l|||nbng the green trees--and a handsome piece of archi- :^cture it is, too, in its gray and neglected old age. _ h-.'Vi . * Since these lines were written the Colonial Dairies of Georgia have fort restored, as nearly as practicable, as it stood in 1735. The the tablet took place April 11, 1904. Still further back in^the woods is the colonial grave-! yard, where, under moss-covered trees centuries old, good people of the vanished town have been sweetly sleeping for one hundred and sixty years. That is all that is left of Frederica. "Sic transit gloria mundij" CHAPTER VII. I. PREPARATIONS FOR THE WAR. One day in the latter part of the year 1730. a Span- ish officer, one Captain Don Antonio Arredondo, came : from St. Augustine to Frederica with this message for * ~Oglethorpe: "The King of Spain demands that the I English evacuate all towns and forts south of St. I Helena Sound as being located on the dominions of I Spain!" Oglethorpe replied, "We refuse to evacuate 1 these towns and forts, for they belong to the King of , England and not to the King of Spain!" Having re- ; ceived this answer the messenger returned to St. Augus- I tine. Soon after this, Oglethorpe was informed that a large fleet ui ships and a big arm}' had been sent by ' the Spanish Government from Havana to St. Augus- ? tine. What could this mean but preparation for the :- invasion of Georgia? t Oglethorpe saw the danger and I f|ted with his usual promptness and vigor. He at once f i&i aboard a .ship and . sailed for England, where he IlSp; the whole situation before the king. The king I |ntl parliament made him general of all the forces in - . '.&.. \. ' - ' J -<3$! %&:i 8&:"^^: South Carolina and Georgia, with orders to these provinces from, the Spaniards "to the last tremity." They also furnished him with a splen d. id**' regiment of English sold iers, to aid in the defens'e' "'^;ah' d<', sent them over on a vessel to Frederica. Having''-a]Cr. complished this much, Oglethorpe got aboard his ship and hastened back to Georgia. On reaching Savannah he found that the Spaniards had been up to mischief while he was gone. They had sent emissaries, or se cret agents, to all the tribes of the Creek Indians to try to turn them against the English, and to induce them by bribes and fair promises to join the side-of Spain. The Indians at this time really had some just ground of complaint against the English, on ac count of the bad way in which they had been treated by dishonest English traders. The Spaniards made the most of this grievance and caused the Indians to take -a greatly exaggerated view of it. It looked as if they might succeed in winning nearly the whole Creek Nation over to their side, which would have been ruin ous to Georgia. .s Chiefs of several of the tribes, stanch friends of (Dglethorpe, came to Savannah.-to : tell him; of these things and to warn him of the danger. They also told him that during the coming' summer the chiefs of all The Spanish War. 89 "the tribes of the Creeks and of several other Indian nations would assemble in their yearly council at Coweta Town _on the Chattahoochee River; and they urged him to attend this meeting, so that he might con fer with .the chiefs and fix their loyalty to him. Ogle thorpe determined so to do, though it would be a most o. arduous and perilous expedition; but when duty called, Oglethorpe was always indifferent to hardship and reck less of danger. He sent word to the chiefs of the vari ous tribes that he would meet them in the big council at Coweta Town. Coweta Town was situated on the west side of the Chattahoochee River a few miles below the present -city of Columbus, and on the spot where now stands the little village of Fort Mitchell, Alabama. It was, of course, an Indian town, and few if any white men had ever seen the place. It was two hundred and fifty miles in a bee line from Savannah, but by the zigzag route that Oglethorpe would have to pursue it was four hun.dred miles. j Oglethorpe's party consisted of three white attend/ants, .two .--white" interpreters, and three Indian guides. jjThey were. mounted on horses, and there were several ^pack-horses ,besides to carry their baggage. With this; w? plunged into the wilderness, with which nearly ~ whole state of Georgia was then covered." Ovef | swamps, through tangled thickets, along ravines, pa|! $ rivers that had to be crossed on rafts or by swimmingvf; | he pushed his way to the westward. At night he sleptH'f "'B' V on the ground by the watch-fires, giving up to his at-;' 1 tendants the two little tents that were brought on the pack horses. He was guided through the wilderness by the ''blazed trees''' of traders or by the narrow' In dian trails that he struck now and then, or frequently by nothing but his pocket compass. For over two hun-,; | dred miles he journeyed without meeting a human be-'' * ing, for Georgia was very thinly settled by Indians; ; their towns and villages were few and far between. When forty miles, from Coweta Town, he was met-:' f( by a number of Indian chiefs who had, come to es- ; cort him and bring him supplies of provisions. He ; crossed the Chattahoochee River in a canoe at the point > where the city of Columbus now stands. The exact. ':I place on the river bank from which he embarked on ] the Georgia side is still pointed out and has been marked with a suitable stone and inscription . by the . I Oglethorpe Chapter of the Daughters^'otr-the - American- ?.f! f| Revolution. Proceeding a few miles further to the'! southwest, he reached Coweta .Town, where, the chiefsj| ! v?' The Spanish War. 91 fi . /-'were holding" their big council. The Indians were pver- * v joyed to see him, for he held a very deep place in their ') ,'<._ | | affections. '.,, - . t *'' ' . For days he listened patiently to their long, tire some "talks/" as they called their public speeches. At ; night he witnessed, their wild, satyr-like dances in the . lurid glare of the big bonfires. He was lulled to sleep by their weird incantations and the dreary beating of ' the "torn torn/' He assured them that their grievances against the dishonest traders should be adjusted and .^ ? that they should be cheated no more. He convinced them that the English were still their best friends. He easily induced them to make a solemn promise that they Iv -> w.- ould continue to stand by him and.t'h'a.t the'y would i aid the English in any trouble that might arise between them and the Spaniards. Xo other white man that ever came to America, not even the great William Penn him- l self, had such a powerful and wholesome influence over the Indians as did James Oglethorpe! a t Having fully accomplished his purpose in coming | ;-:fe.'. TMI ?f&($$|;Coweta T' own, Oglethorpe turned his face eastward | -and.again plunged int-o the great, wilderness. His return was even more toilsome than his coming, for the eather was bad and men and horses were jaded. He j|:, . - J elied - Augus.ta on --- S- ep* temb' er 7th,- 17:" 39. , an'--d for three 92 weeks he was prostrated by fever brought on by fatijpi| and exposure. In this wild and wonderful journey had taken his life in his .hands. Aside from other perit|v| ^ he was in daily danger of assassination by some treacjlt| J| erous Indian; for there was not a red man in all trifl i| Creek Nation that did not know he would receive a princely reward from the Spaniards for James Ogle-. .. thorpe's scalp. . As soon as he had recovered from the fever, he went to Charleston to see what aid South Carolina would extend in case of a struggle with Spain. He had some; trouble with the authorities of that selfish colony; but at last they made him fair promises, 'which they never kept. He had now clone everything in his power to get ready for the threatened conflict with Spain; and,'as .it J turned out, that conflict was very near at hand. II. SIEGE OF ST. AUGUSTINE. ;| About the middle of November, 1739, a party of Spaniards landed on Amelia Island during the night and 4 concealed themselves among the palmetto bushes. At f daybreak next morning, they shot to death two unarmed { Highland soldiers who had come out of .the fort to gather fuel, and cut off their heads and'MutilMed their bodi||5 '-}& horribly. Their purpose was to push' on and capturj | the little fort; but Captain Francis {;B rooks,. who co:rj| The Spanish War. 93 Iffianded an English scout boat, hearing the firing that IPJled the Highlanders, came quickly up and drove the ^fpniards away. The murder of these, two Highland- Jers was the first bloodshed of the Spanish War. When Oglethorpe, at Frederica, heard of this out rage, he determined not to wait for the Spaniards to in vade Georgia, but to take the initiative himself and in vade Florida and capture St. Augustine. This was a bold step, but Oglethorpe felt that he must continue to play a bluff game with the Spaniards. He was greatly Relayed in his preparations by the conduct of South Carolina. That colony at first refused to render any assistance, but at last consented and furnished a con siderable contingent for the war, though not nearly so ferge a one as was rightly due from her. The Creek Indians did much better. Mindful of the promise they .had made to Oglethorpe at Coweta Town, they readily furnished .him with all the warriors he called for-- 'if !;'' nearly one thousand in number. By the last of May, **- ' $; ?|740, he had everything ready to start on the great f ;"Afif5e>^.v-' 'a"' *s4 ion. His army numbered over two thousand men, 1 -ile&rly one thousand of whom were Indians, the rest % S %eitig made up of the five hundred regulars that had from England, of Scotch Highlanders, and of ;94: Georgia History Stories^ : considerable fleet of ships that was to operate '. j St. Augustine from the water side. The land army was transported in vessels to the mouth of the St.. John's River, where it disembarked. Starting ' from the mouth of the ' St. John's, ' .' Ogle- thorpe swept southward, capturing with little trouble all- Spanish forts and outposts up to the very gates of St. The Old Spanish Gate at St. Augustine. Augustine; but there he was completely checkmated. St. Augustine was splendidly protected by walls, forts and entrenchments, well built and skilfully arranged. Its army of defense consisted of 1,400 veteran Spanish sol diers under a ' ' very * able . commander, General "" .'",. Manuel ''... de: '-x '3? Monteano. On the ocean .side it was so -well guarded! by Spanish warships that the English fleet could not- - '$-:' approach near enough to render much, assistance to th$| The Spanish War. ' 95 land army. x Oglethorpe was greatly astonished to find the city so strongly protected. He soon saw that he eould not take_it by storm> as he had fully expected to do. He must try to take it by siege and the "starv ing out" plan. He completely surrounded the city with his army and his ships, so that no provisions or reinforcements could be brought in. For a while this plan worked ad mirably, but it soon failed through the disobedience of one of Oglethorpe's officers. To the west several roads led from the city out into the country. On one of these roads, two miles from the town, was Fort Moosa, which Oglethorpe had taken from the Spaniards. He ap pointed Colonel Palmer with a force of ninety-five Highlanders and forty Indians to guard these roads, saying to him, "Patrol the roads night and day. See that not a soul passes over them into the city. Make . your headquarters at Fort Moosa, but don't stay there or anywhere else any two nights in succession; move v constantly about from place to place, lest the Spaniards V ,,:'!, lecture you by a surprise attack." For a while Colonel |PaImer obeyed these orders strictly, but he soon grew |f .-Vtfjf/ ' . " |ca|eless. He spent three nights in succession in Fort It was so much more comfortable there than 24th, i^.v^ ;..:f/*: '96 -.-'..' " '" "' Georgia History. Stories?/' the great iron gate of St. Augustine opened and marched a body of three hundred Spanish soldiers,' picked men, the very flower of the army. Stealthily! they crept near the fort and' hid in the bushes. Justf before day, when men are wont to sleep most soundl^f ' .V ' they made the attack. The Highlanders were taken completely by surprise, but they fought like tigers. Although awakened from sound sleep by this terrific attack they were not panic stricken, but seized their broadswords and slashed the Spaniards right and left. Spanish blood flowed like water. Many of the Higli^, J landers, too, fell under Spanish bullets and bayonets. * Among the first to fall was the disobedient but brave i Colonel Palmer. Perhaps he sought death, feeling J keenly that this disaster was all his fault. Twenty-two f brave Highlanders were killed. The Indians fled panic- I stricken in the early part of the fight. More than a f hundred Spanish soldiers lay dead; only a few of theni | were shot; nearly all were killed by the terrible broa'd- |swords of the Highlanders. But the Spaniards had I gained a great victory. Colonel Palmer's command was ; utterly destroyed, Fort Moosa was recaptured, the roads 1 were opened, and provisions came''pouring into ,.St. gustine for the pent-up garrison! Oglethorpe's starving-out -plan had failed, but .Jffe The Spanish War. 97 -JT- -" ' . :- Still held the city in siege, hoping that he might force :; a surrender with his cannon balls. For days and days, Sail day long, his cannon boomed and boomed away at St. Augustine, while, in reply, the Spanish cannon thundered forth; but the distance between the two was too great, the shots mostly fell short, and with all the booming not much damage was done on either side. Midsummer had now come. The heat of the tropical sun was terrible to Ogle- thorpe's poor soldiers in their open camps, unac customed as they were to such a climate. Many of them sickened and died; and the rest had their St. Mark's Castle, St. Augustine. lives almost tormented out of them by the terrible heat, sand flies and mosqui toes. The Indians, who can never stand a waiting fight, became restless, and deserted by hundreds. The South Carolina soldiers became mutinous and threatened to ^{Jjsband and go home. ;,;/ ! At last Oglethorpe, finding that with all his cannon- "", . gding he could do no great hurt to the Spaniards, gave tip the whole thing as a hopeless undertaking. So on . ;/ =tf|^20th day : of :Julp he ordered the siege4|o;beraised. . -,>,,,%.! ;,"..r\'ja,a;j,*',.y*.> -v--:-'.;; GW^^^iSj'i?S".^'p" ry He marched his weary arid ^bedraggled-Georgia-j back to Frederica, while the South Carolina contingent sailed for Charleston. The whole expedition had be"ffrtff a dismal failure. Poor Oglethorpe was most severe!^ and unjustly criticized by all America and alFEnglanlif * ' --/^'-' III. BATTLE OF ST. SIMON'S SOUND. Oglethorpe's unsuccessful attack on St. Augus tine proved, after all, to be of great benefit to Georgia. The boldness of the attempt so frightened Spain that she deferred for many months her proposed invasion of Georgia and South Carolina. For nearly two years there was a lull in the war and almost a complete ces sation of active hostilities. Oglethorpe spent the time preparing with great energy for the terrific storm that he knew would, sooner or later, burst upon him. He greatly strengthened the defences around Frederica; he built a new fort at the other end of St. Simon's Island, nine miles from Frederica; he withdrew, the forces from St. George's Island, Amelia Island, and Fort St. An drew and used them to strengthen the garrison at Fort William; he reinforced his army as far as possible and drilled the soldiers constantly,.:, ^gar^cely were these preparations completed before 'ffie ' TsSorm Burst upon, him. - . In May, 1742, a Spanish armada consisting..of ; fifty- aBBa^!ffiSi_if.l,B.._i_^_^____ The Spanish War. 99 four warships and seven thousand soldiers left Havana for St. Augustine. Its avowed purpose was to sweep up the Atlantic_c6ast and wipe the English colonies out of Georgia and South Carolina and add those provinces to the possessions of Spain. When Oglethorpe re ceived this alarming news he dispatched a messenger . to Charleston to call on South Carolina to send to him at once her quota of soldiers and ships for the com mon defence, but much to Oglethorpe's chagrin South Carolina refused to give any assistance. So the. brave ! Oglethorpe, ^with' his little army of less than a thou sand men, whites and Indians, and only three warships, " was left to meet alone the dreadful war storm that was gathering to the south.- But his heroic spirit rose with the danger,\ Imd. his noble language was, "We are re solved not to suffer defeat; we will rather die like Leonidas and his Spartans, if we can but protect Georgia and Carolina and the rest of the Americans from desolation!" On the 21st of June, a Spanish fleet of fourteen w.ar'.ships appeared of'f the south end of Cumberland Island and tried to pass between the island and the mainland, but was driven off by a cannonading from Fort William, aided by one of Oglethorpe's warships G &r$ia History 28th day of June, the^same fleet, reinforced to six warships and "\ carrying five thousand .'". --rlr soldiers, hav ing sailed up along the east side of Cumberland ancp Jekyl, made its appearance just outside St. Simon's Sound, as the strip ol water between Jekyl and St. Simon's is called. . There for several days it rode back and forth, waiting for a favorable wind to take it through the sound and up the narrow river to Fred- erica. All was now energy and activity on St. Si BORKAK &. CO., N.Y. that was so near at hand. mon's, preparing for the life-and-death struggle Oglethorpe and his little band of eight hundred must defend Frederica to the \ last gasp against this overwhelming Spanish armada; for if the enemy should succeed in taking this strong hold, they could sweep almost without resistance ovff1! the whole of Georgia and South Carolina. Frederica \ being lost, all would be lost, The situation was The Spanish War. 101 i'^-unlike Leonidas and his Spartans facing Xerxes and $'.. his mighty host at the Pass of Thermopylae. Ogle- i^thorpe drew his soldiers up on parade ground, and made *%jjjjf.' , """ ' -- - '"' them an inspiring speech that fired their hearts with heroism. The first resistance was to be made down at Fort St. Simon's, on the south end of the island. The fort 'stood at the water's edge overlooking the sound, just where a great lighthouse stands at this day., At this point Oglethorpe concentrated "nearly all of his forces. :J Besides the fort, he had in the_ sound three battleships and eight small sloops moored close against the shore, each sloop having on board ..a little cannon and one man to fire it. On July 5th, a 'favorable wind sprang up, and at the same time the high spring tide came in and raised the waters in the sound and in the river; so the Span ish ships spread their sails and, forming in line of 'battle, started through the sound. It was a grand and . appalling spectacle!.. Just as they turned northward to ||go up the narrow river, the fort, the th^ee English bat- ||fleships, and all the little sloops opened fire on them. ?JJK terrific naval battle ensued. It lasted three hours, louring which more than two thousand cannon shots m m: xm^-:--,:^ $-'?e,.''jf-i-red-,-iif:*.Oi- ^n..e:-,o:f-' the Engli s' h. ^b&a sunk, %te^:"'.'-and several of the Spanish vessels^were/ba3ly^ell ' .*.'' "' ~ ""* '.*'' --*''-. . > .':'. -i l-.j aged. Eighteen Spaniards were killed and many we||| wounded, and the English loss also was considerabl| It was an heroic fight on the part of the English, they were too greatly outnumbered. In spite of the* utmost efforts the Spanish ships' ran past them, anc'BW "I turning northward, sailed up the river to within four"; miles of Frederica, where they cast anchor at 3 coigne's Bluff, very near where the big sawmills of the" Hilton and Dodge Lumber Company now stand. The [_. -river above this point was so narrow that the Spanish^ || commander was afraid to risk his ships under fire o| Fort Frederica, until he could arrange to have his land army cooperate with him against the place; so he dis embarked his soldiers on Gascoigne's Bluff, ~ IV. BLOODY MARSH. The situation was now more desperate than ever.^ Night had come on, but for the almost exhausted soKfl diers of Oglethorpe there must be neither rest nor sleep. J| Oglethorpe knew that to prevent being cut off from! his retreat to Frederica, he must move with utmost J promptness and celerity. He ordered his two -: "ing .bVa-ttl'-e*s''hips to sa^il- at' on""c"e'for' 'C^:h;aWrl$e&sto.^nf[ef^o^r'--t^h-ie-'S^iHH could be of no further service chere,^and if they -^^*^ mainjed they would certainly be captured by .the RE, ?*' JSf-Iff' *^ &(:. wmc - . ?.,:- -?Sgv H Sfe-^ftf- i:~ ' ",- The Spanish War. * 103 :',?}; . ., * f*>'.J?'- V;* * --,, 'spiked .the" guns'in the fort, destroyed the supplies, ^4 * '.< ->; ^4?*%^.' "fX .J- i .'. fland <-%&<". ^f " '^^''/^^jvi . .'&:;' Z-r- S^>'-!7 ::" ^ blew up the magazine. JL . <_J sloops moored by the Then he set fire to the shore; and by the lurid ^conflagration that they made, he started a little after %:midnight on his retreat to Frederick, nine miles away, .and reached the place just at daybreak. The fight ' down at Fort St. Simon's had been fierce, but well he :- : knew that the great life-and-death struggle was yet to ';i/ come! On the morning of the 6th, the Spanish commander, Iffinding that the English had abandoned Fort St. ' Simon's, marched his forces from Gascoigne's Bluff three miles across the country down to the fort, so that he might have the protection of its walls from any tlattack the English might make. From this point he prepared to march against Frederica. On the morning of the 7th, the Spanish advance guard, ^consisting of four hundred picked men, started towards "Frederica. When within two miles of the place, they came upon a company of thirty mounted rangers whom IJjOglethorpe had sent out as a picket, and with a sin- volley drove them back, killing one of their num- Oglethorpe, hearing the firing, sprang upon his, , and at the head of the Highlanders, Indians, and pened to be under arms at the time, dashed throug$| the woods and drove the enemy back, with muchl slaughter, to an open plain, or savannah, seven miles|| from Frederica. He posted the forces with him in t i &! thick wood along the edge of the savannah, and put|| them in charge of the Highland captains, Sutherland and Mackay, while he himself galloped'back to Fred- erica to get the rest of the troops and bring them up. While he was gone, the Spaniards, largely rein forced, advanced across the savannah, and with loud huzzahs charged on the forces in the edge of the woods. J < Two companies of British regulars, becoming panic- :. stricken, gave way before the charge and fled in wild - confusion. The Spaniards, following hot on their '.: ' heels, pursued them to within two miles of Frederica, i I and then turning, started back, thinking all the time \ that they had driven back the entire command. In , | the mean time, the soldiers who had remained at their; J post were ordered by Captains Sutherland and Mackay * I to conceal themselves behind the palmetto bushes jn.the II woods, for they knew that the Spaniards would soon j be corning back. So the fatal ambush was prepared. "' { Behind .every palmetto bush on both sides of the road #I and far back into the woods an English soldier lay con- J j cealed with his gun ready, still as death. tI ~ r/ \' ' sv. i The Spanish War. ,105 In a little while, sure enough, the Spaniards were pfseen coming down the road with martial tread, and tlpheads erect,, proud of their victory, and having not ;. the least suspicion of the death trap into which they were about to march. When near the edge of the woods they halted, stacked their guns in the road, and sat down on the ground to rest and to eat the break fast that they carried in their haversacks. But scarcely were they seated when Captain Mackay gave to his men the signal agreed upon, by raising his Highland cap on the point of his uplifted sword; and then "bang! bang! bang!" from behind the palmetto bushes a deadly fire was poured into the poor astounded Spaniards. Quickly they sprang to their guns, but before they could form in line of battle the English charged through the rustling palmettoes right down upon them. Some of their officers bravely tried to make them take a stand, but all in vain. They broke and ran in a perfect stampede, and were charged by the English out of the ^ woods and across the savannah as a flock of sheep are Ilfchased by a pack of wolves. '.$>,?*""-:? ' J F ~fv v On the other side of the Savannah was an open Uesalt marsh extending to the sea. The terror-stricken ^Spaniards, seeing that their way by the road was cut by the English, tried to make their .escape by rush- - ing straight across this marsh to the shelter of the sandj-S*Vil dunes on the other side; but they mired up in the marsh ?l -T V- so that they could scarcely move, and were shot down v 'f-?$ there by scores, their bodies falling into the long sea -|f **j( . - r^again 'did Spain 1 attempt the in-vasid"i''',. of Georgia. The war was continued in a feeble, half-flj hearted sort of way for two yearsjorjger, when it wasj| brought to a close by a final treaty of peace betweenjA Spain and England. - '"-"'?' Thus, with a little band of only eight hundred men ^ and three ships, Oglethorpe had driven off a Spanish . armada of thirty-six warships and an army of five, thousand men and had saved Georgia and South Caro-,r Una, and' perhaps the whole of English America, from Spanish conquest! There is no more brilliant event in^ '' -'^*'*li American history. The memory of it should ever be :-- cherished among the proudest annals of our beloved State of Georgia! m y, / .' . / ,'/' ' /. CHAPTER VIII. On the 23d of July, 17-13, James Oglethorpe left ' '( Georgia never to return. As he was tossed on the ? waves of the Atlantic on his'way back to his old home :; .".in England, what must have been his thoughts and ;: . feelings about the work in Georgia to which he had | ; given eleven of the best years of his life? They had V been years full of .trial and tribulation to him. Of ff. S^some of the hardships and dangers that he had to en- clure, you have learned in the foregoing pages; but these were the least of his troubles. In carrying out ^ . this great enterprise he had to deal with many very f ^thean people. He was constantly harassed (if so strong and firm a mind as his would allow itself to be harassed) by the dishonesty and treachery, the 3 "envy, hatred, malice and all uncharitableness" of per: ' '* sons who should have lent him a helping hand. Yet in _ Icoming to America to undertake this hard and trying j^lfll^rk, Oglethorpe had made many sacrifices; for he 1| lli^ve UP a luxurious home, the delights of literature, 1|: |f||e pleasures of refined society, and a splendid public fe.J||reer that ,wa's ^ust opening to him in England, and History from it all he had absolutely BotfiingT-in-^ar^worldly^ sense, to gain for himself. Non sibi sed aliis! Tomo-chi-chi, that grand old savage, showed a ; spirit as unselfish and noble as Oglethorpe's. By the. practice of a little business cunning he might have obtained for himself rich rewards from the English for the great services that he rendered to them, but not. one cent did he ever ask or receive. Even the presents that were made to him while he was in England, he gave away with a free- hand to the poor people of his tribe on his return to America. H:e died at last in his humble wigwam, one of the poorest of men. In all that he did, he was governed by no other motive than to promote the best interests of his people. American his tory furnishes no finer illustration of pure and lofty- patriotism. Non sibi sed aliis! The Trustees of Georgia served without pay or re- , ward of any kind. The work required much of their time and was full of grave responsibility. They looked after the affairs of the colony with as much care and (diligence as if Georgia had been their private property and was being run as a money-making enterprise; and yet .they-^Jwell knew that, in a selfish: sense, there was! absolutely nothing in it, neither'fame nor fortune, for themselves. Non sibi sed aliis! '- "Non Sibi Sed Aliis" 111 Of all the American colonies, Georgia was certainly the one established on the noblest principles; and yet for "a long time-Georgia did not prosper. At the time of Oglethorpe's leaving, the whole enterprise seemed lit tle better than a failure. Boundless -enthusiasm, de voted self-sacrifice, strenuous, work, and many him- 7 /. ^ dreds of thousands of dollars had been expended on the undertaking; and yet after ten years there were less than three thousand people in the colony, and most of these were in a deplorable condition. Hundreds of peo ple who had 'settled here moved away in disgust to the Carolinas and other more prosperous provinces. The reason generally given for this discouraging state of affairs is the obstinacy of Oglethorpe and the Trustees in not allowing negro slavery and the rum trade in Georgia. And yet Oglethorpe was neither an abolitionist nor a teetotaler. He owned slaves himself on a place in South Carolina and he was fond of a glass of wine at dinner, and you have seen how liberally he dispensed rum punch to the guests at his big barbecue Jti;:'South Carolina. His reason for prohibiting slavery in Georgia was (to use his own language somewhat para phrased) : "Owing to its proximity to the hostile and ftv.i.r...e.. a..c..h-e,.rous^Srjj'ini/iar.d-.s,., Georgia should be a sort of mili- people should live on small farms close together; 'so thaJSl whenever need be, the men may quickly combine', into '<. army. If slavery were introduced, rich men would bu'jijSj f up the lands, the State would be divided up into largefff plantations occupied by multitudes of negroes and, ontjfef a few white men. The Spaniards would incite the^ negroes to rise in insurrection and murder the whites. South Carolina has already been much disturbed in this way; it would be very much worse for Georgia, lying so near Spanish Florida." His reason against rum was: "Indians are extremely fond, of rum and, . . when they can get it, drink to great excess, bringing on madness, disease and death. For many years to come the welfare of Georgia will depend largely on the help and good behavior of the Indians, therefore v . rum should be kept away from them." So the prohibi tion of slavery and rum in Georgia was not at all a matter of morality, but -purely a matter of economics or public policy. From this standpoint it was, under all the circumstances, an unwise prohibition, and worked greatly to the detriment of the colony.. Another cause of the lack of prosperity was, no r doubt, in the kind of people of whom the colonj^Swas largely composed. For, if the. e'. truth must bef ."' told, many of the emigrants who.came, to Georgia dur- J | "Non Sibi Sed Aliis" . 113 f ping Oglethorpe's rule were a sorry lot of folk debt- I I ors, paupers, beggars, and all sorts of folk who had not I ' "* . | i|Keen able to take care of themselves at home. Ogle- \ thorpe has been much blamed for peopling Georgia \ with such slipshod, knock-kneed human beings; but *] really it redo. unds to his glory that he was willing to j extend a helping hand to those poor creatures whom no 4 ' * one else would help, and to give them one more chance \ in the world. True, as might have been expected, these . persons made poor--use of the opportunity, but Qgle- I -thorpe was not to blame for that. There were, of V course, many good settlers, such, for instance, as the Salzburgers, who were an earnest, sturdy, industrious ^ folk; but they seem to have lacked spirit, enterprise, and I "ambition. Of all the early emigrants to Georgia, those who seem to have been made of that heroic stuff neces sary to the right upbuilding of a new country were the doughty Highlanders who settled on the Altamaha * River, and, alas! they were wiped out of existence in * the Spanish war where they so bravely threw them- ||iyes "in the imminent and deadly breach/' non sibi i Oglethorpe's work in Georgia was far from the failure that it seemed. He had laid deep the Mation oL, splendid success. He had gained the., BKiKs'-^.'. . ' -'V- '. - '.. i *-* ^ .V lasting good-will of th'e Indians. ' He Georgia, and Carolina, too, from Spanish conquesiSJ In the ' face of dangers and obstacles that might havjej appalled the stoutest heart, he had planted a colony thajf , was destined to grow into the great Empire Sr* tate of tn'e^ V'^ViFT=! South! . In 1751 the Trustees of Georgia surrendered their- charter to the king. For 'twenty years they had .man-, aged the affairs of the colony with the greatest faith fulness and zeal, though, it must be confessed, with but _? little wisdom. For their pains and unselfish devotion J they received nothing but harsh criticism from the pub- * lie and base ingratitude from those whom they had tried , so hard to help. No doubt they were glad to be free- :: from the thankless task. Georgia was at once changed i ;.v f into a Royal Province. Under the-netv regime the re- ^ strictions on slavery and the rum trade were removed, and a number of unwise regulations of the Trustees were abolished or changed. Many" energetic, enterpris ing people, some of them wealthy and influential, moved into the colony, and Georgia forged rapidly forward. By the,year 1766, it had ten thousand white inhabitants and eight thousand negro slaves. It had at last-growfii to be a prosperous and flourishing colony.' In 174-1, about a year after his return to. England, fNon Sibi Sed A His. 115 Oglethor.pe at the Age of Ninety rc Oglethorpe at length was married, aged fifty-five yearS His bride was Miss Elizabeth Wright, aged thirty-fivel yJ ears. As he was quite an old ba ch. elor and she wa-s^| Qxr somewhat of an old maid, it is to be presumed thejdp I i'^Mv t lived happily together. She was very wealthy, and herSl? f V-''fve''"' '3\, money came in nicely for him, since his own fortune had ;; been much depleted from his generosity to the Georgia.^ ^ colony. Soon after his marriage he was made Major- ; General in the British army and took an active part in the famous campaign against the Pretender. Sub sequently he was promoted to the higher rank of Lieu- J "1& -' T tenant-General, and later still to that of full General, or i * Commander-in-Chief. It is often told that at the be ginning of the Revolutionary War, when he was eighty- \ ff six years old, he was offered but refused the command 4 f of the army that was to fight against the Americans; but there is no truth in this absurd story. After his retirement from the army, he was re-elected to Parliament, where he served with distinction for many years. Like his friend Tomo-chi-chi, he lived to be a very old man; and, like Tomo-chi-chi, too, to the very last his figure was erect, his step light and spry, his eye undimmed, and his faculties^linimpaired. youth had been stormy, his middle life tempestuous, his long old age was entirely serene. He lived in greatj "Non Sibi Sed Aliis" 117 PI? :'" I ease and luxury at his rich wife's beautiful country ;j y home, but he paid frequent visits to London, where he *H " ^entered with-great heartiness into the literary and social . pleasures of the city. One night he would be at the Authors' Club enjoying the brilliant company of such men as Dr. Johnson, Goldsmith, Burke, Burton, and other great literary lights;, and .the next night he would be at a court ball, dancing with the belles of the sea son. Until he was ninety years old, he continued to enjoy such pastimes and gayeties with unabated zest. In his marvelous old age he was the most striking fig ure and the most honored man in all England, and wherever he went he was the "observed of all observ ers." / On the 1st of July, 1785, he died at Cranham Hall, Essex, aged ninety-six years; A~^-; l / Georgia has a county and a town named for Ogle- thorpe, but, strange to say, the State has never erected a monument to his memory.! The Colonial Dames and .the Daughters of the American Revolution of Georgia {are now trying to raise funds by popular subscription |for this purpose. The movement should have the hearty ^sympathy and help of all Georgians and should be faided by a liberal appropriation from the State Legisla- ^ture. There has never lived a man who more richly Jeserved such an^onor at the hands of the Georgia . otf^ OVv. : -' *-" "^ is i X. ' ;''v^-.' -,. -* ''i' '': '?- - -.-. ;" :; ' "people. To the many \superb patriotic monuments thail| already adorn the beautiful city of Savannah, let one, more splendid than any of the others, be added to the memory of James Oglethorpe; and let there be carved:; on it as a suitable epitaph the noble phrase, NON SIBI - SED A LIIS! PART II. CHAPTER IX. THE STAMP ACT IN GEORGIA. In the year 1765 the English Parliament passed the celebrated law known as the Stamp Act. This law re quired the American colonists to write all their legal documents, such as promissory notes, deeds, contracts, . '" English Stamps for America.