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Title: The dead towns of Georgia
Author: Charles C. Jones
Release Date: May 10, 2023 [eBook #70735]
Language: English
Produced by: Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEAD TOWNS OF
GEORGIA ***
THE
DEAD TOWNS
OF
GEORGIA;
BY
CHARLES C. JONES, JR.
_FOR HERE HAVE WE NO CONTINUING CITY._
Heb: xiii. 14
SAVANNAH:
MORNING NEWS STEAM PRINTING HOUSE.
1878.
TO
GEORGE WYMBERLEY-JONES DERENNE, ESQ.,
OF SAVANNAH,
WHOSE INTELLIGENT RESEARCH, CULTIVATED TASTE, AND AMPLE FORTUNE
HAVE BEEN SO GENEROUSLY ENLISTED IN RESCUING FROM OBLIVION THE
EARLY MEMORIES OF GEORGIA,
THESE SKETCHES ARE RESPECTFULLY AND CORDIALLY INSCRIBED.
PREFATORY NOTE.
If it be praiseworthy in their descendants to erect monuments in honor of
the illustrious dead, and to perpetuate in history the lives and acts of
those who gave shape to the past and encouragement to the future, surely
it will not be deemed inappropriate to gather up the fragmentary memories
of towns once vital and influential within our borders, but now covered
with the mantle of decay, without succession, and wholly silent amid the
voices of the present.
Against the miasmatic influences of the swamps, Spanish perils, the
hostility of the Aborigines, and the poverty and sometimes narrow
mindedness of the Trust, did the Colonists grievously struggle in
asserting their dominion over the untamed lands from the Savannah to the
Alatamaha. Nothing indicates so surely the vicissitudes and the mistakes
encountered during that primal period of development, as the DEAD TOWNS
OF GEORGIA. From each comes in turn the whisper of hope, the sound of the
battle with nature for life and comfort, the sad strain of disappointment,
and then the silence of nothingness.
Of the chosen seats and characteristics of the primitive peoples who
inhabited this territory prior to the advent of the European we have
elsewhere spoken.[1]
Of the indications of a foreign occupancy antedating the colonization
under Oglethorpe, such, for example, as those observed by DeBrahm[2]
on Demetrius’ island, and a few others which might be mentioned,—we
refrain from writing, because the theories explanatory of their origin,
possession, and abandonment, are so nebulous as to seem incapable of
satisfactory solution.
In narrating the traditions and grouping the almost obsolete memories
of these deserted villages we have endeavored to revive them, as far as
practicable, in the language of those to whom we are indebted for their
transmission.
CHARLES C. JONES, JR.
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, February 1st, 1878.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
I. OLD AND NEW EBENEZER, 11
II. FREDERICA, 45
III. ABERCORN, 137
IV. SUNBURY, 141
V. HARDWICK, 224
VI. PETERSBURG, JACKSONBOROUGH, &C., 233
VII. MISCELLANEOUS TOWNS, PLANTATIONS, &C., 245
ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. PLAN OF NEW EBENEZER.
2. PLAN OF FREDERICA.
3. PLAN OF SUNBURY.
4. PLAN OF FORT MORRIS.
5. OUTLINE OF HARDWICK.
I.
OLD AND NEW EBENEZER.
[Illustration: _Plan of the Town EBENEZER and its Fort_
_J. Bien, Photo. Lith. N. Y._]
During the four years commencing in 1729 and ending in 1732, more than
thirty thousand Saltzburgers, impelled by the fierce persecutions of
Leopold, abandoned their homes in the broad valley of the Salza and sought
refuge in Prussia, Holland, and England, where their past sufferings and
present wants enlisted substantial sympathy and relief from Protestant
communities. Persuaded by the “Society for the Propagation of Christian
Knowledge,” and acting upon the invitation of the Trustees of the Colony
of Georgia,—who engaged not only to advance the funds necessary to defray
the expenses of the journey and purchase the requisite sea-stores, but
also to allot to each emigrant on his arrival in Georgia fifty acres
of land in fee, and provisions sufficient to maintain himself and
family until such land could be made available for support,—forty-two
Saltzburgers, with their wives and children,—numbering in all
seventy-eight souls,—set out from the town of Berchtolsgaden and its
vicinity for Rotterdam, whence they were to be transported free of charge
to Dover, England. At Rotterdam they were joined by their chosen religious
teachers, the Reverend John Martin Bolzius and the Reverend Israel
Christian Gronau. The oath of loyalty having been administered to them at
Dover by the Trustees, these pious, industrious, and honest emigrants,
on the 28th of December, 1733, set sail in the ship Purisburg and, after
a tedious and perilous passage, reached Charlestown, South Carolina, in
safety. Mr. Oglethorpe, chancing to be there at the time, arranged that
the Saltzburgers should proceed without delay to Savannah. The Savannah
river was entered by them on the 10th of March, 1734. It was _Reminiscere_
Sunday, according to the Lutheran calendar;—the gospel of the day being
“Our Blessed Saviour came to the Borders of the Heathen after He had been
persecuted in His own Country.” “Lying in fine and calm weather, under the
Shore of our beloved _Georgia_, where we heard the Birds sing melodiously,
every Body in the ship was joyful.” So wrote the Reverend Mr. Bolzius, the
faithful attendant and spiritual guide of this Protestant band. He tells
us also, that two days afterwards, when the ship arrived at the place
of landing, “almost all the Inhabitants of the Town of _Savannah_ were
gather’d together; they fired off some Cannons, and cried Huzzah! which
was answer’d by our Sailors, and other _English_ People in our Ship in the
same manner. Some of us were immediately fetch’d on Shore in a Boat, and
carried about the City, into the woods, and the new Garden belonging to
the Trustees. In the meantime a very good Dinner was prepared for us: And
the _Saltzburgers_, who had yet fresh Meat in the Ship, when they came on
shore, they got very good and wholesome _English_ strong Beer. And besides
the Inhabitants shewing them a great deal of Kindness, and the Country
pleasing them, they were full of Joy and praised God for it.”[3]
Leaving his people comfortably located in tents, and in the hospitable
care of the Colonists at Savannah, Mr. VonReck set out on horseback with
Mr. Oglethorpe to take a view of the country and select a spot where the
Saltzburgers might form their settlement. At nine o’clock on the morning
of the 17th of March they reached the place designated as the future
home of the emigrants. It was about four miles below the present town of
Springfield, in Effingham County, sterile and unattractive. To the eye
of the Commissary, however, tired of the sea and weary of persecutions,
it appeared a blessed spot, redolent of sweet hope, bright promise, and
charming repose. Hear his description: “The Lands are inclosed between
two Rivers, which fall into the _Savannah_. The _Saltzburg_ Town is to
be built near the largest, which is called _Ebenezer_,[4] in Remembrance
that God has brought us hither; and is navigable, being twelve Foot deep.
A little Rivulet, whose Water is as clear as Crystal, glides by the Town;
another runs through it, and both fall into the _Ebenezer_. The Woods
here are not so thick as in other Places. The sweet Zephyrs preserve a
delicious coolness notwithstanding the scorching Beams of the Sun. There
are very fine Meadows, in which a great Quantity of Hay might be made
with very little Pains: there are also Hillocks, very fit for Vines. The
Cedar, Walnut, Pine, Cypress and Oak make the greatest part of the Woods.
There is found in them a great Quantity of Myrtle Trees out of which they
extract, by boiling the Berries, a green Wax, very proper to make Candles
with. There is much Sassafras, and a great Quantity of those Herbs of
which Indigo is made, and Abundance of _China_ Roots. The Earth is so
fertile that it will bring forth anything that can be sown or planted in
it; whether Fruits, Herbs, or Trees. There are wild Vines, which run up
to the Tops of the tallest Trees; and the Country is so good that one
may ride full gallop 20 or 30 miles an end. As to Game, here are Eagles,
Wild-Turkies, Roe-Bucks, Wild-Goats, Stags, Wild-Cows, Horses, Hares,
Partridges, and Buffaloes.”[5] Upon the return of Mr. Oglethorpe and the
Commissary to Savannah, nine able bodied Saltzburgers were immediately
dispatched, by the way of Abercorn, to Ebenezer, to cut down trees and
erect shelters for the Colonists. On the 7th of April the rest of the
emigrants arrived, and, with the blessing of the good Mr. Bolzius, entered
at once upon the task of clearing land, constructing bridges, building
shanties, and preparing a road-way to Abercorn. Wild honey found in a
hollow tree greatly refreshed them, and parrots and partridges made them
“a very good dish.” Upon the sandy soil they fixed their hopes for a
generous yield of peas and potatoes. To the “black, fat, and heavy” land
they looked for all sorts of corn; and from the clayey soil they purposed
manufacturing bricks and earthen ware. On the 1st of May lots were drawn
upon which houses were to be erected in the town of Ebenezer. The day
following, the hearts of the people were rejoiced by the coming of ten
cows and calves,—sent as a present from the Magistrates of Savannah in
obedience to Mr. Oglethorpe’s order. Ten casks “full of all Sorts of
Seeds” arriving from Savannah, set these pious peoples to praising God
for all His loving kindnesses. Commiserating their poverty, the Indians
gave them deer, and their English neighbors taught them how to brew a sort
of beer made of molasses, sassafras, and pine tops. Poor Lackner dying,
by common consent the little money he left was made the “Beginning of a
Box for the Poor.” The repeated thunderstorms and hard rains penetrated
through the rude huts and greatly incommoded the settlers. The water
disagreed with them, causing serious affections of the bowels, until they
found a brook, springing from a little hill, which proved both palatable
and wholesome. By appointment, Monday the 13th of May was observed by the
congregation as a season of Thanksgiving.
Depending entirely upon the charity of the Trustees for supplies of sorts,
and having but few mechanics among them, these Saltzburgers labored under
great disadvantages in building their little town in the depths of the
woods, and surrounding themselves with fields and gardens. Patient of
toil, however, and accustomed to work, they cut and delved away, day
by day, rejoicing in their freedom, blessing the Giver of all good for
His mercies, and observing the rules of honesty, morality, and piety,
for which their sect had been so long distinguished. Communication with
Savannah was maintained by way of Abercorn; to which place supplies were
transported by water.
Early in 1735 the settlement was materially strengthened and encouraged by
the arrival of fifty-seven more emigrants under the conduct of Mr. Vatt.
Among the new-comers were several mechanics whose knowledge, industry,
and skill were at once applied to hewing timber, splitting shingles, and
sawing boards, to the manifest improvement of the dwellings in Ebenezer.
About a year afterwards occurred what is known as the _great embarcation_.
Including some eighty Germans from the city of Ratisbon, under the control
of Baron VonReck and Captain Hermsdorf, twenty-seven Moravians under the
care of the Rev’d David Nitschman, the Rev’d John and Charles Wesley, and
the Rev’d Mr. Ingham,—Missionaries to the Indians,—and a number of poor
English families, this accession to the Colony of Georgia aggregated some
two hundred and twenty-seven persons, of whom two hundred and two were
conveyed upon the Trust’s account. Francis Moore was appointed keeper of
the stores. Oglethorpe in person accompanied the Colonists, and exercised
a fatherly care over them during the voyage. They were transported in the
Symond of 220 tons,—Capt. Joseph Cornish,—and the London Merchant, of like
burthen,—Capt. John Thomas.[6] During the voyage the German Dissenters
“sung psalms and served God in their own way.” Turnips, carrots, potatoes,
and onions, issued with the salt provisions, prevented scurvy. In order
to promote comfort and good order, the ships had been divided into
cabins, with gangways between them, in which the emigrants were disposed
according to families. The single men were located by themselves. Weather
permitting, the vessels were cleaned between decks and washed with vinegar
to keep them sweet. Constables were appointed “to prevent any disorders,”
and so admirably was discipline preserved, that there was no occasion for
punishment except in the case of a boy, “who was whipped for stealing of
turnips.” The men were exercised with small arms, and instructed by Mr.
Oglethorpe in the duties which would devolve upon them as free-holders
in the new settlement. To the women were given thread, worsted, and
knitting needles; and they were required to employ “their leisure time in
making Stockings and Caps for their Family, or in mending their Cloaths
and Linnen.” In this sensible way were matters ordered on these emigrant
ships, and the colonists, during a protracted voyage, prepared for lives
of industry in their new homes.
On the 5th of February, 1736, these ships, with the first of the flood,
were carried over Tybee bar and found safe anchorage within. The emigrants
were temporarily landed on Peeper island, where they dug a well and washed
their clothes. It was Mr. Oglethorpe’s purpose to send most of these
Saltzburgers to Frederica that they might assist in the development of
that town and the construction of its fortifications. Desiring the benefit
of their ministers, not wishing to divide their congregation, and being
reluctant to go to the Southward where “they apprehended blows,”—fighting
being “against their religion,”—they persuaded Mr. Oglethorpe to permit
them to join their countrymen at Ebenezer, whither they accordingly went
some days afterwards and were heartily welcomed. It will be remembered,
however, that Captain Hermsdorf, with his little company, assured Mr.
Oglethorpe “that he would never forsake him, but serve with the English
to the last.” His offer was accepted, and on the 16th he set out with Mr.
Oglethorpe for Frederica.
By this second accession the population of Ebenezer was increased so that
it numbered in all some two hundred souls. Contentment and prosperity
did not obtain in the town. In the fertility of the soil the inhabitants
had encountered disappointment. Much sickness prevailed, and they were
oppressed with the isolated character of their location. The creek upon
which the town was situated was uncertain in volume, serpentine, and
difficult of navigation. Although the distance from Old Ebenezer to the
Savannah river by land did not exceed six miles, by following this,
the only outlet by water, twenty-five miles must be passed before its
confluence could be reached.[7]
Moved by these and other depressing considerations, the Reverend Messrs.
Bolzius and Gronau visited Savannah at the instance of their flock, and
conferred with Mr. Oglethorpe as to the propriety of changing the location
of the town. Moore says the Saltzburgers at Ebenezer were so discontented
that they “demanded to leave their old Town, and to settle upon the Lands
which the _Indians_ had reserved for their own Use.”[8]
Having patiently listened to the request, Mr. Oglethorpe, on the 9th
of February, 1736, set out with the Saltzburger ministers and several
gentlemen for Ebenezer, to make a personal inspection of the situation
and satisfy himself with regard to the expediency of the removal. He
was received with every mark of consideration, and proceeded at once to
consider the causes which induced the inhabitants to desire a change.
Admitting that the existing “dissatisfaction was not groundless, and
that there were many embarrassments connected with their situation,” he
nevertheless endeavored to dissuade them from their purpose by reminding
them that the labor already expended in clearing their lands, building
houses, and constructing roads would, upon removal, be almost wholly lost.
The hardships incident upon forming an entirely new settlement were urged
upon their serious consideration. He also assured them that in clearing
the forests, and in bringing the lands on the bank of the Savannah river
under cultivation they would encounter the same diseases which afflicted
them in their present location. He concluded, however, by assuring them
that if they were resolved upon making the change he would not forbid it,
but would assist them, as far as practicable, in compassing their design.
After this conference, and upon Mr. Oglethorpe’s return to Savannah,
the question of a change of location was again considered by the
Saltzburgers, who resolved among themselves that a removal was essential
to the prosperity of their colony.[9] Acting upon this determination the
community, without delay, set about migrating to the site selected for
the new town. This was on a high ridge, near the Savannah river, called
“Red Bluff” from the peculiar color of the soil. It received the name of
New Ebenezer; and, to the simple-minded Germans, oppressed by poverty
and saddened by the disappointments of the past, seemed to offer future
happiness and much coveted prosperity. The labor of removal appears
to have been compassed within less than two years. In June, 1738, Old
Ebenezer[10] had degenerated into a cow-pen, where Joseph Barker resided
and “had the care of the Trust’s Cattle.” William Stephens gives us a
pitiable view of the abandoned spot when he visited it on the 26th of
that month:—Indian traders, returning from Savannah, lodging for the night
with Barker, who was unable to give due account of the cattle under his
charge, and a servant, Sommers, moving about with “the Small-Pox out full
upon him.”[11] Thus early did “Old Ebenezer” take its silent place among
the lost towns of Georgia. Its life of trials and sorrow, of ill-founded
hope and sure disappointment, was measured by scarcely more than two
years, and its frail memories were speedily lost amid the sighs and the
shadows of the monotonous pines which environed the place.
The situation of the new Town, Mr. Strobel says, was quite romantic. “On
the east lay the Savannah with its broad, smooth surface and its every
varying and beautiful scenery. On the south was a stream, then called
Little Creek, but now known as Lockner’s Creek, and a large lake called
‘Neidlinger’s Sea;’ while to the north, not very distant from the town,
was to be seen their old acquaintance, Ebenezer Creek, sluggishly winding
its way to mingle with the waters of the Savannah. The surrounding country
was gently undulating and covered with a fine growth of forest trees,
while the jessamine, the woodbine and the beautiful azalia, with its
variety of gaudy colors, added a peculiar richness to the picturesque
scene. But unfortunately for the permanent prosperity of the town, it was
surrounded on three sides by low swamps which were subject to periodical
inundation, and consequently generated a poisonous miasma prejudicial to
the health of the inhabitants.”[12]
The plan adopted in laying out the town was prescribed by General
Oglethorpe, and closely resembles that of Savannah;—the size of the
lots and the width of the streets and lanes being in each case quite
similar. To John Gerar, William DeBrahm, his Majesty’s Surveyor General
for the Southern District of North America, who in 1757 erected a fort at
Ebenezer, are we indebted for an accurate plan of that town.[13] As the
village increased, this plan was extended;—its distinctive characteristics
being retained. From contemporaneous notices we learn that New Ebenezer,
within a short time after its settlement, gave manifest token of
substantial growth and prosperity. The houses there erected were larger
and more comfortable than those which had been built in the old town.
Gardens and farms were cleared, enclosed, and brought under creditable
cultivation, and the sedate, religious inhabitants enjoyed the fruits of
their industry and economy.
Funds received from Germany for that purpose were employed in the erection
of an Orphan House, in which, for lack of a Church, the community
worshipped for several years.
We presume the account of the condition of Ebenezer in 1738-9, furnished
by Benjamin Martyn,[14] is as interesting and reliable as any that can
be suggested. It is as follows: “Fifteen miles from _Purysburg_ on the
_Georgia_ side, is _Ebenezer_, where the _Saltzburghers_ are situated;
their Houses are neat, and regularly set out in Streets, and the whole
Œconomy of their town, under the Influence of their Ministers, Mess.
_Bolzius_ and _Gronau_, is very exemplary. For the Benefit of their
Milch Cattle, a Herdsman is appointed to attend them in the Woods all
the Day, and bring them Home in the Evening. Their Stock of out-lying
Cattle is also under the Care of two other Herdsmen, who attend them in
their Feeding in the Day, and drive them into Cow-Pens at night. This
secures the Owners from any Loss, and the Herdsmen are paid by a small
Contribution among the People. These are very industrious, and subsist
comfortably by their Labour. Though there is no regular Court of Justice,
as they live in Sobriety, they maintain great Order and Decency. In case
of any Differences, the Minister calls three or four of the most prudent
Elders together, who in a summary Way hear and determine as they think
just, and the Parties always acquiesce with Content in their Judgment.
They are very regular in their public Worship, which is on Week-Days in
the Evening after their Work; and in the Forenoon and Evening on Sundays.
They have built a large and convenient House for the Reception of Orphans,
and other poor Children, who are maintained by Benefactions among the
People, are well taken Care of and taught to work according as their Age
and Ability will permit. The Number computed by Mr. _Bolzius_ in _June,
1738_, whereof his Congregation consisted, was one hundred forty-six, and
some more have since been settled among them. They are all in general
so well pleased with their condition, that not one of their People has
abandoned the Settlement.”
General Oglethorpe received a letter, dated Ebenezer, March 13, 1739,
signed by forty-nine men of the Saltzburgers and verified by their
Ministers, in which they assured him that they were well settled and
pleased with the climate and condition of the country; that although the
season was hotter than that of their native land, having become accustomed
to it, they found it tolerable and convenient for working people; and that
their custom was to commence their out-door labor early in the morning
and continue it until ten o’clock; resuming it again from three in the
afternoon until sun-set. During the heated term of mid-day, matters within
their houses engaged their attention. The General was also informed that
they had practically demonstrated the falsity of the tale told them on
their arrival that rice could be cultivated only by negroes. “We laugh at
such a Talking,”—so they wrote, “seeing that several People of us have
had, in last Harvest, a greater Crop of Rice than they wanted for their
own Consumption. Of Corn, Pease, Potatoes, Pumpkins, Cabbage, &c., we
had such a good Quantity that many Bushels are sold, and much was spent
in feeding Cows, Calves and Hogs.” The letter concludes with an earnest
petition that negroes should be excluded from their town and neighborhood,
alleging as a reason that their houses and gardens would be robbed by
them, and that, “besides other great inconveniences, white people were in
danger of life from them.”[15]
Of humble origin and moderate education, of primitive habits, accustomed
to labor, free from covetousness and ambition, temperate, industrious,
frugal and orderly, solicitous for the education of their children and
the maintenance of the needy and the orphan, meddling not in the affairs
of their neighbors, acknowledging allegiance to the Trustees and the
King of England, maintaining direct connection with the Lutheran Church
in Germany, and submitting without question to the decisions of their
ministers and elders in all matters, whether of a civil or ecclesiastical
nature, engaging in no pursuits save of an agricultural or a mechanical
character, and little given either to excitement or wandering, these
Saltzburgers for years preserved the integrity of their community and
their religion, and secured for themselves a comfortable existence. As
early as 1738 the Saltzburgers at Ebenezer made some limited experiment in
growing cotton and were much encouraged;—the yield being abundant, and of
an excellent quality. The Trustees, however, having fixed their hopes upon
silk and wine, the cultivation of this plant was not countenanced.[16]
It was estimated by Mr. Benjamin Martyn, Secretary of the Trustees, that
up to the year 1741, not less than twelve hundred German Protestants
had arrived in the Colony. Their principal settlements were at Ebenezer,
Bethany, Savannah, Frederica, Goshen, and along the road leading from
Savannah to Ebenezer. They were all characterized by industry, sobriety,
and thrift.
About the year 1744 the Saltzburgers at Ebenezer and along the line of the
public road running from that town to Savannah, through the assistance of
friends in Germany, were enabled to build two comfortable and substantial
houses for public worship,—one at New Ebenezer, called _Jerusalem
Church_, and the other about four miles below, named _Zion Church_.
The joy experienced upon the dedication of these sacred buildings was
soon turned to grief by the death of one of their faithful pastors,—the
Reverend Israel C. Gronau,—who, in the supreme moments of a lingering
fever, desiring a friend to support his hands uplifted in praise of the
Great Master whom he had so long and so truthfully served, exclaimed
“Come, Lord Jesus! Amen!! Amen!!!” and with these words,—the last upon his
lips,—entered into peace.[17]
Reverend Mr. Bolzius continued to be the principal pastor and, as an
assistant, the Reverend Mr. Lembke was associated with him.
As early as January 31, 1732, Sir Thomas Lombe[18] certified to the
Trustees of the Colony that silk produced in Carolina possessed “as
much natural Strength and Beauty as the Silk of Italy.” In his “New and
Accurate Account of the Provinces of South Carolina and Georgia,”[19] Mr.
Oglethorpe enumerated among the chief revenues which might be anticipated
from the settlement of Georgia, profits to arise from the manufacture of
silk. His opinion was that between forty and fifty thousand people might
be advantageously employed in this business. In view of the encouragement
which might reasonably be expected from Parliament, and the cheapness of
the labor and land, he estimated that the cost of production would be at
least twenty-five per cent. lower than that then current in Piedmont.
Sharing in this belief, the Trustees sent to Italy for silk-worm eggs, and
engaged the services of several Piedmontese to go to Georgia and instruct
the Colonists in the production of silk.[20] In the grants of land to
parties emigrating to Georgia either at their own expense or at the charge
of the Charity, may be found covenants on the part of the grantees to
“keep a sufficient number of white mulberry trees standing on every acre,”
or else to “plant them where they were wanted.” A special plea is entered
by Benjamin Martyn in behalf of silk-culture in Georgia and the manifest
benefits to be expected.[21]
The early accounts all agree in representing the production of silk as one
of the most important matters to be considered and fostered in connection
with the establishment and development of the Colony of Georgia.
In 1735, Queen Caroline, upon the King’s birth-day, appeared in a full
robe of Georgia silk; and in 1739 a parcel of raw silk, brought from
Georgia by Samuel Augspourguer, was exhibited at the Trustees’ office
in London to “Mr. John Zachary,—an eminent raw-silk merchant,—and to
Mr. Booth,—one of the greatest silk-weavers in England,”—both of whom
“declared it to be as fine as any Italian silk, and worth at least twenty
shillings a pound.”[22]
With that industry and patience so characteristic of them as a people,
the inhabitants of New Ebenezer were among the earliest and the most
persevering in their efforts to carry into practical operation Mr.
Oglethorpe’s wishes in regard to the production of silk. In 1736 each
Saltzburger there was presented with a mulberry tree, and two of the
congregation were instructed by Mrs. Camuse in the art of reeling.
Under date of May 11th, 1741, Mr. Bolzius, in his journal, records the
fact that within the preceding two months twenty girls succeeded in making
seventeen pounds of cocoons which were sold at Savannah for £3, 8s. The
same year £5 were advanced by General Oglethorpe to this Clergyman for
the purchase of trees. With this sum he procured twelve hundred, and
distributed them among the families of his parish.
On the 4th of December, 1742, five hundred trees were sent by General
Oglethorpe to Ebenezer, with a promise of more should they be needed.
Near Mr. Bolzius’ house a machine for the manufacture of raw-silk was
erected, and the construction of a public Filature was contemplated. Of
the eight hundred and forty-seven pounds of cocoons raised in the Colony
of Georgia in 1747, about one-half was produced by the Saltzburgers at
Ebenezer. Two years afterwards this yield was increased to seven hundred
and sixty-two pounds of cocoons, and fifty pounds thirteen ounces of
spun silk. Two machines were in operation in Mr. Bolzius’ yard, capable
of reeling twenty-four ounces per day. It was apparent, however, that
while, by ordinary labor, about two shillings could be earned, scarcely a
shilling per diem could be expected by one engaged in the manufacture of
silk. This fact proved so discouraging to the Colonists that, except at
Ebenezer, silk culture was generally relinquished. The Germans persevered,
and as the result of their energy, over a thousand pounds of cocoons
and seventy-four pounds, two ounces of raw-silk were raised at Ebenezer
in 1750, and sold for £110 sterling. The community was now pretty well
supplied with copper basins and reeling machines. Considerable effort
was made in England to attract the notice of the Home Government to this
production of silk in Georgia, and to enlist in its behalf fostering
influences at the hands of those in authority. In 1755 a paper was laid
before the Lords of Trade and Plantations, signed by about forty eminent
silk throwsters and weavers, declaring that “having examined about 300 wt.
of Georgia raw-silk they found it as good as the Piedmontese, and better
than the common Italian silks.” Assurance was given that there was the
utmost reason to afford “all possible encouragement for the raising of so
valuable a commodity.”[23]
In 1764 fifteen thousand two hundred and twelve pounds of cocoons were
delivered at the Filature in Savannah, then under the charge of Mr.
Ottolenghe, of which eight thousand six hundred and ninety-five pounds
were contributed by the Saltzburgers. In 1766 the production of silk in
Georgia reached its acme, and from that time, despite the encouragement
extended by Parliament, continued to decline until it was practically
abandoned a few years before the inception of the Revolution. Operations
at the Filature in Savannah were discontinued in 1771; and Sir James
Wright, in his message to the Commons House of Assembly, under date 19th
of January, 1774, alludes to the fact that the Filature buildings were
falling into decay, and suggests that they be put to some other use.
Despite the disinclination existing in other portions of the Colony to
devote much time and labor to the growing of trees and the manufacture
of silk, the Saltzburgers,—incited by their worthy magistrate, Mr.
Wertsch,—redoubled their efforts, and in 1770, as the result of their
industry, shipped two hundred and ninety-one pounds of raw-silk. At the
suggestion of the Earl of Hillsborough, who warmly commended the zeal of
these Germans and interested himself in procuring from Parliament a small
sum to be expended in aid of the more indigent of the community, Mr.
Habersham distributed among them the basins and reels then being in the
unused public Filature in Savannah.
“So popular had the silk business become at Ebenezer that Mr. Habersham,
in a letter dated the 30th of March, 1772, says: ‘Some persons in almost
every family there understand its process from the beginning to the end.’
In 1771 the Germans sent four hundred and thirty-eight pounds of raw silk
to England, and in 1772 four hundred and eighty-five pounds:—all of their
own raising. They made their own reels, which were so much esteemed that
one was sent to England as a model, and another taken to the East Indies
by Pickering Robinson.”[24]
In the face of the distractions encountered upon the commencement of
hostilities between the Colonies and the Mother Country, silk culture
languished even among these Germans, and was never afterwards revived to
any considerable degree. The unfriendliness of climate, the high price
of labor, the withdrawal of all bounty—which had been the chief stimulus
to exertion,—and the larger profits to be derived from the cultivation
of rice and cotton combined to interrupt silk-raising, and, in the end,
caused its total abandonment.
The construction of a bridge over Ebenezer creek materially promoted the
interests and the convenience of those residing at Ebenezer; and the
erection of Churches at Bethany and Goshen,—the former about five miles
northwest of Ebenezer, and the latter some ten miles below and near the
road leading to Savannah,—indicated the growth of the German plantations
along the line of the Savannah river.
The settlement at Bethany was effected in 1751 by John Gerar William
DeBrahm, who there located one hundred and sixty Germans. Eleven months
afterwards these Colonists were joined by an equal number,—“the Relations
and Acquaintance of the former.” The Saltzburgers then numbered about
fifteen hundred souls.[25] Alluding to the location and growth of
these plantations, and the agricultural pursuits of their cultivators,
Surveyor-General DeBrahm says: “The German Settlements have since
Streatched S: Eastwardly about 32 miles N: W-ward from the Sea upon
Savannah Stream, from whence they extend up the same Stream through the
whole Salt Air Zona. They cultivate European and American Grains to
Perfection; as Wheat, Rye, Barley, Oats; also Flax, Hemp, Tobacco and
Rice, Indigo, Maize, Peas, Pompions, Melons—they plant Mulberry, Apple,
Peach, Nectorins, Plumbs and Quince Trees, besides all manner of European
Garden Herbs, but, in particular, they Chose the Culture of silk their
principal Object, in which Culture they made such a Progress, that the
Filature, which is erected in the City of Savannah could afford to send
in 1768 to London 1,084 Pounds of raw Silk, equal in Goodness to that
manufactured in Piemont; but the Bounties to encourage that Manufactory
being taken off, they discouraged, dropt their hands from that Culture
from year to year in a manner, that in 1771 its Product was only 290
Pounds in lieu of 1,464, which must have been that year’s Produce, had
this Manufactory been encouraged to increase at a 16 years rate. In lieu
of Silk they have taken under more Consideration the Culture of Maize,
Rice, Indigo, Hemp & Tobacco: But the Vines have not as yet become an
Object of their Attention, altho’ in the Country especially over the
German Settlements, Nature makes all the Promises, yea gives yearly full
Assurances of her Assistance by her own Endeavours producing Clusture
Grapes in Abundance on its uncultivated Vines; yet there is no Person,
who will listen to her Addresses, and give her the least Assistance,
notwithstanding many of the Inhabitants are refreshed from the Sweetness
of her wild Productions. The Culture of Indigo is brought to the same
Perfection here, as in South Carolina, and is manufactured through all the
Settlements from the Sea Coast, to the Extent of the interior Country.”[26]
On the 19th of November, 1765, the Ebenezer congregation was called upon
to mourn the loss of its venerable Spiritual Guide, the Reverend Mr.
Bolzius, who had been at once teacher and magistrate, counsellor and
friend during the thirty years of poverty and privation, labor and sorrow,
hope and joy, passed in the wilds of Georgia. He was interred, amid the
lamentations of his people, in the cemetery near Jerusalem Church, and no
stone marks his grave.
After his demise the conduct of the Society devolved upon Messrs. Lembke
and Rabenhorst. This involved not only the spiritual care of this people,
but also the preservation and proper management of the mill-establishments
and public property belonging to the Ebenezer Congregation. “These
two faithful men,” writes the Reverend P. A. Strobel,[27] “labored
harmoniously and successfully in the discharge of their heavy civil and
religious obligations, and gave entire satisfaction to those with whose
interests they were intrusted.” During their administration the large
brick house of worship, known as Jerusalem Church, was built at Ebenezer.
The materials used in its construction were, for the most part, supplied
by the Saltzburgers, while the funds necessary to defray the cost of
erection were contributed by friends in Germany.
Upon the death of Mr. Lembke, the Reverend Christopher F. Triebner
“was sent over by the reverend fathers in Germany as an adjunct to
Mr. Rabenhorst. Being a young man of talents, but of an impetuous and
ambitious disposition, he soon raised such a tumult in the quiet community
that all the efforts of the famous Mr. Muhlenburg, who was ordered on a
special mission to Ebenezer in 1774 to heal the disturbances which had
arisen, scarce saved the congregation from disintegration. The schism was,
however, finally cured, and peace was restored.” For the better government
of the Society, articles of discipline were prepared by Dr. Muhlenburg,
which were formally subscribed by one hundred and twenty-four male
members. This occurred at Jerusalem Church on the 16th of January, 1775,
and affords substantial evidence of the strength of the congregation.
The property belonging to the Church, according to an inventory made by
Dr. Muhlenburg in 1775, consisted of the following:
“1. In the hands of Pastor Rabenhorst a capital of £300. 16s.
5d.
2. In the hands of John Casper Wertsch, for the store, £300.
3. In the mill treasury, notes and money, £229. 16s. 2d.
4. Pastor Triebner has some money in hands, (£400) the
application of which has not been determined by our Reverend
Fathers.
5. Belonging to the Church is a Negro Boy at Mr. John Flöerl’s,
and a Negro Girl at Mr. David Steiner’s.
6. A town-lot and an out-lot, of which Mr. John Triebner has
the grant in his hands.
7. An inventory of personal goods in the mills belonging to the
estate.
8. And, finally, real estate, with the mills, 925 acres of
land.”
Including certain legacies from private individuals, and donations from
patrons of the Colony in Germany, which were received within a short time,
it is conjectured that this church property was then worth not much less
than twenty thousand dollars.
So long as the congregation at Ebenezer preserved its integrity, direct
allegiance to the parent Church in Germany was acknowledged, its
precepts, orders and deliverances were obeyed, its teachers welcomed and
respected, and accounts of all receipts, disbursements, and important
transactions regularly rendered. Its pastors continued to be charged with
the administration of affairs, both spiritual and temporal, and were the
duly constituted custodians of all church funds and property. Upon their
arrival in Georgia these Saltzburgers, wearied with persecutions and
stripped of the small possessions which were once theirs, were at first
quite dependent upon public and private charity for bare subsistence. They
were then unable, by voluntary contributions, to sustain their pastors and
teachers, and build churches. Foreign aid arrived, however, from time to
time, and this was supplemented in a small, yet generous way, by the labor
of the parishioners and such sums and articles as could be spared from
their slow accumulations. With a view to providing for the future, all
means thus derived were carefully invested for the benefit of church and
pastor. This system was maintained for more than fifty years, so that in
the course of time not only were churches built, but reasonable provision
was made for clergyman, teacher, and orphan, aside from the yearly
voluntary contributions of the members of the Society. The education of
youths was not neglected; and DeBrahm assures us that in his day a library
had been accumulated at Ebenezer in which “could be had Books wrote in
the Caldaic, Hebrew, Arabec, Siriac, Coptic, Malabar, Greek, Latin,
French, German, Dutch and Spanish, beside the English, viz: in thirteen
Languages.”[28]
In the division of the Province of Georgia into eight Parishes, which
occurred on the 15th of March, 1758, “the district of Abercorn and Goshen,
and the district of Ebenezer—extending from the northwest boundaries of
the parish of Christ Church up the river Savannah as far as the Beaver
Dam, and southwest as far as the mouth of Horse-Creek on the river Great
Ogechee”—were declared a Parish under the name of “The Parish of St.
Matthew.”[29] The parish just below, on the line of the Savannah river,
and embracing the town of Savannah, was known as “Christ Church Parish.”
The Parish of St. Matthew, and the upper part of St. Philip lying above
the Canouchee river, were, by the Constitution of Georgia adopted at
Savannah on the 5th of February, 1777, consolidated into a county called
Effingham.[30]
In the opinion of the Reverend Mr. Strobel, to whose valuable sketch of
the Saltzburgers and their descendants we are indebted for much of the
information contained in these pages, Ebenezer attained the height of its
importance about 1774. The population of the town proper was not less than
five hundred, embracing agriculturists, mechanics, and shop-keepers, who
pursued their respective avocations with energy and thrift. Trade with
Savannah and Charleston was carried on by means of sloops and schooners.
In a contemporaneous picture, representing the general appearance of
the town, may be seen two schooners riding at anchor near the Ebenezer
landing.[31]
Although there arose a sharp division of sentiment when the question of
direct opposition to the acts of Parliament was discussed at Ebenezer in
1774, and although quite a number of the inhabitants favored “passive
obedience and non-resistance,” the response of the majority was: “We
have experienced the evils of tyranny in our own land; for the sake
of liberty we have left home, lands, houses, estates, and have taken
refuge in the wilds of Georgia; shall we now submit again to bondage?
No, never.” Among the delegates from the Parish of St. Matthew to the
Provincial Congress which assembled in Savannah on the 4th of July, 1775,
were the following Saltzburgers: John Stirk, John Adam Treutlen, Jacob
Waldhauer, John Flöerl, and Christopher Craemer. Despite the fact that as
a community the Saltzburgers espoused the cause of the Revolutionists, a
considerable faction, headed by Mr. Triebner, maintained an open and a
strenuous adherence to the Crown. Between these parties sprang up an angry
controversy, replete with the bitterest feelings, and very prejudicial
to the peace and prosperity of the congregation. In the midst of the
discussion the Reverend Mr. Rabenhorst, who exerted his utmost influence
to curb the dominant passions and inculcate mutual forbearance, crowned
his long and useful life with a saintly death.
Three days after the capture of Savannah by Colonel Campbell, a strong
force was advanced, under the command of Lieut. Col. Maitland, to Cherokee
Hill. The following day [January 2, 1779,] Ebenezer was occupied by the
British troops. Upon their arrival they threw up a redoubt within a
few hundred yards of Jerusalem Church and fortified the position.[32]
The remains of this work are said to be still visible. The moment he
learned that Savannah had fallen before Colonel Campbell’s column, Mr.
Triebner hastened to that place, proclaimed his loyalty, and took the
oath of allegiance. The intimation is that he counselled the immediate
occupation of Ebenezer, and in person accompanied the detachment which
compassed the capture of his own town and people. He was a violent,
uncompromising man,—at all times intent upon the success of his peculiar
views and wishes. Influenced by his advice and example, not a few of
the Saltzburgers subscribed oaths of allegiance to the British Crown,
and received certificates guaranteeing Royal protection to person and
property. Prominent among those who maintained their adherence to the
Rebel cause were Governor John Adam Trentlen, William Holsendorf, Colonel
John Stirk, Secretary Samuel Stirk, John Schnider, Rudolph Strohaker,
Jonathan Schnider, J. Gotlieb Schnider, Jonathan Rahn, Ernest Zittrauer,
and Joshua and Jacob Helfenstein.
“The citizens at Ebenezer and the surrounding country,” says Mr. Strobel,
“were made to feel very severely the effects of the war. The property
of those who did not take the oath of allegiance was confiscated, and
they were constantly exposed to every species of insult and wrong from a
hired and profligate soldiery. Besides this, some of the Saltzburgers who
espoused the cause of the Crown became very inveterate in their hostility
to the Whigs in the settlement, and pillaged and then burnt their
dwellings. The residence on the farm of the pious Rabenhorst was among the
first given to the flames. Among those who distinguished themselves for
their cruelty was one Eichel,—who has been properly termed an ‘inhuman
miscreant,’—whose residence was at Goshen, and Martin Dasher, who kept a
public house five miles below Ebenezer. These men placed themselves at the
head of marauding parties, composed of British and Tories, and laid waste
every plantation or farm whose occupant was even suspected of favoring
the Republican cause. In these predatory excursions the most revolting
cruelty and unbridled licentiousness were indulged, and the whole country
was overrun and devastated.... The Salzburgers, nevertheless, were to
experience great annoyances from other sources.... A line of British posts
had been established all along the western bank of the Savannah river to
check the demonstrations of the Rebel forces in Carolina. Under these
circumstances, Ebenezer, from its somewhat central position, became a kind
of thoroughfare for the British troops in passing through the country
from Augusta to Savannah. To the inhabitants of Ebenezer, particularly,
this was a source of perpetual annoyance. British troops were constantly
quartered among them, and to avoid the rudeness of the soldiers and the
heavy tax upon their resources, many of the best citizens were forced to
abandon their homes and settle in the country, thus leaving their houses
to the mercy of their cruel invaders.
“Besides all this, they were forced to witness almost daily acts of
cruelty practised by the British and Tories toward those Americans who
happened to fall into their hands as prisoners of war; for it will be
remembered that Ebenezer, while in the hands of the British, was the point
to which all prisoners taken in the surrounding country were brought and
from thence sent to Savannah. It was from this post that the prisoners
were carried who were rescued by Sergeant Jasper and his comrade, Newton,
at the Jasper Spring, a few miles above Savannah.
“There was one act performed by the British commander which was peculiarly
trying and revolting to the Salzburgers. Their fine brick church was
converted into a hospital for the accommodation of the sick and wounded,
and subsequently it was desecrated by being used as a stable for their
horses. To this latter use it was devoted until the close of the war and
the removal of the British troops from Georgia. To show their contempt for
the church and their disregard for the religious sentiments of the people,
the church records were nearly all destroyed, and the soldiers would
discharge their guns at different objects on the church; and even to this
day the metal “_Swan_” (Luther’s coat of arms) which surmounts the spire
on the steeple, bears the mark of a musket ball which was fired through it
by a reckless soldier. Often, too, cannon were discharged at the houses;
and there is a log-house now standing not far from Ebenezer, which was
perforated by several cannon shot.... The Salzburgers endured all these
hardships and indignities with becoming fortitude; and though a few were
overcome by these severe measures, yet the great mass of them remained
firm in their attachment to the principles of liberty.”[33]
It is suggested that the establishment of tippling houses in Ebenezer,
during its occupancy by the British, and constant intercourse with
a licentious soldiery, corrupted the lives of not a few of the once
sober and orderly Germans. That the protracted presence of the enemy,
the confiscation of estates, the interruption of regular pursuits, the
expulsion of such as clave to the Confederate cause, and the general
demoralization consequent upon a state of war, tended to the manifest
injury and depopulation of the town, cannot, for a moment, be questioned.
Indications of decay and ruin were patent in Ebenezer before the cessation
of hostilities. From the time of its occupation by Maitland, shortly after
the capture of Savannah by Colonel Campbell in December, 1778,—with the
exception of the limited period when its garrison was called in to assist
in the defense of Savannah against the operations of the allied army
under the command of Count D’Estaing and General Lincoln in the fall of
1779,—Ebenezer continued in the possession of the British until a short
time prior to the evacuation of Savannah in July, 1783. In his advance
toward Savannah, General Anthony Wayne established his head quarters
at this town. The Tory pastor, Triebner, who, during the struggle had
sided with the Royalists and remained unmoved amid the sufferings and
oppressions of his people, betook himself to flight so soon as the English
forces were withdrawn, and found a refuge in England, where he ended his
days in seclusion.
Upon the evacuation of Savannah, many of the Saltzburgers returned to
Ebenezer. Its aspect was sadly changed. Not a few of the abandoned
dwellings had been burned. Others had fallen into decay. Smiling gardens
had been trampled into desert places, and the impress of stagnation,
neglect, and desolation was upon everything. Jerusalem Church was a mass
of filth, and very dilapidated. Notwithstanding this sad condition of
affairs, much energy was displayed in the purification and renovation of
this temple of worship, and in the rehabilitation of the town.
The arrival of the Reverend John Ernest Bergman,—a clergyman of decided
talents and of considerable literary attainments,—and the revival of
the parochial school greatly encouraged the depressed inhabitants and
promoted the general improvement of the place. The population began to
increase. It assumed an apparently permanent character, and countenanced
the hope that the ante-bellum quiet, good order, thrift, and prosperity
would be regained. This expectation, however, was not fully realized. The
former trade never revived. The mills were never again put in motion.
Silk-culture was renewed only to a limited degree. Having for twenty-five
years more remained about stationary, New Ebenezer commenced visibly to
decline; and, when scarcely more than a century old, took its place, in
silence and nothingness, among the dead towns of Georgia.[34]
The act of February 26th, 1784,[35] provided for the erection of the
“Court House and Gaol” and for holding public elections in Effingham
County at Tuckasee-King, near the present line of Scriven County. The
situation proving inconvenient, three years afterwards the county-seat was
removed to Elberton, near Indian Bluff, on the north side of the Great
Ogeechee river.
On the 18th of February, 1796, the Legislature of Georgia[36] appointed
Jeremiah Cuyler, John G. Neidlinger, Jonathan Rawhn, Elias Hodges, and
John Martin Dasher “commissioners for the town and common of Ebenezer,”
with instructions to have the town “surveyed and laid out as nearly
as possible in conformity to the original plan thereof, to sell all
vacant lots, and such as had become vested in the State, [reserving such
only as were necessary for public uses,] and appropriate the proceeds
to the erection of a County Court House and Jail.” Any over-plus was
to be applied to building a public Academy. For three years only did
Ebenezer remain the County Town of Effingham County. In 1799, its public
buildings were sold, and the village of Springfield was designated by the
Legislature as “the permanent seat for the public buildings of the County
of Effingham.”[37] David Hall, Joshua Loper, Samuel Ryals, Godhelf Smith,
and Drurias Garrison were appointed commissioners to carry this change
into effect.
In 1808 the Ebenezer Congregation received legislative permission to sell
the glebe lands which it owned. By degrees all the real estate held by
the society was disposed of. The proceeds arising from these sales were
invested in lands, mortgages, and securities;—the interest accruing being
applied to the payment of the pastor’s salary and the current expenses of
the church.[38]
Until about the year 1803 all the religious services observed by the
Saltzburgers were conducted in the German language; and, in the church
at Ebenezer, for a long time subsequent to that date, the religious
exercises continued in that tongue. Methodist and Baptist Churches
springing up in the neighborhood drew away many of the younger members of
the congregation. The introduction of the English language into all the
Saltzburger Churches was effected in 1824 through the instrumentality of
the Reverend Christopher F. Bergman.
Year by year Ebenezer became more sparsely populated. Many of its citizens
removed into the interior and upper parts of the county. Quite a number
formed settlements in Scriven County, while others went to Savannah, and
to Lowndes, Liberty, and Thomas counties. Others still,—more enterprizing
than their fellows,—sought new homes in South Carolina, Alabama, Florida,
Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
We close this sketch with a picture of Ebenezer painted by one of the
late Pastors[39] of Jerusalem Church,—a gentleman of cultivation and of
piety, who saw the last waves of oblivion as they closed over the town
and obliterated its decayed traces from the grass covered bluff of the
Savannah.
“To one visiting the ancient town of Ebenezer, in the present day [1855]
the prospect which presents itself is anything but attractive; and the
stranger who is unacquainted with its history would perhaps discover very
little to excite his curiosity or awaken his sympathies. The town has gone
almost entirely to ruins. Only two residences are now remaining, and one
of these is untenanted. The old church, however, stands in bold relief
upon an open lawn, and by its somewhat antique appearance seems silently,
yet forcibly, to call up the reminiscences of former years. Not far
distant from the church is the cemetery, in which are sleeping the remains
of the venerable men who founded the colony and the church, and many of
their descendants who, one by one, have gone down to the grave to mingle
their ashes with those of their illustrious ancestors.
“Except upon the Sabbath, when the descendants of the Saltzburgers go up
to their temple to worship the God of their fathers, the stillness which
reigns around Ebenezer is seldom broken, save by the warbling of birds,
the occasional transit of a steamer, or the murmurs of the Savannah as it
flows on to lose itself in the ocean. The sighing winds chant melancholy
dirges as they sweep through the lofty pines and cedars which cast their
sombre shades over this ‘deserted village.’ Desolation seems to have
spread over this once-favored spot its withering wing, and here, where
generation after generation grew up and flourished, where the persecuted
and exiled Saltzburgers reared their offspring in the hope that they would
leave a numerous progeny of pious, useful, and prosperous citizens,
and where everything seemed to betoken the establishment of a thrifty
and permanent colony, scarcely anything is to be seen, except the sad
evidences of decay and death.”
II.
FREDERICA.
[Illustration: Plan of the Town of Frederica, on St. Simon’s Island,
Georgia
_J. Bien, Photo. Lith. N. Y._]
“As the Mind of Man cannot form a more exalted Pleasure than what arises
from the Reflexion of having relieved the Distressed; let the Man of
Benevolence, whose Substance enables him to contribute towards this
Undertaking, give a Loose for a little to his Imagination, pass over a few
Years of his Life, and think himself in a Visit to _Georgia_. Let him see
those, who are now a Prey to all the Calamities of Want, who are starving
with Hunger, and seeing their Wives and Children in the same Distress;
expecting likewise every Moment to be thrown into a Dungeon, with the
cutting Anguish that they leave their Families expos’d to the utmost
Necessity and Despair: Let him, I say, see these living under a sober
and orderly Government, settled in Towns, which are rising at Distances
along navigable Rivers: Flocks and Herds in the neighbouring Pastures, and
adjoining to them Plantations of regular Rows of Mulberry-Trees, entwin’d
with Vines, the Branches of which are loaded with Grapes; let him see
Orchards of Oranges, Pomegranates, and Olives; in other Places extended
Fields of Corn, or Flax and Hemp. In short, the whole Face of the Country
chang’d by Agriculture, and Plenty in every Part of it. Let him see the
People all in Employment of various Kinds, Women and Children feeding and
nursing the Silkworms, winding off the Silk, or gathering the Olives; the
Men ploughing and planting their Lands, tending their Cattle, or felling
the Forest, which they burn for Potashes, or square for the Builder; let
him see these in Content and Affluence, and Masters of little Possessions
which they can leave to their Children; and then let him think if they
are not happier than those supported by Charity in Idleness. Let him
reflect that the Produce of their Labour will be so much new Wealth for
his Country, and then let him ask himself, Whether he would exchange the
Satisfaction of having contributed to this, for all the trifling Pleasures
the Money, which he has given, would have purchas’d.
