Address ... at the unveiling of the monument erected by the Colonial Dames : to mark the site of "Fort Augusta" in St. Paul's Churchyard, Augusta, Georgia, November 23, 1901

ADDRESS BY
JOSEPH R. LAMAR
At the Unveiling of the Monument Erected by the Colonial Dames to Mark the Site of "Fort Augusta" in St. Paul's Churchyard Augusta, Georgia
NOVEMBER 23. 19O1
JOSEPH RUCKKS
UWVEBSITT or 010*314

ADDRESS BY
JOSEPH R. LAMAR
At the Unveiling of the Monument Erected by the Colonial Dames to Mark the Site of "Fort Augusta" in St. Paul's Churchyard Augusta, Georgia
NOVEMBER 23. 19O1
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"Ladies and Gentlemen: 1935 will be Augusta's second centennial. That date is so near that some
of the young people within the sound of my voice may be present at any commemorative exercises which may then be held. But as we turn and look backward, how far distant is the founding of Fort Augusta! In 1736 Peter the Great had just ceased being Czar of all the Eussias; Frederick the Great had not yet ascended the throne; Louis Fifteenth was ruler of the French; George the Second was King of England, with Eopert Walpole as his prime minister.
"Between the founding of Fort Augusta and the unveiling of this stone lie the most crowded years of history. Periods of one hundred and sixty-five years have passed again and again without change in the customs or conditions of a country; but be tween us and 1736, there are not only the long years, but a series of revolutions, wiping out old customs, introducing new methods of life and sub stituting Republican for Monarchial government. The change is even greater in material affairs. The colony was founded with the expectation that silk would be its main product. We live under a civil ization in which cotton, cotton machinery and steam are the most potent factors of our state life yet, when this fort was laid out, Watt, the inventor of the steam engine, had not been born, and Arkwright, the inventor of the spinning jenny, was an infant at his mother's knee. Georgia, without cotton and without steam, was a Georgia of a different day, as well as of a different civilization from that in which
we live.

"In that not distant period, when George and Louis were entering upon the contest whether North America should be half-British and half-French, or all British; Fort Augusta was the farthest British post in the wilderness, established on the outer fron tier as a point from which men and arms could be sent to hold the powerful Creek Indians to the Eng lish on the Atlantic, rather than have them join the French at Mobile and New Orleans on the Missis sippi.
"General Oglethorpe, solitary and alone, had made that perilous journey through the forest to Middle Georgia, where he met 7,000 Indian braves in the Coweta country. By magnanimous bearing and wise diplomacy, he made them allies of the feeble colony. On his return, in 1739, he stopped in Augusta and inspected the Fort which he and the Trustees had ordered to be built on this very spot. He, no doubt, went out into the little village then containing forty inhabitants and examined the warehouses in which were stored the goods to be given the Indians in exchange for furs. On the river, within a hundred feet of where we now. stand, he saw one of the barges, used in transporting hides to Savannah, and heard the citizens tell with pride that they had that year, on these barges car ried to Savannah 100,000 pounds of dried deer skins.
"General Oglethorpe was the son of an English Knight, and as a land owner, familiar with the uses and advantages of 'Commons,' about which we read so much in the old law books. He had outlined the plan on which Augusta was to be laid out; and what we here used to call 'South Commons' and 'East Commons' were intended by him to serve the same purpose as "Commons" in the English

villages, set apart for the joint use of all the

inhabitants as a place where their cattle might be

pastured. These Commons were subsequently con

veyed to the Richmond Academy and, in the rapid

growth of the city, have disappeared as vacant land,

and are now, for the most part, built up.

"Those of us who know what a Savannah River

swamp is, and recall how luxuriant is the growth,

how dense the vegetation, how damp and dank the

air will not be surprised to know that malarial fever

and sickness were enemies harder to combat than the

savage Uchees, Kiokees, Creeks and Cowetas.

"The little trading post flourished, however, in

spite of sickness and savages. Before long, tobacco

was added to the list of exports. Warehouses in

creased, residences were built, and under the curtain

of the Fort a little church was soon erected. The

Savannah River, by agreement between the whites

and the Indians, had once been the dead line across

which neither was to go. And, though that agree

ment had been abrogated, the River was still a

danger line, so that it was doubly perilous for the

Fort to be on this side of the stream. To the perils

of that time and place is due the fact that the history

of Augusta, for the first half century, is very largely

the history of the Fort itself.