* bonds, leases, mortgages, etcetera, on "stamped paper," Svriich they had to buy from the English Government, ^v^,: J J ^fict which was very costly. It required them also to .iftfe'^ '. 1p|ifr\ expensive government stamps on all newspapers, Ivi'/From Green's "A Short History of the English People." J$X'Permission of Harper and Brothers. . !KJ-iiu--: . . X^Sfe^&'-fc't, ' .. "-^E^-1 ^':^'; - ' 119 Reproduced 120 pamphlets and almanacs published in America. was a heavy tax on the Americans, who were poor an.1- c$f$&j "|l ill able to bear it; but England declared it necessary ii?ji$ji-|' f;f . order to help pay the expenses of the French and Indiaji||-'.Jj War, which had been fought for the benefit of the col||r If ''f ? *T onies. The passage of the law made the Americans very indignant, because, as they asserted, England had no.. .- right to tax them without their own consent. In Vir- :" giniu the great orator. .Patrick Henry, made against, the Act a bold and eloquent .speecji that fired the hearts of the people. James Otis of Massachusetts and othef|4 $ " . :?~j.'y< "'''?}/ able and patriotic men also spoke and wrote against it. Soon the people throughout the whole country were aroused, and they determined not to permit the outrage. ,4. ^ & d&f''- All of the colonies were invited to send delegates to a*f J| convention, or congress, to be held in New York City for the purpose of protesting against the Stamp Act. - % The Governor of Georgia at that time was James -| Wright He was born and reared in South Carolina ,.. .;^| and belonged to a very fine family. He was appointed 1 Governor of Georgia by George II, King of England, ^ v| in 1760. He was a brave, able and .honorable man, buj. . he did not sympathize with the Americans in their against the Stamp Act. He believed that England a right to tax the Americans, and that they ought The Stamp Act in Georgia. . 121 p 'B'submit to it without a murmur; so he did everything in f it his power to keep the people of Georgia from taking :*&;?>' : Jjpart in the movement against the Act. Through his \&i?';*~ . ' influence Georgia was prevented from sending any dele gates to the congress in New York. So Georgia was not represented in the famous First Colonial Congress, as it was called, that met in New .York in October, 1765. The congress drew up a re- spectful petition and sent it by special messenger across the ocean to the King and Parliament of England, pro- testing that England had no right to tax the colonies without their pwn consent, and begging that the Stamp Act be repealed; but the King and Parliament were ob stinate and headstrong, and were determined to enforce ^the Act. Ships laden with boxes containing the odious "stamped paper," and accompanied by officers ap pointed to sell the paper to the colonists, sailed from England for all the principal American ports. When they arrived in America, both stamps and stamp officers received rough treatment at the hands of the angry " rs^-v e f in nearly / all of the colonies, ' as you -J mav learn United States history. What we want to learn '^'^':-A--' !*$^VSo\.-w is exactly what th e people-of Georgia did about it. i' In themse|ves into military companies called "Liber||| Boys," and vowed that they would capture and destro| the stamps as soon as they reached Savannah, The Stamp Act in Georgia. 123 f ^ would compel the stamp officer to leave the colony or | J^else would bind him hand and foot and throw him into river andL drown him. The 2Gth of October was the anniversary of King George Ill's accession to the throne of England; and Colonists Burning the Stamp Seller in Effigy. Governor Wright, wishing to honor his royal master, .^called on the people to assemble in Savannah to cele- Hp"r-'-ate the occasion. Big crowds came; bm most of ffthem, instead of honoring King George, spent the day Min listening to speeches against him and his Parliament .and their wicked Stamp Act. In the evening the crowd images, or effigies/of Governor Wright and other prominent men who ( favored the Stamp Act, and put ting them on high poles, paraded the streets with them* accompanied by jeers and insults, ending at last late night by burning the. effigies on th e public sq uare amicj great cheering and hurrahing. . Governor Wright thought the people were very wrong to act this way and tried by talks and speeches >: and writing's to get them to behave themselves, but thcv luvded him not. In all parts of the colony they continued to hold public meetings to denounce the King and Parliament and the Stamp1 Act. "'!*:;*f It was expected that the ship bearing the stamps would reach Savannah about the 1st of November, but for some reason it was delayed. At last, on%; the 5th of December, an English vessel called The Speedwell was .seen sailing up the river. It -.$.; was laden with boxes containing the much-talked- of "stamped paper," but this fact was known only^ to Governor Wright and a few of his council. Theft- Governor had the vessel stopped several miles down the river until late in the night, when it was brought the landing, and the boxes of "stamped paper secretly transferred to a strong warehouse, known Fort Halifax, where they w?ere locked up and put guard. All this was done to keep the Liberty Bb? ||. The Stamp Act in Georgia. ' 125 || llfpm destroying the stamps, which they certainly would : i ishave done if they could have got their hands on them. >\i -,r 5 T^^-V^" * ^--' Wfef.T'". he stamp- officer for '"Georgoia,' a Mr. Angous,> did . . *;'*-' ^not come over .on 77z Georgia ^History -Stories^ 7 ;~ '^-'^S^, nah and the whole colony would be utterly ruined, the Sons of Liberty held a meeting and agreed to stamps to be bought and used for the clearance of this ships, but not for any other purpose; and these the only "Stamp-Act" stamps ever used in Georgia. ^8 The people grew more and more excited. Every night they gathered in noisy, angry crowds on the streets of Savannah. They threatened the life of the Governor and of Mr. Angus. The Governor's mansion had to be guarded day and night by forty British Rangers. For four days and nights in succession Gov-? ernor Wright did not take off his clothes, not even his boots, expecting every moment to be attacked. Mr. Angus did not dare walk out on the streets or even put his head out of the door. At last he decided that "it would be best for him to leave the city, so he was smuggled out to the country home of one of the Gov ernors friends. One day a great crowd of Liberty Boys began gathering on the streets for the purpose of taking the "stamped papers" from Fort Halifax and destroying them; but Governor Wright, hearing of it/ took a company of fifty Rangers and.marched to fort, and loading the stamps on a cart drawn by 'W stout horses, carried them to the guard house and lockefl them, up behind its iron doors and iron-barred windd^sr . The Stamp Act in Georgia. 127 Towards the end" of January a body of six hundred f"em.-en from nearly all parts of the colony assembled in the woods near Savannah and sent word to Governor ... that if he did not surrender the stamps to ifethem they would kill him arid take them by force. The Governor, always energetic and prompt, instead of ^yielding to their threats, hurried the stamps down the '-river to a fort on Cockspur Island, where they were guarded by a garrison of British Rangers; but, fearing '7 % that they might not be safe even there, a few days later .,,he had them placed on the English ship The Speedwell, Sthe same vessel that had brought them over from England, and which was then at anchor just inside the har-I 'bor bar. There, at last, the precious stamps were safe Ifrom' the terrible Liberty Boys ! "- ; A day or two after the removal of the stamps a body of nearly two hundred Liberty Boys from ihe crowd which was camped in the woods near Savannah, *"' ^marched boldly into the city and took possession of the public square. The Governor quickly called the Rang- rs- ; from Cockspur Island to defend the city, and a jIg'ffff-jf**iber of volunteers al-s' o jjoined him,* so that he had a hundred well-armed soldiers. It looked as if would be a bloody battle in the very heart of the |||n; but the Liberty Boys, awed by the Governor's :j;ft;t; -^ 128 - . . . . - . 4. bold front, soon dispersed" and returned to their campi? in the woods. You will notice that through all this trying time Governor Wright showed himself to be a firm, brave,J wise man. Against great odds he protected the stamps and the stamp officer from violence, but at the same time he was very prudent in his dealings with the angry . people. A single rash act on his part would have caused nVo htincof and bloodshed. Throueorh it all he had a number of .strong friends and adherents to stand by him and help him; for there were many people in Georgia who sincerely agreed with him that the col onists ought to submit to the Stamp Act as obedient subjects of England, and that to rebel against it was treason. These persons were called Loyalists or Royal ists, but afterwards they became known as Tories. Those that resisted the Act called themselves Patriots. In the spring of 1766 all of the trouble about the Stamp Act came to a sudden and happy end. Over in England Parliament had at last repealed the hated Act. This was done, not so much on account of the pleadings of the Americans, as through the influence^. of certain great Englishmen who thought that the ActJ was wrong, and who sympathized with the Americans. The greatest of these was William Pitt, afterward^ Earl l| The Stamp Act in..Georgia. 129 Chatham. Bent with* rheumatism, swathed in flan- ,&nels, suffering acute pain, he hobbled into the Parlia- nent House on his crutches, and made on behalf of fjf, - he Americans one of the Cg_J reatest sJpL. eeches ever deliv- 'ered. All Americans should ever love the great Eng lishman, William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. After him, Chatham County, Georgia, is named. The news of the repeal ;.of the Stamp Act was : hailed with mighty rejoic ing by all the colonies, and by none more than by the -.colony of Georgia. Every colony sent earnest and grateful thanks to the King and Parliament, with assur William Pitt. ances of loyalty to the English Government. So for a while there was again peace and love between the col- and the mother country! , >itfr' James Wright was Governor of Georgia for many Jllars, and he was one of the ablest and best Governors Georgia has ever had. He did a great deal for the feel of the colony in its early days of .poverty and hard .r. ";":>'., - 130 ' 7' G'eorgid History struggle. It is a pity he did not sympathize with thei- . ".Tal people in their righteous and noble struggle for indeft" I "*?$. pendence; but he really believed they were wrong, ancij I he acted according to his convictions. Through manjg hard trials he was faithful to what he thought was his duty. He was an able, brave, honest man. We should . : honor his memory. CHAPTER X. THE CAPTURE OF SAVANNAH. P I. ARRIVAL OF THE BRITISH FLEET. The good feeling- between the colonies and the Imother country, that had been brought about by the re peal of the Stamp Act, did not last long. King George ..III. and the English Parliament still insisted that they had a right to tax the colonies, and they soon passed an- iSther tax law as bad in principle as the Stamp Act. The *. i r r Colonies resisted it, and England tried to force them to submission. The strife between the two countries grew worse and worse, until at last it resulted in the great ^Revolutionary War, which began with the Battle of '^.: '.r'~' Lexington, fought in Massachusetts, April 19, 1775. An account of how the war broke out and of its early .battles you can learn from United States history. :-i'~- When the news of the Battle of Lexington reached Georgia it caused great excitement, and the patriotic Aebple began making vigorous preparations for war. '^P'.??* ' ' ||f!'.' Royal Governor, James Wright, about whom you f||t ; Krned in the last lesson, did his best by persuasion and |J|j|-trireats to keep, the colony loyal to the English Gov- ;>i - . gjjent, but all in vain. At last h' e was forced to flee Georgia History Stories: A. ' ' ' * the country and take refuge in England. Many oH||l leading Tories were driven from the colonv, and thosem" that remained were required to take a solemn oath not^ff do anything to aid the British. All the British officiall vsl$ were turned out of their positions, and the Patriots tdbj complete possession of the government. In place of the banished Governor Wright, Archibald Bulloch,* an able and noble Patriot, was put at the head of affairs \vith the title of President and Commandcr-in-Chief. The people of Georgia refused to carry on commerce with England or to buy anything brought over in Englf lish ships, thus voluntarily depriving themselves of many comforts and almost of many necessities of life. They sent large donations of money, clothing and provisions,, to the fighting American soldiers at the North. They," raised a fine regiment of volunteers to defend Georgia from British invasion; and this regiment, on the 2d of March, 1776, most gallantly drove back a fleet of Brit ish warships that was trying to capture the American merchant vessels lying at the wharves of Savannah. In the fight three British marines.were killed and several were taken prisoners, while the Americans had .jorj|| one man wounded. This was .the first bloodshed p.f> *This Archibald Bulloch was the great-grandfather of Theodore Roojej velt, President of the United States. The Capture of Savannah. 133 ^Revolution in Georgia; Georgia was represented in the '-. sJE&tf'^'rV'; jvsjp-'- - ' ' ___ ^'Continental Congresses that met in Philadelphia during .|fv; ' lith.e-,. Revolution; and her three delegates,' George WalButton- Gwinnett,* and Ly/ man Hall,x si mand was Colonel Huger; the third in command was Colonel IClbert : the fourth in command was Colonel \Valtun. IT. OL'ASl!. DOLLY AXD TI.'E FLAXK MARCH. At daybreak on the 20th of December the British army was landed on the banks of the Savannah River, in ; .the rice fields of Mr. Girardeau's plantation, at a point just two miles in a bee-line southeast of the city. The army, which consisted of about three thousand men, was commanded by Colonel Archibald Campbell, a very officer. As soon as the soldiers had landed, they 138 Georgia History Stories. were formed into ranks and started marching straight^ toward Savannah. To reach the city they had to cross " a--boggy marsh over a causeway, or raised road, half--;, a mile long, and then ascend a high bluff, known at thefe present time as Brewton Hill. Colonel Elbert urged General .Howe to marshal the American army along the edge of the hinit, so that they might pour their cannon shots and volleys of muskclrv into the ranks of the l.iniish as ihey crossed the narrow causeway; but Gen eral Howe, instead of taking good advice, drew up his men in line of battle about a mile back of the hill to wards the city,* in the rice fields on Governor Wright's plantation. To the right of the American line there was a swamp, thickly covered with trees and under growth. Colonel Walton said to General Howe, "Gen eral, you had better have the edge of that swamp strongly guarded, lest the enemy steal a march through it and turn our flank." "Nonsense,"'' sneered Howe, ''nothing but a wildcat could get through that jungle!" and so he left the swamp, unguarded--a stupid blunder, as we shall soon see. . General Howe sent Captain John Smith's company.- i of forty men forward to Brewton Hill to 'watch for the *This line crossed the Tluvnderbolt Road about where the Atlantic Coast .Line Railroad freight depot now stands. The Capture of Savannah. 139 coming of the enemy and act as skirmishers. Captain Smith made his men lie flat down on their stoinJachs along the edge of the bluff and keep a sharp lookout in front of them. In a little while here came the British army, with drums beating and flags flying, marching over the causeway. Considerably in advance of the others, marched Captain Cameroiv's company of one hundred Scotch Higohlanders. Thev. crossed the causeway and were just starting up the hill when Captain Smith's Americans rose suddenly to their feet and fired a volley of musketry into their ranks. Captain Carneron and three of his men fell dead and five were wounded. The company was thrown into disorder and the men started to run back, but quickly rallied when they saw the rest of the British army hurrying up to their assistance. Captain Smith's company now fell back to the main American line. The British army- marched up the hill and a con siderable distance beyond, and there formed in line of battle" close behind a long rail fence. Eight hundred yards in front of them, and in plain view, was the Amer ican line of battle, drawn up behind some low earth works that had been hastily thrown up the night before. *This line crossed the Thunderbolt Road about where the tollgate now stands. 140 Georgia.History Stories. About midway between the two armies ran a little 5 creek, the bridge across which had been burned by Gen- }$ eral Howe; and a short distance beyond the creek there ^ was a ditch filled with water. The banks on both sides ';! of the creek were miry and boggy. So to get at the Americans the British would have to labor through the bog, wade the creek, jump the ditch, and scale the earth works. Colonel Campbell knew that to make a frontal attack on the Americans in this strong position would be a hard fight and would cost him the lives of many <- of his men. Looking over towards the swamp on the American right he said to a Tory standing by, "Is there any way to get through that swamp over there? 1 ' "Yes," answered the Tory; "there is a private path , through it, and there is an old negro named Quash Dolly on Girardeau's plantation who can show you the way." Quickly Colonel Campbell, guided by the Tory, galloped over to the negro quarters on Girardeau's place in search of Quash Dolly. He found the old negro standing in front of his cabin calmly smoking his pipe. Ouash was a native African who had been cap- ,, 1^ ~ - c . ^-\S|a-- tured on the coast of Guinea in his young manhood and -if brought over to America and sold into slavery. He ^ .-jT?,j .. , t was a short, stout, chunky man, with the kinky hair, jj| j| flat nose, and thick lips of his race;, and as black as Jf The Capture of Savannah. 1-11 the ace of spades; but he was sharp and shrewd. He - - wore on his head a coonskin cap which he had made ( himself, and of which he was very proud; it was so .-. made that the bushy and ringed tail of the coon waved from the top like a plume. Colonel Campbell asked him if he would guide him through the swamp, at the same time showing him an English sovereign, a gold coin equal to about five dollars in our money. Ouasli's black eyes sparkled at the sight of the gold, and he readily agreed to undertake the job. Colonel Campbell ordered two regiments of light infantry, under command of Major James Baird, to make the flank march through the swamp under the guidance of Quash Dolly, while he himself stayed with the rest of the British army in front of the. Americans. So secretly was Baird's move ment made that the Americans had not the slightest sus picion of what was going on. They were watching the British behind the' rail fence in front of them and won dering why they did not come on to the attack. The British soldiers kept marching and counter-marching behind the fence, as if they were getting ready to charge the Americans; but not a step forward did they -move. Thus hour after hour passed. "They are scared of us and will sneak back to their ships as soon as night comes. Savannah is already saved!" exclaimed Gen- 142 Georgia History Stories. eral Kowe; but he was badly mistaken. All this " tirr'fW% Major Baird's two regiments of light infantry were! | stealing a march through the swamp so as to the Americans'. rear. In front trudged the low, sto"UL.3 Ip.'l figure of Quash Dolly with the coon tail plume of hiif coon skin cap streaming proudly above his head, while behind him marched Major Baird and his thousand men, making their way as best they could through the thick hushes. 15y three o'clock in the afternoon they had gained the American rear. Bursting from the cover of the woods they rushed across the rice fields, and with loud yells and volleys of musketry swooped down on the Americans from behind, while at the same time Colonel Campbell's forces charged upon the patriots from the front. So the poor Americans were suddenly caught between two fires by an army that outnumbered their own nearly four to one. Brave as the American sol diers w7 ere, they could not stand against such odds. They broke and fled in wild confusion back towards the city, many of them being killed as they ran. They were pursued by the British through the very streets of Sa^. vannah, where a number of them were shot down an^ bayoneted almost in the presence of their wives or thef|| mothers. On the west side of the town they were ral-' _ :$k lied somewhat by their officers near the spot where [I v:,^ The/ CaLpture o'f Savannah. 1-13 f> 5; I ^Central Railroad Depot now stands, and passed out in | ., rapid retreat by the Augusta road and across Musgrove I I^Greek. In this, way many made their escape. But the f ^British soon got possession of the road and the bridge across the creek. Colonel Elbert's regiment, finding. itself thus cut off from this avenue of escape, rushed through the rice fields to the banks of the creek near where it empties into the river. The tide was up and ; the creek was full of water. A hundred men jumped : in and tried to swim across the creek. All o them suc- ? ceeded except thirty poor fellows, who were drowned in the attempt. Two hundred others, afraid to make the plunge, stood on the bank until the British came up, when they surrendered themselves as prisoners of war. $ The brutal'British soldiers, wild with fiendish joy at their victory, committed all sorts of outrages on the people of Savannah, such as the bursting open of doors, , the robbing of houses, the insulting of women, and the >. maltreating of prisoners. Colonel Campbell either could not or would not restrain them. & ''S&iNight came at last, and brought to a close one of '!:; , .S^fff ..; ' *~ S tKe-saddest and most awful davs that the city of Savan- VrV : - ' - . J has ever known. In this fight eighty-three Amer- wer'e shot dead on the field, thirty were drowned to swim Musgrove Creek, over a hundred were Geor,gvia History Stories. I wounded, and many were taken prisoners, while the British lost altogether only four men killed and ten wounded. Of the nine hundred soldiers composing the American army, scarcely more than four hundred es caped. These gathered together the next da}' .at a place eight miles above Savannah. With General Howe at their head they marched far up the river to Sister's Ferry and crossed over into South Carolina. So poor Georgia was abandoned to her fate! A few weeks later the British army had overrun and practically subju gated the whole State. CHAPTER XL THREE GEORGIA TORIES. I. THOMAS BROWN. Bv, the 1st . of February- , 1770, the British had ogained almost complete possession of Georgia. Their com mander, Colonel Campbell, issued a proclamation call ing on the people to take the oath of allegiance to the King and the Government of England. He promised that those who would take the oath should not be molested, but declared that those who refused would be driven from the colony and would have all their prop erty confiscated. Frightened by this threat a great many people took the oath and became. British sub jects; these people were called Tories. But many re fused to take the oath because they would rather suf fer banishment and the loss of their property, or even death, than give up their heroic struggle for Amer ican independence ; these were called Pal riots. So the people of Georgia were divided into these two parties, Tories and Patriots, which hated each other with a Bitter hatred. In proportion to the population there were more Tories in Georgia than in any other state. Some of them :&--. .145 . 146 Georgia History Stories. were no doubt good, honest people who really believed^ ^ that the Americans were wrong in rebelling againsttf ^ the English Government; but many of them were meaii'iffpl'^-.'I4J selfish men who only wished to be on the strong or! | winning side. ] By the British subjugation of Georgia nearly all of 3 .the Patriots of fighting age were driven out of the \< State, leaving their property and their helpless faini- i lies behind, While the Tories remained unmolested in their homes. James Wright, the royal Governor, earned back from England and was once more placed at the head of the Georgia Government. So the British and the Tories now held full sway in Georgia, and most cruelly did they use their power. The Tories were far worse than the British. They formed themselves into military companies that were nothing more than bands of ruffians. They roved over the country on horseback and on foot committing all sorts of outrages, robbing the people, burning houses, throwing old men into prison, insulting women, hanging every Patriot soldier that they could lay their.:, ' ' ~'~ * &&$? '< : "3Vvg& ' hands on, sometimes even murdering children, and show^|? : ing no mercy to any one who favored the American' cause. In no other state were the Tories so wi.ck" e:dcd^' "'$!/' and cruel as in Georgia. They were even worse tharW Three Georgia Tories. 147 the savage Indians, whom they employed to help them. The worst of these Georgia Tories was a man by the name of Thomas Brown. He had always been a Tory; and in the early days of the Revolution he had made himself so obnoxious to the'patriotic peo ple of Augusta, where he lived, that one day a crowd of men dragged him out of his office, and, stripping him to the waist, poured over his naked body a pot of soft tar and over that emptied a pillow case full of feathers, which stuck to the tar and made poor Brown look like a big, ugly frizzled chicken. Thus "tarred and feath ered," they seated him in an open wagon drawn by three mules and hauled him about the streets of Augusta, while a great crowd followed with hoots and jeers. After parading him for an hour or two they turned him loose with the warning that if he did not leave town within twenty-four hours the}' would kill him. For sev eral hours Brown kept his negro servant busy washing the tar and feathers from his body; then he put on his clothes, and, raising his right hand towards heaven, he took a solemn oath that he would be avenged for this '-great shame and outrage that had been cone him. He left the city and the State, but many months afterwards ..he came back, and how well he kept his oath is a story ;that has been written in blood! 148 Georgia History Stones. It was when Georgia fell into the hands of the Brit ish that Brown came, back, and soon he became the chief leader of the Tories in the State. He was a well edu cated, intelligent man, and had fine military ability, so that he was made a colonel in the. English army and was placed in command of Augusta, his old home. . His arniv was composed about half and half of Tories and Indians. His opportu nity had now come, and he kept his oath. All of the Patriots of fio'hting age had left Au gusta and were in the 'ijjjgjl^jr.^ ' -'-*"-. _:~-2;152'ia&i. __ _ From an old print.^ Residence of George Walton at Augusta. American army. Brown confiscated their prop- erty, threw their old gray-haired fathers and grandfathers into prison, ex pelled their helpless wives and children from their homes, and drove them two hundred miles away into North Carolina. Their sufferings on the journey were awful. A number of them died from exposure and ex-'' haustion, and many others had their health ruined for life by the hardships they endured on that dreadful march. In September, 1780, General Elijah Clarke, with a j Three Georgia Tories. 149 i- ^Jsmall army of Patriots, undertook to recapture Augusta. He succeeded in driving Brown's army out of the city, /xarid they took refuge in a large building just outside fe f.wv'the town known as the "White House." Brown had the doors and windows barricaded and bored holes through the walls, through which his marksmen, with their long-range rifles, held the Americans at bay. The ! building was completely surrounded by the Americans, I and it seemed impossible for Brown and his men to es- F . cape. General Clarke had no cannon with which he j could batter down the house, so he had to depend on [ starving out the Tories. For four days and nights he held them besieged. Their provisions were nearly ex hausted, and every drop of water was gone. In one of the large upper rooms of the house lay forty poor wounded Tory soldiers with no medicines and no band ages or salves for their wounds, and not a drop of water to slake their feverish thirst. Their shrieks of ; agony and their wild cries for "water! water!" could be plainly heard in the American camp. Brown himself (- was severely wounded, shot through both thighs, and !:' ;\vas suffering dreadfully; but he never gave up. He I : . I had himself carried around in a big arm-chair from I ..room to room to direct and encourage his men, who i- . I :>Avere nearly crazed with famine and thirst. General 150 Georgia' His fory Stories. Clarke sent a flag of truce to him and begged him ifff the name of humanity to surrender, but he positive!)^ refused. He was as brave and heroic as he was badv and cruel. -|| At last, on the morning of the fifth day, the relief for which Brown had been 'looking came. Colonel Cruger. with a large regiment of B>rilish regulars, sud den ly appeared on the other side of the river. Brown had sent a secret messenger for them on the dav ho had been driven from Augusta, and at last they had arrived. General Clarke, knowing that he could not contend against this large force, withdrew his army from the vicinity of Augusta and quickly retreated. He left be hind thirty wounded Americans who were unable to march. He supposed, of course, they would be treated as prisoners of war. He knew not then the cruel heart of Thomas 'Brown, though he afterwards learned to know it well. Brown selected thirteen of the wounded Americans and had them hanged from the high balustrade of the staircase in the ''White House," so that he might wit ness their dying agonies as he lay on his couch in the.iv. hall below. . As each victim was pushed from the ballf nstrade and fell with a dull thud at the end of the' rope, Brown would utter a grunt 'of satisfaction. Three Georgia Tories. 151 ;: turned the rest of the prisoners over to the tender mer cies of his Indian allies, who, forming a circle around them in the front yard of the "White House,'' put them :" : to death by slow and horrible tortures. A long chap ter might be filled with the inhuman cruelties of Brown, but it would be too horrible a story for you to read. When in 1781 Augusta was at last captured by the Americans, Brown was taken prisoner. Knowing that if the soldiers could get their hands on him, they would tear him limb from limb, the American commander had him carried down the river in a boat under a strong guard. It is strange that he was not court-martialed and hanged, a fate that he richly deserved. The Amer icans were only too merciful to him. He was soon after- ;, wards exchanged and rejoined the British army, and till the end of the war he continued his tierce fighting and cruel deeds. After the war was over, knowing that he could not live in America, he took refuge in England. , There, in the year 1812, he was convicted of forgery and thrown into prison, where he ended his infamous life in disgrace and ignominy. /' II. DANIEL McGIRTH. I Daniel McGirth was another ' notorious Tory of | Georgia. Unlike Brown, he was an ignorant, uneclu- |, -cated man; and unlike Brown, too. he started out as '** ia History. Stories. an ardent Patriot. He was born and reared in South'^* Carolina when that was a new, wild country. He was:flp a good woodsman and as active and lithe as a paiirA \*!^0rf*~ then He was a fine horseman and a splendid shot. Hef|P was among the first, to take, up arms in the American cause. Somehow he drifted down to South Georgia, where he belonged to the little band of Patriots that MS Lravelv re>i.-lcd ihe invasii n of the Mritish iroin Florida.' He acted as a scout and spy for the Ameri cans, and he rendered them extremely valuable service. -; He brought with him from South Carolina a thor oughbred horse, of which he was very proud. She was an iron-gray mare with a snow-white blaze in her fore head, and he called her Gray Goose. She was consid ered the finest horse in the American army, beautiful, intelligent, and swift as the wind. A captain in the American army took a great fancy to the animal and tried to buy her from McGirth, offering .him a large price: but McGirth refused to part with her. This angered the captain who, out of spite, mistreated McGirth in many mean, petty ways, as an officer can mistreat a subordinate, if he chooses. McGirth was a'^l high-spirited fellow. Irritated beyond endurance, he one day insulted the officer and raised his arm to strike ,. y him; but some one intervened and stopped the blow. Three Georgia Tories. 153 Now, to strike a superior officer is a grave crime in the army, so McGirth was tried by court-martial and sen tenced to receive ten lashes with a cowhide on his bare back three days in succession. The first whipping was administered and he was put in the guard house to await his second humiliation. You can imagine the feelings of this high-spirited man, as he paced up and down in his cell brooding over the bitter shame to which he was beinir subjected! About twilight, as O .' O ' he was gazing through his prison bars, he spied Gray Goose hitched to a tree not far away. He gave a low, peculiar whistle, and Gray Goose, recogniz ing the signal, raised her beautiful head and uttered an affectionate whinny in response. This was more than he could stand. With a broken trowel that he found in. his cell and with his bare hands, he tore the masonry from around the prismi bars: then, with almost super human strength, he pulled out one of the bar> and through the narrow crack thus made squeezed his long, lithe body and rushing out, sprang on (iray Goose and dashed away! The guards called to him to halt, but he only shook his fist at them and yelled a dreadful curse, and dashed away in the darkness on his fleet-footed steed, heedless of the musket balls that whistled about his head! 154 Georgia History Stones. His whole nature seemed perverted by the bad treat- :rj~ ment which he had received. He deserted to the enemy t and. joined the British army, and from then to the end of the war fought ferociously against the Americans.^;' Of course, the bad treatment he had received from the American officer was no excuse for this, but McGirth was as unprincipled as he Was brave and fierce. He was made a colonel in the British army and was put at ilit 1 head of a powerful Tor}' band, which for -many months was the scourge of the State. He was a perfect ruffian in his manner of warfare. From the Florida line to Elbert County and over into South Carolina his name was a terror to. the people. Many were the fearful stories told of "'McGirth and his blazed-faced horse!" A whole book might be written about his daring deeds and his inhuman cruelties. He was twice wounded, but was never taken prisoner. A big reward was offered for his capture, and a thousand people were trying to catch him and often had him in a ti^'ht place; but in cverv cmer-srncv be was saved bv O i , O - the fleet foot of his best friend, Gray Goose! After the war was over, he went to Florida, which.3"$! was then owned by the Spaniards. For some offense " or crime there he was arrested and thrown. into prison .-y: ill the old fort of St. Augustine. After five years' ittir.^; Three Georgia Tories. 155 prisonment he was released, so weak and broken in health that he could barely drag himself back to his wife in their rude country home in Sumter District. South Carolina. There he soon died in peace, and there he now lies buried! 111. C'(.>LO N ILL GRIBKSUN. Colonel Grierson was another bad' Tory. He was Brown's right-hand man. They were two of a kind. They were companions in arms and companions in many acts of cruelty. .Never was there joined together in the commission of wicked deeds two men worse than Brown and Grierson. the Georgia Tories. Grierson, like Brown, was a colonel in the British army. Fort Grierson, at Augusta, was named for him. It was one of the strongest forts in Georgia, and around it at the siege of Augusta was fought one of the blondicst battles of the .Revolution in the State. When-Au gusta was captured by the Americans, Grierson, like Brown, was taken prisoner. To save him from being mobbed by the soldiers, the American commander had him hid away in a little house some distance from town and placed a strong guard around him; but suddenly about twilight a soldier on horseback galloped up and, before the guards knew what he was about, threw his gun. to his shoulder, shot Grierson through the window, 156 . Georgia History Stones. and then, wheeling, galloped away. That night Grief^' If son died of the wound, in dreadful agony. The man;: - /| that shot him was supposed to be Samuel Alexander,.