“Of all publick-spirited Actions, perhaps none can claim a Preference to
the Settling of Colonies, as none are in the End more useful.... Whoever
then is a Lover of Liberty will be pleas’d with an Attempt to recover his
fellow Subjects from a State of Misery and Oppression, and fix them in
Happiness and Freedom.
“Whoever is a Lover of his Country will approve of a Method for the
Employment of her Poor, and the Increase of her People and her Trade.
Whoever is a Lover of Mankind will join his wishes to the Success of a
Design so plainly calculated for their Good: Undertaken, and conducted
with so much Disinterestedness.”
By such suggestions did Benjamin Martyn[40] seek to enlist the public
sympathy in behalf of the then projected but not established Colony of
Georgia.
Mr. Oglethorpe, in a contemporaneous publication,[41] had assigned, among
the weightiest reasons for founding the Colony, the ample opportunity
which would be afforded in Georgia for persons reduced to poverty at home
and constituting a positive charge upon the Nation, to be made happy
and prosperous abroad and profitable to England. The conversion of the
Indians, the confirmation of the development and security of Carolina, and
a lucrative trade in silk, rice, cotton, wine, indigo, grain, and lumber,
were enumerated as additional inducements to the enterprize.
On the 9th of June, 1732, his Majesty, George the Second, by Charter,
granted to the Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in America
and their successors, all the Lands and Territories from the most northern
stream of the Savannah river along the sea-coast to the southward unto the
most southern stream of the Alatamaha river, and westward from the heads
of the said rivers respectively in direct lines to the south seas. Not
only the lands lying within these boundaries, but also all islands within
twenty leagues of the coast were, by this Royal feoffment, conveyed “for
the better support of the Colony.”[42]
During the first year of the foundation of the Colony, Mr. Oglethorpe’s
attention was directed to providing for the emigrants suitable homes
at Savannah, Joseph’s Town, Abercorn, and Old Ebenezer, to concluding
necessary treaties of cession and amity with the Natives, and the erection
of a fort on the Great Ogeechee river to command the main passes by which
the Indians had invaded Carolina during the late wars, and afford the
settlers some security against anticipated incursions from the Spaniards.
This fortified post,—as a compliment to his honored patron John, Duke of
Argyle,—was called _Fort Argyle_, and was garrisoned by Captain McPherson
and his detachment of Rangers. At this time no English plantations had
been established south of the Great Ogeechee river. Having confirmed the
Colonists in their occupation of the right bank of the Savannah, and
engaged the friendship of the venerable Indian Chief, Tomo-chi-chi, and
the neighboring Lower Creeks and Uchees, in January, 1734, Mr. Oglethorpe
set out to explore the coast, and determine upon such settlement as
appeared most advantageous for the protection of the southern confines
of the Colony. During a heavy rain on the 26th of that month, he and his
party landed “on the first Albany bluff of St. Simon’s island” and “lay
all night under the shelter of a large live-oak-tree and kept themselves
dry.” This reconnoissance, which was continued as far as the sea-point
of St. Simon’s island, and Jekyll island, convinced Mr. Oglethorpe it
was expedient and necessary for the proper defence of the Colony that
a military station and settlement should be formed, at the earliest
practicable moment, near the mouth of the Alatamaha river; and that, as an
outpost, a strong fort should be built on St. Simon’s island.
This plan was in part compassed in January, 1735, when one hundred and
thirty Highlanders, and fifty women and children, who had been enrolled
for emigration at Inverness and its vicinity, arrived at Savannah, and,
a few days afterwards, were conveyed in periaguas to the southward.
Ascending the Alatamaha river to a point about sixteen miles above St.
Simon’s island, they there landed and entered upon a permanent settlement,
which they called New Inverness. Here they erected a fort,—mounting
four pieces of cannon,—built a guard-house, a store, and a chapel, and
constructed huts for temporary accommodation preparatory to putting up
more substantial structures. These Scots were a brave, hardy people,—just
the men to occupy this advanced position. In their plaids, and with their
broad-swords, targets, and firearms, Oglethorpe says they presented “a
most manly appearance.”
Upon their arrival in Savannah some of the Carolinians endeavored to
dissuade them from going to the southward by telling them that the
Spaniards, from the houses in their fort, would shoot them upon the
spot selected by the Trustees for their future home. Nothing daunted,
these doughty countrymen of Bruce and Wallace responded[43] “we will
beat them out of their fort and shall have houses ready built to live
in.” This valiant spirit found subsequent expression in the effective
military service rendered by these Highlanders during the wars between
the Colonists and the Spaniards, and by their descendants in the primal
struggle for independence. To John Moore McIntosh, Captain Hugh MacKay,
Ensign Charles MacKay, Colonel John McIntosh, General Lachlan McIntosh,
and their gallant followers, Georgia, both as a Colony and a State, owes a
special debt of gratitude.
On the 5th of February, 1735,[44] two hundred and two persons, upon the
Trust’s account, conveyed in the Symond and the _London Merchant_, and
conducted by Oglethorpe in person, arrived at the mouth of the Savannah
river. It was his intention to locate all these emigrants at St. Simon’s
island, but, in compliance with their earnest entreaty, such of them as
were German Lutherans were permitted to join their friends at Ebenezer.
Upon leaving London it was contemplated that the Symond and the London
Merchant should sail directly for Jekyll sound, and land their passengers
at the point where it was proposed that the new town should be located.
The timidity of the captains, however, who, in the absence of experienced
pilots, feared the dangers of an unknown entrance, caused this deviation
in the voyage.
Having engaged the services of fifty Rangers and one hundred workmen, and
having dispatched Captain McPherson with a part of his command to march by
land to the support of the Highlanders on the Alatamaha, Mr. Oglethorpe
who, since his arrival, had been busily occupied in arranging matters at
Savannah and Old Ebenezer, returned to the ships which were still lying in
Tybee roads. Finding their captains unwilling to risk their ships without
having previously acquired a knowledge of the entrance into Jekyll sound,
he bought the cargo of the sloop _Midnight_, which had just arrived, on
condition that it should be at once delivered at Frederica, and with the
understanding that captains Cornish and Thomas should go on board of her,
acquaint themselves with the coast and entrance, and then return and
conduct their vessels to Frederica. During their absence these ships,—the
Symond and the London Merchant,—their cargoes still on board,—were to
remain at anchor at Tybee roads in charge of Francis Moore, who was
appointed keeper of the stores. Mr. Horton and Mr. Tanner, with thirty
single men of the Colony, and cannon, arms, ammunition and entrenching
tools, were ordered to proceed to the southward with the sloop Midnight.
The workmen who had been engaged at Savannah, and Tomo-chi-chi’s Indians
were directed to rendezvous at convenient points whence they might be
transported as occasion required. The sloop sailed for St. Simon’s island
on the morning of the 16th, and at evening of the same day Mr. Oglethorpe
set out in the scout boat to meet the sloop at Jekyll sound. Captain
Hermsdorf, two of the Colony, and some Indians went with him, and Captain
Dunbar accompanied him with his boat. They passed through the inland
channels lying between the outer islands and the main. “Mr. Oglethorpe
being in haste,” says one of the party, “the Men rowed Night and Day, and
had no other Rest than what they got when a Snatch of Wind favoured us.
They were all very willing, though we met with very boisterous Weather....
The Men vied with each other who should be forwardest to please Mr.
Oglethorpe. Indeed he lightened their Fatigue by giving them Refreshments,
which he rather spared from himself than let them want. The Indians seeing
the Men hard laboured, desired to take the Oars, and rowed as well as any
I ever saw, only differing from the others by taking a short and long
Stroke alternately, which they called the Yamasee Stroke.” On the morning
of the 18th they reached St. Simon’s island and found that the sloop had
come in ahead of, and was waiting for them. Mr. Oglethorpe at once set
all hands to work. The tall grass growing upon the bluff at Frederica
was burnt off, a booth was marked out “to hold the stores,—digging the
ground three Foot deep, and throwing up the Earth on each Side by way
of Bank,—and a roof raised upon Crutches with Ridge-pole and Rafters,
nailing small Poles across, and thatching the whole with Palmetto-leaves.
Mr. Oglethorpe afterwards laid out several Booths without digging under
Ground, which were also covered with Palmetto Leaves, to lodge the
Families of the Colony in when they should come up; each of these Booths
was between thirty and forty Foot long, and upwards of twenty Foot
wide.... We all made merry that Evening, having a plentiful Meal of Game
brought in by the Indians.
“On the 19th, in the Morning, Mr. Oglethorpe began to mark out a Fort with
four Bastions, and taught the Men how to dig the Ditch, and raise and turf
the Rampart. This Day and the following Day were spent in finishing the
Houses, and tracing out the Fort.”[45]
Such was the simple beginning of Frederica.[46] Near the town Mr.
Oglethorpe fixed the only home he ever owned in the Province. In its
defence were enlisted his best energies, military skill, and valor.
Brave are the memories of St. Simon’s island. None prouder belong to the
colonial history of Georgia.
Three days afterwards arrived from Savannah a periagua with workmen,
provisions, and cannon, for the new settlement. Captains Cornish and
Thomas returned from the southward to Tybee roads on the 26th and,
although assured of the fact that there was ample water for the conveyance
of their vessels to Frederica, still refused to conduct the Symond and
the London Merchant to the southward. Mr. Oglethorpe was consequently
compelled to consent that their cargoes should be unloaded into the
“_Peter and James_,” which could not carry above one hundred tons, and the
rest transferred in sloops to Savannah for safe storage until such time as
opportunity offered for conveying it to its destination. He was also put
to the great inconvenience of collecting periaguas[47] sufficient for the
transportation of the Colonists.
Much incensed at the conduct of the Captains of the transports, and
inconvenienced by the demurrage consequent upon their timidity, he was
also indignant at the delay thus caused in the consummation of his plans,
annoyed at the additional charges for transfer of passengers and cargo,
and solicitous for the health of the colonists who would be exposed in
open boats, at an inclement season, during the passage from Tybee roads to
Jekyll sound.
It was not until the 2nd of March that the fleet of periaguas and boats,
with the families of the Colonists on board, set out from the mouth of
the Savannah river. Spare oars had been rigged for each boat. With their
assistance,—the men of the Colony rowing with a will,—the voyage to
Frederica was accomplished in five days. Mr. Oglethorpe accompanied them
in his scout-boat, keeping the fleet together, and taking the hindermost
craft in tow. As an incentive to unity of movement, he placed all the
strong beer on board one boat. The rest labored diligently to keep up;
for, if they were not all at the place of rendezvous each night, the tardy
crew lost their ration. Frederica was reached on the 8th, and there was
general joy among the colonists.
So diligently did they labor in building their town and its
fortifications, that by the 23rd of March a battery of cannon, commanding
the river, had been mounted, and the fort was almost finished. Its ditches
had been dug, although not to the required depth or width, and a rampart
raised and covered with sod. A store-house, having a front of sixty feet,
and intended to be three stories in height, was completed as to its
cellar and first story. The necessary streets were all laid out. “The
Main Street that went from the Front into the Country was 25 yards wide.
Each Free-holder had 60 Foot in Front by 90 Foot in Depth, upon the high
Street, for their House and Garden; but those which fronted the River
had but 30 Foot in Front, by 60 Foot in Depth. Each Family had a Bower
of Palmetto Leaves, finished upon the back Street in their own Lands:
The Side towards the front Street was set out for their Houses: These
Palmetto Bowers were very convenient Shelters, being tight in the hardest
Rains; they were about 20 Foot long and 14 Foot wide, and, in regular
Rows, looked very pretty, the Palmetto Leaves lying smooth and handsome,
and of a good Colour. The whole appeared something like a Camp; for the
Bowers looked liked Tents, only being larger and covered with Palmetto
Leaves instead of Canvas. There were 3 large Tents, two belonging to Mr.
_Oglethorpe_, and one to Mr. _Horton_, pitched upon the Parade near the
River.”
Such is the description of the town in its infancy as furnished by Mr.
Moore, whose “Voyage to Georgia” is one of the most interesting and
valuable tracts we have descriptive of the colonization.
That there might be no confusion in their constructive labors, Mr.
Oglethorpe divided the Colonists into working parties. To some was
assigned the duty of cutting forks, poles, and laths for building the
bowers. Others set them up. Others still gathered palmetto leaves, while
a fourth gang,—under the superintendence of a Jew workman, bred in Brazil
and skilled in the matter,—thatched the roofs “nimbly and in a neat
manner.”
Men accustomed to the agriculture of the region, instructed the Colonists
in hoeing and planting. Potatoes, Indian corn, flax, hempseed, barley,
turnips, lucern-grass, pumpkins, and water-melons were planted. The labor
was common and enured to the benefit of the entire community. As it was
rather too late in the season to prepare the ground fully and get in such
a crop as would promise a yield sufficient to subsist the settlement for
the coming year, many of the men were put upon pay and set to work upon
the fortifications and the public buildings.
Mr. Hugh MacKay, about this time, arrived in Frederica and reported,
that with the assistance of Messrs. Augustine and Tolme, and the guides
furnished by Tomo-chi-chi, he had surveyed and located a road, practicable
for horses, between Savannah and Darien. This information was very
gratifying to the Colonists on St. Simons, assuring them, as it did, that
their situation was not so isolated as they at first supposed.
Frederica was located in the midst of an Indian field[48] containing
between thirty and forty acres of cleared land. The grass in this field
yielded an excellent turf which was freely used in sodding the parapet
of the fort. The bluff upon which it stood rose about ten feet above
high-water mark, was dry and sandy, and exhibited a level expanse of
about a mile into the interior of the island. The position of the fort
was such that it fully commanded the reaches in the river both above and
below. With their situation the Colonists were delighted. The harbor was
land-locked,[49] having a depth of twenty-two feet of water at the bar,
and capable of affording safe anchorage to a large number of ships of
considerable burden. Surrounded by beautiful forests of live-oak, water
oaks, laurel, bay, cedar, sweet-gum, sassafras, and pines, festooned
with luxuriant vines, [among which those bearing the Fox-grape and the
Muscadine were peculiarly pleasing to the Colonists,] and abounding
in deer, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, wild-turkeys, turtle-doves,
red-birds, mocking birds, and rice birds,[50] with wide extended marshes
frequented by wild geese, ducks, herons, curlews, cranes, plovers, and
marsh-hens,—the adjacent waters teeming with fishes, crabs, shrimps, and
oysters, and the island fanned by South-East breezes prevailing with the
regularity of the trade winds—the strangers were charmed with their new
home. Within their fort were enclosed and preserved several of those grand
old live-oaks which for centuries had crowned the bluff, and whose shade
was refreshing beyond any shelter the hand of man could devise. The town
sprang into being as a military post. It was ordered and grew day by day
under the immediate supervision of Oglethorpe. The soil of the island was
fertile, and its health unquestioned. Lieutenant George Dunbar, on the
20th of January, 1739, made oath before Francis Moore, Recorder of the
Town of Frederica, that since his arrival with the first detachment of
Colonel Oglethorpe’s regiment the preceding June, all the carpenters and
many of the soldiers had been continuously occupied in building clap-board
huts, carrying lumber and bricks, unloading vessels, [often working up to
their necks in water,] in clearing the parade, burning wood and rubbish,
making lime, and in other out-door exercises,—the hours of labor being
from daylight until eleven or twelve M. and from two or three o’clock in
the afternoon until dark. Despite these exposures, continues the Affiant,
“All the time the men kept so healthy that often no man in the camp ailed
in the least, and none died except one man who came sick on board and
never worked at all; nor did I hear that any of the men ever made the heat
a pretence for not working.”[51]
Beyond question Frederica was the healthiest of all the early settlements
in Georgia, and St. Simon’s island has always enjoyed an enviable
reputation for salubrity. Until marred by the desolations of the late war,
this island was a favorite summer resort, and the homes of the planters
were the abodes of beauty, comfort, and refinement. A mean temperature
of about fifty degrees in winter, and not above eighty-two degrees in
summer, gardens adorned with choice flowers, and orchards enriched with
plums, peaches, nectarines, figs, melons, pomegranates, dates, oranges
and limes,—forests rendered majestic by the live-oak, the pine, and the
magnolia grandiflora, and redolent with the perfumes of the bay, the cedar
and the myrtle,—the air fresh and buoyant with the South-East breezes,
and vocal with the notes of song-birds,—the adjacent sea, sound, and
inlets, replete with fishes,—the shell roads and broad beach affording
every facility for driving and riding,—the woods and fields abounding
with game in their season, and the culture and generous hospitality of
the inhabitants, impressed all visitors with the delights of this favored
spot. Sir Charles Lyell, among others, alludes with marked satisfaction to
the pleasures he there experienced.
Among the reptiles which not only attracted the notice of, but, to a
considerable degree, upon first acquaintance, disquieted the early
Colonists, the alligators were the most noted. Listen to this description
furnished by an eyewitness[52] in 1736: “They are terrible to look at,
stretching open an horrible large Mouth, big enough to swallow a Man, with
Rows of dreadful large sharp Teeth, and Feet like Draggons, armed with
great Claws, and a long Tail which they throw about with great Strength,
and which seems their best Weapon, for their Claws are feebly set on, and
the Stiffness of their Necks hinders them from turning nimbly to bite.”
In order that the public mind might be disabused of the terror which
pervaded it with respect to these reptiles, Mr. Oglethorpe, having wounded
and caught one, had it brought to Savannah and made the boys bait it with
sticks and finally pelt and beat it to death.
The rattle snakes, too, were objects of special dread.
Leaving his people busily occupied with the labors assigned to them
at Frederica, Mr. Oglethorpe set out on the 18th of March[53] for the
frontiers, “to see where his Majesty’s Dominions and the Spaniards
joyn.”[54] He was accompanied by “Toma-Chi-Chi, Mico, and a Body of
Indians, who, tho’ but few, being not forty, were all chosen Warriors
and good Hunters.” They were conveyed in two Scout Boats, and the next
day were joined by the periagua, commanded by Captain Hugh MacKay, with
thirty Highlanders, ten men of the Independent Company, and entrenching
tools and provisions on board. Upon the north-western point of Cumberland
island[55] washed by the bay on the one side, and on the other by the
channel running to the southward, Oglethorpe marked out a fort, called it
St. Andrews, and left Captain MacKay with his command to build it, and
some Indians to hunt and shoot for them while thus employed.
Proceeding on his voyage, Mr. Oglethorpe named the next large Island to
the South, Amelia,[56]—“it being a beautiful Island, and the Sea-shore
cover’d with Myrtle, Peach-Trees, Orange-Trees, and Vines in the wild
Woods.” Tomo-chi-chi conducted him to the mouth of the St. Johns, pointed
out the advanced post occupied by the Spanish Guard, and indicated the
dividing line. It was with difficulty that the old chief and his followers
could be restrained from making a night attack upon the Spaniards, upon
whom they thirsted to take revenge for the killing of some Indians during
the Mico’s absence in England. Stopping at fort St. Andrews on his way
back, Oglethorpe was surprised to find the work in such a state of
“forwardness,—the Ditch being dug, and the Parapet raised with Wood and
Earth on the Land-side, and the small Wood clear’d fifty yards round the
Fort.” This seemed the more extraordinary, adds Francis Moore, because
Mr. MacKay had no engineer, or any assistance other than the directions
which Mr. Oglethorpe gave. The ground consisting of loose sand, it was a
difficult matter to construct the parapets: “therefore they used the same
Method to support it as Cæsar mentions in the Wars of _Gaul_, laying Trees
and Earth alternately, the Trees preventing the Sand from falling, and
the Sand the Wood from Fire.”
Upon their return to Frederica the Indians encamped near the town, and,
on the 26th, favored Mr. Oglethorpe and all the people with a War Dance.
“They made a Ring, in the middle of which four sat down, having little
Drums made of Kettles, cover’d with Deer-skins, upon which they beat and
sung: Round them the others danced, being naked to their Waists, and round
their Middles many Trinkets tied with Skins, and some with the Tails of
Beasts hanging down behind them. They painted their Faces and Bodies,
and their Hair was stuck with Feathers: In one Hand they had a Rattle,
in the other Hand the Feathers of an Eagle, made up like the Caduceus of
_Mercury_: They shook these Wings and the Rattle, and danced round the
Ring with high Bounds and antick Postures, looking much like the Figures
of the Satyrs.
“They shew’d great Activity, and kept just Time in their Motions; and at
certain times answer’d by way of Chorus, to those that sat in the Middle
of the Ring. They stopt, and then stood out one of the chief Warriors, who
sung what Wars he had been in, and described (by Actions as well as by
Words) which way he had vanquish’d the Enemies of his Country. When he had
done, all the rest gave a Shout of Approbation, as knowing what he said
to be true. The next Day Mr. Oglethorpe gave Presents to Toma-chi-chi and
his _Indians_, and dismiss’d them with Thanks for their Fidelity to the
King.”[57]
For the further protection of the approaches to Frederica by the inland
passages, a strong battery,—called Fort St. Simons,—was erected at the
south end of St. Simons’ island. It was designed to command the entrance
to Jekyll sound. Adjacent to it was laid out a camp containing barracks
and huts for the soldiers. At the southern extremity of Cumberland island
Fort William was afterwards built with a view to controlling Amelia
sound and the inland passage to St. Augustine. Upon San Juan island to
the south, and near the entrance of the St. Johns river, Oglethorpe had
observed the traces of an old fort. Thither he sent Captain Hermsdorf,
and a detachment of Highlanders, with instructions to repair and occupy
it. Having ascertained that this island was included in the cession of
lands made by the Indians to his Majesty, he named the island George,
and called the fortification fort St. George. With the exception of one
or two posts of observation, this constituted the most southern defense
of the Colony, and was regarded as an important position for holding
the Spaniards in check, and for giving the earliest intelligence of any
hostile demonstration on their part.[58] The energy and boldness displayed
by the Commander in Chief in developing his line of occupation so far to
the south, and in the very teeth of the Spaniards in Florida, are quite
remarkable, and indicate on his part not only a daring bordering upon
rashness, but also no little confidence in the courage and firmness of the
small garrisons detailed to fortify and hold these advanced and isolated
positions.
Returning to Frederica from this tour of observation, Mr. Oglethorpe found
the workmen busily occupied in constructing the fort, whose outer works
were being “palisaded with Cedar Posts to prevent our Enemies turning up
the green Sod.” Upon the bastions, platforms of two inch plank were laid
for the cannon. A piece of marsh lying below the fort was converted into
a water battery, called “the Spur,” the guns of which,—being on a level
with the water,—were admirably located for direct and effective operation
against all vessels either ascending or descending the river.
A well was dug within the fort which yielded an abundant supply of
“tolerable good water.” The people having no bread, and the store
of biscuits being needed for the crews of the boats which were kept
constantly moving from point to point, an oven was built, and an indented
servant,—a baker by trade,—was detailed to bake bread for the Colony. For
the flour furnished by each individual an equal weight was returned in
bread, “the difference made by the water and salt” being the baker’s gain.
This fresh bread, in the language of one who partook of it, was a great
comfort to the people. Venison brought in by the Indians was frequently
issued in lieu of salt provisions; and poultry, hogs, and sheep were
occasionally killed for the sick. Such domestic animals, however, were, at
that early period, so scarce in the settlement, that they were carefully
guarded for the purpose of breeding. A little later, live stock came
forward in abundance, by boats from Port Royal and Savannah.
Grave apprehensions were entertained of an attack from the Spaniards,
and Mr. Oglethorpe was untiring in his efforts to place the southern
frontier in the best possible state of defense. It is remarkable how much
was accomplished under the circumstances. His energy was boundless, his
watchfulness unceasing. Scout boats were constantly on duty observing the
water approaches from the south as far as the mouth of the St. Johns.
Indian runners narrowly watched the walls of St. Augustine, and conveyed
intelligence of every movement by the enemy. Look-outs were maintained at
all necessary points to give warning of threatened danger. Mr. Bryan and
Mr. Barnwell promised, in case Frederica or its out-posts were attacked,
to come to their support with a strong body of volunteers from Carolina.
Chiefs of the Cheehaws and the Creeks volunteered their assistance.
Acting upon the belief that it was better to confront the Spaniards
upon the confines of the Colony than abide the event of their invasion,
volunteers came in such numbers from Carolina and Georgia that General
Oglethorpe was compelled to issue orders that all who had plantations
should remain at home and cultivate them until actually summoned to arms.
Hearing a report that the Spaniards were intent upon dislodging the
settlers from Frederica, Ensign Delegal, taking thirty men of the
Independent Company under his command, and rowing night and day, reached
Frederica on the 10th of May and tendered his services. Without permitting
them to land, Oglethorpe ordered English strong beer and provisions on
board, sent a present of wine to Ensign Delegal, and, upon the same tide,
in his scout boat conducted the party to the east point of St. Simons
island where it is washed by Jekyll sound, and there posted the company,
locating a spot for constructing a fort, and commanding a well to be dug.
By the 16th, Ensign Delegal had succeeded in casting up a considerable
entrenchment and in mounting several cannon.
This post,—strengthened on the 8th of June by the arrival of Lieutenant
Delegal, with the rest of the Independent Company and thirteen pieces of
cannon belonging to them,—was subsequently known as Delegal’s Fort at the
Sea-point.
The workmen at Frederica were diligently employed in building a powder
magazine under one of the bastions of the fort. It was made of heavy
timber covered with several feet of earth. The construction of a large
store-house, a smith’s forge, a wheelwright’s shop, and a corn-house also
engaged their attention. The men capable of bearing arms were trained in
military exercises each day by Mr. McIntosh. The Colonists were in a state
of constant alarm, and everything was made subservient to the general
defense. Even the feeble avowed their willingness to sacrifice their lives
in protecting their new homes. Inspired by the intrepidity and vigilance,
the fearlessness and the activity of the General,—who was constantly on
the move, visiting the advanced works, pressing his reconnoissances even
within the enemy’s lines, and making every available disposition of men
and munitions which could conduce to the common safety,—soldiers and
citizens kept brave hearts, labored incessantly and cheerfully, observed a
sleepless watch upon the sea and its inlets, and stood prepared to offer
stout resistance to the Spaniard. It was a manly sight, that little colony
fearlessly planting itself upon island and headland, separated from all
substantial support, and yet extending itself on land and water to the
very verge of hostile lines held by an enemy greatly superior in men and
the appliances of warfare.
This state of uncertainty and alarm continued along the southern frontier
of Georgia until, by conference between Mr. Oglethorpe and the Spanish
Commissioners in Jekyll sound on the 19th of June, there occurred an
amicable adjustment of pending disputes. The healths of the King and
Royal Family of Great Britain, and of the King and Queen of Spain, were
drank amid salvos of artillery from the sloop Hawk and the Sea-Point
Battery; and when the Spaniards set out on the 22d to return to St.
Augustine, they expressed themselves pleased with their reception and
amicably inclined towards the Colony and its knightly General. This period
of tranquility was of but short duration. In the fall of the year a
peremptory demand was made by the Spanish Government for the evacuation by
the English of all territory lying south of St. Helena’s sound.
Perceiving that vigorous measures and a stronger force were requisite
for the preservation of the Colony, and yielding to the solicitations
of the Trustees that he should be present at the approaching meeting of
Parliament to influence larger supplies for Georgia, Mr. Oglethorpe,
having made the best possible arrangements for the government and
protection of the province during his absence, embarked for England on the
29th of November, 1736.[59]
During his absence in England, nothing of special moment transpired on the
southern frontiers. Mr. Horton appears to have been left in general charge
of the defenses in that quarter. He established himself at Frederica,
whence he made frequent tours of inspection to its out-posts and dependent
works. Of a visit which he paid to the town early in February, 1737, Mr.
Stephens, Secretary of the Colony, gives us rather a stupid account,[60]
from which we gather that the inhabitants were living “in perfect Peace
and Quiet, without Fear of any Disturbance from Abroad, and without any
Strife or Contention at Law at Home, where they sometimes opened a Court,
but very rarely had any Thing to do in it.” Only slight improvements had
been made during the preceding year in clearing and cultivating land,
because of the constant apprehension of incursion by the Spaniards, and
the amount of military service the able-bodied men were obliged to perform.
Moved by the indications of hostility on the part of the Spaniards, and
yielding to the entreaties of the Trustees[61] that additional troops be
provided for the protection of the Colony, his Majesty, in June, 1737,
appointed Oglethorpe General of all forces in Carolina as well as in
Georgia, and authorized him to raise a regiment. In October of that year,
and before his regiment had been fully recruited, he was commissioned
as Colonel. The relief of Georgia being regarded as important, a body
of troops was sent thither from Gibraltar, which reached Savannah early
in May, 1738, and was transferred from that point to the South for
the defense of the frontiers. The famous clergyman George Whitefield,
detailed to take Mr. Wesley’s place in the Colony, was a passenger on
board the ship in which these soldiers were transported. About the same
time two or three companies of the General’s own regiment, under the
command of Lieutenant-Colonel James Cochrane, arrived in Charleston,
and were marched southward by the road which ran from Port Royal to
Darien.[62] Oglethorpe’s regiment was limited to six companies of one
hundred men each, exclusive of non-commissioned officers and drummers.
To it a grenadier company was subsequently attached. Disdaining to “make
a market of the service of his country” by selling commissions, the
General secured the appointment, as officers, only of such persons as
were gentlemen of family and character in their respective counties.
He also engaged about twenty young gentlemen of no fortune to serve as
cadets. These he subsequently promoted as vacancies occurred. So far
from deriving any pecuniary benefit from these appointments, the General,
in some cases, from his private fortune advanced the fees requisite to
procure commissions, and provided moneys for the purchase of uniforms
and clothing. At his own expense he engaged the services of forty
supernumeraries,—“a circumstance,” says a contemporaneous writer, “very
extraordinary in our armies, especially in our plantations.”
In order to engender in the hearts of the enlisted men an interest in and
an attachment for the Colony they were designed to defend, and with a view
to induce them eventually to become settlers, permission was granted to
each to take a wife with him. For the support of the wife, additional pay
and rations were provided.[63] So carefully was this regiment recruited
and officered, that it constituted one of the best military organizations
in the service of the King.
Sailing from Portsmouth on the 5th of July, 1738, with the rest of his
regiment,—numbering, with the women, children, and supernumeraries who
accompanied, between six and seven hundred souls,—in five transports
convoyed by the men of war Blandford and Hector, General Oglethorpe
arrived safely in Jekyll sound on the 18th of the following September.[64]
The next day the troops were landed at the Soldiers Fort, on the south end
of St. Simon’s island. This arrival was welcomed by an artillery salute
from the battery, and by shouts from the garrison. Upon coming within
soundings off the Georgia coast on the 13th, Sir Yelverton Peyton, in
the Hector, parted company and sailed for Virginia. Until the 21st, the
General encamped near the Fort, superintending the disembarcation and
issuing necessary orders. His regiment was now concentrated, and every
officer is represented to have been at his post.
Frederica was visited on the 21st, and there Oglethorpe was saluted with
fifteen guns from the fort. The Magistrates and towns-people waited upon
him in a body, tendering their congratulations upon his return. Several
Indians were present who assured him that the Upper and Lower Creeks
were in readiness to come and see him so soon as they should be notified
of his presence.[65] In a letter[66] to Sir Joseph Jekyll, under date
19th September, 1738, General Oglethorpe, alluding to the fact that the
Spaniards, although having fifteen hundred men at St. Augustine,—there
being nothing but the militia in Georgia,—had delayed their contemplated
attack until the arrival of the Regular Troops, acknowledges that God had
thus given “the greatest marks of his visible Protection to the Colony.”
He advises Sir Joseph that the passage had been fine,—but one soldier
having died,—and that the inhabitants who had hitherto been so harrassed
by Spanish threats were now cheerful, believing that the worst was over,
and that,—relieved from the constant guard duty which they had been
compelled to perform, some times two days out of five, to the neglect of
their crops and improvements,—they might now prosecute their labors and
make comfortable provision for the future. Realizing the necessity of
opening direct communication between Frederica and the Soldiers Fort at
the south end of the island, on the 25th General Oglethorpe set every male
to work cutting a road to connect those points. So energetically was the
labor prosecuted, that although the woods were thick and the distance
nearly six miles, the task was compassed in three days.
To the Honorable Thomas Spalding[67] are we indebted for the following
description of this important avenue of communication: “This road after
passing out of the town of Frederica in a south-east direction, entered a
beautiful prairie of a mile over, when it penetrated a dense, close oak
wood; keeping the same course for two miles, it passed to the eastern
marsh that bounded St. Simon’s seaward. Along this marsh, being dry and
hard, no road was necessary, and none was made. This natural highway was
bounded on the east by rivers and creeks and impracticable marshes; it
was bounded on the west, (the island side) by a thick wood covered with
palmetto and vines of every character so as to be impracticable for any
body of men, and could only be traveled singly and alone. This winding
way along the marsh was continued for two miles, when it again passed
up to the high land which had become open and clear, and from thence it
proceeded in a direct line to the fort, at the sea entrance, around which,
for two hundred acres, five acre allotments of land for the soldiers had
been laid out, cleared, and improved. I have again been thus particular in
my description, because it was to the manner in which this road was laid
out and executed, that General Oglethorpe owed the preservation of the
fort and town of Frederica.... His fort and batteries at Frederica were so
situated as to water approaches, and so covered by a wood, that no number
of ships could injure them. And he now planned his land route in such a
manner, that again the dense wood of our eastern islands became a rampart
mighty to save. And fifty Highlanders and four Indians occupying these
woods did save.”
We learn from that admirable “History of the Rise, Progress, and
Present State of the Colony of Georgia,” contained in Dr. Harris’
Complete Collections of Voyages and Travels,[68] that “on the arrival
of the Regiment of which Mr. _Oglethorpe_ was appointed Colonel, he
distributed them in the properest manner for the Service of the Colony;
but notwithstanding this was of great Ease to the Trustees, and a vast
Security to the Inhabitants, yet Colonel Oglethorpe still kept up the same
Discipline, and took as much Care to form and regulate the Inhabitants
with respect to military Affairs as ever. He provided likewise different
Corps for different Services; some for ranging the Woods; others, light
armed, for sudden Expeditions; and he likewise provided Vessels for
scouring the Sea Coasts, and for gaining Intelligence. In all which
Services he gave at the same time his Orders and his Example; there being
nothing he did not which he directed others to do; so that if he was the
first Man in the Colony, his Pre-eminence was founded upon old _Homer’s_
Maxims: He was the most fatigued, and the first in Danger, distinguished
by his Cares and his Labours, not by any exterior Marks of Grandeur, more
easily dispensed with, since they were certainly needless.”
The finances of the Trust being in a depressed condition, the General
drew largely upon his private fortune and pledged his individual credit
in conducting the operations necessary for the security of the southern
frontiers and in provisioning the settlers. To Alderman Heathcote he
writes: “I am here” [at Frederica] “in one of the most delightful
situations as any man could wish to be. A great number of Debts, empty
magazines, no money to supply them, numbers of people to be fed, mutinous
soldiers to command, a Spanish Claim and a large body of their Troops not
far from us. But as we are of the same kind of spirit, these Difficulties
have the same effect upon me, as those you met with in the City, had upon
you. They rather animate than daunt me.”[69]
Again, on the 16th of November, 1739, he advises the Trustees:[70] “I am
fortifying the Town of Frederica & hope I shall be repaid the Expences;
from whom I do not know, yet I could not think of leaving a number of good
houses and Merch’ts Goods and, which was more valuable, the Lives of Men,
Women and Children in an open Town at the mercy of every Party, and the
Inhabitants obliged either to fly to a Fort and leave their Effects, or
suffer with them.”
That the Trustees might be fully informed of the condition and needs of
the Province, Mr. Horton,—who commanded the Southern Division during
Oglethorpe’s absence,—was sent to London about the close of the year 1739.
The letter[71] of advice which he bore, contains an interesting account
of the affairs of the Colony. In it General Oglethorpe states that his
Regiment of Foot being unable to perform garrison duty and undertake the
requisite marches on the main to overtake Indians and horsemen, he had
been compelled to associate Indian allies whom he had armed, supplied with
ammunition, fed, and clothed, in consideration of their services. Sixty
Rangers, to act as scouts, had been recruited and mounted. By means of
his boats, and the Colony Periagua,—which had been fitted out with four
guns and a crew of forty men,—he had succeeded in driving the Spaniards
out of the mouth of the St. Johns river. The forts having been originally
built of earth and hastily constructed, had fallen sadly out of repair. To
place them in proper condition was then his earnest endeavor. “Upon the
Hostilities being committed,” so runs the letter, “I thought I should be
answerable for the blood of these people before God and man if I had left
them open to be surprised by Spanish Indians, and murdered in the night
and their houses burnt, and if I did not take all proper means for their
defence, they being under my charge.” With this end in view, he resolved
to enclose the town of Frederica with fortifications. This defensive work
is thus described: “It is half an Hexagon with two Bastions, and two half
Bastions and Towers, after Monsieur Vauban’s method, upon the point of
each Bastion. The Walls are of earth faced with Timber, 10 foot High in
the lowest place, and in the highest 13, and the Timbers from eight inches
to twelve inches thick. There is a wet Ditch 10 foot wide, and so laid out
that if we had an allowance for it, I can by widening the Ditch double
the thickness of the Wall and make a covered way. I hope in three months
it will be entirely finished, and in that time not only to fortify here
but to repair the Forts on Amelia and Saint Andrews. The Expence of these
small above mentioned Works, which is all that I can now make, will not
be great. Frederica will come within £500, St. Andrews £400, and Amelia
£100.”[72]
In the midst of his multifarious engagements and perplexities, in which
General Oglethorpe exhibited the highest executive ability, and an
activity and self abnegation worthy of all admiration, he was embarrassed
by treachery within his camp which well nigh eventuated in the most
serious consequences. A plan,—set on foot by one of the soldiers who had
been in the Spanish service,—to murder the officers and escape to the
enemy with such plunder as could be secured, was discovered in time to
prevent its execution. The ring-leaders were tried, convicted, whipped,
and drummed out of the regiment.
Early in November, 1738, General Oglethorpe took up his temporary quarters
at Fort St. Andrew, on Cumberland island, that he might personally
superintend and encourage the construction of the military defenses
which were being there erected. This island was then garrisoned by the
companies which had been detailed from Gibraltar. In addition to their pay
these troops, for a limited period after their arrival in Georgia, had
been allowed extra provisions from the King’s store. When, in November,
these rations were discontinued, conceiving themselves wronged and
defrauded of their rights, the men became dissatisfied. As the General
was conversing at the door of his hut with Captain MacKay, a turbulent
fellow had the temerity to come up unannounced and demand a renewal of
the allowance. Oglethorpe replied that the terms of enlistment had been
fully complied with: and that if he desired any favor at his hand such
rude and disrespectful behavior was not calculated to secure a favorable
consideration of his application. The fellow thereupon became outrageously
insolent. Captain MacKay drew his sword, which the desperado wrested
from him, broke in half, and, having thrown the hilt at that officer’s
head, rushed away to the barracks. There snatching up a loaded gun and
crying aloud “One and All,” he ran back, followed by five or more of the
conspirators, and fired at the General. Being only a few paces distant,
the ball whizzed close by Oglethorpe’s ear, while the powder scorched
his face and singed his clothes. Another soldier presented his piece
and attempted to discharge it. Fortunately it missed fire. A third drew
his hanger and endeavored to stab the General, who, however, having by
this time unsheathed his sword, parried the thrust. An officer coming
up ran the ruffian through the body. Frustrated in their attempt at
assassination, the mutineers sought safety in flight, but were apprehended
and put in irons. After trial by court martial the ring-leaders were found
guilty and shot.[73]
Thus wonderfully was the General preserved for the important trusts
committed to his care, and so narrowly was a calamity averted which would
have plunged the Colony into the depths of uncertainty and peril. Had she
been deprived, at this trying moment, of Oglethorpe’s guidance, Georgia,
feeble and uncertain, would have been left well-nigh naked to her enemies.
Spanish emissaries from St. Augustine endeavored to inaugurate an
insurrection among the negroes of South Carolina. To them freedom and
protection were promised. Every inducement was offered which could
encourage not only desertion from, but also massacre of their owners.
Of the run-away slaves the Governor of Florida had formed a regiment,
appointing officers from among them, and placing both officers and
enlisted men upon the pay and rations allowed to the regular Spanish
soldiers. Of this fact the Carolina negroes were advised.[74] The
pernicious influence of such tampering with this servile population may be
more readily conjectured than described. Thus did Spain grow daily more
and more offensive in the development of her plans for the destruction
of the English Colonies adjacent to her possessions in Florida. To the
vigilance of Oglethorpe is Carolina largely indebted for her escape from
the horrors of a servile insurrection.[75]
By his personal interview with the Indians at Coweta town, Oglethorpe
had secured the good will of the Creeks, the Cousees, the Tallapousees,
the Cowetas, the Choctaws and the Chickesas, thus thwarting the
machinations of the Spanish and French, and relieving the Colony from
apprehensions of a most serious character. His energies were all directed
to a careful preparation to meet the Spanish storm which was gathering
and almost ready to burst upon the southern frontier of the Province.
Referring to this perilous and protracted journey performed by General
Oglethorpe to propitiate these Indian tribes and secure from them pledges
whose observance was essential to the continuance of the Colony, Mr.
Spalding[76] justly remarks, “When we call into remembrance the then
force of these tribes,—for they could have brought into the field twenty
thousand fighting men,—when we call to remembrance the influence the
French had everywhere else obtained over the Indians,—when we call to
remembrance the distance he had to travel through solitary pathways from
Frederica, exposed to summer suns, night dews, and to the treachery of
any single Indian who knew, and every Indian knew, the rich reward that
would have awaited him for the act from the Spaniards in St. Augustine or
the French in Mobile; surely we may proudly ask what soldier ever gave
higher proof of courage? What gentleman ever gave greater evidence of
magnanimity? What English governor of an American province ever gave such
assurance of deep devotion to public duty?”
But for this manly conference with the Red men in the heart of their own
country, and the admiration with which his presence, courage, and bearing
inspired the assembled Chiefs, Oglethorpe could not have compassed the
pacification and secured that treaty of amity so essential to the welfare
of the Colony now on the eve of most serious difficulties with the
Spaniards in Florida.
On the 5th of October, 1739, at his little town four miles from Savannah,
the venerable Tomo-chi-chi,—Oglethorpe’s earliest and best friend among
the Indians,—yielding to the effects of a lingering illness, died at
the advanced age of ninety-seven years. The General acted as one of the
pall-bearers, and the body of the old Chief, in accordance with his wish,
was interred, with becoming honors, in one of the public squares in
Savannah. In his last moments he expressed no little concern that he was
about to be taken away at a time when his services might prove of special
value to his friends, the English, against the Spaniards, and counseled
his people never to forget the favors he had received, when in England,
from the King, and to persevere in their amicable relations with the
colonists.[77] These injunctions were not unheeded. Toonahowi—the favorite
nephew of the aged Mico—accompanied General Oglethorpe in his expedition
against St. Augustine; and again, leading a party of Creek Indians,
brought off from the very walls of that city Don Romualdo Ruiz del Moral,
lieutenant of Spanish horse and nephew to the late governor of Florida,
and delivered him a prisoner to Oglethorpe. During the memorable and
successful resistance maintained when St. Simon’s island was attacked by
the Spaniards in 1742, this brave Indian, illustrating the valor, personal
courage, and friendship which characterized his distinguished uncle,
remained firm in his attachment to the colonists and rendered valuable
military service. On the 7th of July, although wounded in the right arm by
Captain Mageleto, he drew his pistol with the left, and shot the Captain
dead on the spot. This brave warrior and faithful ally was finally killed
in 1743, at Lake di Papa, while valiantly fighting for the English against
the Yemasee Indians.[78]
The disputes existing between England and Spain culminated in a
declaration of war in October, 1739. On the 15th of November intelligence
was brought to Frederica that a party of Spaniards had recently landed on
Amelia island in the night, and, concealing themselves in the woods, had,
on the ensuing morning, shot two unarmed Highlanders who were in quest
of fuel, and then, in the most inhuman manner, hacked their bodies with
their swords. Francis Brooks,—commanding the scout-boat,—heard the firing
and gave the alarm to the fort, which was garrisoned by a detachment from
Oglethorpe’s regiment. Although pursued, the enemy escaped, leaving behind
them the proofs of their inhuman butchery.[79] Informed of the outrage,
Oglethorpe manned a gunboat and followed in the hope of overtaking the
party. The effort proved futile, and the General, by way of retaliation,
passing up the St. Johns drove in the guards of Spanish horse posted on
that river, and detached Captain Dunbar to ascertain the location and
force of the enemy’s fort at Picolata. This incursion was followed by
another in January, which resulted in the capture of Forts Picolata and
St. Francis, the garrisons being made prisoners of war. In the assault
upon the latter work General Oglethorpe narrowly escaped death from a
cannon shot.[80]
Chafing under these repeated annoyances experienced at the hands of the
Spaniards, advised that the garrison at St. Augustine was suffering for
lack of provisions, and ascertaining that the galleys having been sent
to Havana for reinforcements and supplies, the St. Johns river and the
Florida coast were in a comparatively defenseless condition, the General
deemed it a fitting opportunity to attempt the reduction of St. Augustine
and the expulsion of the Spaniards from Florida. Admiral Vernon was
instructed to assume the offensive against the Spanish possessions in
the West Indies, while General Oglethorpe should conduct all available
forces against the seat of their dominion in Florida. The assistance of
Carolina was urgently invoked, but the authorities at first would not
acquiesce in the feasibility of the enterprise.[81] A rapid movement being
regarded essential to success, General Oglethorpe repaired to Charleston
to urge early and potent co-operation. As a result of the conference which
there ensued, the Legislature, by an act passed April 5th, 1740, agreed
to contribute a regiment of five hundred men to be commanded by Colonel
Vanderdussen, a troop of Rangers, presents for the Indians, and three
months’ provisions. A large schooner,—conveying ten carriages and sixteen
swivel guns, and fifty men under the command of Captain Tyrrell,—was also
furnished for the expedition. Commodore Vincent Price, with a small
fleet, pledged his assistance.
On the first of April General Oglethorpe published a manifesto, in which,
recognizing Alexander Vanderdussen, Esq., as Colonel of the Carolina
regiment, he empowered him for the space of four months to hold regimental
court martials for the trial of all offenders. At the expiration of that
period all connected with that regiment were to be suffered to return to
their homes. To the naval forces uniting in the expedition a full share of
all plunder was guaranteed. To the maimed and wounded, and to the widows
and orphans of such as might perish in the service, was promised whatever
share of the spoils should fall to the lot of the General in Chief. Indian
enemies, if taken captive, were to be treated as prisoners of war, and not
as slaves.[82]
The mouth of the St. Johns was designated as the point of rendezvous.
Runners were sent from the Uchee town to the Indian allies to inform them
of the contemplated demonstration against St. Augustine, and to request a
junction of their forces at Frederica at the earliest moment. This done,
the General returned at once to St. Simons island where he devoted himself
to equipping his forces and collecting the requisite munitions of war.
Anticipating the concentration of his forces, and wishing to reduce the
posts through which the enemy derived supplies from the country, General
Oglethorpe, with four hundred men of his own regiment and a considerable
force of Indians led by Molochi,—son of Prim, the late Chief of the
Creeks,—Raven, war chief of the Cherokees, and Toonahowi, nephew of
Tomo-chi-chi, on the 9th of May passed over into Florida, and within a
week succeeded in capturing Fort Francis de Papa[83] seventeen miles north
of St. Augustine, and Fort Diego[84] situated on the plains twenty-five
miles from St. Augustine. The latter work was defended by eleven guns and
fifty regulars, besides Indians and negroes. Leaving Lieutenant Dunbar
and sixty men to hold this post, the General returned with the rest of
his command to the place of rendezvous where, on the 19th of May, he was
joined by Captain McIntosh with a company of Highlanders, and by the
Carolina troops under Colonel Vanderdussen. The anticipated horsemen,
pioneers, and negroes, however, did not arrive.
From the best information he could obtain,—gathered from prisoners and
otherwise,—General Oglethorpe ascertained that the Castle of St. Augustine
at that time consisted of a fort, built of soft stone. Its curtain was
sixty yards in length, its parapet nine feet thick, and its rampart
twenty feet high, “casemated underneath for lodgings, and arched over and
newly made bomb-proof.” Its armament consisted of fifty cannon,—sixteen
of brass,—and among them some twenty-four pounders. The garrison had
been for some time working upon a covered-way, but this was still in an
unfinished condition. The town of St. Augustine was protected by a line
of intrenchments with ten salient angles, in each of which some field
pieces were mounted. In January, 1740, the Spanish forces in Florida, by
establishment, consisted of the following organizations:[85]
1 Troop of Horse, numbering 100 officers and men.
1 Company of Artillery, ” 100 ” ” ”
3 Independent Companies of old Troops, each ” 100 ” ” ”
2 Companies of the Regiment of Austurias, ” ” 53 ” ” ”
1 Company ” ” ” Valencia, ” 53 ” ” ”
1 ” ” ” ” Catalonia, ” 53 ” ” ”
2 Companies ” ” ” Cantabria, ” ” 53 ” ” ”
2 ” ” ” ” Mercia, ” ” 53 ” ” ”
Armed Negroes, 200 ” ” ”
White Transports for labor, 200
1 Company of Militia, (strength unknown.)
Indians, (number not ascertained.)
It was General Oglethorpe’s original purpose, as foreshadowed in his
dispatch of the 27th of March, 1740,[86] with four hundred regular troops
of his regiment, one hundred Georgians, and such additional forces as
South Carolina could contribute, to advance directly upon St. Augustine,
and attack, by sea and land, the town and the island in its front. Both of
these, he believed, could be taken “sword in hand.” He would then summon
the castle to surrender, or surprise it. Conceiving that the castle would
be too small to afford convenient shelter for the two thousand one hundred
men, women, and children of the town, he regarded the capitulation of the
fortress as not improbable. Should it refuse to surrender, however, he
proposed to shower upon it “Granado-shells from the Cohorns and Mortars,
and send for the Artillery and Pioneers and the rest of the Aid promised
by the Assembly;[87] also for Mortars and Bombs from _Providence;_” and,
if the castle should not have yielded prior to the arrival of “these
Aids,” he was resolved to open trenches and conduct a siege which he
reckoned would be all the easier, the garrison having been weakened by the
summer’s blockade.
About the time of the concentration of the Georgia and Carolina forces
for combined operations against St. Augustine, that town was materially
reinforced by the arrival of six Spanish half-galleys,—manned by two
hundred regular troops and armed with long brass nine-pounder guns,—and
two sloops loaded with provisions.
Warned by the preliminary demonstration which eventuated, as we have seen,
in the capture of forts Francis de Papa and Diego, the enemy massed all
detachments within the lines of St. Augustine, collected cattle from the
adjacent region, and prepared for a vigorous defense.