"But the Fort is gone. Even its exact location had

been almost forgotten, and the citizens of Augusta

are greatly indebted to the Georgia Society of

Colonial Dames for permanently marking its site

with this beautiful stone. The inscription is mark

edly appropriate. It is almost an inspiration. It

would be impossible to frame a single sentence which

more appropriately outlines the colonial history of

(^

this town. Let me repeat it:

o "0

' This stone marks the site of the Colonial Fort Augusta, built by order of General Oglethorpe and the Trustees in 1736; known dur ing the Revolution as Fort Cornwallis; St. Paul's church was built in 1750 under a curtain of this
Fort.'
"The words are few and yet reference is aptly made to village, to fort, to colony, to General Ogle thorpe, to the Trustees, to the American revolution, to the final triumph over the British, under Cornwallis, and to St. Paul's church linking the present to the past. In spite of the apparent formality and stiffness of such a method, let me refer more in detail to this peculiarly appropriate inscription:
'' Colonial Fort: Not like European fortifications, built to defend a town already established, but like all colonial forts of America, erected for defense against the Indians that a town might grow.
"Augusta: Beautifully named after the young daughter of George II. No doubt, when the royal princess heard, if she ever did hear, that such a compliment had been paid her, she gave it not a passing thought, little dreaming that nearly two centuries after her death it would be the greatest, if not the only, memorial to preserve her name from the oblivion which at last overtakes princes
as well as peasants. "Built by order of General Oglethorpe: We have
in Augusta the Oglethorpe Infantry, which has a long and honorable record; but, with that exception, there is not, within this town, save now on this

stone, any memorial of Gen. Oglethorpe, who planned and founded the city. No street, no park,
no public building, nothing to commemorate the name of its founder; nothing to eommemorate the name of the very greatest of those Englishmen who laid the foundation upon which was built the Ameri can Republic. I say it deliberately, General Ogle
thorpe was the greatest of them alL "When you call the roll, none who answer equals him in ability, in statesmanship, in the wisdom and success of his Indian policy, in generalship or in achievement. Winthrop in Massachusetts, Penn in Pennsylvania, Lord Baltimore in Maryland, Captain John Smith in Virginia, all were great, but none so great as the Georgia philanthropist, soldier and states man. None of them equal Oglethorpe in chiv alrous bravery, in skill and daring, in unsel fishness of character; and none rival him in high .position. For, we must not forget that this man, not only excelled in war against the savage, in border fighting with the Spaniard, and in the ad ministration of the civil affairs of a weak and beleagured colony, but he was a distinguished member of the House of Commons, had learned war in the school of Marlborough, and on his return to Eng land, became Major-General and finally, ranking General of the British army. His loyalty to the little colony was shown in sacrificing a soldier's ambition and in his refusing to lead the forces of Great Britain against the American forces. He him self lived to see the Colony which he had planted, a full-grown sovereign state, a member of that sister
hood of states forming the Republic. "And the Trustees: Many of us forget that
Georgia is indebted to that distinguished band

8
of men who served with such unselfishness and who contributed of their time and their means for the founding and upbuilding of this colony. A body of men who held high station, and who served without reward except pure love of humanity; Lord Percival, Viscount Tyrconnel, and a council of less distin guished, but equally useful and honorable men, under the presidency of Earl of Shaftsbury.
"Known during the Revolution as Fort Cornwallis: In time to come, as the passer-by shall stop and read this inscription, the word 'Cornwallis,' will suggest to his mind both defeat and victory. It will recall the story of that period of terrific guerilla warfare that went on upon the borders of Georgia and South Carolina. A war not so conspicuous, but more deadly, more harrassing, and requiring a cour age and ability of an order equal to, if different from, that needed in regular armies. The inscription will tell of the final capitulation by the American gar rison of this little Fort, when the American flag gave place to the British ensign, and the name was changed from 'Fort Augusta' to 'Fort Cornwallis.' It will recall the gallant and heroic assault by Pickens, and its recapture, when it again became 'Fort Augusta.' And, at last, it will suggest that scene at Yorktown, when Cornwallis surrendered his sword to George Washington when the-proph ecy of July 4th, 1776, was fulfilled and the colonies indeed became free and independent states. It is an interesting coincidence that what was once known as 'Fort Cornwallis' faces on what is now Washing ton street the first of the multitude of city streets named after the Great American.
"When we gaze upon this quiet spot, and see that every vestige of the Fort has gone, that the

Fort and cannon have mouldered into dust and rust, and that it actually takes this stone to preserve even the memory of the location of the Fort of war; and turn to our right and see St. Paul's stately church standing where the Fort was expected to stand, how can we refrain from saying: 'and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.'
"In the rolling years, the village grew into a town the town into a city, and in 1898, there was celebrated the centennial of the incorporation of Augusta as a city. The address upon that occasion was made by a grandson of the first Intendant. His descent from those who have always been foremost in its history, his culture and ability, his services on the field, in the halls of legislation, and at the bar, make it peculiarly appropriate that, upon this occasion, you should be addressed by Augusta's distinguished son, Major Joseph B. Cumming."
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