- f the son of John Alexander, an old .man seventy-eight;^, r years old, whom this Grierson had treated with hor rible cruelty when he and F>rown held sway in Augusta. Young Alexander was never arrested or tried for the deed. ''Vengeance is mine, I will repay !'' says the Bible, brt perhaps a merciful (lud will pardon a man tor taking, vengeance in his own hands in a case like this. CHAPTER XII, THREE GEORGIA PATRIOTS. I. ELIJAH CLARKE. Nearly all the Patriots of fighting age had left the State to join the American army elsewhere, so there was nothing to restrain the demon Tories. The people became cowed and hopeless. Many who had been Patriots gave up the struggle and took the oath of al legiance. The State seemed to be abandoned to her unhappy fate. But by the blessing of Almighty God there arose in this dark day a few great, heroic souls to redeem Georgoia and aveneoe her wrongos! The greatest of these heroes was Colonel Elijah Clarke. Just a year before the war broke out he moved with his wife and children from North Carolina to Wilkes Countv, Georgia, where he settled as a farmer. s- O In the early part of the war he joined the Patriot army, and in a fight with the Hrilish in I/lorida he was des perately wounded and for a long time disabled. He ;^was at his home in Wilkes County recovering from this wound when the British, under Colonel Campbell, cap- , tured Savannah and began overrunning the State. As soon as Colonel Clarke heard the news, he buckled on 157 158 Georgia History StQries. '. his good sword, mounted his horse, and, leaving his wife and children on the farm, rode day and night over the countrv- .> go ettingo togoether a band of Patriots to fight the British if they should come into that sec tion of the Sta:-. He mustered one hundred dragoons, all Georgians, and as good fighters as ever mounted a horse or shouldered a gun. Lulonel J'u..; .. a Uriiish officer, with a band of a thousand Tories, while march ing through north Georgia on his way to Augusta to join Colonel Campbell, camped one night in an open field on Kettle Creek, in Wilkes County. The Colonel Andrew Pickens. following clav Colonels Pick- O ^ ens, Doolv, and Clarke. with a band of five hundred Carolina and Georgia Patriots, bursting through the thick cane brakes, made a sur prise attack on them and a desperate battle took place. The Tories greatly outnumbered the Patriots and were getting the best of them, when Colonel Clarke, with his hundred Georgians, made a bold flank movement, and, gaining a hill on the other side of f ' C^ d> the creek, poured a deadly fire into the enemy's rear, and "snatched victory from the very jaws of defeat." The - Thra Georgia Patriots. 159 -Tories were completely routed. Seventy-two of them were killed, more than a hundred were wounded, many vwere taken prisoners, and the rest were scattered to the four winds. Colonel Boycl himself fell mortally wounded, and died the next day. This battle of Kettle Creek, fought February 12th, 1779, was the most bril liant American victory in Georgia, and Colonel Elijah Clarke was the hero of the clay. For months Colonel Clarke, at the head of his little band of Patriots, carried on a guerrilla warfare with the British and Tories throughout what was then north Georgia, including especially Elbert and Wilkes coun ties. Constantly in the saddle, moving rapidly from place to place, suffering from hunger, thirst, fatigue, "'and all kinds of hardships, rarely ever sleeping under a roof, living in swamps and jungles, striking the enemy a blow whenever a chance u'lered, he was the only pro tection the people had from the outrages of the brutal Tories. Through it all. by his side rode and fought, his son, John Clarke. a youth of seventeen years, who after wards became a famous man in Georgia. Worn out with the hard life that they had to endure, many of Colonel Clarke's men left him and returned to their homes or crossed over to South Carolina and joined l|he regular American army, and some of them even 160 Georgia History Stories. took the oath of allegiance to the British Government^ ' ,;-v?^'- At one time his command had dwindled down to les.sf than twenty men; but.the heroic spirit of Elijah Clark||- . -'->|f- would not be discouraged. He rode da}- and nigntf' among' the mountains of north Georgia and over into South Carolina stirring up the people and calling them to arms. By this means he increased his force to three hundred nu-n. \\ iih ihe>e IK- marelk-d against Augusi;. and made an unsuccessful. atteni])t in capture the citv from the Tory, Brown. After this failure he saw that for the present he could -do nothing more in Georgia; so, accompanied by his devoted followers, he crossed over into South Carolina and joined the American army in that State, where he fought with great gal lantry in man\- fierce battles. ,1 In the spring- o f 1781 he returned to Georgia for f the purpose of making another attempt to capture Au- II I gusta. Together-with the commands of Pickens, Jack- [ son and McCall, he succeeded in surrounding:> the citv. . 4 About the 1st of June the investing army was rein forced by the famous Legion of "Light Horse Harry' 7 Lee, and that officer assumed principal command. The ^ main defense of Augusta was a powerful fort which stood on a bluff of the river and in the yard of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. This fort was built by Ogle- Three Georgia Patriots. 161 thorpe in 1736, and had always been known as Fort Augusta. Colonel Brown, the Tory, had enlarged and strengthened the structure and had changed its name to "Light Horse Harry" Lee. Fort Cormvallis. Towards the close of the siege the British army, driven back from the outposts, took refuge in this fort, which seemed absolutely impreg nable. For several days the Americans were greatly puz zled what to do. At length they resorted to the strata gem of the "Mayham tower," so called because the dc- 162 Georgia History Stones. vice was invented by Major May ham of the American army. It consisted of a square tower built of linger unhewn logs and rising forty feet high. As the tower< rose, the inside of it. was filled with dirt packed down hard. Xear the top an embrasure, or opening, was made through the logs; and through this opening a single little six-pound cannon, the largest piece of. ariilkrv ilk- American.- had. Junked down into l- ort Cornwallis. which was within easy range of its plunging fire. For days this terrible little war dog poured a tem pest of well-aimed shot and shell down into the fort, destroying its barracks, demolishing its walls, and kill ing and wounding its garrison by scores. The poor, ? pent-up soldiers, driven to desperation, dug holes in the ground, into which they crept for protection from the pitiless iron hail. At length, on the 5th of July, Colonel Brown, see- j ing that further defense was worse than useless, sur- : rendered himself, the entire garrison, the fort, and the city (or village as it then was) to the Americans. This device of the Mayham tower was one of the s . ,' most brilliant stratagems of the Revolutionary War."-r" : ^ The fort, which had been practically destroyed by the *.M plunging fire of the little six-pounder, was never re- A built. The spot on which it stood has been marked by ; Three Georgia Patriots. 1G3 a stately and beautiful monument, erected by the | 7 Colonial Dames of Georgia. >St is made of granite from the quarries in Oglethorpe County. This noble mei-v morial of both Colonial and Revolutionary history was ' ; unveiled with impressive ceremonies on November 23, 1901. The Mayham tower was" located near where the Cotton Exchangoe of Augousta now stands. Till the close of the war Colonel Clarke (or Gen eral Clarke as he had now come to be) continued to do glorious service for Georgia. His martial tramp was heard from one end of the State to the other, and his strong right arm dealt blow on blow upon the doomed heads of British and Tories. He was four times wounded, twice nigh unto death. In camp he con tracted a severe case of smallpox, from which he lay prostrate for six weeks; but in each instance, as soon as he was able to mount a horse, he was up and about again, encouraging the faint-heartod and loading the brave to battle. Elijah Clarke was an uneducated man and was -fough and uncouth in his manners. He had his faults I p-f character, too, but with it all he was a truly great :- niari. He dealt severely with the Tories that fell into i, his power,; hanged a number of them, burned their r; homes, confiscated their lands, and destroyed their prop- 164 Georgia History Stories. erty. Some people have blamed him for this, butflfl HJf believed he was justified in it. These horrid Tories ^; |fS'-^' driven his own wife and children from home and his house. Thev had treated old men, women and Vig dren with inhuman cruelty, had murdered scores of1 Patrii>ls in cold blood, and had spread ruin and clesola- I 1 lion throughout the land. He believed it was but a mild retaliation tn hang" a score or two of them; and \\liu will say that IK- was \vn>ng? Among the man-.heroes that Georgia produced during the Revolutionary \Yar, Elijah Clarke stands out in bold relief as the most heroic figure of them all. i r. JAMES JACKSOX. mother great Patriot of the times was James Jack son. He was born and partly reared in England. His father was a worthy, .well-to-do, intelligent man, who sympathized keenly with the Americans in their strug gle against English tyranny and often talked to his | son about it; so James was in spirit an American Pa- ' triut before ever lie saw America. In 1772. when he I was fifteen years old, his father sent him over to Amer ica to become an inmate of the household of Tohm "V^ mf , .*'sii~\' Wereat of Savannah, an old and intimate friend of triej family, who was anxious to have the boy. His father was glad to give him this opportuni.ty of growi. ng to*'&^?>'' ~:;"1>i Three'Georgia Patriots. Kio manhood in the new and promising country. He went to the best schools then in Savannah and at the same time studied law. When the Revolutionary War broke out, voimer - ' "' ' O Jackson, though only eighteen years old, was among the Genera! James Jackson. first to shoulder a musket in the American cause. In the fight at Savannah with the I'ritisli troops in March, 177G, he behaved so bravely that President Bulloch wrote him a letter of thanks and commissioned him a 'captain. When in January, 1779, the British, under Colonel Campbell, captured Savannah and destroyed the 166 Georgia History> Stories. little American army defending' the place, Jackson managed to make his escape into South Carolina. His command was now o'one. but he was determined to enter the army again as a private. Friendless, penniless, rag ged and barefooted, he and young John Milledge were making their way through the country to join Colonel Moultrie's regiment in the northern part of the State, when a party ol American soldiers took them lor spies, in vain did they protest their innocence. They were condemned to be hanged the next day, and the gallows was already prepared for them, when Major Devaux, happening to come along, recognized them and had them set free. Thus the two noble youths had a narrow escape from an awful and ignominious death. Jackson joined Colonel Moultrie's Carolina regiment as a private, but on account of his fine ability and great courage he was rapidly promoted until he got to be a major. He distinguished himself at the famous battles of Cowpens and Blackstocks in South Carolina. After wards he came back to Georgia and was put in com mand of a legion of militia. .. In the spring of 1781 the Americans besieged Aii- gusta. The town was surrounded by an army of militia men who were ordered to guard the place until General Lincoln and "Light Horse Harry" Lee could come down Three Georgia Patriots. 167 from South Carolina with an army of Continentals" and take the place by storm. The wait was a long and try ing one. It looked as if Lincoln and Lee would never come. The militiamen, whose time of enlistment was out, became discontented and insubordinate. They threatened to disband and go home. The great colonel, Elijah Clarke, was sick with smallpox; and Colonel Hammoncl, who was then commanding in his stead, could do nothing with the men. Hain- mond called on Major Jackson for help. Tackson said, '"''Get the men General Pcniamin Lincoln. together and let me talk to them." So the soldiers were assembled in a great crowd in an open space in the middle of the camps. When Jackson rode up in front of them, they scowled at him with morose and surly faces, and some of them even started to hoot and jeer him. He began to speak to *Continental troops wer'e those in the service of the Congress of the ;, United States, and not under the control of any one state, as were the 1G8 Georgia History Stories. them. He was a born orator as well as a born soldier^ and he spoke with burning eloquence. He did not;1 -1 -.^ scold or chide or threaten them; he appealed to theirs | manhood; he spoke straight to their hearts; he stirredP : If the nobler spirit in them, and soon the scowls vanished from their facer- and thcv,. were cheering<^> wikllv. Thcv* were carried away by his eloquence. When he had fin ished lie called on all who were willing to stand by I!K post ui duly lo huld up their right hands, and the hand of every man went up. They kept their promise -\, and stood guard faithfully around Augusta until a month ' later, when Lincoln and Lee. with the Continental troops, came, from South Carolina and joined in the capture of the city. . ^ Many .other times Jackson used his eloquence to good purpose in reviving the sinking spirits of the peo- \ pie and the waning heroism of the soldiers. But on one occasion he had to use sterner means than this to' teach his men their duty. The legion was made up about half and half of dragoons and infantrymen. The dragoons were picked men and were faithful to. him; ;" but the infantrymen, exasperated by the hardships of % 1 war, formed a conspiracy by which they were to assas- .' | sinate Jackson and then disband and go to their homes., A faithful servant told him of the plot twro days before *. Tivo Georgia Patriots. 169 .;v f - Lee's Cavalry Skirmishing. fc it was to be executed. Without appearing to know anyf *fong about it, he ordered the infantrymen to assemj; .We without arms on the parade ground at sunset to J70 Georgia History Stories. ji. hear a very important proclamation that he had to read" to them. Suspecting nothing, and curious to know what the proclamation could be about, the men gathered on the parade ground promptly at the appointed hour. Jackson rode slowly in front of them as if about to read the proclamation, but instead of doing so he made a signal bv waving his handkerchief over his head, xvhercupun the dragoons, fully armed, came galloping up and surrounded the astounded infantrymen and held them prisoners. All night they were guarded like criminals. The next day Jackson picked out the six ringleaders of the conspiracy and had them hanged in the presence of the whole legion. Then he made a speech to the men, in which he told them he knew they had been led into this foul plot by the few bad men who had been hanged, and from whose fate they must take warning; he would pardon them for what they had done. Then he appealed to them to return to their duty like true soldiers. The lesson sank deep into their hearts, and they gave him no further trouble. Jackson was a kind-hearted man, but he could be severe when dutv" . required it. Towards the close of the Revolutionary War, Jack son and his men had harder service to perform than any other soldiers in Georgia. At last, when the war was Three Georgia Patriots. 171 * brought to a close by the British surrendering Savan nah, General Anthony Wayne, Commander-in-Chief of the American army in Georgia, said: "The keys of the captured city must be handed not to myself, but to my young brother officer, Colonel James Jackson; for to him more than to any other man is due the triumphant is sue of this trying cam paign T Thereupon the General Anthony Wayne. keys were formally handed to Jackson, and he was the first American soldier to tread the streets of recaptured Savannah, from which he had been driven bv the bav- * - > <'!K-ls of the Uritish four rears before. lie was sLill only twenty-three years old. James Jackson, unlike Elijah Clarke, was an edu cated, cultured gentleman. He had a splendid intel lect, and afterwards became a great lawyer and states- ^an. He was a man of medium height and slender figure, but was perfectly formed. He had light hair, .clear penetrating blue eyes, and commanding features. 172 Georgia History Stories. * He was noble natured and warm hearted, but very higrjSJ ^ tempered. He \vas a brilliant soldier of the R tion, but the most glorious part of his career came aftetS! the war was over. '^v in. JOHN T\vicc.s. Another great Georgia soldier of the Revolution was General John Twiggs. Not long before the war started, he came l> < icorgin tro.m Marvland as a young me chanic. He entered the army as captain and rose rap idly to the rank of brigadier-general. Brave, active, talented, .and influential, he was a tower of strength to the Patriots. No partisan leader in Georgia was en gaged in more fights and battles with the enemy, and never once, did he suffer defeat. He lived for twenty- five" years after the war was over, and filled many posi- f tions of honor and trust in Georgia. He was a member f of the State Legislature for a number of years, and was I a trustee both of Richmond Academy, Augusta, and of ; the University of Georgia. He died in Richmond County in April, 1810. Each one of this great trio of Revolutionary heroes,,. ,,. Clarke, Jackson, and Twiggs, became the founder oK |t families that have given to Georgia a number of able and distinguished men. .: i CHAPTER XIII. SIEGE OF SAVANNAH, i. D'ESTAIXG OUTWITTED, - You remember that Savannah was captured by the British on the 29th day of December, 1778. For eight months they kept undisturbed possession of it, but in the early fall of 1779 the Americans laid a careful plan to recap ture the city. Already, France had espoused the cause of America, and had sent a large fleet of warships and an army of men to help in the struggle for in- ^jK-iuk-nce. This iket and army, which was Coinu Under the command of Count d'Estaing, a noted French general, was ordered to proceed to Georgia and aid the Americans in the recapture of Savannah. plan was for the American and the French to get to Savannah about the same time, to sur& 173 17-1 Georgia History Stories. ,'.'?'' ' "'.''; round the city and demand its surrender. It happened,. . however, that the French fleet under d'Estaing reache'd^ ^ '$?''- the mouth of the Savannah River before Lincoln's American forces had arrived from South .Carolina. In stead of waiting for Lincoln's arrival, as he should have done, d'Estaing landed his army at once, and, aclvanc- ing \viihin two miles <>;" Savannah, called on the Brit ish general, Prevost, to surrender. General Prevost seemed much alarmed, and talked as if he might comply with the demand, but asked for twenty-four hours to consider the matter. He also insisted that during this time d'Estaing should withdraw his forces four miles, from the city and remain there until the twenty-four hours had expired. D'Estaing very unwisely agreed to this truce and withdrew7 his troops to a distance Shrewd General Prevost spent the twenty-four hours in vigorous preparation for defense. He kept fifteen hun dred men, soldiers and negroes, working in relays night and day, constructing fortifications, or redoubts, around the city. He took many large cannon from the warships'',,?*% lying in the river and placed them in the redoubts. He*"!- sent a secret messenger to Colonel Maitland over in South Carolina to hurry to his assistance. That officer ' managed, in a wonderful way, to slip past the French fleet in the mouth of the river and to land safely .at Siege of Savannah. 170 Savannah with his regiment of five hundred men. The pent-up garrison was overjoyed at the arrival of this strong reinforcement. During this time Prevost was keeping up a cunning correspondence with d'Estaing, leading him to believ<&e that he would surrender at the end of the twenty- four hours if satisfactory- terms could be agreed upon. In the meantime, Gen eral Lincoln arrived from South Carolina with the American forces. In Count Pulaski. Lincoln's command was the famous Pulaski Legion, led by the valiant Count Pulaski, a Polish nobleman and soldier, who, having been driven from his own coun try by Russian despotism, had come over to the United Mates and joined the American army. lie had been put in command of a legion of cavalry, and had rapidly Rained great distinction as a daring and successful leader. At this time he was about thirty-five years old, the very Qeau ideal of a soldier--tall,. stalwart, handsome, with ,V?O". _- & fine military bearing. v*{. .s ];. As soon as Lincoln arrived, d'Estaing said to- him, 176 Georgia History Stories. with great elation: "I have Savannah already surfp rounded, and it is completely in our power. Negotia tions are now going on for its surrender, and the cit-|| will be ours before sunset without the firing of a guri!||| But in this, poor d'Estaing was wofully mistaken. He had "reckoned without his host.'"' When the twenty-four hours' truce had expired, General Prevost sent word to the Americans that he had no idea of surrendering, but would defend Savannah to the bitter cud. D'Estaing and Lincoln were greatly surprised and disappointed at this reply, and all the more so when they approached the city and found it too strongly protected to be taken by storm. D'Estaing had been completely outwitted by Prevost. II. THE BOMBARDMENT. Deciding that Savannah could not be taken by storm, Lincoln and d'Estaing determined to try to take it by siege and bombardment. The bombardment was begun on the 26th of September; and from then until the 8th of October the Americans and the French boomed and boomed away at the British, and the British, in reply, boomed and boomed at them; but with alk the cannonading not much damage was done off either side. The American cannon balls passed mostly over the heads of the British in the redoubts and fell'* Siege of Savannah, 111 in the city. Many houses were struck, several were de molished, and two were set on fire and burned. Nearly all the women and children were taken over to Hutcherspn Island, where they lived during the siege imtbe great rice barns there. Those that remained moved into the basements and cellars of their houses, where they would be in less danger. In the cellar in which General Prevost's wife and children stayed, the walls were lined with mattresses and feather beds, so. as to make them bomb-proof. A bomb shell penetrated a cellar in which a family was living and, bursting, killed two of the negro servants. Another shell crashed into a room and killed a young mother and her .three-weeks-old infant. Several negroes were killed on the streets by exploding shells. Savannah at that time was one great sand bed, the shells falling in the streets or in the squares generally bury themselves in the sand and have 'heir fuses extinguished, for a bomb shell is burst by a fuse just as fire-crackers are. The negro children got Sf} accustomed to the shells that when they saw one fall they would run up and extinguish the sputtering fuse by\stamping it with their feet or by,throwing sand on . *f v lt,'?and would take the unexploded shell and sell it to tne-:ia rti-ll* er'ymen for sixpence. A dangerous business surely for such small pay! 178 Georgia Pin story Stones. r For two weeks the bombardment was continued 4 ,,** without making any progress towards forcing the Brit- '1 ish to surrender. The French fleet in the mouth'-xowOfst.- 3-Jg. the Savannah River was now in constant danger of being attacked by a more powerful British fleet that might at any time be sent against them from England. Count . d'Estaing was therefore naturally restless and cLnxious to get away. So he and Lincoln determined to try to take Savannah by one brave, desperate assault. III. THE ASSAULT AND PULASKl's DEATH. * . The American and French generals planned very carefully for the grand assault. It was to take, place at daybreak on October 9th. On the east side the approach to Savannah was mostly over dry, firm, level ground, by good roads, and through concealing forests; so for defensive purposes that was the weak side. Hence the British had placed their strongest fortifications there. On the wrest side the ap- * proach was more difficult;. for over there were Musgrove Creek and swamp, and marshy rice fields lying below the level of the city. The French and the Americans de~ ^ ' ^-' termined to make the attack on that strong west side for * the very reason that the British would not be expecting it at that point. To mislead them still further, they J ordered General Hugers regiment to make a vigorous : Siege of Savannah. 179 pretended, or feigned, attack on the east side just before daybreak, so as to cause the enemy to concentrate his forces at that point, while the real assault was being made on the west side. The plan was a splendid one, and might have succeeded if treachery had not taken a hand in this exciting erame of war. On the nielit of OO . d> the 8th of October, James Curry, of Charleston, ser geant-major of a regiment of South Carolina volunteers, deserted.and made his way into Savannah and revealed the whole plan to the British.* At three o'clock on the morning of October 9th, in the darkness before dawn, the French and American forces concentrated in the woods of Musgrove swamp to the west of Savannah, and were there marshalled into battle array for the grand assault. Three hundred yards in front of them was the line of British redoubts nianned with cannon, and in front of 'the redoubts were trenches for the infantry. The assault was to be di rected mainly against Spring Hill redoubt, which stood very near where the "round house" of the Central Rail-. road shops now stands. The assaulting column con- sisted of about four thousand men, three thousand French and one thousand Americans. About eleven " * It is gratifying to know that a year later the Americans captured tins traitor at Hobkirk Hill (N. C), and hanged him. 180 Georgia History Stories. hundred men were held in reserve to strike in at the:* critical time whenever their services might be most)' needed. Pulaski's Legion was among these reserve^ and occupied a position to the left and back of the as saulting column, where, from an elevated piece of ground, Pulaski could clearly see the whole battlefield. A little before sunrise, in the gray light of the break ing day, the assaulting column emerged from th the city of Savannah erected a mag nificent marble monu ment to this heroic for eigner who had sealed with his life's blood his devotion to the cause of American liberty. The monument stands in Monterey Square, in the heart of the city. It was made in Italy, at a Monument to Pulaski. cost of eighteen thousand dollars, and is probably the finest piece of tombstone workd| in Georgia. The figure of Pulaski falling from his horse * as he receives his death wound, carved in high relief on.. one side of the monument, is especially beautiful, and is : regarded by art critics as a masterpiece of sculpture. Siege of Savannah. , 185 -Georgia has honored Ptilaski also by naming one of her counties for him. *.;,,'-u IV. DEATH OF SERGEANT JASPER. j.;,^:._' In the assault on Savannah an American soldier of immortal fame received his death wound within a hun dred yards of where Pulaski fell, and at almost the same moment. His name was William Jasper, a young vol unteer from South Carolina. He was a man of hum ble origin. His parents were poor, honest Irish, who emigrated to America and settled in South Carolina, where they earned a livelihood by the toil of their hands. Their famous son was brought up not only in poverty, but in ignorance,, for in those days the children of the poor had little or no chance for getting an education. William* Jasper never went to school a day in his life, and he grew to manhood without being able to read or write. At the outbreak of the war ho joined the Second South Carolina Resoriment, one of the finest regoiments in the American army. He proved a model soldier and won the admiration of his officers. He was a splendid specimen of physical manhood. There was not a loose stitch In his body nor in his character. Although en tirely uneducated, he was endowed with an abundance of mother wit and the gift of ready and eloquent speech, the Battle of Fort Moultrie, at Charleston, S. C, 186 Georgia History Stories. in the early part of the war, lie distinguished himself,? by a deed of great daring. In the midst of the fight| .?i;f|- a cannon ball fired by the British struck the flag staffS on the fort, am! the American flag fell to -the ground. Jasper picked ii up, and, amid shot and shell, clam- Froni the painting by Oertel. Sergeant Jasper at Fort Moultrie. boring to the tup of the fort, replaced the flag in its former position, shouting, "God save liberty and my country forever!" In recognition of his bravery, Go-yS|f|l| ernor Rutledge, in the presence of the whole regiment,Jy offered him the commission of lieutenant; but Jasper;^ *Vj^< ** replied in these words: ''Governor, I thank you mosf|| .' ''iyf. hcartilv for this honor, which is more than I deserve, Siege of Savannah. 187 but I can't accept it. I am a poor, ignorant body; I can't write my own name or even read a line. As ser geant I may do pretty well, but as lieutenant I would only get myself laughed at and lose the respect of my fellowr soldiers.''' The Governor replied : "Good sergeant, that was nobly spoken ! I see' that you are as modest as you are brave. Since you will not accept the com mission, I beg that you will accept this sword as a per sonal gift from me." At the same time, he unbuckled his own weapon from his side and handed it to Jasper, who received it, saying, with tears in his eyes: "Gov ernor, I pray that I may never do anything to dishonor this sword !" In the years after the Battle of Fort Moultrie, Jas per was frequently detailed to act as scout and spy for General Lincoln. This is the most dangerous service that a soldier can perform, and requires not only cour age, but preat shrewdness and intelligence. Manv were t-7 ' f .__* *-_* r the daring deeds done by Jasper in discharge of the duties of this position. In a number of his expeditions he was accompanied by another famous scout and spy, .Sergeant Newton. On one occasion, in the darkest days of the Revolu tion in Georgia, six American soldiers were being con ducted under a strong guard from Ebenezer to Savan- 188 Georgia History Stories. nah, where they were to be tried for their lives for tering the American army after having taken the oat} of allegiance to the British Government. They wer| accompanied by a Mrs. Brown, whose husband was oh|||i of the prisoners, and her little seven-year-old boy. She. was going to Savannah to plead with the authorities for the life of her husband. Jasper and Newton, while spying through the British camp at Ebcnczcr, found out all about this intended expedition, and they determined to try to rescue the prisoners. On the road that the-fj prisoners and their guard would have to travel, and only a few miles from Savannah, there was a famous spring known as The Spa. Jasper knew that the party would probably stop at this spring to rest before pro- V. ceeding to the city. So he and Newton went ahead through the woods, and concealed themselves behind the thick bushes near the spring, and awaited the com ing of the party. After a short while the party arrived and halted. The soldiers, leaving two of their number to guard the prisoners, stacked their muskets; and, after quenching their thirst at the spring, the whole sat down on the ground to rest. Quick as a flash per an.d Newton sprang from their covert, snatched two'3f muskets from the stack, shot the two armed -guards dead, and then, seizing two other muskets, held at bay:ft ...Siege of Savannah. 189 the other guards, who were required to remove the manacles from the wrists of the Americans. Then the Americans transferred the manacles to the wrists of the British, and so the tables were completely turned! The British -prisoners, eight in number, were marched to an American camp ten miles away. This was one of the most daring and wonderful exploits of the Revolu tionary War. The spring at which it occurred became a noted historic spot, and has ever since been known as Jasper Spring. In the year 1902 the Lachlan McIntosh Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revo lution erected at the place a memorial in the form of a beautiful fountain made of white Georgia marble. All travelers who pass that way stop to drink at the .spring and to ponder on its tragic story. The assault on the British .works in the siege of Savannah, already described, was led by the Second South Carolina Regiment, to which Jasper belonged. They carried the first line of works and planted their flag on one of the fortifications. This flag had been presented to the regiment several years before by Mrs. .YSr- vSlliott, of Charleston, one of the leading ladies of South Carolina. In a few moments British reinforcements ' 'f came up and drove the Americans back from the posiwhich they had gained. As they were retreating, 190 Georgia 'History Stones. Jasper remembered that the flag floating from th<| breastwork had been left behind, and was about to fall into the enemy's hands. Determined to rescue it at the hazard of his life, he turned, rushed back, and mounted the fortification; but just as he seized the flag, a cruel musket ball from the enemy tore through one of his lungs. Holding one hand to his wound ed side, he pain full y madc his way to the rear with the rescued flag. The next day he died of his wound, sur rounded by devoted comrades. To Major Horry, who was hold Monument to Sergeant Jasper. ing his hand, he said: ''Major, I am not afraid to die. When I was a little child my good mother used to take me on her knee and .tell, me about the Great Hereafter, and I believe it. There has hardly been a day, even during all this bloody war, that riia^sffl not said my prayers night and morning. I believe I; am prepared for the Great Hereafter. Tell my old. i Siege of Savannah. 191 5 I father that his son died in hope of a better life. Tell I Governor Rutledge that I never dishonored the sword | which he gave me; and if you .should ever see that ?"' grand gentlewoman (j\frs. Elliott), tell her I lost my life saving the flag which she presented to our regi ment." With these words, he expired. Georgia has honored this gallant Irish-American patriot by naming a county for him, and another county she has named for his brave comrade, Sergeant Newton. In one of the public squares of Savannah a superb monument has been erected to Jasper's memory. It is surmounted by a bronze figure of heroic size, represent ing Jasper in a noble attitude, holding aloft in one hand the flag that he had rescued from the enemy at the Bat- ; tie of Savannah, and in the other the drawn sword pre sented to him by Governor Rutledge. CHAPTER XIV. CY HAET. *$ f student and had a great love for books, and ' he was specially fond of the noble Latin and Greek classics-- s a sure sign of a fine and lofty intellect. ~!$j>. --*v_ 3 & After he had finished his school education he was placed in a large mercantile firm in Savannah in which his father was a .partner, but he had no taste for this hum-drum, prosy business. At his earnest entreaty his father allowed him to go on a year's visit to his mother's people, the Tribe of the Wind, in north Alabama. He was received with honor and hailed with joy by the Indians, for he was their own. Proud of him were they, and they had reason to be. He was six feet tall and straight as an arrow. He had his mother's large, dark, lustrous eyes and a dash of her dusky complexion; ^ he had his father's strong, intellectual head, and his French grandfather's long, tapering, fingers, high in- sU:p, and mien and bearing of a gvntleman. He was made chief of the Tribe of the Winds, and never more did he return to the hum-drum life of a grocery merchant. : . Here we lose sight of him for a few years, but dur- '!? HW.this time there is no doubt that his masterful ability T -yf^v;-. ^ I*_.. y'j'sS'&$r-'- '" asserting itself among the Creek Indians. I\ ffe : f ^" II. McGILLTVRAY IN THE REVOLUTION. - ^ ,S|About the beginning of the Revolutionary War, Me- 208 Georgia History Stories. Gillivray came again into the field of vision, this standing out in bold relief as an historical charactej? A great council of all the chiefs of the great CreeW ' *$; Nation was being held at Coweta Town, right where the little village of Fort Mitchell, Ala., now stan ;-- ,"-',:' McGillivray had really wished his people to be en- ' -it :.