Apprehending that he might not be able to carry the town by assault from
the land side,—where its entrenchments were strong and well armed,—unless
supported by a demonstration in force from the men of war approaching
the town where it looks toward the sea and where it was not covered by
earth-works, and being without the requisite pioneer corps and artillery
train for the conduct of a regular siege, before putting his army in
motion General Oglethorpe instructed the naval commanders to rendezvous
off the bar of the north channel, and blockade that and the Matanzas
pass to St. Augustine. Captain Warren, with two hundred sailors, was to
land on Anastasia island and erect batteries for bombarding the town in
front. When his land forces should come into position and be prepared
for the assault, he was to notify Sir Yelverton Peyton, commanding the
naval forces, and St. Augustine would thus be attacked on all sides.
Shortly after the middle of May, 1740, General Oglethorpe, with a land
army numbering over two thousand regulars, militia, and Indians, moved
upon St. Augustine. Fort Moosa,[88] situated within two miles of that
place, lay in his route. Upon his approach the garrison evacuated it and
retired within the lines of the town. Having burnt the gates of this fort
and caused three breaches in its walls, General Oglethorpe, on the 5th
of June, made his reconnoissances of the land defenses of St. Augustine
and prepared for the contemplated assault. Everything being in readiness,
the signal previously agreed upon to insure the coöperation of the naval
forces was given; but, to the General’s surprise and mortification, no
response was returned. His forces being disposed and eager for the attack,
the signal was repeated, but failed to evoke the anticipated answer.
Satisfied that the town could not be carried without the assistance of
the naval forces, and being ignorant of the cause of their non-action,
the General reluctantly withdrew his army and placed it in camp at a
convenient distance, there to remain until he could ascertain the reason
of the failure on the part of the navy to coöperate in the plan which had
been preconcerted. This failure was explained in this wise. Inside the
bar, and at such a remove that they could not be affected by the fire of
the British vessels of war,—the Flamborough, the Phœnix, the Squirrel, the
Tartar, the Spence, and the Wolf,—Spanish gallies and half gallies were
moored so as to effectually prevent the ascent of the barges intended for
the attack, and preclude a landing of troops upon Anastasia island. The
shallowness of the water was such that the men of war could not advance
near enough to dislodge them. Under the circumstances therefore, Sir
Yelverton Peyton found himself unable to respond to the important part
assigned him in the attack.
Advised of this fact, and chagrined at the non-realization of his
original plan of operations, Oglethorpe determined at once to convert
his purposed assault into a siege. The ships of war lying off the bar of
St. Augustine were directed to narrowly observe every avenue of approach
by water, and maintain a most rigid blockade. Colonel Palmer, with
ninety-five Highlanders and forty-two Indians, was left at Fort Moosa with
instructions to scout the woods incessantly on the land side and intercept
any cattle or supplies coming from the interior. To prevent surprise
and capture, he was cautioned to change his camp each night, and keep
always on the alert. He was to avoid anything like a general engagement
with the enemy. Colonel Vanderdussen, with his South Carolina regiment,
was ordered to take possession of a neck of land known as Point Quartel,
about a mile distant from the castle, and there erect a battery. General
Oglethorpe, with the men of his regiment and most of the Indians, embarked
in boats and effected a landing on Anastasia island, where, having driven
off a party of Spaniards there stationed as an advanced guard, he, with
the assistance of the sailors from the fleet, began mounting cannon with
which to bombard the town and castle.[89] Having by these dispositions
completed his investment, Oglethorpe summoned the Spanish Governor to
a surrender. Secure in his strong-hold, the haughty Don “sent him for
answer that he would be glad to shake hands with him in his castle.”
Indignant at such a response, the General opened his batteries upon the
castle and also shelled the town. The fire was returned both by the fort
and the half gallies in the harbor. So great was the distance, however,
that although the cannonade was maintained with spirit on both sides for
nearly three weeks, little damage was caused or impression produced.[90]
It being evident that the reduction of the castle could not be expected
from the Anastasia island batteries, Captain Warren offered to lead a
night attack upon the half gallies in the harbor which were effectually
preventing all ingress by boats. A council of war decided that in as much
as those galleys were covered by the guns of the castle, and could not be
approached by the larger vessels of the fleet, any attempt to capture them
in open boats would be accompanied by too much risk. The suggestion was
therefore abandoned.
Observing the besiegers uncertain in their movements, and their operations
growing lax, and being sore pressed for provisions, the Spanish Governor
sent out a detachment of three hundred men against Colonel Palmer.
Unfortunately that officer, negligent of his instructions and apprehending
no danger from the enemy, remained two or three consecutive nights at
Fort Moosa. This detachment, under the command of Don Antonio Salgrado,
passed quietly out of the gates of St. Augustine during the night of June
14th, and after encountering a most desperate resistance, succeeded in
capturing Fort Moosa at day light, the next morning. Colonel Palmer fell
early in the action. The Highlanders “fought like lions,” and “made such
havoc with their broadswords as the Spaniards cannot easily forget.” This
hand-to-hand conflict was won at the cost to the enemy of more than one
hundred lives. Colonel Palmer, a Captain, and twenty Highlanders were
killed. Twenty-seven were captured. Those who escaped made their way to
Colonel Vanderdussen at Point Quartel. Thus was St. Augustine relieved
from the prohibition which had hitherto estopped all intercourse with the
surrounding country.
Shortly after the occurrence of this unfortunate event, the vessel which
had been blockading the Matanzas river was withdrawn. Taking advantage
of the opportunity thus afforded, some small vessels from Havana, with
provisions and reinforcements, reached St. Augustine by that narrow
channel, bringing great encouragement and relief to the garrison. This
reinforcement was estimated at seven hundred men, and the supply of
provisions is said to have been large. “Then,” writes Hewitt,[91] whose
narrative we have followed in the main, “all prospects of starving the
enemy being lost, the army began to despair of forcing the place to
surrender. The Carolinean troops, enfeebled by the heat, dispirited by
sickness, and fatigued by fruitless efforts, marched away in large bodies.
The navy being short of provisions, and the usual season of hurricanes
approaching, the commander judged it imprudent to hazard his Majesty’s
ships by remaining longer on that coast. Last of all, the General himself,
sick of a fever, and his regiment worn out with fatigue and rendered
unfit for action by a flux, with sorrow and regret followed, and reached
Frederica about the 10th of July, 1740.”
The Carolineans, under Colonel Vanderdussen, proved themselves
inefficient, “turbulent, and disobedient.” They lost not a single man in
action, and only fourteen deaths occurred from sickness and accident.
Desertions were frequent.[92]
Upon Oglethorpe’s regiment, and the Georgia companies, devolved the brunt
of the siege. On the 5th of July the artillery and stores on Anastasia
island were brought off, and the men crossed over to the mainland.[93]
Vanderdussen and his regiment at once commenced a disorderly retreat in
the direction of the St. Johns, leaving Oglethorpe and his men within
half-cannon shot of the castle. In his dispatch to the Secretary of State,
dated Camp on St. Johns in Florida, July 19th, 1740, the General thus
describes his last movements: “The Spaniards made a sally, with about 500
men, on me who lay on the land side. I ordered Ensign Cathcart with twenty
men, supported by Major Heron and Captain Desbrisay with upwards of 100
men, to attack them; I followed with the body. We drove them into the
works and pursued them to the very barriers of the covered way. After the
train and provisions were embarked and safe out of the harbour, I marched
with drums beating and colours flying, in the day, from my camp near the
town to a camp three miles distant, where I lay that night. The next day
I marched nine miles, where I encamped that night. We discovered a party
of Spanish horse and Indians whom we charged, took one horseman and killed
two Indians; the rest ran to the garrison. I am now encamped on St. Johns
river, waiting to know what the people of Carolina would desire me farther
to do for the safety of these provinces, which I think are very much
exposed to the half-galleys, with a wide extended frontier hardly to be
defended by a few men.”
In one of the Indian chiefs Oglethorpe found a man after his own heart.
When asked by some of the retreating troops to march with them, his reply
was, “No! I will not stir a foot till I see every man belonging to me
marched off before me; for I have always been the first in advancing
towards an enemy, and the last in retreating.”[94]
This failure to reduce St. Augustine may be fairly attributed
I; to the delay in inaugurating the movement, caused mainly,
if not entirely, by the tardiness on the part of the South
Carolina authorities in contributing the troops and provisions
for which requisition had been made;
II; to the reinforcement of men and supplies from Havanna
introduced into St. Augustine just before the English
expedition set out; thereby materially repairing the inequality
previously existing between the opposing forces;
III; to the injudicious movement against forts Francis de Papa
and Diego, which put the Spaniards on the alert, encouraged
concentration on their part, and foreshadowed an immediate
demonstration in force against their stronghold; and
IV; to the inability on the part of the fleet to participate
in the assault previously planned, and which was to have been
vigorously undertaken so soon as General Oglethorpe with
his land forces came into position before the walls of St.
Augustine.
V. The subsequent destruction of Colonel Palmer’s
command,—thereby enabling the enemy to communicate with and
draw supplies from the interior,—the lack of heavy ordnance
with which to reduce the castle from the batteries on Anastasia
island,—the impossibility of bringing up the larger war
vessels that they might participate in the bombardment,—the
inefficiency of Colonel Vanderdussen’s command,—the impatience
and disappointment of the Indian allies who anticipated
early capture and liberal spoils,—hot suns, heavy dews, a
debilitating climate, sickness among the troops, and the
arrival of men, munitions of war, and provisions through the
Matanzas river, in the end rendered quite futile every hope
which at the outset had been entertained for a successful
prosecution of the siege.
Great was the disappointment upon the failure of the expedition, and
unjust and harsh the criticisms levelled by not a few against its brave
and distinguished leader.[95] We agree with the Duke of Argyle who, in
the British House of Peers, declared “One man there is, my Lords, whose
natural generosity, contempt of danger, and regard for the public prompted
him to obviate the designs of the Spaniards, and to attack them in their
own territories; a man whom by long acquaintance I can confidently affirm
to have been equal to his undertaking, and to have learned the art of war
by a regular education, who yet miscarried in the design only for want of
supplies necessary to a possibility of success.”
Although this attempt,—so formidable in its character when we consider
the limited resources at command, and so full of daring when we
contemplate the circumstances under which it was undertaken,—eventuated
in disappointment, its effects were not without decided advantages to
the Colonies. For two years the Spaniards remained on the defensive,
and General Oglethorpe enjoyed an opportunity for strengthening his
fortifications on St. Simons island, so that when the counter blow was
delivered by his adversary he was in condition not only to parry it, but
also to severely punish the uplifted arm.[96]
For two months after the termination of this expedition, Oglethorpe lay
ill of a continued fever contracted during the exposures and fatigues
incident upon his exertions and anxieties during the siege. When, on the
second of September, Mr. Stephens called to see him at Frederica, he found
him still troubled with a lurking fever and confined to his bed. His
protracted sickness had so “worn away his strength” that he “seldom came
down stairs, but retained still the same vivacity of spirit in appearance
to all whom he talked with, though he chose to converse with very few.”[97]
Four companies of the regiment were now encamped at the south-east end
of St. Simons island, and the other two at Frederica. So soon as the men
recovered from the malady contracted at St. Augustine, they were busily
occupied in erecting new fortifications and strengthening the old. From
these two camps detachments garrisoned the advanced works, St. Andrew,
Fort William, St. George, and the outposts on Amelia island;—the details
being relieved at regular intervals.[98]
During the preceding seven years, which constituted the entire
life of the Colony, General Oglethorpe had enjoyed no respite from
his labors. Personally directing all movements,—supervising the
location, and providing for the comfort, safety, and good order of the
settlers,—accommodating their differences,—encouraging and directing their
labors,—propitiating the Aborigines,—influencing necessary supplies,
and inaugurating suitable defences, he had been constantly passing from
point to point finding no rest for the soles of his feet. Now in tent at
Savannah,—now in open boat reconnoitering the coast,—now upon the southern
islands,—his only shelter the wide-spreading live-oak,—designating
sites for forts and look-outs, and with his own hands planning military
works and laying out villages,—again in journeys oft along the Savannah,
the Great Ogeechee, the Alatamaha, the St. Johns, and far off into
the heart of the Indian country,—frequently inspecting his advanced
posts,—undertaking voyages to Charlestown and to England in behalf of
the Trust, and engaged in severe contests with the Spaniards, his life
had been one of incessant activity and solicitude. But for his energy,
intelligence, watchfulness, and self-sacrifice, the enterprise must have
languished. As we look back upon this period of trial, uncertainty, and
poverty, our admiration for his achievements increases the more narrowly
we scan his limited resources and opportunities, the more intelligently we
appreciate the difficulties he was called upon to surmount. Always present
wherever duty called or danger threatened, he never expected others to
press on where he himself did not lead. The only home he ever owned or
claimed in Georgia was on St. Simons island. The only hours of leisure he
ever enjoyed were spent in sight and sound of his military works along
the southern frontier, upon whose safe tenure depended the salvation of
the Colony. Just where the military road connecting Fort St. Simon with
Frederica, after having traversed the beautiful prairie,—constituting
the common pasture land of the village,—entered the woods, General
Oglethorpe established his cottage. Adjacent to it were a garden, and
an orchard of oranges, figs and grapes. Magnificent oaks threw their
protecting shadows above and around this quiet, pleasant abode, fanned by
delicious sea-breezes, fragrant with the perfume of flowers, and vocal
with the melody of song-birds. To the westward, and in full view, were the
fortifications and the white houses of Frederica. Behind rose a dense
forest of oaks. “This cottage and fifty acres of land attached to it,”
says the honorable Thomas Spalding in his “Sketch of the life of General
James Oglethorpe,”[99] “was all the landed domain General Oglethorpe
reserved to himself, and after the General went to England it became the
property of my father.... After the Revolutionary war, the buildings
being destroyed, my father sold this little property. But the oaks were
only cut down within four or five years past, and the elder people of
St. Simons yet feel as if it were sacrilege, and mourn their fall.” Here
the defences of St. Simons island were under his immediate supervision.
His troops were around him, and he was prepared, upon the first note of
warning, to concentrate the forces of the Colony for active operations. In
the neighborhood several of his officers established their homes. Among
them, “Harrington Hall,”—the country seat of the wealthy Huguenot, Captain
Raymond Demeré, enclosed with hedges of cassina,—was conspicuous for its
beauty and comfort.
Including the soldiers and their families, Frederica in 1740 is said to
have claimed a population of one thousand.[100] This estimate is perhaps
somewhat exaggerated, although much nearer the mark than that of the
discontents Tailfer, Anderson, and Douglas, who, in their splenetic and
jacobinical tract entitled “A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony
of Georgia in America,” assert that of the one hundred and forty-four lots
into which the town was divided, only “about fifty were built upon,” and
that “the number of the Inhabitants, notwithstanding of the Circulation of
the Regiment’s money, are not over _one hundred and twenty_ Men, Women,
and Children, and these are daily stealing away by all possible Ways.”[101]
As we have already seen, the town was regularly laid out in streets called
after the principal officers of Oglethorpe’s regiment; and, including the
military camp on the north, the parade on the east, and “a small wood on
the south which served as a blind to the enemy in case of attack from
ships coming up the river,” was about a mile and a half in circumference.
The fort was strongly built of tabby and well armed. Several eighteen
pounders, mounted on a ravelin in front, commanded the river, and the town
was defended on the land side by substantial intrenchments. The ditch at
the foot of these intrenchments was intended to admit the influx of the
tide, thus rendering the isolation of Frederica complete, and materially
enhancing the strength of its line of circumvallation. We reproduce from
“An Impartial Enquiry into the State and Utility of the Province of
Georgia”[102] the following contemporaneous notice: “There are many good
Buildings in the Town, several of which are Brick. There is likewise a
Fort and Store-house belonging to the Trust. The People have a Minister
who has a Salary from the Society for propagating the Gospel. In the
Neighbourhood of the Town, there is a fine Meadow of 320 Acres ditch’d in,
on which a number of Cattle are fed, and good Hay is likewise made from
it. At some Distance from the Town is the Camp for General _Oglethorpe’s_
Regiment. The Country about it is well cultivated, several Parcels of
Land not far distant from the Camp having been granted in small Lots to
the Soldiers, many of whom are married, and fifty-five Children were born
there in the last year. These Soldiers are the most industrious, and
willing to plant; the rest are generally desirous of Wives, but there are
not Women enough in the Country to supply them. There are some handsome
Houses built by the Officers of the Regiment, and besides the Town of
_Frederica_ there are other little Villages upon this Island. A sufficient
Quantity of Pot-herbs, Pulse, and Fruit is produced, there to supply both
the Town and Garrison; and the People of _Frederica_ have begun to malt
and to brew; and the Soldiers Wives Spin Cotton of the Country, which
they Knit into Stockings. At the Town of _Frederica_ is a Town-Court for
administering Justice in the Southern Part of the Province, with the same
Number of Magistrates as at _Savannah_.”
At the village of St. Simon, on the south point of the island, was
erected a watch-tower from which the movements of vessels at sea might be
conveniently observed. Upon their appearance, their number was at once
announced by signal guns, and a horseman dispatched to head quarters with
the particulars. A look-out was kept by a party of Rangers at Bachelor’s
Redoubt on the main, and a Corporal’s guard was stationed at Pike’s Bluff.
To facilitate communication with Darien a canal was cut through General’s
island. Defensive works were erected on Jekyll island, where Captain
Horton had a well improved plantation, and there a brewery was established
for supplying the troops with beer. On Cumberland island were three
batteries,—Fort St. Andrew,—built in 1736, on high commanding ground, at
the north-east point of the island,—a battery on the west to control the
inland navigation,—and Fort William,—a work of considerable strength and
regularity,—commanding the entrance to St. Mary’s river. Two companies of
Oglethorpe’s regiment were stationed near Fort St. Andrew. As many of the
soldiers were married, lots were assigned to them which they cultivated
and improved. Near this work was the little village of Barrimacké of
twenty-four families.
Upon Amelia island, where the orange trees were growing wild in the woods,
were stationed the Highlanders with their scout boats. They had a good
plantation,—upon which they raised corn enough for their subsistence,—a
little fort, and “a stud of horses and mares.”[103]
“Nowhere,” remarks Mr. Spalding,[104] “had mind, with the limited means
under its control, more strongly evinced its power. And it will be seen
hereafter, that it was to the great ability shown in the disposition of
these works, that not Georgia only, but Carolina owed their preservation;
for St. Simon’s was destined soon to become the Thermopylæ of the southern
Anglo American provinces.” Besides compassing the improvement of, and
garrisoning his defensive works along the southern frontier with the men
of his regiment, Oglethorpe kept in active service considerable bodies
of Indians whose mission was to harrass the Spaniards in Florida, annoy
their posts, and closely invest St. Augustine. So energetically did these
faithful allies discharge the duty assigned them, and so narrowly did
they watch and thoroughly plague the garrison and inhabitants of St.
Augustine, that they dared not venture any distance without the walls.
Adjacent plantations remained uncultivated; and, within the town, food,
fuel, and the necessaries of life became so scarce that the Spanish
government was compelled to support the population by stores sent from
Havana. To the efficient aid of his Indian allies was Oglethorpe on more
than one occasion indebted for the consummation of important plans. It
would not be an exaggeration to affirm that to their friendship, fidelity,
and valor, was the Colony largely beholden not only for its security,
but even for its preservation. “If we had no other evidence,” writes Mr.
Spalding, “of the great abilities of Oglethorpe but what is offered by
the devotion of the Indian Tribes to him, and to his memory afterwards
for fifty years, it is all-sufficient; for it is only master minds that
acquire this deep and lasting influence over other men.”
In his letter to the Duke of Newcastle, dated Frederica, May 12th, 1741,
Oglethorpe advises the Home Government of a reinforcement of eight hundred
men newly arrived at St. Augustine, and of a declared intention on the
part of the Spanish authorities to invade the provinces of Georgia and
Carolina so soon as the result of Admiral Vernon’s expedition in the
West Indies should have been ascertained. He makes urgent demand for
men-of-war to guard the water approaches, for a train of artillery, arms,
and ammunition, and for authority to recruit the two troops of Rangers
to sixty men each, and the Highland company to one hundred, to enlist
one hundred boatmen, and to purchase or build, and man two half-galleys.
Alluding to the expected advance of the Spaniards, the writer continues:
“If our men of war will not keep them from coming in by sea, and we have
no succour, but decrease daily by different accidents, all we can do
will be to die bravely in his Majesty’s service.... I have often desired
assistance of the men-of-war, and continue to do so. I go on in fortifying
this town, making magazines, and doing everything I can to defend the
Province vigorously, and I hope my endeavors will be approved of by his
Majesty, since the whole end of my life is to do the duty of a faithful
subject and grateful servant. I have thirty Spanish prisoners in this
place, and we continue so masters of Florida that the Spaniards have not
been able to rebuild any one of the seven forts which we destroyed in the
last expedition.”
It does not appear that the men-of-war and ordnance requested were ever
furnished.
With a little squadron composed of the Guard sloop, the sloop “Falcon,”
and Captain Davis’ schooner “Norfolk” carrying a detachment of his
regiment under command of Major Heron, General Oglethorpe on the 16th of
August, 1741, bore down upon a large Spanish ship lying at anchor, with
hostile intent, off the bar of Jekyll sound. A heavy storm intervening,
the Spanish vessel put to sea and was lost to sight. Unwilling to dismiss
his miniature fleet until he had performed more substantial service, the
General boldly continued down the coast, attacked and put to flight a
Spanish man-of-war, and the notorious privateer “Black-Sloop” commanded
by Destrade, a French officer, challenged the vessels lying in the inner
harbor of St. Augustine to come out and engage his small squadron,
remained at anchor all night within sight of the castle, cruised for some
days off the Matanzas, and, after having alarmed the whole coast, returned
in safety to Frederica.
In the midst of these labors and anxieties incident upon his preparations
to resist the threatened Spanish invasion, and at a time when harmony and
content were most essential to the well-being of the Colony, Oglethorpe
was annoyed by sundry complaints from evil-minded persons. Most of
them were frivolous, and a few quite insulting in their character. The
publication of two tracts, one entitled “An Impartial Enquiry into the
State and Utility of the Province of Georgia,”[105] and the other “A
State of the Province of Georgia attested upon Oath in the Court of
Savannah, November 10, 1740,”[106]—both presenting favorable views of
the Colony and disseminated in the interest of the Trust,—irritated
these malcontents and gave rise to several rejoinders, among which, as
particularly reflecting upon the conduct of the commander-in-chief and
his administration of affairs, may be mentioned “A Brief Account of
the Causes that have Retarded the Progress of the Colony of Georgia in
America, attested upon Oath, being a Proper Contrast to ‘A State of the
Province of Georgia attested upon Oath,’ and some other misrepresentations
on the same subject.”[107] The charge was openly made that some of the
magistrates at Savannah and Frederica (the principal towns in Georgia) had
wilfully injured the people by declaring “from the Bench that the Laws
of England were no laws in Georgia,” by causing “false imprisonments,”
by “discharging Grand Juries while matters of Felony lay before them,”
by “intimidating Petit Juries,” and, in short, “by sticking at nothing
to oppress the people.” It was further alleged that there was no way of
applying for redress to his Majesty. General Oglethorpe was accused of
partiality and tyranny in his administration. In support of these charges
various affidavits were obtained from parties claiming to be residents of
Frederica, Darien, Savannah, Ebenezer, and Augusta,—most of them, however,
being sworn to and verified outside the limits of Georgia. Those who are
curious with regard to the contents of these affidavits, so far as they
reflect upon the conduct of the Frederica magistrates, are referred to the
depositions of Samuel Perkins, John Roberson, and Samuel Davison.[108]
A desire to sell forbidden articles, and to ply trades for which special
permission had been granted to others, opposition to the regulation which
prohibited the owners of hogs and cattle from allowing them to run at
large on the common and in the streets of Frederica, alleged misfeasance
in the conduct of bailiffs and under-magistrates in the discharge of their
duties, the unprofitableness of labor, overbearing acts committed by
those in authority, and similar matters formed the burthen of these sworn
complaints. While they tended to distract the public mind and to annoy
those upon whose shoulders rested the administration of affairs, they
fortunately failed in producing any serious impression either within the
Colony or in the mother country. We allude to the subject in its proper
connection simply as a matter of history, and to show how ill-judged and
ill-timed were these efforts of the malcontents, among whom Pat Tailfer,
M. D., Hugh Anderson, M. A., and Da: Douglas should not be forgotten.
The utter destruction of the provinces of Georgia and South Carolina was
the avowed object of the Spaniards, who promised to extend no quarter to
English or Indians taken with arms in their hands. The struggle was to
be desperate in the extreme. To the urgent applications for assistance
forwarded by General Oglethorpe, Lieutenant-Governor Bull turned a deaf
ear; and the Carolinians, instead of furnishing supplies and munitions of
war, and marching to the south to meet the invader where the battle for
the salvation of both Colonies was to be fought, remained at home, leaving
the Georgians single-handed to breast the storm.[109]
The Gentleman’s Magazine[110] contains the following estimate of the
Spanish forces under the command of Don Manuel de Monteano, Governor of
Augustine and Commander-in-Chief of the expedition, and Major General
Antonio de Rodondo, Engineer General, participating in the attack upon St.
Simons island:
“2 Colonels with Brevits of Brigadiers.
“One Regiment of Dragoons, dismounted, with their Saddles and
Bridles.
“The Regiment call’d The Battalion of the _Havannah_.
“10 Companies of 50 each, draughted off from several Regiments
of _Havannah_.
“One Regiment of the _Havannah_ Militia, consisting of 10
Companies of 100 Men each.
“One Regiment of Negroes, regularly officer’d by Negroes.
“One ditto of Mulattas, and one Company of 100 Miguelets.
“One Company of the Train with proper Artillery.
“_Augustine_ Forces consisting of about 300 Men.
“Ninety Indians.
“And 15 Negroes who ran away from _South Carolina_.”
From the various accounts of this memorable struggle we select that
prepared by Oglethorpe himself, written on the spot, with the scars of
battle fresh around him, and the smoke of the conflict scarce lifted from
the low-lying shores and dense woods of St. Simons island. The commanding
eye that saw, the stern lips which answered back the proud defiance, and
the strong arm which, under Providence, pointed the way to victory, are
surely best able to unfold the heroic tale. We present the report as it
came from his pen:[111]
“FREDERICA IN GEORGIA, 30th July, 1742.
“The Spanish Invasion which has a long time threatened the
Colony, Carolina, and all North America has at last fallen
upon us and God hath been our deliverance. General Horcasilas,
Governour of the Havannah, ordered those Troops who had been
employed against General Wentworth to embark with Artillery and
everything necessary upon a secret expedition. They sailed with
a great fleet:[112] amongst them were two half Galleys carrying
120 men each & an 18 pound Gun. They drew but five feet water
which satisfied me they were for this place. By good great
Fortune one of the half Galleys was wrecked coming out.[113]
The Fleet sailed for St. Augustine in Florida. Capt. Homer the
latter end of May called here for Intelligence. I acquainted
him that the Succours were expected and sent him a Spanish
Pilot to shew him where to meet with them. He met with ten
sail[114] which had been divided from the Fleet by storm, but
having lost 18 men in action against them, instead of coming
here for the defence of this Place he stood again for Charles
Town to repair, and I having certain advices of the arrival of
the Spanish Fleet at Augustine wrote to the Commander of His
Majesty’s Ships at Charles Town to come to our assistance.[115]
“I sent Lieut. Maxwell, who arrived there and delivered the
letters the 12th of June, and afterwards Lieut. MacKay, who
arrived and delivered letters on the 20th of June.
“Lieut. Colonel Cook who was then at Charles Town, and was
Engineer, hastened to England, and his son-in-law Ensign Eyre,
Sub-Engineer, was also in Charles Town, and did not arrive here
till the action was over; so, for want of help, I myself was
obliged to do the duty of Engineer.
“The Havannah Fleet, being joined by that of Florida, composed
51 sail, with land men on board, a List of whom is annexed:
they were separated, and I received advice from Capt. Dunbar
(who lay at Fort William with the Guard Schooner of 14 Guns
and ninety men) that a Spanish Fleet of 14 sail had attempted
to come in there,[116] but being drove out by the Cannon of
the Fort and Schooner they came in at Cumberland Sound. I sent
over Capt. Horton to land the Indians and Troops on Cumberland.
I followed myself and was attacked in the Sound, but with two
Boats fought my way through. Lieut. Tolson, who was to have
supported me with the third and strongest boat, quitted me in
the fight and run into a River where he hid himself till next
day when he returned to St. Simons with an account that I was
lost but soon after found. I was arrived there before him, for
which misbehaviour I put him in arrest and ordered him to be
tryed. The Enemy in this action suffered so much[117] that the
day after they ran out to sea and returned for St. Augustine
and did not join their great Fleet till after their Grenadiers
were beat by Land.
“I drew the Garrison from St. Andrews, reinforced Fort William,
and returned to St. Simons with the Schooner.
“Another Spanish Fleet appeared the 28th off the Barr: by God’s
blessing upon several measures taken I delayed their coming in
till the 5th of July. I raised another Troop of Rangers, which
with the other were of great service.
“I took Captain Thomson’s ship[118] into the service for
defence of the Harbour. I imbargoe’d all the Vessells, taking
their men for the service, and gave large Gifts and promises
to the Indians so that every day we increased in numbers. I
gave large rewards to men who distinguished themselves upon any
service, freed the servants,[119] brought down the Highland
Company, and Company of Boatmen, filled up as far as we had
guns. All the vessels being thus prepared[120] on the 5th of
July with a leading Gale and Spring Tide 36 sail of Spanish
vessels run into the Harbour in line of Battle.
“We cannonaded them very hotly from the Shipping and Batterys.
They twice attempted to board Capt. Thomson[121] but were
repulsed. They also attempted to board the Schooner, but were
repulsed by Capt. Dunbar with a Detachment of the Regiment on
board.
“I was with the Indians, Rangers, and Batterys, and sometimes
on board the ships, and left Major Heron with the Regiment.
It being impossible for me to do my duty as General and be
constantly with the Regiment, therefore it was absolutely
necessary for His Majesty’s service to have a Lieut. Colonel
present, which I was fully convinced of by this day’s
experience. I therefore appointed Major Heron to be Lieut.
Colonel, and hope that your Grace will move His Majesty to be
pleased to approve the same.
“The Spaniards after an obstinate Engagement of four hours, in
which they lost abundance of men, passed all our Batterys and
Shipping and got out of shot of them towards Frederica. Our
Guard Sloop was disabled and sunk: one of our Batterys blown
up, and also some of our Men on board Capt. Thomson, upon
which I called a Council of War at the head of the Regiment
where it was unanimously resolved to march to Frederica to get
there before the Enemy and defend that Place. To destroy all
the Provisions, Vessels, Artillery, &c., at St. Simon’s, that
they might not fall into the Enemy’s hands.
“This was accordingly executed, having first drawn all the Men
on shoar which before had defended the shipping. I myself staid
till the last, and the wind coming fortunately about I got
Capt. Thompson’s Ship, our Guard Schooner, and our Prize Sloop
to sea and sent them to Charles Town. This I did in the face
and spite of thirty-six sail of the Enemy: as for the rest of
the Vessells, I could not save them, therefore was obliged to
destroy them.
“I must recomend to His Majesty the Merchants who are sufferers
thereby, since their loss was in great measure the preserving
the Province.
“We arrived at Frederica, and the Enemy landed at St.
Simon’s.[122]
“On the 7th a party of their’s marched toward the Town: our
Rangers discovered them and brought an account of their march,
on which I advanced with a party of Indians, Rangers, and
the Highland Company, ordering the Regiment to follow, being
resolved to engage them in the Defiles of the Woods before they
could get out and form in the open Grounds. I charged them at
the head of our Indians, Highland Men and Rangers, and God was
pleased to give us such success that we entirely routed the
first party, took one Captain prisoner, and killed another,
and pursued them two miles to an open Meadow or Savannah, upon
the edge of which I posted three Platoons of the Regiment
and the Company of Highland foot so as to be covered by the
woods from the Enemy who were obliged to pass thro’ the Meadow
under our fire.[123] This disposition was very fortunate.[124]
Capt. Antonio Barba and two other Captains with 100 Grenadiers
and 200 foot, besides Indians and Negroes, advanced from the
Spanish Camp into the Savannah with Huzzah’s and fired with
great spirit, but not seeing our men by reason of the woods,
none of their shot took place, but ours did.[125]
“Some Platoons of ours in the heat of the fight, the air being
darkened with the smoak, and a shower of rain falling, retired
in disorder.
“I hearing the firing, rode towards it, and at near two miles
from the place of Action, met a great many men in disorder who
told me that ours were routed and Lieut. Sutherland killed. I
ordered them to halt and march back against the Enemy, which
orders Capt. Demere and Ensign Gibbon obeyed, but another
Officer did not, but made the best of his way to Town. As
I heard the fire continue I concluded our Men could not be
quite beaten, and that my immediate assistance might preserve
them: therefore spurred on and arrived just as the fire was
done. I found the Spaniards intirely routed by one Platoon of
the Regiment, under the Comand of Lieut. Sutherland, and the
Highland Company under the Comand of Lieut. Charles MacKay.
“An Officer whom the Prisoners said was Capt. Don Antonio
Barba[126] was taken Prisoner, but desperately wounded, and two
others were prisoners, and a great many dead upon the spot.
Lieut. Sutherland, Lieut. Charles MacKay and Sergt. Stuart
having distinguished themselves upon this occasion, I appointed
Lieut. Sutherland Brigade Major, and Sergt. Stuart second
Ensign.
“Capt. Demere and Ensign Gibbon being arrived with the men
they had rallied, Lieut. Cadogan with an advanced party of
the Regiment, and soon after the whole Regiment, Indians, and
Rangers, I marched down to a causeway over a marsh very near
the Spanish Camp over which all were obliged to pass, and
thereby stopt those who had been dispersed in the fight in the
Savannah from getting to the Spanish Camp.[127] Having passed
the night there, the Indian scouts in the morning advanced to
the Spanish Camp and discovered they were all retired into
the ruins of the Fort and were making Intrenchments under
shelter of the cannon of the ships. That they guessed them
to be above 4,000 men. I thought it imprudent to attack them
defended by Cannon with so small a number but marched back to
Frederica[128] to refresh the soldiers, and sent out Partys of
Indians and Rangers to harrass the Enemy. I also ordered into
arrest the officers who commanded the Platoons that retired.
“I appointed a General Staff: Lieut. Hugh MacKay and Lieut.
Maxwell Aids de Camp, and Lieut. Sutherland Brigade Major.[129]
On ye 11th of July the Great Galley and two little ones came up
the river towards the Town. We fired at them with the few Guns,
so warmly that they retired, and I followed them with our Boats
till they got under the cannon of their ships which lay in the
sound.
“Having intelligence from the Spanish Camp that they had lost
4 Captains and upwards of 200 men in the last Action, besides
a great many killed in the sea-fight, and several killed in
the night by the Indians even within or near the camp, and
that they had held a Council of War in which there were great
divisions, insomuch that the Forces of Cuba separated from
those of Augustine and the Italick Regiment —— of Dragoons
separated from them both at a distance from the rest near
the woods, and that there was a general Terror amongst them,
upon which I was resolved to beat up their Quarters in the
night and marching down with the largest body of men I could
make, I halted within a mile and a half of their camp to form,
intending to leave the Troops there till I had well reconitred
the Enemy’s disposition.
“A French Man who without my knowledge was come down amongst
the volunteers fired his Gun and deserted. Our Indians in vain
persued and could not take him. Upon this, concluding we were
discovered, I divided the Drums in different parts and beat the
Grenadiers march for about half an hour, then ceased, and we
marched back with silence.
“The next day[130] I prevailed with a Prisoner, and gave him
a sum of money, to carry a letter privately and deliver it
to that French Man who had deserted. This Letter was wrote
in French as if from a friend of his, telling him he had
received the money that he should strive to make the Spaniards
believe the English were weak. That he should undertake to
pilot up their Boats and Galleys and then bring them under
the Woods where he knew the Hidden Batterys were; that if he
could bring that about, he should have double the reward he
had already received. That the French Deserters should have
all that had been promised to them. The Spanish Prisoner got
into their Camp and was immediately carried before their
General Don Manuel de Montiano. He was asked how he escaped
and whither he had any letters, but denying his having any,
was strictly searched and the letter found, and he upon being
pardoned, confessed that he had received money to deliver
it to the Frenchman, for the letter was not directed. The
Frenchman denied his knowing anything of the contents of the
Letter or having received any Money or Correspondence with
me, notwithstanding which, a Council of War was held and they
deemed the French Man to be a double spy, but General Montiano
would not suffer him to be executed, having been imployed by
him: however, they imbarqued all their Troops,[131] and halted
under Jekyl, they also confined all the French on board and
imbarked with such precipitation that they left behind them
Cannon, &c., and those dead of their wounds, unburied. The
Cuba Squadron stood out to sea to the number of 20 sail:
General Montiano with the Augustine Squadron returned to
Cumberland Sound, having burnt Captain Horton’s houses, &c., on
Jekyll. I, with our boats, followed him. I discovered a great
many sail under Fort St. Andrew, of which eight appeared to me
plain, but being too strong for me to attack, I sent the Scout
Boats back.
“I went[132] with my own Cutter and landed a man on Cumberland
who carried a letter from me to Lieut. Stuart at Fort William
with orders to defend himself to the last extremity.
“Having discovered our Boats & believing we had landed Indians
in the night they set sail with great haste, in so much that
not having time to imbarque, they killed 40 horses which they
had taken there, and burnt the houses. The Galleys and small
Craft to the number of fifteen went thro’ the inland Water
Passages. They attempted to land near Fort William, but were
repulsed by the Rangers; they then attacked it with Cannon
and small Arms from the water for three Hours, but the place
was so bravely defended by Lieut. Alexander Stuart that they
were repulsed and ran out to sea where twelve other sail of
Spanish vessells had lain at anchor without the Barr during the
Attack without stirring, but the Galleys being chased out, they
hoisted all the sails they could and stood to the Southward. I
followed them with the Boats to Fort William, and from thence
sent out the Rangers and some Boats who followed them to Saint
Johns, but they went off rowing and sailing to St. Augustine.
“After the news of their defeat in the Grenadier Savannah
arrived at Charles Town, the Men of War and a number of
Carolina People raised in a hurry set out and came off this
Barr after the Spaniards had been chased quite out of this
Colony, where they dismissed the Carolina vessels, and Capt.
Hardy promised in his Letters to cruise off St. Augustine.
“We have returned thanks to God for our deliverance, have set
all the hands I possibly could to work upon the Fortifications,
and have sent to the Northward to raise men ready to form
another Battalion against His Majesty’s Orders shall arrive for
that purpose. I have retained Thompson’s ship, have sent for
Cannon Shott, &c., for Provisions and all kinds of stores since
I expect the Enemy, who (tho’ greatly terrified) lost but few
men in comparison of their great numbers, as soon as they have
recovered their fright will attack us with more caution and
better discipline.
“I hope His Majesty will approve the measures I have taken, and
I must entreat Your Grace to lay my humble request before His
Majesty that he would be graciously pleased to order Troops,
Artillery and other Necessarys sufficient for the defence of
this Frontier and the neighboring Provinces, or give such
direction as His Majesty shall think proper, and I do not doubt
but with a moderate support not only to be able to defend these
Provinces, but also to dislodge the Enemy from St. Augustine if
I have but the same numbers they had in this expedition.”[133]
That a small force of between six and seven hundred men, assisted by
a few weak vessels, should have put to flight an army of nearly five
thousand Spanish troops, supported by a powerful fleet, and amply equipped
for the expedition, seems almost incapable of explanation.[134] General
Oglethorpe’s bravery and dash, the timidity of the invaders, coupled
with the dissentions which arose in their ranks, and the apprehensions
caused by the French letter, furnish the only plausible explanation of the
victory. Whitefield’s commentary was: “The deliverance of Georgia from
the Spaniards is such as cannot be paralleled but by some instances out
of the Old Testament.” The defeat of so formidable an expedition by such
a handful of men was a matter of astonishment to all. Had Don Manuel de
Monteano pushed his forces vigorously forward, the stoutest resistance
offered along his short line of march and from the walls of the town
would have been ineffectual for the salvation of Frederica. Against the
contingency of an evacuation of this strong-hold Oglethorpe had provided,
as best he could, by a concentration of boats in which to transport
the garrison to Darien[135] by way of the cut previously made through
General’s island. This necessity, however, was fortunately never laid upon
him. If the naval forces at Charleston had responded to his requisitions,
a considerable portion of the Spanish fleet might have been captured.
Oglethorpe’s success in his military operations may be explained by the
fact that he constantly acted on the offensive. He was never content to
grant any peace to an enemy who was within striking distance. The temerity
and persistency of his attacks inspired his followers, and impressed his
antagonist with the belief that the arm delivering the blow was stronger
than it really was.
The memory of this defense of St. Simons island and the southern
frontier is one of the proudest in the annals of Georgia. Thus was the
existence of the Colony perpetuated. Thus was hurled back in wrath and
mortification a powerful army of invasion whose avowed object was to show
no quarter,[136] but crush out of existence the English colonies. Had
success attended the demonstration against Frederica, the Enemy would
have advanced upon the more northern strong-holds. Appreciating this,
and deeply sensible of their great obligations to General Oglethorpe
for the deliverance vouchsafed at his hands, the Governors of New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina,[137]
addressed special letters to him “thanking him for the invaluable services
he had rendered to the British-American Provinces; congratulating him upon
his success and the great renown he had acquired; and expressing their
gratitude to the Supreme Governor of Nations for placing the destiny of
the southern colonies under the direction of a General so well qualified
for the important trust.”
Upon the disappearance of the Spanish forces Oglethorpe at once bent his
energies to strengthening the fortifications at Frederica and repairing
the damages which had been sustained by the southern forts. For a long
time he seems to have counted upon a return of the expedition, and could
not bring his mind to believe that the enterprise upon which so much
preparation and money had been expended would be thus hastily and almost
causelessly abandoned. Within a few months the works upon St. Simons,
Jekyll, and Cumberland islands were stronger than ever. What those
additional defensive works at Frederica were, we shall shortly see. Not
content with having repulsed the Spaniards in their effort to crush the
colony, General Oglethorpe was soon again engaged in “carrying the war
into Africa.” Finding the enemy so strong in St. Augustine that they
defeated all the parties of Indians he sent against them, ascertaining
that a large detachment was marching towards the river St. Mattheo, and
concluding that this was a movement to extend their quarters so as to
be prepared for the proper location and accommodation of reinforcements
expected from Havana in the spring, taking with him a considerable body
of Creek warriors, a detachment from the Highland company of Rangers,
and a portion of his regiment, Oglethorpe landed by night in Florida in
March, 1743, and, moving rapidly, drove the enemy, with loss, within
the lines of St. Augustine. Having disposed his command in ambush, the
General, with a small party, advanced within sight of the town, intending
to skirmish and draw the garrison out. The enemy declined to leave their
fortifications;[138] and the English, being too weak to attack, and having
compelled the Spaniards to abandon their advanced posts in Florida,
returned, having performed the extraordinary march of ninety-six miles in
four days.[139] This was the last expedition led by the General against
the Spaniards.[140]
Still persuaded that the attack upon Frederica would be renewed at an
early day, he continued to place the frontier in the best possible state
of defense. Until he left Georgia on the 23d of July, 1743, never again to
return, he resided at his cottage on St. Simons island. Of all the places
planted and nurtured by him, none so warmly enlisted his energies and
engaged his constant solicitude as the fortified town at the mouth of the
Alatamaha.
Upon the General’s departure, William Stephens was left as Deputy General
of the Colony, and Major Horton, as military commander at Frederica. With
the civil matters of the province Major Horton had no concern except where
his assistance, as commander in chief of the military, was occasionally
invoked to enforce the measures of the president and council. In such
instances he acted with calmness and humanity, and secured the respect and
esteem of the better class of the colonists.
On the 22nd of March, 1743, the magazine at Frederica was blown up, to
the general alarm and regret of the inhabitants. Although it contained,
at the time, three thousand bombs, so well bedded were they, but little
damage occurred. A vagabond Irishman was suspected of having fired the
magazine.[141]
We have two descriptions of Frederica in 1743,—the period of its greatest
prosperity and importance,—which we make no apology for transcribing.
The first is from the lips of a captain conversant with the appearance and
condition of the town.
Captain John MacClellan, who had left Georgia on the 31st of January,
1743, on his arrival in England reported the colonists busily engaged
in placing themselves in the best posture of defense, in anticipation of
a second attack from the Spaniards; that Fort William had been fortified
anew with brick work, and that “great numbers of Men were employ’d in
compleating the Fortifications at _Frederica_, the Walls whereof are
judged strong enough to be Proof against Eighteen-Pound Shot;” that two
towers,—one at each corner of the town walls,—capable of holding one
hundred men each, and designed to protect the flanks by means of small
arms, had been erected; that the men were “full of spirits and unanimous
to make a vigorous Defence to the last Drop of Blood;” that General
Oglethorpe had been reinforced by two hundred men from Virginia, raised by
Major Heron, many of whom were disciplined soldiers from Colonel Gouge’s
late regiment, and that thirty horsemen were on their way to Georgia to
“recruit the Rangers.”[142]
The second is from the pen of an intelligent traveler, who made his
observations early in 1743. It reads as follows:
“Frederica, on the Island of St. Simon, the chief Town in the Southernmost
Part of the Colony of _Georgia_, is nearly in Lat: 31° 15´ North. It
stands on an Eminence, if consider’d with regard to the Marshes before
it, upon a Branch of the famous River _Alatamaha_, which washes the
West side of this agreeable little Island, and, after several Windings,
disembogues itself into the Sea at _Jekyl Sound_. It forms a kind of a
Bay before the Town, and is navigable for Vessels of the largest Burden,
which may lie along the wharf in a secure and safe Harbour; and may, upon
Occasion, haul up to careen and refit, the Bottom being a soft oozy Clay,
intermix’d with small Sand and Shells. The Town is defended by a pretty
strong Fort of Tappy,[143] which has several 18 Pounders mounted on a
Ravelin in its Front, and commands the River both upwards and downwards;
and is surrounded by a quadrangular Rampart, with 4 Bastions, of Earth,
well stockaded and turfed, and a palisadoed Ditch which include also the
King’s Storehouses, (in which are kept the Arsenal, the Court of Justice,
and Chapel) two large and spacious Buildings of Brick and Timber; On the
Rampart are mounted a considerable Quantity of Ordnance of several sizes.
The Town is surrounded by a Rampart, with Flankers, of the same Thickness
with that round the Fort, in Form of a Pentagon, and a dry Ditch; and
since the famous attempt of the Spaniards in _July_ 1742,[144] at the N.
E. and S. E. Angles are erected two strong cover’d pentagonal Bastions,
capable of containing 100 men each, to scour the Flanks with Small Arms,
and defended by a Number of Cannon; At their Tops are Look-outs which
command the View of the Country and the River for many miles: The Roofs
are shingled,[145] but so contriv’d as to be easily clear’d away, if
incommodious in the Defense of the Towers. The whole Circumference of the
Town is about a Mile and a Half, including, within the Fortifications,
the Camp for General _Oglethorpe’s_ Regiment, at the North Side of the
Town; the Parades on the West, and a small Wood to the South, which is
left for Conveniency of Fuel and Pasture, and is an excellent Blind to
the Enemy in case of an Attack; in it is a small Magazine of Powder. The
Town has two Gates, call’d the _Land-port_, and the _Water-port;_ next
to the latter of which is the Guard-house, and underneath it the Prison
for Malefactors, which is an handsome Building of Brick. At the North End
are the Barracks, which is an extremely well contriv’d Building in Form
of a Square, of Tappy work, in which, at present, are kept the Hospital,
and _Spanish_ Prisoners of War. Near this was situated the Bomb Magazine
which was blown up on March 22, 1744,[146] with so surprizingly little
Damage.[147]
“The town is situated in a large _Indian_ Field. To the East it has a
very extensive Savannah (wherein is the Burial Place) thro’ which is cut
a Road to the other Side of the Island, which is bounded by Woods, save
here and there some opening Glades into the Neighboring Savannah’s and
Marshes, which much elucidate the Pleasure of looking. Down this Road
are several very commodious Plantations, particularly the very agreeable
one of Capt. _Demery_, and that of Mr. _Hawkins_. Pre-eminently appears
Mr. _Oglethorpe’s_ Settlement, which, at Distance, looks like a neat
Country Village, where the consequences of all the various Industries of
an _European_ Farm are seen. The Master of it has shewn what Application
and unbated Diligence may effect in this Country. At the Extremity of the
Road is a small Village, call’d the _German_ Village, inhabited by several
Families of _Saltzburghers_, who plant and fish for their Subsistence.
On the River Side one has the Prospect of a large Circuit of Marshes,
terminated by the Woods on the Continent, in Form like an Amphitheatre,
and interspers’d with the Meanders of abundance of Creeks, form’d from the
aforesaid River. At a Distance may be seen the white Post at _Bachelor’s_
Redoubt, also on the _Main_, where is kept a good Look-out of Rangers.
To the North are Marshes, and a small Wood, at the Western Extremity
of which are the Plantations of the late Capt. _Desbrisay_, and some
others of less note; together with a Look-out wherein a Corporal’s Guard
is stationed, and reliev’d weekly, called _Pike’s_, on the Bank of the
River, from whence they can see Vessels a great way to the Northward. On
the South is a Wood, which is, however, so far clear’d as to discover the
Approach of an Enemy at a great Distance; within it, to the Eastward,
is the Plantation of Capt. _Dunbar_; and to the Westward a Corporal’s
Look-out. The Town is divided into several spacious Streets, along whose
sides are planted Orange Trees,[148] which, in some Time, will have a very
pretty Effect on the View, and will render the Town pleasingly shady. Some
Houses are built entirely of Brick, some of Brick and Wood, some few of
Tappy-Work, but most of the meaner sort, of Wood only. The Camp is also
divided into several Streets, distinguished by the names of the Captains
of the several Companies of the Regiment; and the Huts are built generally
of Clap-boards and Palmetto’s, and are each of them capable to contain a
Family, or Half a Dozen Single men. Here these brave Fellows live with
the most laudable Œconomy; and tho’ most of them when off Duty, practise
some Trade or Employment, they make as fine an Appearance upon the Parade,
as any Regiment in the King’s Service; and their exact Discipline does
a great deal of Honour to their Officers; They have a Market every Day;
The Inhabitants of the Town may be divided into Officers, Merchants,
Store-Keepers, Artisans, and People in the Provincial Service; and there
are often, also, many Sojourners from the neighbouring Settlements, and
from _New York_, _Philadelphia_, and _Carolina_, on account of Trade.