-!? Alexander McGillivray. 209 tirely neutral in the war, but this they were not per mitted to be. Their situation was such that they were ^compelled to join one side or the other. He knew that the British were far stronger than the Americans; and believing that they would triumph in the war, he natu rally wished to be on the winning side. But, on the other hand, he was afraid to antagonize the Americans too strongly; for if they should triumph in the war, an issue entirely possible, he knew it would be in their power to visit a terrible vengeance on his people. So he proved a rather hike-warm, half-hearted ally to the British. Throughout the war he helped them some; but had he.chosen so to do, he could have helped them a great deal more. When Georgia was invaded he took an active though not very vigorous part with the British and the Tories against the Patriots. .He was no fighter himself, for he had not inherited the righting instinct with his Indian blood, and he was never in a battle; but he furnished Brown and McGirth and other Tory* leaders with their Indian allies, in rather sparse numbers. Lachlan McGillivray, the father, was a much stancher Tory than his son Alexander, and with his great wealth he did much to help the British cause, the war was over nearly all of his property was 210 Georgia History Stories. confiscated by the Americans, and his family was^l duced to poverty. 111. THE OCONEE WAR. During the Revolutionary War, nearly all of ' ":''-?>&-. Indian tribes of Georgia had sided with the British ancT had engaged in open hostilities against the Patriots. Now that the war was over, they had, of course, to share the fate of the conquered and submit to any terms that Georgia might exact. In the northwest corner of the State dwelt the Cherokee Indians, a small nation very little related to the Greeks. In May, 1783, the chiefs of the Cherokees met at Augusta commissioners appointed by the Legis lature of Georgia for the purpose of making a treaty. The commissioners demanded a large cession of Chero kee lands, which was granted, thus adding considerably to the territory of Georgia towards the northwest. For a long time afterwards, Georgia had no further trouble with the Cherokees. They kept the treaty because they couldn't help themselves, for they were a feeble people and had no strong McGillivray back of them. In November, 1783, Governor Lyman Hall called ' --.it^ the chiefs of all the Creek tribes to meet at August^. :?H-- *--* vV'"*#r' for the purpose of making a treaty with commission ers appointed by the Legislature. When the day fo' r , Alexander McGillirray. 211 the meeting came, only a few of the chiefs were pres ent ; and McGillivray, the supreme chief, was conspicuous by his absence. Nevertheless, the Georgia com missioners went ahead and made a treaty with the few chiefs that were present. These chiefs assumed to act for the whole Creek Nation, and ceded to Georgia all of the lands lying between the Ogeechee and Oconee rivers and extending up to the mountains in the Cherokee country. By this cession Georgia had added to her territory a vast, beautiful and fertile region of country. She at once divided it into two large counties, Washington County to the south and Franklin County to the north.* Parties of government surveyors were sent into the re gion to lay it off into townships and lots. A large por tion of it was set apart to be distributed as bounties and rewards to the Georgia heroes of the Revolutionary War. The rest was to be thrown open to any settlers who might choose to come and pay the small purchase price of the lands. Every encouragement was given ,|pr the rapid peopling and development of this choice region, and a good many settlers actually moved into i&f."' Though only a few of the Indian tribes had been to the treaty, all seemed to acquiesce in it. They llfIjpFa'* These two counties weie subsequently cut up into twelve counties P.sent day. 212 Georgia History Stories. uttered no protest; they did-not interfere with the s vevors or the incoming settlers and moved ranidlIf ' - O Jr \.*i/.*ji? ' away from the east to the west side of the Oconeejf' '-S^' Everything seemed peaceful and serene, but these a^plfe-.. 1pearances were decep* tive. ~ ^-S'^flH- Alexander McGillivray was strongly opposed to the Treaty of Augusta, for he believed that it had been un fairly obtained and that it greatly wron'ged his people. He determined that it should not be carried out; but with Indian cunning he concealed his feelings and de signs, while he went quietly to work to accomplish hisf- purpose. . As soon as he heard of the treaty he hastened to Pensacola, Florida, where, acting for the whole Creek Nation, he made a secret treaty with the Spanish Gov ernment by which he made the Creeks the allies of Spain. This was a master stroke of diplomacy. Spain at that time claimed the country between the Chattahoochee and the Mississippi rivers, including the southern part of the present States of Alabama and Mississippi. Georgia claimed the same region under the original grant from England. The country in dispute was inhabited mainlyr. by Creek Indians, and by McGillivray's treaty Creeks pledged themselves to support the claims Spain as against Georgia. In return for this Alexander McGiUhra y. 213 Spain was to protect the Creeks, as far as she could do ;|s%os.y,. - from the Georg->ians and from all other enemies. .^P^'-Having accomplished this, McGillivray hastened back to Georgia, where he moved quietly from tribe to tribe of the Creeks firing their hearts and stirring them Indians Plundering Cattle on a Frontier Plantation. to revolt against the Treaty of Augusta. The blow fell, Vs Indian outbreaks usually do, when least expected. In Tfc5 '"""'"" jtey, 1785, a party of painted savages crossed . the f/Wte-br iee and went on the warpath into the lately ceded |gion, killing the settlers, burning the houses, stealing fe cattle and whatever else they could carry off. Gen- Clarke, of Revolutionary fame, quickly got 214 Georgia History Stories. up a party of white men and drove the marauders ball across the river. This was the beginning of what is .known in Georgia history as "The Oconee War." It lasted in ,a fitful, irregular sort of way for ten years- being repeatedly interrupted by "treaties of peace," which the Indians always violated at the first oppor tunity. The prime mover and instigator of it all was Alexander McGillivray. ^ The first attempt, to put an end to this so-called Oconee War was in the fall of 1785. In November, the chiefs of the Creek tribes were summoned to meet the Georgia commissioners at Galphinton, on the Ogeechee River (a few miles below the present town of Louisville) for the purpose of making another treaty. McGilli vray used his powerful influence to keep the chiefs from attending, consequently only a few of them were pres ent. It was the story of the Treaty of Augusta over again. The few chiefs present, assuming to act for the whole Creek Nation, signed a treaty by which they not only confirmed all the concessions that had been made at the Treaty of Augusta, but in addition gave up to the whites a large and choice region in southeast Georgia, known then as the "Tallassee Country," incltVSl o' t<^V ing a vast tract between the Altamaha and St. Mary's rivers, and extending considerably to the west. Alexander McGillivray. 215 Of course, McGillivray repudiated this treaty, and under his instigation it was soon broken by the Indians, and the "Oconee War" was resumed. It consisted, as before, of occasional Indian raids into the ceded terri tory on the east side of the Oconee River, with murder of settlers, burning of houses and stealing of cattle. The Indians were usually quickly driven away with/ severe punishment. In October, 178G, another council was held on Shoulder Bone Creek, in Hancock County. It was the same old story that had already been enacted at Au gusta and Galphinton. Only a few chiefs were present. A new ''treaty" was made confirming the Treaty of , Galphinton and adding some new provisions. In a few I months the treaty, under the instigation of McGilli vray, was again broken by the Indians, and the Oconee War went on as before. In this Oconee War (so called), during its continuance, of ten years, hundreds of white settlers were murdered, many homes were burned, and iI tens of thousands of dollars' worth of property' was deJ. ;stroyed. A volume of blood-curdling stories might be | written about the times.* | ' The authorities of Georgia had long known that | Alexander McGillivray was the instigator of all these -Ip^ *Some tragic incidents connected with this war are graphically revflafed in Joel Chandler. Harris's little book, "Stories of Georgia." 216 Georgia History Stories. troubles, and they had used their utmost efforts to a meeting with him and come to some understanding^ but he evaded them every time. He had led them tojj' '' . -'fy' , believe that he would attend the meeting- at Augusta,:^' but he was not there. He had positively promised td?5*' be at Galphinton ; but he had not the least idea of go ing, and-not only absented himself, but kept the other chiefs away. He was full of deceit and double dealing. In his letters to the Georgia authorities (he was a strong and forceful writer) he was never defiant, but always courteous, reasonable, and apparently anxious for peace; ; but he never, or rarely ever, meant what he said. His aim was to drag out the fitful, desultory "Oconee War" as long as possible, until he could unite all of the Indian nations east of the Mississippi into one mighty combina tion and bring affairs to a state where the interests of Spain would be involved, so that he might reasonably call on that great power for aid. At last the United States took a hand in the game and united with Georgia in trying to bring the crafty Indian to terms; but with his fine address McGillivray baffled them at every point, and the "Oconee War" still went on. Finally the United States commissioners"!* .J;"T&V 't succeeded in making an engagement with him for a^f meeting that he could not evade. It took place on the. : Alexander McGillizray. 217 20th of September, 1789, at Rock Landing, on the banks ' of the Oconee River, not far from the present town of 4 Milledgeville. On the east side of the river appeared the commissioners, accompanied by a battery of light artillery; on the other side of the river was McGillivray, with two thousand warriors armed cap-a-pic! He had brought this army to overawe the commissioners. McGillivray, with some of the leading chiefs, rowed across the.river in canoes, and the conference with the com missioners began. It lasted several days. McGillivray was, as always, dignified, courteous and self-contained, appearing anxious for peace and well pleased with the terms offered by the commissioners. The treaty was drawn up in writing, and was to be submitted to a grand council of all the chiefs the next day. McGilli vray and his companions rowed back across the river to notify the chiefs. Late that night the commissioners heard a mighty commotion in the Indian camp across the river. When the}1 arose the next morning they saw that McGillivray and his host of two thousand warriors had vanished! Soon two negroes came rowing across the river in a canoe bearing a letter from McGillivray to the commissioners, which said: "The terms you offer are not satisfactory. We are compelled to move away here to find forag<->e for our horses. Further ne- 218 Georgia History Stones. gotiations will have to be defeired until next springiJIt .*.''-'v^4"t" The commissioners were astounded and bitterly pointed, for the wily fox had given them the These aup'ust officers had come t om New York O -'*". ,_.. . w.....TO .,3a^^?, to middle Georgia--a toilsome journey of more than a month in those days.--and their mission had failed to accomplish anything. Yet, from the Indian standpoint, McGillivray is not to be blamed; for the terms of the From ihc pointing by Gilbert Stuart. George Washington. treaty offered by the commissioners demand- ed of the Indians the surrender of vast tracts of their choicest lands (the same as the Treaty of Galphinton) without the least compensation. No wonder .the su preme chief found, it "unsatisfactory." IV. THE TREATY OF NEW YORK. In the year 1790 the United States was organized^ under the new Constitution which gave to the Federal. Government much greater powers than it had ever had,", before--among others, entire control of Indian affairs. Alexander McGillivray. 219 't5? |fk*-The Georgians appealed to President George Washing' ton to exercise this new power by sending a Federal '" army down to Georgia to conquer the Creek Indians I.:#p&;.a". nd force them to stand by the treaties w hich they had made with the whites. But Washington decided not to do this until he. had first tried his own hand at treaty making with the Indians. He went about it wisely and cautiously. He sent to Georgia Colonel Marius Willett, of New York, as a secret and confidential agent to nego tiate with the Creek Nation; that is, with Alexander McGillivray. Colonel Willett reached Georgia and proceeded di rectly to McGillivray's country home, '''Little Tallassee," on the Coosa River, where he had a long confidential conference with the great chief. McGillivray was a sensible man, and he knew that the time had now come when he must make and keep a treaty with the whites. He preferred to make it with the United States rather than with Georgia, becaused he believed that the United States would be more liberal with him. He agoreed to go to New York (which was then the capital of the JJnited States), accompanied by the principal Indian chiefs, to meet the great George Washington face to face, and to settle with him all difficulties between the Creek Nation and Georgia. 220 Georgia History Stories. It took some time to get the delegation for N|p'"! York together. At length, however, it was accent * -4Si'" '"3 plished. The party consisted of McGillivray, tweri!?^<' vi-_' three Indian chiefs, six attendants, three servants, one interpreter, and Colonel Willett--thirty-five persons all told. On the 9th day of June, 1790, they assembled at From an engraving of 1S41, Stone or Rock Mountain. Stone Mountain, in DeKalb County, and started imme diately on their long overland journey to New York. They traveled in wagons and on horseback. McGil*.*.. livray was on horseback and '. Colonel Willett ' rode ."'^Ifl- iri^tf *' single-seated buggy, called a sulky. As they traveled through South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia^ Pennsylvania and New Jersey, they excited everywhere Alexander McGillivray. 221 the greatest interest and curiosity. In the larger towns .kthey were received with much honor and were hospit- :'*<&:' '^i^"1 ilably entertained. '-^r At Guilford C ourt House, North Carolina, a pa. |spit,he' tic incident o' ccurred. McGill.ivr.ay was standing in 'the court house surrounded bv a throng of ladies and r* . ^ O ''gentlemen who had called to pay their respects. Sud- denly a woman came rushing through the assembly, and, grasping McGillivray by both hands, burst into a flood of tears and poured forth a profuse and eloquent speech of .gratitude and thanks, ending by exclaiming with great feeling, "God bless yon! ,God bless you, forever /" The woman was a Mrs. $. .' .Brown, whose husband, several years before, had been murdered by the Creek Indians in Georgia, after which she and her children had been captured and made slaves. .xMcGillivray, hearing of their sad condition, had paid '''t-\j/<-- ." 'their ransom from his own pocket and thus redeemed iliem from slavery. For a year he had maintained them at his own home, and then sent them to their friends in North Carolina. Since her liberation this was the first time Mrs. Brown had seen McGillivray, and for this ine- she had traveled many miles through the conn- O > C5 p; The kindness which McGillivray had shown to ;.". ffirs. Brown was only one of the many instances in 222 Geofgia History Stories. which he had paid heavy ransoms to the Indians 015% the sake of captive women and children. '.-'!*%? McGillivray's.party readied New York City at noohf^ >, - "'- V5*f;' -j on Tuesday, July 20th, 17DO, and were received witHf' great splendor by the Tammany Society (which has since become so famous) in the full regalia of their order, and were conducted with much pomp and parade to the. lYcsidem's house, where they were .introduced to George \Yashington and the members of his Cabinet. They then repaired to the City Tavern, where an elegant entertainment closed the day. Practically all .the people of New York came out from their houses to see Mc- Gillivray and the Creek chiefs, for they were the most imposing Indian delegation that had ever visited the national capital. The treaty making proved to be a slow process. Washington had several long conferences with McGil- livray, whom he found to be a man of great ability and force of character. McGillivray agreed to surrender to Georgia absolutely and without pay the long and rich strip of country lying between the Oconee and the Ogee-fe ^ " "r^it' 'v chee rivers and extending clear up to the mountains^ | but he firmly refused to give up the. "Tallassee coun try," between the Altamaha and the St. Mary's, whichv the whites claimed on account of the so-called Treaty- ; 4 Alexander McGillivray. 223 |f of Galphinton. He agreed to pledge the firm alle- r*** 1 VP ~.' . - -giance of the whole Creek Nation to the United States, J and in return required that the United States should pro- H-""v 3??&&.:^-t..e& c t .t.h.e. Creeks in the peaceful possession of all their cil lands lying west of the Oconee River. He also had :' himself made an American brigadier-general with full pay. On these terms the treaty was made. It was - drawn up in writing, and on the Gth of August, 1790, was formally signed by General Knox, Secretary of War, acting as commissioner for the United States, and by Alexander McGillivray and the twenty-three chiefs ; acting for the whole Creek Nation. The next day it was . duly confirmed by Congress, and the deed was done! In making this treaty McGillivray had deliberately violated his solemn treaty with Spain, by which, in all |; good faith, he was still bound. At this very time he was holding the commission and drawing the pay of a colonel in the Spanish army. He knew that, as things had turned out, it would be to the interests of the Creeks to put themselves under the protection of the Lmitecl States rather than Spain; so without a scruple %H-. h*'*.e<' broke faith with Spain and transferred his allegiance to the United States. '*/, Y ><' H .,: The Treaty Delegation returned to Georgia by water, p sailing from New York in a specially chartered ship and 224 Georgia History Stories. landing in Georgia at the mouth of the St. River, in the beautiful "Tallassee country," which been saved to the Indians by the masv terful of their supreme chief, Alexander McGillivray. Undoubtedly this famous Treaty of New York wal good, wise and fair to both parties, but it pleased neither the Creeks nor the Georgians. The Creeks complained of it bitter!v because it forced them to surren der the extensive and rich region between the Ogeechcv: and the Oconee, for which they had been so long coritending. The Georgians protested against it violently because it compelled them to give back to the Indians the "'Tallassee country," which had been yielded to the whites at the Treaty of Galphinton. In making this Treaty of' New York the United States had deliberately annulled the Treaty of Gal phinton made by Georgia. Georgia contended that the United States had no right so to do. Thus arose the first assertion under the new Constitution of the "State Sovereignty/' or "States' Rights," for which the South always contended. For a while Georgia and the United States Government quarreled bitterly over the maiSfti; "' ^'^vfiS'' - Furthermore, bv this Treaty of New York both-tKB "''"'"',;.* Creek Nation and the United States were placed ; 4|i awkward and unpleasant relations with Spain ; and,-U<|n I Alexander McGillizray. 225 ~$f :' H i the whole, it looked as if the two great chiefs, Alexan- 1^ f der McGillivray and George Washington, instead of re- I- moving troubles, had only added to them!, for their - ;. U'-*'' Agreement ?-': ' gave. rise to several years of wrangling and sjk c-;'*'.-.'' ' *' one or two "Indian Wars." However, through the wise, cautious policy of George Washington, the troubles were gradually adjusted, and in the year 1796, several years after McGillivray was dead, commission ers representing Georgia, the United States and the Creek Indians met in South Georgia at a little place called Coleraine (now vanished), and made a treaty _ confirming in every particular the Treaty of New York. This Treaty of Coleraine put an end to the Indian troubles, and for a long time thereafter there was peace ;*. between the white man and the red man in our beloved ^ :^State. In the mean time poor Spain had become so in- * volved in European disturbances that she required all of her strength and resources at hmne. She was finally \ compelled to lose sight of her claims to any part of North -America, and eventually sold Florida (1819). r V. WILLIAM AUGUSTUS BOWLES. || After the Treaty of New York, McGillivray rapidly favor with the Indians. There was in Georgia at time a notorious adventurer by the name of W-f ill- 1m Augustus Bowles, who proved to be McGillivray's 226 Georgia History Stones. evil genius. Bowles was a prince of scoundrels, was born in Maryland in 1763. His family* Loyalists, or Tories; and during the War, William Augustus joined the British army at early age of sixteen years. Though but a boy, he was William Augustus Bowles. given the commission of ensign. In less than a yearji while his regiment was stationed in Pensacola, Floridaff ;*$- he was expelled from the army for some disgraceful5" *v# conduct. He bundled up his uniform with bitter curses! and threw it into the sea. He then joined a party o- '. Alexander McGilUvray. 227 .'..(Sreek Indians who happened to be in Pensacola at jthe time, and returned with them to Georgia. There he lived for some time among the savages, learned to ospeak their language fluently, and married the daughter of a chief. Later he rejoined the British army and so distinguished himself that his old commission of ensign was given back to him, and the "stain on his escutcheon''' was supposed to be wiped out. After the war was over he joined a theatrical com pany and went to the Bahama Islands, where he made quite a reputation as a comic actor and portrait painter, .for he possessed marvelous versatility of talent. In the year .1:789 he abandoned the stage and became a law less Indian trader. By his shrewdness and boldness he managed to smuggle cargo after cargo of "contra band" goods through the Spanish dominions of Florida and into Georgia, where he sold them to the Creek Indians at enormous proiits. The Spanish Government offered a reward of seven thousand dollars for his capture, and pur suers got so hot on his trail that he abandoned the smug gling business and went back to live among the Creek tidians in Georgia. He settled on the Chattahoochee rjver, where he was at once made chief of one of -|fe Indian tribes, and he rapidly acquired great influ- with the savages. McGillivray, hearing of him %-:-' fe 228 Georgia History Stories. and knowing his character, threatened to arrest I and cut off his ears if he did not leave the treSP Nation in twenty-four hours. Bowles, knowing 'tjjjjjjj*' ti McGillivray would carry out his threat, left imrrfS 1 'i^ljlf diately and went again to the Bahama Islands, whelfl he was soon followed by a number of Creek and Cherokee chiefs, who idolized him. By his personal magnetism (for, like most successtill scoundrels, he was a man of attractive personality) he won the favor and confidence of Lord Dunmore, the English governor of the Bahamas; and Dunmore, gave him a strong letter of recommendation to the leaders of the British Government in London. Bowles, accompanied by his Creeks and Cherokees, took ship and sailed for London, where, with his painted sav ages, he appeared before the leaders of the Govern ment, and made them a speech like this: fi l come as the ambassador of the united nations of the Creeks and Cherokees. These great Indian nations are anx ious to break with Spain and the United States and to renew their old allegiance to England, if she will aid them in their enterprise. I am authorized to make you this offer by the unanimous voice of twenty thousf|fi| ' -"-" p^^p^ ^ warriors, ready to hazard their lives at the comrria^ of myself, their beloved brother and supreme chiel m ' &**-f$&W: ; Alexander McGillivray. 229 -'Of course, there was no truth in the statement, but f. 5;Bowles was a great liar, and by his personal magnetft. jffism he usually got his lies believed; but fortunately some of the leaders were clear-headed enough to see that he was a humbug, so he wr as very politely but firmly turned down and dismissed. Nevertheless, he and his Indians received a great ovation and many rich pres ents from the people of London. Having failed in his schemes, he returned to the Bahamas. With the money that he had made from his smuggling trade he bought a strong, swift-sailing little ship, which he armed with four cannon and manned with an Indian crew trained by himself in the art of ; navigation. Thus equipped he entered boldly on the | career of a pirate. He went to Apalachicola Bay, Florida, where for a year he played havoc with the Spanish merchant ships, destroying many of them and ":;> securing an immense booty. Again Spain offered a big ; reward for his capture; so, finding that he was about b Y-f be taken and hanged, he sold his ship and returned |p SPce more to his beloved Creeks in Georgia. The (Indians made a greater hero of him than ever, and he .Rapidly acquired a powerful ascendency over them, dubbed him "General," and declared him comaiider-m-chief of all the armies of the Creek Nation. 230 Georgia History Stones. Bowles saw that now was his opportunity to. avenged on McGillivray, who had threatened to off his ears. That chieftain had just made his wise unpopular Treaty of New York. Bowles poisoned minds of the Indians against him, and made them b| .lieve that he was a traitor and had sold them first to" Spain and then to the United States, all for his own selfish gain. Unfortunately there was some truth, or at least semblance of truth, in these, charges. The In dians believed Bowles's accusations. They turned against their great chieftain, whom they had idolized for so.; many years, and lie rapidly fell into disfavor. Poor McGillivray seems not to have had much cour age or ''backbone" ; for he gave way without a strug gle before the strong tide of unpopularity, and, aban-; cloning the Indians and Indian affairs, left the field to Bowles, and spent the two remaining years of his life in looking after his commercial .interests. As for Bowles, he continued to work his rascally schemes in Georgia and Florida for several years, and became an intolerable annoyance both to Spain and the United States. Spain, now for the third time, offered a big reward for his capture, but for a long1 tiine^:fn^^W& one could lay hands on him. Finally, however, sorrlei Indians set a trap for him, and caught him for the ;% Alexander McGillizray. 231 Jl|of the rich reward offered. While they were on their Sway to Florida, they camped in the woods one night, getting a guard over their prisoner. During the night "the guard fell asleep, and Bowles gnawed apart the rope that bound him and made his escape. The astonished Indians awoke and found him gone. They soon got track of him, however, and after a long pursuit caught him nearly starved to death in a swamp. The Spanish Government sent him to Havana, Cuba, and threw him into the dungeon of Morro Castle, where, after languishling a few years, he died. vi. PASSING OP MCGILLIVRAY. Alexander McGillivray, while possessing some .noble traits of character, was crafty, scheming and ^avaricious. We have seen his double-dealing in poli tics, but we should not judge him too harshly on this account; for he was protecting a weak people against a strongo,* and in such cases cunningo and deceit are some'times the only weapons that avail. He loved money, ^and his methods of obtaining it were not entirely above proach. He managed always to get \vell paid by le or another of the great governments of the world >r his influence over the Indians. He was first a British colonel, then a Spanish colonel, and finally an merican brigadier-general, getting in each instance a 232 Georgia History Stories. high salary. By his shrewdness he succeeded curing these offices. He entered into partnership witl a Scotch merchant by** the name of Panton,' and,*..i'n*/".a. way that was not altogether honorable, he used position as head of the Creek Nation to furthercommercial interests. He was undoubtedly true to the Indians, but not in a pure and unselfish way like old Tomo-chi-chi. While serving the cause of his op pressed people with sincere and deep devotion, .he managed also, in an incidental way, to enrich himself. When he died he owned a number of slaves and two^ well-stocked plantations in Georgia, one in Cherokee County and one on Little River, in Putnam County. That he was a man of very high order of ability there can be no doubt. He was a born leader of men. For many years by sheer force of intellect and charac ter he held a great nation of fickle, unstable savages, scattered over a vast region of country, absolutely obedient to his will. No other man ever succeeded in so governing the Indian race. He was a great diplomat. I^or years he baffled the , utmost efforts of the statesmen of Georgia and the ri United States to make terms with the Creek Indiai|||| In the fine game of politics he played off Spain, tf& || United States, and Georgia against one another. '" T*S "in f: . Alexander Mc&lHvray. 233 '^induced the Federal Government to abrogate a treaty - -inacle by Georgia, thus causing1 the first "State Sover- -".,-1 ^ i- / tJ ' CJ :^^;^ ' ' -$a:^ftJroe^i'0eTitJy" qL ua-rrel that ever arose in . the United States. He was a strong, vigorous writer. His classical education gave him a fine command of language. His political letters are said by competent critics to be among the ablest documents to be found in the huge volumes of "American State Papers." He impressed every one who met him personally as a man of rare intellect and of great force and dignity of character. He had a large head, expanded above the ears, with a broad and lofty forehead.* He seems to have possessed but little courage, either physical or moral. Though for years a promoter and instigator of war, he was never in a battle. This does not necessarily imply cowardice: but if he had possessed the fighting instinct in any degree, he would scarcely have been so careful to keep away from the smell of gunpowder. If lie had been a warrior or a .man who was ready to fight, he would not have allowed to be so completely displaced by that brazen- adventurer, Bowles. ^:Vr * For a masterful sketch of this remarkable man and the Oconee War reader is referred to Absalom H. ChappelPs little volume, "Miscellanies .. .f^Georgia," where these and a number of other subjects in our State hisy, are treated with classic beauty. 234 Georgia History Stories. His last days on earth were passed under a. cloud! He had fallen into disfavor with his own people, whom he had served so long, so. faithfully and so well; Spain regarded him as a time server and turncoat, and even the "United States had begun to mistrust him. He had been in bad health for more than a year; and while on a visit to his Scotch friend and business partner, Panton, at Pensacola, he died, in February, 1793. The Spanish Catholic priest at Pensacola, out of spite per haps, refused him Christian burial; but his funeral was attended with imposing civic and Masonic ceremonies. He was laid to rest in the beautiful flower garden of his friend. Thus the great chieftain of the Creeks was buried in the sands of the Seminoles; and there to-day his bones lie in an unmarked and unknown grave, while his very name (once "a name to conjure with") has passed almost into oblivion. When the Creek Indians heard of his death, their old love for him came back .in full force, and from all their forest homes throughout Georgia and Alabama there went up a mighty wail and lamentation, and many savage ceremonies and funeral rites were performed in honor of Alexander McGillivray, son of the beautiful:: Sehoy, of the Tribe of the Wind of the great Creek. Nation. t v: I& CHAPTER XVI. THE YAZOO FRAUD. I. THE YAZOO COUNTRY AND THE SPECULATORS. Take a map of the Southern States or of the United States and find where the Yazoo River empties into the Mississippi. From this point draw a line due east ward until it strikes the Chattahoochee River about where the town of West Point (Ga.) now stands. Many years ago this line was known as the "Yazoo Line," and the region above and below it, for an indefinite distance, - was known as the "Yazoo Country." This region, like all the rest of what is now Alabama and Mississippi, was claimed by Georgia. The part below the line was claimed also by Spain, and for many years the ownership was in dispute between the two conntries. This immense region was at that time one vast wilderness, inhabited only by scattered tribes of In dians, but the lands were among the richest and most desirable on the American Continent. ||||.At that time, soon after the Revolutionary War, iffere prevailed throughout the United States a sort of Sfe . Jia'nia for speculating in "wild lands," as the extensive territory of the different States was called. 235 236 Georgia History Stories. In the year 1789 a combination of speculators frorri^ eral different States in the Union tried to buy Yazoo Country, or a large section of it, from Owing to Spain's counter claim to this Georgia's ' title to it was in doubt, and therefore "tfef commercial value of the lands was greatly depreciated- The speculators offered a half-cent an acre for five mil-' ] i lion acres, agreeing, of course, to take all the risk of j Georgia's doubtful title. Georgia was at that time ] sorely in need of money to pa}- oil: her Revolutionary I soldiers, who were clamoring, strongly for their wages, .|| long past due. So the State Legislature, by a unanimous H ~f vote, agreed to sell to the speculators live million acres of j the Yazoo Country for. two hundred thousand dollars. But before the sale was consummated, President Washington issued a proclamation declaring it to be illegal and unconstitutional; because, in the first place, f negotiations were now going on between Spain and the United States in regard to the ownership of this region, and during the negotiations, of course, neither party had a right to sell the lands; and because, in the second place, according to the Federal Constitution no state could sell or occupy its wild lands until the Indian claims therlfe "K'^SfSF" had been "extinguished" by the United States Governi|j$j X'?.'" by fair and le^al treaty, arid this had not yet been don% = ^ ^7 J .-fflfcva3& I -;;..- The Yazoo Fraud. 237 ff S:"'in regard to the Yazoo Country. So Georgia's sale to :|- -rthe speculators was declared void, and was not carried "irC "'' i 5into effect. This transaction was but the preliminary f< -.^>- ... c J *? to the famous "Yazoo Fraud." u. "THE YAZOOISTS." In 1793 a new and powerful combination of specu lators was organized for the purpose of buying the Yazoo Country from Georgia. It was composed of men from nearly every State in the Union. They were formed into several different "companies," but practi cally they were urrited into one mighty combination, act ing together under one leadership. They offered to pay Georgia in cash about one and a half cents an acre for twenty million acres of the Yazoo Country. The Legislature of 1793 rejected their proposition by an al most unanimous vote. Bitterly disappointed, but nothing daunted by this rebuff, the Yazooists, as this cohort of speculators came to be called, determined to try again. They knew perfectly well now that they could not buy the lands by fair and open means ; but, being unscrupu- 4&us men, they were willing to resort to unprincipled Sftiethods to accomplish their purpose. 'W >$*' The leader and business manager of the whole .Scheme was a James Gunn, or General Gunn, as he was |rnmonly called.. He was a man exactly suited to the 238 Georgia History Stories. base purposes of the Yazooists. He came to Georgi from Virginia towards the latter part of the Revolu'SS tionary War, as captain of a company in General Na^ ;* thaniel Greene's army. Soon after reaching Georgia^ ;.'