The Civil Government does not seem yet to be quite rightly settled by
the Trustees, but is, at present, administered by three Magistrates,
or Justices, assisted by a Recorder, Constables, and Tything Men. The
Military is regulated as in all Garrison-Towns in the _British_ Dominions.
In short, the whole Town, and Country adjacent, are quite rurally
charming, and the Improvements everywhere around are Footsteps of the
greatest Skill and Industry imaginable, considering its late Settlement,
and the Rubs it has so often met with; and as it seems so necessary for
the Barrier of our Colonies, I am in Hopes of, one Time, seeing it taken
more Notice of than it is at present.”[149]
For the ensuing few years, and during the retention of Oglethorpe’s
regiment on St. Simons island, but little change occurred in the condition
of Frederica. It retained its importance as a military post, and was
regarded as the safe guard of the Province against Spanish invasion. The
expectations, if indeed any were seriously entertained, of elevating
this town into commercial importance, were practically abandoned previous
to the withdrawal of the troops. In fact, even before the existing
difficulties with Spain were formally accommodated by treaty, and it
became manifest that there would in all likelihood occur no further
serious demonstrations along the southern frontier, the population of
Frederica began to decrease.
The home authorities, however, were loth to acknowledge its manifest
tendency to decadence, and for some time, by occasional reports and
notices, endeavored to assure the public of the continued prosperity of
a town which had attracted such special attention in connection with the
progress and perils of the Colony of Georgia.
An article having appeared in the “Daily Gazetteer” giving “a most
scandalous and untrue account of the present state of the Colony of
Georgia, particularly levelled at the Southern Part thereof (which
is the Frontier against the French and Spaniards)” in justice to the
public, William Thomson and John Lawrence, Jr., who had been trading
with the Colony for some years and who had left Georgia in June, 1747,
on business calling them to England, united in a card to the editor of
the London Magazine[150] in which they stated: “That instead of the false
Representation in the said Gazetteer ‘That only seven Houses were in the
Town of _Frederica_,’ the said Town has several Streets, in every one
of which are many good Houses, some of Brick, some of Tappy (which is a
Cement of Lime and Oyster Shells;) That the High Street is planted with
Orange Trees and has good Houses on both sides. That the Fort, besides
other Buildings has two large Magazines, three Stories high, and sixty
Feet long; That there are Barracks in the Town, on the North side,
ninety Feet Square, built of Tappy, covered with Cypress Shingles, and
a handsome Tower over the Gateway of twenty Feet square; That there are
two Bastion Towers, of two stories each, in the Hollow of the Bastions,
defended on the Outside with thick Earth-works, and capable of lodging
great Numbers of Soldiers, the two long Sides being nearly fifty Feet,
and the short Sides twenty-five; And that instead of the Inhabitants
removing from thence, several Families were come and more coming from
_North Carolina_ to settle in _Georgia_, who will certainly establish
themselves there unless they are prevented by any Fears which may arise
from the Reduction of the Rangers and Vessels which have hitherto made
that Frontier safe: That before the Barracks were finished, very good
Clap-board Huts were built sufficient for the lodging of two Companies
who do Duty at _Frederica_ (with their Wives and Families) which by an
Accident of Fire were lately burnt down; since which others have been
made for married Soldiers; and the Soldiers have the Privilege of cutting
Timber and building Houses for their Families, which many have done, and
thrive very well, and we know the Soldiers are regularly paid and kindly
treated. We also certify that there are several Farms which produce not
only _Indian_ Wheat and Potatoes, but _English_ Wheat, Barley, and other
Grain. In short, Provisions in general are plentiful, Venison, Beef, Pork,
at Two Pence Half-Penny _per_ Pound, and sometimes under. Fish extremely
cheap.”
Upon the confirmation of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in April, 1748, most
of the troops were withdrawn from St. Simons island and the fortifications
soon began to fall into decay.
The Trustees having surrendered their charter, Captain John Reynolds
was, in 1754, appointed by the King, Governor of Georgia, with the title
of “Captain General and Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s Province of
Georgia, and Vice-Admiral of the same.” He entered upon his duties in
October of that year, and early, the following Spring, made a tour of
inspection through the southern portion of the Province. Arriving at
Frederica, he found the town “in ruins,” the fortifications “decayed,” and
the “houses falling down.” Twenty pieces of cannon were lying dismounted
and “spoiled for want of care.” The melancholy prospect was presented
of “houses without inhabitants, barracks without soldiers, guns without
carriages, and streets grown over with weeds.”[151] Fort Frederick was
entirely dismantled. Not a gun was mounted, and neither powder nor ball
could be found. Among his recommendations for the defense of the Colony,
the Governor suggested the construction of a work at Frederica “in the
form of half a hexagon, nine hundred and sixty feet each, with two whole
and two demi-bastions towards the land, and two demi-bastions and a
citadel towards the sea, on which were to be placed fifty cannon manned by
three hundred regulars.” This fortification was never built, and no effort
was made to repair the works then crumbling and abandoned.
This dilapidation and neglect continued without any effort on the part
of the Colonial authorities to check their annihilating influences.
Frederica had now ceased to be a place of any note. In his report of the
condition of the Province of Georgia, submitted to the Earl of Dartmouth
on the 20th of December, 1773, Sir James Wright, then Governor of the
Colony, represents Fort Frederick at Frederica as “going to decay very
fast.” “There is still,”—such is the language of the report,—“some Remains
of good Tabby Walls, &c., but there has been no men there since the
Independent Company were broke in the Year 1767.”[152]
In March, 1774, William Bartram visited Frederica and St. Simons island
and was most hospitably entertained by Mr. James Spalding who was there
engaged in an extensive trade with the Indian tribes of East Florida.
Following the old highway across the savannah, he devoted a day to
exploring the island and was charmed with the magnificent forests of pines
and oaks perfumed with the fragrant breath of the white lily and the
sweet bay. The venerable live-oaks still overshadowed the spacious avenue
leading to the former seat of General Oglethorpe, but that distinguished
gentleman was no longer there, and his quiet cottage had passed into the
ownership of another. The delights of the woods and waters, the delicious
breezes wafted from groves filled with birds of bright plumage and sweet
voices, the commingled perfumes of the yellow jasmine, the lonicera, the
andromeda and the azalea, and the solemn sound of the incoming surf were,
in the recollection of this happy traveller, associated with generous
hospitality, a plentiful repast of venison, and an agreeable “drink of
honey and water strengthened by the addition of brandy.”
Although nature was as balmy, as attractive, and as beautiful as ever,
Bartram was oppressed by the indications of desolation which confronted
him all over the island. He speaks of “vestiges of plantations, ruins of
costly buildings, and highways overgrown with forests.” The fort he found
entirely dilapidated, and nothing of the town remaining except ruins.
From the crumbling walls of the deserted houses peach trees, figs, and
pomegranates were growing.[153] And so this brave town dwindled away into
nothingness.
The last detachment of troops stationed there consisted of ten Royal
Americans; but even these were withdrawn during the early part of the
administration of Governor Wright.
The rupture between Great Britain and her Colonies being imminent, the
Council of Safety ordered all guns at Frederica to be secured, and they
were used in fortifying other points on the coast deemed of greater
importance. During the progress of the expedition projected from Sunbury,
by Governor Gwinnett, against Florida, Colonel Elbert, who was in command,
on Sunday, the 11th of May, 1777, landed at Frederica “to air” his troops.
The following entry occurs in his Order-Book: “Frederica was once a
pretty little Town, as appears by the Ruins, having been burned down some
years since; the Fort at this place, with a little expence, might be made
defensible, and might, if properly garrisoned, be a means of protecting
great part of our Southern Frontiers. There are about twelve men that bear
arms here; in my opinion all Tories. Their Captain, Ditter, says otherwise
of himself, and informed me that about 6 or 8 of the inhabitants had
lately gone to Florida for protection.”[154]
By the provisions of the act of the 15th of March, 1758,[155] dividing
the Province into eight Parishes, “the town and district of Frederica,
including the islands of Great and Little St. Simons and the adjacent
islands,” were declared a parish and named “St. James.” Under the writs
of election issued by Sir James Wright, Lachlan McIntosh was returned as
member for Frederica.
On the 10th of August, 1777, some boats from a British armed vessel lying
in St. Andrews Sound landed on St. Simons island, and their crews captured
and carried away Captain Arthur Carney, five citizens, several negroes,
and as much household furniture as could be conveyed in the barges. Carney
had been appointed to the captaincy of the fourth company in the first
Continental Battalion of Georgia troops. After his capture, he espoused
the Royal cause and proved himself not only an active Tory but a great
cattle thief.[156]
While General Robert Howe was concentrating his forces on the Southern
frontier of Georgia with a view to the invasion of Florida, Colonel
Elbert, who was commanding at Fort Howe,—the place of rendezvous,—achieved
an exploit which imparts another distinct and gallant memory to the
neglected settlements, “Where wild Altama murmurs to their woe.”
The details of the affair are thus narrated in a letter to General Howe:
“FREDERICA, April 19th, 1778.
_Dear General_:
I have the happiness to inform you that about 10 o’clock this
forenoon, the brigantine Hinchinbrooke, the sloop Rebecca,
and a prize brig, all struck the British tyrant’s colors and
surrendered to the American arms.
Having received intelligence that the above vessels were
at this place, I put about three hundred men, by detachment
from the troops under my command at Fort Howe, on board the
three galleys, the Washington,—Captain Hardy,—the Lee,—Captain
Braddock,—and the Bulloch,—Captain Hutcher;—and a detachment
of artillery with two field pieces, under Captain Young, I
put on board a boat. With this little army we embarked at
Darien, and last evening effected a landing at a bluff about a
mile below the town, leaving Colonel White on board the Lee,
Captain Melvin on board the Washington, and Lieutenant Petty
on board the Bulloch, each with a sufficient party of troops.
Immediately on landing I dispatched Lieutenant-Colonel Ray and
Major Roberts, with about one hundred men, who marched directly
up to the town and made prisoners three marines and two sailors
belonging to the Hinchinbrooke.
“It being late, the galleys did not engage until this morning.
You must imagine what my feelings were to see our three little
men-of-war going on to the attack of these three vessels, who
have spread terror on our coast, and who were drawn up in order
of battle; but the weight of our metal soon damped the courage
of these heroes, who soon took to their boats; and as many as
could, abandoned the vessel with everything on board, of which
we immediately took possession. What is extraordinary, we have
not one man hurt. Captain Ellis, of the Hinchinbrooke, is
drowned, and Captain Mowbray, of the Rebecca, made his escape.
As soon as I see Colonel White, who has not yet come to us with
his prizes, I shall consult with him, the three other officers,
and the comanding officers of the galleys, on the expediency of
attacking the Galatea now lying at Jekyll.”
While Colonel Elbert was preparing to attack her, the Galatea made her
escape to sea.[157] This successful enterprize encouraged the troops at
Fort Howe, who were in a very dispirited mood.
Upon his retreat, by water, from Sunbury in December, 1778, Fuser left the
regular troops of his expedition at Frederica, with instructions to repair
the old military works at that point. These orders were only partially
observed, and the force was soon withdrawn.
During the continuance of the Revolutionary war St. Simons island,
in common with other isolated localities along the Georgia coast,
suffered from privateers and armed parties who pillaged the houses of
the inhabitants and led captive negroes and domestic animals. Similar
annoyances and losses were encountered during the war of 1812-1815. So
ruthless had been the spoliations and devastations by the British troops
during the progress of the Revolution, that upon its termination but
little remained of Frederica save the sites of burnt houses and heaps
of ruin. The town had almost entirely disappeared. Subsequent attempts
to revive it were feeble and unsuccessful. Of the State legislation
with regard to Frederica, the following synopsis may not be deemed
inappropriate:
On the 17th of December, 1792, James Spalding, John Braddock, Raymond
Demeré, John Palmer, John Burnett, John Piles, Moses Burnett, Samuel
Wright, and William Williams were appointed Commissioners of the towns
and commons of Frederica and Brunswick. They were directed, after three
months’ published notice, to cause surveys to be made of those towns,
according to their original plans, and to have the same recorded in the
Surveyor General’s office, and in the office of the Surveyor of Glynn
county. Any vacant lots, except such as were originally reserved for
public uses, were then to be sold upon four weeks’ public notice; and the
proceeds arising from such sales, after deducting the necessary expense
of survey, devoted to the building and support of an Academy in Glynn
County.[158]
In February, 1796, special Commissioners were named for the town of
Frederica. They were John Cooper, William McIntosh, James Harrison, James
Moore, and William Clubbs. It was made their duty to lay off the town, as
nearly as practicable, according to its original plan, cause the streets
to be opened, the lots to be plainly marked or staked off, the commons to
be resurveyed, and an accurate map prepared and recorded in the Surveyor
General’s office within two months after the passage of the act. The
survey of the town having been completed, the Commissioners were required,
by notice in one of the public gazettes of the State, to call upon the
owners and holders of lots to make due return thereof to the Commissioners
within nine months, and pay the sum of one dollar per lot in defrayal of
the cost of the survey.
All lots not returned within the prescribed period were, after six weeks
public advertisement, to be sold to the highest bidder,—one half of the
purchase money to be paid in cash and the remainder in twelve months
thereafter;—the deferred payment being secured by bond with mortgage on
the premises purchased. The proceeds of such sales, after defraying the
expences incurred in laying off the town and commons, were to be applied
to the support of an academy or seminary of learning in Glynn County.
Any person attempting to run up or appropriate any part of the town common
was declared liable to a fine of five hundred dollars, to be recovered in
the Superior Court of Glynn County by the Commissioners or any inhabitant
or lot owner in the town;—one half the fine to enure to the benefit of the
academy, and the other half to go to the party suing for the same.
All surveys previously made, and grants surreptitiously obtained, were
declared null and void, and any person in possession by virtue of such
survey or grant was liable to the fine above mentioned, to be recovered in
the manner indicated.[159]
In 1801 Frederica is mentioned by Sibbald as “a pleasantly situated town
on the island of St. Simons, latitude 31° 15´ North,” but he gives no
statistics either of its population or commerce.[160]
By an act assented to November 26th, 1802,[161]—the front range of lots in
the town of Frederica being “too distant from the water for the convenient
storage or shipping of produce, or the landing of goods imported to that
place,”—the Commissioners were empowered “to cause a range of lots to be
laid off in front of said town, commencing at low water mark, and running
back so far as to leave a street eighty feet between the present front
range of lots and those to be laid off.”
These new lots were to be sold at public outcry upon sixty days’ notice,
and the moneys realized upon such sale, after defraying the expences of
the survey, were to be paid over to the Commissioners of the Academy of
Glynn county to be by them expended for the benefit of that institution.
Two correct plans of these water lots were to be prepared and certified by
the surveyor, one to be transmitted by the Commissioners to the Surveyor
General for record in his office, and the other to be delivered to the
County Surveyor of Glynn county to be by him recorded in his office.
On the 18th of November, 1814,[162] the Commissioners of the towns of
Brunswick and Frederica were authorized to levy a tax upon the lots in
those towns, whether improved or unimproved, and pay over the moneys thus
raised to the Justices of the Inferior Court of Glynn county for the
purpose of erecting a Court House and Jail. To the same object was to be
applied one-fourth of the future rents of the town commons.
All efforts to revivify the dead town, to perpetuate something like a
corporate existence, to realize a revenue by special taxation of abandoned
premises, to maintain a semblance of public streets, commons, and private
lots, to clothe water fronts with the dignity of commercial wharves,
and transmit the physical impressions of the older days, proved utterly
futile.[163] Frederica lost its importance when it ceased to be the
strong-hold of the southern frontier. Its mission was accomplished when
the Spaniard no longer threatened. Its doom was pronounced in the hour of
its triumph. Upon the withdrawal of Oglethorpe’s regiment its decadence
began, and ceased not until its fort became a white ruin, its public
parade a pasture ground, and its streets and gardens a cotton field.[164]
_Omnia debentur morti._
III.
ABERCORN.
On a creek or branch of the Savannah, distant some three miles from
its confluence with that river, and about fifteen miles above the town
of Savannah, the village of Abercorn was located in 1733. Its original
settlement consisted of ten families. The plan of the town embraced
twelve lots, with two trust lots in addition,—one on either extremity.
Old Ebenezer was ten miles to the west; and four miles below the mouth
of Abercorn creek, was Joseph’s Town, where two Scotch gentlemen had
selected plantations on the right bank of the Savannah. Journeying towards
Savannah, in the early days of the Colony, the visitor would encounter
successively Sir Francis Bathurst’s plantation, Walter Augustin’s
settlement, Captain Williams’ plantation, Mrs. Matthews’ place, the Indian
School-house Irene, the Horse Quarter, and the Indian lands reserved just
outside the limits of Yamacraw. A strange fatality attended all these
early attempts at colonization. Born of the subjugation of the forests,
were malarial fevers and fluxes which engendered lassitude and death.
Short lived were these little settlements, and it was only upon the
introduction of slave labor that these plantations bordering upon the
Savannah became permanent and productive. The white men who strove to
bring them into a state of cultivation failed in the effort and quickly
passed away. Others, who endeavored to complete their labors, encountered
similar misfortune and disappointment.
The ten families who were assigned to Abercorn in 1733 were all gone
in 1737. That year Mr. John Brodie, with twelve servants, occupied the
settlement; but, after three years, he abandoned the place, leaving its
improvements to ruin and decay. Most of the thirty servants who cultivated
the lands of the Scotch gentlemen at Joseph’s Town died, and that
plantation lapsed into neglect.
The Saltzburgers who came to Georgia under the conduct of Baron VonReck
and the Rev’d Mr. Bolzius, in passing from Savannah to Old Ebenezer, were
sheltered and refreshed at Abercorn. To that place their baggage was
brought by water, and for some time all their supplies were delivered at
that point whence they were carried, at much pains, up Ebenezer creek and
through the woods. Before long, however, a road was cut from Abercorn to
Old Ebenezer which facilitated the transportation. While at Abercorn the
Saltzburgers suffered much from affections of the bowels.
Various efforts were made by the Trustees to increase the population and
ensure the prosperity of Abercorn,—which was regarded as a convenient
point for communicating with the Carolina settlements on the Savannah
river;—but they all eventuated in disappointment. Such of the colonists
as were sent there from time to time grew sick and tired of the abode,
took no interest in its advancement, and abandoned it upon the earliest
opportunity. The little life which this small place enjoyed was
insignificant and without moment in the history of the Colony.
In December, 1739, Mr. Stephens visited the town in company with Mr.
Jones, to inspect a large ferry-boat which, in obedience to General
Oglethorpe’s orders, had been there constructed by one Bunyon,—a
boat-builder by trade, and an inhabitant of the town. This boat was
capable of transporting nine or ten horses at a time, and was intended to
ply between Abercorn and Palachocolas. In perpetuating his impressions of
the place Mr. Stephens says: “As there was no Place in the whole Province,
of the like Allotment of fifty acres each, which in my eye seemed so
desirable, being a most pleasant Situation on the Banks of such a River,
with as good Land belonging to each Lot, as is readily to be found in
most Parts of the Province; I never saw it but with Regret, that there
never yet had been a number of Settlers there deserving it; but generally
they happened to be loose, idle People, who after some short Abode,
wandered elsewhere and left it: ... and there are at present five Families
only remaining there, nor has there often been more at one Time. As the
Trust-Lands seem to be now in some better way of cultivating by their own
Servants, than hitherto; I proposed it to Mr. _Jones_ to send down a few
_German_ families to work on the Trust-Lots there; which, by helping to
fill the Place, very probably might induce others the sooner to occupy
Lands there also: He agreed with me in Opinion, and said he would write of
it to the General.”[165]
It is very questionable whether this opinion of Mr. Stephens,—formed
during the winter,—of the desirableness of this locality, would have been
confirmed by a residence there amid the heats and miasmatic influences
of the summer and fall. Some Germans did settle in the neighborhood and
cultivate the soil, but all efforts to promote the prosperity of the
village and elevate it into the dignity of a town utterly failed. Like
Joseph’s Town and Westbrook, Abercorn is little more than a name in the
history of the Colony. In the end it passed into the hands of two English
gentlemen who converted the village into a plantation cultivated with
slave labor. So it continued under various owners until, by the result
of the civil war, the negro has been liberated, and the fortunes of this
region have become more unpromising than ever before.
After the capture of Savannah in December, 1778, Colonel Campbell advanced
a strong force to this place as a convenient base for future operations
against the interior of the State; and hence, in 1779, did a British
detachment move, crossing over to Purysburg and attempting to surprise
General Moultrie at Black-swamp.
The town had so entirely faded from the face of the earth that its
location is not indicated on that admirable map of South Carolina and
Georgia, published by William Faden at Charing Cross in 1780:—and the
only mention made by White is as follows: “Abercorn, sixteen miles from
Savannah, was a noted place in the early settlement of Georgia. No
memorial of its former condition can now be seen.”
Savannah, increasing her borders, practically claims as part of herself
the Indian lands opposite the northern end of Hutchinson island. Of the
Horse Quarter nothing remains. Joseph’s Town long ago lost its identity;
and Abercorn, New Ebenezer, Purisburg, and Palachocolas, have, within
the recollection of more than one generation, been known simply as
boat-landings on the water-highway between Savannah and Augusta.[166]
IV.
SUNBURY.
[Illustration: _GEORGIA. Parish of St. John._
_Plan of the Town of Sunbury containing 3430 feet in Length from North
to South, & 2230 in Breadth on the South Side, & 1880 in Breadth on the
North._
_J. Bien, Photo. Lith. N. Y._]
On the 23rd of January, 1734, Mr. Oglethorpe, accompanied by Captain
Ferguson and sixteen attendants,—including two Indians,—set out from
Savannah in an open row-boat, followed by a yawl carrying provisions and
ammunition, upon an exploratory expedition to the Southern frontiers
of Georgia.[167] His course lay through the inner passages, and was
pursued as far as St. Simons island. For the protection of the Colony it
was then determined to form a military station and settlement near the
mouth of the Alatamaha; and,—as an outpost and barrier against Spanish
invasion,—to erect a strong fort on the high bluff on the western side
of St. Simons island. These sites were shortly afterwards occupied and
fortified, and were respectively named New Inverness and Frederica. It
was during this reconnoissance that the eyes of the Founder of Georgia
first rested upon that bold and beautiful bluff which, overlooking the
placid waters of Midway river and the intervening low-lying salt marshes,
descries in the distance the green woods of Bermuda island, the dim
outline of the southern point of Ossabaw, and, across the sound, the
white shores of St. Catherine. Although formal session had been made by
the Lower Creeks of all lands along the sea-coast from the Savannah to
the Alatamaha river, extending westward as high as the tide flowed, and
including all islands except a few which the Indians specially reserved
for the purposes of hunting, fishing, and bathing, no English settlements
had, at that early day, been formed south of the Great Ogeechee river.
Fort Argyle,—garrisoned by Captain McPherson and his troop of Rangers,
and commanding the passes by which the Indians during the late wars were
accustomed to invade Carolina,—was then the only military post of any
consequence in the direction of the Spaniards. From this nameless bluff
the Aborigines had not then removed, and their canoes might be seen
passing and repassing to and from Hussoope, [Ossabaw], and Cowleggee,
[St. Catharine], islands and the main. To the quiet woods and waters of
this semi-tropical region the English were strangers. The Bermuda grass
which, at a later period, so completely covered Sunbury bluff, did not
then appear, but magnificent live oaks, in full grown stature and solemn
mien, crowned the high-ground even to the very verge where the tide
kissed the shore. Cedars, festooned with vines, over-hung the waters.
The magnolia grandiflora,—queen of the forest,—excited on every hand the
admiration of the early visitor. The sweet-scented myrtle, the tall pine,
the odoriferous bay, and other indigenous trees lent their charms to a
spot whose primal beauty had encountered no change at the hand of man.
The woods were resonant with the songs of birds, whose bright plumage
vied in coloring with the native flowers which gladdened the eye and gave
gentle odors to the ambient air. Fishes abounded in the waters, and game
on the land. Cool sea-breezes tempered the heat of summer, and the rigor
of cold was unknown in the depth of winter. It was a gentle, attractive
place,—this bold bluff,—as it came from the hand of Nature. Some scene
like this did the Poet Waller have in view as he sang:
“Heav’n sure has kept this spot at earth uncurst,
To show how all things were created first.”
By a certain grant under the great seal of the Province of Georgia,
bearing date the 4th of October, 1757, his Majesty George II conveyed to
Mark Carr, his heirs and assigns forever, in free and common socage, “All
that tract of land containing five hundred acres, situate and being in the
District of Midway in the Province of Georgia, bounded on the east by the
Midway river, on the west by land of Thomas Carr, on the south by vacant
land, and on all other sides by marshes of the said river.”
The grantee of these lands, which embraced the site of the future town
of Sunbury, had been for some twenty years a man of means and of mark in
the Colony of Georgia. In 1741 he had been sent by General Oglethorpe
to Virginia to raise recruits for the Colony.[168] In his last will
and testament, dated June 8th, 1767, and proven before his Excellency
Sir James Wright on the 4th of December of the same year, Captain Carr
describes himself as being “of the Parish of St. Patrick in the Province
of Georgia, Esquire.” He owned lots in the town of Frederica, an island on
the north side of Midway river, a tract of land on the main fronting that
island, which he had purchased from John Cubbage, and “a plantation on the
main over against Jekyll island.” This was his favorite residence. Here,
on the 18th of March, 1741,—despite the presence of a guard of soldiers
there stationed by General Oglethorpe,—the Indians made an attack very
early in the morning, killing several of the soldiers and servants,
wounding others, “locking down the women and children in the cellar,”
pillaging the house, and carrying away the booty in a large boat belonging
to the plantation.[169]
The grant of this five hundred acre tract on Midway river to Mark Carr
in fee simple, was made under the operation of the rules adopted by the
Common Council in May, 1750, which essentially enlarged the tenures of
grants already existing, and provided that future alienations should
convey “an absolute inheritance to the grantees, their heirs and assigns.”
It will be remembered that under the regulations at first prescribed by
the Trustees, five hundred acre tracts were conveyed only to persons
well approved by the Trust;—parties who should at their own expense, and
within twelve months from the date of the grant, bring ten able-bodied men
servants not younger than twenty years of age, and settle upon the lands.
Former alienations of this magnitude had been coupled with other
conditions, among which the following may be enumerated as the most
important:
I. The grantee obligated himself to abide in Georgia with his servants for
a term of not less than three years, building houses and cultivating the
lands.
II. Within ten years from the registry of the grant, at least two hundred
of the five hundred acres were to be cleared and cultivated.
III. No alienation of the lands thus granted, either in whole or in part,
for a term of years or otherwise, was permitted except by special leave.
IV. After the lapse of eighteen years from the date of the grant, should
any part of the five hundred acres remain uncultivated, unplanted,
uncleared, and without a worm-fence, or pales six feet high, such portion
should revert to the Trust, and the grant, _pro tanto_, was to become void.
V. These grants were in Tail Male.[170]
On the 20th of June, 1758, Mark Carr conveyed three hundred acres of this
five hundred acre tract, including that portion bordering upon Midway
river, to “James Maxwell, Kenneth Baillie, John Elliott, Grey Elliott,
and John Stevens, of Midway, Esquires,” ... in trust that the same should
be laid out as a town by the name of _Sunbury_;—one hundred acres thereof
being dedicated as a common, for the use of the future inhabitants;—and in
further trust “that they, the said James Maxwell, Kenneth Baillie, John
Elliott, Grey Elliott, and John Stevens and their successors, should sell
and dispose of all and singular the lots to be laid out in the said town
of Sunbury to and for the proper use and behoof of the said Mark Carr.”
Captain McCall[171] suggests that “the town was called Sunbury,—the
etymology of which is probably the _residence of the sun_,—from the entire
exposure of this place to his beams while he is above the horizon.” We
believe that this projected village was named for Sunbury, a quiet and
beautiful town in Middlesex County, on the left bank of the Thames, only
a little way above Hampton Court, and distant some eighteen miles by land
from London;—it being a pleasant custom among the colonists to perpetuate
in their new homes the memories of persons and places dear to them in the
mother country.
In ancient records, says Lysons, this place (Sunbury in England) is called
_Sunnabyri_, Sunneberie, Suneberie, &c. Sunnabyri is composed of two Saxon
words,—sunna, the sun, and _byri_, a town,—and may be supposed to denote a
place exposed to the sun, or with a southern aspect.
A name better suited to this locality could scarcely have been suggested.
It recalls the peaceful memories of one of the gentle towns of old
England, and typifies the genial influences of the “King of Day” as, from
early dawn until sunset, he irradiates with floods of light the bold bluff
“on the westermost bank of the river Midway.”
Two of the Trustees,—John Stevens and John Elliott,—were prominent members
of the Midway Congregation. James Maxwell had been for several years a
resident of St. John’s Parish. He and John Stevens were members of the
Provincial Congress which assembled at Tondee’s Long-room in Savannah on
the 4th of July, 1775.[172]
Kenneth Baillie and Grey Elliott were active and influential citizens.
The latter was subsequently selected by the General Assembly to act as an
assistant from the Colony of Georgia to Dr. Benjamin Franklin who had been
chosen by several of the Provinces,—Georgia among the number,—and sent
on a special mission to England to represent the wants and grievances of
the Colonies, remonstrate against such acts of the Crown as were deemed
oppressive, and oppose taxation without representation.[173]
All the Trustees, therefore, were men of position and character,
commanding the respect of the community. Their selection for the trust
indicated sound judgment and well-placed confidence on the part of Mark
Carr.
The road from Savannah to New Inverness in the Darien settlement which,
in 1736, in obedience to Mr. Oglethorpe’s orders, was located by Captain
Hugh MacKay, Jr., with his company of Rangers, and Indian guides furnished
by Tomo-chi-chi, had been completed. Various settlements on the Savannah,
Vernon, and Great Ogeechee rivers, and also on St. Simons island and the
Alatamaha river having been confirmed, between 1740 and 1750 planters
with their families and servants began to move in and occupy desirable
localities intermediate the Great Ogeechee and Alatamaha rivers. The
sites, at first selected, lay along the line of the Savannah and New
Inverness road, and upon high-grounds adjacent thereto bordering upon
salt-water streams and swamps emptying into them. Between the Great
Ogeechee and South-New Port rivers was formed the Midway settlement.
This district derived its name from its location, which was about _midway_
between the rivers Savannah and Alatamaha then constituting the northern
and southern boundaries of the colony. It has been suggested, and the
belief is current with some, that the true spelling is Medway, and that
both the District and the river which permeates it were named for one of
the well-known streams of merrie old England.[174]
On the only plan of Sunbury the writer has been able to procure, and in
some of the early records, this river is written _Medway_. It may be
fairly stated, however, that while by some the river may have been called
Medway, the district was universally known as _Midway_. The time-honored
church, which still stands, and its predecessor which so long stood near
the intersection of the Savannah and Darien, and the Sunbury roads, are
both remembered as the _Midway_ and not _Medway_ congregational meeting
houses. We are persuaded that the river as well as the district were both
named _Midway;_—the former being called for the latter.
By an act dividing the several districts and divisions of the Province of
Georgia into Parishes, passed the 15th day of March, 1758,[175] it was
provided that “the town of Hardwick and district of Ogechee, on the south
side of the river Great Ogechee, extending northwest up the said river
so far as the Lower Indian trading path leading from Mount Pleasant, and
southward from the town of Hardwick as far as the swamp of James Dunham,
including the settlements on the north side of the north branches of the
river Midway, with the islands of Ossabaw, and from the head of the said
Dunham’s Swamp in a north-west line, shall be and forever constitute a
parish by the name of ‘The Parish of St. Philip’: from Sunbury in the
district of Midway and Newport from the southern bounds of the parish
of St. Philip, extending southward as far as the north line of Samuel
Hastings, and from thence southeast to the south branch of Newport,
including the islands of St. Katharine and Bermuda, and from the north
line of the said Samuel Hastings northwest, shall be and forever continue
a parish by the name of ‘The Parish of St. John’: the town and district
of Darien, extending from the south boundary of the parish of St. John to
the river Alatamaha, including the islands of Sapelo and Eastwood, and the
sea islands to the north of Egg island northwest up the river Alatamaha
to the forks of the said river, shall be and forever continue a parish
by the name of ‘The Parish of St. Andrew:’ and the town and district of
Frederica, including the islands of Great and Little St. Simons, and the
adjacent islands shall be and forever continue a parish by the name of
‘The Parish of St. James.’”
Such were the territorial limits of the four southern parishes of the
province, approved by Governor Ellis, and designed to promote the
establishment of religious worship according to the rites and ceremonies
of the Church of England.[176]
As the early population of Sunbury was largely drawn from the members of
the Midway congregation,—the most pronounced society existing within the
limits of St. John’s parish at the time of its formation,—a brief sketch
of that congregation and its establishment in Georgia, may not be deemed
irrelevant.
Early in 1697 a body of Puritans from the Towns of Dorchester, Roxbury,
and Milton, in Massachusetts, taking with them their pastor,—the Reverend
Joseph Lord,—and proclaiming as a leading object the encouragement of
churches and the promotion of religion in the Southern plantations,
removed with their families and personal effects and formed a new home at
Dorchester, in the province of South Carolina. The church which they there
established was the first Congregational or Independent Church within the
confines of that Colony. All the other religious societies belonged to the
established Church of England.
After a residence of more than fifty years, finding their lands
impoverished and insufficient for the rising generation,—Dorchester and
Beach-Hill proving very unhealthy,—the good reports of the lands in
Georgia having been confirmed upon the personal inspection of certain
members of the Society who had been sent for that purpose, and a grant
of 22,400 acres of land having been secured from the authorities in
Georgia,—which grant was subsequently enlarged by the addition of 9,950
acres,—the members of the Dorchester Society commenced moving in 1752 into
what is now the swamp region of Liberty County. The settlement lay between
Mount Hope Swamp,—the head of Midway river,—on the North, and Bull-Town
Swamp on the South. At first, however, it was not so comprehensive. It
extended neither to the pine barrens on the West, nor to the salt water
on the East. This immigration, begun in 1752, was continued until 1771,
when it ceased.[177] According to the records of the Society, there were
forty-four removals in all, of which one family came from Charlestown,
four from Pon-Pon, and the remaining thirty-nine from Dorchester and
Beach-Hill. These removals were most numerous during the years 1754,
1755, and 1756. These immigrants brought their negroes with them, and it
appears probable, from the best lights before us, that the population of
this colony, after its full establishment, consisted of about 350 whites,
and 1500 negro slaves.
The region into which the Dorchester Congregation immigrated was already
known as the _Midway District_. To the General Assembly which convened in
Savannah in 1751, Audley Maxwell, Esquire, was sent as a delegate;—its
population then entitling it to such representation. It would appear that
a number of families residing in the Midway District previous to the
arrival of the Dorchester Congregation, united with that Society after it
was regularly domiciled in its new home. The Dorchester Colony did not
immigrate, in its entirety, to Georgia. Some families continued to dwell
at Dorchester and Beach-Hill, where their descendants may yet be found.
Others removed elsewhere. With the formation of the new settlement in St.
John’s parish, however, the old Dorchester colony in South Carolina lost
its integrity and distinctive characteristics.
In locating their plantations amid the swamps of St. John’s parish, the
following plan was adopted: After laying by their crops in Carolina in the
fall of the year, the planters came with able-bodied hands, and, during
the winter, cleared land and built houses. In a season or two having thus
sufficiently prepared the way, they brought their families and servants in
the early spring, and at once entered upon the cultivation of the soil.
Thus was the removal rendered as safe and comfortable as the nature of the
case permitted.
Strange to say, their dwellings and plantation quarters were invariably
located on the edges of the swamps, in utter disregard of the manifest
laws of health. In such malarial situations was the entire year passed.
Their houses at first were built of wood, one story high, with dormer
windows in the roofs, small in size, without lights, with no inside
linings, and with chimneys of clay. The negro-houses were made either of
clay or poles. For market, rice was the only article cultivated. While
corn was planted on the upland, chief attention was bestowed upon the
clearing, ditching, and drainage of the swamps. A miasmatic soil was thus
exposed to the action of the sun, at their very doors. The consequence
of such injudicious location, and of a general inattention to domestic
comfort, was violent sickness and considerable mortality. So frequent were
the deaths among children that they seldom arrived at puberty. Those who
attained the age of manhood and womanhood possessed feeble constitutions.
According to the register kept by the Society, from 1752 to 1772,—the
period during which this settlement was being formed,—193 births and
134 deaths occurred. The mortality was greatest during the months of
September, October, and November. April, May, June, and August appear to
have been the healthiest months:—June particularly so. Bilious fevers in
the fall, and pleurisies in the winter and spring, were the diseases which
proved most fatal. It used to be said of such as survived a severe attack
of bilious fever in the fall, that they would certainly die of pleurisy in
the winter or spring.
The Indians being in the vicinity, and at times indulging in acts of
hostility, some of the houses of these early settlers were made of hewn
cypress logs after the fashion of block houses, and were bullet proof.
The style of agriculture in vogue was of the most primitive sort. The
ground was tilled with hoes only. Ploughs were not in use. All rails for
fencing were carried on the heads and shoulders of the negroes, and in
the same manner was rice transported from the fields. This grain was not
only threshed but also beaten by hand: and thus was the crop prepared for
market. At first some of the planters sold their crops in Savannah. A
trip to that place was the event of the year, and the anticipated journey
was talked of in the neighborhood for some time before it was undertaken.
Horses were specially fed and carefully attended for a week or more
preparatory to the jaunt. Ordinary journeys to church, and of a social
character, were performed on horseback. Hence horse-blocks were to be seen
at every door. When he would a-wooing go, the gallant appeared mounted
upon his finest steed and in his best attire, followed by a servant on
another horse, conveying his master’s valise behind him.
Shortly after the Revolutionary war stick-back gigs were introduced. If
a woman were in the vehicle and unattended, the waiting man rode another
horse, keeping along side of the shaft horse and holding the check rein in
his left hand. When his master held the lines, the servant rode behind.
Men often went armed to church for fear of the Indians.
The country was filled with game. Ducks and wild geese in innumerable
quantities frequented the rice-fields. Wild turkeys and deer abounded.
Bears and beavers were found in the swamps, and buffalo herds wandered
at no great remove to the southward and northward. There was no lack of
squirrels, raccoons, opossums, rabbits, snipe, wood-cock, and quail.
Wildcats and hawks were the pest of the region, while the cougar was
sometimes heard and seen in the depths of the vine-clad swamps. The waters
which they held were alive with fishes, alligators, terrapins, and snakes.
Such, in a few words, was the condition of the swamp region of the Midway
District when the town of Sunbury was located. Responding to the trust
reposed in them by the conveyance from Mark Carr, Messrs. James Maxwell,
Kenneth Baillie, John Elliott, Grey Elliott, and John Stevens, with due
dispatch set about laying off the town upon the “westermost bank” of
Midway river. The plan, as matured and carried out by them, embraced
three public squares,—known respectively as _King’s_, _Church_, and
_Meeting_,—and four hundred and ninety-six lots. These lots had a uniform
front of seventy feet, and were one hundred and thirty feet in depth. Lots
numbers one to forty, inclusive, fronting on the river, were denominated
_Bay Lots_, and carried with them the ownership of the shore to low-water
mark. Four lots constituted a block, bounded on three sides by streets,
and on the fourth by a lane. The streets were seventy-five feet broad, and
the lanes twenty feet wide. The plan of the town was entirely regular. The
streets in one direction ran at right angles to the river, and were, at
right angles, intersected by the cross streets and lanes. From north to
south the length of Sunbury, as thus laid out, was 3430 feet. Its breadth
on the south side was 2230 feet, and on the north, 1880 feet.
Within a short time substantial wharves were constructed, the most marked
of which were subsequently owned and used by the following merchants:
Kelsell & Spalding, Fisher, Jones & Hughes, Darling & Co., and Lamott.
That Sunbury must rapidly have attracted the notice of the colonists
and quickly secured a population by no means insignificant or destitute
of influence in that day of small things, is evidenced by the fact that
as early as 1761 the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of his
council, established and declared it to be a port of entry, and appointed
Thomas Carr, Collector, John Martin, Naval Officer, and Francis Lee,
Searcher. These appointments were confirmed by the Commissioners of his
Majesty’s Customs.[178]
By deed prepared by Thomas Bosomworth, Malatche Opiya, Mico, Emperor of
the Upper and Lower Creeks, in consideration of ten pieces of stroud,
twelve pieces of duffles, two hundred weight of powder, two hundred weight
of lead, twenty guns, twelve pairs of pistols, and one hundred weight
of vermilion, on the 14th day of December, 1749, conveyed to Thomas and
Mary Bosomworth [formerly Musgrove] Hussoope or Ossabaw island, Cowleggee
or St. Catherine island,[179] and Sapelo, with their appurtenances,
warranting the same to them, their heirs, and assigns, so long as the sun
should shine, or the waters flow in the rivers.[180] This claim to the
ownership of these valuable islands proved a very annoying one to the
colonists. After years of litigation, the dispute was finally settled in
1759, by Royal command, by admitting a demand of Mrs. Bosomworth for £450
for goods alleged to have been expended by her in his Majesty’s service
during the years 1747 and 1748, by allowing her a back salary at the rate
of £100 per annum for sixteen years and a half, during which she had acted
in the capacity of government agent and interpreter, and by confirming
to her and her designing husband full right and title to St. Catherine
island, in consideration of the fact that they had fixed their residence
and planted there.[181]
St. Catherine island was the home of the Bosomworths when Sunbury
was settled. Some fourteen years afterwards it formed the residence
of the honorable Button Gwinnett, who, having disposed of his stock
of merchandise in Charleston, South Carolina, with the proceeds
purchased some negroes and a tract of land on St. Catherine, where he
devoted himself to agricultural pursuits until, on the outbreak of the
Revolutionary war, he was summoned from his retirement by the voice of his
fellow-citizens.[182]
Captain McCall, in alluding to the early history of Sunbury, says: “Soon
after its settlement and organization as a town, it rose into considerable
commercial importance; emigrants came from different quarters to this
healthy maritime port, particularly from Bermuda: about seventy came from
that island, but unfortunately for them and the reputation of the town, a
mortal epidemic broke out and carried off about fifty of their number the
first year: it is highly probable they brought the seeds of the disease
with them. Of the remainder, as many as were able, returned to their
native country. This circumstance, however, did not very much retard the
growing state of this eligible spot: a lucrative trade was carried on with
various parts of the West Indies in lumber, rice, indigo, corn, &c. Seven
square-rigged vessels have been known to enter the port of Sunbury in one
day, and about the years 1769 and 1770 it was thought by many, in point
of commercial importance, to rival Savannah. In this prosperous state it
continued with very little interruption until the war commenced between
Great Britain and America.”[183]
In his report on the condition of the Province of Georgia, dated the 20th
of September, 1773, Sir James Wright mentions Savannah and Sunbury as
being the only ports in the Province. The inlet to the latter he describes
as “very good; and, although the river is not more than twenty two miles
in length, fifteen feet of water may be carried up to the town distant
twelve miles from the sea.” From the same source we learn that during the
year 1772 fifty-six vessels of various sorts were entered and cleared at
the custom house in the port of Sunbury.[184] The collector of the port at
this time was James Kitchen, with a salary of £65 stg, and fees of office
amounting to £90. The comptroller and searcher was Isaac Antrobus: salary
£60: fees of office amounting to a like sum.
Sunbury soon commanded the rice crop from the adjacent swamp regions.
Indigo was planted on the island just below, then called Bermuda, and now
known as the Colonel’s Island. The principal trade was with the West
Indies and with the Northern Colonies. From the former, supplies of rum
and sugar were obtained, and from the latter rum, flour, biscuits, and
provisions. To the West Indies were shipped rice, corn, peas, indigo,
lumber, shingles, live stock, and barreled beef and pork. Governor Wright
regarded the trade with the Northern Colonies as injurious to the Province
of Georgia, because, says he, “they take of but little of our produce,
and drain us of every trifle of Gold and Silver that is brought here,
by giving a price for Guineas, Moidores, Johannes’s Pistols and Dollars
far above their real and intrinsic value, so that we can never keep any
amongst us.” So anxious was Sunbury to concentrate all the trade of the
interior, that at one time it was proposed to connect Midway and North
Newport rivers by a canal running between Bermuda island and the main.
This project, however, was never consummated. Occasionally vessels arrived
from English ports bringing manufactured goods, but such generally sought
Savannah as the port of entry and discharge. The purchases of the Sunbury
merchants were largely made in or through Savannah, and were thence
conveyed in coasting sloops and schooners through the inland passages.
Below the town, and on the road to the Colonel’s island, is a locality
to this day known as the _stave landing_, whence, in these early days,
constant shipments of staves and shingles were made. On the eastern side
of that island, the site of the old shipyard is still pointed out where
vessels were repaired and new ones built. It was here that the British
landed during the Revolutionary war, when, under Lieut. Col. Fuser, they
attempted the reduction of Sunbury.
The health of Sunbury from the time of its settlement until, and even
after the Revolutionary war, was good. It became a pleasant residence for
the families of many planters whose plantations were located in the swamp
regions.
The following is a “list of the Proprietors of the Town of Sunbury in
Georgia,” and of the Lots owned by them or their representatives about the
period of the war of the Revolution:
Lot No. 1. Mark Carr.
” ” 2. Arthur Carnaby.
” ” 3. Grey Elliott.
” ” 4. Do.
” ” 5. Francis Arthur.
” ” 6. William Graves.
” ” 7. Francis Arthur.
” ” 8. John Cubbidge.
” ” 9. James Maxwell.
” ” 10. Mary Spry.
” ” 11. Samuel Bennerworth.
” ” 12. Stephen Dickinson.
” ” 13. James Fisher. Schmidt & Mölich.
” ” 14. Do. Do.
” ” 15. Swinton & Co.
” ” 16. Darling & Munro.
” ” 17. Francis Arthur.
” ” 18. James Derwell.
” ” 19. Swinton & Co.
” ” 20. Thomas Peacock.
” ” 21. Andrew Darling.
” ” 22. Thomas Young.
” ” 23. Do.
” ” 24. Roger Kelsall.
” ” 25. John James.
” ” 26. Joseph Bacon.
” ” 27. John Stewart, Sen’r.
” ” 28. John Lupton.
” ” 29. Dunbar, Young & Co.
” ” 30. Do.
” ” 31. John Elliott.
” ” 32. James Dunham.
” ” 33. Lyman Hall.
” ” 34. Do.
” ” 35. Samuel Miller.
” ” 36. Kenneth Baillie, Sen’r.
” ” 37. Samuel Bennerworth.
” ” 38. Do.
” ” 39. William Sererson.
” ” 40. Do.
” ” 41. Mark Carr.
” ” 42. Tabitha Bacon.
” ” 43. Do.
” ” 44. John Winn.
” ” 45. David Jervey.
” ” 46. Do.
” ” 47. Francis Arthur.
” ” 48. Francis Lee.
” ” 49. John Quarterman, Jr.
” ” 50. James Dowell.
” ” 51. John Irvine.
” ” 52. Jeremiah Irvine.
” ” 53. Darling & Co.
” ” 54. Matthew Smallwood.
” ” 55. William Peacock.
” ” 56. Isaac Lines.
” ” 57. John Osgood.
” ” 58. Rebecca Way.
” ” 59. John Stewart, Sr.
” ” 60. John Lupton.
” ” 61. James Dunham.
” ” 62. John Shave.
” ” 63. Jacob Lockerman.
” ” 64. Paynter Dickinson.
” ” 65. John Lawson.
” ” 66. Do.
” ” 67. Thomas Ralph.
” ” 68. John Quarterman, Sr.
” ” 69. Thomas Gouldsmith.
” ” 70. James Houstoun.
” ” 71. John Stevens.
” ” 72. Mark Carr.
” ” 73. Hugh Clark.
” ” 74. Do.
” ” 75. Kenneth Baillie, Sr.
” ” 76. Do.
” ” 77. Paris Way.
” ” 78. Nathaniel Yates.
” ” 79. William Dunham.
” ” 80. Charles West.
” ” 81. Daniel Slade.
” ” 82. Jacob Lockerman.
” ” 83. Samuel West.
” ” 84. Thomas Carter, P. Schmidt.
” ” 85. John Elliott.
” ” 86. Do.
” ” 87. William Baker.
” ” 88. Do.
” ” 89. Audley Maxwell.
” ” 90. Elizabeth Simmons.
” ” 91. John Graves.
” ” 92. Do.
” ” 93. Robert Bolton.
” ” 94. John Baker.
” ” 95. John Humphreys.
” ” 96. James Fisher, Francis Guilland.
” ” 97. John Lupton.
” ” 98. Do.
” ” 99. Henry Saltus.
” ” 100. Donald McKay.
” ” 101. Stephen Dickinson.
” ” 102. Do.
” ” 103. William Clark.
” ” 104. Thomas Christie.
” ” 105. Samuel Jeanes.
” ” 106. Moses Way.
” ” 107. William David.
” ” 108. Paynter Dickinson.
” ” 109. Francis Lee.
” ” 110. Do.
” ” 111. James Harley.
” ” 112. Samuel Bacon.
” ” 113. Tabitha Bacon.
” ” 114. John Stewart, Snr.
” ” 115. Do.
” ” 116. Do.
” ” 117. Stephen Dickinson.
” ” 118. Do.
” ” 119. John Elliott.
” ” 120. Do.
” ” 121. Benjamin Stevens.
” ” 122. John Lynn.
” ” 123. Do.
” ” 125. John Sutherland.
” ” 126. Do.
” ” 127. Samuel Jeanes.
” ” 128. Do.
” ” 129. Joseph Tickener.
” ” 130. William Miller.
” ” 131. Richard Mills.
” ” 132. Do.
” ” 133. Peter McKay.
” ” 134. James Miller.
” ” 135. Do.
” ” 136. David Jervey.
” ” 137. William Davis.
” ” 138. Do.
” ” 139. Joseph Serjeant.
” ” 140. John Jones.
” ” 141. Strong Ashmore.
” ” 142. Francis Arthur.
” ” 143. Donald McKay.
” ” 144. Do.
” ” 145. Andrew Way.
” ” 146. James Fisher.
” ” 147. George Monis.
” ” 148. Thomas Way.
” ” 149. James Hatcher.
” ” 150. Do.
” ” 151. Francis Arthur.
” ” 152. Do.
” ” 153. Do.
” ” 154. Do.
” ” 155. John Perkins.
” ” 156. Do.
” ” 157. William Lowe.
” ” 158. Do.
” ” 159. Charles West. Schmidt & Mölich.
” ” 160. Do. Do.
” ” 161. Do.
” ” 162. Do.
” ” 163. William Peacock.
” ” 164. Do.
” ” 165. Charles West.
” ” 166. Do.
” ” 167. William Davis.
” ” 168. Do.
” ” 169. Francis Lee.
” ” 170. Do.
” ” 171. Thomas Vincent.
” ” 172. Benjamin Baker.
” ” 173. Grey Elliott.
” ” 174. Do.
” ” 175. Do.
” ” 176. Do.
” ” 177. John Lupton.
” ” 178. Do.
” ” 179. Do.
” ” 180. Do.
” ” 181. T. Quarterman.
” ” 182. Joseph Bacon.
” ” 185. Susannah Jones.
” ” 186. Do.
” ” 189. Barnard Romans.
” ” 190. Do.
” ” 191. Barnard Romans.
” ” 192. Do.
” ” 200. John K. Zubley.
” ” 205. Edward Way.
” ” 206. Do.
” ” 207. James Fisher.
” ” 208. Do.
” ” 209. Edward Maham.
” ” 210. Do.
” ” 211. Richard Spencer.
” ” 212. Do.
” ” 213. William Swinton.
” ” 214. Do.
” ” 215. Do.
” ” 216. Do.
” ” 217. Samuel Jeanes.
” ” 218. Do.
” ” 219. Do.
” ” 220. Henry Saltus.
” ” 221. James Read.
” ” 222. Do.
” ” 223. Charles West.
” ” 224. Do.
” ” 225. John Shave.
” ” 226. Do.
” ” 227. Richard Baker.
” ” 228. Do.
” ” 229. Marn’k Perry.
” ” 230. Do.
” ” 231. Thomas Dunbar.
” ” 232. Joshua Snowden.
” ” 233. Samuel Burnley. Schmidt & Mölich.
” ” 234. Do.
” ” 235. Do.
” ” 236. Do.
” ” 237. John Milchett.
” ” 238. Do.
” ” 239. James Andrew.
” ” 240. Do.
” ” 241. William Dunham.
” ” 242. Do.
” ” 243. Samuel Jeanes.
” ” 244. Winw’d McIntosh.
” ” 245. David Jervey.
” ” 246. Do.
” ” 247. Francis Lee.
” ” 248. Samuel Morecock.
” ” 249. Mark Carr.
” ” 250. Do.
” ” 251. George Bodington.
” ” 252. Mary Bateman.
” ” 253. John Goff.
” ” 257. Robert Bolton.
” ” 258. Do.
” ” 265. Mark Carr.
” ” 266. Do.
” ” 267. John Bryan.
” ” 268. Do.
” ” 269. Patrick M. Kay.
” ” 270. Do.
” ” 271. Benjamin Andrew.
” ” 272. Do.
” ” 273. Morgan Tabb.
” ” 274. Do.
” ” 275. Morgan Tabb.
” ” 276. Do.
” ” 277. James Watcher.
” ” 278. Do.
” ” 279. Francis Arthur.
” ” 280. Do.
” ” 281. John Bryan.
” ” 282. Samuel Richardson.
” ” 283. John Gaspar Stirkey.
” ” 284. Do.
” ” 285. John Jones (mulatto.)
” ” 289. Thomas Carter.
” ” 290. Do.
” ” 305. Do.
” ” 306. Do.
” ” 307. Do.
” ” 308. Do.
” ” 309. Do.
” ” 313. Samuel Tomlinson.
” ” 314. Do.
” ” 315. Do.
” ” 317. William Swinton.
” ” 318. Do.
” ” 319. Do.
” ” 320. Do.
” ” 340. Peter McKay.
” ” 341. Do.
” ” 342. Do.
” ” 343. Do.
” ” 344. Do.
” ” 345. Do.
” ” 346. Do.
” ” 347. Peter McKay.
” ” 348. Do.
” ” 349. Do.
” ” 350. Do.
” ” 351. Do.
” ” 352. Thomas Quarterman.
” ” 353. Barrack Norman.
” ” 354. Do.
” ” 355. Do.
” ” 356. Tarah, Senior.
” ” 357. Francis Arthur.
” ” 358. Do.
” ” 359. Frederick Hobrendorff.
” ” 360. Do.
” ” 361. Joseph Richardson.
” ” 362. Do.
” ” 373. John Ford.
” ” 403. Thomas Christie.
” ” 404. Do.
” ” 431. Marmaduke Gerry.
” ” 432. Do.
” ” 433. Do.
” ” 434. Robert Smallwood.
” ” 435. Do.
” ” 436. John Winn.
” ” 437. Francis Arthur.
” ” 438. Do.
” ” 473. Do.
” ” 474. Do.
” ” 475. Do.
” ” 476. Do.
” ” 477. Do.
” ” 478. Samuel Bacon.
” ” 479. Francis Lee.
” ” 480. John Tutes.
In the Spring of 1773 William Bartram, at the request of Dr. Fothergill
of London, set out “to explore the vegetable kingdom,” and search the
Floridas and the western portions of Carolina and Georgia “for the
discovery of rare and useful productions of nature.” In his charming
narrative of travels and observations, he presents us with this glimpse of
our lost town: “After resting, and a little recreation for a few days in
Savanna, and having in the meantime purchased a good horse, and equipped
myself for a journey southward, I sat off early in the morning for
Sunbury, a sea-port town beautifully situated on the main between Medway
and Newport rivers, about fifteen miles south of great Ogeeche river. The
town and harbour are defended from the fury of the seas by the north and
south points of St. Helena and South Catharine’s islands; between which
is the bar and entrance into the sound: the harbor is capacious and safe,
and has water enough for ships of great burthen. I arrived here in the
evening in company with a gentleman, one of the inhabitants, who politely
introduced me to one of the principal families, where I supped and spent
the evening in a circle of genteel and polite ladies and gentlemen.”[185]
The following day was occupied in exploring Bermuda [now Colonel’s]
island, whose soil, plantations of indigo, corn, and potatoes, Indian
tumuli of earth and shell, flora and fauna, greatly interested and
delighted him.
“On the morrow,” continues Mr. Bartram, “obedient to the admonitions of my
attendant spirit, curiosity, as well as to gratify the expectations of my
worthy patron, I again sat off on my southern excursion and left Sunbury
in company with several of its polite inhabitants who were going to Medway
meeting, a very large and well constructed place of worship, in St. John’s
parish, where I associated with them in religious exercise and heard a
very excellent sermon delivered by their pious and truly venerable pastor,
the Rev. —— Osgood. This respectable congregation is independent, and
consists chiefly of families and proselytes to a flock which this pious
man led, about forty years ago,[186] from South Carolina, and settled in
this fruitful district. It is about nine miles from Sunbury to Medway
meeting-house, which stands on the high road opposite the Sunbury road.
As soon as the congregation broke up I reassumed my travels, proceeding
down the high-road towards Fort Barrington, on the Alatamaha, passing
through a level country well watered by large streams, branches of Medway
and Newport rivers, coursing from extensive swamps and marshes, their
sources: these swamps are daily clearing and improving into large fruitful
rice plantations, aggrandizing the well inhabited and rich district of St.
John’s parish.”[187]
In the absence of records it is impossible to specify, with any degree
of accuracy, the ratio of increase which characterized the population
of Sunbury during the first twenty years of its existence. That at an
early period it became a favorite resort not only for commercial purposes
but also for health, admits of no doubt. The probability is that this
town culminated in prosperity, population, and importance, about the
beginning of the Revolutionary war, when its inhabitants, white and
black, numbered, we should say, between eight hundred and a thousand.
That, until the retarding influences of the Revolutionary struggle were
encountered, Sunbury had steadily, although slowly, advanced in material
wealth, influence, and population, may be safely asserted. Bermuda island,
too, was comfortably settled by agriculturists, on small plantations,
busied chiefly with the production of indigo. Sunken spaces, indicating
where the old vats were located, may be seen to this day. A rich and by
no means inconsiderable back country was entirely tributary to Sunbury.
Rice, cattle, lumber, shingles, staves, and other articles of commerce,
brought from the furthest practicable distances, were here concentrated
for sale and shipment; and quite an extensive territory drew its supplies
from the store-houses and shops of the Sunbury merchants. On one or two
occasions cargoes of Africans were landed and sold in this port. The
houses, although of wood, were some of them large, and even imposing. The
wharves were faced with palmetto and live oak logs, and filled in with
oyster shells, sand, and stone-ballast. Among the residents were not a few
of gentle birth, refinement, and education. As a rule, the inhabitants led
easy, comfortable, simple lives, and were much given to hospitality. No
one was ever in a hurry, and the mornings and afternoons, among the better
class, were largely devoted to amusements, such as fishing, sailing,
riding, and hunting. The evenings were spent in visiting and in social
intercourse. It was a good, easy life that these planters, even at that
early day, began to lead upon the Georgia coast. It became more striking,
abundant, and attractive after the Revolution; but the delightful germs
of the most pleasing existence this country has ever known were then
present. No aid seems to have been invoked from the Colonial Council in
either supporting the town or indicating the manner in which it should
be governed. We find no public resolutions or acts on the subject prior
to the legislation of 1791. In all likelihood a Magistrate’s Court, and
the concurrent views of a few of the prominent citizens, invoked on an
emergency, sufficed for the preservation of order and the maintenance of
peace.
The general council, however, from time to time, appointed packers,
inspectors, and “cullers of lumber” for the port.
By an act passed the 26th of March, 1767, it was made obligatory upon
the inhabitants to “clear and keep clear the several squares, streets,
lanes, and common” within the town. In consideration of such service they
were declared exempt from road duty in the parish of St. John.[188] By
the constitution, adopted in convention at Savannah on the 5th day of
February, 1777, the parishes of St. John, St. Andrew, and St. James, were
consolidated into one county called LIBERTY. The counties then named and
defined within the limits of Georgia were eight in all:—Wilkes, Richmond,
Burke, Effingham, Chatham, Liberty, Glynn, and Camden. While to each of
the other counties was accorded a representation of ten members, fourteen
were allowed to Liberty in consideration of its extent and importance.
Sunbury was permitted two special and additional members to represent the
trade of the place; and, for like purpose, Savannah was empowered to send
four.
At the outbreak of the Revolutionary war the parish of St. John possessed
nearly one-third the wealth of the entire province; and its inhabitants
were remarkable for their upright and independent character.[189] Three
hundred and seventeen of the four hundred and ninety-six lots into which
the town of Sunbury was divided, had been sold, and were, many of them at
least, occupied by their respective proprietors and their tenants. Among
the prominent citizens was Dr. Lyman Hall, a native of Connecticut and a
member of the Midway congregation. Although owning and cultivating a rice
plantation situated on the Savannah and Darien road a few miles beyond
Midway meeting house in the direction of Savannah, he was the proprietor
of and resided upon two of the most desirable lots in Sunbury, numbered 33
and 34 on the plan of that town, and fronting upon the river. He was the
leading physician not only of the place but also of the adjacent country
for many miles. It was mainly through his influence that the parish of
St. John acted independently and in advance of the Republican party in
Georgia. In acknowledgment of the decided stand then assumed by him, he
was, on the 21st of March, 1775, unanimously elected as a delegate to
represent the parish in the next general Congress.[190] On the 13th of
May following, upon the production of his credentials, he was unanimously
admitted to a seat in Congress “_as a delegate from the parish of St. John
in the Colony of Georgia_, subject to such regulations as the Congress
should determine relative to his voting.” He carried with him from
Sunbury, as a present to the suffering Republicans in Massachusetts, one
hundred and sixty barrels of rice, and fifty pounds sterling.
It was not until the 15th of July, 1775, that the Convention of Georgia
acknowledged complete allegiance to the general Confederacy, and appointed
Archibald Bulloch, John Houstoun, the Rev’d Dr. Zubly, Noble W. Jones, and
Lyman Hall as delegates to the Provincial Congress.
Intermediately between the time when Dr. Hall took his seat in Congress as
a delegate from the parish of St. John, and this action of the Convention,
as he represented only a portion of the Colony of Georgia, he declined
voting upon questions which were to be decided by a vote of Colonies.
He, however, participated in the debates, advocated the necessity and
value of the present Congress, recorded his opinion in all cases except
such as required an expression of sentiment by Colonies, and declared his
earnest desire and conviction “that the example which had been shown by
the parish which he represented would be speedily followed, and that the
representation of Georgia would soon be complete.”
When the Declaration of Independence was signed, of the three members from
Georgia whose names were affixed to that memorable document, two—Lyman
Hall and Button Gwinnett,—were from St. John’s parish: and we may add,
from the town of Sunbury:—for, although Gwinnett then resided on St.
Catharine island, his home was within sight of that flourishing seaport,
all his public and much of his private business was there transacted,
he was constantly seen in its streets, was known and honored of its
citizens, and in very truth constituted one of them. Two Signers of the
Declaration of Independence from one little town in St. John’s parish!
and that town clean gone from the face of that beautiful, lonely, and
bermuda-covered bluff! It is in perpetuating acts and names like these
that memory stays the engulfing waves of oblivion, and administers signal
rebuke to “time which antiquates antiquities and hath an art to make
dust of all things.”[191] Did the limits of this sketch permit, it would
be interesting to detail the efforts made by the parish of St. John
to persuade positive resistance to English rule and inaugurate steps
contemplating an absolute separation from the mother country when the
greater part of Georgia was not persuaded of the expediency of such action
and was actually opposed to the proceedings of the Continental Congress.
So determined and independent was the rebel spirit in Sunbury, throughout
the Midway settlement, and at Darien, that it actually brought about, for
the time being, a voluntary political separation from the other parishes
of the Colony. So annoyed were the citizens of St. John’s parish by the
temporizing policy which characterized the Savannah Convention, that on
the 9th of February, 1775, they applied to the Committee of Correspondence
in Charleston “requesting permission to form an alliance with them and
to conduct trade and commerce according to the act of non-importation
to which they had already acceded.” It was strongly urged that having
detached themselves from the other parishes in Georgia which hesitated to
participate in the movement, they ought to be considered and received as a
“separate body comprehended within the spirit and equitable meaning of the
Continental Association.”[192]
While admiring the patriotism of the parish, and entreating its citizens
to “persevere in their laudable exertions,” the Carolinians conceived it
improper, and “a violation of the Continental Association to remove the
prohibition in favor of any _part_ of a province.”
Disappointed, and yet not despairing, the inhabitants of the parish of
St. John “resolved to prosecute their claims to an equality with the
Confederated Colonies.” Having adopted certain resolutions by which they
obligated themselves to hold no commerce with Savannah, or elsewhere,
except under the supervision of a Committee, and then only for the
absolute necessaries of life, they appointed Dr. Hall, as we have already
seen, an independent delegate to represent the parish in the general
congress of provinces.
The patriotic spirit of its inhabitants, and this independent action
of St. John’s parish in advance of the other parishes of Georgia, were
afterwards acknowledged when all the parishes were in accord in the
Revolutionary movement. As a tribute of praise, and in token of general
admiration, by special act of the Legislature the name of LIBERTY
COUNTY was conferred upon the consolidated parishes of St. John, St.
Andrew, and St. James. Sir James Wright was not far from the mark when
he located the head of the rebellion in St. John’s parish, and advised
the Earl of Dartmouth that the rebel measures there inaugurated were to
be mainly referred to the influence of the “descendants of New England
people of the Puritan Independent sect” who, retaining “a strong tincture
of Republican or Oliverian principles, have entered into an agreement
amongst themselves to adopt both the resolutions and association of the
Continental Congress.” On the altars erected within the Midway district
were the fires of resistance to the dominion of England earliest kindled;
and Lyman Hall, of all the dwellers there, by his counsel, exhortations,
and determined spirit, added stoutest fuel to the flames. Between the
immigrants from Dorchester and the distressed Bostonians existed not
only the ties of a common parentage, but also sympathies born of the
same religious, moral, social, and political education. Hence we derive
an explanation of the reason why the Midway settlement declared so early
for the Revolutionists. The Puritan element cherishing and proclaiming
intolerance of established church and the divine right of Kings, impatient
of restraint, accustomed to independent thought and action, and without
associations which encouraged tender memories of and love for the mother
country, asserted its hatreds, its affiliations, and its hopes with no
uncertain utterance, and appears to have controlled the action of the
entire parish.[193]
When it became evident that England was resolved to coerce her Colonies,
the inhabitants of Sunbury and of St. John’s parish determined to place
themselves in the best possible condition for effective resistance.
While some of the citizens joined the State militia and the regularly
constituted Colonial forces, others formed themselves into an infantry
company, and a troop of horse, for local defense. The latter was commanded
by Captain John Baker, who afterwards attained the rank of Colonel, and,
in association with Colonels Cooper and Andrew Maybank, and Major Charles
West, rendered signal service in the partisan warfare which ensued.
For the immediate protection of Sunbury a fort was built just below the
town upon the point where the high ground ended and the wide impracticable
marshes between the main and Bermuda island commenced.
A small defensive work may have existed here at an earlier date. The
Record Book of Midway Church discloses the fact that in 1756 a letter was
received from the honorable Jonathan Bryan,—one of his Majesty’s council
for the Colony,—conveying the intelligence that the Indians were much
incensed at several of their people having been killed by some settlers
on the Great Ogeechee river in a dispute about cattle, and advising the
Midway congregation, with expedition, to construct a fort for their
protection. “People,” continues the Journal, “are very much alarmed with
the news, and consultations were immediately had about the _building and
place for a fort, and it was determined by a majority that it should be at
Captain Mark Carr’s, low down, and upon the river near the sound, at about
seven or eight miles distance from the nearest of the settlement of the
Society, which accordingly was begun on the 20th September, 1756_.”[194]
On the 11th of July following, apprehending an attack from a French
privateer, the Midway people were summoned to Sunbury, where they “raised
a couple of batteries and made carriages for eight small cannon which
were at the place.” These were probably nothing more than field works
thrown up on the bluff just in front of the town. It is to these little
forts that Governor Ellis alluded when, upon his second tour of inspection
through the southern portion of the Province, he “was pleased to observe
that the inhabitants of the Midway District had enclosed their church
within a defence, _and had erected a battery of eight guns at Sunbury in a
position to command the river_.”[195]
The State of Georgia being under consideration, it was resolved by
Congress, on the 5th of July, 1776, to raise two battalions (one of them
to consist of riflemen) to serve in Georgia; that blank commissions be
sent to the Convention of Georgia to be filled up with the names of such
persons as the Convention should deem proper; that the Legislatures of
Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina be recommended to allow
recruits for these battalions to be enlisted in their several States;
that four galleys be built for the defense of the sea-coast, and that two
artillery companies, of fifty men each, be enlisted _to garrison two forts
which the State was to erect at Savannah and Sunbury_.[196]
It may, we presume, be safely asserted that the heavy earthwork on Midway
river, just south of Sunbury, was laid out and erected about the period
of the commencement of the Revolutionary war. If any prior defense there
existed, it was so modified and enlarged as completely to lose its
identity.
The names of those who were specially charged with the construction of
this fort have not been perpetuated, but it lives in tradition that the
planters of Bermuda island and of the Midway District, and the citizens of
Sunbury contributed mainly to its erection. It was built chiefly by slave
labor, and was armed with such cannon as could be procured on the spot, or
obtained elsewhere.[197] That its armament was by no means inconsiderable
will be conceded when it is remembered that twenty-five pieces of ordnance
were surrendered by Major Lane when he yielded the ownership of this
work to Colonel A. Prevost. These guns, however, were small, consisting
of 4, 6, 9, 12, and 18-pounders, with perhaps one or two 24-pounders. It
was called by the Americans, FORT MORRIS;[198] but, upon its capture by
Colonel Prevost, its name was by him changed to FORT GEORGE.
At the inception of the Revolutionary war the coast defenses of Georgia
were in a most pitiable and dilapidated condition. All her forts were in
ruins, or nearly so. On the 20th of September, 1773, Sir James Wright,—who
makes no mention of any defensive work at Sunbury,—reports Fort George
on Cockspur island, which was built in 1762 of mud walls faced with
palmetto logs, with a caponiere inside to serve for officers’ apartments,
as “almost in ruins, and garrisoned only by an officer and three men,
just to make signals, &c.” Fort Halifax, within the town of Savannah,
constructed in 1759 and 1760, and made of plank filled in with earth,
with the exception of two of its caponieres, was totally down and unfit
for use. Fort Frederick, at Frederica, erected by General Oglethorpe
when his regiment was stationed there, had been without a garrison for
upwards of eight years, and although some of its tabby walls remained,
the entire structure was fast passing into decay. Fort Augusta, in the
town of Augusta, made of three-inch plank, had been neglected since 1767
and was rotten in every part. Fort Barrington on the Alatamaha river was
in like condition. Of the fort at New Ebenezer, of Fort William on the
southern extremity of Cumberland island, of Fort Argyle, and of the other
minor defenses erected in the early days of the Colony, scarce a vestige
remained.
[Illustration: _Fort Morris_
_J. Bien, Photo. Lith. N. Y._]
Located some three hundred and fifty yards due south of Sunbury, and
occupying the bluff where it first confronts Midway river as, trending
inward from the sound, it bends to the north, Fort Morris was intended
to cover not only the direct water approach to the town, but also the
back river by means of which that place might be passed and taken in
reverse. Its position was well chosen for defensive purposes. To the south
stretched a wide-spread and impracticable marsh permeated by Pole-haul
and Dickerson creeks,—two tributaries of Midway river,—whose mouths were
commanded by the guns of the fort. This marsh also extended in front of
the work, constituting a narrow and yet substantial protection against
landing parties, and gradually contracting as it approached the southern
boundary of Sunbury. This fortification was an enclosed earth-work,
substantially constructed. Its walls embraced a parade about an acre in
extent. The eastern face, confronting the river, was two hundred and
seventy-five feet in length. Here the heaviest guns were mounted. The
northern and southern faces were respectively one hundred and ninety-one,
and one hundred and forty feet in length, while the curtain, looking to
the west, was two hundred and forty-one feet long. Although quadrangular,
the work was somewhat irregular in shape. From the southern face and the
curtain, no guns could be brought to bear upon the river. Those there
mounted served only for defense against a land attack. The armament of
the northern face could be opposed to ships which succeeded in passing
the fort, until they ascended the river so far as to get beyond range. It
also commanded the town and the intervening space. The guns were mounted
_en barbette_, without traverses. Seven embrasures may still be seen, each
about five feet wide. The parapet, ten feet wide, rises six feet above
the parade of the fort, and its superior slope is about twenty-five feet
above the level of the river at high tide. Surrounding the work is a moat
at present ten feet deep, ten feet wide at the bottom, and twice that
width at the top. Near the middle of the curtain may be seen traces of a
sally-port or gateway, fifteen feet wide. Such is the appearance of this
abandoned work as ascertained by recent survey. Completely overgrown by
cedars, myrtles, and vines, its presence would not be suspected, even at
a short remove, by those unacquainted with the locality. Two iron cannon
are now lying half buried in the loose soil of the parade, and a third
will be found in the old field about midway between the fort and the site
of the town. During the recent war between the States, two 6-pounder guns
were removed from this fort and carried to Riceboro. No use, however, was
made of them. Two more, of similar calibre, of iron, and very heavily
reinforced at the breech, were taken by Captain C. A. L. Lamar,—whose
company was then stationed at Sunbury,—and temporarily mounted on the
bluff to serve as signal guns. Despite their age and the exposure to which
they had so long been subjected, these pieces were in such excellent
condition that they attracted the notice of the Ordnance department,
and were soon transported to Savannah. There they were cleaned, mounted
upon siege carriages, and assigned to Fort Bartow, where they remained,
constituting a part of the armament of that work, until upon the
evacuation of Savannah and its dependent forts by the Confederate forces
in December, 1864, they passed into the hands of the Federal army.[199]
Sunbury was occupied by the Revolutionists as a military post, and its
fort garrisoned at a very early period in the Colonial struggle for
independence.[200] In 1776 when Gen. Charles Lee, after full conference
with the venerable Jonathan Bryan, projected a plan of operations against
St. Augustine for the relief of the southern frontier of Georgia, which
had been constantly and sorely vexed by raiding bands from Florida, and to
destroy what promised to be a stronghold for the English, the Virginia
and North Carolina troops who were in the expedition were ordered to
rendezvous at Sunbury. It being the sickly season of the year, and the
men being unaccustomed to the climate, much suffering was encountered
from fevers. The mortality became so great,—from ten to fifteen dying in
a single day,—that the soldiers were removed to the sea-islands in the
vicinity for health.[201]
As we all know, through the failure of General Lee to concentrate the
requisite men and munitions, the contemplated movement from which so much
was anticipated never took place; and when, on the 20th of September,
he went North to assume the command to which he had been appointed, he
ordered the troops in the neighborhood of Sunbury to follow him.
This project was renewed by General Robert Howe, who advanced as far as
Fort Tonyn. There, however, a council of war decided a further prosecution
of the enterprise unadvisable. The sick and convalescent,—of whom there
was a considerable number,—in gallies and such boats as could be procured
were, under the command of Colonel C. C. Pinckney, conducted by the inland
passage to Sunbury where, for a time, they were allowed to rest and
recruit. They were subsequently transferred to Charleston by the way of
Port Royal.[202] Colonel John McIntosh was left in command of Sunbury with
one hundred and twenty-seven men. The remnants of Elbert’s and White’s
regiments proceeded to Savannah.[203] So far, Sunbury had suffered no
molestation at the hands of the King’s forces.
Lord George Germain’s plan for the Southern campaign in 1778 was prepared
with “minuteness of detail.” The reduction of Savannah was resolved upon.
As a diversion, and with a view to distracting the attention of General
Howe and the American forces concentrated for the protection of the then
capital of Georgia, General Augustine Prevost was ordered to dispatch from
St. Augustine two expeditions, one, by sea, to operate directly against
Sunbury, and the other, by land, to march through and harrass the lower
portions of Georgia, and, at Sunbury, form a junction with the former.
Responding to his instructions, that officer sent by water a detachment of
infantry and light artillery under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Fuser
for the capture of Sunbury. Lieutenant Colonel Mark Prevost was charged
with the conduct of the expedition by land. He took with him one hundred
British regulars. At Fort Howe, on the Alatamaha, he was joined by the
notorious McGirth, with three hundred refugees and Indians. On the 19th
of November this force entered the Georgia settlements, taking captive
all men found on their plantations, and plundering the inhabitants of
every article of value capable of transportation. At the point where the
Savannah and Darien road crosses Bulltown swamp, Prevost was confronted
by Colonel John Baker, who had hastily collected some mounted militia
to dispute his advance. After a short skirmish the Americans retreated.
Colonel Baker, Captain Cooper, and William Goulding were wounded. At
North Newport Bridge, [afterwards called Riceborough Bridge,] further
resistance was encountered at the hands of the Patriots, but it was
too feeble to materially retard the progress of the invading forces.
Meanwhile, Colonel John White,[204] having concentrated about one hundred
Continentals and militia, with two pieces of light artillery, took post at
Midway Meeting House and constructed a slight breastwork across the road
at the head of the causeway over which the enemy must advance. His hope
was that he might here keep Prevost in check until reinforcements could
arrive from Savannah. An express was sent to Colonel Elbert to advise him
of the hostile invasion, and Major William Baker, with a party of mounted
militia, was detached to skirmish with the enemy and, at every possible
point, interrupt his progress. On the morning of the 24th Colonel White
was joined by General Screven with twenty militiamen. It was resolved
to abandon the present and occupy a new position a mile and a half the
other side of Midway Meeting House where the road was skirted by a thick
wood in which it was thought an ambuscade might be advantageously laid.
McGirth being well acquainted with the country, and knowing the ground
held by Colonel White, suggested to Prevost the expediency of placing a
party in ambush at the very point selected by the Americans for a similar
purpose. It was further proposed, by an attack and feigned retreat, to
draw Colonel White out of his works and into the snare. The contending
parties arrived upon the ground almost simultaneously, and firing
immediately commenced. Early in the action the gallant General Screven,
renowned for his patriotism and beloved for his virtues, received a severe
wound, fell into the hands of the enemy, and was by them killed while a
prisoner and suffering from a mortal hurt. A shot from one of the field
pieces passed through the neck of Prevost’s horse, and both animal and
rider fell. Major Roman, commanding the artillery, supposing that the
British commander had been killed, quickly advanced his two field pieces
to take advantage of the confusion which ensued, and Major James Jackson,
thinking the enemy was retreating, shouted _victory_. Prevost however soon
appeared remounted, and advanced in force. Finding himself overborne by
numbers, Colonel White retreated upon Midway Meeting House, breaking down
the bridges across the swamp as he retired, and keeping out small parties
to annoy the enemy’s flanks. Compelled to withdraw still further, and
desiring by stratagem to retard the advance of the enemy, Colonel White
“prepared a letter as though it had been written to himself by Colonel
Elbert, directing him to retreat in order to draw the British as far as
possible, and informing him that a large body of cavalry had crossed
over Ogechee river with orders to gain the rear of the enemy, by which
their whole force would be captured.” This letter was so dropped as in
the end to find its way into Colonel Prevost’s hands, who seems to have
considered it genuine. It is believed that it exerted much influence in
retarding his advance, which was pushed not more than six or seven miles
beyond Midway Meeting House in the direction of Savannah. Meanwhile,
McGirth, with a strong party, reconnoitering in the direction of Sunbury,
ascertained the fact that the expedition under Lieutenant Colonel Fuser
had not arrived. This circumstance, in connection with the concentration
of the forces of Colonels Elbert and White at Ogeechee ferry, where a
breastwork was thrown up and preparation made vigorously to dispute his
further progress, determined Prevost to abandon his enterprise and return
to St. Augustine. Treating the population as rebels against a lawful
sovereign, and utterly refusing to stipulate for the security of the
country, Prevost, upon his retreat, burnt Midway Meeting House, and all
dwellings, negro-quarters, rice-barns, and improvements within reach. The
entire region was ruthlessly plundered;—the track of his retreating army
being marked by smoking ruins. His soldiers, unrestrained, indulged in
indiscriminate pillage, appropriating plate, bedding, wearing apparel,
and everything of value capable of easy transportation. The inhabitants
were subjected to insult and indignities. The region suffered terribly,
and the patriotism of the people was sorely tried.[205] The scene was
such as was subsequently repeated when General Augustine Prevost in
1779 raided through the richest plantations of South Carolina,[206]
or when the Federal cavalry under General Kilpatrick, in the winter of
1864-1865, over-ran, occupied, and plundered Liberty county, converting
a well ordered and abundantly supplied region into an abode of poverty,
lawlessness, and desolation.
Delayed by head winds, Colonel Fuser did not arrive in front of Sunbury
until Prevost had entered upon his retreat and was beyond the reach of
communication. Late in November, 1778, his vessels, bearing some five
hundred men, battering cannon, light artillery, and mortars, anchored off
the Colonel’s island. A landing was effected at the ship yard. Thence,
the land forces with field pieces, moving by the main road, marched upon
Sunbury. The armed vessels sailed up Midway river in concert, and took
position in front of the fort and in the back river opposite the town,
simultaneously with its investment on the land side by the infantry and
artillery. Colonel John McIntosh, with one hundred and twenty-seven
Continental troops, and some militia and citizens from Sunbury,—numbering
less than two hundred men in all,—held Fort Morris. The town was otherwise
unprotected. Having completed his dispositions, Fuser made the following
demand upon Colonel McIntosh for the surrender of the fort:
“SIR,
“You cannot be ignorant that four armies are in motion to
reduce this Province. One is already under the guns of your
fort, and may be joined, when I think proper, by Colonel
Prevost who is now at the Medway meeting-house. The resistance
you can, or intend to make, will only bring destruction upon
this country. On the contrary, if you will deliver me the
fort which you command, lay down your arms and remain neuter
until the fate of America is determined, you shall, as well
as all of the inhabitants of this parish, remain in peaceable
possession of your property. Your answer, which I expect in an
hour’s time, will determine the fate of this country, whether
it is to be laid in ashes, or remain as above proposed.
“I am Sir,
“Your most obedient, &c.,
“L. V. FUSER,
“Colonel 60th Regiment and Commander of his Majesty’s
Troops in Georgia, on his Majesty’s Service.”
“P. S.
“Since this letter was closed, some of your people have been
firing scattering shot about the line. I am to inform you, that
if a stop is not put to such irregular proceedings, I shall
burn a house for every shot so fired.”
To this demand the following brave response was promptly returned by Col.
McIntosh:[207]
“FORT MORRIS, Nov. 25, 1778.
“SIR,
“We acknowledge we are not ignorant that your army is in motion
to endeavour to reduce this State. We believe it entirely
chimerical that Colonel Prevost is at the Meeting-House: but
should it be so, we are in no degree apprehensive of danger
from a junction of his army with yours. We have no property
compared with the object we contend for that we value a
rush:—and would rather perish in a vigorous defence than accept
of your proposals. We Sir, are fighting the battles of America,
and therefore disdain to remain neutral till its fate is
determined. As to surrendering the fort, receive this laconic
reply: COME AND TAKE IT.[208] Major Lane, whom I send with
this letter, is directed to satisfy you with respect to the
irregular, loose firing mentioned on the back of your letter.
“I have the honor to be Sir,
“Your most obedient Servant,
“JOHN MCINTOSH,
“Colonel of Continental Troops.”
In delivering this reply Major Lane informed Colonel Fuser that the
irregular firing of which he complained was maintained to prevent the
English troops from entering and plundering Sunbury. With regard to the
threat that a house should be burned for every shot fired, Major Lane
stated that if Col. Fuser sanctioned a course so inhuman, and so totally
at variance with the rules of civilized warfare, he would assure him that
Colonel McIntosh, so far from being intimidated by the menace, would apply
the torch at his end of the town, whenever Colonel Fuser fired the town on
his side, “and let the flames meet in mutual conflagration.”[209]
Instead of assaulting, Fuser hesitated and awaited a report from scouts
whom he had sent into the country to ascertain the precise movements of
Prevost and learn when his junction might be expected. That officer, as
we have seen, unwilling, after the affair near Midway Meeting House, to
hazard an engagement with the Continental forces supposed to be advancing
from the Great Ogeechee, and surprised at the non-appearance of Fuser
before Sunbury, had already commenced his retreat and was beyond the reach
of easy communication. Surprised and chagrined at the intelligence, Fuser
raised the siege, re-embarked his troops, and returned to the St. Johns
river, where he met the returned forces of Prevost. Mutual recriminations
ensued between these officers, each charging upon the other the
responsibility of the failure of the respective expeditions. Remembering
the superior forces at command, it cannot be doubted that either singly or
in conjunction Prevost and Fuser could have speedily occupied Sunbury and
compelled a surrender of Fort Morris, had their operations been vigorously
pressed. When we consider the paucity of Continental troops and militia
offering resistance to the invading column of the one, and the slender
garrison opposed to the investing forces of the other, the small space and
the short time to be overcome in accomplishing a junction, and the further
fact that they both must have been aware of the near approach to Savannah
of Colonel Campbell’s expedition from which these advances from Florida
were distinctly intended to distract the attention of the Revolutionists,
we cannot but be surprised that Colonels Fuser and Prevost should thus
have abandoned their enterprise when a consummation was manifestly within
easy grasp. Upon his retreat from Sunbury Colonel Fuser landed his
British regulars at Frederica with instructions to repair and place in
good defensive condition the military works which General Oglethorpe had
planned and erected at that point.
Having collected his forces, Gen. Robert Howe marched to Sunbury. During
his short stay there he did little more than point out and condemn the
defenseless condition of the works, and memorialize Congress upon the
dangers which threatened the Georgia coast, the lack of men and munitions
of war, and the disorganization existing in his scattered army. He was
one of those unfortunate officers who, lacking the energy and the ability
to make the most of the resources at command, and harping upon the
existence of defects and wants which inhered in the very nature of things,
constantly clamored for the unattainable, indulged in frequent complaints,
neglected careful organization, discipline and dispositions, and, on
important occasions, became involved in unnecessary perplexities and loss.
Although relieved from the presence of the enemy, heavy shadows rested
upon the inhabitants of St. John’s parish.[210] Desolation and ruin were
on every hand. The gathered crops having been burnt, many were without
sufficient means of subsistence, and not a few were compelled to look
elsewhere for support. These tribulations, however, were but an earnest
of sadder ones soon to follow,—trials so grievous that patriotic hearts
were well-nigh overborne at thought and apprehension of distresses almost
beyond human endurance. These peoples,—the first of the Colony to declare
for freedom,—were on the eve of passing under a yoke far more oppressive
than that from which not three years before they had sought to escape, and
their homes were to become so desolate that expatriation would be found
preferable to a perplexing residence and distressful life in the region
where they had garnered up present possessions and future hopes.[211]
The year 1778 closed gloomily upon the patriots in Georgia. Its capital
fell before the advance of Colonel Campbell. General Howe’s army, retiring
in confusion and with much loss, crossed the Savannah river at Sister’s
and Zubly’s ferries and rendezvoused in South Carolina, leaving the newly
born State entirely open to the enemy. While at Cherokee Hill, on his
retreat, General Howe dispatched Lieutenant Tennill with orders to Major
Joseph Lane commanding at Sunbury to evacuate that post, and, retiring up
the south side of Great Ogeechee river, to join the main army at Zubly’s
ferry. This order was received in ample time, if promptly obeyed, to
have ensured the salvation of the garrison; but Major Lane, moved by the
persuasions of Captain Dollar,—commanding a company of artillery,—and
the entreaties of the citizens of Sunbury, resolved to disregard the
instructions of his General, and assumed the responsibility of remaining
and defending the fort and town.[212] The account of the reduction of Fort
Morris and the fall of Sunbury we give in the language of Captain McCall:
“On the first notice of the arrival of the transports [conveying Colonel
Campbell’s command,] off the coast of Georgia, General Prevost [then in
Florida] marched; and embarked in boats, two thousand men, consisting
of artillery, infantry, loyalists, and Indians. On the 6th of January,
[1778] that part of his army which moved by water was landed on Colonel’s
island, seven miles south of Sunbury, about ten o’clock in the morning;
and Prevost with the light infantry, marched and took possession of the
town early on the ensuing day. Two American gallies and an armed sloop
cannonaded the enemy, but with little effect. The following day the main
body of the enemy arrived. Every exertion was made to prevent the landing
of the cannon and mortars near the town, by the fire from the gallies and
the fort. On the night of the 8th they took advantage of the low tide
to pass behind a marsh island[213] opposite to the fort, with a few of
their boats containing cannon, howitzers, and mortars, and landed them
above the town and placed them on batteries previously prepared. On the
morning of the 9th Prevost summoned the fort to surrender unconditionally,
accompanied by a statement of his force and the weight of his metal.
Major Lane replied that his duty, inclination, and means pointed to the
propriety of defending the post against any force however superior it
might be. The British batteries of cannon and mortars were opened on
the fort and replied to. Lane soon discovered that his fortress would
not be long tenable, and began to repent his disobedience of orders. He
parlied to obtain better terms than unconditional surrender, but no other
would be allowed him: and the time having elapsed for his acceptance or
refusal, hostilities recommenced. He parlied again and requested until
eight o’clock the next morning to consider of the conditions offered to
him, which being peremptorily refused, he assented to them and surrendered
the fort containing twenty-four pieces of artillery, ammunition, and
provisions, and the garrison consisting of seventeen commissioned officers
and one hundred and ninety-five non-commissioned officers and privates,
including Continental troops and militia. The American loss was one
Captain and three privates killed, and seven wounded. The British loss was
one private killed and three wounded.
“The Washington and Bulloch gallies were taken to Ossabaw island, stranded
on the beach, and burned by their crews, who took passage on board of
Captain Salter’s sloop and sailed for Charleston, but were captured by a
British tender and taken to Savannah. Captain John Lawson, of the sloop
Rebecca, of sixteen guns, put to sea and got safe to Charleston.”[214]
After the fall of Sunbury the Continental officers captured at Savannah
were sent to that place on parole.
When General Prevost, after the junction of his forces with those under
Colonel Campbell, moved from the coast into the interior for the complete
subjugation of Georgia, the command of Savannah and the adjacent country
was confided to Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Innes. Proclamations of
the most stringent character were issued by him, by Colonel Campbell,
and by Sir Hyde Parker. The inhabitants were enjoined to collect their
arms and accoutrements of every description, and surrender them to the
military storekeeper. Should these have been concealed or buried, as
was not infrequently the case, they were to be uncovered and brought in
under pain of rigid search, exposing the delinquent to punishment as an
enemy to the King. Special places were designated for the arrival and
departure of boats and trading vessels; and permits were required from the
superintendents of such ports for the receipt or conveyance of property of
any description. An infringement of these regulations worked confiscation
of the goods, and punishment of the crews engaged. Peace, freedom,
and protection were offered to all who would at once return to their
allegiance and join the Royal standard. Three months were allowed for the
incoming of the disaffected and deserters, and Savannah was designated
as the place where the oath of allegiance would be administered. The
proclamation of the 11th of January, 1779, was even more onerous. A
reward of two guineas was offered for the apprehension of every citizen
still adhering to the Rebel cause, and ten guineas were promised upon the
surrender of a Committee or Assembly man to any commanding officer of the
King’s garrisons. Prices were prescribed for all articles of merchandise
and country produce. Any deviation from this scale of prices was punished
by the confiscation of the articles exposed for sale. Only to those who
had resumed their allegiance to the Crown were permits to trade granted,
and a fine of one hundred pounds sterling was collectible against any
merchant dealing with one not an acknowledged and loyal subject of the
King. No produce could be exported except under a certificate of the
superintendent of the port that it was not wanted for the use of the
Royal troops. To the families of those who maintained their devotion to
the Rebel cause no mercy was shown. Stripped of property,—their homes
rendered desolate,—often without food and clothing,—they were thrown upon
the charity of an impoverished neighborhood. The entire coast region of
Georgia was now open, and the enemy overran and exacted the most stringent
tribute. Many fled from St. John’s parish and from Sunbury upon the first
approach of Prevost.
Writing from Purysburg on the 10th of January, 1779, to Colonel C. C.
Pinckney, General Moultrie mentions the fact that thousands of poor
women, children, and negroes were fleeing from Georgia,—they knew not
whither;—“sad spectacle that moved the hearts of his soldiers.”[215]
For the time being the parish of St. John was in a deplorable condition.
Multitudes of the inhabitants, unable to sustain themselves in the midst
of the utter destitution which there prevailed, set out for Carolina,
where they subsisted upon the charity of others until the opening spring
afforded an opportunity for planting crops in their new homes. Others,
possessing the means of subsistence, were so oppressed by the operation
of Royal proclamations and restrictions, that they abandoned the region,
seeking refuge in other quarters. Sunbury suffered a material diminution
of population, and never recovered from the shock then experienced.
Although in the enemy’s possession, and paralyzed by the onerous exactions
then imposed, Southern Georgia did not wholly cease from offering
resistance. Colonels Twiggs, Few, and Jones, closely watched the British
outposts, cutting off supplies, and harrassing the garrisons whenever
opportunity occurred. Along the sea-coast were found private armed
vessels, in the service of the Revolutionists, engaged in the removal of
Rebel property in the interest of the owners, and in capturing craft in
the employ of the King.
Ascertaining that some British officers had accepted an invitation from
Mr. Thomas Young to dine with him at Belfast on the 4th of June, 1779,
Captain Spencer, commanding an American privateer, determined to surprise
and capture the party. For this purpose, proceeding up Midway river in
the evening, he landed between eight and nine o’clock at night, and,
with twelve of his men, entering the house, made Colonel Cruger and the
English officers at the table prisoners of war. Intending to carry off
some negroes, Captain Spencer kept his prisoners under guard until morning
when, having taken their paroles, he permitted them to return to Sunbury.
Colonel Cruger was soon after exchanged for Colonel McIntosh who had been
captured at Briar Creek.
On the 28th of the same month Major Baker, advancing toward Sunbury,
attacked and defeated a company of mounted recruits under Captain
Goldsmith at the White-house. Several of the enemy were killed and
wounded. Among the former was Lieutenant Gray, whose head was almost
severed from his body by a sabre cut delivered by Robert Sallett. Major
Baker entered Sunbury without opposition.[216]
It was by these, and kindred partizan exploits, that the British troops
at various detached posts were held in partial check, and the drooping
spirits of the oppressed inhabitants from time to time revived.
Upon the appearance of Count D’Estaing’s fleet off the coast of Georgia,
General Augustine Prevost concentrated as rapidly as he could within the
lines around Savannah the various detachments on duty in the vicinity.
That under Lieutenant Colonel Cruger, at Sunbury, was ordered in and
reached Savannah on the 10th of September, just two days prior to the
landing of the French troops at Beaulieu.
It does not lie within the compass of this sketch to recount the
operations of the allied armies under Count D’Estaing and General Lincoln
which culminated in that bloody and disastrous repulse on the morning of
the 9th of October, 1779. Suffice it to say that Sunbury had her patriotic
representatives among the troops commanded by General Lachlan McIntosh,
both during the progress of the siege and in the final assault. Two of
them at least attested with their lives their supreme devotion to the
patriot cause:—Major John Jones who had been for some years a resident of
Sunbury, and who was at the time an aid to General McIntosh; and Charles
Price, formerly a practising Attorney at Sunbury, and a young gentleman of
promise in his profession.[217]
Upon the repulse of the allied armies, and after the departure of Count
D’Estaing, and the retreat of General Lincoln into Carolina, the condition
of the sea-coast of Georgia was more pitiable than ever. Exasperated by
the formidable demonstration, and rendered more arrogant and exacting, the
Loyalists set out in every direction upon missions of insult, pillage,
and inhumanity. Plundering banditti roved about unrestrained, seizing
negroes, stock, furniture, wearing apparel, plate, jewels, and anything
they coveted. Children were severely beaten to compel a revelation of the
places where valuable property and money were concealed. In the language
of Captain McCall,[218] “The militia who had been under the protection of
the British, not allowing themselves to doubt of the success of the allied
forces, cheerfully participated in a measure which promised the recovery
of the State to the union. Future protection was not to be expected, and
nothing remained for them but the halter and confiscation from the British
or exile for themselves, and poverty and ill-treatment by an insolent
enemy for their wives and children who were ordered forthwith to depart
the country without the means for travelling or any other means but a
reliance on charity for subsistence on their way.
“The obscene language which was used, and personal insults which were
offered to the tender sex, soon rendered a residence in the country
insupportable. Having neither funds nor means of conveyance for themselves
and children, they were obliged to abandon the country under the most
deplorable circumstances and seek a dependent residence in the adjoining
States at the most inclement season of the year. Numbers whose former
condition enabled them to make their neighboring visits in carriages, were
obliged to travel on foot; many of them without shoes, through muddy roads
and deep swamps.”
Prominent among these raiding Tories was the renegade McGirth.
Under such depressing influences some portions of Liberty county were
almost depopulated. Deprived of a support from the back-country, and with
nothing to sustain commerce from abroad, Sunbury languished. Its decline,
inaugurated when Prevost and Cruger demonstrated the insecurity of the
position, and confirmed when Major Lane surrendered Fort Morris, was now
day by day accelerated. All who could possibly get away fled the place,
and those who remained led lives of disquietude, and penury. In the face
of these difficulties, however, Commodore Oliver Bowen, Captains Spencer,
Howell, Maxwell, Pray, Hardy, Lawson, Stiles, and others owning private
armed vessels, made frequent voyages along the coast, capturing parties
who were engaged in collecting provisions for the British troops in
Savannah and transporting them through the inland passages, removing the
property of the Whigs from the down-trodden districts, and occasionally
executing summary vengeance upon the crews of such craft as were known
to be employed upon missions of arson, robbery, and murder. Sometimes
sharply contested naval engagements occurred, such as that between Captain
Braddock with his two American gallies, and the brigantine, Dunmore,
Captain Caldeleugh, mounting twelve guns. The Dunmore had sailed from
Sunbury for Jamaica, and was attacked so soon as she crossed St. Catharine
bar, on the 18th of September, 1779.
On the 4th of June of this year Captain Howell entered the inlet of
Sunbury, and learned from a negro that he had been sent out to catch fish
for Mr. Kitchins, the Collector of the port, with whom a party of British
officers, both civil and military, were to dine that day,—it being the
King’s birthday. Although Mr. Kitchins’ house was within four hundred
yards of the fort,—now no longer called fort Morris, but named by its
captors fort George in honor of his majesty, King George III,—presuming
that the assembled guests on this festive occasion would indulge freely
and be found entirely off their guard, Captain Howell resolved upon their
capture. Ascending the river with muffled oars, and under cover of the
night, the Captain with twelve men passed the fort without attracting
its notice, and, landing at Sunbury, surrounded the house about eleven
o’clock and took the entire party, numbering twelve persons, prisoners.
Among the captured was Colonel Roger Kelsall, who had insulted and
ill-treated Captain Howell while he was a prisoner of war. Incensed at the
recollection of these indignities, Captain Howell was on the eve of taking
him out and drowning him in the river, when the prayers of the lady of the
house induced him to spare his life. Having exacted from his captives a
pledge that they would not again take up arms until regularly exchanged,
Captain Howell returned, without loss or molestation, to his privateer.
Upon the transfer of active operations to the Carolinas, Sunbury seems
to have been but feebly garrisoned by the enemy. At times, and for a
considerable portion of the year 1780, it appears doubtful whether any
British force was there stationed. The Royal army in Georgia was then so
much reduced that the garrison at Savannah did not exceed five hundred
men.[219]
The truth is, the available forces of the State had been so largely
withdrawn for service elsewhere, the entire coast region was so thoroughly
impoverished, and so many of the Whig families had moved away, that there
was scarcely any necessity for maintaining this post except as a matter of
convenience in keeping open the land communication between Savannah and
St. Augustine.
In this exhausted and comparatively quiet condition did matters remain
until the close of the war. We are not aware that any events occurred in
Sunbury, during the residue of the struggle, worthy of special mention or
calculated to rouse the inhabitants from that quietude born of want and
oppression, feebleness and present despair.
The successes of General Greene in Carolina enabled him to inaugurate
such measures for the relief of Georgia that, in order to escape from the
advancing and investing columns under General Wayne and Colonel Jackson,
the British garrison embarked on the 11th of July, 1783, and Savannah,
after having been more than four years and a half in the possession of the
enemy, was formally surrendered to the Patriots who had already virtually
achieved the independence of the thirteen Confederated States.
Colonel James Jackson was designated by General Wayne as the officer to
receive the surrender of the town;—a compliment well merited in view
of the patriotism and gallantry which had distinguished him during the
whole war, and in recognition of the recent active and hazardous service
performed by his command while operating in advance of the army of
occupation.