-!;i?r General Greene reprimanded him severely for some diUf! honest and disgrace ful conduct. When the war ended, he settled in Georgia. He was guilty of a number of 'disreputable acts that should have dis graced him. He was a coarse, brutal, blus tering fellow, utterly After a 'miniature on ivory. General Nathaniel Greene. unprincipled, but very shrewd and full of en- ergy, and possessing in a high degree the "gift of gab." He managed, as bad men frequently do, to make himself exceedingly popular with the masses of the people, and even acquired great influence over many of the leading men of the State. Undeserved honors were heaped upon him, and he was made a brigadier-general in the Staffi J men were no worse, but rather better than the average I man. Most of them belonged to the best families in I | Georgia, and they had hitherto maintained a pure char| acter and an unblemished reputation. Love-of money v-' and the wiles of the tempter had for the moment blinded jr I their moral sense, and they stumbled and fell. 5^No sooner was the sale consummated than the Yazooists set about realizing on their investment. They !F j| were fearful that when the people of Georgia should j| find out the great fraud that had been practiced they F \vould rise in indignation, have the Act repealed, and I the lands returned to the State; hence the speculators i lost no time in dividing their immense territory into I small parcels and selling them out at from five to ten I^ times the price they had paid. They sent agents all over I .the United States, and even to Europe, to push the ||Jes. Purchasers were found without difficulty. The were doing, both literally and figuratively, "a office business," and if it had continued long every them would have made big fortunes; but their was short lived, . for a cloud was gather- 244' " Georgia History'Stories. ing that was soon to burst in terrific fury on doomed heads! IV. JAMES JACKSON AND THE DAY OF WRATH. ,..;->*$ From the first this Yazoo sale had been strongly ppf posed by several leading men of Georgia; but in tholfit days, when there were few newspapers, no railroads, ri? telegraph, and slow mails, it was very difficult to reach the ear of the public. The Yazooists had worked so secretly and rapidly that the deed was accomplishe'd before the people knew what was being done. The Act was now passed and had become a law, and seemed ir revocable. Undoubtedly it would have gone fully into effect without further opposition if it had not been for one man. \f That man was the brave and fiery General James Jackson, of whose splendid record in the Revolutionary^ War you have read in another part of this book. Jackson was now United States Senator from Georgia. He had always .been a bitter opponent of the Yazoo sale. The speculators had secretly offered him a half-million acres of land without the payment of a dollar if he would use his powerful influence in favor of their scheme, but he indignantly replied: "I have fought for the people'oiGeorgia ; that land belongs to them and their children; H& for all the world would I defraud them of it. On the conl trary, I will do all in my power to thwart your scheine.M; .;., The Yazoo Fraud. 245 J In spite of Jackson's efforts, the Act was passed |j .and made a law of Georgia; but even then he would p |not let the matter alone. In a speech in the United I States Senate, in the presence of James Gunn himself, he denounced the sale as "a speculation of the darkest character and of deliberate villainy!" With fiery vehe mence and determination he declared "the infamous act :: must be repealed by the next Georgia Legislature!'3 He 1 was not content to fulminate against the outrage from a distance. He resigned his place in the United States Senate and came back to Georgia and "bearded the lion in his den." He devoted his whole time to stirring up the people on the subject. By pen and by speech he , exposed the deep-dyed villainy of the whole Yazoo transaction. He filled the columns of the only two newspapers in the State with able and severe articles of denunciation. He traveled over the State, and in speeches and talks fired the minds of the people. In pursuing this course Jackson had everything to lose and ,, nothing to gain for himself. Most of the rich and influjfe fttial people of Georgia were in favor of the Yazoo g Sale, because either they themselves or members of their v family were financially interested in the enterprise. In 8 defying these powerful people and publicly charging ffi|m with corruption and villainy, Jackson took his 246 ' Georgia History Stories. life in.his hands, and well he knew it. HistprjUl nishes no finer example of physical and moral courf|| nor any more splendid illustration of pure patriotilS ":'' -^~ Htfbioi.i' The Yazooists, some of"' whom were desperate plainly saw that Jackson was bringing ruin and upon them, and the wonder is that he was not assas sinated; but he seemed to "bear a charmed life, 1 ' as often seems the case with brave and heroic souls. He soon had the masses of the people all over Georgia wrought up to a pitch of furious indignation. ;.'.' I It was not merely the fact that they had been so badfy cheated as to the price of the lands that angered the 1 people, but that the State had been disgraced by the wholesale corruption of its prominent men and law makers. The very name Yazooist became a synonyf of infamy, and the members of the Legislature who had voted .for the Act were branded with disgrace. So irjf censed were the people against them that their liv^s seemed to be in danger. They trembled for their personal safety, as well they might. A number of them left the State until the storm would blow over, some of them never to return. Others skulked in hiding about their homes for months, afraid to show their any public place. The member from Oglethorpe came near being lynched by a furious mob of his.,"f||lb I The Yasoo Fraud, 247 'Kt 4"v I %:low citizens, headed by a man with a rope in his hand; | ;Jbut being warned by a friend he jumped from a back 'i&f' 'J-Wlw' indow and made his escape on horseback. The Sena1 tor from Hancock County fled in terror into South Carolina, where he was shot to death in his hiding- . place by an unknown assassin. It has always been believed that the deed was done by some one who fol- : lowed him from Georgia, being chosen by lot for the v purpose by a secret organization of the enraged citi- l zens of Hancock County. a As to poor, weak Governor Mathews, the people never forgave him for signing the Act, though they knew he had not been bribed to do it. From the heights of popularity he fell into general disfavor. Wrherever he went in Georgia, he fancied that the finger of scorn was pointing at him. His life was made so miserable that he left the State never to return. : The arch scoundrel of them all, James Gunn, was too thick-skinned to mind the disgrace and ignominy 1 that came upon him. With brazen effrontery he con- iHf "IjPgt'i.nued to live in Georgia, and to strut before the public |g Jwith his usual swagger and insolent airs; but it was not jT ?or long, for early in the year 1801 he died, and went ; IL-ji. "Down to the vile earth whence he sprung W&I-j'. letter like this: "I am reliably informed that the hog- tiles have planned to murder my father and six othef chiefs (naming them), who signed the treaty/'1 et cetera. The Governor at once wrote to Chief Mclntosh, urg ing him to absent himself from home and from the vicing v ** ity of the hostiles until proper arrangements for his pro tection could be made, but Mclntosh was a brave man, and knew no fear. He was a very wealthy man for those times, for he owned two large plantations andja hundred negro slaves ' and had three wives, all fulp blooded Indian women. He lived on one of his plant- tations on the banks of the Chattahoochee River, iri what is now Carroll County, Not far away was the: Tallapoosa Country, where dwelt the fiercest of the hos-- tiles and his bitterest enemies. He must have known, or should have known, that his life was in danger, bug he seemed to give the matter no thought. He quietly at home attending to his farming i *; Governor Troup was very anxious that the c"e- de-,*d"%'< lands should be sur' v ey" ed as soon as possible, so that wK-e#B$ the Indians should leave a year hence the white settlers" might move in without delay. The survey would be a tedious process requiring a full year, and it would not be possible for the whites to move in until the work was Troup and the Treaty. 263 completed. So the Governor wrote Mclntosh asking permission to begin the survey at once, guaranteeing that the Indians should not suffer the slightest molesta- tjjbn or annoyance from the surveying parties. After ; considerable correspondence on the subject, Mclntosh, . on the 25th day .of April, wrote the Governor, on be half of the chiefs who had made the treaty, giving free *-_".;*iKfi* ' / ' O O ' and full permission for the survey to begin immediately. The writing of that letter was the last official act of poor Mclntosh! At daybreak on the morning of April 28th a party of one hundred and sixty carefully picked warriors of the hostile Creeks left the Tallapoosa Country and started on a mysterious expedition to Mclntosh's home on the Chattahoochee River. For fifty miles they marched with the utmost secrecy through the thick con cealing woods, avoiding roads and paths. At dusk on April 29th they reached the vicinity of Mclntosh's plantation. Creeping stealthily through the darkness they formed a cordon around his residence. There they tay concealed in the woods and bushes watching his nouse until all the lights were out; then they drew the cordon closer. After midnight they crept up to the . house and set it on fire, and as the flames leaped heaven- they uttered the blood-curdling war whoop! Me- 264: Georgia History Stories. Intosh, aroused from sound sleep, knew at once meant, and that he was a doomed man; but, bray|||| the last, he determined to sell his life as dearly as pos~ | sible. Rushing to the front door he opened it and''"--.'lo'"t--'IJt out his two wives, Peggy and Susannah, and an Indian 4 guest, old Tom a Tustenuggee, one of the treaty sign- f ing chiefs, to make their escape from the flames. Old Toma was shot dead immediately, but the womn; were spared. Mclntosh having barred and barricaded 1 the door, retreated up stairs, and from the upper win dows, with the four guns that he had, kept up ....for. some minutes a brisk fire on the Indian fiends that were yelling and*dancing around the flaming house, while the two women, with frantic screams, were imploritig them not to burn him with the building. Forced-at length by the smoke and heat, he started to rush out, pistol in .hand; but on the threshold he fell, shot down but not killed. Several Indians rushed up and, catch ing him by the legs, dragged him out into the VtiL. While two of the demons took his scalp, a third : d^^ '*'?&,- a long knife through his heart. With a low moari^lfie expired. -^"" ^v'liiPir-t . Near by was an outhouse in which Chilly MctntoMi was sleeping. As the Indians made a dash for the building, Chilly jumped through the window and made Trou [^ and the Treaty. 2G5 liis escape through the woods. During the night the S,j . ' -Indians went to the home of Samuel Hawkins, another fleaty signing: chief, and a son-in-law of Mclntosh, :3L&! J O O ' :|fho Jived in the neighborhood, and killed him as tlev had Mclntosh. thus making their victims ;j.|M j . ' *~> |&ee in number, all treat)' signers. They burned all ''*^^&S' t 41^ buildings- on Mclntosh's plantation, shot down his :V,-ft Kferses and cattle, and took his negroes and carried. tjjem oft. All the next day they lingered about the place, feasting on Mclntosh's provisions and cattle, rending the air with terrific war whoops, and dancing tfie war dance around Mclntosh's scalp raised aloft on i^jong pole. At dusk that evening they vanished as sj||ntly as they had come on the evening before, and returned to the Tallapoosa Country. They carried Mclntosh's scalp as a precious trophy with them, and for days through many of their towns and villages they djfplayed it on a long pole with great popular demon strations of joy and satisfied revenge. The bloody "Law f Pole Cat Spring" had been executed in true .Indian %shion! yl'^The first that Governor Troup heard of this terrible occurrence was on May 2d, when Chilly Mclntosh and ||J|eral other Indians, worn out and bedraggled, rode Milledgeville on horseback and, proceeding to the 266 Georgia History Stones. Governor's mansion, told him the story of the dreact fnl tragedy. As the news spread through the State it produce! intense excitement. The universal belief was that f bloody Indian war was imminent and inevitable. Governor Troup immedi ately ordered the State militia to get ready to march at a moment's notice to the scene of the tragedy to protect the friendly In dians. But the war did not come. The savages, President John Quincy Adams, having executed the sen tence of their murderous law, seemed satisfied; they set tled down quietly and attempted no further outrages. IV. TROUP'S ALTERCATION WITH MAJOR ANDREWS AND GENERAL GAINES. Governor Troup jumped at the conclusion, wrongly no doubt,' that Agent Crowell had instigate"d the In.di:/a?'i*nf$t&^s.. to the murder of Mclntosh and his brother chiefs. "Hfe. wrote his suspicions to President John Quincy Adams, who had just succeeded President Monroe, and agaiif demanded Crowell's removal. The President * ap- Tronp and the Treaty. 267 pointed Major ,T. P. Andrews to go to Georgia as Special agent to make a thorough investigation of the It^nareres against Crowell. About the same time he also ;- '" - *"*' ' /*X?. .',;.. tt->rdered Major-General Edmund P. Gaines, of the jkjf-.'. -'jiV.- j|fjjj||iited. States army, to go to Milledgeville and offer his ||? %efvices and, if need be, the aid of the United States army to the Governor to suppress any outrages that might be attempted by the hostile Indians. "--Major Andrews reached Milledgeville in the latter part of May, and at once demanded of the Governor his charges against Crowell. The Governor wrote them out briefly as follows: "I charge the agent su- :|; jfHintending the affairs of the Creek Indians with: 1st, ^ Predetermined resolution to prevent the Indians, by all ; means in his power, from making any cession of their I lands in favor of the Georgians, and this from the most tlRvorthy and most unjustifiable of all motives. 2d, < With advising and instigating the murder of Mclntosh { and his friends." i, For some reason Major Andrews was very slow ab.out beginning the investigation. Before doing so he, vry improperly, wrote to Crowell like this: "You are |||are that I have been appointed by" the United States iB.vernment to investigate the charges made against you i|| by;;, the Governor of Georgia. While the investigation 268 Georgia History Stories. is going on I am compelled to suspend you from -$oj office. I apologize to you for this indignity. From all I that I have been able to learn, I am inclined to believe not only that you are innocent of the charges but that you are a wronged and persecuted man." This most improper letter was published in the leading newspaper of Milledgeville, where it met the eye of Governor j Troup. He immediately clipped it out and sent it ?in | an envelope to Major Andrews with this note: "If I the enclosed letter be authentic, you will consider all I intercourse between yourself and this government sus- ! pended from receipt of this." He also sent a copy of } Andrews's letter to President Adams, saying that since -, the agent of the United States had already fully pre- \ judged the case which he was sent to Georgia to in vestigate, he was therefore incompetent to conduct the investigation fairly, and that another should be ap- ! pointed in his place. The President, however, paid^no attention to the complaint or the suggestion. Afte^||qii- ] siderable delay Andrews went into a consideratioin^f ; the charges against Crowell, Perhaps the investigation I was thorough and honest. It ended in a verdict..com- j pletely vindicating Crowell; and this, Andrews reported to the President. Of course, Crowell was acquitted and was retained in his position. j Troup and the Treaty, 269 About the middle of June General Gaines, in ac cordance with the President's instructions, reported to Governor Troup at Milledgeville. Gaines was a grand old soldier, and had won great distinction in the War of 1812 and in Indian wars. Troup had a warm admiration for him, and the con ference between them was sympathetic and . cordial. Gaines and An General Edmund P. Gaines. drews, after attending to the spedal business which each had been sent to Georgia, were assigned by the President to the further dutv of makingo; a thorougoh enquiry into the whole state of Indian affairs in Georgia. Leaving Milledgeville, Gaines went into the Indian country on this investigating mission. Soon he wrote Governor Troup a long letter, the substance of which Avas this: "I find that the Indians are bitterly opposed . survey of the ceded lands while they are still them. They regard it as an intrusion and gestation, and therefore a flagrant violation of the ex- 270 Georgia History Stories. press terms of the treaty.' You. will therefore from beginning the survey until the time the treaty for the removal of the Indians has pired." . ;. ; \ Troup replied in a strong, manly letter, assuring ' General Gaines that the same Indians who had made the treaty had given him full and free permission to begin the survey at once; that it would not be injany :} sense an intrusion or molestation; that this seeming'op- - position of some hostiles to it was mere bluster, and 1: that they had doubtless been instigated to it by Crowd! 1 and other bad white men living among them. Hejfur- I ther asserted that the State of Georgia had a perfect I constitutional right to make the survey, and tharxihe S United States had no right whatever to interfere, i Holding these opinions, the Governor refused to obey"; the mandate of General Gaines, and began the survey "" at once, as had 15een planned. The letter, though^jirm : and positive, was couched in terms of the utmost (p|ur-.,vs. tesy. In reply; General Gaines wrote to Troup; l^^t|g||IS weak, childish effusion, in which he berated the Gdjer- nor soundly and read him a severe moral lecture,^^^heV|J whole tone of the letter was grossly insulting. B||6re! ''I? mailing the original to the Governor he sent.a copy of it to the Milledgeville Patriot, in whose columns it.ap- Troup and the Treaty. 271 .. pea red, and there Troup first saw it. Troup at once ^wrote General Gaines: "On reading your letter, pub; -^lished in the Milledgeville Patriot, I lose no time in di- greeting you to forbear further communication with this 1 .^government." . ft '1ft rpi ^ . General ,: Gaines, thus cut off from direct ' communi- fI i--"c.ation with the Governor, vented his spite bv publishing | open letters in the newspapers criticizing and abusing I , .the Governor fearfully. In conversation on the streets I and in public places he was also very abusive, and de- I clared that, if the Governor persisted in carrying on the | survey, he would be guilty of treason, for which he K-_ W4puld be arrested and thrown into prison. Governor Troup wrote to President Adams informing him fully of Gaines's outrageous conduct and demanding that he be arrested and court-martialed. This.the President refjused to do, but he did adminster a rebuke to Gaines I arid warned him to be more guarded in his utterances. ! V. TROUP'S CONTROVERSY WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. | | Shortly after this altercation with General Gaines, | Governor Troup received from the President of the States, through the Secretary of War, a coin- ion ordering Troup politely, but positively, not fe|?||egin the survey of fche ceded lands until the time ' f* '&r 272 Georgia History Stories. ' i1 allowed in the treaty for the Indians to leave had fully ft expired. i Governor Troup replied to the President in a letter il of the same tenor as that in which he had already writ ten to General Gaines. Among other things, he said, in effect: "I deplore extremely the unfortunate controversy between Georgia and the United States; but I cannot % consent, especially in an issue so grave as this, to com- .-. promise a principle for the sake of expediency. Such weakness, carried to its logical conclusion, would re sult in the speedy destruction of all State rights and in the ultimate destruction of the Union itself. The survey ;i of the ceded lands will be begun in a few days." v ;:; But before the survey was actually started, Agents ',' Gaines and Andrews had sent to the Federal Govern ment their full reports on the whole state of Indian '""' affairs in Georgia. They were voluminous documents, ;,ft but the gist of it all was about this:. 1st. Agent John Crowell is innocent of the chargfs |3 agai.nst, 1hi.m. - 2d. The murdered Mclntosh was a traitor to m i people. 3d. Governor Troup never received permission from the Indians to survey the ceded lands before the ex- piration of the time allowed them to leave. Troup and the Treaty. 273 4th. T'.ie Indian Spring Treaty was obtained by T-'V: , ;' unfair, and fraudulent means. It is bitterly opposed by ..r:.V. ^forty-nine fiftieths of the Creek Nation, and it cannot - $;?/ s ibe carried into effect without great risk of a horrible .. war. , . ^i-'-j President Adams sent . a copy of these reports to Troup, stating that he would at once enter ^-into a thorough investigation as to the validity of the .. Indian Spring Treaty. . Pending this investigation Gov- ernor Troup decided to postpone the survey; for not 'the survey, but the much more serious matter of the ,- validity of the treaty itself was now the issue. President Adams summoned to Washington City a Ipftumber of leading chiefs of the hostile party of the . "Creeks, and from their evidence, taken in a secret, or "executive," investigation, he decided that the Indian Spring Treaty had been obtained by unfair and illegal |ttteans, and should therefore be annulled. Also, acting under the authoritv ogiven him bv the Constitution of the United States, he proceeded to make a new treaty "With the thirteen Indian chiefs present in Washington. This new, or Washington, Treaty, did not differ greatly from the Indian Spring Treaty. The only points '' were : ;^^|st. By the Washington Treaty the Indian' s were 274 Georgia History Stories. .\ allowed two full years to leave the ceded hinds instlM: | of only a year and a half, as stipulated in the IndiatV Spring Treaty. 2d. By the Washington Treaty a considerable sec tion of country contained in the cession of the Indian Spring Treaty was given back to the Indians. Take a map of Georgia, draw a line from the little town of Roswell on the Chattahoochee River due west to the Alabama boundary. The triangle of country bounded on the north by this line, on the east and south by the Chattahoochee River from Roswell down to West: Point, and on the west by the Alabama boundary line, indicates about the section given back to the Indians by the Washington Treaty. It embraces several hundred thousand acres of land. In April, 1826, this new or Washington Treaty was ratified by the United States Senate, and the Indian Spring Treaty was thereby an nulled. ;' --t-^5--s.--~'*" Governor Troup was officially notified of all ItjtfellS \' ^~''''3$ijS&K^ proceedings, and in a polite communication Presidents Adams said to him, in substance: "You must not bei^ gin the survey of the ceded lands until the expiratio|l| of the time allowed by the new treaty; and when the survey is made, the lines must be run according to thef new, or Washington, Treaty, and not according to the Tronp and the Treaty. 275 . Indian Spring Treaty.'' Governor Troup, in reply, ^practically said: "The Indian Spring Treaty was perj^fectly fair, legal and constitutional. It was approved ffand confirmed by the President and the Senate of the ^United States. From that moment, the Indian titles llfeere extinguished and the lands were transferred to .'?lfjf|N'.. \l-tne State of Georgia, as a vested right, and henceforth f^could not possibly be under the jurisdiction of the ; .United States. The Washington Treaty, is unconstitu tional, and therefore null and void. The Indian Spring ..."-Treaty is valid, and the rights of Georgia demand that xits terms be carried out. I shall see to it that it is car- Tied out. I shall begin the survey of the ceded lands ^at once. I shall run the lines according to the Indian "'Spring Treaty, and not according to the Washington Treaty; and on the 26th day of September, 1826, we shall begin the actual occupancy of these lands, as aljlQwed by the Indian Spring Treaty." Up to this time, while a majority of the people of Georgia warmly approved the Governor's course, yet a ^respectable minority, composed largely of conservative, f^vell-balanced men, thought that he was acting unwisely, ^and that he should yield as to the time of beginning ; ; :}i||he survey, rather than involve Georgia in a serious con- "V->-&$:&;< - with the United States; but now that , the 276 Georgia History Stories. V& J1"?'"' United States had gone so far as to annul the treaty^ itself, well-nigh the whole people of Georgia rallied to Troup's support; and the State, throughout its length and breadth, rang with the popular cry, "Troup and the Treaty! Troup and the Treaty!.'' True to his word, Troup at once began the survey of the ceded lands in the face of the President's order to the contrary. For a while everything went on peace ably and without any disturbance from the Indians, while President Adams, anxious not to go to extremi ties, quietly allowed it to proceed, but warned Troup to "let the lines be run according to the Washington Treaty and not according to the Indian Spring Treaty." The survey began in the southern-part of the ceded territory and progressed northward. Everything went . smoothly until the surveyors reached the bend in the Chattahoochee River where the town of West Point now stands, and where the stream deflects sharply to ...;.&.C&. the northeast. From this point the surveyors shptili$^ :;*$$^ according to the Washington Treaty, have proceeded; along the east side of the Chattahoochee; but instead-,, of doing so, they continued straight northward alohg^ the Alabama boundary to the west of the Chattahoo chee. according to the Indian Spring Treaty. Then the trouble began; for the Indians, holding to the Tronp and t/ie Treaty. 277 * Washington Treaty, considered this as a hostile in- fLvasipn of their domains. They raised a great howl and ||made violent threats. A band of them pounced down -upon a party of. surveyors, took their instruments away liand drove them off. Little Prince and several other :8SH' _ v.. -i)jS7,gk - , . 1>: ^ihiefs hastened to Washington City and made a furious ^protest to the United States Government, and called on ;the President for protection. President Adams ordered ; t.he officers of the Federal Court in Georgia to arrest 'and imprison any surveyors who should persist in in vading the Indian domains, as defined by the Washing- tpn Treaty. Governor Troup retorted by ordering the .|State Courts to liberate by legal process any persons that might be so arrested. But this issue between the Federal Court and the State Court was never brought to a test, for no arrests were actually made. ;!|j. VI. DECLARATION OF WAR. t: On the 16th of February, 1827, a young man, Lieu tenant ]. R. Vinton, of the United States Army, arrived in Milledgeville from Washington City. He was dressed in citizen's clothes, and he had come on a secret mission from the President of the United States Governor of Georgia. Entering the executive he introduced himself and gave his rank and l|ition; then, drawing a letter from the inside pocket 278 Georgia History Stories. of his coat, he handed it to Governor Troup. It was a communication from the President of the United States, through the Secretary of War, to the Governor of Georgia, announcing in unmistakable terms that if the Georgia surveyors did not cease from invading the Indian domains, as defined by the Treaty of Washing ton, the United States Government would use force of arms to protect the Indians in their rights. This was an ultima^ turn, or tentative dec laration of war. Gov ernor Troup's reply is the most remark able communication State House at Milledgeville. ever sent by the Goy- i --V^. ernor of a State to the President of, the United States., While preserving perfectly the form 1 of official coiif|es^T: ?| it was full of spirit, fire, and bold defiance, saying;- among other things: "I give your threat the defiance: -^ that it merits. Understand distinctly that I will re'silt : by force of arms to the utmost any .military attack that the Government of the United States may make on the territory, the people or the sovereignty of Georgia; and all the preparations necessary to the performance of this Trou/y and flic Treaty. 279 duty, according to our limited means, will be made im mediately. You who are constitutionally bound to pro ject us from invasion are yourselves the invaders. You Slave espoused the cause of savages against the rights t'of Georgia. From the first decisive act of hostility,, you {|will be considered and treated as a public enemy. The ^^ygument is exhausted; Georgia will stand by her arms." :>To show that he meant what he said, Troup immediately ordered the different militia generals throughout the State to collect arms, provide depots of supplies, and have their commands ready to march at a moment's notice to the threatened frontier to repel any attempt of the United States forces to invade Georgia soil. The controversy had now reached its crisis. Georgia was in open, armed rebellion against the United States! Intense excitement prevailed through out the State. The people, almost to a man, enthusias tically approved Troup's course, and almost to a man perhaps they would have joined his army to fight any invading Federal forces. More than ever the State fang with the cry, "Troup and the Treaty! Troup and the Treaty!" A bloody civil war between Georgia and the United States seemed almost inevitable. vii. "ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL." ^Happily, however, wiser counsels prevailed in 2SO Georgia History Stories. Washington. President Adams and the other authorities were extremely anxious to avoid an ar1|||p| conflict with Georgia. Therefore they had for weeks * been carrying on secret negotiations with the disaffected ^ Indians, trying to induce them, for a moneyed constd- : cration. to transfer to the United States for the benefit of Georgia the tract of country in dispute between the i Indian Spring Treaty and the Washington Treaty.^itt-"-* now seemed, quite suddenly, that these negotiations would almost certainly be successful. President Adams wrote to Governor Troup announcing the gratifyim? "* -K^'tp <1 fact. The news followed quickly on the .heels of ^fclfe ^ "declaration of war," and filled Troup's heart \vith jpy. His reply to the President is one of the noblest of his noble letters. It breathes the spirit of purest and loft iest patriotism, and as a splendid expression of the ; "States' Rights'" doctrine, it has never been surpassed. Pending the negotiations, he withdrew the surveyors I from the field. , '...- In November, 1827, it was announced that the tiations had been completely successful. The Indians J had agreed, for a moneyed consideration, to giv|||ti{ :!) the disputed lands to the United States for the benefit ': of Georgia, and also to make no further objection to the immediate prosecution of the survey. In other words, Troup and the Treaty. 281 they had agreed to rescind the Wasliington Treaty and to abide by the Indian Spring Treaty in its stead! The ease with which this concession was obtained seems to ; s|jbw conclusively that the hostiles never were seriously rebellious against the Indian Spring Treaty, and that tljere \ ;ftp- would ' have been no real trouble about the matter il it|ifrhad been left to Georgia, as it should have been. Either the United States authorities had been greatly misled (as Troup all along had insisted) as to the real temper of the Indians, or else their actions had been governed by sheer obstinacy and a determination to have their own way. The cause of war having now been entirely removed, the .trouble between Georgia and the United States was quickly and amicably adjusted. The war cloud van ished, the drawn swords were sheathed, excitement rapidly subsided, and soon everything was serene and '|ely. The long and heated controversy was over, and 'States' Rights" had come out gloriously triumphant * n a year or two all of the Creek Indians had moved irom Georgia to Mississippi, and the vacated lands were Quickly occupied by sturdy white settlers. It is impossible for any fair-minded person to read ^^ernor Troup's correspondence with the United *:-. *$t'V -^It';*'^ V I^IgS authorities during this controversy without being . Georgia History Stories. convinced thai throughout the affair he was governed' by no motive but the purest and most courageous pa triotism, and that in the whole proceeding he was right and the United States was wong. His messages and letters on the subject would fill a good-sized volume, They are masterpieces of English. In clearness, con-'v ciseness and force of expression, and in simple, unaf- fected eloquence they are unequaled by the official ut terances of any other governor of Georgia. .-i IT VIII. LAST DAYS OF TROUP. I I In the fall of 1827 Troup retired from the guber- I natorial chair, a position which he had held for two 5 terms (four years). Declining a number of banquets - and ovations with which his admiring .fellow-citizens in different towns in Georgia w7ere anxious to honor him, ,.-f he withdrew at once to his elegant country home "f ,,A'-A1'-"' *':$i|8 "Valdosta," in what is now Laurens County. ^ftis?il : >W ^;-? earnest wish was to spend the rest of his life there ",.-". in quiet and domestic tranquillity, but he was not ,per- J mitted to do so. "?' | One year later, in November, 1828, the Georgia Legis lature, without giving him the slightest intimation of its intention, unanimously elected him United States Senator for the long term of six years. As soon as he heard the rumor that this would probably be done, he Tronp and the Treaty. 283 hastened as rapidly as possible from Laurens County to Milledgeville for the purpose of positively forbidding h$is' nomination; but travel was slow in those days, and he reached Milledgeville just two hours after i^", ^ 'election. Under the circumstances he felt that fl^pught not to refuse the office that had thus been ?-$&'. - t|j|rst upon him. With unfeigned reluctance he went ishington City and took his place in the United ""Slates Senate. Owing to bad health, in the form of a diiiressing throat trouble, he was unable to take any prominent part in the debates and discussions. After serving two or three years he resigned on account of ;-*%ft.. hij&health, and ag'ain withdrew to his Laurens County plantation, where he spent the remaining twenty-odd ;l|s- - . '. veirs of his life in quiet retirement, though many efforts * v\^g-made to drag him back into public life. jrln April, 1856, at the age of seventy-three years, he &= He was one of the greatest men that Georgia produced. He will go down in history as Georgia' doughty champion of "States' Rights." CHAPTER XVIII. GEORGIA AND THE CHEROKEES. I. EARLY RELATIONS. l| The dealings of the State of Georgia with the lJlfteherokee India'ns is a subje ct replete with interest for Jthe student of American history. It makes a peculiar X */ land unique story. It is a case without a parallel. Vol- Jumes have been written on the subject, but these books are now out of print and are rarely if ever read. In J;he following condensed statement of the leading facts vin the case the author hopes that he may help to rescue fthis remarkable story from the oblivion into which it Seems likely to fall. The Cherokees were a nation of Indians that had their homes in northern Georgia and in adjoining parts pf Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Compared with the Creeks, the Cherokees were a weak people, not nearly so numerous and not so fierce and warlike. Their nearest town or village was two hun- clred miles away from Savannah and vicinity, where Oglethorpe planted his first colonies. On account of ,|his great separating distance there was, during the Mplonial period, little intercourse between the Cherokees '.-Vfi'ii'-'f-,* * 'Sjf' 2S5 286 Georgia History Stones. and the whites of Georgia; they were almost stran-;^^l-f;ftlpi to each other. |S 'S During the Revolutionary War the Cherokees, lju, the Creeks, espoused the cause of the British against the Americans; and in the campaigns in Georgia thev took, under the leadership of the Tories, quite an active part against the Patriots. When the war was o.ver they had, of course, to accept the fate of the conquered - and submit to such terms as the victors might choose to impose. Accordingly, in May, 1783, at what was called the Treaty of Augusta, the Cherokees were re quired by Georgia to cede to her quite a large tract'of their country lying about the head waters of the Oconee River, in the northeastern part of the State. The tract included the whole or parts of what are now Franklin, Hart, Banks, Jackson, Hall and Madison counties. After this treaty, for the next thirty-five or forty years the Cherokees were, in the main, left alone byj^the ' whites of Georgia. . ----^11%&*. .