Georgia’s losses, particularly along her south-eastern borders, had been
very great. Her slave population, although quiet during the struggle, was
essentially demoralized and reduced. It is estimated that between the
12th and 25th of July, 1783, not less than five thousand negroes made
their escape from Savannah in sailing vessels. Upon the cessation of
hostilities the agricultural and commercial interests of the State were
in a most disastrous situation. Particularly was this the case in Liberty
county where negroes and property of every description had been, from time
to time during the continuance of the struggle, carried off, patriotic
citizens driven into exile, plantations burned and converted into waste
places, and the seeds of poverty and distress sown broadcast.
On the first Monday in August, 1783, Governor Martin convened the
Legislature in Savannah. Courts of Justice were re-established,
commissioners of confiscated estates appointed, and measures adopted for
the rehabilitation of the State. It was not, however, until the assembling
of the Constitutional Convention on the first Monday in January, 1784,
when Lyman Hall was appointed Governor, George Walton, Chief Justice;
Samuel Stirk, Attorney General; John Milton, Secretary of State; John
Martin, Treasurer, and Richard Call, Surveyor General, that the machinery
of reconstruction was fully set in motion.
With the incoming of peace many who had been absent in the army, and
others who had sought, in South Carolina and elsewhere, temporary refuge
from the devastations of the war, returned to their former homes in
Sunbury and on the adjacent plantations, and entered with becoming spirit
and energy upon the labor of rebuilding and repeopling the desolated
region. For a season it seemed as if the prosperity of this seaport would
be revived. Not a few of its inhabitants, however, having, during the
continuance of hostilities, formed settlements elsewhere, determined to
remain where they were, and so the ante bellum population was by no means
regained. Others had died, and others still in their places of retreat
found themselves so impoverished that they could not command the means
requisite for a removal.
The first session of the Superior Court of Liberty county was held at
Sunbury on the 18th of November, 1783,—their Honors, Chief Justice George
Walton, and Assistant Judge Benjamin Andrew, Senior, presiding. On the
20th, the Grand Jury being empanneled and sworn, the Chief Justice
delivered a charge in which,—having alluded to the fact that good order
and subordination had everywhere characterized the courts presided over
by him on this his first riding since the close of the war, and assured
them that nothing could so much contribute to confirm the blessings of
peace as an observance of the laws which had for their sole object the
general happiness of the people,—he spoke as follows: “I congratulate
you, gentlemen, on the news of a definitive treaty of peace by which our
freedom, sovereignty, and independence are secured. The war which produced
it was one of necessity on our part. That we were enabled to prosecute it
with firmness and perseverance to so glorious an issue, should be ascribed
to the protecting influence of the Great Disposer of events, and be a
subject of grateful praise and adoration. While the result of the contest
is so honourable and advantageous to us and to posterity, it is to be
lamented that those moral and religious duties so essential to the order
of society and the permanent happiness of mankind, have been too much
neglected. To recover them into practice, the life and conduct of every
good man should be a constant example. Your temples, which the profane
instruments of a tyrant laid in ashes, should be built again: for nothing
tends to harmonize the rude and unlearned organs of man more than frequent
meetings in the places of holy worship. Let the monument of your brave
and virtuous soldier and citizen,[220] which was ordered by Congress to
his memory, be erected on the same ground, that his virtues and the cause
in which he sacrificed his life may be seen together by your children and
remembered through distant ages.[221]
“In the course of the conflict with an enemy whose conduct was generally
marked with cruelty, the whole State has suffered undoubtedly more than
any in the Confederacy. The citizens of Liberty County, with others,
have drunk deep in the stream of distress. Remembering these things, we
should not lose sight of the value of the prize we have obtained. And now
that we are in full possession of our freedom, we should all unite in
our endeavours to benefit and perpetuate the system, that we may always
be happy at home and forever freed from the insults of petty tyrants
commissioned from abroad.”[222]
The grand jurors to whom this charge was delivered, were Joseph Law,
William Baker, Senior, James Maxwell, James Jeffries, John Mitchell,
Junior, Palmer Goulding, John Elliott, John Whitehead, William West,
Thomas Bradwell, William Peacock, Senior, Nathan Taylor, John Hardy,
William Baker, Junior, Nathaniel Saxton, James Powell, William Way, John
Myers, Senior, John Way, John Winn, Edward Way, Joseph Way, and William
Quarterman.
By an act approved the 26th of February, 1784, Sunbury was designated as
the place for holding the Superior and Inferior Courts of Liberty County.
They were there held until, by the act of 1797, Riceborough was made the
county seat.[223]
On the 10th of February, 1787, John Baker, John Hardy, and Alexander
McIver were, by the Legislature, appointed Commissioners for the port of
Sunbury, and were invested with powers similar to those conferred in and
by the law regulating the pilotage of Savannah.
For the better encouragement of trade, the Governor was authorized to
draw on the treasurer of the State in favor of the Commissioners for
the port of Sunbury for £100. The act further appointed a harbor and
tonnage master, and provided for the collection of tonnage duties, and an
additional sixpence to be levied and set apart for erecting lighthouses
and supporting pilots.
Commerce revived to a considerable extent, but the trade of Sunbury did
not reach that activity or volume which existed at the inception of the
Revolutionary war.
The Indians were still troublesome on occasions, coming from beyond the
Alatamaha in predatory bands and making short but sometimes cruel inroads
into the white settlements. On the 24th of October, 1787, a man was
scalped within eighteen miles of Sunbury, and on the 9th of the following
January, Rogers, Queeling, and Bennett were killed and scalped within
the limits of the Midway settlement, by a party of Indians. During this
year skirmishes occurred with the Indians at Phinholloway creek and at
Shepherd’s plantation. On the first of May the savages attacked Mr.
Girardeau’s plantation, carrying off some of his negroes, and wounding a
young man named Smallwood. Seven days afterwards they appeared at Colonel
Maybank’s plantation and captured a number of his slaves. At Sapelo a
young man was killed by them while milking his cow. On the 6th of June,
on the plantation of John Houstoun, Esq., McCormick was killed by the
Indians, his son scalped, and three of his daughters and a little boy
carried into captivity. In September, thirteen negroes were stolen by them
from Mr. Quarterman’s plantation. Captain Sumner and Lieutenant Burnley
pursued and overtook them in a swamp on Taylor’s creek. The Indians fled
and the negroes were recovered.[224]
The militia of the county was constantly on duty to repel these
incursions, and the citizens generally went armed to church to guard
against surprises. To assist the militia, the inhabitants of Liberty
County, at their own charge, placed and maintained in service for three
months “a company of Horsemen” under the command of Captain Elijah
Lewis. This troop acted as scouts. In September, 1788, a “Body of Light
Horse,”—consisting of a captain, two lieutenants, two sergeants, and forty
privates,—was raised for the defense of the county, and supported by the
voluntary subscriptions of the inhabitants. It was commanded by Captain
Rudolph, and subsequently by Lieutenant Whitehead. This company was paid
off and disbanded at Newport Bridge [afterwards called Riceborough] on
the 28th of March, 1789:—six privates and one sergeant being retained in
service to act as scouts.[225]
In these matters of home defense, and in the subsequent military service
which, rendered necessary in 1793, was continued until, by the treaty of
Colerain, a peace was concluded with the Indians, the citizens of Sunbury
bore their full part.
On the 8th of December, 1791, an act was adopted entitled “An act for
the better regulating of the town of Sunbury.”[226] Until its passage no
legislative provision had been made for the incorporation or government of
this town, then in the thirty-third year of its existence.
The general provisions of that act were as follows: On the second Monday
in January next ensuing, and on the second Monday in January in every
third year thereafter, all proprietors of lots or houses in the town of
Sunbury, of full age, were required to meet at the place of holding the
courts in said town and, under the direction of two or more justices
of the peace for the county of Liberty, proceed to ballot for five
persons,—each of whom should be the proprietor of a house or lot in
Sunbury, and an inhabitant thereof, and of full age,—who should be styled
“Commissioners of the Town of Sunbury.”
On the Monday next following such election it was made the duty of these
Commissioners, or a majority of them, to assemble and appoint a clerk and
such other officers as they might regard as proper and necessary for the
execution of the provisions of the act.
Full power was lodged with these Commissioners to make such by-laws
and regulations, and impose such pains, penalties, and forfeitures as
they might deem conducive to the good order and government of the town,
provided the same were not repugnant to the constitution and laws of the
State, and did not extend to life or member.
By the third section the Commissioners, or a majority of them, were
required “yearly and every year to make, lay, and assess a rate or
assessment upon all and every person or persons who do or shall inhabit,
hold, use, occupy, possess, or enjoy any lot, ground, house, building,
tenement, or hereditament within the limits of the town of Sunbury,
for raising such sum or sums of money as the said Commissioners or a
majority of them shall judge necessary for and towards carrying this act
into execution: and in case of a refusal or neglect to pay such rate or
assessment, the same shall be levied and recovered by warrant of distress
and sale of the offender’s goods, under the hands and seals of the said
Commissioners or a majority of them, or under the hand and seal of any
justice of the peace for the County of Liberty.”
The concluding section appointed such Commissioners superintendents of
pilotage for the port of Sunbury, and invested them with the power and
authority of Justices “so far as to keep the peace and preserve good order
in the said town.”
By the act of December 12th, 1804,[227] it was provided that the election
of Commissioners should occur annually on the first Monday of August, and
be held in the Sunbury Academy.
The Justices of the Peace of Liberty County having “neglected to hold an
election for Commissioners for the town of Sunbury, to the great injury
of said town,” the Legislature on the 2d of December, 1805,[228] directed
the Justices of the Inferior Court of Liberty County “to call an election
for that purpose, giving ten days’ notice of the same at the most public
place in the town.”
In case of failure, at any time thereafter, to elect Commissioners on the
day appointed, it was made the duty of the Inferior Court, when notified
of the fact, to advertise an election.
This is all the legislation appearing on the Statute books with reference
to the government of the town of Sunbury. These Commissioners continued
to hold office in a quiet way,—looking after the police and order of the
town,—until about the year 1825, when elections went by default, and such
of the citizens as remained, by common consent managed their premises each
after his own fashion, having the taller weeds in the streets and along
the Bay “chopped down” at irregular intervals, and permitting the cows
and the Bermuda grass to strive for the mastery in the lanes and upon the
common.
In 1801 Sunbury was described as “a seaport in Liberty County, favoured
with a safe and convenient harbour,” as being “a very pleasant, healthy
place,” and promising without doubt to become “a port of commercial
consequence.” “It is resorted to,” says Sibbald, “by many persons during
the Summer months; it has an Academy under an able instructor.”[229]
The most famous institution of learning in Southern Georgia, for many
years, was the SUNBURY ACADEMY. It was established by an act of the
Legislature assented to the first of February, 1788.[230] Abiel Holmes,
James Dunwody, John Elliott, Gideon Dowse, and Peter Winn were nominated
in the act as Commissioners. To them, or a majority of them, was authority
given to sell at public sale, and upon previous notice of thirty days in
one of the gazettes of the State, any confiscated property within the
county of Liberty to the amount of £1,000. This sum, when realized, was
to be by them expended in the construction of a building suitable for
the purposes of the Academy. Each Commissioner was required to execute
a bond, in favor of the Governor of Georgia, in the penalty of £1,000,
conditioned for the faithful performance of the trust. In 1803 the number
of Commissioners was increased to seven, but two years afterwards the
Legislature directed a return to the original number, which was five.[231]
As late as December 4th, 1811, the Legislature directed a grant and
conveyance to the Commissioners of Sunbury Academy, for the sole use and
benefit of that institution, of one-third of a tract of land adjoining
Sunbury, known as the Distillery Tract; the same having been confiscated
as the estate of Roger Kellsall, and being then the property of the State.
The administration of the affairs of this academy during the long course
of its valuable existence appears at all times to have been conducted by
its trustees with prudence and skill. Certain it is that until the marked
decadence of Sunbury this institution maintained an enviable reputation,
and attracted scholars in no inconsiderable numbers from various portions
of the State, and even from sister States. The teacher whose name is for
the longest period and most notably associated with the management of
this Academy, and who did more than all others to establish a standard of
scholarship and maintain rules of study and discipline unusual in that
period and among these peoples, was the Reverend Dr. William McWhir.
Great was the obligation conferred upon the youths of Southern Georgia,
for certainly two generations, by this competent instructor and rigid
disciplinarian. A native of Ireland, a graduate of Belfast College, and
licensed to preach by the Presbytery of that city, he came to America in
1783 and settled in Alexandria, Virginia. There, for ten years he was
the Principal of the Academy of which General Washington was a trustee.
He was frequently a guest at Mount Vernon, enjoying the hospitality of
that noted mansion. On one occasion while he was dining with the family,
General Washington, as his custom was, asked the usual blessing. Mrs.
Washington, somewhat surprised that Mr. McWhir had not been invited to do
this, remarked to General Washington, “You forgot that we had a clergyman
at table with us to-day.” “No, madam,” he replied, “I did not forget. I
desire clergymen, as well as all others, to see that I am not a graceless
man.”
About 1793 he removed to Sunbury where he became the Principal of the
Academy and, for nearly thirty years, made it the leading institution
of learning in this entire region. A thorough Greek, Latin, and English
scholar, an uncompromising observer of prescribed regulations, and a firm
believer in the virtue of the birch as freely applied in those days in the
English and Irish schools in which he had received his training, he was a
terror to all dolts and delinquents. To the studious and the ambitious,
he always proved himself a generous instructor, full of suggestion and
encouragement. The higher branches of mathematics were also taught; and,
as a preparatory school, this institution, under his guidance, had no
superior within the limits of the State. The average attendance was about
seventy. Pupils were attracted not only from Liberty, but also from the
adjacent counties of Chatham, Bryan, McIntosh, and Glynn. Some came from
even greater distances. Two generations sat at the feet of this venerable
preceptor. Fathers and sons in turn responded to his nod, and feared his
frown. Although
“A man severe he was, and stern to view,”
so impartial was he in the support of whatever was just and of good
report, and so competent and thorough as a teacher, that for more than a
quarter of a century his numerous pupils found in him, above all others,
their mentor, guide, and helper in the thorny paths of knowledge. Strongly
did he impress his character and influence upon the generations in which
he lived, and his name and acts are even now well remembered. The evening
of his days was spent, as inclination prompted, at the residences of his
old scholars, by whom a cordial welcome was always extended. That welcome
was recognized by him as peculiarly genuine and agreeable when accompanied
by a generous supply of buttermilk and a good glass of wine. The latter
might be dispensed with: a failure to provide the former was, in his eyes,
an unpardonable breach of hospitality, and materially impaired the comfort
of his sojourn, and the tranquility of the venerable guest.
Among the other teachers at this Academy may be mentioned Mr. James E.
Morris, the Rev. Mr. Lewis, the Rev. Mr. Shannon, the Rev. Mr. Thomas
Goulding, Uriah Wilcox, Rev. Mr. John Boggs, Captain William Hughes, Mr.
C. G. Lee, Rev. A. T. Holmes, Rev. S. G. Hillyer, Major John Winn, Mr. W.
T. Feay, and Mr. Oliver W. Stevens. The building—a large two story and a
half double wooden house, about sixty feet square and located in King’s
Square,—was pulled down and sold some time about the year 1842.
As early as 1797 it being manifest that the population of the town
was steadily decreasing, and that its commercial importance could not
be reëstablished, it was resolved by a large majority of the citizens
of Liberty that Sunbury,—the then seat of justice,—was inconveniently
situated for conducting the public business, and that North New Port
Bridge was the most eligible location for the Court House and Jail.
Matthew McAllister, Esq. had very generously offered to convey in fee
simple, for public uses, a piece of ground two hundred and thirty feet
in length and one hundred and fifty feet in width, situated near “the
Bridge,” without “price or consideration other than a wish on his part to
promote the growth of the town of Riceborough and benefit the inhabitants
thereof.” The middle and upper portions of the county had by this time the
controlling vote in public matters, and the Legislature was memorialized,
in opposition to the feebler will of the residents of Sunbury and its
vicinity, to authorize a removal of the seat of justice. Accordingly, on
the 1st of February, 1797, an act was passed appointing Thomas Stevens,
Daniel Stewart, Peter Winn, Joel Walker, and Henry Wood, Commissioners
to superintend the admeasurement of the land offered by Mr. McAllister,
receive the titles therefor, and erect thereon and keep in repair a Court
House and Jail for the County of Liberty. The act further provided that
after its passage “all courts and elections heretofore held, and all
public business heretofore transacted at said town of Sunbury, should be
held and transacted at the said town of Riceborough,” to which place the
County offices and records were to be removed.[232]
Riceborough was a more convenient point for shipping to Savannah the
rice, cotton, and agricultural products of the County, and was much more
central for the facile convocation of the citizens and the transaction
of public business. Sunbury, however, still remained the favorite resort
of the wealthier planters during the summer months, and maintained a
permanent population of perhaps four hundred. The hurricane of 1804, with
its wild devastations, begat a sense of insecurity in the minds of not a
few dwellers on the coast, and to some extent diminished the population of
the town. Soon afterwards, Bermuda grass began to overspread the bluff and
cover, with its deep mat, the streets and lanes. With its importation the
health of the place became sensibly affected. Chills and high grades of
bilious fever grew frequent in the fall of the year, and from time to time
removals occurred to healthier localities. Many citizens still clung to
their old homes rendered so pleasant by the refreshing sea-breezes and the
never-failing stores of the waters and the orchards, and Sunbury for many
years continued to be the abode of culture, hospitality, and ease. Then
came the hurricane of 1824 blowing down out-houses, bearing away fences,
bringing in the sea in great masses, and carrying fear to many, and even
death to some who resided at exposed points. The wild indigo disappeared
more rapidly than ever, and the dark Bermuda grass asserted its dominion
on every hand. From the numerous cattle accustomed to feed upon its common
and wander through its streets and lanes, and from the refuse of the
town, now no longer new, the original sandy soil became saturated with
fertilizing matter, and grew rich. Thence, under the heat of autumnal
suns, year by year rose exhalations annually more and more prejudicial to
health. Chills and fevers were more frequent, and Sunbury proved less and
less attractive as a summer resort. In 1829 Sherwood describes the town
as having “a flourishing academy, a house of worship for the Baptists,
twenty dwelling houses, two stores, three offices, and a population of one
hundred and fifty.”[233]
Ten years before, the Sunbury Female Asylum had been incorporated by
the Legislature of Georgia.[234] Supported by the generous charities of
kind-hearted women, it never enjoyed a vigorous existence, and after some
years suffered a languishing death.
Although by resolutions adopted on the 18th of November, 1812, and the
12th of November, 1813, the Legislature provided for stationing troops
in the counties of Bryan, Liberty, McIntosh, Glynn, and Camden, for the
protection of the sea-coast of Georgia, it does not appear that any
permanent detail was made for Sunbury. The fort, however, was again placed
in tolerable condition, the planters furnishing the labor requisite for
cleaning out the ditch, strengthening the parapet, and mounting such guns
as there remained and were deemed trustworthy. A few light pieces were
obtained from Savannah and added to the armament. Such gun-carriages
as were manufactured in the county were made by Jonathan Goulding, of
Taylor’s Creek. Not a shot, however, was fired from the fort during the
war of 1812-1815.
Although British vessels of war were constantly upon the coast, and
the smoke of merchantmen captured, robbed, and burnt by them was on
several occasions seen from Sunbury, the enemy never ascended Midway
river. A company composed of the citizens of the town and its vicinity,
numbering some forty men and commanded by the honorable John A. Cuthbert,
and another company consisting of the larger boys then students at the
Sunbury Academy, and under the command of Captain [afterwards Brigadier
General] Charles Floyd, were formed for local defense, drilled at regular
intervals, and held themselves in readiness to act as occasion might
require.
Besides these, there were then three volunteer companies in Liberty
County: the Liberty Independent Troop,—Captain Joseph Jones,—and two
infantry companies, commanded respectively by Captains Robert Quarterman
and John Winn. “The Guards,” under Captain Winn, were at one time
stationed at Hardwick, in Bryan County.
After his defeat at Point Peter, Captain Jones’ cavalry company and the
Rifle company of Captain Quarterman were ordered to the relief of Major
Messias. They were for some time on duty at Darien.
The militia of the County being well organized and efficiently officered,
was largely engaged in maintaining a careful watch along the coast. In
this service assistance was rendered by barges and cutters from the
American Navy, which patrolled Midway river and the adjacent inlets, and
not infrequently established their headquarters at Sunbury. The “Committee
of Safety” for Liberty County, during the war, consisted of General Daniel
Stewart, William Fleming, John Winn, John Stacy, John Elliott, John
Stevens, and Joseph Law. These gentlemen were authorized to take general
charge of the local defense, and to call upon the citizens of the County
for such labor as appeared necessary. In case of a refusal on the part of
any one to respond to the requisition, they were instructed to advertise
the name of such delinquent in the most frequented places, that he might
be held up to public contempt “for having disgraced the character of the
citizen and the patriot.”
This Committee assured General C. C. Pinckney of their ability and
willingness to repair and garrison the Fort at Sunbury, and made
requisition upon him for two 18-pounder guns and a suitable supply of
ammunition. In its remodeled condition, the fortification at Sunbury
received at the hands of the Committee of Safety a new name,—“Fort
Defence.” As being more easily defended, and requiring a smaller garrison,
General Pinckney suggested the erection of a tower for the protection of
Sunbury. This project, however, was never consummated.
The last vessel of any moment, which visited the town, was a Swedish brig
which, in 1814, came in and conveyed away a load of cotton. Mr. James
Holmes was the last Collector of the port; and for many years prior to
his death the office was a mere sinecure. Subsequently a Surveyor was
appointed by the General Government whose principal duty was to sign blank
reports and draw his quarterly salary. The last person who held this
office was the genial Colonel William Maxwell.
Until 1833, the Liberty Independent Troop,—the oldest volunteer
military organization within the limits of Georgia except the Chatham
Artillery,—celebrated the fourth of July each year at Sunbury. This
company was then the guest of the town, and the recipient of every
welcome and hospitality. The morning was spent in military exercises, in
contentions at the head, ring, and target, and the afternoon was crowned
with a public dinner replete with good cheer and patriotic speeches.
This annual parade was the event of the year in that quiet community. On
such occasions the U. S. Revenue Cutters stationed on the coast would
generally come up to the town by special invitation, and participate in
the festivities.
The summer retreats established at Jonesville, Flemington, Hinesville, and
Dorchester, compassed the depopulation of the old town. Without trade,
destitute of communications, and visited more and more each season with
fevers, Sunbury, for nearly thirty years, has ceased to exist save in
name. Its squares, lots, streets, and lanes have been converted into a
corn field. Even the bricks of the ancient chimneys have been carted away.
No sails whiten the blue waters of Midway river save those of a miserable
little craft employed by its owner in conveying terrapins to Savannah.
The old cemetery is so overgrown with trees and brambles that the graves
of the dead can scarcely be located after the most diligent search. Fort
Morris is enveloped in a wild growth of cedars and myrtle. Academy,
churches, market, billiard room, wharves, store-houses, residences, all
gone; only the bold Bermuda covered bluff and the beautiful river with
the green island slumbering in its embrace to remind us of this lost
town. A stranger pausing here would find no trace of the past once full
of life and importance, but now existent only in the skeleton memories
which redeem place and name from that oblivion which sooner or later
is the common lot of all things human. The same bold bluff,—the same
broad expanse of marshes stretching onward to the confines of the broad
Atlantic,—the same blue outlines of Colonel’s island and the Bryan
shore,—the same sea-washed beach of St. Catherine,—the same green island
dividing the river as it ebbs and flows with ever restless tide,—the
same soft sea-breezes,—the same bright skies,—the same sweet voices and
tranquil scene which nature gave and still perpetuates,—but all else how
changed! Truly “oblivion is not to be hired.” Blindly scattering her poppy
she deals with places as with men, and they become as though they had not
been. Strange that a town of such repute, and within the confines of a
young and prosperous commonwealth, should have so utterly faded from the
face of the earth!
“The garden with its arbor—gone,
And gone the orchard green;
A shattered chimney stands alone,
Possessor of the scene.”
It is with pleasurable sadness and filial reverence that we have
brought together these fragmentary memories of a place once the abode
of so much refinement, intelligence, hospitality and patriotism,—the
home of Lyman Hall and Button Gwinnett,—signers of the Declaration of
Independence,—of John Elliott and Alfred Cuthbert,—United States Senators
from Georgia,—and of John A. Cuthbert, member of Congress,—the birth-place
of William Law,—the accomplished lawyer, upright judge, and courtly
gentleman,—and of John E. Ward,—the eloquent advocate, speaker of the
House of Representatives, president of the Georgia Senate, and United
States Minister to China,—for some years the residence of Richard Howley
and Nathan Brownson, Governors of Georgia,—claiming intimate association
with the Reverend Moses Allen, Benjamin Baker, Colonels William and John
Baker, General Daniel Stewart, Colonel John McIntosh, and Major John
Jones, patriots all, who risked fortune and life in support of the primal
struggle for independence,—the scene of the professional labors of
Doctors Dunwoody, Alexander, and West,—and numbering among its citizens
clergymen, teachers, physicians, lawyers, merchants, and planters, whose
influence was appreciated in their day and generation, and whose names, if
here repeated, would challenge respect and veneration.
Nature survives, but nearly all the rest is shadow. In this humid soil so
fecund with vegetation, neglected gravestones,—covered with brambles and
overturned by envious forest trees,—“tell truth scarce forty years.”
V.
HARDWICK.
[Illustration: _Boundaries of the Town of Hardwick_
Resurveyed, in 1853 by William Hughes. County Surveyor of Liberty County.
Georgia.
_J. Bien, Photo. Lith. N. Y._]
During his tour of inspection in 1755, Governor Reynolds was so much
pleased with the natural advantages of the Great Ogeechee river, that he
selected a bluff upon its right bank, some fourteen miles from the sea, as
a location for a new town, which, in honor of his relative the Lord High
Chancellor of England, he named HARDWICK.
In his letter to the Board of Trade he says: “Hardwicke has a charming
situation, the winding of the river making it a peninsula; and it is the
only fit place for the capital.[235] There are many objections to this
town of Savannah being so, besides its being situated at the extremity
of the province, the shoalness of the river, and the great height of the
land, which is very inconvenient in the loading and unloading of ships.
Many lots have already been granted in Hardwicke, but only one house
is yet built there; and as the province is unable to be at the expence
of erecting the necessary public buildings, and the annual sum of £500
allowed for erecting and repairing public works, entertaining Indians,
and other incidental expenses being insufficient for all those purposes,
I am in hopes your Lordships will think proper to get a sufficient sum
allowed for erecting a Court-House, an Assembly-House, a Church, and a
Prison at Hardwick; which will be such an encouragement to private people
to build there as will soon make it fit for the seat of government to the
universal benefit of the province.”[236]
Upon the agitation of this project to transfer the capital of the colony
from Savannah to the Great Ogeechee,[237] twenty-seven lots were quickly
taken up in the town of Hardwick, and twenty-one thousand acres of land
in its vicinity were granted to various parties who favored and promised
to develop the enterprize. DeBrahm proposed that the place should be
fortified by the erection of three polygons, six hundred feet each,
and three detached bastions, to be armed with twenty-five cannon; and
suggested a garrison of one hundred and fifty men.[238]
The Home Government neglecting to furnish the necessary funds, and
Governor Reynolds being without the means requisite to compass the
contemplated change, his scheme of transferring the seat of government to
Hardwick was never consummated, and the town, deprived of its anticipated
dignity and importance, developed simply into a little trading village
adapted to the convenience of the few who there located and cultivated
lands in the vicinity.[239]
By DeBrahm[240] it was reckoned among the five sea-port towns of the
province. Although for many years a port of entry, its commerce was
wholly domestic and coastwise, being chiefly confined to the conveyance
of the products of the region, in small vessels, to Savannah, and the
transportation, in return, of such articles and supplies as were needed by
the planters.
By the act of the 15th of March, 1758,[241] dividing Georgia into eight
parishes, “the town of Hardwick and district of Ogechee on the south
side of the river Great Ogechee, extending north west up the said river
as far as the lower Indian trading path leading from Mount Pleasant, and
southward from the town of Hardwick as far as the swamp of James Dunham,
including the settlements on the north side of the north branches of the
river Midway, with the islands of Ossabaw, and from the head of the said
Dunham’s swamp in a north west line,” were declared a parish by the name
of ST. PHILIP.
In 1786[242] regulations were prescribed for the inspection of Tobacco at
a warehouse to be erected at Hardwick.
By an Act, assented to on the 19th of December, 1793,[243] a new County
was laid off from Chatham, and, in honor of a venerable patriot,[244] was
called Bryan.
The legislature which passed this Act constituted John Wereat, Robert
Holmes, James McGillivray, William Clark, Simmons Maxwell, Thomas Collier,
and Joseph Stiles, Commissioners for the town and commons of Hardwick,
with power, upon three months’ notice published in the Georgia Gazette,
to cause a survey to be made, as nearly as possible, in conformity to the
original plan of the place. This survey they were required to record in
the office of the Surveyor of Bryan County; and also in the office of the
Surveyor General of the State.[245]
By the second section of the Act these Commissioners were directed to sell
at public vendue, to the highest bidder, at such time and place as they
should deem best, and after published notice of six weeks in the Georgia
Gazette, any vacant lots in the town, and any lots which should have
become vested in the State of Georgia, reserving such only as might be
proper for public uses. The proceeds arising from these sales were to be
primarily applied to the erection of a Court House and Jail; and, if any
balance remained in the hands of the Commissioners, it was to be expended
in building an Academy. Within three months after the completion of such
sales these Commissioners were to make full return to the State Treasurer
of the number of lots sold, the price which each brought, and of the
application of the funds realized.
On the 23rd of December, 1791,[246] Hardwick was again designated, by
special legislative enactment, as one of the points in Georgia for the
erection of a public ware-house, and the inspection and shipment of
tobacco.
Eight years afterwards[247] the Justices of the Inferior Court of Bryan
County were authorized to lease, from time to time, and for a term not
exceeding seven years, the common of Hardwick and the glebe lands of the
County, and apply the rents and profits therefrom arising to the repair
and improvement of the County roads and bridges.
Although the Act of 1793 appointed Commissioners and provided for the
erection of a County Court House and Jail at Hardwick, it does not appear
that the contemplated buildings were ever constructed. But few terms of
the Superior Court were held at this place. As early as 1797 the General
Assembly of Georgia[248] authorized the Justices of the Inferior Court
of Bryan County to make permanent seat of the public buildings “at the
Cross-Roads about two miles from Ogechee bridge, or at any other place
within half a mile of the said Cross-Roads.” For this purpose they were
empowered to purchase land not exceeding two acres in extent.
There the public business was transacted, until, in 1814, the
Legislature[249] was induced to sanction the selection of a new site more
central in its location and more convenient of access to the inhabitants
who had multiplied in the upper portion of the County. Godhilf Smith,
Henry Sherman, James Martin, Zachariah Wells, and Luke Man were designated
as Commissioners to sell the old lot and buildings at the cross-roads, and
purchase in behalf of the County a parcel of ground at the new site to be
chosen at or near Mansfield, on the Canouchee river, and superintend the
erection thereon of new public buildings.
Thus, instead of becoming the Capital of Georgia, Hardwick soon ceased to
be even the County-town of Bryan County.
In Sibbald’s “Notes and Observations on the Pine Lands of Georgia,”[250]
&c., written in 1801, we find the following notice of this village:
“Hardwick, situated near the mouth of Ogeechee river in Bryan County,—the
navigation being good, and having an extensive river running through
a fertile country,—bids fair to arrive at some considerable degree of
Importance.” This promise was never fulfilled.
From the best information we can obtain we are persuaded that the
population of Hardwick probably, at no time, exceeded one hundred souls.
In 1824 Mr. Alexander Netherclift was the only resident; and Sherwood, in
his Gazetteer of the State of Georgia for 1829,[251] speaks of Hardwick
simply as “a cluster of houses in Bryan.” Among those who, from time to
time, were inhabitants of the place, may be mentioned Mr. Clark, Dr. Ward,
Mr. Mifflen, Dr. John Jenkins, Dr. Anthony Benezet, Dr. T. J. Charlton,
Dr. Louis Turner, and Mr. William Savage. The commerce of Hardwick was
never large, and was conducted by means of small craft plying between it
and Savannah. Sloops and schooners sufficed, with occasional trips, to
convey to a market the agricultural products of the neighborhood, and in
return to bring back plantation supplies.
After the removal of the public buildings from the Cross-Roads, and upon
the completion of the causeway through the swamp and of the bridge over
the Great Ogeechee river,—thereby establishing immediate and convenient
communication by land with Savannah,—the trade of Hardwick declined, and
its small stores,—abandoned of their keepers,—lapsed into decay.
The bluff upon which the town was located rises about fourteen feet
above the level of the Great Ogeechee, and is distant some two miles
from Genesis’ Point, to which Fort McAllister gave such heroic memories
during the Confederate struggle for independence. In front, stretching to
the north, is a point of land or peninsula. On the west the fresh waters
of the Great Ogeechee river lave the Hardwick bluff, and then treading
northward, and at right angles to the general course of the stream, by a
graceful bend to the east embrace the northern extremity of the peninsula.
Again turning to the south, the river reaches the eastern bluff of the
town, where, curving gently, it pursues its course, emptying through
Ossabaw sound into the Atlantic Ocean. This peninsula in front of the
town constitutes a dividing line between the fresh and brackish waters of
the river. At the point where it springs from the bluff it is less than a
quarter of a mile wide, although a journey of several miles is requisite
to complete its circuit by water.
From the bluff, backward toward the south, extends a high and dry plain
adapted for the location of a town. The surroundings, however, were
unhealthy during the Summer and Fall months, and there was nothing to
encourage population, or ensure the continuance and prosperity of the
settlement.
In 1866 a feeble effort was made to revive the town of Hardwick; and the
Georgia Legislature on the 21st of March of that year passed an act the
leading provisions of which are as follows:
After reciting the fact that the Commissioners of Hardwick had long
ago departed this life, that the site of the town and its common had
been regranted by the State to private individuals, and suggesting
the advisability that Hardwick should be reëstablished for the better
advancement of the industrial resources of the State, the Act appointed
Jacob M. Middleton, Thomas C. Arnold, William Patterson, Henry E. Smith,
and John W. Magill, Commissioners, and authorized them to acquire by
cession or purchase the town of Hardwick and its common “not to exceed
one hundred and fifty acres in extent.” Having obtained proper titles to
the land, these Commissioners, or a majority of them, were directed to
have the town of Hardwick surveyed and laid out into lots of such form and
dimensions as they should deem fit. Plans of the town were to be by them
filed in the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court of Bryan County,
and in the office of the Surveyor General of the State.
Full power was vested in them to sell the town lots, except such as they
might determine to reserve for public uses. Upon completion of the survey,
and upon filing plans of the town in accordance with the requirements of
the Act, the Commissioners were authorized to select one of their number
as an Intendant. Thereupon they were declared incorporated by the name
and style of the “Intendant and Commissioners of the town of Hardwicke,”
with power to make such by-laws and regulations for its good order and
government as were not repugnant to the constitution and laws of Georgia,
and of the United States.
Although fortified by this legislation, no action was taken by the
Commissioners, three of whom are now dead.
Hardwick exists only in name, and will probably never be vitalized into a
municipal entity.
VI.
PETERSBURG, JACKSONBOROUGH, FRANCISVILLE, &C., &C.
Near the close of a spring day in 1776 Mr. William Bartram, who, at the
request of Dr. Fothergill, of London, had been for some time carefully
studying the flora of Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, forded Broad river
just above its confluence with the Savannah, and became the guest of the
commanding officer at Fort James. This fort,—which he describes as “a
four-square stockade with saliant bastions at each angle, mounted with
a block-house, where are some swivel guns, one story higher than the
curtains which are pierced with loop-holes, breast-high, and defended by
small arms,”—was situated on an eminence in the forks of the Savannah and
Broad, equidistant from those rivers and from the extreme point of land
formed by their union.
Fort Charlotta was located about a mile below on the left bank of the
Savannah.
The stockade of Fort James was an acre in extent. Within this enclosure
were a substantial house for the commandant, officers’ quarters, and
barracks for the garrison, consisting of fifty rangers well mounted, and
armed each with a rifle, two dragoon pistols, a hanger, a powder horn, a
shot pouch, and a tomahawk.[252]
For a distance of two miles the peninsula above the fort was laid out
for a town called _Dartmouth_ in honor of the Earl who had exerted his
influence in procuring from the King a grant and special privileges in
favor of the _Indian Trading Company of Georgia_. For the defense of the
territory known as the _New Purchase_, had this fort been erected and
maintained.
Dartmouth never realized the expectations which, in its infancy, had
been formed for it. After a short and feeble existence it gave place to
Petersburg which, during the tobacco culture in Georgia, attracted to
itself a considerable population and was regarded as a place of no little
commercial importance.
For the convenience of the early settlers of Eastern-Middle Georgia,
Dionysius Oliver was, on the 3rd of February, 1786, authorized by the
Legislature[253] to erect a warehouse on his land, lying in the fork
between the Savannah and Broad rivers, for the inspection and storage of
tobacco. With the location of this warehouse dates the commencement of the
town of PETERSBURG.
The cultivation of tobacco was then enlisting the attention of many
planters. In the lower counties of the State the production of silk had
ceased to be remunerative, and the tillage and manipulation of indigo had
not yielded the profits anticipated.
Cotton was little grown. Many of the early inhabitants of the present
counties of Elbert, Lincoln, Wilkes, and Oglethorpe, came from Virginia
and brought with them not only a love for the weed, but a high
appreciation of tobacco as an article of prime commercial value. The
virgin lands of this region were found well adapted to its cultivation:
and, as a consequence, this plant grew rapidly into general favor and
proved the staple commodity or market crop of the farmers. As the existing
laws of the State forbade its exportation without previous inspection and
the payment of specified fees, it became necessary to establish public
warehouses at convenient points where the inspection and storage of this
article could be had. No hogshead or cask of tobacco could be shipped
which did not bear the stamp of some “lawful inspector.”[254] These
inspectors were required to give bond for the faithful performance of
their duties, and it was made obligatory upon them to attend continuously
at their respective warehouses from the first of October to the first
of August in each year. It was their duty carefully to inspect, weigh,
receipt for, and stamp each hogshead delivered at the warehouse. The
hogshead or cask was “not to exceed forty-nine inches in length, and
thirty-one inches in the raising head.” Its weight, when packed, was to be
not less than nine hundred and fifty pounds nett. It was not customary in
those primitive days to transport these hogsheads upon wagons. Vehicles of
all sorts were scarce. The hogshead or cask being made strong and tight,
and having been stoutly coopered, was furnished with a temporary axle and
shaft, to which a horse was attached. By this means was it trundled to
market or to the public warehouse. Water courses also were freely taken
advantage of for the conveyance of tobacco. The location of this public
warehouse at the confluence of the Broad and Savannah rivers proved most
acceptable to the tillers of the soil in this rich region, and speedily
attracted merchants who, there fixing their homes, became purchasers
of the tobacco when inspected, and in return sold to the planters such
supplies as they needed.
Petersburg soon assumed the proportions of a respectable village. It was
regularly laid off in town lots, with convenient streets intersecting
each other at right angles. The tobacco warehouses and shops were located
as near the point formed by the confluence of the rivers as the nature of
the ground and the liability to overflow would permit. The residences were
situated above, and occupied lots, each about three quarters of an acre in
extent.
In 1797 William Watkins secured from the Legislature[255] the right
to establish upon his lots,—35 and 37,—in the town of Petersburg, an
extensive warehouse for the inspection and storage of tobacco.
By an act[256] of the General Assembly assented to November 26th, 1802,
eighteen of the principal citizens of the town were incorporated into a
society “under the name and style of the Petersburg Union Society.” The
avowed objects of this association were the diffusion of knowledge and the
alleviation of want. It maintained an active existence for some years and
exerted a marked influence for good.
On the first of December, 1802,[257] Robert Thompson, Leroy Pope, Richard
Easter, Samuel Watkins, and John Ragland were appointed Commissioners
of the town of Petersburg, and were charged with its “better regulation
and government.” They were to hold office until the first Monday in
January, 1804. Then, and on the first Monday in every January thereafter,
the citizens entitled to vote for members of the General Assembly were
required to choose by ballot five persons to act as Commissioners of the
town. These Commissioners were invested “with full power and authority to
make such by-laws and regulations, and to inflict or impose such pains,
penalties, and forfeitures as in their judgment should be conducive to
the good order and government of the said town of Petersburg:” provided
such by-laws and regulations were not repugnant to the constitution and
laws of Georgia, and that the pains and penalties contemplated did not
extend to life or member.
Two years afterwards[258] the powers of these Commissioners were
materially enlarged, and they were directed to have a correct plan of the
town and commons made by the County Surveyor and recorded in the office of
the Clerk of the Superior Court of Elbert County.
Speaking of Petersburg in 1800, Mr. George Sibbald says:[259] “In point of
situation and commercial consequence it is second only to Augusta.... It
is a handsome, well built Town, and presents to the view of the astonished
traveller, a Town which has risen out of the Woods in a few years as if by
enchantment: It has two Warehouses for the Inspection of Tobacco.”
So long as the cultivation of tobacco engrossed the attention of the
planters in the circumjacent region, Petersburg continued to be a place
of considerable commercial importance. In the zenith of its prosperity
it contained a distributing post-office, a market place, a town-hall,
several churches, and not less than forty stores and warehouses. Its
population then has been estimated at between seven and eight hundred
souls. During the early part of the present century its trade was greater
than that of Augusta. It is claimed that goods of a superior quality
were then there sold, and in greater quantities, and at cheaper rates.
A large and lucrative business was transacted by the Petersburg boats,
which, along the line of the Savannah river, constituted the favorite
common carriers of passengers and goods. The existence of the town
was due to the concentration at this point of the tobacco crop of a
considerable area. The necessity for a rigid inspection of this product
forced the planters to bring it here. With Petersburg the presence of
this plant was emphatically the cause of population and the parent of
trade. After inspection, most of it was purchased on the spot by merchants
and speculators, who, from their full stores, supplied every need of
the producers. Thence was it shipped to Augusta and Savannah. So soon,
however, as the cotton plant began to assert its ascendency, the fortunes
of the town commenced to wane. Requiring no inspection, and capable of
easy shipment from any convenient point, the cotton bales were sent to
various bluffs along the river for transmission to the coast; and thus
it came to pass that with the discontinuance of the tobacco culture
Petersburg dwindled away and died. Sickness, and the attractions of new
and fertile fields in Alabama hastened its ruin:—and now sunken wells and
the mounds of fallen chimneys are all that attest the former existence of
the town. Its corporate limits are wholly included within the confines of
one well-ordered plantation; and extensive fields of corn and cotton have
obliterated all traces of warehouse, shop, town-hall, church, and dwelling.
Beneath the conserving shadows of tall trees which mark the outlines
of the old cemetery on the left bank of Broad river may still be seen
numerous graves, fresh and green when the town was replete with life, but
neglected and overgrown with brambles now that the village too is dead.
A few sleepy houses mark the spot where Lisbon,[260] with envious eye, in
former years viewed across Broad river the rising fortunes of Petersburg;
and, beyond the Savannah, narrowly scanned the efforts made by Vienna to
participate in the lucrative tobacco trade.
* * * * *
FEDERAL-TOWN, in Washington County, on the east bank of the Oconee, was
another of these Tobacco villages. It perished so soon as the cultivation
of cotton became general in the region, and its fort was no longer
required as a protection against the incursions of the Creeks.
* * * * *
Deprived of the vitalizing influence of the tobacco trade, Harrisburgh,
Edinborough, and other small towns designated as sites for the inspection
of this crop, speedily lapsed into disuse and decay.
Not infrequently a change in the location of public buildings dealt a
death-blow to villages of moderate size and feeble support. Take, for
example, the old town of JACKSONBOROUGH, confirmed as the county seat
of Screven county on the 15th of February, 1799.[261] As late as the
20th of December, 1823, an act[262] of the Legislature, passed for its
incorporation, designated the Court House as the centre of the town,
and extended the corporate limits a half mile in every direction. Five
years afterwards the “Jacksonborough Methodist Episcopal Church” was
incorporated.[263] The business of the county was, for some forty years
and more, mainly transacted at this place. Here, too, for some time,
resided Mr. John Abbot, whose work upon the Lepidopterous Insects of
Georgia is still highly prized by the students of Natural History. Upon
the removal of the public buildings to Sylvania in 1847, this place was
robbed of all importance. It was speedily abandoned; and now a few sherds
of common pottery scattered over the surface of the ground are all that is
left to remind the visitor that the tide of life was once here.
* * * * *
For more than a quarter of a century HARTFORD was a thriving town and the
capital of Pulaski county.[264] When in 1837[265] the Court House and jail
were transferred to Hawkinsville, ruin and decay overtook the place, and
at present there is little else save silence, desolation, and seashells on
the abandoned Ocmulgee bluff.
* * * * *
Alarmed at the murders committed by the Cherokees, the Friends forsook
their neat abodes above Augusta; and, for quite a century, no memory of
that primal settlement has been perpetuated in the neighborhood except by
the “QUAKER-SPRING.”
* * * * *
Military posts, maintained for temporary purposes, eventually fall
into disuse and live only in history. We have already seen how the
fortifications, erected for the protection of the southern frontier of
the Colony, when the Spanish war-cloud had vanished returned to the dust
from which they sprang. Rendered unnecessary by the overleaping tide of
population some were transferred to the outer verge, and these in turn
were abandoned upon the assured occupancy of the disputed territory.
_Fort Barrington_,—its mission ended,—long ago crumbled into nothingness
beside the yellow waters of the Alatamaha. By DeBrahm’s plan and
local memories is it preserved from utter oblivion. _Forts Early_,
_Gaines_, _Hawkins_, _James_, _Lawrence_, _Perry_, _Scott_, _Wayne_, and
_Wilkinson_,—and others, once potent for protection, and important in the
military operations of the State,—deserted alike by soldier and Indian
have utterly perished, and the tillers of the soil run their peaceful
furrows over areas once swept by their guns.
* * * * *
What subsequently became the site of the little town of FRANCISVILLE,
in Crawford County, was at first selected and used by Colonel Benjamin
Hawkins as a convenient locality for the transaction of the important
duties confided to him by Mr. Jefferson. Here, upon the left bank of the
Flint river, and on the line of what was afterwards the established route
between Macon and Columbus, he resided for a number of years: devoting his
energies to the execution of the trust devolved upon him as United States
Agent to the Creek Indians, striving to ameliorate their condition, and
by his judicious influence and management perpetuating amicable relations
between them and the whites. During his occupancy of the _Old Agency_,
as it came to be known, this place gave manifest indications of thrift
and activity. A considerable plantation was formed, with residence,
mills, work-shops, store-houses, and appurtenances requisite for comfort,
security, and the conduct of the business connected with this advanced
post. Hither the Indians repaired for supplies at stated intervals. With
them an extensive traffic was maintained. Aside from the performance of
his official duties, Colonel Hawkins devoted much attention to rearing
cattle and hogs. So extensive became his herd that at one time he is
said to have possessed not less than five hundred calves. The care of
these animals, and the details of the agency furnished employment for
many subordinates. The Flint river was utilized as a convenient dividing
line to separate the grown kine from their young. Across this stream
a substantial bridge was constructed, with a gate at either end. This
large stock of cattle and swine enabled him to entertain the Indians,—who
constantly visited him,—with abundant although primitive hospitality, and
materially assisted in perpetuating the kindly and wide-spread influence
which he exerted over them. While he lived, his cattle brand was rigidly
respected by the Red men; although, soon after his death, if report be
true, the Creeks,—oblivious of former obligations,—stole numbers of these
cows and hogs. Colonel Hawkins was a man of decided mark. To him does the
State of Georgia owe a debt of special gratitude. His Sketch of the Creek
Country[266] is a most valuable and interesting contribution. The French
General Moreau who, while in exile, was for some time his guest, was so
much impressed with his character and labors that he pronounced him one
of the most remarkable men he had met in America. “Under the faithful
proconsular sway of Col. Hawkins,” says Mr. Chappell,[267] “the Creek
Indians enjoyed for sixteen years, unbroken peace among themselves and
with their neighbors, and also whatsoever other blessings were possible to
the savage state, which it was his study gradually to ameliorate. To this
end he spared no pains. Much was done to initiate, instruct, and encourage
them in the lower and most indispensable parts of civilization. Pasturage
was brought into use, agriculture also, to some extent; both together
supplanting considerably among them their previous entire reliance for
food on hunting, fishing, and wild fruits. To the better and more secure
modes of obtaining a livelihood which civilization offers, he sought to
win them by example as well as by precept. He brought his slaves from
North Carolina, and, under the right conceded to his office, he opened
and cultivated a large plantation at the Agency on Flint river, making
immense crops of corn and other provisions. He also reared great herds
of cattle and swine, and having thus always abundance of meat and bread,
he was enabled to practice habitually towards the Indians a profuse,
though coarse hospitality and benevolence which gained their hearts and
bound them to him by ties as loyal and touching as those of old feudal
allegiance and devotion.”
Here Colonel Hawkins died in 1816, and was buried on the wooded bluff
overlooking the Flint river, a few hundred yards below the point of the
present crossing. No stone marks his grave. Among the scattered and
almost obliterated mounds in this lonely and forsaken cemetery is one
more prominent than the rest. It may designate the precise place of his
sepulture.
For several years after the death of this prominent man, who gave impulse
and direction to all about him, neglect and decay supervened. New life was
infused into the settlement, however, by Francis Bacon, of Massachusetts,
who, having married Jeffersonia,—the youngest daughter of Col.
Hawkins,—established himself upon the site of the _Old Agency_, about
1825, and founded the town of Francisville. Traffic with the surrounding
country was freely invited. Being a man of means, of intelligence, and of
enterprise, matters prospered. Other settlers, attracted by the prospect
for gain, purchased lots of about an acre in extent and located themselves
on both sides of the public road. Several dry goods and grocery stores,
a wagon manufactory, a blacksmith shop, a drug store, a church, a public
school, a tavern, and a post-office were in time built. From 1830 to 1850
the town had an average population of about one hundred whites. Much
business was here transacted.
Upon the completion of the railway running from Macon to Columbus the
resident merchants sought other and more convenient localities. Trade
languished, was then wholly diverted, and the town speedily disappeared.
Cotton fields now usurp the domain formerly occupied by the village.