^-T^^ffe'^^l During all these years Georgia was acquiring^v||f|h^| the Creek Indians by a successive series of treaties "(as * will be fully shown in the next chapter) great strip>s|pf ']$ ' *\:/ vsji-f rth Georgia were not suited to this purpose; and that is why during all these years, while the Creek Indians were being pushed out of middle, west and south Georgia by the resistless hand of the white man, the Cherokees were left unmolested in their beautiful moun tain valleys in the northern part of the State. From 1802 to 1823 the United States Government, of its own motion, and in pursuance of a general policy that it had adopted in regard to the Indian race, made repeated efforts to persuade the whole Cherokee Nation, not only those that lived in Georgia, but in other states, to remove to a rich reservation set aside for them be yond the Mississippi River. They were offered liberal 'nducements to make this removal, but the efforts of the Government were almost entirely futile. Several hun dreds did move to the West, but the bulk of the nation clung persistently to their Eastern homes. Those that 'ived in Georgia were especially firm in their determina^ofc < ";:'f'Jg/^?*"-r not to move. fCTn the year 1819 the United States Government *m 288 Georgia History Stories. purchased from the Cherokees, for the benefit of$j|f|t State of Georgia, by fair and legal treaty, quite a large|f tract of country in the northeastern part of the Stated, and lying adjacent to the tract that had been ceded bv^ the treaty of 17S3, already mentioned. The Cherokees now occupied only the northwestern portion of Georgia, embracing about one-sixth of the entire State. /; ^ In a general way it may be said that from 1783 to 1824 the Cherokees were unmolested by the Georgians. II. CIVILIZING OF THE CHEROKEES. ^ During these long years of tranquillity great changes^ were being wrought in the social and political condition >'| of the Cherokees. Many white men, mostly Scotch, or "fr .Scotch-Irish, were accustomed as licensed Indian trad- ^ ers to go to and fro in the nation plying their voca- /' tion. A number of them married dusky damsels of.the 3 race, the daughters of chiefs and head men, and settled clown in the Indian country. They were shrewd : fel-.-y . - -'$ijj^iii lows, with a keen eye to business. They estarjlilHedlSI * * 'tr. '*f?'.v **:;.'- ^ themselves on the choicest lands in the rich valleysy-lnd^ by industry, thrift, and cunning accumulated ' forjtffles..J||| From these mixed marriages there sprang, of cqMse,.'ft numerous half-breeds, and in the next generation a number of these became chiefs of the principal tribes ' of the Cherokees. By sheer force of superior intellect, Georgia and the Cherokees. 289 character, and intelli gence, these half-breed lehiefs gained complete over the na- and exercised a . Dominating influence in its affairs. Some <}f. the most noted of 'these chiefs were John Ross, Major Ridge, and 'his son, John Ridge, Major Ridge. lias Boudinot, Charles Vann, George Waters, and John punter. There were also a number of others. t^ These mixed-breed leaders were generally men of "ia^ucation and force of character. They were energetic and enterprising, and very ambitious for the elevation of their race. They threw open the Cherokee Na tion to civilizing influ- ences. Under their en couragement Christian missionaries, most of them from the Northern States, swarmed into the country and went up and 290 Georgia History Stories. % I down in the land .preaching the gospel with great :'$. $ \ zeal! Nearly all of the Cherokees in Georgia were converted! to Christianity, such conversion as it was. *! Numerous! churches were built and were well attended and supported.! Schoolmasters were imported, and a number of schools%! were established. A Cherokee alphabet was invented ' II and books were printed in the language. A newspaper! devoted entirely to the interests of the nation was pub-l"fh lished at the capital, New. Echota. Several quite large | towns arose in the valleys. Agriculture was pursued ?^I& with steadiness, intelligence and success. Many of theft half-breed chiefs and a number of white, men who had a1j$** married Indian women ("squaw-men" as they were called) owned large, well-conducted plantations and gangs of negro slaves. Indeed, nearly all of the ft H wealth and practically the whole political power of the "ft nation were in the hands of these two classes of men. On account of their wealth and comfortable homes, they f8j were indeed loath to leave Georgia. The masses ;^K|he1 nation seem to have been a dull, inert, poverty-stricKen- If 'A J , -.'T,^.^ |Hj people, living in a half-civilized state which, though || it may have been better, was not nearly so interesting f| as out-and-out savagery. Still to a man they were de- ' votedly attached to their Georgia homes, and to a man Georgia and the Cherokees. 291 they were firmly resolved not to budge a peg nor to 4r . Cede another foot of land to the whites. III. POLITICAL STATUS OF THE CHEROKEES. | As the Cherokees advanced in civilization they grew fiore and more ambitious, aggressive and arrogant in $$$<-. . OO O to their political standing. In 1823, when Pres- Monroe once more made an earnest effort to per\s&iiade them to move west, they thus replied: "It is the fixed and unalterable determination of this nation never again to cede one foot of our land. The Chero kees are not foreigners, but the original inhabitants of A'$'m.' erica; and they now stand on their own territory, and they will not recognize the sovereignty of any st%ate. within the limits of their territoryJ ." You mav be sure that this was not the language of any simple In dian, but" of the educated, sophisticated half-breed chiefs. He who runs may read the significance of the u|erance. It was tantamount to saying: "We, the ?^7 Cherokees, are here in Georgia to stay. We claim abso lute, ownership of the lands and absolute sovereignty Within the territory .which we now occupy, and we will brook no interference from any other power. The State of Georgia can exercise no sort of authority over .,'-'^ O . has it any claim to our lands." Strange to say, States, under the administration of President 292 Georgia Plistory Stories, Monroe and afterwards of President Adams, uj Cherokees in this claim of absolute, fee simple ship of the lands and of independent sovereignty - Georgia protested vigorously against it, urging that-the? State of Georgia alone had 'the sole right to the lands ^ and denying that the Indians had a right to refuse when - a cession was demanded on fair and reasonable terms. President Monroe, speaking for the United States (jrbv-'v eminent, replied : ''We have done our best to persuade v the Cherokees, by the offer of liberal terms, to cede their lands to the State of Georgia, but we have entirely : failed to get their consent. We have no authority^and " are under no obligation to use force or compulsion to accomplish this result." Here the matter was dropped : for two or three years. During this time the attention ' of Georgia was. absorbed in acquiring from the Creek Indians, by the famous Treaty of Indian Springv (a full account of which was given in the last chapter);||he .;. last, remaining strip of their Georgia lands. During these two or three years the Cherokp^|reiy - '-''~';>V: C:,V '- ''V' allowed to go their own pace, and they went irinT a " gallop. In July, 1827, the Cherokees held a iilatiinall . . $. constitutional convention at their capital, New Ecnota, situated in what is now Gordon County, near the pres ent town of Calhoun. They framed and adopted an Georgia and the Cherokees. 293 lilaborate constitution, modeled largely after the Const |i8tu'.tion of the United Sta' tes. It asserted that the Chero- ;Jee Indians constituted one of the sovereign and inde- itlv- . '.''.' fjpndent nations of the earth, having complete jurisdic tion over its territory, to the exclusion of any other state. It provided for a representative system of gov ernment much like that of the United States. It is needless to say that the making of this constitution was wholly the work of the educated mixed-breed chiefs. All arrangements were made for organizing the gov ernment under this constitution and for putting its pro visions into full operation. In November, 1827, Georgia completed her final deal with the Creek Indians, and the last red man of that great nation left the State forever and journeyed towards the setting sun. The only Indians now left in Georgia were the Cherokees, who "occupied about one- sixth of the entire State, the most beautiful and in many particulars the choicest part. To these Georgia now turned her attention, with the full determination that , too, must be required to leave the State forever yield their lands to the whites. On the other hand, Cherokees were, to a man, equally as determined to budge a peg. The Cherokees' contention was: "We are an hide- H?r- 294 Georgia History Stories. ; pendent and sovereign nation, owing neither allegiance' nor obedience to any other power on earth. The lands that we occupy belong to us by the most absolute and unquestionable title known to man. We shall never surrender nor leave them. We are here to stay." The Georgians' contention was: "The lands now held b\the Cherokees belong solely to the State of Georgia. The Indians are only tenants at will; they have been allowed to occupy these lands thus long only by suffer ance. They must now be required to surrender these lands to the State of Georgia, by peaceful means if pos sible, by force if necessary. The Cherokees must go." Plainly a battle royal between these t\vo powers was inevitable and imminent. In the winter of 1828 Georgia struck the first blow, and the contest was on! IV. GEORGIA AND THE CHEROKEES LOCK HORNS. In December, 1828, the Georgia Legislature passed a bill enacting that the Cherokee country should be put under the jurisdiction of the laws of Georgia. T'h'..se^f,'-ta^ c- t was passed on the ground that, as the Cr+1heroki ee-^-?c%?o?u$n'' try was part and parcel of the State of Georgia, it should be governed by the laws of Georgia. Thelreal object of Georgia in passing this act was to moveT: the Cherokees to leave the State, for it was supposed that yyhen they were convinced that they would not be Georgia and the Cherokees. 295 5, J| allowed self-government in Georgia, they would be "*^-V~' "*jU:-Ap"! (f -f much more willing to cede their lands to the whites and *v -% move away. In order to give them plenty of time to U5;'. tmake up their minds to do this, the Act was not to go K- ' *mto effect until June 1, 1830. Of course, the effect of this Act was to abolish the Cherokee government and to render null and void the constitution that the nation had so recently made. The Cherokees felt deeply outraged at the Act, the purpose of which was to destroy their government, to snuff out their constitution like a candle, and to render their .tboasted sovereignty utterly meaningless. But instead of resenting the wrong in savage fashion, instead of de fending their rights with the tomahawk, knife and rifle, as Indians, are wont to do, they resorted to the more ^civilized but tamer method of appealing to the courts. They determined at the first opportunity to test the validity of the Act of the Georgia Legislature before the Supreme Court of the United States. They had good reason to feel assured that the Federal tribunal Would decide the case in their favor. pml -An opportunity to test the matter soon occurred. In |fe summer of 1830, very soon after Georgia's obnox- act of jurisdiction had gone into effect, a half- Cherokee by the name of George Tassel com- * *-^ Georgia History Stories. mitted murder in the Cherokce country. He was, ar raigned before the Georgia State Superior Court, then sitting in Hall County, and was duly tried, found guilt^. and sentenced to be hanged, His attorneys appealed the case to the United States Supreme Court, asking that the verdict be set aside, on the ground that the act of the Legislature giving the State of Geor gia jurisdiction over the Cherokee country was,a violation of the Federal Constitution, and was therefore null and void. The case, George Tassel vs. the State of Geor gia, was duly entered Governor George M. Gilmer. on the Supreme Court docket. Governor Gilmer was officially notified of the action, and was instructed to appear before the court for Georgia as defendant in the case. The Governor replied with spirit that the United States Supreme Court jurisdiction in the case, and that the State of Geofpf? would scorn to compromise itself by appearing before tlij|t tribunal as defendant in the cas The Governor that it was a foregone conclusion that the court woulK '' . Georgia and the Cherokees. 297 lidecide the case against Georgia and in favor of the %Cherokees. To prevent this he resorted to the extraor:fdinary measure of dispatching a special messenger to :||Jlie sheriff of Hall County, with instructions to hang "'George Tassel immediately, before his case could be reached on the Supreme Court docket. The Sheriff obeyed the order promptly, so poor George Tassel was precipitately hanged while his case was pending in the Federal Supreme Court. Thus ended the case, an end which, we must admit, was brought about by a rather high-handed measure on the part of the State of Georgia. Georgia's action was severely criticized in the halls of Congress; it was furiously condemned by the Cherokees themselves, and it was violently censured by a large part of the people in the North. But these pro tests and bowlings had no effect on Georgia, for she went sturdily ahead executing her laws over the Cherokee country. The Cherokees resented it bitterly in their hearts, but they used no force of arms to stop it, and they struck no blow from the shoulder out. They were determined at the first opportunity to appeal ag'ain to jvSf. :||fe Supreme Court of the United States. They hoped that high tribunal might be the means of freeing from the grasp of Georgia, and of confirming in the fee simple possession of their lands. 298 Georgia Histor Stories. V. GEORGIA AND THE GOLD DIGGERS. ?&. In the year 1829 gold in moderate quantities w.=/.^s discovered in the Cherokee co iin try, especially in thlt section which is now included in Lumpkin, Gilmer and Union counties. As the news spread through Georgia and the neighboring states it :aused much excitement, and there was an immediate n sh of adventurers to the Cherokee country. By the summer of 1830 there were upwards of three thousand of these interlopers in the alleged gold regions. They did not find any great quan- tity of gold, but enough perhap: to pay them better than ordinary labor would have don e, and the free and easy life was exactly to their liking During the day they would dig and wash for gold a fter the crudest methods, and would spend the greater part of the night in drinking, carousing, gambling and fighting. In intrud- ing on the Indian lands witho ut leave, license or title from any one, they were violating the laws of three governments--the la\v of the Cherokees, the law of the United States and the law of Georgia. The Cherokees were too weak or too spiritless to drive them away,*afe -*-\_ .-*/ . though they must have been a sore annoyance to them; the United States was too i ndifferent to undertake it; so the task was left to Georgia Governor Gilmer, by instructions from the State Le Hslature, sent numerous' Georgia and the Cherokees. 299 .ii proclamations to the intruders to leave on pain of severe ^punishment, but they gave no heed to these orders. In- the Governor's "paper bullets," as they were llealled, got to be the subject of ridicule, not only among SJthe gold diggers themselves, but throughout Georgia. 3||ilonvinced at length that he would have to use strong ^measures, the Governor braced himself manfully to the ^job. He sent into the region a company of seventy-five "Georgia soldiers, under the command of Major Wager, fof the United States army, with orders to oust the in truders at any cost. The soldiers broke up the miners' camps, destroyed their implements, and escorted many "of them at the point of the bayonet across the border Jyith fierce warnings never to return. Thus> in the course of two or three months the lawless gangs were cleared out of the Indian country. It is not recorded that the Cherokees urged any objection to this exercise of" Georgia's authority in their country. In December, 1830, the Legislature passed a law that no white person should reside in the Cherokee country without a special license from the Governor of Georgia. The Governor was empowered to grant such Jfcenses, in his discretion, to those who would take an Sv^llitef^tv to surprport and defend the Constitution and laws of ia, and to demean themselves in all ways as loyal 300 Georgia Histc y Stories. and faithful citizens of the St te. Persons law would be guilty of a higl misdemeanor, the for which should be not less lan four years* ii ment in the State Penitentiary This law, though aimed primarily at the intruding Id diggers, was also intended for another class of p rsons very different from the gold seekers. These we e the Christian missionaries, who for a number of -ears had been preaching the gospel to the Cherokees. These men were all from the North, sent thither by th rich missionary societies and organizations of that sect n. Not content with discharging their high function of preaching Christ and Him crucified, they began to ake a part in Indian poli- ^ tics. They sympathized arde tly with the Cherokees "in their struggles with Georgia, and they expressed their views and feelings on the aibject without restraint, They openly and publicly ondemned the action of Georgia in extending her jur diction over the Cherokee country, and they encourage the Indians in their oKstinate and unwise attitude t vvard the whites. To exl elude such a class, the Leg lature, in large enacted the above-mentioned aw. VI. THE CHEROKEE NATION p. THE STATE OF GEORGIA ,.% Early iri the year 1831, Jo n Ross, head chief of t]f| Cherokees, acting for the n tion, brought suit. in Georgia and the Cherokees. 301 ^United States Supreme Court against the State of H . . Ir'^-"^%.'v suffer the consequences. Sin:e they did not he^^ng^ warning of the Governor, they and eight other p^r|om were arrested and tried by th<* Georgia Superior Court, and were found guilty and sentenced to four prisonment in the State Per itentiary at Milledgeville. At the penitentiary gates a proposition was read to them *, Georgia and the Cherokees. 305 *w.. ffjfom the Governor offering to set them free at this last ftoment if they would agree to obey the law. Nine of Jhem accepted the offer and were turned loose, but flJIvs. Worcester and Butler refused to yield. The prison doors closed behind them, and they were put to hard labor like common criminals. Their deed of self- sacrificing heroism was tremendously applauded by their friends at the North. The principal object of Messrs, Worcester and Butler in accepting imprisonment was to furnish the Cherokee Nation with a suitable test case to cajry to the Supreme Court. The case was accordingly r: appealed to that court under the caption "Worcester and Butler vs. the State of Georgia." Of course, the niain object of this suit was not to secure the release of : Worcester and Butler, but to get from the Supreme * Court of the United States a declaration that, the Act f the Georgia Legislature in extending the jurisdiction the State over the Cherokee country was a violation * the Federal Constitution, and therefore null and void. Messrs. Wirt and Sergeant were again retained as conn- the Cherokee Nation. Georgia again, now for the t, refused to appear as defendant. The line of for the plaintiffs was necessarily much the as had been presented in the case of "The Chero- :ion i's. the State of Georgia." 306 Georgia History Stories. As every one expected, ths decision of the in favor of the plaintiffs and against the Staiffe^of^ Georgia. Chief Justice Marshall, in delivering the do - cisipn, went into quite an expensive historical argument- '~:- but the main point of it was that the Cherokee Indians were an independent and sovereign nation, and that m> other state, people or power had any right to interfere with their government or t3 dispossess them of^their''"'$. ". ' 5 lands; that the Act of the Georgia Legislature extend- ing the jurisdiction of the State of Georgia over the ; Cherokee country, was a vio ation of the Constitution oi -. the United States, and was consequently null an devoid; * and that, therefore, Messrs. Worcester and Butler; who ? had been convicted under the operation of this Act, had t^ been illegally convicted, and were now illegally im prisoned and should be released. The Cherokees were overjoyed when they heard of this decision. They believed it would lead to securing";' ,i*!w. ,* V:-; . ^*.' I. them in the permanent possession of their lands.^and in ^ * ! * **f3'A'>-\. 'i-j-Vv-' -- /-vo1,' J*- 0i^|fc -$ "&$ absolute sovereignty in their own territory. Tli^eyl^ljif^tfw- S^- ' also gladdened the hearts o\ Messrs. Worcester ler in the penitentiary; for t ley supposed, of their prison doors would nov^ fly open and that theyTvSuld walk forth free men, to be lionized and glorified by the Cherokee Nation, and by tleir hosts of admiring friends Georgia and the C'hcro'kccs. 307 in the North. But both Indians and martyr preachers jwere doomed to bitter disappointment. Andrew Jackson ;|was now President of the United States, and his views f&bout dealing: with the Indians were the reverse of y/ O Ithose of his two immediate predecessors, Monroe and "f~'l~\ams. H' e .h. ad for y/ ears been .known as a strongO: ad- gvocate of clearing the Indians out of the way of the yvhite man and removing them to Western reserva tions, by peaceful means if 'possible, by force if neces- Sary. Georgia could count on his helping her, as far as -we could, in getting rid of the Cherokees. Now, in this crisis, he helped her with a daring hand. He simply re- President Jackson. fused to execute the judgment of the Supreme Court. When approached on the subject by friends of the Cherokees, he curtly replied: "John Marshall has pro nounced the judgment; now let him execute it!"- But, f course, John Marshall had no power to execute it. So'.-.- this famous decision of the Supreme Court of the States amounted practically to nothing. Georgia steadily ahead executi. ng her government in the 308 Georgia History Stories. Cherokee country, and Revs. Worcester and Butler languished in the penitentiary at Milledgeville. '.v A year later Governor Lunipkin, who had succeeded Governor Gilmer, notified the two prisoners that if they would comply with the same conditions that had been offered them as they stood at the peni tentiary gates sixteen months before, and which they had then rejected, he would pardon them. Concluding that their Governor Wilson Lumpkin. martyrdom had now been sufficient, they accepted the conditions and were pardoned and set free. For this gracious act Governor Ljumpkin was severely criti cized by many people in Georgia. . VIII. GEORGIA'S AGGRESSIONS. - -'**'f^$$-{?%$4$S.' 4j*, In 1831 the Georgia Legislature instructed the Gov- '! ernor to have the whole of the Cherokee country sur veyed and marked off into counties. Of course the --In- : dians understood that this was only a preliminary step towards an attempt to dispossess them of their lands. They uttered bitter protests and gnashed their teeth in %, Georgia and the Cherokees. 309 Srage, but they made no warlike movements to prevent Hpie enforcement of the Georgia law. They offered no 'fjetet of violence to the parties of Georgia surveyors, who f|vent quietly through the country prosecuting their work, the course of a year the survey was completed and |fhe territory was divided into ten new Georgia counties. jyfhe State of Georgia, by advice of Governor Lumpkin, paused here for a while before taking another aggres;:'sive step, hoping that the Cherokees would now come to vtheir 'senses and make a treaty ceding their lands to the 'tyhites. President Jackson made an earnest effort to ;j>ersuade them to do so, but without success, though -Some of the leading half-breed chiefs did show signs of yielding to the inevitable and of coming to terms. > In the latter part of 1832 Georgia took another ag gressive step. The Legislature passed an act instructing jfie Governor to distribute the lands of the Cherokee cbuntry among the people of Georgia by the land lottery system.* It was a tedious process, but in the course of a|year it was finished, and the lands of the Cherokees Were distributed among the citizens of Georgia. The >In^dians, however, were not to be ousted for the present. paw was passed allowing the whites to move and setthe unoccupied lands, of which there were great system is fully described in Section III of the next chapter. 310 Georgia Histo -V Stories. quantities; but they were forbidden by stringent regula- tio-ns to intrude on those in actual possession of the Indians, or to molest them ii any way in their homes. Many*> whites did move in and establish themselves on the vacant lands in the rich valle s. They must have been odious neighbors to the India is, but the poor creatures raised no hand of violence c gainst them. This meek behavior, so contrary to tl i true Indian character, shows how spirit-broken the ( herokees must have been. In all these procedures Ge >rgia was openly violating the Constitution of the Unite . States as interpreted by the Supreme Court in its recent decision ; but her action was countenanced, no to say encouraged, by President Andrew Jackson, vho was in hearty sym- pathy with the Georgians ii their. desire to get the Cherokees out of the State, :Ie sincerely believed that it would be best for the Indi? ns, as well as the whites; < r_'j!?1^3i"T,.- and his strong common sense taught him' that itM"'-S'S"^a case in which it would not do to be too -squeamisSl in regard to the technicalities of the law. " IX. TREATY ACTIONS. , vv -; '' "J^i'..' '|l^. By this time a number of leading chiefs of the Cherokees had come to realiz( the utter hopelessness' of their struggle with Georgia, a id were in favor of mak- ing a treaty with the Feden l Government looking to Georgia and the Cherokees. 311 o the cession of their lands and removal to the western reservations; but a large majority of the nation, under Jthe leadership of other chiefs, were as violently opposed |p ever to considering any such proposition. Thus the liation became divided into two factions, the treaty party ^% ipM the anti-treaty party. %b In February, 1835, rival delegations from these two factions visited Washington City for the purpose of con ferring with the United States Government. John Ridge headed the treaty delegation and John Ross headed the anti-treaty delegation., Ross was given the first hear ing. He intimated that the Cherokee Nation might agree to cede their lands and move west on certain specified -terms and conditions; but these "terms and conditions" were so thoroughly and absurdly unreasonable that the United States Government refused to consider them for a moment, so Ross was politely dismissed. John Ridge was then heard. He and his fellow delegates remained some clays in Washington, and agreed with the United States commissioners upon a treaty that was satisfactory to both parties, but according to Indian law this treaty 'Would have to be accepted by the whole Cherokee Nation before it could become effective. Through the influence :||! Ross and other chiefs it was rejected by the over- fhelming- sentiment of the nation; so all of these neeo- vv AY"!-. ""^ 312 Georgia History Stories. tiations came to naught. Many were the contentions, charges and counter charges of factions during the next few months. The anti-treaty party grew turbulent. Several leading men of the treaty party were murdered or assassi lated on account of the stand they had taken. The wh tes living in the Chero- kee country became alarmed for their own safety, and called on Georgia for help against the threatened dan- J. -'^ ger. Georgia sent a body 01 troops, known as-''the Georgia Guard, into the country to protect the whites and friendly Indians. But the hostiles offered no open acts of violence and no armed resistance. They seemed to have lost entirely their old lighting spirit. But still they remained unmoved in their determination to stay in Georgia. There was but one more ktep left for Georgia to take. In the fall of 1835 slpe said in effect to the Federal Government: "If yoiji do not use the power vested in you by the Constitution and laws of 'the United States and clear these Indians out of our S|al|, J| as it is your botmden duty to dp, we will do it ourselyejs, even if it has to l3e done at tie point of the bayonet,!" The Federal Government knew that Georgia meant -wHjat she said. The situation had reached its crisis. Some thing must be done, and that speedily. Andrew Jack- Georgia and the Cherokees. 313 jr. S!.. I* \ son, President of the United States, saw but one way |j g out of the difficulty, and with characteristic independ- ''$$ #&* 'f f|-encc he adopted that way, although he knew it was open t %to severe criticism. & JS| il'lfe. Under the Constitution of the United States only ?' 'f the Federal Government can make treaties with Indians. ? t In the latter part of 1835, Jackson, as Chief Executive f ^ of the Federal Government, called on all the chiefs of : the Cherokee Nation to meet at their capital, New Echota, :; for the purpose of making a treaty. A Mr. Schermer- '!*'. thorn was sent as commissioner to represent the Federal Government. The convention assembled at New Echota Hpn the 21st of December, 1835. Only the chiefs of the "treaty party, a comparatively small number, attended . the meeting; the chiefs of the anti-treaty party pur posely absented themselves. Nevertheless, the commis- > fsioner went ahead and made a treaty with those that were present, as he. had been instructed to do. The terms of the treaty were as follows: 1. The Cherokees were to surrender all of their lands east of the Mississippi River, and were to receive ,1 .from the Federal Government in lieu thereof 7,000,000 CL~- - . . '.'.Vv ' - * of land in the Indian Territory, whither the whole Nation was to remove within two years from the treaty. 314 Georgia History $ tones. 2. They were to be paid $5 000,000 in the improvements they had made on the ceded 3. All the expense of their removal to the Territory and a full year's support after they reached there was to be borne b the United States Govern ment. 4. The Indian Territory was never to be annexed to any other state, nor was any other state ever to exercise any authority over it. The Indians were to, b>e guaranteed the perpetual possession of the lands within their territorial limits to the exclusion of all white per sons. 5. The United States \vas to afford the Indians pro.. y, :.,;-.- tection from all intrusion by tme whites and against all foreign and domestic enemies. The treaty was agreed to arid signed by all the chiefs present at the meeting. Two months later it was duly confirmed by the United States Senate and received the signature of the President of the United States. Against these proceedings loon Ross, head chief of the ' '' 3 *;>>Z '.'; -s: Sv, Cherokees, entered a strongo- .pr rotest,> but to no X. EXPULSION OF THE CHEROKEES. This Treaty of New Echoia was undoubtedlv illegal, f. ' 'Pig: for it was agreed to by only a handful of chiefs. -M'ore than nine-tenths of the Cherqkee Nation were avowedly Georgia and the Cherokees. 315 and bitterly opposed to it. But the form of the law 'had been complied with, and Georgia was determined that the treaty should be rigidly enforced. In this the State was sustained by Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, who with his strong common sense saw -; ,.&;i .that this was the best possible way to settle the Cherokee &'^?t"r'' ouble, whi.c'h" for years had been vexi. ng Georg' ia and the Federal Government and which was growing every day more and more serious. According to the terms of the treaty, the Indians were allowed two years to leave, and on the 24th of . May, 1838, the State of Georgia was to take possession of the ceded territory. As the time approached and the ,; Indians made no motion to leave, the Secretary of War sent a confidential agent into the country to inquire into the state of affairs. The agent reported back to Wash ington that practically the whole Cherokee Nation still I -^Trepudiated the treaty and ' would positivelv refuse to abide I I by it, and that the only possible ' way to make them move I would be at the point of the bayonet. 1; I :* Throughout this long struggle much public sympa- I trthy had been manifested for the Cherokees in nearly all &.- I parts of the United States. This sentiment now became * ,'v l;|stronger than ever. In the halls of Congress such men Webster, Clay and Calhoun vigorously condemned the IS 316 Georgia History Stories. New Echota Treaty, which th >y declared to be illegal and fraudulent. The people of the North, a especially of New England, poured forth violent tirades of abuse on the Georgians, and, with characteristic me$- dlesomeness, .sent petition after petition to Washington asking Congress to use the United States armies to pro tect the Cherokees in their rights. Martin Van Bure'fi >''>\i;?ur months, and was neeessarily full of hardships, hough everything possible was done to lessen their suff wrings, it is said that four Georgia and the Cherokees. 319 thousand of the poor wretches died on the route. It S was the most pitiful exodus that ever occurred on the n American continent. By the 1st of December, 1838, H. . '. fjthe last Cherokee Indian had left the State of Georgia. Georgia was much censured in nearly all parts of !the, United States, and especially by the people of the flNorth, for her conduct towards the Cherokees; but her ^treatment of them was virtually the same as had been C; ^practiced by every state in the Union towards the -Indian race. For despite the theories of sentimental ists and the high-sounding opinions of Supreme Court ijudges, the whites had always acted on the principle Jthat the lands of America belonged to them, and that Indians were only "tenants at will," to be cleared out vS'.'/- ^ - | ^whenever they got in the white man's way. Self-right- I eous New England herself, whose fanatical howling I ^against the Georgians had been specially violent and I;- IJD-fTensive, had acted on precisely this same principle I years before; only she got rid of her Indians by simply : 'exterminating them in heartless wars, instead of by the \ "slow, patient, humane method pursued by Georgia to- | "wards the Cherokees. Throughout this long contention sentimentalism and strict letter of the Constitution and laws of the ited States were all on the side of the Cherokees, 320 Georgia History Stories. but good sense, practical wisdom and real humanity were all on the side of Georkia. The idea that a tribe of Indians should have been allowed to keep perpetual possession of a large portiop of the best part of the State of Georgia as an absol ately independent and sovereign power in the very mid st of the white man's civilization was absurd. It wou.d have proven a political and social impossibility. It must be borne in mind that these lands were not taken away from the Indians, but were purchased from them, They were forced to sell, it is true; but they were paid a good, fair, full price, as any one who will read the t Treaty can plainly see. XI. ASSASSINATION OF HE TREATY CHIEFS. On the 22d of June, 1839 three of the most prominent chiefs of the Cherokees, Major Ridge, Elias Boudinot and John Ridge, all mixed-breeds and among the most intelligent men of the nation, were cruelly assassin- . ated in the Indian Territory, where they were;|fSst i establishing themselves in tl: eir new homes. Major Ridge was shot dead from his horse in the p-ubWlic road by parties lying in ambt sh. At almost the same hour Elias Boudinot, twenty miles away, was called from a new house that he was building by several men, who pretended that they wished to speak to him on Georgia and the Chcrokees. 321 business. Unsuspecting, he stepped aside with them, and I was instantly clubbed to death, the assassins vanish- ving in the near-by woods. On the night of that same I day, John Ridge, thirty miles in another direction, was [ ^dragged from his. bed and literally cut to pieces with !