The traveler from the south as he crosses the Flint river, ascends a long
rocky hill, and passes through a narrow lane on the top, discerns no
traces of this dead town. The _Old Agency_,—once so important in the early
days of this section,—exists only in tradition. _Francisville_, which
was builded upon its ruins, has fallen into nothingness. Tall trees and
a tangled undergrowth hide the graves of the dead, and there is little
else save silence and forgetfulness. Even the earth-mound which covers
the bones of the famous Colonel Benjamin Hawkins is incapable of positive
recognition, and rests under the common oblivion which has overtaken all.
VII.
MISCELLANEOUS TOWNS, PLANTATIONS, &C.
DeBrahm in his History of the Province of Georgia[268] furnishes us with
the following classification of the Towns in the Province:
“Besides the Metropolis of Savannah upon Savannah Stream, 17 miles from
the Sea,
Are 4 Sea Port Towns,
Hardwick upon Great Ogetchee Stream
Sunbury upon Midway Stream
Darian } upon Alatamaha Stream
Frederica }
4 Towns upon navigable fresh water streams
Brandon(a) upon little River, is navigable only to the Cataract
above Augusta, 200 miles from the Sea.
Augusta upon Savannah Stream 150 miles from the Sea.
Queensbury in the Fork of Lambert’s River and Great Ogetchee
Stream, 120 miles from the Sea.(b)
Ebenezer upon Savannah Stream 57 miles from the Sea.
(a) Since Gov. Wright’s Administration this Place (being
deserted in Gov’r Reynolds’ time by Edmond Grey) revived
again under the name of Wrightsborough inhabited by above 60
Families, and its Township contains about 200 Families all
Quakers; they are indulged by the Gov’r; that no Person, but
such as they approve, shall be permitted to settle among them.
(b) Queensbury is inhabited by about 70, and its Environs by
above 200 Families mostly Irish, from which it is generally
called the Irish Settlement.
4 Villages of which two are upon a navigable River,
Acton } upon Vernon River
Vernonburg }
Hampstead } upon the Head of Vernon River.”
Highgate }
The enumeration contained in “Histoire et Commerce des Colonies Angloises
dans l’Amerique Septentrionale,”[269] is essentially similar: “On partage
la Georgie en doux divisions. La Septentrionale comprend;
Savannah } Old-Ebenezer }
New-Ebenezer } Villes. Hampstead. }
Augusta } High-Gate. } Villages.
Abercorn. }
Skindwe }
La méridionale est moins peuplée, on n’y trouve que deux villes & un
village.
Frederica } Villes Barikmake } Village.”
New-Inverness }
Savannah and Augusta still exist and are justly reckoned among the most
opulent, beautiful, and attractive cities of the Empire State of the
South. In their locations the judgment of the early Colonists has been
sanctioned by the favorable experience of nearly a century and a half.
New Inverness has given place to Darien which, amid shifting fortunes, is
still supported by the lumber trade and the rice crop of the Alatamaha.
Of the memories of Frederica, Sunbury, New and Old Ebenezer, Bethany,
Hardwick, and Abercorn, we have already spoken; and it remains for us in
a few words to mention some smaller and insignificant towns, projected in
the early days of the Colony, which have long since lost their identity
amid the changes of population and the vicissitudes of ownership.
* * * * *
Brandon may be recognized as still maintaining a feeble existence in
the later village of Wrightsboro, although its original features and
peculiarities have encountered essential modifications. The founder of
Brandon was Edmund Grey, a pretending Quaker, who came from Virginia
with a number of followers. A man of strong will and marked influence,
he was nevertheless a pestilent fellow, and, during Governor Reynolds’
administration, was compelled to abandon his little town. He subsequently
formed a settlement on the neutral lands lying between the Alatamaha and
the St. Johns rivers. Thither flocked criminals, and debtors anxious to
escape the just demands of their creditors.[270]
Brandon on Little river was revived by Joseph Mattock, a Quaker, who
having obtained for himself and friends a grant of forty thousand acres of
land, called the town Wrightsboro in honor of Governor Sir James Wright,
who favored the establishment of the new colony. Mr. Mattock hospitably
entertained Mr. William Bartram in 1773, by whom he is described as a
public spirited man about seventy years of age, hearty, active, and
presiding as the chief magistrate of the settlement.[271] We recall no
special incidents in the history of this town. Its life was uneventful,
and at present it can scarcely claim even a nominal existence.
Between four and five miles southwest of Savannah, as its limits were at
first ascertained, and on rising ground, the village of HIGH-GATE was laid
out in 1733. Twelve families,—mostly French,—were here located. A mile
to the eastward the village of HAMPSTEAD was formed the same year, and
peopled by twelve families,—chiefly German. These settlers were engaged in
gardening, and their principal business was to supply the inhabitants of
Savannah with vegetables. Francis Moore, who visited these little towns in
the spring of 1736, describes them as being “pretty,” and says that the
“Planters are very forward, having built neat Huts and clear’d and planted
a great deal of Land.”
It would appear, however, that the prosperity of these villages was of
short duration. We are informed that in 1740 but two families remained at
High-gate, while Hampstead was entirely abandoned.[272]
* * * * *
For the protection of the few families to whom a home at THUNDERBOLT had
been assigned, a small fort was erected; but as early as 1737 it had
fallen into decay.
* * * * *
On the north-east point of SKIDOWAY ISLAND, ten families were placed
and a fort built in 1734. This attempt at colonization proved so
unsuccessful that four years afterwards the village had disappeared and
the fortification was in a deserted and ruinous condition.
A similar fatality attended the effort to plant a colony of ten families
near the light-house on TYBEE ISLAND the year after Savannah was settled.
* * * * *
So long as FORT ARGYLE was garrisoned, the ten freeholders who established
their plantations in its vicinity strove to render their cultivation
profitable: but, upon the withdrawal of the Rangers, eight of them
removed, and within a short time all signs of industry disappeared.
* * * * *
The labors of the Scottish colonists at JOSEPH’S TOWN were prosecuted but
a few years, and that settlement was quickly numbered among the failures
which occurred on every hand.
* * * * *
Near fort St. Andrew on the north-east extremity of Cumberland island grew
up the village of BARRIMACKÉ, which, about 1740, embraced some twenty-four
families. When General Oglethorpe’s regiment was withdrawn from the
southern frontier, this town speedily died, and for more than a century
all traces of its former existence have been entirely wanting.
Similar is the history of the German village of gardeners and fishermen
which stood near the southern end of the military road connecting
Frederica with St. Simons.
Of the meagre and uneventful lives of Acton and Vernonburgh on Vernon
river, of Goshen and Bethany near the Savannah, of Williamsburgh, and Fort
Barrington on the Alatamaha, and of Queensbury on the Great Ogeechee, we
feel scarce called upon to speak. Were we not dealing exclusively with
the _dead_ towns of Georgia, we might enumerate others which, in their
moribund condition and present dilapidation, perpetuate little more than
the names and sites which they at first received.
Of the more prominent plantations established at an early date we may
mention those of Colonel Cochran, Captain Gascoin, and Lieutenant Horton
on St. Simon’s island,—of Messrs. Carr and Carteret on the main,—of Sir
Francis Bathurst, Walter Augustine, Robert Williams, Patrick Tailfer,
Jacob Matthews, Mr. Cooksey, and Captain Watson on the Savannah river,—of
Mr. Houstoun on the Little Ogeechee,—of the Messrs. Sterling on the Great
Ogeechee river,—of Messrs. Noble Jones, Henry Parker, and John Fallowfield
on the Isle of Hope,—of Oxtead, the settlement of Mr. Thomas Causton
on Augustine creek,—of the Hermitage, the abode of Hugh Anderson,—of
Mr. Thomas Christie,—of the twenty German families sent over by Count
Zinzendorf,—of Mr. William Williamson,—of the Trustees, committed to the
care of William Bradley,—of Mr. Thomas Jones,—and of president William
Stephens at Bewlie. This last plantation consisted of a grant of five
hundred acres at the mouth of Vernon river, and was confirmed by General
Oglethorpe on the 19th of April, 1738. Of this place Mr. Stephens, on
the 21st of March, 1739, writes as follows: “I was now called upon to
give the Place a Name; and thereupon naturally revolving in my Thoughts
divers Places in my native Country, to try if I could find any that had
a Resemblance to this; I fancied that _Bewlie_, a Manor of his Grace the
Duke of _Montague_ in the _New Forest_, was not unlike it much as to its
Situation; and being on the Skirts of that Forest, had Plenty of large
Timber growing everywhere near; moreover a fine Arm of the Sea running
close by, which parts the _Isle of Wight_ from the main Land, and makes a
beautiful Prospect; from all which Tradition tells us it took its Name
and was antiently called _Beaulieu_, though now vulgarly _Bewlie_; only by
leaving out the _a_ in the first Syllable, and the _u_ in the end of the
last.”[273]
This is the true account of the original cession and _naming_ of that
attractive bluff rendered memorable in after years by the debarcation of
Count D’Estaing on the 12th of September, 1779, and by the erection of
formidable batteries for the protection of this approach to the city of
Savannah during the Confederate struggle for independence.
These plantations, and others which might be enumerated, have, _with a
single exception_, so far as our information extends, lost all traces
of primal occupancy and passed into the ownership of strangers. We
allude to the beautiful plantation of WORMSLOE on the Isle of Hope. Of
this interesting spot we have the following description penned by an
intelligent visitor who made his observations in 1743. He was then, in an
open boat, journeying towards Savannah from St. Catharine’s island, where
a short season had been spent in the companionship of the friendly Indians
who were dwellers there. “We arrived in somewhat more than two Days at the
_Narrows_ where there is a kind of _Manchecolas_ Fort for their Defence,
garrison’d from _Wormsloe_, where we soon arriv’d. It is the settlement of
Mr. _Jones_ 10 Miles S. E. of _Savannah_, and we could not help observing
as we passed, several very pretty Plantations.
“Wormsloe is one of the most agreeable Spots I ever saw, and the
Improvements of that ingenious Man are very extraordinary: He commands a
Company of Marines who are quarter’d in Huts near his House, which is also
a tolerable defensible Place with small Arms. From the House there is a
Vista of near three Miles cut thro’ the Woods to Mr. Whitefield’s Orphan
House, which has a very fine Effect on the Sight.”[274]
After concluding his visit to Savannah, this gentleman “set out in one of
Captain _Jones’s Scout Boats_ mann’d by a Party of his _Marine Company_,
and had a very pleasant Passage to Fort _Frederick_ on the _Island of Port
Royal_ in _South Carolina_.”[275]
Noble Jones, the proprietor of Wormsloe, was a Lieutenant commanding
thirty men,—volunteers and enlisted from Savannah,—in General Oglethorpe’s
expedition against St. Augustine. He was subsequently assigned to the
command of a scout and guard boat and a company of marines to watch the
“Narrows at Skedoway” and the “Inlets of the near adjoining Sea;” more
especially “those near him of Wassaw and Ussuybaw, lest any surprise
should happen.” His guard-boat was armed “with a small swivel Gun” in the
bow; and, in February, 1741, upon the appearance of a Spanish Privateer
on the coast, “One of our smartest Pieces of Cannon,” says Stephens,
“carrying a four Pound Ball, and well mounted,” was delivered to him to
assist in the coast defense.[276]
At Wormsloe may still be seen the remains of the Tabby Fortification
constructed by Captain Noble Jones. The outline of the work and its
general features are well preserved, and constitute, perhaps, the most
unique and interesting historical ruin on the Georgia coast.
With all its wealth of magnificent live-oaks, palmettoes, magnolias, and
cedars; with its quiet, gentle views, balmy airs, soft sunlight, inviting
repose, and pleasant traditions, this beautiful residence has at all
times remained in the possession and ownership of the descendants of the
original proprietor. Mr. G. W. J. DeRenne now guards the spot with all the
tender care and devotion of a most loyal son, and to the memories of the
past has added literary and cultivated associations in the present, which
impart new charms to the name of _Wormsloe_.
In this youthful country, so careless of and indifferent to the memories
of other days,—so ignorant of the value of monuments and the impressive
lessons of antiquity,—where no law of primogeniture encourages in the son
the conservation of the abode and heirlooms of his fathers,—where new
fields, cheap lands, and novel enterprises at remote points are luring
the loves of succeeding generations from the gardens which delighted,
the hoary oaks which sheltered, and the fertile fields which nourished
their ancestors,—where paternal estates are constantly alienated at
public and private sales,—landed acquisitions are placed at the mercy of
speculative strangers, and family treasures, established inheritances, and
old homesteads are seldom preserved. Thus it comes to pass that ancestral
graves lie neglected, abodes once noted for refinement, intelligence,
virtue, and hospitality lose their identity in the ownership of strangers,
and traditions worthy of transmission, are forgotten amid the selfish
engagements of an alien present.
The utilitarian may smile at this, the Republican rejoice in it as a
logical sequence of his cherished theories, and the disciples of Benjamin
Franklin pronounce in favor of such a condition of affairs, but there is
a deal of sadness about it nevertheless; and if this order of things
obtain in the coming years as it has in those which are gone, America will
continue to be largely a land without permanent homes,—a country devoid of
ancestral monuments.
In planting colonies where proper preliminary surveys have not been made,
and where the founders are compelled in large measure to grope their way
in selecting points for earliest occupancy, errors of judgement will
occur, and changes will be necessitated upon a more intimate acquaintance
with the territory and during the progress of development. Locations
at first deemed essential become subordinate to others, and sometimes
prove of no value. Mistakes are committed with regard to the importance
of streams, lines of communication, and the desirability of permanent
seats. Defensive positions are rendered useless as the tide of human
life advances. Barren fields are exchanged for others possessing greater
fertility. Diseases are developed at certain points which compel their
abandonment.
Settlements increase to the annihilation or absorption of others in their
vicinity. The possessions of the many become concentrated in the ownership
of the few. Towns perish for lack of support. Thus nothing is more common
than to observe, amid the changes consequent upon the development of new
plantations, a mortality among villages and settlements for which, at the
outset, growth and lasting prosperity were confidently anticipated.
“It hath been a great endangering to the health of some plantations,” says
Lord Bacon, “that they have built along the sea and rivers in marish and
unwholesome grounds; therefore though you begin there to avoid carriage
and other like discommodities, yet build still rather upwards from the
stream, than along.”
Had this precaution been observed, fewer towns would have died in Georgia.
After all, however, despite the admonitions of the wisest and the
foresight of the most experienced, we cannot hope to arrest the
potent influence of inherent decay, or to stay that unseen hand which
remorselessly worketh change and destruction among human habitations.
“Out upon Time! it will leave no more
Of the things to come than the things before!
Out upon Time! who forever will leave
But enough of the Past for the Future to grieve
O’er that which hath been, and o’er that which must be:
What we have seen, our sons shall see;
Remnants of things that have pass’d away,
Fragments of Stone rear’d by Creatures of Clay.”
FOOTNOTES
[1] “Antiquities of the Southern Indians, particularly of the Georgia
Tribes.” New York, 1873.
[2] History of the Province of Georgia, pp. 29, 30. Wormsloe, 1849.
[3] Extract of the Journals of Mr. Commissary VonReck, &c., p. 32. London,
1734.
[4] The Stone of Help.
[5] An Extract of the Journals of Mr. Commissary VonReck, &c., pp. 16, 18.
London, 1734.
[6] Moore’s Voyage to Georgia, p. 11. London, 1744.
[7] Strobel’s Saltzburgers and their Descendants, p. 87. Baltimore, 1855.
[8] Voyage to Georgia, &c., p. 23. London, 1741.
In reporting this change of location to the Trustees, Mr. Oglethorpe, on
the 13th of February, wrote as follows: “The people at Ebenezer are very
discontented and Mr. VonReck and they that come with him, refuse to settle
to the Southward. I was forced to go to Ebenezer to quiet things there and
have taken all the proceedings in writing. Finding the people were only
ignorant and obstinate, but without any ill intention, I consented to the
changing of their Town. They leave a sweet place where they had made great
improvements, to go into a wood.” Collections of the Georgia Historical
Society, vol. III, p. 13. Savannah, 1873.
Compare Harris’ Biographical Memorials of Oglethorpe, pp. 130, 132.
Boston, 1841. Wright’s Memoir of Oglethorpe, p. 113. London, 1867.
[9] Strobel’s Saltzburgers and their Descendants, p. 89. Baltimore, 1855.
[10] Reverend Mr. John Wesley, writing in 1737, records in his Journal
the following description of this abandoned settlement: “_Old Ebenezer_,
where the _Saltzburghers_ settled at first, lies twenty-five miles west
of _Savannah_. A small Creek runs by the Town, down to the River, and
many Brooks run between the little Hills: But the soil is a hungry,
barren sand; and upon any sudden Shower, the Brooks rise several
Feet perpendicular, and overflow whatever is near them. Since the
_Saltzburghers_ remov’d, two _English_ Families have been placed there;
but these too say, _That the Land is good for nothing; and that the Creek
is of little Use; it being by Water twenty miles to the River; and the
Water generally so low in Summer-time, that a Boat cannot come within six
or seven miles of the Town_.” An Extract of the Rev. Mr. John Wesley’s
Journal, &c., &c., pp. 59, 60. Bristol, n. d.
[11] Journal of the Proceedings in Georgia, vol. I, pp. 226, 227. London,
1742.
In 1740 this Cow-Pen was still in existence at Old Ebenezer, the Trustees
having a great number of cattle there. “But,” continues the narrative,
“they were much neglected, there not being Horses or Men sufficient to
drive up the young and outlying cattle.” A State of the Province attested
upon Oath in the Court of Savannah, November 10, 1740, p. 9. London, 1742.
Compare An Impartial Enquiry into the State and Utility of the Province of
Georgia, p. 48. London, 1741. Harris’ Complete Collection of Voyages and
Travels, &c., vol. II, p. 337. London, 1748.
[12] Strobel’s Saltzburgers and their Descendants, p. 91. Baltimore, 1855.
[13] History of the Province of Georgia, &c., Plan facing p. 24. Wormsloe,
1849.
[14] An Impartial Enquiry into the State and Utility of the Province of
Georgia, p. 47. London, 1741.
Another contemporaneous account is almost identical; “On the _Georgia_
side [of the Savannah river], twelve miles from _Purysburg_, is the Town
of _Ebenezer_, which thrives very much; there are very good Houses built
for each of the Ministers, and an Orphan House; and they have partly
framed Houses and partly Huts, neatly built, and formed into regular
streets; they have a great deal of Cattle and Corn-Ground, so that they
sell Provisions at _Savannah_; for they raise much more than they can
consume.” A State of the Province of Georgia attested upon Oath in the
Court of Savannah, November 10, 1740, p. 5, London, 1742. See also idem,
pp. 29, 31. “An Impartial Enquiry into the State and Utility of the
Province of Georgia,” p. 13. London, 1741.
Compare Harris’ Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels, &c., vol. II,
p. 337. London, 1748.
The Rev. Mr. John Wesley’s description is as follows: “_New Ebenezer_,
to which the _Saltzburghers_ removed in _March, 1736_, lies six Miles
Eastward from the _Old_, on a high bluff, near the _Savannah_ River. Here
are some Tracts of Fruitful Land, tho’ the greatest Part of that adjoining
to the Town, is Pine-barren. The Huts, 60 in number, are neatly and
regularly built; the little Piece of Ground allotted to each for a Garden,
is everywhere put to the best Use, no spot being left unplanted. Nay,
even one of the main Streets, being one more than was as yet wanted, bore
them this year a crop of _Indian Corn_.” An Extract of the Rev. Mr. John
Wesley’s Journal, &c., p. 60. Bristol, n. d.
[15] An Impartial Enquiry into the State and Utility of the Province of
Georgia, pp. 69, 72. London, 1741.
Compare A State of the Province of Georgia attested upon Oath, &c., pp. 5,
29, 30, 32. London, 1742. An Account showing the Progress of the Colony of
Georgia in America, &c., pp. 66, 69. London, 1741.
[16] See McCall’s History of Georgia, vol. I, p. 199. Savannah, 1811.
[17] See Strobel’s Saltzburgers and their Descendants, p. 123. Baltimore,
1855.
[18] An Account showing the Progress of the Colony of Georgia, &c., pp.
39, 40. London, 1741.
[19] Chapter V, pp. 55, 59. London, 1733.
[20] An Account showing the Progress of the Colony of Georgia in America,
p. 13. London, 1741.
[21] Martyn’s Reasons for establishing the Colony of Georgia with regard
to the Trade of Great Britain, p. 9. London, 1733.
[22] An Account showing the Progress of the Colony of Georgia in America,
&c., p. 32. London, 1741.
[23] Gentleman’s Magazine for 1755, p. 185. London Magazine for 1755, p.
186.
[24] Silk Culture in Georgia, by Dr. Stevens. Harris’ Memorials of
Oglethorpe, pp. 410, 411. Boston, 1841.
[25] History of the Province of Georgia, &c., p. 20. Wormsloe, 1749.
[26] History of the Province of Georgia, &c., pp. 21, 22. Wormsloe, 1849.
[27] The Saltzburgers and their Descendants, &c., p. 149. Baltimore, 1855.
[28] History of the Province of Georgia, &c., p. 24. Wormsloe, 1849.
[29] Marbury and Crawford’s Digest, pp. 150, 151.
Under the Writs of Election issued by Sir James Wright in 1761, the
following gentlemen were returned as members from St. Matthew’s Parish:
Abercorn and Goshen—William Francis.
Ebenezer—William Ewen, N. W. Jones, and James de Veaux.
McCall’s History of Georgia, vol I, p. 285.
[30] Watkins’ Digest, p. 8.
[31] See Strobel’s Saltzburgers and their Descendants, p. 194. Baltimore,
1855.
[32] In 1776, Ebenezer had been partially fortified by the Revolutionists.
See letter of Sir James Wright to Lord George Germain under date March 20,
1776. Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol. III, p. 239.
Savannah, 1873.
[33] Strobel’s Saltzburgers and their Descendants, pp. 203, 207.
Baltimore, 1855.
[34] Ebenezer is not mentioned among the principal towns of Georgia
enumerated by George Sibbald in 1801.
See “Notes and Observations on the Pine Lands of Georgia,” &c., pp. 58 to
66. Augusta, 1801.
[35] Watkins’ Digest, p. 298.
[36] Marbury and Crawford’s Digest, pp. 154, 155.
[37] Marbury and Crawford’s Digest, p. 158.
[38] See Strobel’s Saltzburgers and their Descendants, p. 234. Baltimore,
1855.
[39] Rev’d P. A. Strobel.
[40] Reasons for Establishing the Colony of Georgia with regard to the
Trade of Great Britain, &c., pp. 38-41. London, 1733.
[41] A New and Accurate Account of the Provinces of South Carolina and
Georgia, &c. London, 1733.
[42] See Copy of Charter, McCall’s History of Georgia, Vol. I, p. 329
et seq.: Savannah, 1811. Reasons for establishing the Colony of Georgia,
&c., p. 29. London, 1733. A State of the Province of Georgia attested
upon oath, &c., p. 1. London, 1742.
[43] See Letter of Gen’l Oglethorpe to the Trustees under date February
27th, 1735-6. Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, Vol. III, p.
15. Savannah, 1873.
[44] A Voyage to Georgia, begun in the year 1735 by Francis Moore, p. 17.
London, 1744.
Compare Harris’ Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. II,
p. 330. London, 1748. An Account Showing the Progress of the Colony of
Georgia, &c., p. 20. London, 1741.
[45] Moore’s Voyage to Georgia, &c., p. 44. London, 1744.
[46] Named by Oglethorpe after _Frederick_, Prince of Wales.
[47] These are “long flat-bottomed boats carrying from 20 to 35 Tons. They
have a kind of a Forecastle and a Cabbin; but the rest open, and no Deck.
They have two Masts, which they can strike, and Sails like Schooners. They
row generally with two Oars only.”
[48] The Aborigines cleared considerable spaces on the Sea Islands along
the Georgia Coast, planting them with maize, pumpkins, gourds, beans,
melons, &c. These indications of early agriculture were not infrequent in
various portions of the State. The richest localities were selected by the
Aborigines for cultivation: their principal towns and maize-fields being
generally found in rich valleys where a generous soil yielded, with least
labor, the most remunerative harvest. The trees were killed by girdling
them by means of stone axes. They then decayed and fell piecemeal. So old
were these Indian fields that in them no traces appeared of the roots and
stumps even of the most durable trees. The occupancy of these islands by
the Red race was general and of long duration. Prominent bluffs are to
this day marked by their refuse heaps, composed chiefly of the shells
of oysters, conchs, and clams, and the bones of the animals, reptiles,
birds, and fishes upon which they subsisted, intermingled with sherds of
pottery, and broken articles, and relics of various sorts. Many localities
are hoary with ancient shell-mounds, while sepulchral tumuli of earth are
not infrequent. Besides the primitive population permanently domiciled on
these islands, at certain seasons of the year, large numbers of Indians
from the main here congregated and spent much time in hunting and fishing.
[49] An Impartial Enquiry into the State and Utility of the Province of
Georgia, pp. 40 and 41. London, 1741.
[50] Buffalo and quail were found on the Main.
[51] State of the Province of Georgia attested upon Oath, &c., p. 25.
London, 1742.
Compare Affidavits of Lieut. Raymond Demare, Hugh MacKay, and John
Cuthbert, to same effect. An Impartial Enquiry into the State and Utility
of the Province of Georgia, pp. 61, 63, 64. London, 1741.
[52] Francis Moore, Voyage to Georgia, &c., p. 57. London, 1744.
[53] Moore says April. See A Voyage to Georgia, p. 63. London, 1744.
[54] Oglethorpe’s letter to the Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina.
Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol. III, p. 28. Savannah,
1873.
[55] This island was named _Wissoo_ by the Indians, signifying
_Sassafras_. It was called Cumberland in memory of his Royal Highness,
the Duke of Cumberland, at the suggestion of Toonahowi,—nephew of
Tomo-chi-chi,—to whom, during his visit to England, the Duke had given a
gold repeating watch, that he “might know how the time went.” “We will
remember him at all times,” said Toonahowi, “and therefore will give this
Island this name.”
[56] Called by the Spaniards _Santa Maria_.
[57] Moore’s Voyage to Georgia, p. 71. London, 1744.
[58] On the South-west side of Cumberland island, and upon a high neck
of land commanding the water approaches each way, Fort St. Andrews was
subsequently built. “Its walls were of wood, filled in with earth. Round
about were a ditch and a palisade.” Wesley’s Journal, p. 61. Bristol, n. d.
[59] See Wright’s Memoir of Gen’l James Oglethorpe, p. 167. London, 1867.
[60] See A Journal of the Proceedings in Georgia, &c., vol. I, p. 98.
London, 1742.
[61] See one of the Memorials of the Trustees in “An Account Shewing the
Progress of the Colony of Georgia,” &c., p. 58. London, 1741.
[62] See Wright’s Memoir of Oglethorpe, p. 191. London, 1867.
[63] See Harris’ Memorials of Oglethorpe, pp. 188, 189. Boston, 1841.
Wright’s Memoir of Oglethorpe, p. 191. London, 1867. Gentleman’s Magazine,
vol. VIII, p. 164.
[64] Stephens’ Journal of Proceedings, vol. I, pp. 294, 295. London, 1742.
[65] Gentleman’s Magazine for January, 1739, p. 22.
[66] Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol. III, p. 48.
Savannah, 1873.
[67] Sketch of the Life of General James Oglethorpe. Collections of the
Georgia Historical Society, vol. I, p. 261. Savannah, 1840.
[68] Vol. II, p. 332. London, 1748.
[69] Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol. III, p. 62.
Savannah, 1873.
[70] Idem, p. 94.
[71] See Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol. III, pp. 97,
101. Savannah, 1873.
[72] Compare Harris’ Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. II,
p. 337. London, 1748.
[73] Compare Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. IX, pp. 214, 215. Stephens’
Journal of Proceedings, vol. I, p. 326. London, 1742. McCall’s History of
Georgia, vol. I, pp. 124, 125. Savannah, 1811. Hewitt’s Historical Account
of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia,
vol. II, pp. 70, 71. London, 1779. Stevens’ History of Georgia, vol. I,
pp. 154, 155. New York, 1847. Wright’s Memoir of Oglethorpe, pp. 204, 205.
London, 1867. Harris’ Biographical Memorials of Oglethorpe, pp. 194, 195,
369. Boston, 1841.
[74] See McCall’s History of Georgia, vol. I, pp. 125, 126. Savannah, 1811.
[75] Hewitt’s Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South
Carolina and Georgia, vol. II, pp. 72-74. London, 1779.
[76] Sketch of the Life of General James Oglethorpe. Collections of the
Georgia Historical Society, vol. I, p. 263. Savannah, 1840.
[77] See Stephens’ Journal of Proceedings, etc., vol. II, p. 153.
London, 1742. Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. X, p. 129. Historical Sketch of
Tomo-chi-chi, C. C. Jones, Jr., p. 120, _et seq._ Albany, 1868.
For the precise location of Tomo-chi-chi’s grave, see Plan of the City of
Savannah and its Fortifications by John Gerar William DeBrahm, History of
the Province of Georgia, etc., p. 36. Wormsloe, 1849.
[78] See Jones’ Historical Sketch of Tomo-chi-chi, pp. 107, 108. Albany,
1868. Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. XII, p. 497. Harris’ Memorials of
Oglethorpe, pp. 256, 257. Boston, 1841.
[79] In the account of this transaction contained in the Gentleman’s
Magazine for 1740, (volume X, page 129,) it is stated that after they were
shot, the heads of these two Highlanders were cut off and their bodies
cruelly mangled by the enemy. The perpetrators of this outrage consisted
of Spaniards, negroes, and Indians. See Letter of General Oglethorpe to
the Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, dated November 16th, 1739. “The
Spanish Hireling detected,” etc., pp. 50, 51. London, 1743.
[80] For full details of these incursions see letter of Gen. Oglethorpe
to Col. Stephens, dated Frederica, 1st February, 1740. Collections of the
Georgia Historical Society, vol. III, pp. 105-108. Savannah, 1873.
[81] In a letter dated Frederica, December 29th, 1739, General Oglethorpe
explained to the Carolina authorities his designs against St. Augustine,
and the assistance he desired to receive from that Province. A requisition
was therein made for twelve 18-pounder guns with two hundred rounds of
ammunition for each piece, one mortar with proper complement of powder
and bombs, eight hundred pioneers, either negroes or white men, and the
requisite tools “such as spades, hoes, axes, and hatchets to dig trenches,
make gabelines, and fascines.” Vessels and boats sufficient to transport
the artillery, men, and provisions, and six thousand bushels of corn or
rice to feed the thousand Indians who were to unite in the expedition,
were also demanded. He also desired that as many horsemen as could be
collected, should, under the guidance of Mr. McPherson or Mr. Jones, cross
the Savannah and rendezvous at the ferry on the “Alata” river, from which
point they would be conducted into “Spanish Florida.” It was suggested
that fifty good horsemen might be raised at “Purrisburg,” and that
four months’ provisions for four hundred men of his regiment should be
contributed, and also boats sufficient to transport them. Of artillery on
hand the General reported thirty-six coehorns and about eighteen hundred
shells. In addition to the four hundred men drawn from his regiment,
and the Indians whom he had engaged, he expected to be able to arm and
utilize for the expedition about two hundred men of the Georgia Colony, if
arrangements could be made for paying and feeding them. For this letter in
full, see Harris’ Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. II, pp.
338, 339. London, 1748.
See also “The Spanish Hireling detected,” etc., pp. 52-57. London, 1743.
[82] See Harris’ Memorials of Oglethorpe, pp. 378, 380. Boston, 1841.
[83] The object of this fort was to guard the passage of the St. Johns
river and maintain communication with St. Marks and Pensacola. It was a
place of some strength, and the traces of the earth-works there thrown up
may still be seen about a fourth of a mile north of the termination of the
Bellamy road. Fairbanks’ History and Antiquities of St. Augustine, pp.
144, 145. New York, 1858.
[84] This work had been erected by Don Diego de Spinosa upon his own
estate. Its remains, with one or two cannon, are still visible. Idem, p.
144.
[85] See Letter of General Oglethorpe to the Lieutenant Governor of South
Carolina, under date December 29, 1739. “The Spanish Hireling detected,”
etc., pp. 57, 58. London, 1743. Collections of the Georgia Historical
Society, vol. III, pp. 108, 109. Savannah, 1873.
[86] “Spanish Hireling detected,” etc., pp. 59-61. London, 1743.
[87] Of South Carolina.
[88] This was an out-post on the North river, about two miles north of
St. Augustine. A fortified line,—a considerable portion of which may now
be traced,—extended across from the stoccades on the St. Sebastian to
Fort Moosa. A communication by a tide creek existed through the marshes,
between the Castle at St. Augustine and Fort Moosa. Fairbanks’ History and
Antiquities of St. Augustine, p. 144. New York, 1858.
[89] The main battery on Anastasia island, called the Poza, was armed with
four eighteen pounders and one nine pounder. Two eighteen pounders were
mounted on the point of the wood of the island. The remains of the Poza
battery are still to be seen, almost as distinctly marked as on the day of
its erection. Four mortars and forty cohorns were employed in the siege.
See Fairbanks’ History and Antiquities of St. Augustine, p. 146. New York,
1868.
[90] The light guns, from their long range, caused trifling effect upon
the strong walls of the castle. When struck, they received the balls in
their spongy, infrangible embrace, and sustained comparatively little
injury. The marks of their impact may be noted to this day.
[91] Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South
Carolina and Georgia, vol. II, p. 81. London, 1779.
[92] Stephens says, ... Most of the gay Volunteers run away by small
Parties, basely and cowardly, as they could get Boats to carry them off
during the Time of greatest Action; and Capt. _Bull_, (a son of the
Lieutenant-Governor) who had the Command of a Company in that Regiment,
most scandalously deserted his Post when upon Duty, and not staying to
be relieved regularly, made his Flight privately, carrying off four Men
of his Guard with him, and escaped to _Charles Town_; for which he ought
in Justice to have been tried as a Deserter; but he was well received at
home. Journal of Proceedings, &c., vol. II, p. 462. London, 1742.
Compare Ramsay’s History of South Carolina, vol. I, p. 143. Charleston,
1809.
[93] Wright’s Memoir of General James Oglethorpe, p. 254. London, 1867.
[94] See Harris’ Memorials of Oglethorpe, pp. 239, 240. Boston, 1841,
quoting from the Gentleman’s Magazine.
[95] See “An Impartial Account of the late Expedition against St.
Augustine under General Oglethorpe,” &c., London, 1742, which called forth
“The Spanish Hireling detected,” &c., London, 1743.
[96] For fuller account of this demonstration against St. Augustine see
Harris’ “Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels,” &c., pp. 339, 340.
London, 1748. “An Impartial Account of the late Expedition against St.
Augustine,” &c. London, 1742. “The Spanish Hireling detected,” &c. London,
1743. Stephens’ “Journal of Proceedings,” &c., vol. II, pp. 438, 444-448,
461 et aliter. London, 1742. Hewitt’s “Historical Account of the Rise
and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia,” vol. II,
chap. viii, pp. 65-82. London, 1770. McCall’s “History of Georgia,” vol.
I, pp. 143-151. Savannah, 1811. Stevens’ “History of Georgia,” vol. I,
pp. 167-179. New York, 1847. Spalding’s “Sketch of the Life of General
James Oglethorpe,” Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol.
I, pp. 265-272. Savannah, 1840. Harris’ “Biographical Memorials of James
Oglethorpe,” pp. 222-242. Boston, 1841. Wright’s “Memoir of General James
Oglethorpe,” &c., pp. 235-255. London, 1867. Ramsay’s “History of South
Carolina,” vol. I, pp. 140-144. Charleston, 1809, &c., &c., &c. Fairbanks’
History and Antiquities of St. Augustine, pp. 141-152. New York, 1858.
[97] Stephens’ “Journal of Proceedings,” &c., vol. II, pp. 467-468,
494-495. London, 1742.
[98] Idem, p. 496.
[99] Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol. I, p. 273.
Savannah, 1840.
[100] Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol. I, p. 274.
Savannah, 1840. Bancroft’s History of the United States, vol. III, p. 434.
Boston, 1852.
In this estimate may properly be included such officers and men of
Oglethorpe’s regiment as were there stationed.
[101] Page 106. Charles-Town, South Carolina, 1741.
[102] Pages 51 and 52. London, 1741.
Compare “A State of the Province of Georgia attested upon Oath,” &c.,
p. 11. London, 1742. “An Account Shewing the Progress of the Colony
of Georgia,” &c., p. 36. London, 1741. Wright’s Memoir of Gen’l James
Oglethorpe, pp. 263, 264. London, 1867.
[103] See an Impartial Enquiry into the State and Utility of the Province
of Georgia, &c., p. 53. London, 1743. Wright’s Memoir of Oglethorpe, p.
264. London, 1867.
[104] Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol. I, p. 258.
Savannah, 1840.
[105] London, 1741.
[106] London, 1742.
[107] London, 1743.
[108] A Brief Account of the Causes that have retarded the Progress of the
Colony of Georgia, &c., Appendix, pp. 1-19. London, 1743.
[109] See Letter of General Oglethorpe, dated Frederica, June 8th, 1742.
Wright’s Memoir of Oglethorpe, p. 298. London, 1867.
[110] For 1742. Vol. XII, p. 694.
[111] See Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol. III, p. 133
et seq. Savannah, 1873.
[112] Consisting of fifty-six sail, and between seven and eight thousand
men.
[113] This was a large Settee having one hundred and fifty men on board.
A few days afterwards the fleet was dispersed by a storm so that all the
shipping did not arrive at St. Augustine.
[114] These he attacked, driving some of them ashore.
[115] “Never did the Carolineans,” says Mr. Hewitt, “make so bad a figure
in the defence of their country. When union, activity and dispatch were so
requisite, they ingloriously stood at a distance, and suffering private
pique to prevail over public spirit, seemed determined to risk the safety
of their country, rather than General Oglethorpe by their help should
gain the smallest degree of honour and reputation.... The Georgians
with justice blamed their more powerful neighbors, who, by keeping at
a distance in the day of danger, had almost hazarded the loss of both
provinces.” Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of
South Carolina and Georgia, vol. II, pp. 119, 120. London, 1779.
[116] This was on the 21st of June. Most of the accounts place the number
of Spanish vessels, then attempting to enter Amelia Sound, at _nine_,
instead of _fourteen_.
[117] In endeavoring to reach St. Augustine for repairs, four of their
vessels foundered at sea.
[118] This was the merchant ship “_Success_,” mounting twenty guns. The
General sent one hundred soldiers on board of her and filled her with
necessary military stores. Thus she became, in the language of one of her
crew, “ready for twice the number of Spaniards.”
[119] For their passage and outfit, they had agreed to labor for the Trust
for a given period.
[120] This little fleet consisted of the “Success,” Captain Thompson,
of twenty guns and one hundred and ten men, with springs upon her
cables,—General Oglethorpe’s schooner of fourteen guns and eighty men,—and
the sloop “St. Philip,” of fourteen guns and eighty men. Eight York
sloops were close in shore, with one man on board each of them, whose
instructions were, in case the enemy were about to capture, to sink or run
them on shore. Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. XII, p. 495.
[121] This attempt was made by the Spanish Commodore with a ship of
twenty-two guns, and a settee with an eighteen pounder and two nine
pounders in her bow. So stout was the resistance offered by Captain
Thompson with the great guns of his ship, by Captain Carr and his company
of Marines, and by Lieutenant Wall and Ensign Otterbridge in charge of a
detachment from Oglethorpe’s Regiment, that the Spaniards were obliged to
retire with loss. A snow of sixteen guns at the same time attempted to
board the Guard Schooner, but was repulsed by Captain Dunbar.
See Harris’ Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. II, p. 341.
London, 1748.
[122] From the statement made by live Spanish prisoners captured and
brought in by the Creek Indians, it appeared that Don Manuel de Monteano,
Governor of St. Augustine, was the Commander in Chief of the Expedition,
and that Major General Antonio de Redondo was Chief Engineer. He and
two Brigadier Generals accompanied the forces which came from Cuba. The
aggregate strength of the expedition was about five thousand men, of whom
four thousand three hundred were landed on St. Simons.
Heavy scouting parties were sent out in every direction by General
Oglethorpe to observe the movements of the enemy and retard any advance in
the direction of Frederica, the defences of which were being strengthened
as rapidly and as thoroughly as time and the forces at command would
permit.
[123] In this charge Oglethorpe encountered one hundred and twenty Spanish
Pioneers, forty Yamassee Indians, and an equal number of negroes. So
violent was the onslaught that nearly the whole party was either captured
or slain. With his own hands the General captured two prisoners. Captain
Sanchio commanding this advance, was taken prisoner by Lieut. Scroggs
of the Rangers, and Toonahowi, although shot through the right arm by a
Spanish officer, drew his pistol with his left and killed his antagonist
on the spot.
See Wright’s Memoir of Oglethorpe, p. 305. McCall’s History of Georgia,
vol. I, p. 181.
[124] After locating his troops, Oglethorpe hastened back to Frederica to
prepare the Rangers and the Marine Company for action at a moments warning.
[125] Captain McCall furnishes the following account of this affair:
Captain Noble Jones, with a detachment of regulars and Indians,
being out on a scouting party, fell in with a small detachment
in the enemy’s advance, who were surprised and made prisoners,
not deeming themselves so far in front of the main army. From
these prisoners information was received that the whole Spanish
army was advancing: this was immediately communicated by an
Indian runner to the General who detached Captain Dunbar with
a company of grenadiers to join the regulars and Indians, with
orders to harrass the enemy on their advance. These detachments
having formed a junction, observed at a distance the Spanish
army on the march: and taking a favorable position near a
marsh, formed an ambuscade. The enemy fortunately halted within
a hundred paces of this position, stacked their arms, made
fires, and were preparing their kettles for cooking, when a
horse observed some of the party in ambuscade, and, frightened
at the uniform of the regulars, began to snort, and gave the
alarm. The Spaniards ran to their arms, but were shot down
in great numbers by Oglethorpe’s detachment, who continued
invisible to the enemy; and after repeated attempts to form,
in which some of their principal officers fell, they fled
with the utmost precipitation, leaving their camp equipage
on the field, and never halted until they got under cover of
the guns of their battery and ships. General Oglethorpe had
detached Major Horton with a reinforcement, who arrived only
in time to join in the pursuit. So complete was the surprise
of the enemy, that many fled without their arms; others in a
rapid retreat discharged their muskets over their shoulders at
their pursuers; and many were killed by the loaded arms which
were left on the ground; generally the Spaniards fired so much
at random that the trees were pruned by the balls from their
muskets; their loss in killed, wounded and prisoners, was
estimated at five hundred. The loss in Oglethorpe’s detachment
was very inconsiderable. From the signal victory obtained
over the enemy, and the great slaughter amongst the Spanish
troops, the scene of action just described has ever since been
denominated the _bloody marsh_.
History of Georgia, vol. I, pp. 185, 187. Savannah, 1811.
Compare Spalding’s Life of Oglethorpe, Collections of the Georgia
Historical Society, vol. I, pp. 281-284. Savannah, 1840.
[126] The Spaniards regarded the loss of this officer as more severe than
that of a thousand men.
[127] In these two engagements the enemy had sustained a loss of two
Captains, one Lieutenant, two Sergeants, two Drummers, and one hundred and
sixty privates killed; and one Captain and nineteen men captured.
[128] This was on the 8th of July.
[129] During the 9th and 10th of July all hands were employed on the works
at Frederica, except the scouts and Indians; the latter brought in some
scalps and prisoners.
[130] July 13th.
[131] St. Simon’s town was destroyed by the Spaniards prior to their
evacuation of the island. To a writer in the London Magazine for 1745,
who made his observations in the early part of 1743, are we indebted for
the following notice of this place:—“At the South Point of this Island of
_St. Simon_, are the Ruins of the Town of _St. Simons_ destroyed by the
_Spaniards_ at their Invasion. By the remaining Vestiges it must have been
a very uniform Place; and the Situation is quite charming, tho’ it now
makes one melancholy to see such a Desolation in so new a Country. The
only Building they left standing was one House which they had consecrated
for a Chapel. How different the Proceedings of the more generous _English_
even in their Parts who never leave behind them such direful Remembrances;
but here religious Fury goes Hand in Hand with Conquest, resolv’d to
ruin whom they can’t convert. The Fort has some Remains still, and seems
to have been no extraordinary affair; tho’ no Place was ever better
defended, and the Enemies seem, by their Works and Intrenchments to have
thought themselves sure of keeping the Town, but found themselves wofully
mistaken. Down the Beach to the westward is a Look-out of Tappy-work which
is a very good Mark for standing over the Bar into the Harbour; and on the
opposite Point of Jekyl Island is a very remarkable Hammock of Trees much
taken notice of by Seamen on the same Account. Somewhat lower and more
Northerly is the Plantation call’d Gascoign’s which underwent the same
Fate with St. Simons. An Officer’s Command is station’d at South Point,
who disposes his Centries so as to discover Vessels some Leagues at Sea,
and upon any such Discovery an Alarm-Gun is fir’d, and an Horseman sent
up with Notice to the Head-Quarters which is nine miles from this Place.
If they appear to make for the Harbour, a perpendicular mounted Gun is
fir’d as a Signal, which, by the Ascent of the Smoke is a Direction to a
Ship a long Way in the Offing, and is a most lucky Contrivance. The road
from hence to Frederica is cut through the Woods, and through the Marshes
rais’d upon a Causeway.” Page 549.
[132] July 16th.
[133] For further account of this memorable defence, see—Harris’ Complete
Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. II, pp. 340, 342. London, 1748.
McCall’s History of Georgia, vol. I, pp. 170, 190. Savannah, 1811.
Hewitt’s Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies
of South Carolina and Georgia, vol. II, pp. 114, 119. London, 1779.
Stevens’ History of Georgia, vol. I, pp. 180, 196. New York, 1847. Harris’
Memorials of Oglethorpe, pp. 250, 268. Boston, 1840. Wright’s Memoir of
Oglethorpe, pp. 299, 317. London, 1867. Spalding’s Life of Oglethorpe,
Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol. I, pp. 275, 284.
Savannah, 1840. Ramsay’s History of South Carolina, vol. I, pp. 144, 147.
Charleston, 1809. London Magazine, vol. XI, pp. 515, 516, 568. Gentleman’s
Magazine for 1742, vol. XII, pp. 494, 496, 550, 561, 693, 694. Gentleman’s
Magazine for 1743, vol. XIII, pp. 84, 638, 639.
[134] The following estimate was made of the forces engaged:
SPANISH TROOPS.
One regiment of dismounted Dragoons 400
Havanna Regiment 500
Havanna Militia 1,000
Regiment of Artillery 400
Florida Militia 400
Battalion of Mulattoes 300
Black Regiment 400
Indians 90
Marines 600
Seamen 1,000
-----
Total 5,090
GENERAL OGLETHORPE’S COMMAND.
His Regiment 472
Company of Rangers 30
Highlanders 50
Armed Militia 40
Indians 60
---
Total 652
See McCall’s History of Georgia, vol I, p. 196. Savannah, 1811.
[135] Of the condition of this town in 1743 we find the following account
in the London Magazine for 1745: “Our first Stage we made _New Inverness_,
or the _Darien_, on the Continent near 20 miles from _Frederica_; which
is a Settlement of Highlanders living and dressing in their own Country
Fashion, very happily and contentedly. There is an Independent Company
of Foot of them, consisting of 70 men who have been of good service. The
Town is regularly laid out, and built of Wood mostly, divided into Streets
and Squares; before the Town is the Parade, and a Fort not yet finish’d.
It is situated upon a very high Bluff, or Point of Land, from whence,
with a few cannon, they can scour the River, otherwise it is surrounded
by Pine-barrens, and Woods, and there is a Rout by Land to _Savannah_
and _Fort Argyle_, which is statedly reconnoitred by a Troop of Highland
Rangers who do duty here. The Company and Troop, armed in the Highland
manner, make an extreme good appearance under arms. The whole Settlement
may be said to be a brave and industrious People; but were more numerous,
planted more, and raised more cattle before the Invasion, with which they
drove a good Trade to the Southward; but Things seem daily mending with
them. They are forc’d to keep a very good Guard in this Place, it lies so
open to the Insults of the _French_ and _Spanish Indians_, who once or
twice have shewn Straglers some very bloody Tricks.” Page 551.
[136] Samuel Cloake,—who was a prisoner on board the “Pretty Nancy” taken
by the Spaniards from the English, and fitted out for the invasion of
Georgia,—made oath that during the time they lay off the bar the Spaniards
often “whetted their swords and held their knives to this deponent’s and
other English prisoners’ throats, saying they would cut the throats of
those they should take at Georgia.” Harris’ Complete Collection of Voyages
and Travels, pp. 342, 343. London, 1748.
[137] The governor of South Carolina did not unite in these
congratulations and thanks; but the people of Port Royal did, much to his
chagrin.
[138] In the language of General Oglethorpe, “_they were so meek there was
no provoking them_.”
[139] See General Oglethorpe’s letters of the 12th and 21st of March,
1743. Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol. III, pp. 149,
151. Savannah, 1873. London Magazine for 1743, vol. XII, pp. 356, 357.
London Gazette, July 9, 1743.
[140] This demonstration had the effect of restraining the Enemy within
the lines of St. Augustine; and the active cruizing of the English Guard
Schooner and Scout Boats held in check the privateers which were in the
habit of annoying the navigation to the southward. “In fine,” writes a
Charles-Town merchant to his correspondent in London, under date August
10, 1743, “_Georgia_ is a Gibraltar to this Province and _North America_,
however insignificant some People may make it.” London Magazine for 1743,
vol. XII, p. 567.
[141] See McCall’s Georgia, vol. I, p. 203. Savannah, 1811. Gentleman’s
Magazine for 1744, vol. XIV, p. 393. London Magazine for 1744, vol. XIII,
p. 359.
[142] London Magazine for 1743, vol. XII, p. 305.
[143] A mixture of lime made of Oyster-shells, with Sand, Small Shells,
&c., which, when harden’d, is as firm as Stone. I have observ’d prodigious
Quantities of Salt Petre to issue from Walls of this Cement.
[144] See Lond: Mag: 1742, p. 461, 515, 516, 567.
[145] Shingles are split out of many Sorts of Wood, in the shape of Tiles,
which, when they have been some Time expos’d to the Weather, appear of the
Colour of Slate, and have a very pretty Look; the Houses in America are
mostly Shingled.
[146] See Lond. Mag. 1744, p. 359.
[147] I have been told that in this Explosion near 3,000 Bombs burst,
which, had they not been well bedded, would have done much Mischief.
[148] The Inhabitants begin to plant this charming Fruit very much, and
’tis to be hop’d will banish their numerous Peach Trees to their Country
Settlements, which are Nurseries of _Muskettos_ and other _Vermin_. The
Season I was there, they had Oranges enough of their own Growth for Home
Consumption.
[149] This was written in the beginning of 1743. See London Magazine for
1745, vol. XIV, pp. 395, 396.
Compare notice in “The North-American and the West-Indian Gazetteer.”
London, 1778.
[150] Volume XVI, p. 484.
[151] A destructive fire had consumed nearly all the houses which time had
spared. See Stevens’ History of Georgia, vol. I, p. 446. New York, 1847.
[152] Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol. III, pp. 168,
169. Savannah, 1873.
[153] Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, &c., pp. 55-60.
London, 1792.
[154] MS. Order-Book of Col. S. Elbert.
[155] Marbury and Crawford’s Digest, p. 151.
[156] See McCall’s History of Georgia, vol. I, pp. 131, 132. Savannah,
1811.
[157] See McCall’s History of Georgia, vol. II, pp. 137-139. Savannah,
1811. Stevens’ History of Georgia, vol. II, pp. 161-162. Philadelphia,
1859. White’s Historical Collections of Georgia, p. 468. New York, 1855.
[158] Watkins’ Digest, p. 470.
[159] Watkins’ Digest, pp. 598, 599.
[160] “Notes and Observations on the Pine Lands of Georgia,” &c. Augusta,
1801.
[161] Clayton’s Digest, p. 63.
[162] Lamar’s Digest, pp. 902, 978.
[163] Alluding to Frederica, in 1829, Sherwood says: “The Fort is gone to
decay, but there are ten houses in the village.” Gazetteer of Georgia, p.
111.
[164] Frances Anne Kemble, who visited Frederica in the spring of 1839,
thus records her impressions of the deserted spot: “This Frederica is a
very strange place; it was once a town,—_the_ town, the metropolis of the
island. The English, when they landed on the coast of Georgia in the war,
destroyed this tiny place, and it has never been built up again. Mrs. A.’s
and one other house, are the only dwellings that remain in this curious
wilderness of dismantled crumbling gray walls compassionately cloaked
with a thousand profuse and graceful creepers. These are the only ruins,
properly so called, except those of Fort Putnam, that I have ever seen in
this land of contemptuous youth. I hailed these picturesque groups and
masses with the feelings of a European, to whom ruins are like a sort of
relations. In my country, ruins are like a minor chord in music; here
they are like a discord; they are not the relics of time, but the results
of violence; they recall no valuable memories of a remote past, and are
mere encumbrances to the busy present. Evidently they are out of place
in America except on St. Simon’s island, between this savage selvage of
civilization and the great Atlantic deep. These heaps of rubbish and
roses would have made the fortune of a sketcher; but I imagine the snakes
have it all to themselves here, and are undisturbed by camp-stools, white
umbrellas, and ejaculatory young ladies.” Journal of a Residence on a
Georgian Plantation, &c., p. 285. New York, 1863.
[165] A Journal of the Proceedings in Georgia, &c., vol. II, pp. 215, 216.
London, 1742.
[166] For notices of Abercorn, see—“An Extract of the Journals of Mr.
Commissary Von Beck, &c., and of the Reverend Mr. Bolzius,” pp. 18, 20,
54, 66, 69. London, 1734. “An Account Shewing the Progress of the Colony
of Georgia, in America,” &c., p. 35. London, 1741. Stephens’ “Journal
of the Proceedings in Georgia,” &c., vol. I, p. 230. Vol. II, pp. 215,
216. London, 1742. “An Extract of the Rev. Mr. John Wesley’s Journal,”
&c., p. 60. Bristol, n. d. “A State of the Province of Georgia, attested
upon oath,” &c., p. 5. London, 1742. “A True and Historical Narrative of
the Colony of Georgia,” &c., by Tailfer, Anderson, and Douglas, p. 108.
Charles-Town, 1741.
[167] See Memoir of General James Oglethorpe, by Robert Wright, p. 74.
London, 1857.
[168] Memoir of General James Oglethorpe, by Robert Wright, pp. 284, 285.
London, 1867.
[169] See A Journal of the Proceedings in Georgia, &c., by William
Stephens, pp. 160, 161. London, MDCCXLII.
[170] See An Account Shewing the Progress of the Colony of Georgia in
America, &c., pp. 48, 49. London, 1741.
[171] History of Georgia, vol. I, p. 255. Savannah, 1811.
[172] The following members of that Congress came from the Parish of St.
John: James Screven, Nathan Brownson, Daniel Roberts, John Baker, Sr.,
John Bacon, Sr., James Maxwell, Edward Ball, William Baker, Sr., William
Bacon, Jr., John Stevens, and John Winn, Sr. Stevens’ History of Georgia,
vol. II, p. 106.
[173] See McCall’s History of Georgia, vol. II, p. 7. Savannah, 1816.
[174] The Medway, in the county of Kent, is a noble stream. Its trunk
and branches cover thirty square miles of the surface of the county, and
its length is nearly sixty miles,—of which forty are navigable. This
river well deserves the name of _Vaga_, by which the Britons described
its wanderings. The Saxons added the syllable _Med_, the sign of middle,
because the river runs through the centre of the county, and thus gets its
present name of _Medway_. Encyclopædia Britannica, 8th Edition, vol. XIII,
Article Kent, p. 65. See also vol. VIII, p. 716.
[175] Marbury and Crawford’s Digest, pp. 150, 152.
[176] Under the writs of election issued by Sir James Wright in 1761,
Thomas Carter, Parmenus Way and John Winn were returned as members from
Midway and Sunbury in St. John’s Parish. McCall’s Georgia, vol. I, p. 286.
[177] DeBrahm says: “The Beach-Hill Congregation settled upon the Heads
of the two Newport Rivers early in the year 1752, when they left Carolina
in a great Body, they continued drawing their Effects and Cattle after
settling all other Concerns in their native Province until 1755, many rich
Carolina Planters followed the Example of that Congregation, and came with
all their Families and Negroes to settle in Georgia in 1752: the Spirit
of Emigration out of South Carolina into Georgia became so universal that
year, that this and the following year near one thousand Negroes was
brought in Georgia, where in 1751 were scarce above three dozen.” History
of the Province of Georgia, &c., p. 21. Wormsloe, 1849.
[178] See Stevens’ History of Georgia, vol. II, p. 21. Philadelphia, 1859.
In his letter to Lord Halifax, written in 1763, Sir James Wright says: “I
judged it necessary for his Majesty’s service that Sunbury,—a well settled
place, having an exceeding good harbour and inlet from the sea,—should be
made a Port of Entry; and I have appointed Thomas Carr, Collector, and
John Martin, Naval Officer for the same. There are eighty dwelling houses
in the place: three considerable merchant stores for supplying the town
and planters in the neighborhood with all kinds of necessary goods; and
around it for about fifteen miles is one of the best settled parts of the
country.”
[179] When visited by an English traveller in 1743, this island was
inhabited by eight or ten families of _Indians_, who had considerable
tracts of open land, and were largely engaged in the cultivation of corn.
It abounded with game, “on which,” says the writer, “the good Indians
regaled us, and for Greens boiled us the Tops of China Briars, which eat
almost as well as Asparagus.” London Magazine for 1745, pp. 551, 552.
[180] McCall’s History of Georgia, vol. I, pp. 214, 215. Savannah, 1811.
[181] See Stevens’ History of Georgia, vol. I, pp. 453, 454.
[182] See Sanderson’s Biography of the Signers, vol. III, p. 120.
Philadelphia, 1823.
[183] McCall’s History of Georgia, vol. I, pp. 255, 256. Savannah, 1811.
[184] See Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol. III, p. 161,
et seq. Savannah, 1873.
[185] Travels Through North and South Carolina, Georgia, &c., p. 5.
London, 1792.
[186] His Observations were published in 1792.
[187] Idem, pp. 9, 10.
[188] See Watkins’ Digest, p. 144.
[189] See Stevens’ History of Georgia, vol. II, p. 92. Philadelphia, 1859.
[190] See Sanderson’s Biography of the Signers, vol. III, p. 55.
Philadelphia, 1823. McCall’s Georgia, vol. II, p. 41. Savannah, 1816.
[191] Sir Thomas Browne’s Hydriotaphia.
[192] See Letter of the 9th of February, 1775, signed by Lyman Hall,
Chairman. White’s Historical Collections of Georgia, pp. 520, 521. New
York, 1855. Sanderson’s Biography of the Signers, vol. III, p. 54.
Philadelphia, 1823.
[193] The apparent tardiness and hesitancy on the part of the Colony of
Georgia in casting her lot with her Sister Colonies at the inception of
those movements which culminated in a declaration of independence, may
be excused or accounted for when we remember that she was the youngest
and the least prepared of all the Colonies, and recall the fact that
Schovilites, leagued with Indians, were scourging her borders and
awakening in the breasts even of the most patriotic and daring, gravest
apprehensions for the safety of their wives and children. “The charge of
inactivity vanishes,” says Captain McCall, “when the sword and hatchet are
held over the heads of the actors to compel them to lie still.”
During the progress of the Revolution the term Schovilite which, at first,
was used to designate not only the bandit follower of Schovil, but also
every adherent of the Crown in the Southern provinces, was dropped, and
that of Loyalist and Tory substituted. The Revolutionists were known
as Whigs, Rebels, and Patriots. Many Loyalists who had fled from the
Carolinas and Georgia secured a retreat in East Florida whence, having
associated with themselves parties of Indians, under the name of Florida
Rangers, they indulged in predatory incursions into Georgia to the great
loss and disquietude of the southern portions of the Province.
History of Georgia, vol. II, p. 4. Savannah, 1816.
[194] See White’s Historical Collections of Georgia, pp. 517, 518. New
York, 1855.
[195] Stevens’ History of Georgia, vol. I, pp. 445, 446. New York, 1847.
[196] Journal of Congress, vol. I, p. 375. Stevens’ History of Georgia,
vol. II, p. 151. Philadelphia, 1859.
Three days afterwards Congress appropriated $60,000 for the support of the
battalions thus ordered to be raised.
[197] It is not improbable that some of these guns may have been brought
from Frederica; for the Council of Safety had ordered all warlike stores
at that place to be secured.
[198] In compliment to Captain Morris, commanding a company of Continental
Artillery raised for coast defence. By this company was the fort
garrisoned upon its completion.
[199] For the accompanying plan of Fort Morris, I am indebted to a recent
survey made at my suggestion by Sam’l L. Fleming, Esq., of Liberty County.
[200] The following orders were issued by Colonel S. Elbert, for the
fuller instruction of the Artillerists stationed at Sunbury. See MS. Order
Book of Col. Elbert.
“HEADQUARTERS SAVANNAH, 5th Dec’r, 1777.
“ORDERS TO CAPTAIN DEFATT OF THE ARTILLERY.
“You are to proceed immediately to the Town of Sunbury, in
this State, where are a corps of Continental Artillery posted,
which you are constantly to be employed in teaching the perfect
use of Artillery, particularly in the Field. Both Officers and
Men are hereby strictly ordered to attend on you for the above
purpose, at such times, and in such places as you may direct;
and the Commanding Officer of the Troops in that place on your
shewing him these Orders, will furnish Men to do the necessary
duty in the Town & Fort; so that there will be nothing to
prevent Captain Morris and his Company from being perfected
in the Business for which they were raised. Such pieces of
Artillery as you approve of, have mounted on Field-Carriages;
and for this purpose you are empowered to employ the necessary
Workmen, and procure Materials. Your drafts on me for every
necessary Expense, accompanying the Vouchers, will be duly
honored.
“I am, Sir, your most Obdt Servt,
“S. ELBERT, Col. Commd’g.”
[201] McCall’s Georgia, vol. II, p. 96. Savannah, 1816.
[202] See McCall’s Georgia, vol. II, p. 153. Savannah, 1816.
[203] During the year 1777 American privateers were busy off the Georgia
coast and among the inland passages. They cruised as far south as St.
Augustine and made frequent captures. In his communication of the 8th of
October, Sir James Wright informs Lord George Germain that a short time
previous a privateer from Sunbury, mounting ten guns, had taken five
prizes; two of which were safely carried in. He urges upon the Secretary
of War the expediency of stationing a twenty-gun ship or a frigate at
Cockspur, two sloops of war in the Savannah river, and one at Sunbury.
From Sunbury, on the 1st of May, 1777, did Col. Elbert embark in
transports his troops destined for the expedition against Florida
undertaken at the instance of Governor Button Gwinnett.
Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol. III, pp. 246, 248.
Savannah, 1873.
[204] He had been for some time stationed at Sunbury, and commanded not
only the Continental troops there concentrated, but also all detached
companies operating to the southward. Captain Morris’ artillery company
constituted the permanent garrison of the Fort.
[205] The following lines descriptive of the desolations wrought by this
invading force, are extracted from a quaint old-fashioned poem composed by
John Baker, a son of Colonel John Baker, and found among the MSS of the
latter:
“Where’er they march, the buildings burn,
Large stacks of rice to ashes turn:
And me [Midway] a pile of ruin made
Before their hellish malice staid.
“Nor did their boundless fury spare
The house devote to God and prayer:
Brick, coal, and ashes shew the place
Which once that sacred house did grace.
“The churchyard, too, no better sped,
The rabble so against the dead
Transported were with direful fumes,
They tore up and uncover’d tombs.”
[206] Bancroft’s History of the United States, vol. X, p. 294. Boston,
1874.
[207] Mr. John Couper, in a letter dated St. Simon’s, 16th April, 1842,
and written when he was eighty-three years of age, gives the following
anecdote of the famous and eccentric Captain Rory McIntosh who, at the
time, had attached himself in a volunteer capacity to the infantry company
commanded by Captain Murray, forming part of the 4th Battalion of the
60th Regiment. Captain Murray’s company was in the lines which Colonel
Fuser had developed around Sunbury and its Fort. “Early one morning,”
writes Mr. Couper, “when Rory had made rather free with the ‘mountain
dew,’ he insisted on sallying out to summons the fort to surrender. His
friends could not restrain him, so out he strutted, claymore in hand,
followed by his faithful slave Jim, and approached the fort, roaring out,
“Surrender, you miscreants! How dare you presume to resist his Majesty’s
arms?” Captain McIntosh knew him, and, seeing his situation, forbid any
one firing, threw open the gate, and said “Walk in, Mr. McIntosh, and take
possession.” “No,” said Rory, “I will not trust myself among such vermin;
but I order you to surrender.” A rifle was fired, the ball from which
passed through his face, sideways, under his eyes. He stumbled and fell
backwards, but immediately recovered and retreated backwards, flourishing
his sword. Several dropping shots followed. Jim called out, “Run, massa—de
kill you.” “Run, poor slave,” says Rory. “Thou mayest run, but I am of a
race that never runs.” In rising from the ground, Jim stated to me, his
master, first putting his hand to one cheek, looked at his bloody hand,
and then raising it to the other, perceived it also covered with blood. He
backed safely into the lines.” White’s Historical Collections of Georgia,
p. 472. New York, 1855.
[208] The Legislature of Georgia, in acknowledgment of the conspicuous
gallantry of Colonel McIntosh on this occasion, voted him a sword with the
words _Come and take it_, engraven thereon.
[209] See White’s Historical Collections of Georgia, pp. 523, 524. New
York, 1855. McCall’s Georgia, vol. II, pp. 155, 161. Savannah, 1816.
Moultrie’s Memoirs of the American Revolution, &c., vol. I, p. 189. New
York, 1802.
[210] The inhabitants of Sunbury seem, at times, to have been considerably
annoyed by the lawless conduct of the troops quartered in their midst. So
marked were these violations of good order, that General Howe on the 16th
of January, 1778, deemed it proper to call attention to them in a General
Order, from which we make the following extract:
“Complaints have been made to the General that some of the Soldiers have
injured the Buildings in the Town; and his own observation convinces
him that these complaints are but too well founded. Actions like these
disgrace an army, and render it hateful. Any Soldier who either offers
Insult or does Injury to the Persons or Property of the Inhabitants will
be punished in the severest manner. And officers of every degree are
injoined to exert themselves to prevent such Enormities for the future
if possible, or to detect those who may commit them, that they may
receive that punishment which such Actions so richly deserve. Officers of
Companies are to take particular care that their men are made acquainted
with this Order.”
[211] If we may credit a contemporary writer, the population of the Midway
settlement was considerably demoralized.
“Fields once her [Midway’s] glory and her pride,
Weeds, grass, and briars now do hide.
And worst of villains make their home
Where flames had happen’d not to come.
“Instead of preaching, prayers, and praises,
Now on the Gospel holy days
They race, and fight, and swear and game,
Without regard to law or shame.
“They arm’d, disguis’d, with faces blacked,
Do many villainies transact;
The few, few honest that are here,
Do often rob and put in fear.”
MS. DIARY OF BENJ’N BAKER.
[212] For this disobedience of orders Major Lane was subsequently tried by
a Court Martial and dismissed the service. McCall’s Georgia, vol. II, p.
177. Savannah, 1816.
[213] This island lying in front of Sunbury, divides Midway river into two
channels known respectively as the front and back rivers.
[214] McCall’s History of Georgia, vol. II, pp. 177, 179. Savannah, 1816.
General Moultrie, then at Purysburg, before the news of the surrender of
Sunbury and its fort had reached him, wrote to Colonel Pinckney: “I fear
we have lost Sunberry and the two gallies that took shelter under that
battery, last Thursday or Friday, as we heard a very heavy cannonade from
that quarter. The officer commanding had about 120 Continentals and some
inhabitants within the fort,—refused to evacuate the post; notwithstanding
his receiving positive orders for that purpose he, Don Quixote-like,
thought he was strong enough to withstand the whole force the British had
in Georgia, for which, I think, he deserved to be hanged.” Memoirs of the
American Revolution, &c., vol. I, p. 259. New York, 1802.
[215] Memoirs of the American Revolution, &c., vol. I, p. 259. New York,
1802.
[216] McCall’s History of Georgia, vol. II, pp. 235, 237. Savannah, 1816.
[217] McCall’s Georgia, vol. II, pp. 270 and 271. Savannah, 1816. White’s
Historical Collections of Georgia, pp. 533, 537. New York, 1855.
[218] History of Georgia, vol. II, p. 283, et seq. Savannah, 1816.
[219] See letter of Sir James Wright to Lord George Germain, under date
Savannah, 20th August, 1780. Collections of the Georgia Historical
Society, vol. III, p. 314. Savannah, 1873.
[220] General James Screven, who fell in the skirmish near Midway Meeting
House.
[221] This monument has never been reared. The obligation is as binding
now as when thus solemnly recognized.
[222] Quoted in White’s Historical Collections of Georgia, p. 530. New
York, 1855.
[223] See Watkins’ Digest, pp. 298, 618.
[224] See White’s Historical Collections of Georgia, p. 528. New York,
1855.
[225] See Historical Address before the Liberty Independent Troop by the
Rev. Dr. Charles Colcock Jones, pp. 10, 11. Savannah, 1856.
[226] See Watkins’ Digest, p. 431. Marbury and Crawford’s Digest, pp. 128,
129.
[227] Clayton’s Digest, p. 213.
[228] Clayton’s Digest, p. 243.
[229] “Notes and Observations on the Pine Lands of Georgia,” &c., p. 65.
Augusta, 1801.
[230] Watkins’ Digest, p. 380.
[231] Clayton’s Digest, pp. 115, 246.
[232] See Watkins’ Digest, p. 618.
[233] Gazetteer of the State of Georgia. Philadelphia, 1829.
[234] Lamar’s Digest, p. 84.
[235] To Mr. G. W. J. DeRenne are we indebted for the following memoranda
from H. M. Public Record Office, Georgia, Vol. 35, B. T., touching the
primal settlement, and naming of _Hardwick_:
“May 13, 1754.—The Neck of Land called the Elbow on Great
Ogeechee River—which (on the 10th Day of this Month) they had
named George-Town.”
“4 Feb., 1755.—His Excellency was pleased (with the approbation
of the Board) to name the Town lately laid out at a Place
commonly called the Elbow on Great Ogeechee River, Hardwick.”
“_Minutes of the Proceedings of the Governor in Council._”
[236] Board of Trade. V. 167. Stevens’ History of Georgia, vol. I, pp.
405, 406. New York, 1847. White’s Historical Collections of Georgia, p.
183. New York, 1855.
[237] This river was then called the GREAT HOGOHECHIE, which responds
more nearly to its original Indian name than the appellation subsequently
adopted.
[238] See Plans and Elevations of the Forts necessary in Georgia,
forwarded with Governor Reynolds’ letter of the 5th of January, 1756, and
now on file in the Public Record Office, London; Maps B. T., vol. XIII,
No. 14.
[239] The design of transferring the Capital of the Colony from Savannah
to Hardwick, conceived by Governor Reynolds, was adhered to by his
successor, Governor Ellis. “The depth of water in the river, its more
central position, its greater distance from Charleston—the proximity to
which, he argued, restricted the commerce of Savannah—the convenience of
its harbour as a naval station, and the fertility of its adjacent lands,
were the principal motives which operated with him to enforce the plan
suggested by his predecessor. As a consequence of clinging to this scheme
of removal, Governor Reynolds had neglected repairing the public buildings
of Savannah, and its inhabitants had ceased enlarging and beautifying a
town so soon to be deserted. The Filature was out of repair, the Church
was so decayed that it was only kept from falling down by surrounding it
with props, and the prison ‘was shocking to humanity.’
“The removal of the Seat of Government to Hardwicke, which had received
the favorable notice of former Governors, was discouraged by Sir James
Wright, who argued that if the object of a removal was to obtain a more
central position, Hardwicke was too near; while, on the other hand,
a removal there would be very disadvantageous to the present capital
which was conveniently settled for intercourse with the Indians and for
trade with South Carolina. The project was therefore abandoned, and the
attention of the Assembly was directed to enlarging and strengthening the
City which Oglethorpe had founded.”
Stevens’ History of Georgia, vol. I, p. 433. Vol. ii, p. 19.
[240] History of the Province of Georgia, &c., p. 25. Wormsloe, 1849.
[241] Marbury and Crawford’s Digest, p. 151.
[242] Watkin’s Digest, p. 339.
[243] Marbury and Crawford’s Digest, p. 167.
[244] Jonathan Bryan.
[245] Careful search fails to disclose a map of this survey either among
the records of Bryan County, or in the State Archives.
[246] Marbury and Crawford’s Digest, pp. 544, 546.
[247] Idem., p. 160.
[248] Marbury and Crawford’s Digest, p. 174.
[249] Lamar’s Digest, p. 211.
[250] Page 65. Augusta, 1801.
[251] Page 116.
[252] Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, &c., pp. 321,
322. London, 1792.
[253] Watkins’ Digest, p. 325.
[254] See Watkins’ Digest, p. 444.
[255] Watkins’ Digest, p. 658.
[256] Clayton’s Digest, p. 58.
[257] Clayton’s Digest, p. 92.
[258] Clayton’s Digest, p. 182.
[259] “Notes and Observations on the Pine Lands of Georgia,” &c., pp. 62,
63. Augusta, 1801.
[260] The original name of this village was the _Town of Lincoln_. See
Sibbald’s “Notes and Observations on the Pine Lands of Georgia,” &c., p.
63. Augusta, 1801.
[261] Marbury and Crawford’s Digest, p. 177.
[262] Dawson’s Digest, p. 450.
[263] Dawson’s Digest, p. 109.
[264] Clayton’s Digest, p. 606.
[265] Pamphlet Laws of 1836, p. 103.
[266] Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol. III, part I.
Savannah, 1848.
[267] Miscellanies of Georgia, part I, p. 67. Columbus, 1874.
[268] Wormsloe, 1849, pp. 25, 26.
[269] p. 235. A. La Haye, 1755.
[270] DeBrahm’s History of the Province of Georgia, p. 30. Wormsloe, 1849.
Stevens’ History of Georgia, vol. I, pp. 406, 407. New York, 1847.
[271] Travels Through North and South Carolina, Georgia, &c., pp. 35, 36.
London, 1792.
[272] For further notices of these villages see “Moore’s Voyage to
Georgia,” p. 32. London, 1744. “An Account Shewing the Progress of the
Colony of Georgia,” &c., p. 35. London, 1741. “A State of the Province of
Georgia, attested upon Oath,” &c., p. 10. London, 1742. “Extract of the
Rev’d Mr. John Wesley’s Journal,” &c., p. 61. Bristol, n. d. “A True and
Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia,” &c., p. 109. Charles-Town,
1741. “An Impartial Enquiry into the State and Utility of the Province of
Georgia,” &c., p. 51. London, 1741.
[273] “A Journal of the Proceedings in Georgia,” &c., vol. II, pp. 166,
318, 319. London, 1742.
[274] London Magazine for 1745, p. 552.
[275] Idem, p. 604.
[276] Stephens’ Journal of Proceedings, vol. II, pp. 472, 492, 497. Idem,
vol. III, pp. 13, 16, 17, 124, 206. London, 1742.
INDEX.
Abercorn, 14.
Its location and settlement, 137.
Saltzburgers refreshed at, 138.
Mr. Stephens’ visit to, 138-139.
Occupied by Col. Campbell, 140.
Feeble life of, 139-140.
Abbott, John, 240.
African slaves, 171.
Alexander, Dr., 222.
Allen, Rev. Moses, 222.
Alligators, 58.
Amelia island, 59, 77, 97.
Anastasia island, 85.
Andrew, Benjamin, Sr., 206.
Antrobus, Isaac, 157.
Argyle, the Duke of, 91.
Augspourguer, Samuel, 26.
Bachelor’s redoubt, 96.
Bacon, Francis, 244.
Baillie, Kenneth, 145, 146.
Baker, Benjamin, 194, 222.
Baker, John, 188.
Baker, Captain John, 178.
Colonel, 185, 222.
Baker, Major William, 186, 200, 222.
Barba, Captain Antonio, 108, 109.
Barker, Joseph, 19.
Barrimacké, village of, 97, 249.
Bartram, William, visits Frederica, 128-129.
His visit to, and description of Sunbury, 169, 170.
His description of Fort James, 233, 247.
Belfast, Captain Spencer’s exploit at, 199.
Bergman, Rev. John Ernest, 40.
Bermuda, emigrants from in Sunbury, 156.
Bermuda-grass, 217.
Bermuda island, 157, 169, 171.
Bethany, 30.
Bewlie, 250, 251.
Black-Sloop, the privateer, 99.
Blandford, the man of war, 67.
Bloody-marsh, affair of, 108, 109.
Bolzius, Rev. John Martin, 11, 14, 18, 25, 27, 31.
Bosomworth, Thomas, 155.
Bosomworth, Mary, 155.
Bowen, Commodore Oliver, 202.
Braddock, Captain, affair with the Dunmore, 202.
Brandon, village of, 245, 247.
Brewery on Jekyll island, 96.
British exactions, 197-199.
Brooks, Francis, 78.
Brownson, Governor Nathan, 222.
Bryan, Jonathan, 178, 183.
Bull, Lieutenant-Governor, 102.
Bulloch, Archibald, 174.
Bull-Town Swamp, affair at, 185.
Cadogan, Lieutenant, 110.
Call, Richard, 205.
Campbell, Colonel, 140, 192, 194, 197.
Canal, through General’s island, 96.
To connect Midway and North-Newport rivers, 158.
Carney, Captain Arthur, 130.
Carolina, refuses to aid Georgia, 102.
Caroline, Queen, 26.
Carr, Mark, cession of lands to, 143, 144.
A marked man in the Colony, 143.
Conveys land to Trustees for Town of Sunbury, 145.
Carr, Thomas, 155.
Cathcart, Ensign, 88.
Chappell, A. H., 242, 243.
Christ Church, Parish of, 35.
Cochrane, Lieut. Col. James, 66.
Colonel’s island, Fuser lands upon, 189.
Commissioners for the port of Sunbury, 208.
Commissioners of Frederica, 132, 133.
Cook, Lieut. Col., 104.
Cooper, Colonel, 178.
Couper, John, 190.
Cornish, Captain, 50, 52.
Cotton, 24.
Counties in Georgia in 1777, 172.
Coweta-Town, 75.
Craemer, Christopher, 36.
Cruger, Col., 199, 200.
Cumberland island, 59, 97.
Cuthbert, Hon. Alfred, 222.
Cuthbert, Hon. John A., 219, 222.
Darien, 55.
Description of, in 1743, 116.
Dartmouth, Earl of, 127, 176.
Dartmouth, town of, 233, 234.
Dasher, Martin, 37.
DeBrahm, John Gerar, William, 21, 30, 34, 225, 226, 245.
D’Estaing, Count, 40, 200.
Defatt, Captain, 183.
Delegal, Ensign, 63.
Delegal, Lieutenant, 63.
Delegal’s fort, 63.
Demeré, Captain Raymond, 94, 109, 110.
DeRenne, Mr. G. W. J., 253.
Desbrisay, Captain, 88.
Destrade, 99.
Dollar, Captain, 195.
Dorchester settlement, 150.
Dorchester Society, 149.
Removal to Midway district, 150-154.
Dunbar, Captain, 51, 104, 106, 108.
Dunbar, Lieutenant George, 56, 81.
Dunwody, Dr., 223.
Ebenezer, Old. Location of, 13.
Settlement of, 14-15.
Accession to population of, 17.
Sickness at, 17.
Inhabitants of, dissatisfied with situation, 18.
Removal to New Ebenezer, 19.
Ebenezer, New. Location of, 19, 20.
Plan of the town of, 21.
Condition of in 1738-9, 21, 24.
Silk-culture at, 25-30.
Mill-establishment at, 32.
Church property, 33.
Library at, 34.
Period of greatest prosperity of, 35.
Division of sentiment at commencement of Revolutionary War, 36.
Occupied by Lieut. Col. Maitland, 36.
Fortified, 36.
Sufferings of inhabitants of, during the war, 37 et seq.
Decay of, 40.
Revival of the prosperity of, 40.
Its decline, 41, 42.
Made the County-town of Effingham County, 41.
Removal of public buildings to Springfield, 41, 42.
Glebe lands of, sold, 42.
Present appearance of, 43, 44.
Edinborough, 239.
Effingham County, 35.
Elbert, Col. S., 129.
Reports capture of the Hinchinbrooke, 130-131, 183, 187.
Elberton, 41.
Elfenstein, Jacob, 37.
Elfenstein, Joshua, 37.
Elliott, Grey, 145, 146.
Elliott, John, 145, 146, 222.
Ellis, Governor, 149, 179.
Embarcation, the great, 15, 16.
English language introduced into the Saltzburger Churches, 42.
Eyre, Ensign, 104.
Falcon, the sloop, 99.
Federal Town, 239.
Few, Col., 199.
Filature in Savannah, 27-29.
Flöerl, John, 36.
Floyd, Gen. Charles, 219.
Forces, estimate of Spanish and English, during the attack upon St.
Simon’s island, 115.
Fort Argyle, 47, 48, 142, 181, 249.
Fort Augusta, 181.
Fort Barrington, 181, 241.
Fort Bartow, 183.
Fort Defence, 220.
Fort Diego, 81.
Fort Francis de Papa, 81.
Fort Frederick, 127, 128, 181.
Fort George, 180.
Fort Halifax, 180.
Fort Howe, 185.
Fort James, 233.
Fort Morris, 180-183.
Fort Picolata, 78.
Fort St. Andrews, 59, 61, 73, 97.
Fort St. Francis, 78.
Fort St. George, 61, 180.
Fort St. Simons, 60, 61.
Fort William, 61, 97, 104, 105, 113, 181.
Francisville, 241-244.
Franklin, Dr. Benjamin, 146.
Frederica, 17, 45, 48.
Arrival of Colonists at, 51.
Town and fort laid out, 51-53.
Plan of the town, 53-54.
Labors of the early settlers of, 54-55.
Location of the town of, 55.
Harbor of, 55-56.
Attractions and health of the place, 56, 57.
Indian dance at, 60.
Fort strengthened and water battery constructed, 61, 62.
Supplied with water and bread, 62.
Powder magazine and store-house built, 64.
Courageous spirit of the inhabitants of, 64.
Garrison reinforced by Oglethorpe’s regiment, 67, 68.
Military road connecting with Soldiers’ fort, 68, 69.
Depressing condition of affairs at, 70, 71.
Enclosed by a fortification, 72.
Population of, in 1740, 94, 95.
Defensive works and general appearance of, 96.
Spanish demonstration against, 107-114.
Strengthened by Oglethorpe, 117, 148.
Magazine blown up, 119.
Condition and appearance of in 1743, 119-126.
Description of in 1747, 125, 126.
Troops withdrawn from, 126, 129.
Visited by Governor Reynolds, 127.
New defensive works suggested, 127.
Visited by Bartram, 128, 129.
Col. Elbert’s description of, in 1777, 129.
State legislation in regard to, 132, 134.
Capture of the Hinchinbrooke near, 130, 131.
Military works of, ordered to be repaired, 132.
Town burnt, 132.
Commissioners of, appointed, 132, 133.
Sibbald’s description of, 134.
Ceases to exist, 135.
Kemble’s description of its ruins, 136.
French deserter, 111, 112.
Fuser, Lieut. Col., 132, 158, 185.
Threatens Sunbury, 189, 192.
Summons Fort Morris to surrender, 189.
Raises the siege of Sunbury, 192.
Galatea, escape of the, 132.
General’s island, canal cut through, 96.
Georgia, original cession of lands to the Trustees of the Colony of,
47.
Georgia’s losses, 205.
German village on St. Simon’s island, 122, 249.
Germain, Lord George, 185.
Gibbon, Ensign, 109, 110.
Gibraltar, troops from, 66.
Goldsmith, Captain, 200.
Goshen, 30, 249.
Gray, Lieutenant, 200.
Greene, Gen. Nathaniel, 204.
Grey, Edmund, 247.
Gronau, Rev. Israel Christian, 11, 18, 25.
Gwinnett, Button, 129, 156, 174, 222.
Habersham, Mr., 29.
Hall, Dr. Lyman, 173, 175, 177, 205, 222.
Hampstead, village of, 248.
Hardy, Captain, 114, 202.
Hardwick, named in 1755, 224.
Suggested as the Capital of Georgia, 224, 225.
Fortifications for, planned by DeBrahm, 225.
Grant of lands for settlers of, 225.
State legislation in regard to, 227, 228, 231, 232.
Ceases to be the County site of Bryan Co., 228, 229.
Sibbald’s description of, 229.
Population of, 229.
Inhabitants of, 229.
Its commerce, 230.
Its decadence, 229.
Its location, 229, 230.
Attempted revival of, 231.
Harrington Hall, 94.
Harris, Dr., 70.
Harrisburgh, 239.
Hartford, 240.
Hawkins, Col. Benjamin, 241-243.
Heathcote, Alderman, 70.
Hector, the man of war, 67.
Hermsdorf, Captain, 15, 17, 51.
Heron, Major, 88, 99, 106.
High-Gate, 248.
Highlanders, settlement of at New Inverness, 48, 49.
Bravery of, 49.
Two, butchered on Amelia island, 77, 78.
Killed at Fort Moosa, 87.
Plantation of, on Amelia island, 97.
Hinchinbrooke, capture of the, 130-131.
Holsendorf, William, 37.
Homer, Captain, 104.
Horcasilas, General, 103.
Horton, Mr., 50, 65, 71, 96.
Horton, Captain, 105, 108, 113, 119.
Houstoun, John, 174.
Howe, Gen’l Robert, 130, 184, 185, 193, 194.
Howell, Captain, 202.
Affair at Sunbury, 203.
Howley, Richard, 222.
Indian Allies, 97.
Indian Chief, valor of, 89.
Indian dance, 60.
Indian depredations, 208, 209.
Indian fields, 55.
Ingham, Rev. Mr., 15.
Innes, Col. Alexander, 197.
Insurrection of negro slaves, 74, 75.
Jackson, Major James, 187, 204.
Jacksonborough, 239, 240.
Jacksonborough Methodist Episcopal Church, 239.
Jasper, Sergeant, 38.
Jekyll, Sir Joseph, 68.
Jerusalem Church, 25, 32, 36, 38, 39.
Jones, Captain Joseph, 219.
Jones, Major John, 200, 222.
Jones, Captain Noble, 108, 251, 252.
Jones, Hon. Noble W., 174.
Joseph’s Town, 137, 138, 249.
Kelsall, Col. Roger, 203.
Kemble, Frances Anne, 136.
Kilpatrick, Gen. Judson, 189.
Kitchen, James, 157.
Kitchins, Collector, 203.
Lamar, Captain C. A. L., 182.
Lands, tenure of in Georgia, 144, 145.
Lane, Major, 180, 191, 194.
Surrenders Fort Morris, 195, 196.
Law, William, 222.
Lawrence, John, Jr., 125-126.
Lawson, Captain John, 196, 202.
Lee, Gen’l Charles, 183.
Lee, Francis, 155.
Lembke, Rev. Mr., 25, 32.
Lewis, Captain Elijah, 209.
Liberty County, 172, 176, 205, 208, 209, 210, 218, 220.
Liberty Independent Troop, 220.
Library of New Ebenezer, 34.
Lincoln, General Benjamin, 40, 200.
Lisbon, 239.
Lombe, Sir Thomas, 25.
London Merchant, the ship, 50.
Lord, Rev. Joseph, 150.
Lyell, Sir Charles, 57.
MacClellan, Captain, 119-120.
MacKay, Captain Hugh, 49, 55, 58, 59, 73.
MacKay, Lieutenant, 104, 109.
Magazine at Frederica, blown up, 119.
Malatche, 155.
Malcontents, 100, 101.
Martin, John, 155, 205.
Martyn, Benjamin, 21, 24, 26, 45, 46.
Mattock, Joseph, 247.
Maxwell, Lieutenant, 104.
Maxwell, Captain, 202.
Maxwell, James, 145, 146.
Maybank, Col. Andrew, 178.
McAllister, Matthew, 216.
McCall, Captain Hugh, 108, 156, 195, 196, 201.
McGirth, 185, 187, 202.
McIntosh, Col. John, 184, 189, 190, 191, 199, 222.
McIntosh, John Moore, 49.
McIntosh, General Lachlan, 49, 130, 200.
McIntosh, Rory, 190.
McPherson, Captain, 48, 50.
McWhir, Rev’d Dr. Wm., 214, 215.
Messias, Major, 219.
Midnight, the sloop, 50.
Midway, the district of, 147, 151, 188.
Midway Congregation, 149-154, 170.
Midway Meeting House, 170.
Affair near, 186-188.
Burnt by Prevost, 188.
Midway river, 147, 148.
Milton, John, 205.
Miscellaneous plantations in Georgia, 250.
Miscellaneous towns in Georgia, 245-246.
Mistakes in early Colonization, 253-255.
Molochi, 80.
Monteano, Don Manuel de, 102, 112, 113.
Moore, Francis, 16, 18, 50, 56, 58, 248.
Moosa, Fort, 84, 85.
Moravians, 15.
Morris, Fort, 180, 183.
Invested by Lieut. Col. Fuser, 189, 192.
Summoned to surrender, 189.
Captured by Prevost, 195, 196.
Name changed, 196, 220.
Moultrie, General Wm., 140, 198.
Muhlenburg, Rev. Dr., 32.
Mulberry trees, 26.
Negro slaves, 74, 205.
New Castle, the Duke of, 98.
New Inverness, settlement of, 48.
Description of in 1743, 116.
Newton, Sergeant, 38.
Nitschman, Rev. David, 15.
Norfolk, the sloop, 99.
North Newport Bridge, affair at the, 186.
Ogeechee Ferry, 188.
Oglethorpe, James E., 12.
Designates a settlement for the Saltzburgers, 13, 14.
Accompanies great embarcation, 16.
Visits New Ebenezer, 18.
Consents to a change in the location of the town, 18.
Suggests silk-culture in Georgia, 25, 26.
Offers reasons for founding the Colony of Georgia, 46, 47.
Provides homes for emigrants, 47.
Explores the southern frontiers, 48.
Accompanies Colonists to Frederica, 51, 53.
Locates town and fortifications at Frederica, 51-54.
Prescribes the labors of the settlers, 54.
Disabuses the minds of the Colonists of the fear of alligators, 58.
Ascertains boundary line between Georgia and Florida, 58, 59.
Locates Fort St. Andrews, 59; Fort William, 61; and Fort St.
George, 61.
His activity and boldness in protecting the southern frontier, 61,
62, 70, 71.
Accomplishes temporary adjustment of disputes with the Spaniards in
Florida, 64, 65.
Embarks for England, 65.
Appointed General of all the forces in Carolina and Georgia, 66.
Authorized to raise a regiment, and commissioned Colonel, 66.
Raises his regiment, 66, 67.
Arrives with troops in Jekyll Sound, 67.
Constructs military road connecting Frederica and the Soldiers’
Fort, 68, 69.
Advises Alderman Heathcote and the Trustees of the depressing
condition of affairs, 70, 71.
Attempted assassination of, 73, 74.
Propitiates the Indian nations, 75, 76.
Acts as one of the pall-bearers of Tomo-chi-chi, 76.
Pursues the Spaniards, 78.
Prepares for the reduction of St. Augustine, 79-81.
Captures Forts Francis de Papa, and Diego, 81.
Proposes to take St. Augustine “sword in hand,” 82.
Advances upon and invests St. Augustine, 85-88.
Raises the siege of that place, 88.
Causes of his failure to capture the town, 88-90.
Conduct of, complimented by the Duke of Argyle, 91.
Sick of a fever, 91-92.
Ceaseless activity of, 92, 93.
His cottage near Frederica, 93, 94.
Narrowly watches St. Augustine, 97, 98.
His control over the Indians, 97, 98.
Asks reinforcements from the Home Government, 98.
His manly resolution, 99.
Demonstration off the harbor of St. Augustine, 99.
Assailed by malcontents, 100, 101.
His account of the Spanish attack upon St. Simon’s island, 103-114.
Estimate of his services, 115, 116.
Congratulated by the Governors of the Colonies, 117.
Strengthens the fortifications of Frederica, 117.
Invades Florida and threatens St. Augustine, 118.
Departs for England, 119.
Oglethorpe’s regiment, 66.
Mutiny in, 73, 74, 92.
Oglethorpe’s Cottage near Frederica, 93, 94.
Old Agency, the, 241-243.
Oranges, wild, on Amelia island, 97.
Osgood, Rev. Mr., 170.
Ottolenghe, Mr., 28.
Palmer, Col., 85.
Killed at Fort Moosa, 86-87.
Parker, Sir Hyde, 197.
Periaguas, 52, 71.
Peter and James, the sloop, 52.
Petersburg. Its situation, 234.
Declared a depot for the inspection and storage of tobacco, 234.
Its plan, 235-236.
Legislative provisions in reference to, 236.
Sibbald’s account of, 237.
Its dwellings, stores, population, and trade, 237.
A tobacco town, 238.
Its decline, 238.
Petersburg Union Society, 236.
Petersburg Boats, 237-238.
Peyton, Sir Yelverton, 67, 83, 85.
Pinckney, Col. C. C., 184, 196, 220.
Pike’s Bluff, 96.
Point Quartel, 85.
Pray, Capt., 202.
Prevost, Gen. Augustine, 185, 188.
Captures Sunbury, 195-196, 200.
Prevost, Lieut. Col. Mark, 185, 186-188.
Price, Charles, 201.
Price, Commodore Vincent, 80.
Proprietors of the Town of Sunbury, 159-169.
Puritan element in St. John’s Parish, 176, 177.
Quaker Spring, 240.
Quarterman, Capt. Robert, 219.
Queensbury, town of, 245.
Rabenhorst, Mr., 32, 36, 37.
Rahn, Jonathan, 37.
Rattle-snakes, 58.
Raven, 80.
Reels, 29.
Reynolds, Gov. John, visits Frederica, 127.
Suggests new defenses, 127.
Reynolds, Gov. John, locates Hardwick, 224,
and suggests it as the capital of Georgia, 224-226.
Riceboro, made the county seat of Liberty county, 216-217.
Riceboro Bridge, affair at, 186.
Road connecting Frederica and the Soldier’s Fort, 68, 69.
Road connecting Savannah and Darien, 55.
Rodondo, Major General Antonio de, 102.
Roman, Major, 187.
Rudolph, Captain, 209.
Salgrado, Don Antonio, 86.
Sallett, Robert, 200.
Salter, Captain, 196.
Saltzburgers, 11.
Arrival in Georgia, 12.
Locate at Ebenezer, 13.
Desire a change of settlement, 18.
Change effected, 19.
Remove to New Ebenezer, 20, et seq.
Occupations of, 23.
Character of, 24.
Cultivation of silk by, 25-30.
Settlements of in Georgia, 30-31.
Sufferings of during the Revolutionary war, 37, et seq.
Removal of to various points, 42.
Sanchio, Captain, 108.
Savannah, evacuated, 204.
Schnider, J. Gotlieb, 37.
Schnider, John, 37.
Schnider, Jonathan, 37.
Screven, General, 186.
Killed, 187, 207.
Scroggs, Lieutenant, 108.
Sea-Point Battery, 64.
Sherwood, Abiel, 218.
Sibbald, George, 134, 212, 229, 237.
Silk-Culture in Georgia, 25-30.
Skidoway Island, 248.
Soldier’s Fort, 67, 68.
Spalding, Mr. James, 128.
Spalding, Hon. Thomas, 69, 75, 94, 97, 98.
Spanish Forces in Florida in January, 1740, 82.
In 1742, 102, 103.
Spencer, Capt., exploit at Belfast, 199, 202.
Springfield, 41.
Spur, the, 62.
St. Augustine, its defenses, 81.
Reinforced, 83.
Invested by Oglethorpe, 83-84.
Siege of, 84-88.
Siege raised, 87-88.
Causes of Oglethorpe’s failure to capture, 89, 90.
Narrowly watched by Oglethorpe, 98.
Scarcity of food in, 98.
Demonstration of Oglethorpe before the harbor of, 99.
St. Augustine, Threatened by Oglethorpe, 118.
St. Catherine, Island of, 155, 156.
St. John, Parish of, 148, 149, 171, 172-178, 193-199, 201.
St. Matthew, Parish of, 34, 35.
St. Simon, Island of; its attractions, 57.
Attack of the Spaniards upon, 103-114.
St. Simon, village of, 96, 107.
Destroyed by the Spaniards, 112.
Stephens, William, 19, 65.
Visits Oglethorpe, 91.
Appointed Deputy General of Georgia, 119.
His description of Abercorn, 139.
Owns and names Bewlie, 250, 251.
Stevens, John, 145, 146.
Stewart, General Daniel, 219, 222.
Stiles, Captain, 202.
Stirk, Col. John, 36, 37.
Stirk, Secretary Samuel, 37, 205.
Strobel, Rev. P. A., 20, 32, 37, 43, 44.
Strohaker, Rudolph, 37.
Stuart, Lieutenant, 113.
Success, the ship, 105, 106.
Sunbury Academy, 212-215.
Teachers of, 215, 216.
Sunbury Female Asylum, 218.
Sunbury, Town of, its location, 141-143.
Conveyance of 300 acres of land to the Trustees of, 145.
Signification of the name of, 145, 146.
Condition of the Midway District at the period of the settlement
of, 149-154.
Plan of, 154.
Declared a port of entry, 155.
Emigrants from Bermuda in, 156.
Commerce of, 157-158.
Health of, 158.
Proprietors of, 159-169.
Bartram’s description of, 169, 170.
Population of, at era of greatest prosperity, 170, 171.
Exports, and imports of, 171.
Character of its population, 171.
Its wharves, 171.
Its government, 172.
Rebellious spirit of its inhabitants, 175.
Fort built at, 178, 179.
Location, construction, and armament of Fort Morris, 181-183.
Threatened by Colonel Mark Prevost, 187.
Invested by Lieut. Col. Fuser, 189-192.
Siege raised, 192.
Houses of, injured by the garrison, 193.
Its depressed condition, 194.
Reduction of Fort Morris, 195-196.
Captured by Prevost, 195, 196.
Languishes, 202.
Affair of Captain Howell at, 203.
Increase of population, 205, 206.
Chief Justice Walton’s Charge to the Grand Jury in, 206, 207.
Designated as the point for holding the Superior and Inferior
Courts of Liberty County, 208.
Commissioners appointed for the port of, 208.
Revival of the trade of, 208.
Indian incursions in the neighborhood of, 208.
Public acts for the regulation of, 210-212.
Description of, in 1801, 212.
Sunbury Academy, 212-215.
Removal of the public buildings to Riceboro, 216-217.
Decline and ill-health of, 217, 218.
Sherwood’s description of, 218.
Female Asylum, 218.
Fort rebuilt, 218.
Fourth of July celebrations in, 220, 221.
Its decadence, 221.
Present condition of, 221, 222.
Its noted inhabitants, &c., 222, 223.
Sutherland, Lieutenant, 109.
Symond, the ship, 50.
Tanner, Mr., 50.
Tennill, Lieutenant, 194.
Thomas, Captain, 50, 52.
Thompson, Captain, 105, 106.
His description of Frederica in 1747, 125, 126.
Thunderbolt, 248.
Tobacco, culture and inspection of in Georgia, 234, 235.
Tolson, Lieutenant, 105.
Tomo-chi-chi, 48, 50, 58, 60.
Death and burial of, 76, 77.
Toonahowi, 77, 81, 108.
Treutlen, John Adam, 36, 37.
Triebner, Rev. Christopher F., 32, 36, 37, 40.
Trustees of Sunbury, 145.
Tuckasee-King, 41.
Twiggs, Colonel, 199.
Tybee, Island of, 249.
Tyrrell, Captain, 79.
Vanderdussen, Colonel, 79, 80, 85, 87, 88.
Vatt, Mr., 15.
Vernon, Admiral, 79, 98.
Vienna, the Town of, 239.
VonReck, Baron, 12, 15.
Waldhauer, Jacob, 36.
Waller, the Poet, 143.
Walton, Hon George, 205-207.
Ward, Hon. John E., 222.
Warren, Captain, 83, 86.
Washington, General George, 214.
Wayne, General Anthony, 40, 204.
Wentworth, General, 103.
Wesley, Rev. Charles, 15.
Wesley, Rev. John, 15, 19, 22.
West, Dr., 222.
West, Major Charles, 178.
White, Colonel John, 186, 187.
His stratagem, 187.
Whitefield, Rev. George, 66, 115.
White House, affair at the, 200.
Winn, Captain John, 219.
Wormsloe, plantation of, 251.
Description of in 1743, 251-252.
Tabby Fort at, 252.
Present appearance of, 253.
Wright, Sir James, 29.
Reports condition of Fort Frederick, 128; of Sunbury, 157.
Comments upon disloyalty of St. John’s Parish, 176.
Reports dilapidated condition of the Forts on the Georgia coast,
180, 181, 247.
Young, Mr. Thomas, 199.
Zion Church, 25.
Zittrauer, Ernest, 37.
Zubly, Rev. Dr., 174.
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