|-knives. These three men had been the leaders of the I .treaty party in Georgia, and were therefore very odious i 1 to the anti-treaty party. That they were murdered out | of pure vengeance by members of the anti-treaty party j there has never been the slightest doubt. Thus the | civilized and Christianized Cherokees, who through all I their persecutions in Georgia had never struck one I manly blow from the shoulder out in defense of their I\ '-rights, 'showed by these cowardly assassinations that I the savage instinct, on its baser side, was still strong I in them. Of^-&t-avsjsr,:'. CHAPTER EXPANSION OF GEORGIA. I. GEORGIA'S CONDITION AT THE CLOSE OF REVOLUTIO When the Revolutionary \\ ar closed in civilized part of Georgia was coi ifined to a long, narrow strip extending along the west side of the Savannah River and along the Atlantic Coast nearly down to Florida. This strip embraced s carcely more thamlone* eighth the present area of G( orgia. It was thinly populated by about 35, )00 inhabitants--l . whites and 1G,000 negroes. T hese people were deplorable condition. For nior > than two vearsvt had been subjected to the havo and horrors of :,j - '$*$& had been practically a civil wa of the worst war in which Patriots and Toi ies, brother Geor^i|ns, next-door neighbors, fought each other ; hatred and savage cruelty. IV urder, theft, destruction of property, and nearly all concei^afile atrocities had characterized this barbarous warfaf^|^fea it had left the conntrv ruined. Every family and %very individual in the region had sirYered severely. Hopes had been burned, farms devast ited, families scattered, 322 Expansion of Georgia. 323 and communities broken up. Savannah and Augusta, the two largest towns, were nearly destroyed. The peo- pie were poverty-stricken. There was -very little money. Agriculture was badly crippled and commerce was al- 3)> l.f".: *?: W most suspended. | | The morals of the people, too, had suffered Sen- '' Men had become in a mea' sur:e brutali.z. ed by' the hardening experiences through which they had passed. Human life was counted cheap ; drunken ness, gambling and pro fanity were very preva- The Walton-Hall-Gwinnett Monti- merit at Augusta. lent ; quarreling, fighting duels were frequent; yet these people were not es sentially bad. From the moralist's standpoint there was much wickedness among them, but there was little real rdepravity, little innate meanness and baseness. Theirs invere the sins of passion, provoked by temporary concli- i-tions, not the sins of falsehood, which always indicate ^something radically wrong in character. They got drunk, ^gambled and swore, quarrejed and fought; but they ab- .iiorred lying, cheating, deceit, sordid selfishness and all of base and dishonorable conduct. The wonder- spirit and energy with which these people set about 32-1 Georgia Histcry Stories. rebuilding their ruined forti nes show that they sessed in high degree the qualities of a sterling heroic manhood. Their standard of character was high. and there were among them a number of really great men--men who would have been considered great in any age and in any civilized country in the world. Soon after the war was over the property of all the Georgia Loyalists, or Toi ies, who had been active against the Americans was :onfiscated and sold, and the money was put into the State Treasury. It amounted to quite a large sum, and probably saved;4)ie . - '*$&*" State from bankruptcy. Most of the Tories, knowing that they were held in great odium and would probably be bitterly persecuted, left the State immediately after the Revolutionary War. It was, on all accounts,.v'a happy riddance. Some of t lese Tories were good, 3 high-toned, honorable men; b ut many of them, esp- $ ;;v.-;r" ! :-.\" daily of the commoner classes, were a base set. TridSe that remained in Georgia wer i ill treated by' '<:''< '^Sc^rffe^-.- - ! te** triots and could scarcely get justice in the law By the side of the civilized strip, above describe^, Jay the uncivilized or undeveloped part of Georgia, ing far to the westward. It was one vast forest^ for the most part trackless and unexplored, and was inhab ited.only by the scattered tribes of Creek and Cherokee Expansion of Georgia, 325 i Jlndians, There was not on the American continent at |hat time any more desirable region for pioneer settlers TENNESSEE I" It f N RTH CAROLINA/,-' ^ __i._ _ ^^.^ . \t^ Map Showing Expansion of Georgia. [Han these wild lands of Georgia. The statesmen of wfeorgia fully appreciated this fact, and immediately ||fter the Revolutionary War they began to arrange for 32G Georgia /-//V/orv Stories. opening these lands to settlers. The. first step was to clear the Indians out of toe region, and this was done promptly and vigorously, ii. THE FIRST EXPANSION: FROM THE OGEECIIEE TO THE QCONEE. As you have already learned in the chapter- on Alex ander McGillivray, the State of Georgia, in the year 17S-1-, under the guise of a so-called treaty, forced the Creek Indians to give up all of their lands lying be tween the Ogeechee and Qconee rivers and extending up to that section of the uherokee country which had already been acquired by tile whites. ' Thus an exten sive, beautiful and most inviting region was added to Georgia's domain. It was dfvided into two great counties, Washington County o i the south and Franklin County on the north. The< e two great counties have since been divided up into t ii or twelve Georgia counties of the present day. Every possible encouraglement was given by, .the State to the rapid peopling or this new^ acquisitionvi^he lands were literally given akvay. A large portion' of them was bestowed as bounties or rewards on Georgia soldiers- who had fought in the Revolutionary War". Besides these "military grants," as they were called, the State allowed any new-comer, who was "master or head Expansion of Georgia. 327 :> of a family," to go into the new region and select for j|himself any parcel of land, not over two hundred and f '^ fifty acres, that he might choose, provided it was not Ii iffe5!-already, claimed by some one else. He had to bear the fft fpexperise of the survey himself, and was also required iy 4. to pay a merely nominal price for the lands. Then the I -f lot was his, and the State issued him a warrant for it, f i known as "Head-Right," because each head of a family, ' J after complying with the conditions named, had a legal fe, V and indisputable right to the property. | * Notwithstanding these great inducements and ad- i. \, ; vantages, there" was seemingly one very serious draw{ y back- to the rapid settling of this choice region, and that [ was the attitude of the Creek Indians. As you have alf ready learned, these Indians, under the instigation of [ A; their supreme chief, Alexander McGillivray, repudiated :' the so-called treaties by which these lands had been t given up. From their homes on the west side of the U'Oconee they made frequent destructive and bloody .|^forays on the white settlements on the east side of the Jriver. These irregular and fitful, but exceedingly danfl.Jigerous, forays were kept up for nearly ten years and known in history as the Oconee War, an account' which you have already had in connection with the of McGillivrav' . In spite of this danger many 328 Georgia History Stories. bold pioneers moved with their families into the region; and not a few later paid the penalty of their daring with their property or their lives. For mutual protection they lived close together, form ed military companies among themselves, went always armed, and built rude forts, called "block- _ A Block-House. houses," in which their families couki take ref uge during a foray or in times of special danger. The remains of a number of these "block-houses" stood in Georgia until recent years, and the location of some of .them can be pointed out to this day. In 1T9G the Indians, as you have been told, were perfectly pacified by the Treaty of Coleraine, and gave no further trouble. The emigration into the new coun try, which had all along been flowing in a steady stream, was now greatly increased in volume. Many of the settlers came from the older parts of Georgia^ especially from Wilkes and Columbia counties; but a large majority of them were emigrants from states other than Georgia. They came mainly from North Carolina and Virginia, with a considerable intermixture of South Carolinians and some Marylanders. Expansion of Georgia. 329 The North Carolinians, who were largely of Scotch,Irish stock, settled chiefly in Franklin, Banks, Ogle^ ;thorpe, Madison, Washington and Montgomery coun? Ities. Most of them were poor people, not. poverty| Jsitricken, but of very moderate means, owning few Iffslaves or none. They were not a cultured folk, but they /From an old print. *#" Family of a Pioneer in the Interior of Georgia. were robust and wholesome in body and mind, and of sterling character. Many of the ablest men of Georgia Jjbame from this North Carolina stock. I f; The Virginians settled mainly in the section now | contained in Hancock and Greene counties. They were f: wealthier, better educated, and, in a social sense, betfe ^ter bred than the North Carolinians. Most of them tobacco planters, whose lands in east Virginia 330 Georgia Hi story Stories. had, from long use and careless cultivation, worn out and unproductive The opening of fresh lands of Georgia cam as a godsend to thes||||j,J| ginians. They disposed oi their Virinia in great numbers moved to "Georgy," as they always pronounced it. The migration of a well-to-do tobacco planter from Virginia, to Georgia was a striking spec tacle. The family emigran t train usually consisted of Emigrants and Plantation Wagon. V'' V; one or two six-horse plantation wagons, with their great '? boat-like bodies and arched canvas coverings. Into these huge wagons were stored necessary agricultural implements and the rude belcngings of the negro slaves. - They were accompanied by t' wo or th"ree "Mjm& f? '"'&''^v^'- '-"',- wagons, loaded with provisions for the journey and%|ffi ^ 1 . "* * .-?^A "'&, the furniture of the white family; and one of these wagons was generally set asi :le to be used as ani anv i j=j-jitvfiJck' ' ^Si5 ' ->;^^ ^ lance for the weak and feebl negroes and for such ^as i- 4^ Expansion of Georgia. 331 'Si': ?$ - fmight be taken sick on thejournev. The women and pvi-- J ' Jtphildren of the white family rode in a vehicle comfort- ||Vc |ably provided with springs and seats, and known as a |fersey wagon." The men and youths of the family fxle on horseback. The negroes, or all that were strong fSfl^hough, walked the whole distance, driving the flocks |and herds before them. Of course, the outfits of the Ipoorer emigrants were much more modest than the one ^escribed, consisting of two or three (or in some cases fIem- av' be of only one) two-horse \vagons, carrying all their fgoods and chattels. The journey generally occupied a 1ffSjIi'll month or more. On reaching "Georgy," the emi- ^grants usually found rude, temporary homes already provided for them, prepared by gangs of workmen who had been sent on several months in advance to make a >.'-"-: Rearing in the forest and erect a few log cabins. H^ ?8f' With wonderful energy and rapidity all of the set- . tiers, both North Carolinians and Virginians, cleared ^away the primeval forest and brought the virgin soil 'junder cultivation. The fresh lands of Georgia, even the iiplands, were at that time exceedingly fertile and pro- jijictive. As some one said: "You had but to tickle the ,, 'ilsfcSs^ ^P8psom ^ tne ^arth with a plow and she would laugh ^stfe abundant harvest into your lap!" The people de- ,M|)ted themselves exclusively to agriculture. They Georgia His ory Stories. raised mainly foodstuffs and supplies for home consurh'ption. Corn, wheat, oats, rye barley, potatoes aiid purripi. kins were produced in gre it abundance. Flocks antf herds of cattle, sheep anc hogs were raised. Tlie woods abounded with gam and the streams teemed with fish. There was an overwhelming plenty of the "good things of the earth' for both man and beast, Wool, some flax, and even a little cotton for clothing and leather for shoes were >roduced and manufactured on the farms. Almost the >nly "money crop" was to bacco, which these people h ad learned so well to raise in Virginia and North Caro ina. The principal tobacco rket was Augusta; but tobacco growing was not a lucrative business for the planter, barely furnishing him with money enough to buy such necessaries and cor iforts as he could not make f at home. Fortunately, howe er, these were few. There was never a more indepenc int, self-sustaining, self-respecting people in the civiliz d world than these pioneer settlers of middle Georgia. The extreme southern part of the new region (inf j| eluded mainly in what is r ow Emanuel and Tattnall f| counties) was one unbroken pine forest, with corn|J -paratively sterile soil, and a that time it was supposed^ | to be entirely worthless [or agricultural purposes! | Expansion of Georgia. 333 Sflj*.:** ||Naturally, it was settled up very slowly. By the year 11800, however, a few people, generally very poor, had ^__.oved into this uninviting region and established their Siomes amid the sighing wilderness of pines. Of these fJpf eople and all' the other "piny woo, d folks" of Georgia, fIP$v'-ve shall have more to say further on. p In 1783 Georgia had, including whites and blacks, p5,000 inhabitants. In 1790 the population was 82,000, Hand in 1800 it was 165,000. This increase was owing 1|mainly to the emigrants from other States who had Ijmoved into the newly opened country between the Ogee- Ifthee and the Oconee. All of the desirable lands in this x;strip were now occupied, and even the sterile "piny '-woods'' contained a considerable population. The peo|ple began to call importunately for more lands. The Jfjirnes were now ripe, the conditions favorable and the fdemand imperative for another expansion of Georgia. |As before, the thing to be done was to make another Clearing away of Indians. -'.: III. SECOND EXPANSION : FROM THE OCONEE TO THE OCMULGEE. | In 1802, 1803 and 1804 Georgia acquired from the zk Indians by fair and legal treaty, or "purchase," hese transactions had now got to be called, all of the llfcls lying between the Oconee and the Ocmulgee 334 Georgia Hist *ry Stories. rivers. Thus another beaut ful region fully able and nearly as large as t ie previous one to Georgia's domain. So an ious was the State for the rapid peopling of this new acquisition that again she literally gave away the land . But the method of giv- ing away was entirely diffe ent from the old "Head- Right'' system. In its stead a new and original device known as the "Land.Lottery ' was adopted. ...*$& The plan was this: Tr. i newly acquired territory was thoroughly surveyed by government surveyors, and was marked off into lots o about two hundred acres each. An accurate map of the survey was made, jola which the lots were numbere 1, 2, 3, and so on. There were several hundreds of th m in all. Numbers corre* spending to the numbers of t ie lots were then written on bits of cardboard, and togeth er with a great many blank cards were placed in a "lo tery box" in the Capitol. From this lottery box "ev ry Georgia citizen, every Georgia widow with minor children, and every famUy of Georgia minor orphans" had a chance to "dra-"Kw$i|t|.l- for a lot. In order that r one might miss their op- portunity, an alphabetical 1 st of all eli0gible '*perso.ing^s in each county in the Stat was carefully made. ML blindfolded boy stood by tl e lottery box (which was frequently well "shaken up'' ), and as each name was Expansion of Georgia. 335 ? called in alphabetical order he drew out a card. Thus i every eligible person in the State had his or her chance. JA great many drew blanks, of course, but many also ^.jdrew prizes, a rich prize or an indifferent prize, accordfifing .to the location of the lot he happened to draw. pThe drawing was done in the presence of five sworn ^.commissioners, and it was also open to the public if ;r the public chose to attend. It was a tedious process, i -". occupied several weeks. Under this plan fraud, f './cheating and unfair play were impossible. f| \?: A great many people who drew lots in the new | '-purchase did not themselves settle on them, but sold jj jjihem to others. jf *$' As soon as the preliminaries were over, settlers by f.. hundreds crowded into the newly opened country. A I majority of them were already Georgians, coming |5 ^ainly from the families of the Virginians and North & Itarolinians who fifteen or twenty years before had emigrated into the new region between the Ogeechee |nd the Oconee. The elder sons of these families, and |f many instances the old folks themselves, now moved *i|jto the still newer country between the Oconee and Ocmulgee, on account of the advantages offered by HH still fresher and richer lands. A great many new emi- also came from other States, mainly again from 336 Georgia His -)ry Stories. Virginia and the Carolinas. sy ' very li arge propo^ktH$SS^ii.-' V'"v?v^v"-''^ of these settlers were peop 5 of means, education^^ refinement, and of the hi hest character. No new country was ever settled L y a better, finer or more capable class of people, wit a smaller intermixture of base and inferior elements, Money, brains and char- acter were applied at once \ ith powerful energy to ile development of the region. It had not the rough, rude and coarse experi ences that usually belong to the pio- neer life of a -new country; but by a From a print of 1841. Oglethorpe University, Midwa Baldwin County. wonderful ch<4a. nge, not gradual, but sud- den, it passed from the dark night of barbari m into the full light 'of a high and noble civilizatior This was especially^true of Putnam, Jasper, Jones, Baldwin, ' and MorgantSSn . ".*?45?^>S<.'-. ' ties and measurably true of ". wiggs, Wilkinson, Laiffefis, and Pulaski counties; but Dodge, Telfair, and %M'%os*nv tgomery counties, which lay :hiefly in the "pine ba|||n" section, had, like all the res t of that strange region^ a very slow development; in f ct, had scarcely any deyel- opment until after the Civil War. Expansion of Georgia. 337 All of the forces and influences that go to create a noble civilization and to develop great men were nov fully at work in Georgia. The management of public affairs, the administration of law and justice, the de velopment of the new country, the conducting of agri- 11 The University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. The Oldest State University in the United States. culture and commerce, stimulated intellect and aroused ambition. In all professions and callings men of a high order of ability arose, and among them there appeared some men who were pre-eminently great. Along with territorial expansion came great imto the whole State. Churches were built 338 Georgia Histc ry Stories. in great numbers, and they \\ ere well attended and well supported, and some of them were served by preachers of wonderful eloquence. Ev< and anon great religious revivals would sweep over tl e country exerting a good and lasting influence on the character and the lives of the people. People felt reli 'ion much more deeply in those days than they do in oirs. A "religious revival" meant more then than it doe now. Then it was "deep calling unto deep"; now it s usually "shallow calling unto shallow." Soon after the Revolutionary War, Georgia began to manifest much interest ir education. In 1802 the University of Georgia was e tablished. Academies and "old field schools" were qu ite abundantly distributed over the State, and they w ere the great educators of the people. The methods of hese old-time schools were no doubt crude and faulty, and they are the object of unstinted ridicule and abuse by the self-conceited pedagogue of the present dz y; but somehow many of the greatest men, the nobles characters~~and the belte trained intellects that the Stat of Georgia has ever pror duced were educated at the se old-time schools. "By its fruits shall the tree be jucged." In 1793 Eli Whitney in\ nted the cotton gin.* It *For an interesting account of the i ivention of the cotton gin, see Joel Chandler Harris's charming little book, "Stories of Georgia." Expansion of Georgia. 339 .ViVjp- improved to be one of the most , important events in the Jf|history of America. This simple contrivance, scarcely big- |ger than a baby's cradle, made the fortune of our South- fmnd, fixed her destiny, and determined the character of ftier civilization. Its effects were felt speedily and J|*6;;werfully, espec" ially in Georgia. By the year 1815 the fifcultivation of tobacco was almost wholly abandoned in f/By courtesy of The Howe Photographic Company, Atlanta, Ga. Picking Cotton on a Georgia Plantation. l|he State, and the raising of cotton was adopted in its i?Ipfelead. The farmers still continued to raise all of their tpwn provisions and supplies, so cotton was "a surplus It proved to be a much more lucrative product tobacco. Georgia farmers who all along had been a good living now began to acquire wealth. A |iream of emigrants, with their gangs of negroes, came louring in from Virginia to make iniiiey by raising cotfen on the fresh soil of Georgia, a power they had lost by 340 Georgia Hist ~y Stories. raising tobacco on the wor -out lands of the "Old Dominion." By the year 1818 well-ni h every desirable acre of land in the cotton belt of Geo gia from the Savannah to the Ocmulgee River was occu ied. The people began to call importunately for more 1 id to raise more cotton to make more money.. The time was ripe, conditions were favorable, and the demand i iperative for another ex- pansion of Georgia. Again he thing to be done was to make another clearing out of Indians. . - : IV. THIRD EXPANSION I F OM THE OCMULGEE TO THE FL NT. ; In 1821, by anoi ther treat) or purchase, the State of Georgia acquired from the reek Indians all 6of the lands lying between the Ocm Igee and the Flint rivers. This region, as a whole, was well adapted, both in soil and climate, to the cultivati n of cotton. The lands were distributed among the p ople by the Land Lojfe|y plan, and the country was set ed/.iip very rapidly. The upper part was settled mainl by plain people in m'*o^Td-- erate circumstances, and wit out much education, fout of sturdy, sterling character The middle and lower parts were settled very larg y by rich planters from the contiguous older counties of Jones, Jasper and Putnam. This was specially true of Monroe, Bibb, Houston Expansion of Georgia. 341 "j'-fj- pi and Macon counties, into which sections wealthy settler b f||came in large numbers, with their gangs of negroes, jfcjlere they implanted the high civilization to which they W .Jih' ad been accustomed, and in this new soil it flourished Ji|ike the green bay tree. A large majority of the settlers of the new region, p>oth rich and poor, devoted themselves to the raising of ilcotton. Indeed, this had now become the preatest in- -fep- 9 Industry of Georgia. King Cotton, in his fleecy robes, Jtwas now thoroughly established on his throne, and OK :lfruled the State with undisputed sway. He proved '.W^jM * / X jgone of the most energetic of monarchs and gradually fcvrought a wonderful change in Georgia's civilization, Jraw^i, O C-J . <-* ' fflgiving to her customs and modes of life their perma- ;gnent form. He enabled his subjects to make great for- |;tunes. He built towns and cities, influenced politics Mand government, and there was scarcely an important fH"bu. siness or public enterprise in the State in which he ,|; did not take a hand. j| Raising cotton was a profitable business in Georgia fjtin those days. The staple brought from twelve to fif- Hfteen cents a pound. As the cost of production was & fsmall and the farmers still made their provisions and ipplies at home, the cotton money was nearly all clear lin. People made fortunes rapidly. Choice lands in 342 Georgia History Stories. the new purchase could be bcueht for a dollar dollars an acre. Often men vould pay for a farmer a plantation with one year's crop of cotton. From 1820 to 1840 may be called the i loney-making period par excellence in Georgia's histor . The negro population grew enormously during this period. The natural increase among these people wais great. From selfish^nterests as well from humane in pulses, masters took good care of their, negroes, who' rap dly increased in numbers, the birth-rate exceedinog the ~ c eath-rate. Besides, large numbers of new negroes wer * brought into the State. '. }e ""V1 Though the importations of natives from Africa had been entirely stopped by the Federal Government, many slaves were brought from Vi ginia and eastern Maryland, which had become conge sted with negroes. These states contained many more s aves than coyld be used with profit; so the owners sole off their "surplus stock" to negro speculators, who brot.ght them in great dftS%y, as regard.ed as dangerous ground. Hence while every ffither newly opened portion of Georgia was settled up with .fgreat eagerness and rapidity, the southern zone of the S*S; tate lay for a number of years neglected and ignored. Mt was not until after the year 1825 that any consider- fible number of people moved into this region. In the J|fneantime it had been discovered that mixed with the mpine barrens" there was a good deal of fertile hum- f|hock land lying along the rivers and creeks. These Igpioice spots were bought up by planters living in the and now nearly worn-out eastern counties. There settled with great e^an^s of necroes. and soon KUv fought the soil under fine cultivation. It was discov- also, in the course of time, that the western end of ie zone, or what we now call southwest Georgia, was fade up very largely of rich and fertile lands, both 3-1G Georgia Hist ry Stories. bottoms and uplands. Wea thy men from middle Jancl western Georgia bought up icse tracts in large estate! turning them into cotton p intations, which they peopled with troops of negroes n charge of overseers. It was considered in those days a very undesirable country to live in, on account of ma aria and bad water; so the owners of these plantations u ually had their homes elsewhere, and visited their plac es only two or three times a year. Even into the "pii barrens" proper a good many poor people crept (f r the lands could be had almost without money and without price), and there established their rude homes and there lived for generations and generations, in u iprogressive simplicity and strange isolation. It was not until several y ars after the War between the States that .the possibilit es and resources of south Georgia were fully realized a id that it received its true development. VI. FIFTH EXPANSION : F OM THE FLINT TO THE . CHATTAH OCHEE. - < .^|flSf In the year 1825, by the famous Treaty of Indian Spring, of which you have bad a full account in the chapter on "Troup and the Treaty," Georgia acqu|r|:d from the Creek Indians the rich and beautiful region lying between the Flint anc the Chattahoochee rivers. I Expansion of Georgia. 347 i I ji Creeks had now surrendered to the whites the last |&if- i. it of land that they owned in Georgia. Two years ||| itr they were removed in a body to a reservation set Is dlle ^or them beyond the Mississippi River. |"'f"" There was an immediate rush of settlers into the ' ^ I : vacated lands. The upper part of the new purchase 1 was settled almost entirely by poor people with few j slaves or none. The lands there were generally poor and were not supposed to be adapted to the cultivation of cotton, and hence were exceedingly cheap. The | settlers devoted themselves largely to raising cattle. 1I vMost of them were from the older parts of Georgia, I but there was also considerable emigration from other I States. These people, as a rule, were good, honest and I I industrious, but there was among them a lawless and 1 depraved element that gave much trouble. The middle I section of the purchase was bv far the best. The fs' ^ m richest and most desirable lands (the section now in- I eluded in Coweta, Troup, Meriwether, Harris, Talbot p and Muscogee counties) were settled mainly by wealthy planters from central Georgia. By the careless and HJljivretched system of tilling the soil that then prevailed Sffirough the cotton belt of Georgia, these planters had, /the course of fifteen or twenty years, worn out or jfreatly damaged the fertile uplands of their original 348 Georgia Hist iry Stories. places; and now they moved to the fresh, rich landsff jjj- western Georgia only to pin sue the same land-destnK ing system of agriculture, They brought with not only industry and energy-, but also wealth, cultge and social refinement, which they transplanted with &feet success into the new resr>-ion; and in a marvelcp jJiws^Tfr"v short time they caused "the wilderness to bloom 'and From an old print. Columbus, Muscogee County, . When First Settled. blossom as the rose." The southern end of the^fprchase included the upper part of what we : southwest Georgia. For rea sons already given tHifpas at that time considered an undesirable region toiiivc in, though it contained lav je. areas of fertile lands, These were bought up by rich men, who converted them into big cotton plant; itions, peopled with negro f| Expansion of Georgia. 349 m Itslaves, in charge of white overseers. The owner rarely lllived on the place himself, but visited it only occasion1 tally for business purposes. Throughout both the midjpdle and the southern sections there were quantities of l|i>oor piny woods lands, which were usually settled by ftpeople correspondingly poor, for they sold for a mere trifle. ft VII. SIXTH EXPANSION I THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY. m$Hf In the northwest corner of Georgia lav that exten- "v 5ive region of countrv' which was still possessed and ^xxupied by the Cherokee Indians. The story of how fehese Cherokees were finally, in 1837, expelled from Mjeorgia and transported beyond the Mississippi, has ?f corn, wheat, rye and oats, and to cattle raising. They I ;:|did all of their own work, for there were few slaves IX I |jrnong them. They lived very comfortably, but plainly, : ;for thev had never known luxury and were independent - H& "" -' * it. Most of them had a limited English education, there was scarcely a classical scholar among them. The best part of the Cherokee acquisition was what Georgia Hist ory Stories. was then known, and is still known, as the " limestone country/' The choicest section of this choice region was include( 1 in what is now Chattooga, Floyd and Bartow counties. It was a beantiful country, covered w-iith lofty hills and broad, fertile valley s, watered b 1 swift rivers and bold crystal streams; the scenery was charming and the climate was invigorating a id delightful. The region was rapidly settled up, mair ly by people of wealth and culture. Many of them were from middle Georgia; many came also from excell snt families in South Carolina. They brought their ;angs of negro slaves with them, and quickly establi; ;hed large, well-cultivated farms. The broad, fertile valleys lying between the lofty hills were splendidly ; idapted to the cereals, and abundant crops of corn and wheat were produced. For many years prior to the Civi 1 War and during the Civil War, this section of Georgia was the great granary of the State. By the year 18>4400 nearly all of t$|||3iJj limestone region was well settled by a very 'sttpe*;ior class of people, who soon established churches, good /? v > /*vi;'^:- schools and a civilization of refinement and culture^ { |M;;^!;;~. Georgia had at last spre; d her civilization to the iitmost confines of her present geographical limits; but as vet she had not reached her till development. CHAPTER XX. GEORGIA AN1) GEORGIANS IN 1840. I. THE MOUNTAINS. |f 1 In 1840 Georgia had, according to the United <$% f States Census, 691,492 inhabitants, including 407,795 ?^. s . f. whites and 283,697 negroes. p . H- Let us take a rapid bird's-eye view of Georgia and it . J| her people at this time. 5J- .| The State naturally divided itself into five principal fi sections, namely: The Mountains, the Up Country, the 1$' |[ Cotton Belt, the Sea-Coast, and South Georgia. .f#e. t . ;i The Mountains embraced an irregular zone or belt j^r . O H stretching across the extreme northern part of the " '-^v?. ' ;;*lr- '-... UPState. This section was sparsely inhabited by a peculiar S^s SIf|': and picturesque type of the Anglo-Saxon race known .'*p$* as mountaineers. They were uneducated and without jl ambition or aspiration. In personal appearance they -iyf' -',--tf'were q-enerallv" tall,' raw-boned and muscular, and 'unshaven, unshorn and unkempt. They spoke with a rapid utterance and a quick, sharp accent; and their i> || language was replete with provincialisms, such as mam" and "pap," "we tins," "you tins/' "yan," and |"beyant." They were universally very poor and lived 353 354 Georgia History Stories. in the rudest fashion. They knew not the common comr4sVAV " forts, much less the luxuries of life. Their homes, nestjifcl . '^fe rn the mountain gorges, were rough log cabins, generally yjjfZ with only a single room, in which frequently a family^o'f ten or twelve persons lived, Their food and clothing were corresponding ly coarse and mea ger. The moun tain-sides, owinsnto -Vi" ;. roughness and steep From an old print. Cabin of a Mountain Settle ness, were not ar able, so their farm ing was confined to the narrow and contracted valleys, .*> the lands of which were generally more or less sterile. Their principal crop was cor .1. This they converted into bread for eating and whiskey for drinking, for they were hard drinkers. Small herd 5 of cattle grazing on ihe mountain-sides and a -few hogs in a pen near the house furnished them with sparse nations of meat. They ha;h- " &*"*': died very little money. They would earn a few do-l',l>"a"-vr-,'s by now and then selling "a-punch".of cattle, or a:"lJtffel . .' T ' h>U2l8i*/ of corn whiskey, or a few chickens, or a cart-loax||f apples, to their better conditioned and more neighbors among the foothills to the south They would have to journey manv miles over the Georgia and Georgians in 1840. of roads to get this produce to mar ket, but these trading expeditions were almost the only contact they had with the great world beyond their mountain peaks. They had no slaves, and there were no ne- A Mountaineer. groes among them. Many of them grew almost to manhood and womanhood without ever seeing a black face. Notwithstanding their limitations and deficiencies these people possessed certain sterling virtues that command the respect of all men. They were brave, honest, independent, kind-hearted and hos pitable. Though they were great drunkards and fighters, heinous and base crimes, such as I| f%hurder and theft, w' ere' m extremely rare among them. In the mountain- I >v o^- us regOions of northeast Georgia may still be J /fennel many specimens I|W/M| this ty' pe of people "**"*-" little changed after years, or two gen- Mountaineer Mother and Daughter. 35G Georgia Hist ory Stories erations. There are many < ' . '-**&;' : f$ siderably improved by conta :t with civilizing influe'riei^ Jf but none of the class has ever attained a high ] civilization and culture. II. THE UI COUNTRY. Just below the mountains lay what was generally known in those days as the Up Country, so called because it was in the upper or northern part of the State, It was also sometimes calied "the Hill Country," because it lay among the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The inhabitants of this region were much more acl- vanced in civilization than tli e mountaineers above them. Still they were a plain pec pie, with little wealth and little education and with nc great pretensions or lofty aspirations. They lived or small farms, which they worked with their own hands , for they owned few ne- groes or none. By hard 1 ibor they managed to dig a fair subsistence out of the stony and not very fertile soil. They usually had the common comforts of life, but were entire strangers to its luxpil^ The principal products of the country were corn, wheat, rye, cattle and horses. The people were the shrewdest horse traders in the world, "he "horse swapping c6r|v|f-. tions/' held annually or semi-annually in the different Georgia and Georgians in 1840. 357 towns and villages, were unique meetings and were full of ardor, life and business abijity. There were also many distilleries in this region, which manufactured great quantities of corn and rye whiskey. Much of y it was shipped and sold in other parts of Georgia, ||, but much of it was also consumed by the people |.^ at home. They indulged extensively in hard drink| ing, which was their chief and most harmful vice. I ; Gambling also was too common among them. Not|/r, withstanding their vices, they were essentially a good I and worthy people; and when the temperance reIf iI former, the reli. gious revivali.st, and the schoolmaster I l came among them they yielded readily, and gave up in ! ; large measure their wicked ways. These people con1 *; stituted the true yeomanry of Georgia, and the State |||rhad reason to be proud of them. From this stock I} sprung some of Georgia's ablest and most notable men. | 5 This sketch does not apply to the "blue limestone" I.,i section of the hill country in northwest Georgia. As | ff'has already been stated, that region was settled from If the beginning by people of wealth, culture, and refine- III. THE COTTON BELT. Straight through the middle of Georgia from the Savannah to the Chattahoochee River stretched a broad, 358 Georgia History Stories. irregular zone of country, krown as the "Cotton Belt,'5 so called because it was whr ly given over to the rais ing of cotton; and, indeed, at that time it was sup- posed that the staple could n t be successfully cultivated outside of that belt. This was by far the most flourishing part of Georgia. Here King Cotton had reigned su preme and absolute for twenty years. He had Froin a print of 1831. City Hall at Augusta, brought great prosperity to his domain. He had built several large cities and a number of smaller towns. He had made many of his .subjects very rich, and many more comfortable, inde pendent, and well-to-do. pro He had established as Medical College, Augusta.; ji7 fine a civilization as ever e isted on the face of the earth. The wealth of this sectioi consisted mainly in lands and negroes. The small fa ms of twenty or thirty Georgia and Georgians in 1840. 359 j 'sfi'.. | :years before had practically disappeared, for they had I" ^been bouOght upIT byJ rich men who combined them into arge plantations. Many very rich men owned several f vJuch plantations and counted their slaves bv the him- f 2ff"- - ^ |. ftSreds. These princely cotton planters did not gener- IVJ'lpfjpd^ ly live on the. ir pkntations. Their luxurious homes | J|\vere usually in some city, or more frequently still in | fftbme smaller town, contiguous to their estates, where !f 8lih' ey could give personal attention to their business. I ||The direct management of the plantations was in the ^ TV**-? . *--' * I Miands of overseers, who lived on the plantations near w .J3& ' J- m negro quarters. These overseers were generally I Jmen of energy and of fine judgment and executive abil- |||ty. They received good salaries, and some of the more I Jthrifty of them accumulated considerable fortunes and, ! S' ' I |in the course of time, became themselves owners of & ^plantations and negroes. The management of a great cotton plantation in lI-fSpi1i- ose days was a good illustration of executive ability. |jfThe government was well-nigh perfect. The slaves I'Jwere divided into gang's of plow hands, hoe hands, TMV ^*?i ' **^ *-^ * l&i$fa> xemen, et cetera. There were also carpe'nters, black- -!';!- *^^^iths and other mechanics, all well trained in their ^arious crafts. The discipline was very rigid, but arely ever cruel or over-severe. Absolute obedience 360 Georgia V Slories. C. and hard work were requ ed of every slave, and where these were not for icoming, punishment t>y flogging with a leather strap vas sure to be the penalty, These negro slaves were th r owner's most valuable property, and his financial i terest, to say nothing of humanity, made him take g >od care of them. They were well housed, well clo led and well fed. The weekly ration (or "allowanc ' as it was called) of a field hand was a peck of mea , three and a half pounds of bacon and a pint of mola es. They were also supplied with the common veget bles in their season, such as turnip and collard greens peas, and sweet potatoes, Their meat diet was varied b fresh beef now and then, and during "hog-killing" ti ic by an abundance of toothsome fresh pork. Eac family was allowed a patch of land for a garden, nd nearly every one had a hen-house full of chickens. The best available physicians attended tlie negroes i sickness, and educated white preachers were employ 1 at good salaries to administer to* their spiritual n ids. They-- "e ligion" keenly in an emotior .1 way, but it had liffle influence on their morals, wl ch were generally, slack, The feeling between mast r and slave was usually of the happiest nature. The) were deeply and warmly attached to each other. Wit all of the modern talk Georgia and Georgians in 1840. 361 III about the "universal brotherhood of mankind," the world will never again see such genuine love and afTec|ffpt tion between the high and the low of God's human '. . A Black Mammy and Her Charge. i- 3?ijj' t?J' &^>$r. creatures as that which existed between the AngloI'Saxon master of the South and his negro slave. At the period of which we are speaking there were |more negroes than whites in the cotton-growing re gion of Georgia. They were a very superior class of Georgia PI isto '-3; Stories. negroes. As stated in a previous chapter, most of tfh"i '. or their parents had been brought to this State froifi? Virginia and Maryland. The} were many generations . * sv removed from their savage an cl degraded ancestors who had been brought from Afric; a century or two before; During all of these gen erations they had beefr- : 'iPr in constant and close" contact with the best civilization of America, first in Virginia an< Maryland and after wards in Georgia; and they had acquired, for people oif their race, remarkable intelligence and a culture whichf:' Family Cook. Type of Middle Georgia Slave. though purely imitative^": ' -, Uf^v*'^' was nevertheless genuine. All of the missionary societies in the world together have never done as nit ch for low, benighted degraded peoples as was done for the Africans by institution of Southern slavery, By that institution they'$^;' were raised to a higher plane of civilization than they could ever possibly have attained by any other meansf Georgia and Georgians in 1840. 363. f| and under that institution they were, take it all in all, ;f% 1 m the healthiest and happiest people that ever the sun 1 ; m shone on. Besides the very wealthy planters above described, v>-1M||"- there was- a much larger j| number who were not t so rich, but still well-to ll; , f: do, owning a score or U' two of slaves or less. , ^ii . 364 Georgia Histo-r^ Stones. them "piny woods poor white trash." Like the taineers of northeast Georgia, they were generally out ambition and hopelessly i nprogressive. many specimens of them in t .ie pi.ny woods of middlre Georgia and south Georgia to-day, little changed from their ancestors of two gen erations ago. IV. THE SEA-COAST. From the City of A Mountaineer and His Wood Cart. Savannah south ward, bordering on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean nearly down to ;the A Piny Woodsman and His Splinter Carl Florida line there was a strip of country known as "the sea-cqfst," or, as it was more commorly called, "the low|%|)^|p try." A more appropriate name than either of $|Mse would be (to v adopt * a Virginia o .. phrase) A. J "'tide. -.w:.risa&:t-ieSiriv Georgia." The section embt-aced a large part Georgia and Georgians in 1840. 36,5 present counties of Chatham, Bryan, Liberty, Mclntosh, Glynn, and Camden. The most characteristic feature of this region was the great rice plantations that occu pied the low, rich, marshy lands along the river banks near the.seashore and some of the islands just off the' coast. The owners of these rice plantations were very wealthy men and lived in princely fashion. They usu ally had two homes, one on the plantation, where they spent the fall and winter, and the other back in the upland piny woods, where they passed the sum mer to escape the malaria of the marshes. Both es tablishments were maintained in elegant style. Their f owners were high livers. They indulged themselves in | every luxury that money could buy in the State of | Georgia at that time. Their homes were furnished in ft . M mahogany and rosewood, with solid silver service for 1 the dining-room; their tables were supplied with riph i! 1 :| viands and choice wines; they wore costly clothes, rode :| |; in fine carriages, and were attended by troops of negro HH slaves. Their hospitality was proverbial. For hearti- ||.,ness and magnificence it was not surpassed or. scarcely lyi- . ^equaled anywhere in Georgia or in the South. But i?-. |these rich sea-coast planters were high thinkers as well Ifes high livers. &$tv Most of them were men of classical ,-;4 Georgia History Stories. * 'W education and literary culture; their homes were su-o4 ,r-\Tr. plied with good libraries, and they subscribed for leading newspapers and magazines both of this coun-t.r' yj*^1? and of England. In political faith they were derrick crats, but by birth and rearing they were aristocrats in every fiber of their being. They were inclined to draw the social line sharply wherever they went. An illustra- tion of this may be found in the society caste system that prevailed in Savannah before the Civil War, and that exists there to some extent even to this day. . ' The negroes who worked on these rice plantations were the lowest and most degraded of their race in Georgia. They were either native Africans or the chil dren of native Africans. They had not been in Amer ica long enough to become milch civilized. In thought, feeling, and mode of living they were still in large entle and docile savages, as all Africans are. They were still under the influence of African superstition. Many African words were '&$ mingled with their English speech, and their accent was so peculiar that a stranger (could scarcely understand^ them. They came very little in contact with the and his family. They were in direct charge of white5" overseers, who maintained olver them a rigid but J ' ::;$;. unduly severe discipline. Tieir work during three ori Georgia and Georgians in 1840. 367 four months in the year was very hard, but the rest of the time their tasks were exceedingly easy. They out numbered the whites among whom they lived ten or * .' twenty to one." They might have risen in insurrection and in a single night exterminated the whole white population, but no thought of rebellion or resistance or even of complaint ever entered their minds. They were perfectly content with their lot, as well they might be; for, poor as their condition seemed, it was infinitely better than it ever had been or ever could possibly be in the jungles of Africa. Along the sea-coast of Georgia there are still many unmixed descendants of these lowly Africans of sixty years ago; and, though they are much more civilized, they still preserve in many particulars the characteristics of their ancestors, as is shown espe cially in their humble and submissive spirit and in the peculiar accent and lilt of their speech. The sea-coast plantations were not devoted entirely to the cultivation of rice; a number of them were given to raising sea-island or long staple cotton, which i brought nearly twice the price of ordinary short staple ^cotton, and the production of which was an immensely "; profitable business. j- Back from and immediately adjoining the rice plan- *>' Stations were stretches of sterile pine lands, which were . .^ r . . ^- 3'68 Georgia His try Stones. occupied, as such lands near always were, by poor ami 1 ignorant people. They mac rather a scanty living^by cattle raising and by fldatii \ rafts of pine logs down the rivers to-the sea to be old to lumber dealers and shipped to various parts of the world. Between these inhabitants of the piny woo s and their neighbors, the rich rice planters, there wa almost no intercourse; but it made no odds to the poor woodsman, for he was one of the proudest, most indep ndent and self-sufficient of citizens. No other part of Georg a has perhaps suffered so great a change since the-Civ War as this rice planting, sea-coast region. The gre rice plantations and the rich rice planters, with their luxurious homes and magnificent display of wealth, 1 ive vanished like a dream, Thousands of acres of rice ands have been abandoned and have gone back to a st te of nature, and are now unarable marshes and swamp Other portions have been drained and converted into rosperous market gardens, conducted by energetic whi men; and~other !p^tions still are occupied in spots a d patches by lazy negroes, who are content to dig a canty living out of them. There are still left a few la fields cultivated; in rice, just as they were more than a hun' dred years ago. The fine houses that were the 1 mies of the wealthv ante- Georgia and Georgians in 1840. 369 Ibellum planters are now, in some instances, occupied by fP,hegroes or very poor white people, and are fast going |to rack and ruin. 1 -i V. SOUTH GEORGIA. ' " In Chapter XIX was given, in a general way, a de scription of that broad zone of country known as south [Georgia. The characteristic feature of this section of |he State was the immense, unbroken pine forests that with dreary monotony occupied hundreds of thousands If acres of land lying for the most part as level as a |parlor floor. These great pine forests were the pre- lominant feature of the country from the Altamaha to fhe Chattahoochee. They were not confined to the ex- preme south zone of the State, but covered a considerHblc portion of what may be called east-middle Georgia, Including, especially, Emanuel, Tattnall, Montgomery, id Dodge counties. Much of the land was too wet |jl>r culture, much of it a barren sand bed, and very lit- ||e of it was naturally rich and productive. In the Iffrly clays of the State the whole region was regarded hopelessly barren and unfit for agricultural purposes, hce it was settled very slowly. The first people to move into these "pine barrens," they were called, was a large colony of Scotch-Irish [k who came directly from North Carolina, where \ 370 Georgia. History . Stories. they had been living for several years. About the'! 1800 they bought, for a merely ihominal price, imrn^is^?^ tracts of land in Montgomery and Telfair counties, moved thither with their families. They farmers, but ranchmen or cattk -raisers, in a that requires plenty of "elbow room." So these settee ^ sun -'-S'jiV-.'.' * ' * spread themselves thinly over a lar:e area of couiil thus allowing a wide range for their cattle to fee4|tfn the wire grass, a peculiar grasp that grows nowjlfl^ except in the so-called "pine barrens. ,,. These Scotchmen were a race of brave, sturdy, in pendent and thrifty people. - attached great impior- tance to education and maintained good schools w|i|re their children were well taught. In religion they ^|r5fe| are Presbyterians, and for many years their religious 's'||yy'^ stan ices were held in the Gaelic language. From this .'$8*-4 *-' 'S?ii?~f-V J Scotch-Irish stock of the wire-grass country has sp-|^|Slilgte"-^^| ag { a number of Georgians eminent in the professionsff i--.^^!^-'.'..'. * .-. in public life. Many descendai ts of the tiers still live in Montgomery andA Trpeltrfai r I ^ others are widely scattered over the State, and whej found they nearly all preserve ihe race character^ and are an excellent, energetic, prosperous folk. Besides these Scotch people a good many leans from other parts of Georgia and from I Georgia and Georgians in 1840. 371 Ilinas began about the year 1820 to move into the wire- Igrass regions. They were invariably very poor people, Iwho were attracted to this region by the great cheap- fcess of the lands. They were crude and ignorant, but !in native abilities, possibilities and modes of life were superior to the mountaineers of north Georgi.% already fidescribed. They were very thinly scattered over large lareas of country. They wrere cattle rangers and wood dangers. They lived isolated and independent lives in their rude homes, with which they were perfectly con- fl|tent. Man y years afterwards their descendants re|sponded readily to the civilizing and refining influences ^ Ithat were introduced among them, and many of them j> i now well educated people and among the most sub- j|stantial citizens of Georgia. i This region of Georgia had its tragedies, as well as its life of Arcadian simplicity. In the early part of the nineteenth century, speculators bought up hundreds thousands of acres of it at a very small price. They fliad it laid off in lots, had an attractive and lying map . j|nade of it, represented the lands as being exceedingly ertile and abounding in oak and hickory timber, and |lo beguiled many innocent persons in nearly all parts f the United States into buying the lots at prices from [en to fifty times as great as the speculators had paid m f:. 372 Georgia History Stories. for them. Furthermore, it turned out that these drels had purposely had thd lands falsely surveyed^tif- ' eluding in their map many thousands of acres tha't'l:^li'd; 1I no real existence. When the innocent victims caffie'? '. 1 from nearly all parts of the Union to Georgia to claim ? their property, they discovered that they had been out- rageously and cruelly swindled. In many instances they could not even find the parcels of land they had ; bought, and those that were found proved to be prac tically worthless. The cheated purchasers sold out for a song, or abandoned their property and allowed it to be sold by the State for tc.xes. This stupendous swin dle is known in Georgia history as "The Pine Barren'? Speculation." v! Again, about the yean 1830, a rich company of* Maine lumbermen bought a vast tract of pine lands | lying in Telfair and Dodge counties, with a view ;toj converting the pine trees into lumber for ^shipment .'-to: all parts of the world. They erected on the streams aj number of big sawmills with groups of workmen's\ shanties near by. But the business proved u and after two or three years was abandoned, mills and shanties were left to rot down. The North-J e-fcn owners, * h owever, continu:/ed, f' rom year t''o y.':S.d''^"a&ISf toiS:| pay taxes on their lands, ind thus kept good their,,t^ef Georgia and Georgians in 1840. 373 to them. But as the years went by, many "squatters" crept in and settled on these deserted lands; also a number-of designing scoundrels,--deliberate land thieves, --who took-possession of large tracts, laid them off in lots, covered them with bogus titles, and sold them out to innocent purchasers. After many years, nearly a decade after the Civil War, the Northern owners of this property, under the firm name of W. E. Dodge and Company, came to Georgia, showing per fect titles to the lands. They immediately proceeded to oust the intruders, as they had a perfect right to do. There were many lawsuits; but the courts de cided in favor of W. E. Dodge and Company, as un doubtedly they should have done. Then followed bloody and tragic times that made a mighty sensation throughout Georgia. The "squatters" and the innocent victims of the bogus titles had been living on these lands so long that they believed, or pretended to be lieve, that they really belonged to them, and they re fused to vacate. Conspiracies were formed against the agents of W. E. Dodge and Company, and several of them were assassinated in cold blood. The murderers were arrested and convicted. One of them was hanged and others were sent to the penitentiary for life. Of course, in the end all of the intruders were evicted 'IfN f ''''- 37-i Georgia History Stories. the arm of the law is stron }, and Dodge and Company came into full possession of their own.' Down to the close of th ; War of Secession and for a number of years afterward: , this so-called "pine barren" region' of Georgia was \ ery sparsely inhabited, and mainly by very poor and ignorant people. You could ride from ten to twenty miles in many parts of it without passing a human habitation. By degrees, however, it was discoverel that mixed with the pine barrens there were many acres of fertile hummock lands, and that the barrens themselves were not so barren after all. Railroads penetrated the country, and a rapid and wonderful development followed. The great pine forests yielded in enormous output of lumber and naval stores (tar, pitch and turpentine), which made fortunes for many i len, and a substantial living for very many more. The litherto despised lands, under careful cultivation and fertiili zing, produced from year to year abundant crops of long staple cotton, Georgia cane syrup, tobacco and ea rly vegetables for the Northern markets. Thus within the past decade south Georgia has forged forwird more rapidly than any other, part of the State, and its population and wealth have increased enormously It is to-day in material prosperity one of the most flourishing parts of Georgia. Georgia and Georgians in 1840. 375 The proud citizen of this region might say withotit great exaggeration: "This stone rejected of the builders has become the chief corner stone of the temple!" INDEX. Adams, President John Quincy, con troversy with Governor Troup, 271-280; attitude toward Cherokee Indians, 292. Alexander, Samuel, murders Grierson, 155, 156. Amelia Island, 45, 92. Andrews, Major T. P., investigates charges against Indian Agent Crowell, 267, 268. Angus, Mr., British stamp officer for Georgia, 125, 126. Anne, the, Georgia emigrant ship, 11, 13, 14. Assassination of Cherokee Indian chiefs, 320. Augusta, city of, visited by Oglethorpe, 91; occupied and defended by Brown, the Tory, 148-150; siege and capture of by Americans, 160-163. Baird, Colonel James, 141, 142. Baldwin County, 336. Banks County, 339. Bartow County, 352. Beaufort (S. C), town of, 14. Bibb County, 340. Big Warrior, Creek Indian chief, 254, 255, 257. Block-houses, 327. Bloody Marsh, battle of, 104-106. Bolzius, . Rev. Martin, Salzburg pastor, 59, 65, 67, 69. Boudinot, Elias, Cherokee Indian chief, 289, 320. Bowles, William Augustus, 225-231. Boyd, Colonel, killed at battle of Kettle Creek, 158. Brewton Hill, Savannah, 138. Brown, Colonel Thomas, Tory lead er, career, 147-151; at siege of Augusta, 160-162. Brown, Mrs., scene with Alexander McGillivray, 221. Bryan, Jonathan, 133. Bull, Colonel William, 14, 15, 16, 19, 25. Bulloch, Colonel Archibald, Presi dent of Georgia, 132, 133. Cameron, Captain, killed at Savan nah, 139. Campbell, Colonel Archibald, 137, 140, 141, 143, 145, 157, 158, 165. Campbell, Duncan G., United States Indian Treaty Commissioner, 260. Caroline, Queen, receives Tomo-chi- chi, 35; wears dress made of Georgia silk, 67. Castell, Robert, dies in Debtors' Prison, 6. Chappell, Absalom H., his "Miscel lanies of Georgia," 233, 250. Charter of the Georgia Colony, 8, 9. Chattooga County, 352. Cherokee Indians, general account of, 285; relations with Colonial Georgia, 285; in the Revolution, 286; civilization of, 288-291; po litical claims, 292-294; contro versy with State of Georgia, 294- 300; suits before United States Supreme Court, 301-308; Treaty of New Echota, 313, 314; expul sion from Georgia, 316, 317; as sassination of Treaty chiefs, 320. (See also Treaties with Cherokee Indians.) .,- Cherokee Country, the,/349,J56. Cherokee County, 351. Clarke, General Elijah, 148-150, 157- 164, 193, 196, 213. Clarke, John, 159. Cobb County, 351. Colonial Congress of 1765, why Adams, President John... Quincy, con troversy with Governor Troup, 271-280; attitude toward Cherokee Indians, 292. .Alexander, Samuel, murders Grier- son, 155, 156. Amelia Island, 45, 92. Andrews, Major T. P., investigates charges against Indian Agent Crowell, 267, 268. -~ Angus, Mr., British stamp officer for Georgia, 125, 126. Anne, the, Georgia emigrant ship, 11, 13, 14. Assassination of Cherokee Indian chiefs, 320. Augusta, city of, visited by Ogle- thorpe, 91; occupied and defended . by Brown, the Tory, 148-150; siege and capture of by Americans, 160-163. Baird, Colonel James, 141, 142. Baldwin County, 336. Banks County, 339. Bartow County, 352. Beaufort (S. C.), town of, 14. Bibb County, 340. Big Warrior, Creek Indian chief, 254, 255, 257. Block-houses, 32.7. Bloody Marsh, battle of, 104-106. Bolzius, . Rev. Martin, Salzburg pastor, 59, 65, 67, 69... , Boudinot, Elias, - Cherokee . Indian ' chief, 289, 320. '<$/*$'* . Bowles, William Augustus, 225-231. Boydi Colonel, killed at.;,battle of Settle Creek, 158. . Brewton Hill, Savannah*i 138. Brown, Colonel Thomas, Tory lead er, career, 147-151 ^^t^siege of Brown, Mrs., scene with Alexander McGillivray, 221. Bryan, Jonathan, 133. Bull, Colonel William, 14, 15, 16, 19, 25. Bulloch, Colonel Archibald, Presi dent of Georgia, 132, 133. Cameron, Captain, killed at Savan nah, 139. Campbell, Colonel Archibald, 137,^ 140, 141, 143, 145, 157, 158, 165. Campbell, Duncan G., United States Indian Treaty Commissioner, 260. Caroline, Queen, receives Tomo-chi- chi, 35; wears dress made of Georgia silk, 67. Castell, Robert, dies in Debtors' Prison, 6. Chappell, Absalom H., his "Miscel lanies of Georgia," 233, 250. Charter of the Georgia Colony, 8, 9. Chattooga County, 352. Cherokee Indians, general account of, 285; relations with Colonial Georgia, 285; in the Revolution, 286; civilization of, 288-291; po litical claims, 292-294; contro versy with State of Georgia, 294300; suits before United States Supreme Court, 301-308; Treaty of New Echota, 313, 314; expul sion from Georgia, 316, 317; as sassination of Treaty chiefs, 320.. (See also Treaties with Cheroke0/, r-fl^^^ Cherokee Country, the,^^9^^^j5. eherokee-'CountyT"^!. r~~-~-*' Clarke, General-Elijah, 148-150, 157164, 193, 196, 213. Clarke, John, 159., Cobb County, 351. : ,_^. 378 In de-x. f Georgia not represented at, 121; protest against the Stamp Act, 121. Colonial Dames of Georgia, erect monument to Tomo-chi-chi, 52; restore old Fort Frederica, 85; project monument to Oglethorpe, 118; erect monument on site of old Fort Augusta* 103. Colonists, Georgia, character of, 112, 113. Columbus, city of, 90, 348. Condition of Georgia at close of Revolutionary War, 322-324. Cornwallis, Fort, 161. Cotton, beginning of the cultivation of in Georgia, 339; becomes "King," 341; wealth and civiliza tion produced by, 358; princely planters and management of plan tations, 359-361. Coweta County, 89, 90, 347. Coweta Town, great council of Creek Nation held at, attended by Oglethorpe, 89, 90; great council of Creek Nation held at, attended by Alexander McGillivray, 208. jCreek Indians, 27-33, 88, 93, 208234, 251-281. (See also Treaties with Creek Indians.') ~ Crowell, John, United States agent to Creek Indians, 258, 260, 267, 268, 272. .Cumberland, Duke of, his present to Toonahowi, 39. Cumberland 'Island, 44, 82. Curry, James, the traitor, 179, ISO. Darien, town of, settled by Scotch Highlanders, 76. Daughters of the American Revolu tion, obtain copy of Georgia Col onial seal from London, 11; mark spot where Oglethorpe crossed Chattahooche River on way. to Coweta Town, 90; project monu ment to Oglethorpe, 117; erect marble memorial fountain at Jasper Spring, 189; purchase Nancy Hart place in Elbert County, 203. Debtors' prisons in England, 5, 6. Dodge County, 336, 369, 372. Dolly, Quash, negro guide to Brit ish army at capture of Savannah, 137-141. Dooly, Colonel John, 158, 197-202. Ebenezer, Old, settled by Salzburg- ers, 62-64; abandoned, 65. Ebenezer, New, settled by Salz- burgers, 65, 66; during Revolu tionary War, 71, 72; decay of, 72. Elbert, Colonel Samuel, 133, 137, 338, 143. Elbert County, 154, 159, 192, 202. Emanuel County, 332, 309. Estaing, Count d', at siege of Sa vannah, 173-1S3. Eugene of Savoy, Prince, Oglethorpe serves under, 4, 5. Extinguishing of Indian land titles, 251, 252, 256, 261. Florida, 8, 45, 74, 225. Floyd County, 352. Forsyth County, 351. Franklin County, 326, 329, 351. Frederica, town of, founded by Oglethorpe, 81, 82; progress and decay, 81-85; the "Thermopylae of Georgia," why so called, 101, 102. 'Frederica, Fort, built by Oglethorpe, 82; ruins of, 85; in Spanish War, 102. French, espouse American cause, 173; army at siege of Savannah, 174-183. Gaines, General Edmund P., investi gation of Creek Indian affairs and controversy with Governor Troup, 269-271. Gascoigne's Bluff; in Spanish War, 102. George II., 8, 9, 34, 120. George III., 122, 13}. Gilmer, Governor, 296, 297, 299, 302V 304. _ Girardeau's plantation, landing of British at, 137, 140. Gold region, the, in Georgia, 298, 299, 349, 350. Index. 379; G'reene County, 329. Greene, General Nathaniel, 238. Grierson, Colonel, Tory leader, 155, 156. Grierson, Fort, 155. Gronau, Rev. Israel, Salzburg pastor, 59, 65, ,67, 69. Gunn, James, connection i\vith the "Yazoo Fraud," 237-240; death, 247. Gwinnett, Button, 133. Habersham, Joseph, 133. Hall County, 351. Hall, Lyman, 133, 210. Hancock County, 210, 247, 329. Harris County, 347. Harris, Joel Chandler, his "Stories of Georgia," _203gJL15, 238. Hart County, 203. Hart, Benjamin, American Partisan captain, 192, 197, 201, 202. Hart, Nancy, 192-203. Haslan, William, British deserter, 135. "Head Right." land title, 327. Henry, Patrick, speech against Stamp Act, 120. Highlanders, Scotch, in Georgia, 43, 74-78, 80, 92, 95, 96, 103, 113, 139. Houston County, 340. Houston, George, 133. Howc, General Robert, 137, 138. Huger, Colonel, 137, 178. Indian affairs in Georgia in 1823, 251-255. Indian Spring Treaty, 257-261. . Jackson County, 351. Jackson, President Andrew, dealings with Cherokee Indian case, 307, 309, 310, 313. Jackson, James, in the Revolution, 164-172; fight against the Yazoo Fraud, 244-248. Jasper, Sergeant, in the Revolution, 185-190; monument, 191. Jekyl Island, 43. Je'rusalem Church of the Salzburgers, 70-72. Jones, C. C., his "History of Geor gia," 84/ 107, 133. Jones County, 336, 340. Jones, Noble, 133. Land-claim tragedy, 372, 373. "Land Lottery," 334, 335, 340. Laurens County, 282, 336. Lee, "Light Horse Harry," 160, 166, 167, 168. Lembke, Rev., Salzburg pastor, 69. Leopold, Archbishop, persecution of the Salzburgers, 55, 56. Lexington, Battle of, 131. Liberty Boys, the, 122, 125, 127. Lincoln, General, 167, 168, 174, 175, 178, 183. Little Prince, Creek Indian 0 Chief, 254, 255, 257. Loyalists (see Tories), Lumpkin, Governor Wilson, 308. Lynah, Dr. James., 182. McCall, Colonel, American officer, 160. McGillivray, Alexander, parentage, 205; education, 206, 207; made chief of the Tribe of the Wind, 207; becomes Supreme Chief of the Creek Nation, 208; in the Revolution, 208-210; connection with Oconee War, 210-225; op posed by William Augustus Bowles, 230"; character, 231-233; death and burial, 234. McGillivray, Lachlan, father of Alexander McGillivray, 204-207, 209. McGirth, Colonel Daniel, Tory lead er, 154, 155. Mclntosh, Chilly, 262, 264, 265. Mclntosh, Lachlan, 133. Mclntosh, William, parentage and character, 253, 254; speech at Broken Arrow, 2D5; leader at In dian Spring Treaty, 257; murder of, 263-265. . . ., Mackay, Captain, Highland leader, 77, 104, 105. - Macon County, 341. Madison County, 329, 351. Maitland, British officer, 174. 380' Index. Marshall, Chief Justice, decisions in Cherokee Indian cases, 302, 306. Mathews, Governor George,'connec tion with Yazoo Frauds 242, 247. Mayham tower, at siege of Augusta, 161-163. Milledge, John, 166. Meriwether County, 347. Meriwether, J., United States In dian Treaty Commissioner, 257. Money-making period in Georgia, 342, 343. Monroe County, 340. Monroe, President James, 256, 257, 292. Monteano, General Manuel, in Span ish War, 94, 107. Montgomery County, 329, 336, 369. Moosa, Fort, in Spanish War, 95, 96. Morgan County, 336. Mountaineers, Georgia, 353-356. Muscogee County, 17, 23. Musgrove Creek, Savannah, 143, 178. Musgrove, Mary, 17, 23. Negroes, great increase of in Geor gia, 342; treatment of by whites, 359, 360; feeling between master and slaves, 361; superiority of cot ton-belt negroes, 361, 362; benefi cence of Southern slavery, 362, 363, 367; rice plantation negroes, 366, 367. New Inverness (see Darien). North Carolina emigrants to Georgia, 328, 329, 331, 336. / Oconee War, the, 213-224, 327, 328. Oglethorpe, James, parentage, edu cation, and early career, 1-5; prison reform measures, 6-8; Georgia Colony enterprise, 8-12; conference with Governor John-. . son of South Carolina, 13, 14; ; /finding a location for colony, 15, 16; first meeting with Tomo-chichi, 17; reception of Yamacraw visitors, 21-24; treaty with Lower .Creek Indians, 30-33; visit to Engfand, 34; expedition down Georgia coast, 40-49; turgers, 62-65;; slides Darieri'wM^ 1 Scotch Highlanders, 74-77;..settles Frederica, 79-83; builds ^'forta down Georgia coast, 82; '^jcpeditkon to Coweta Town, 90, "01; j n> / Spanish War, 92-108 j^takef^lfinal"" iave of Georgia^ 109; closings ][ears of life, 114-117.' . Ogjethorpe County,'58, 163, 246, 329. Palmer, Colonel, in Spanish War, 95, 96. Pafiton, William, Scotch merchant, 234. Patriots, 128, 145, 146, 157, 194. Pe -ceval, Lord, 10. Pickens, Colonel Andrew, 158. Pine Barrens, 332, 345, 369. "Pine Barren Speculation," the, 371 Pi ly Woods Folk, 333, 346; 349, 63, 364. Pi t, William, Earl of Chatham, 128, 29. Population of Georgia in 17S3, 1790, L800, 333; 1840, 353. Prevost, General, at siege, of Sa Irannah, 174-177. '.vi Products, early agricultural1' in Georgia, 332. Pulaski, Count, career, 175; at siege pf Savannah, 180; death of, 184; monument to, 184. Pxilaski County, 336. Piltnam County, 336, 340. Rdbenhorst, Salzburg pastor, 68. Religious revivals, 338. Rice planters of Georgia, 365-369. Richards, Major, 43, 48. Ridge, John, Cherokee Indian Chief,: - 289, 311, 320. ^ ;.-,_ R dge, Major, Cherokee Indian Chief, 289, 311^;,.,,^^^^., R >ss, John, Cherokee Indianf iief>rf^i ; 289, 301, 311, 3;&/ .-' ":^^!^p' ': Rsyalists (see Tories). : '"" R m trade, prohibition of by ";Ogle- in, 112. -. -. . -^m thorpe. and trustees, reason's; forj -' "*Nj SZf?sl Index. 381 St. Augustine, siege of by Oglethorpe, 94-98. St. Simons, Fort, built by Oglethorpe, 98; battle of, 101, 102. St. Simons Island, 41, 79-82, 98, 99. Salzburgers, th> persecution in Austria, 53-57; emigration to Georgia, 58-60; settlement and life in Georgia, 61-72; descendants, 73; compared with the .Highlanders, 75; lack of enterprise, 113. Savannah, founding of, 21-25; cap' ture of by British, 133-144; siege of by Americans, 173-183. Schermerhorn, Mr., United States Indian Treaty Commissioner, 313. Schools, Old Field, 338. Scotch-Irish in Georgia, 253, 288, 329, 369-370. Scott, General Winfield, in Cherokee Indian case, 317. Sea-coast region, 364-369. Seal, Georgia Colonial, 10, 11. -- Sehoy, Indian mother of Alexander McGilHvray, 205, 207, 234. Senawki, wife of Tomo-chi-chi, 17, 33, 35, 40, 50. Silk culture in Georgia, 67. Slavery, prohibition of in Georgia by Oglethorpe and trustees, rea son for. 111, 112. Smith, Captain John, at capture of Savannah, 139. Sons of Liberty, 122, 126. South Carolina, 13, 14, 17, 25, 88, 92, 93, 98, 99, 108, 159, 166. Spain and Spaniards, 8, 14, 42, 45, 48, 72,.77, 87-108, 212, 223, 225, 230. Speedwell, the, Georgia stamp ship, 124. Stamp Act in Georgia, 120-130. States' Rights, 224, 270-281. Stevens, Rev. W. B., his "History of Georgia," 84, 133. Talbot County, 347. 'Tallassee Country, the, 214, 222, 344. Tassel, George, Cherokee Indian hanged for murder, 296, 297. Tattnall County, 332, 369. Telfair County, 336, 372. Thunderbolt Road, Savannah, lines of battle across, 138, 139. Tomo-chi-chi, first meeting with Oglethorpe, 17; visit and speech to Oglethorpe, 21-24; ""character, aid ' to Oglethorpe in founding Georgia, 27-49; death and burial, 50-52; monument, 52, 53; un selfish patriotism, 110. Toonahowi, adopted son of Tomochi-chi, 17, 33, 39, 44, 48, 106, 107. Tories (Loyalists, Royalists), 128, 132, 140, 145-149, 157-171, 194202, 324. Treaty, with Cherokee Indians, of Augusta, 210; of 1819, 287; of New Echota, 313. 314. Treaty, with Creek Indians, of Sa vannah, 30; of Augusta, 210; of G'alphinton, 214; of Shoulderbone Creek, 215; of New York, 222, 223; of Coleraine, 225; of 18021804, 333; of 1821, 340; of Fort Jackson, 344; of Indian Spring, 258. Triebner, Rev. Christopher, Salzburg pastor, 70, 71. Troup County, 347. Troup, Governor George M., 225-284. Trustees of Georgia, 9-11, 57, 110, 111. T \viggs County, 336. Twiggs, General John, 172. Tybee Island, 15, 135. University of Georgia, founding of, 338. Up-country folk, 355-356. Van Buren, President, in Cherokee case, 316. Vinton, Lieutenant J. R., 277. Virginia emigrants to Georgia, 328- 331, 339. Von Rek, Baron, leader of Salz burg emigrants, 61, 62, 64. Walton; Colonel George, 133, 137, 138. /nd Washington - County, 326, 329. Washington, President George, 218, - 222, 225, 236. Watkins, George, 242. Wayne, General Anthony, 171. Weekachumpa, Creek Indian chief, ' 31. Wereat, John, 164. Wesley, Rev. Charles, 83. Wesley, Rev. John, meetings with Tomo-chi-chi, 40; as Indian mis sionary, 41; last visit to Tomochi-chi, 50. West Point, town of, 235, 275, 276. White House, Augusta, used as a fort by Brown, the Tory, 149, 150. Whitfield, Rev. George, 50. Whitney, Eli, invents the cotton gin, 338. Wilkes County, 157, 158, 159. Wilkinson County, 336. William, Fort, 98, 99. Wilson, Judge Henry, connection with Yazoo Fraud, 239, 240. rorcestef, 'Rev. Samuel A., connt| tion with the Cherokee Indiai case, 304-308. 'right, James, Royal Governor of Georgia, loyalty to English Gov: rnment, 120; tries to get Geo&> gians to submit to Stamp Act^t 121-128; character, 129, 13tfS flight to England, 131; return to?" Georgia, 146. amacraw Indian tribe, 16, 27, 28 53, 106. azoo Fraud, the, the Yazoo coun try, 235; land speculators, 236; the Yazooists and their corrupt methods, 237-241; passage of the Yazoo Act, 241, 242; sale of lands by the speculators, 243; James Jackson's fight againet the Yazoo Act, 244, 245; popular in dignation against Yazooists, 246, 247; repeal of the Yazoo Act, 248; public burnings of the Yazoo records, 249; settlement of the Yazoo claims, 250. 10